“After my parents died I really just spent my time studying and hanging out with Taylor. I guess I wasn't paying much attention," I said finally.
A strange look flashed across Coal's face.
“Did you ever know anything about your parents?" I asked him.
“No, there aren't that many family units around here. Alicia is more than enough for me." He looked at me for a minute before continuing. "Do you mind me asking what happened?"
I frowned unsure how to explain it, the seconds dragged on.
"I shouldn't have asked you, I'm sorry." He reached over the seat between us as if to touch my hand but drew back and placed his hand down next to mine instead.
“It's not that, I just don't know how to explain it. It was all a bit of a mystery really and it hurts to drag through the past, so I try not to think about it too often.
They were scientists and they worked together in a lab. They were working on things that were deemed classified so I never got to know exactly what happened to them. It was some sort of accident." I shrugged. "It hit me pretty hard at the time. I kind of disappeared from the world and most of my friends gave up on me, especially when I was demoted to level forty." I knew it sounded mechanical as the words left my mouth but if I let myself feel even the slightest bit of emotion then I knew I would break down entirely. That was a box I kept firmly locked deep down inside my heart and opening it, even after all of these years, was still too hard to bear.
"But not Taylor," Coal said quietly.
"No. He came every day and brought me meals and would just talk and talk and talk until eventually I started listening. Our parents were good friends and we grew up together. I guess he just felt bad enough for me that he decided to wait for as long as it took for me to find my way back to him." I noticed I was chewing on my lip and quickly stopped.
“It sounds like more than pity," Coal said quietly.
I picked a piece of lint from my pants and watched as it drifted to the floor. I didn't like to think of it as pity either.
The truck slowed and Coal unclipped his seatbelt as he glanced out of the window. "We're here," he said, seemingly glad to end the conversation.
The car rolled to a stop and Coal got out without glancing back at me.
At some point during the journey Laurie had dozed off and Alicia kindly blasted the horn to wake her up. Her cheek was pressed against the window and she smacked her head against the glass as she jolted awake.
I tried to cover up my laughter but Alicia didn't. Laurie made a swing for her but she was already half way out of the door and springing out of reach.
“These people are insane," Laurie growled, rubbing her head.
“I think they just have more fun than we're used to." I smiled as I pushed my own door open.
The jump down from the truck was higher than I remembered and I stumbled as I hit the tarmac. Before I could land on my face, I felt a strong arm catch hold of me.
“Thanks." I grinned up at Coal as he released me. He nodded in response and turned to grab a bottle of water from the truck bed.
Laurie came around the truck to join us, grumbling about getting revenge with a look in her eye that promised she would.
“Welcome to Franklin." Alicia waved a hand at the strange city ahead of us.
We’d parked in an area full of other vehicles. I stared around at the various shapes, sizes and colours of the cars and wondered how different they would be to travel in. Most of them were plugged in and charging. Alicia made her way to a small hut as a thickset man exited it and moved towards her.
They got into a debate about the price and eventually Alicia returned to the truck. She retrieved a crate of cabbages and two bottles of whiskey which she placed in the hut as the man plugged our truck into the power to charge it up.
Beyond the parking lot was a green which sprawled out in front of a collection of large buildings; at least they were large by outside standards. They weren't as closely packed as the skyscrapers within Harbour city but I could see that if the place was fully occupied it could still hold a substantial population.
A huge man strutted towards us across the green, his vast muscles bulging through his shirt. He was whistling as he walked and he looked happy. His skin was kissed golden by the sun and he towered above my head. He must have been nearly seven feet tall. His dark hair was cut short and as I’d begun to expect out here, he carried a gun. This gun was like nothing I'd ever seen though. It looked like it should be strapped to a turret rather than slung over a man's back.
Despite casting a somewhat daunting figure, there was something instantly likeable about him.
Kaloo leapt from the truck bed and bounded up to him. She let out an excited bark and jumped up to greet him. The big man laughed and bent down to embrace her and she attacked his face with wet dog kisses.
Coal tossed the water back into the truck and moved forward, smiling broadly with his arms outstretched. The man pulled him into a bear hug and they clung on tight for a moment, clearly glad to see each other.
“Coal and Alicia Carson." He grabbed hold of Alicia too. "Where the hell have the two of you been? Kicking asses up and down the country I'll bet."
"You know us so well." Alicia smiled up at him.
"Well, when I was told you were coming to do a job, I made sure I was assigned to your mission." He beamed and hooked his thumbs into his belt.
“Do you know where we're heading?" Alicia asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Yes. And that's all the more reason for me to come along and watch your backs." He looked over at Laurie and me where we hung back by the truck. "I'm Hunter." He walked towards us offering a hand which I took and my hand disappeared within his. Rough callouses grazed my palm.
“I'm Laurie and this is Maya," Laurie introduced us. She had a dazzled look in her eyes and she kept fiddling with her hair as she smiled up at him. All signs of her previous annoyance with outsiders seemed to have been forgotten.
"Our escapees!" Hunter smiled a big smile and I immediately knew we would be friends.
"Unintentionally," I said.
“So your legs just ran and you were powerless to stop them?" He laughed a deep booming laugh and slapped me on the back so hard that I nearly fell over. Coal grabbed my arm to help me keep my feet.
"He forgets how strong he is, you'll get used to it." He laughed and released me.
"Follow me," Hunter called over his shoulder and he set a quick pace over the green and off through the maze of roads that connected the little city. The huge gun bounced on his back in time with his steps.
Eventually we reached a big stone building with little guard huts posted outside and armed guards manning them.
We hurried to keep up with Hunter's long stride as he passed the guards who saluted him and let us pass unquestioned. Beyond the guards, we headed through an archway which signalled the entrance to the building itself. There were two slopes, the one on the right spiralled upwards and the one on the left spiralled down. Hunter headed straight to the left and led us down. The path twisted several times as we descended and then opened out to admit us to a busy room.
We were in a large cavernous space, laid out in a circular pattern. Tables covered with maps and computers and all sorts of research equipment were everywhere. They all pointed inwards to the middle of the room which held a large round table that was obviously the control centre. People dashed about the room checking on information and calling out orders. They consistently looked to the occupants of the round table for confirmation on whatever they were doing.
“Welcome to The Hub," Hunter announced as he strode ahead.
"It looks kind of like the Warden headquarters," Laurie commented.
"Really? I never even saw them," I replied.
"You wouldn't, we had restricted access to our building. No civilians allowed." She smirked at me.
"Makes sense I guess, like the education buildings, no non-students allowed," I said.
Coal snorted next t
o me and I raised my eyebrows at him.
"It just seems like a convenient way to make sure no single person can know about everything that goes on within the city," he replied.
"I'm starting to think you're right," Laurie said before I could respond. "I can't believe I never noticed how strange it was before. Any time I questioned anything, which wasn't often, there would be a perfectly logical reason for why I didn't or couldn't know. I just accepted it, everyone does. They really are just coming up with any old shit to make people believe that the city works for them as hard as they work for it. It's like the perfect control system," she spat.
“They make you feel like you should be grateful to them for protecting you, but really they were just using us the whole time. Keeping us prisoner without us even knowing about it." I remembered my grandma, too afraid to even talk about the outside world she had known from childhood.
"Striving forward together," Laurie said quietly.
"For the good of the population," I replied, the words feeling so different than they ever had before.
“You're out now, and we'll find a way to let the people inside the city know what's going on too," Coal reassured us.
Hunter had stopped by the big round table. He was pointing at something on a tablet and showing it to Alicia. I walked up and peered over her shoulder, standing on tiptoes so that I could see. It was a satellite image of what looked like a tiny concrete platform on the top of a hill, surrounded by thick forest on all sides.
"This is your target. It's the entrance to an underground military bunker from the old world. We think there's another entrance somewhere but it must be hidden in the trees as we can't locate it. This bunker is the home of a very advanced super computer.
“These bases were designed to have their own nuclear power source so as to keep the machinery running self sufficiently. We're confident that it's still running so, if we can gain access to it from here, we can hack the city databases."
"Erm that's a bit outside of our skill sets," Alicia said indicating Laurie, Coal and myself.
"Don't worry, I know your style is a bit more 'smash and grab'. All we need you to do is attach this-" he produced a small electronic device with a cable dangling from one end, "-to their computer, it will give our guys here full access and control."
“Why would a hundred year old computer be any help with hacking Harbour's technology?" I asked. "Surely it's completely outdated."
"It is in some ways, but the cities didn't progress their technologies for years when the disaster struck. They had to concentrate on surviving before anything else and then they used the old technology as a base.
“Also this is a really advanced computer for its time and, most importantly, they don't believe people out here are capable of using the old things so they never really changed their basic set up. It's an open book for anyone who has the key and luckily we have a hacker or two capable of being that key." Hunter gave me an excited smile. I couldn't help smiling back.
“What will you be able to do once we have access?" Laurie asked.
“Well for a start, we can get that list of the people we had working inside who have been captured so we don't give ourselves away by trying to contact people who have been caught. Hopefully we can get our hands on more than just that much, but at least we could get back to where we were five years ago."
"So why has no one gone before now?" I asked.
“We only found evidence of this compound a few days ago but even still, that area isn't somewhere most people would volunteer to go," Hunter said, avoiding the looks Coal and Alicia were shooting his way.
"Why don't you just order a unit to go?" Laurie asked him.
“Because out here we aren't in the business of forcing people to risk their lives for nothing more than being told to do so. We want people to volunteer," Hunter said firmly.
“Or make a deal they can't refuse." I looked guiltily at the others. "It's really me who made the deal, I should just go alone." But they were all shaking their heads before I even finished speaking. Coal actually laughed.
“No offence but you're new here, we have to be sure we can trust the people who go in or you could just smash the computer up or sabotage the mission in some other way," Hunter said.
“And you're nowhere near well enough trained," Alicia added.
"So why would no one volunteer to go?" I asked, deciding to ignore Alicia's snarky remark on my skill set.
“Because it's an area full of Creepers," Hunter said solemnly.
Everyone looked very serious at that but Laurie and I were confused.
“Okay, that's not an explanation to me," Laurie said finally.
Coal sighed behind me, louder than was strictly necessary.
“Well, as you know, when they interfered with the plants it resulted in changes in most of the animals that ate those plants or in the animals that ate those animals." I nodded as Hunter explained. "But obviously it didn't make much difference to most humans." He indicated all of us.
“Yes," I agreed.
"Then why do you think they went and hid behind those huge walls if there was no real threat to humans?"
“The contaminated?" I hazarded a guess based on what Coal had told me already and the knowledge we had been given in the city.
"Partly. But it was, at first, because they thought they were susceptible."
"Why? If no one ever presented any symptoms after the initial outbreak..." Laurie asked.
"They thought that the people who hadn't been affected just hadn't been exposed to the contaminant." He fixed my gaze.
"Wasn't everyone?" I whispered.
“We think we were."
"I don't understand," Laurie cut in.
"Neither do we for sure, to do the proper testing we would need labs like they have in your city. But as far as we can tell, the effects of the contaminant serve to enhance the natural attributes in a host. For example a plant naturally strives to grow big and reach for the sun, so now they grow bigger and faster and are stronger and more resistant to anything that harms them."
“Okay, and a Cougar which was naturally territorial would become bigger, faster and more aggressive and decide they had a better talent for hunting if they ran in a pack?" I asked.
"Exactly." Hunter nodded approvingly at me. "Now, as far as we know, all other species developed in line with each other: all cougars got fiercer, all dogs got faster and smarter. Some prey creatures got smaller or better at camouflaging. It was always something that was best for the survival of the species. But humans were divided."
"How?"
“The majority of us appear to be much the same as we were before the change, but we are in fact stronger and more intelligent. Also, we have reason to believe that a lot of birth defects and illnesses no longer affect us when they used to pose a real issue to our population. We heal faster than we did a hundred years ago too. However, other humans became more like wild animals, feral things, intelligence became an evil cunning, they're vicious and dangerous. They keep to themselves mostly these days, living in packs. We don't interact with them if we can avoid it."
"Are they really so different to us?"
"Yes. You can't understand unless you see one but, they aren't like us anymore. They barely use language, they don't have civilisation, they catch things with their bare hands and eat them raw. They live with some kind of hierarchy and fight to the death to stay on top."
"That's horrible," Laurie said.
"Now you understand why people don't volunteer to head into one of their nests."
I looked at Coal and Alicia as guilt stirred in my gut. "I can't ask you to risk it for me."
“You didn't ask us, we volunteered," Alicia stated.
"So stop going on about it," Coal added as he pushed me aside to get a good look at the satellite image. "What's the plan?"
"We're going to take the road as far as possible but we'll have to walk the last few miles. The plan is for you four to sneak through and get into
the bunker while we cause a distraction to draw the Creepers away from you." Hunter looked too excited at the thought of danger as far as I was concerned.
“Sounds like a plan," Coal said, he looked pretty excited too. Maybe everyone out here was crazy.
"We'll leave at first light,” Hunter announced. "Are you going to be staying in your house?"
Alicia glanced at Coal a little uneasily. "Have you got somewhere else where we can stay tonight? We aren't stopping and if we go home people will see us and then we'll have to deal with them. I'm sure Coal doesn't want to run into-"
"Anyone," Coal said firmly. "I just wanna get an early night so that we're ready for tomorrow."
Hunter laughed loudly. "Oh yeah I'm sure you wouldn't want... anyone, to bother you tonight." He slapped Coal on the back and Coal shook his head.
“Thanks," Alicia said with a smile. "You know how annoying people can be."
"I do. I get a fair few annoying people looking for me when I'm in town too." Hunter grinned.
I frowned at Laurie in confusion as they left us in the dark but they clearly had no intention of enlightening us.
"So where are we going to stay then?" Laurie asked.
"I'll show you where you can bunk down, are you alright in with the girls Coal?" Hunter asked.
Coal glanced my way before he answered and I bit my lip as I remembered waking up in his arms this morning. "Sure, whatever's easiest."
"Man after my own heart." Hunter laughed and led the way.
Hunter took us out of the guarded compound to a building full of apartments. It was a lot more like the kind of living arrangements that I’d been used to in the city, though it was much more spacious.
“There's power on in this block, so you can have showers and lights but it's a bit sparse on fixtures," he said as he opened the door for us.
There was one bedroom which was void of any furniture but Hunter gave us all roll mats and sleeping bags so that we could make our own beds. We set about sorting out our sleeping arrangements and Hunter produced some dried noodles and vegetables and made us all a stir fry.
We spent dinner laughing at Hunter's stories, many of which involved him teaching Coal and Alicia various ways to get into trouble and them doing it with varying levels of success. He was somewhere between a mentor and big brother to them and watching the easy way they acted together made me ache for the familiarity of my own family and Taylor.
Rebel Rising: A Dystopian Romance (Cage of Lies Book 1) Page 22
