by P. S. Power
As if the rough bearded man simply didn't think that much about Connor, already. Part of him actually wanted to put that aside as being more or less fair. It wasn't, of course. The asshole didn’t have any reason to think he was a stereotype at all, so far. Rather than argue the point, that he wasn't that careless or stupid, or that he hadn't been trained almost his whole life to hide when the need arose and how to do that very well, Connor simply tried to hold his face still.
It was tempting to simply walk across the room and beat the man to death. There were enough tools in the place for that, after all. Connor couldn’t hammer a nail, but using that kind of thing on the other man’s head was well within his skill set. Heat rose through him, not showing on his face. Anger wasn't foreign to him, not given the abuse that he’d put up with most of his life. Nor was being mildly abused by jerks that thought they were in control of the situation that was being shared at the moment. Most of his life had been filled with people like that. Rather than allowing himself to scream or rage at the jerk, Connor merely turned to Walker, since the other man probably knew which tool or area was a band saw.
Funnily enough he didn't seem to either, which had the bearded jerk, Mr. Kelley, moving across the room, rolling his eyes. When he moved into the dim space, he tapped the very top of a rounded metal device that had a heavy stand. It had to be pushed to the side using muscular effort, which happened with a scrapping noise. It was rough, as if there was dust and sand on the floor.
"Get down there. Like I said. Move outside only at night. Try to be invisible if you do. I'm in the main house. My wife and step kid don’t know that anyone is down here, so try not to need me. If you do, fucking come to the front door. Otherwise Magda will probably shoot you."
He seemed to be more honest suddenly, having moved closer to Connor. No more pleasant, but his declaration that the wife in the house didn’t know that they were there, and that she was armed and willing to shoot strange invaders seemed real.
This time he nodded. Even if killing the man next to them was tempting, that didn't mean Connor needed to get into it with the fellow’s wife. Protecting her own home sounded like a good plan, after all. It was what you did, if you didn't have guards to do that kind of thing for you, so he couldn’t blame her for it. More to the point, he wouldn’t, just because her husband was an asshole.
"Got it. They won't know that we exist, if at all possible." That might not be possible, if they didn't get at least get a bucket to relieve themselves in. Though, they could always just pick a corner. It would reek in the hole they were hiding in, in that case.
He'd live, if it didn't go on too long.
Ephraim nodded then, still seeming bitter for some reason.
"See that you make that happen. I have one good thing in my life. Her. That and her daughter are it for me." He was about to go on, when a light came on behind him. From the back of the house.
A woman's voice called out. She sounded pleasant, if that counted for anything. The kind of nice that made people want to like a woman, even if they’d just met. At least Connor felt that way on hearing her, which was the first time in his life for something like that. Maybe twice, since Clarice, his Dad’s secretary was pretty nice as well.
"Honey? What are you doing out here?"
Walker started to move then, rapidly, to get down into the hole. Moving silently enough that Connor wondered if he was going to vanish and simply leave him standing there, stammering about why he was there, not having a clue at all. If that happened, he'd need to rush the woman.
She probably didn't need to be beaten to death, however. Just touched so she wouldn't know what was going on and wouldn’t recall him being there. Instead of that, Mr. Kelley just called back, over his shoulder. Smiling a bit.
"I think we have a possum in here again, honey. I was just trying to scare it out. You know how I hate those things. I’m waving my hands and yelling booga-booga so far. It doesn’t seem intimidated."
That got a laugh from the woman. It happened as Walker vanished into the dark hole. Walking down, as if there were stairs in it, instead of a blind drop or even a ladder. As Connor tried to do the same thing, lowering his right foot, hoping it would hit something, the other man made a noise.
Moving out to stop the wife, whatever her name was, from entering the garage.
"It's probably my imagination. You know how we’re plagued by imaginary possum threats in this neighborhood. Anyway, what's for dinner? It smells great."
The female voice, still seeming like nothing was wrong, spoke again. She honestly sounded like a nice person. One too good to be with Ephraim the asshat.
"Why, my darling, I'm making your very favorite food in the whole world. Pepperoni pizza. From scratch, since I know you like it that way. Jen is setting the table for us as we speak. She should be in for the night, so you should spend some quality time with her later, if you get a chance, Hon."
Under his feet were wooden steps. He could feel them, creaking slightly as he moved down into the dark. Halfway down he froze, as Walker spoke.
"I need to close this up. Duck." As soon as that happened, a soft grinding sound blocking the little light they had at all, the other man opened a door at the end of the hallway.
Meaning their new home wasn't a spider hole at all, but was actually a larger space. One with electricity and light. It was simply a larger hallway though, instead of a dug out living space which the other man led him into. As soon as the door was closed, the big guy turned and nodded.
"We have five levels here, under the house and garage. Ephraim and Magda Kelley live here, as the cover for it. With Magda’s daughter, Jennifer. The situation isn't perfect inside. We have limited internet and cable, so we can monitor the situation outside, get orders and all that. This level is five feet under the dirt in the backyard, with a foot of reinforced concrete under that. It should be sound proof, but try to whisper up here. Just in case." The man didn't seem to love the set up, if his vocal tone was correct.
Connor could deal with it, from the look of things. Even staying in the garage was better than being buried in a pile of pine branches and dead leaves. They could be seen up there, however. So this was better. At the end of the hallway, which was about twenty feet away, there was a second door. A plain white thing that seemed much better taken care of.
He had to stay back, so he wouldn't influence the man in front of him, in case a fight started on the other side of the door. That wasn't the point of being there, but you were either ready to take care of problems or you weren't.
There was another set of stairs, a longer one, past that, which led to a second, deeper level. A much larger seeming thing, that reminded Connor of one of the buildings at school. Only larger by about fifty times. It was, he understood, probably under most of the city block, as well as the streets to either side. Or, most likely, since he couldn’t see what was off in the distance, a space that was vast, compared to even that. All of it seemed to be in plain, rather boring, gray concrete, so far.
Still, no one greeted them, first thing. The giant space had some cars and trucks in it, in well-marked out parking spaces. No one living was standing there, however.
Walker waved around them, his face blank.
"Charlie location. A complex with room for several thousand people at need. We mainly keep VIPs in here, if things are dangerous, but not that heavy at the moment. You'll be on the third level, with your father and his people. The staff is a little light, so don't be surprised if you have to heat your own Hotpockets and open cans of ravioli to keep yourself fed. Then, you might not have an issue there. At least I didn’t just spend the last two days listening to you whine about eating out of packages. That was nice, by the way. We didn’t get a big choice, so it made things easier. Even if the operational silence was hard. We couldn’t afford to let you in on everything, yet, so it had to be done. Come on, let's make this happen. We need to check in."
That required following again, and moving down a stairway that wa
s on the other side of the floor they were on. It was a real walk, the set up of the building they were in mainly being open concept, with heavy pillars every twenty feet or so. There were, oddly enough, hundreds of vehicles in the space, even if there was no way they'd been driven down there, via the tiny hole under the bandsaw stand. No way that Connor knew of, at any rate.
Walker saw him looking at the things and shrugged, glancing back at him, from about fifteen feet away.
"We have several entrances. The problem is that it's harder to hide a car than it is a person going into a small hole. That means we have to be a lot more careful when doing that than even coming through here. Besides, I specifically wanted you to make contact with Kelley. It could be important, later." There was no explanation of that, the man clearly locking his lips closed.
Connor cheated a bit then, moving forward a little faster, closing to about ten feet before speaking. Increasing the pressure on him to tell the truth and explain. Not enough to force him into anything, but enough to make it happen, if the man wasn’t truly willing to fight against the force of it.
"Is he suspected of something? You want me to get close to him, so you can..."
There was a deep inhalation and then a sudden nod.
"Right. I don't have anything concrete at this point. He's shown a bit more money than he should have, over the last year. Not a lot though. It could be something innocent like Magda having a job that she doesn't report on her taxes or him having hocked some stolen jewelry. That... It could also be that he's turned on us. Government informant probably, in that case. The other factions all pay better than he's been showing. It really could be nothing."
Connor nodded.
"We'll have to come up with some reason to talk to him then, away from his wife and kid. Is he always like that? I mean, he was kind of..." Connor didn't really have a polite way to put it. Part of him still wanted to hunt the man down and beat him until he died, but being impolite about it wasn't allowed.
"A dickhead? Yeah, that's pretty much him. Except with Magda. She's actually a good person. Sweet. Easy on the eyes too. Not part of all this." He gestured, moving toward a rather plain brown door that didn't look like it would hold more than janitorial supplies behind it.
It was yet another set of stairs. This time the stairway was bigger and nicer. There was paper on the walls, for instance, all in a deep brown, with red carpet on the stairs themselves. Everything was decently clean, too.
Connor observed the whole place, without letting himself seem impressed. Walker wasn't. Even if a giant complex being hidden under a residential area was kind of amazing. When they exited this time, there were hallways, with rooms lining the sides. Things with numbers on the doors in gold colored metal. They just walked, doing it for a long time, not seeing anyone at all. Finally, after nearly fifteen minutes at a rather quick march, they ended up in front of a desk. A wooden one, with a man in a suit standing behind it. He smiled, moving to the counter. The fellow was older, probably near seventy, if he looked his age.
"Gentlemen, may I be of service?" The words gave nothing away. Which made sense, given that they were both unshaved and wearing the same clothing that had been put on two days before. Seedy, came to mind as a description. They might have been two guys from the city there who had simply stumbled down the wrong rabbit hole. If that had happened, then they’d probably have to be killed, or at least drugged into not being able to recall the trip to see the bunnies, later.
Connor stood back, a good way. About ten feet from Walker. A flanking position, setting things up for an attack, if you didn't know otherwise.
That meant the counter man was also within range of his field. Not to a level that he was compelled to speak. Just at the range where lying would be harder to do. Most of the time. Bertie had managed it, at least once. Standing there, for some reason he couldn't put together, he started to worry about the increase in his field during the evacuation.
It hadn't happened while the real attack was going on, or on the truck voyage to their current location. Just as he was supposed to leave the building. After being nearly knocked out due to lack of air. It didn't make sense, really. He should have hit the Doc when they were first locked in, not later, when nothing was really going on.
For the life of him, he hadn't felt more upset or anything at that point. Not until everyone started to freeze in place, acting like zombies even if they were fifty feet or more from him.
That had been scary. Really, it was close to his worst fear now. Living in a world where everyone else was rendered useless and immobile every time he moved anywhere near them. With no memory of him ever having been there at all.
Walker nodded at the man behind the counter, his face steely. The guard was good at that kind of thing. Looking hard, without actually scowling.
"This is Connor Harriman. I'm Doug Walker. We should be expected." The words were polite enough, though guarded. As if he wasn't truly certain that they'd made the magical list the man held behind the desk.
Old or not, the fellow looked the names up on a new seeming computer. At least the tapping movements below the edge of the desk were correct for that. From the sound he had a real keyboard, instead of a holographic display of some sort.
"Indeed, sir. Both of you are right here in the system. Let me run the key cards up for both of you, it won't take a minute!" That was a turn of phrase, it seemed, since the man didn't return for nearly five minutes.
Which technically made it correct, Connor had to agree. It really hadn't taken a minute.
A blue and black card was handed to Walker, who waved at the other one. Facing the other man.
"Set that down on the far end of the counter, then move away from it, please. Don’t close with the boy inside of fifteen feet if you have a choice. He’ll try to maintain that kind of distance pretty well, but you don’t want to break that by too much. If you do, try not to speak to him." The old man didn’t take offense at the idea, simply doing what he was told, not even seeming amused when Connor moved down to get the thing. Waiting for him to move away, first.
He felt obligated to explain his condition, but Walker just waved at the card in his hand.
"You have room fifteen? I'm over in twenty-three. This way, I think. We have low number rooms, which means not too far from here."
Connor waved at the counter man, since being polite was never wrong. Especially after making strange demands on him like they had. The old man smiled and bowed back, just a little bit. Then Connor had to march pretty quickly, to keep up with Walker, who was heading away at a fast pace. The man called back as he moved.
"These aren't bad rooms. At least as far as the walk goes, from here. There are exercise facilities on this floor and the rooms have televisions. If you want a computer that hooks to the web you'll have to go to the secured room for it. The one in your room will only be on the in-house system. This second hallway is yours. Room fifteen. You know how to get in?" He waved his card, to explain that the two things might be related.
Connor nodded, since his room at Etain had been sealed that way. Using a scan card.
"I think so. I just swipe the card?" He mimicked the motion.
The man shook his head.
"These are RFID chips. Primitive tech, really. Just tap the thing on the door, anywhere and it will unlock. There should be some kind of clothing inside for you. Possibly other things. A computer sets that up, so it will be different for each person. Based on what it thinks you really need to be happy. It isn’t perfect, but frankly, the places that have humans doing it are no better."
He nodded, and waved again. After all, he'd just spent two full days with the man. It hadn't been a bonding situation, particularly, but it had been time. They'd gotten to their destination, it seemed. Letting himself get whiny over being alone suddenly wasn't going to play, so he smiled a bit.
"Sounds good. I'll see you." He didn't give a time for that, not knowing when it might happen, if it ever did at all.
The m
an grinned.
"Seven, tomorrow morning. Level two, by the door we came in at. We're going running, so dress for that."
That sounded like a plan at least. Connor really needed to do something physical soon, or his limbs were going to fall off. The walking had helped, once they were out of the garage.
"I'll be there." Even if he couldn't find the right clothing for it.
The red carpeted hallway looked suspiciously like the one that they'd come in through, with the first room being number ten. Fifteen was only about a fifth of the way down and there was a good amount of space between the portals. He could see the end of the hallway, but had to admit that the place was probably a good bit larger than he’d figured it would be, at first. A separate city under the one above, somehow.
Holding his blue and black card up, which had a big number fifteen on the back, so he wouldn't get confused later, he followed the instructions and simply tapped the thing on the door. It caused a deep and resonating click to happen. After that Connor could turn the rather normal looking silver handle. It was cool to the touch, even if the air was comfortable enough.
Inside there was a decently long entry way, which lead to not one, but several rooms. Large spaces that had to be at least sixty feet across for the main one.
To his right was a kitchen area, that seemed to have all the normal things he'd been told such spaces held. Appliances and so forth. Things that he’d never seen before, except in the rare movie or television program. It looked clean and larger than he would have figured was needed for one person. To the left was a bedroom, that had a very large bed in it. One bigger than he'd ever slept in, to be honest. A king-sized bed, he thought. Off of that was a bathroom.
