Gordon’s friendship with Richard Grey left Luke with no foot to stand on in trial, and was without a doubt sentenced to execution. His father’s memory–his legacy–will never live on, all because of his ability to render others jealous. It was now up to Luke to find his own way, and become the legendary captain of his own life.
‘Follow me!’ Carl said.
He rushed towards the far edge of the building, picked up a steel pipe from the dusty floor, and hooked it to a silver string leading down and in through the side of a tattered building. It was only then that Sam’s eyes caught the shining sight of four other lines, all leading to and from different buildings around them.
She’d been wondering how Carl got up here; with the door being locked and all.
Without hesitating, he launched himself forward and slid across, his body rocketing at the speed of an airship. Sam’s stomach twisted as she peered down and realized he’d been more than forty feet above ground. Any slip could easily leave his unhinged body to plummet to his doom.
Carl’s scrawny feet stretched out in front of him, and swiftly bounced off the edge of a wall, before just as easily descending him onto solid concrete floor. The pipe was released from his grip, and flung away to his side. It was amazing. He, a flightless human, had made his way across two large buildings within a matter of seconds, and was now calling out to them from far below their feet.
‘Just grab anythin’ that looks like it could carry ye!’ He cried, cupping his mouth with his hands.
Viper released an obnoxious grunt, tugged at the threadbare silver line, and peered over the side of the building. ‘This guy’s nuts–I’m telling you–completely bonkers!’
She took a quivering step back. Her arms flew behind her head, and rested at the nape of her neck. ‘So, who’s going first?’
Chapter 28
A situation can only fall one of two ways: Either good, or bad. So has it always been said, but was it true?
While standing there, at the very top of a scrappy building, in a just as bizarre town, Sam clearly thought otherwise. There was no good, but only bad.
With nothing but sheer nerve standing between them and their freedom, the nine fugitives peered at Carl while holding their breath. There had been all but cotton at the bottom of the building, ready to absorb their plummet, and use their limbs as a mere toothpick to snap in half on impact.
They had singlehandedly transformed the once ghostly town of Jaf to a buzzing place of action, and only after residing there for less than a day. Amidst the darkness of the night, they had seen the low serene lights of candles as its carriers drifted through the dark and quiet streets, studying the heavy remains of a fallen staircase. They heard sounds of metal cluttering, which they only assumed was the curious inhabitants scavenging for anything useful, or valuable.
A simple life like that plainly wasn’t possible, for them at least. Their nightly silence was crudely disturbed by the bouldering roars of Jack Crowe and Dallas Romero. It was only a matter of time before they had scaled the forty flights of stairs, and seized them.
Sam picked up the scattered remains of an old water pipe, and walked to the wire. She stood aside, behind Viper, and watched as Shawn insisted to go first. He mounted his pipe, and tested its strength.
‘I guess that’s as good as it gets!’ He said, leaning back, and then launching forward with all his strength, gripping to the edges of the pipe for dear life.
His feet had barely touched the ground on the other side, when Viper had already called out to him, and commanded he’d get out of the way. Alas his reflexes weren’t as good as it used to be, for before he could move, she’d trampled into his side. They fell to the floor with a heavy thump, leaving the crooked building’s floors to creak.
Next, it was Eric, followed by Luna, and a then a yelping Melanie short on their heels. Donny and Luke insisted to wait until last, but while refusing, Aaron shoved them forward and off the building.
‘I’ll tell you, they’re cowards, those two!’ He said, frowning at the door, and expecting it to bust open at any second. ‘Sam?’
She sighed, mounting her pipe. ‘Can you give me a boost?’ She asked, doubting that the strength in her legs would be enough to carry her all the way to the other side. What if she’d get stuck in the middle? Oh, no…she’s not taking that chance!
Aaron nodded, not saying anything, and pulled her back by her waist.
‘Are you ready?’ He asked, his breath softly blowing against the back of her cheek. Its unexpected warmth gave her chills, for the rest of her body was freezing in the cold evening air.
Sam gulped.
‘As ready as I’d ever be.’ By that signal, Aaron shoved her forward, and stood back as she launched off the building and into the air.
Sam felt the sudden weight of her body obeying the rules of gravity, forcing her hands to grip even tighter. Everything around her had been finely tuned out, and all she could hear was the zooming of the wire against the rusty metal pipe. Lots of trust I have in worn down metal these days? She thought, thinking back to the night of her capture, and how her rope had been dangling from a pipe not much different than this one.
Sam struggled to find the wall, and felt her feet crush into its concrete surface with a heavy smack; much less graceful than Carl had made it look. By the crash’s impact she released an unusual wheeze, draining all breath from her lungs and boggling her sight.
By not being able to see clearly, she almost collapsed to the floor when reaching the others, and felt all too grateful when met by the strong arms of Shawn. He’d whisked her into the air, and away from the edge, hugging her tight for no apparent reason.
Not that Sam complained.
‘C’mon ye love birds,’ Carl barked at them. ‘It’s time to go!’
Aaron’s feet had barely touched the ground when they made a break for the door. Three rickety flights of stairs later, they were into an alley, and under a bridge; an old railway road from what it looked like.
Before them, lay the giant plantation responsible for all unearthly noise. It had patchy grey walls, with a slight fishy scent; and apparently a back door covered in vines that only Carl knew about. They bundled through it and into the darkness, one by one, as Carl shut the door behind them. The vines fell back, as if they’d never been moved, and once again not a single soul would be able to tell that it was hiding a door.
The giant water-pump had huffed and puffed, just as they’d seen it do earlier. Its giant arm appeared much more frightening when walking alongside it, never the less when they crossed underneath it.
They were clearly scuffling through the deep and forsaken grottos of the plantation, with no signs of anyone having been there for ages.
‘It’s deserted down here, most of the time…They’d only come if somethin’ be broken.’ Carl told them, and easing Melanie’s paranoid mind.
She had quivered and complained nonstop, saying that if she was caught, and sent back to the Keep, it surely would be the end of her. Carl laughed.
Sam thought that because they had both originated from long lost Europe, it made it easier for them to sympathize with each other, and connect on some strange level. Their roots might’ve been long forgotten, but they’d surely not been cast away.
Carl led them to the very bottom of an immensely large pipe; there, where it connected with the ground, and left buckets of water spewing all over from minor leakages. They had smelt chemicals suffocating the air.
‘Where are we going?’ Sam asked, quickly scurrying to keep up with Carl. He seemed solely in his element, as a monkey, while tottering over and under things. They’d passed through a heavy bank of puffing smoke, and Sam broke out in an uncontrollable cough.
‘Should’a warned ye about breathin’ too deeply down here,’ Carl said, snickering. ‘And don’t ye worry dearie, we’re going very far away from yer ECD friends–if that’s what you were wonderin’.’
Sam hadn’t bothered asking further questions. Even if sh
e’d wanted too, Shawn withheld her from doing so by seizing Carl’s attention. She understood though, for they had been old friends, and surely wanted to catch up. Instead, after ducking under a passing pipe, she widened her eyes to her surroundings.
The water on the floor was cold, and ankle deep. It enfolded her legs as she dragged her feet forward. She was happy to know that only this time, instead of being dirty old sewer water, it was freshly pumped from the ground.
So THIS is what they do in here all day, Sam thought, peering up at the second floor, where lines of unsuspecting people filled mounds of water into countless of giant, solid-steel containers.
Within the faint glimpse of light, she saw a quaint office with two men playing cards inside. Behind them, through the clear glass window, there had been an enormous cycling wheel, using the flowing water emptied from the containers as a hydro-turbine. Sam was struck in awe at everything around her. It truly felt amazing to witness how humankind had presumed to build their future up from rubble.
What if the water dried up? What would they do then? Sam shuddered at even the thought of it. Her aunt Cara always told her she had the stone cold ability to think the worst.
Sam shoved the thought of her aunt aside: There was no room for grieving. After all, she’d never have to see her again. Wouldn’t it just be easier to just remain mad at her instead?
Carl led them through a dark corridor, and stopped abruptly facing a steel hatch in the greasy (but at least now dry) floor. It was made of heavy steel, and looked as if it could easily be more than an entire foot thick.
Within the dark light of the corridor, one would only have to know of its presence in order to find it. Just as the secret door, it seemed Carl had a very secure, and restricted, place in mind. If only he had told them where (or what) it was, Sam would’ve been able to trust him more. But at least Shawn did, and that was more than enough for now.
Carl’s foot stomped twice, paused, and repeated.
A few seconds have passed, and after starting to think it was all just some kind of a sick joke, the hatch unlocked from the inside. It flung open, but no one emerged.
Revealed to them, was nothing but the quiet darkness of yet another soul crushing tight space they’d had to crawl around in. Only this time, it hadn’t felt all too wrong.
There’d been no appalling reek of old guts and faeces surfacing, which gave them the toe-curling feel of stepping into a grand hotel room. Seemingly strange to anyone else, but not to them, not after everything they’d been through.
‘Ladies first,’ Carl hummed, and motioned Viper forward.
She gulped, staring at the pitch black darkness swimming down below. They had already come this far…and she couldn’t possibly turn back now…besides, what’s the worst that can happen?
Chapter 29
Viper frowned upon the dark hatch in the concrete floor of the even darker corridor. Who was she to trust a stranger telling her to enter it?
She gave a sneering glance at Carl’s already impatient face, and grunted. She bent down to grip the cold metal of the hatch door, and found a ladder leading down on the inside. With each lowering step, the curious faces of her comrades drifted further and further away, until she found herself staring at nothing but the solid concrete wall to which the ladder was bolted.
She struggled not to lean back, for once again its trusting liability left her questioning it.
There had been no guarantee that this one too won’t leave her falling to her doom. Especially not when there’d been an immense lack of certainty of what might be waiting down below.
Her seclusion though, had only lasted for the brink of a second, for before she knew it, Melanie’s foot came dangling past her face. She was fairly surprised in seeing how big the Britt’s feet actually were.
‘Watch it!’ Viper barked.
‘I’m sorry, but I can’t help it if you’re moving so slow!’
Viper’s feet quickly found the floor, and she stepped back to look around, surprisingly at a lack breath. The air down below was heavily compressed, making it slightly harder to breath, but not so much as if to pass out.
One by one her friends emerged to join her, and each witnessing, what had seemed to be darkness, turn to a dim, red illumination.
It barely allowed them to see.
Although their sight were somewhat restricted, the clear silhouette of an awaiting person was honestly hard to miss. He, or she, was standing in the opposite corner, arms crossed. Carl closed the hatch behind him and jumped down after them. He had a pleasurable snicker at each of their faces when first seeing the figure.
‘Don’t ye worry, it’s just Lance.’ He said, and tapped Lance on the shoulder. Lance released a deep holler as if to greet them.
From what they could see in the dim lighting, Lance barely had any hair on his head. He had a large upper body with extremely bulky muscles. His skin was dark, circled with white patterns in paint, and he breathed with a very heavy chest.
‘Follow me.’ Lance grunted, plain and simple.
At first they thought they’d been led into an isolated bunker, but was taken aback when it turned out to be the entrance to a tunnel. Lance switched on his flashlight, and started walking inward. Carl strolled beside him, whispered something, and got handed his own flashlight
‘Where are we?’ Sam asked, keeping hot on the strange men’s trail. She felt like a small girl again, knowing nothing about anything, and always asking questions. She hated asking questions, and hated it when there was something she didn’t know. This was clearly getting on her nerves. She doesn’t care if Carl had saved their lives, if he were to slip himself around yet another one of her questions, she’d surely blow her top.
‘I don’ know really, underground tunnels maybe?’ Carl shrugged. ‘Bu’ to us–this’d be our home. The only place completely hidden from the ECD, and where we’d be free t’ do whatever we’d please.’ He grazed his pale hand along the brightly lit up wall, revealing all sorts of graffiti covering every brick and crack.
Sam mostly ignored it, until one particular piece had caught her attention: It was a large black-and-white piece, reading long live the Rebellion. She gasped.
‘You’re part of the rebellion?’ Sam asked, her voice trembling. The word rebellion brought a particular numbness to her tongue, maybe because of Mike’s face that vividly flashed within her thoughts.
She thought of his broken mug shot, its unfamiliarity, and the ruthless hatred in Jack Crowe’s eyes as he shattered it to pieces right before her eyes.
‘Not a part of it, no.’ Carl said. ‘But we saw what they’d be doin’ up the mountains. Powerful and brave stuff, though I don’ know where they’d come from really.’
Sam felt an unusual weighing ache.
No matter where they went, there were always more and more unanswered questions. She looked away, not facing Melanie. She couldn’t bear talking to her yet. Not after what had happened.
‘Are you okay?’ Shawn asked. His arm brushed up against Sam’s, giving her the temporary feeling of serenity.
She nodded, ignoring Viper’s raspy snort behind her.
The air grew clearer, and the tunnel steeper, when Lance came to a halt before a hefty metal door.
Its rusty coating had been peeling off its edges, revealing thick, oversized bolts below a scarlet shade of paint. Just as Carl had done at the hatch, he knocked twice on the door, paused, and repeated.
Only this time, the door almost instantly began creaking of locks being unhinged from the inside. It slid open by the work of four pairs of hands, and Lance stood aside for the company to enter. First it was Carl, followed by Shawn, Sam, Viper, Aaron, Luke, Melanie, Luna and Donny. Their eyes were wide, blinded by the sudden thrust of light as they stepped into the compound.
Sam blinked, and saw the magnificent sight of something she’d never seen before.
Those who’d opened the door for them, wiped the sweat from their foreheads, and resumed to a tight game of poker aro
und a crooked pile of stacked wooden crates. There’d been women chatting, and men working, all hindered from their actions to look up and briefly gaze upon the stunned faces of their guests.
‘I don’t see him.’ Sam whispered, peering towards Shawn as she spoke. She feared the worst.
‘See who?’
‘Mike.’
Shawn hadn’t seemed to care much, and fled towards the welcoming crowd of familiar faces. ‘Maybe he’s just in another room.’ He said right before disappearing amongst a swarming mob of guys. They were out-of-their-skin happy to be reunited, patting Shawn on the back, and pulling him into hugs.
Sam bit her tongue. Unlike Shawn, there wasn’t a single soul that she recognized. Lance shoved past her, and left her stumbling in confusion. Everyone had without a care returned to their sowing, and pointless card games. At least Sam’s eyes had quickly adapted to the bright white light, every now and then flickering, and releasing a strange bursting sound.
‘This’d be the common room,’ Carl said, switching off his flashlight, and hooking it on the wall beside countless others. ‘Follow me. Belle wants t’ meet ye first.’
‘Belle?’ Aaron asked.
‘Ye’d never find a better leader than she, my friend. She’d been through ups an’ downs to be getting us into this here compound.’ Carl tapped the wall, and sighed. ‘I’d tell ye, we couldn’ta done it without her. Oh, an’ Mike of course. They’d been very close ye know.’
They’d BEEN very close? Sam was struck by an utmost terrible conclusion. It was the very last thing she’d needed to hear right now.
‘You mean Mike isn’t with you?’
Carl’s cheeks flushed a bright pink of embarrassment. He’d momentarily forgotten that Sam was Mike’s sister, and felt like he’d over spoken somehow.
‘Aye, I’m sorry Sam.’
There it was again, that twisted feeling in Sam’s gut.
She tried to numb the awful sting by observing a young man with glasses, peering into a microscope as they’d walked past him. Just as she’d though it to work, Carl led them left down a corridor, and the pain returned in throbbing pulses, beating along with the racing pace of her heartbeat. At this rate, she’ll never find Mike.
The Keep (A Renegades story Book 1) Page 20
