by S. E. Meyer
“Cleared! No pathogens or communicable diseases!”
He was led to a small group of about fifty people standing in front of the elevators. Everyone in the group looked ragged and starving, making John stand out. He pulled his hood up over his head and let it hang low over his face as he waited to be led into the elevator.
“Okay everyone, I realize you’re hungry and thirsty and want to get down there as soon as possible, but I need you to slowly and calmly enter the elevators. Anyone causing problems will be denied access.”
The group slowly made their way to the bank of four elevator cars. They were large and held up to fifty people per car. The group shuffled into two smaller groups and got into the two elevators with open doors. Once they were inside, the doors closed and John felt the familiar sensation of dropping into the Earth at an incredible rate of speed. He kept his hood pulled down low and waited. A young boy was tugging on his mother’s hand.
“Mommy, will we be able to eat something soon?” he asked her.
“Yes dear, we’re almost there now. Everything is going to be okay”
“I wish daddy was here,” the boy said as he stared up at his mother’s thin face.
“Me too honey,” she answered as she picked her son up and held him close.
The elevator car finally stopped and John was led into the large room with the rest of the group. The room was big enough for several thousand people and John figured it had been jam packed for weeks at the height of the evacuations. A large set of steel double doors opened at the far end of the room and the group was led down a long, wide corridor. John noticed thick cables running along the ceiling and an opaque tube about four inches in diameter glowing with an electric blue light. There were tall Annunaki guards down here and no more military personnel. The guards ushered them into another large room with metal panels on the walls and no windows and doors, other than the one they were walking through. The guards didn’t go in with them and as soon as the last of the group cleared the door it was shut with a loud, echoing clang. John noticed two long ceramic looking probes coming out of the walls at both ends of the room and only one small window in the door they just came through. He started to get nervous. He knew they weren’t in an elevator and the only way out was the door they just came through. Why didn’t the guards come in here? He thought. The probes began to make a humming sound and started to vibrate. John reached out with his mind and tried to contact anyone that was outside of the room they were in. He managed to find one of the guards, who was now hundreds of feet away in a small control booth. Oh my God No! It can’t be. He thought as he read the intent of the nearest guard. John’s face paled as his jaw dropped in shock. These people aren’t being taken to safety to an underground city. This is a huge death chamber. They’re being executed. John realized that he was about to be executed along with them and tried to think.
Everyone was standing around patiently and hungrily awaiting the meal they were promised that would never come. The humming of the probes got louder. John ran to the door they came through and tried to open it, knowing it would be locked and barricaded. The rest of the group was watching him in surprise. Think John, think! He thought to himself. He placed his hands on the door and closed his eyes. He concentrated on the locking mechanism and focused all of his energy onto that place in the door. His eyes flashed blue and he grimaced as he tried to slide the mechanism that would free the door and save them all. He staggered slightly and focused harder as the tips of the probes began to glow with a deep red hue and the hum they were producing reached a deafening pitch. Suddenly John felt the lock give way and the door was suddenly free. He swung it wide and ran through calling after him over his shoulder.
“Come on, I got it, come on! Hurry!”
Everyone just stared. They were too weak to care what John was saying and still hadn’t realized what was going on.
“Come on! They‘re going to kill you!” John yelled from the doorway as he watched the probes turn from red to a blinding white. A few of the evacuees came to life and started to run towards the door, but it was too late. There was a sudden flash forcing John to close his eyes. When he reopened them he gasped in shock. All that was left of the group was a pile of white dust on the floor. He gasped for air as the gravity of what he just witnessed. He snapped back to his senses when he heard the guards heading back towards him. He quickly got his wits back, closed the door and re-locked it. He was looking around in a panic for somewhere to hide and noticed a small service doorway off to one side of the corridor. He ran to it and pulled the handle, but it didn’t budge. John used his mind again and concentrated on unlocking it. It opened and he escaped through the doorway and shut the door just in time. He turned around and peered through a small glass square in the center of the door in time to see four guards enter the corridor through a narrower hallway. It took all of John’s strength just to keep standing. Unlocking the large door had taken most of his energy and the small door finished him off. He needed to rest. He watched the guards as they disappeared into the large room with brooms and within a few minutes had swept the dusty remains of fifty people into a pile just outside the large door. They swept the white dust into what looked like large dustpans and dumped them into a container. The guards seemed to be in good spirits, and the one holding the container full of white human powder patted the top of it.
“That’ll give us a few more years.” He said, then laughed as the others joined in.
“Yes, and another jolt of power for the weapon,” said the guard next to him as he spat in disgust. John felt the urge to vomit. He couldn’t believe what he just witnessed. Does that mean Braedon is killing everyone? And for what purpose? John retched a little into his mouth and spat on the floor as he grimaced. He considered the possibility of a mountain of white dust sitting somewhere underground, representing the scorched remains of a millions poor souls.
It’s Always Darkest before the Dawn
“Mommy I’m hungry” Aurora pleaded with her mother. Barb took a minute from the bag she was packing and knelt down in front of her daughter.
“I know honey, we’re out of food. We held out as long as we could, now we have to go on a little trip so we can get some food okay?” Barb was nervous about leaving, she had hoped she would hear from John again somehow before they ran out of food and was hoping for some reassurance that going underground was the right thing to do. The stories the religious groups were preaching had put doubt in her mind. She had no choice now. Either go, or starve, and she couldn’t stand by and watch Aurora get any thinner.
“Where are we going grandpa?” Aurora asked Barb’s dad as he entered the kitchen.
He sat down and put Aurora on his knee. “Well dear, we are going to a brand new city, and it’s deep under the ground,” he explained.
“You mean like a worm?” Aurora crinkled her nose. “Won’t it be dark and dirty there?”
He laughed a little and then explained further. “No dear, it’ll be like a really big cave and they will have lights on so we can see. And we’ll have our own little apartment and lots of food to eat and fresh water to drink.”
“That’s good cause I’m so hungry grandpa.”
A tear welled up in her grandfather’s eye. It broke his heart that he didn’t have any food to give his grand daughter that he loved so much. “Yes dear, it will be lovely.” He smiled broadly as he quickly wiped away the tear. “We’ll have all the food we want until are bellies are bursting.” He poked her in the tummy making her giggle.
“Okay come on dad, I have the last of the bottled water packed. Where’s mom?”
“Coming dear,” her mother replied. After a nervous look between them they headed out their front door and made their way down the street to the nearest train depot. Army vehicles had been patrolling neighborhoods hourly for the last few days getting the message out that it was last call to be evacuated. The last train was going to leave in a few hours. They only made it a few blocks before they were scanned and pick
ed up by an army personnel transport vehicle. There were twenty other people inside, who all looked just as hungry, pale and nervous as Barb and her family. They drove in silence as they passed destroyed buildings, and drove through piles of garbage and clutter strewn over the road. Just before the train station Barb covered Aurora’s eyes so she wouldn’t see the large pile of burning corpses on the side of the road. It was the only sanitary way the military could dispose of so many dead and even Barb had to look away. She couldn’t stand to see the charring bones or hear the sizzling tissues of what were once happy productive suburban families. She would never have believed or guessed in a million years that things could have gotten so bad so quickly. Only a handful of weeks ago these neighborhoods would have been coming to life for summer vacation with block parties and barbeques. There would be graduation parties and prom nights, weddings, and other formal engagements. She wept quietly for the way of life that was no longer possible and hugged Aurora tightly as the truck bounced over debris, finally stopping a few blocks later in front of the train that was waiting to take them to their new lives together underground.
___________
As soon as the guards disappeared back down the hall John turned around and put his back against the door. He slowly slid down to a sitting position. He needed to rest. He was still partially in shock from what he just witnessed. I wonder if Jenny’s parents and sister had been killed too. John thought. And poor little Aurora! John felt sick again as he realized it was his fault since he was the one who gave them their implants. How could I be so wrong? How didn’t I see it! John closed his eyes for a few minutes. He knew it wasn’t safe sitting out in the open, but he needed to rest a little longer. He did notice that the more often he used his new abilities the quicker his energy came back. He waited another thirty minutes keeping a small part of his mind reaching out like a thin tendril of security so he would know if anyone was coming. Once he felt strong enough to move again, John got up and looked through the small window in the door. The corridor was empty and he couldn’t feel anyone nearby. John knew he had to find a bank of elevators and get to Jenny as soon as possible. He opened the door and slowly entered the corridor as he peered in each direction. It seemed safe and John decided to head in the direction the Annunaki guards had come from. He entered the smaller hallway and rounded two corners, coming to the control booth for the death chamber. John glanced through the large pane of glass and saw several monitor panels. There has to be an elevator around here somewhere. He thought.
He headed further down another passageway where it came to a tee. He turned right and after going several hundred feet he rounded another corner where the passage came to a dead end. John concentrated and stared at the wall in front of him, knowing there had to be something there. He moved his hand along the smooth wall and it went right into the stone, like there was nothing there. John focused harder and an elevator came into view where the wall had stood. Relived he quickly got inside and went to the small panel waving his hand across it. Nothing happened. John didn’t understand, he had used the elevators many times before and all he had to do was wave his hand and think of his destination. It must somehow use the ID chip to authorize access. John placed his hand over the small panel and concentrated on where he wanted to go. He needed to get to the main South American hub and from there he would head to where they had been living under Babylon. His eyes flashed a spark of electric blue and the elevator door suddenly closed, moving John away at a high rate of speed. It wasn’t long before he was able to cautiously transfer to another elevator deep below southern Mexico and he was on his way to Frank and Jenny. He made it to his destination within a few hours and the minute he exited the elevator he could feel several Annunaki near him. I’m going to have to be extra careful here, this is where they all live. He thought as he slowly made his way towards the living quarters area and to where Jenny’s room was. He first had to make it past the dining hall, which John knew would be empty this time of day. He continued to move slowly, but steadily, reaching out ahead of him with his thoughts, feeling for anyone that might be between him and his goal. He was spending so much time looking forward that he forgot to look behind him. He suddenly felt two Annunaki heading down a branching corridor and quickly approaching where he stood. John turned down a hallway in the opposite direction and stopped after rounding a corner. The two figures coming toward him turned down the same hallway and were still getting closer. John silently ran as fast as he could to the next branch of passageways and took another left. He waited several minutes and the Annunaki men continued to head in his direction. Why do I keep going the way they are heading? Or are they following me? He asked himself, frustrated. He waited as long as he could, hoping they would veer off in another direction. He began to go deeper into an area he had never visited before. The corridor he was walking along suddenly stopped at a dead end and John sucked in a breath, realizing he was trapped. There were a few doors he had passed on his way down this passage and he quickly ran back the way he came to the nearest one. He slowly opened it and ducked inside. The door closed just as the two Annunaki that were approaching came around the corner. John could feel them through the door as they past by and then stopped a few feet away.
John began surveying the room he was in for a place to hide or another exit. It was dark but John could make out a few silhouettes of tables lined along each wall. He slowly made his way to the other side of the room and through a doorway that led him into a smaller area with a flat table in the center. It was even darker in the second room and John felt along the wall for another doorway. He made his way around the small room until he bumped the table and had to reach out with his hand to keep from falling over. He panicked as his hand grabbed onto warm flesh and he realized there was someone lying there. The panic gave way to shock as his mind was suddenly filled with screams of agony. Feelings of unbelievable pain and suffering, so intense that it dropped him to his knees. As he fell he let go of the person lying there and the body’s head was now at eye level. He stared closely and then suddenly recognized who it was.
“Ninti!” He whispered. He stood back up and got close to her face. “Ninti!” He whispered again as loud as he dared. He got no response from her and placed his hand on her forehead. John’s knees buckled again at the feelings of excruciating pain emanating from her. Her body writhed for a moment and John realized she was restrained. He began to look for a way to release her when her voice came weakly into his mind.
“No, leave me be.”
“You’re in pain, let me help you.” John replied as they began speaking telepathically.
“No, I deserve what I am getting, it is my punishment.”
“For what?”
“For speaking with you so candidly before you left.”
“What? You didn’t say anything, or do anything to warrant this kind of torture.”
“It is not up to you what form of punishment is given. Braedon commanded this as just retribution, and I accept it with honor and dignity for my disobedience.”
John was still bracing against the pain that rippled through his mind as she weakly spoke. He could not imagine such a terrible punishment for such a minor offense. John put his lips near her ear and whispered.
“Ninti, it does not have to be this way. Your life here does not have to be this way. You are human and part of the human race, no matter where you were born, which means you were not meant for this. This is slavery and torture and I have to get you out of here.”
“No! This is my course, leave me be or you will only make it worse.”
John continued to whisper in her ear. “Ninti, let me show you. Let me show you what human life, and being who you are, really means.”
John placed both hands on her head and pressed two fingers to both of her temples. He began to place images into he mind, starting slowly and then at a faster pace. John did everything he could to send the sensations and emotion along with the pictures. Her body writhed more vigorously as dozens, then hun
dreds of images flashed through her mind. A beach, sun tanning, walking barefoot on lush cool green grass, the feel of ocean spray while boating, a picnic, children laughing, raising children, bearing children, making children, love, a romantic candlelight dinner, family, belonging, freedom. Ninti gasped as the images continued to play in front of her. John finally stopped. He removed his hands from her head and grasped her arm as he sat on the floor next to her, breathing heavily with the effort of showing her true humanity.
“It’s beautiful and painful, but yet joyous and fulfilling. I can see what you are saying John, I understand. She still spoke in weak forceful spurts in between waves of pain that rippled through her. John began to look for a way to get her off the table and this time Ninti didn’t try to stop him. He found several clasps underneath her table and quickly unlatched them. There was a small wire attached to the back of her neck and John quickly ripped it out as he helped her to sit up. He felt the pain running through her stop immediately and all that was left was Ninti’s own thoughts. She was weak from the countless hours of torture. John thought he would try something. He placed his hand on her temple again and tried to share some of his energy with her. It seemed to be working and Ninti opened her eyes.
“John.” She said hoarsely. “Thank you.”
“Ninti can you help us get out of here?”
“Yes, we can use the helper passageways, but we will need to be careful,” she replied.
“How much do you know if this place? How much do you know of Braedon’s plans?”
“I know everything there is to know. I am a helper of the executive staff, and of Braedon himself, so I have had access to every corner of almost every room down here. They never notice when I’m in the room, I am almost invisible to them while I’m working, but I hear everything.”
