by Natalie Reid
Twisting her head, she saw where Tom was on top of the couch. He was not far now. To her left, the furnace waited. She could see it from her perch. Blasting hot air enveloped her face from where a waterfall of clanging metal fell into a gurgling pit of red. It was how she would imagine being in a volcano would feel like. Her hands were beginning to burn from where they were clasped around the lever. They were pleading with her to let go, but if she wanted to save them, she couldn’t do that.
“Grab onto me!” she yelled out to Tom, extending her arm.
He hobbled over the cushions of the couch, almost falling as he tried to make it to the very edge. He was just a few feet away now. Already the rusted car was beginning to tip over the edge. Though the furnace was a long way down, she hoped the splash it created would not reach all the way up here.
Tom faltered as the couch suddenly shifted. Instead of travelling horizontally, its front end was moving forward. The car gave out a sharp crack as it took the plunge over the edge. Now there was nothing standing in the way between the front of the couch and the drop. It extended a few inches over the edge. It would soon tip. Tom needed to get off it now!
“Tom, jump!” she cried.
The couch wobbled. He steadied himself on the wall and then leapt forward. She turned her head as she saw him come, bracing for the impact. He missed her outstretched arm, but instead rammed into her back. His arm quickly wrapped around her neck, and she had to hastily grab onto the lever with the other hand to keep her grip. His added weight threatened to topple them backwards, but she gritted her teeth and wrung her hands around the lever even tighter. In her mind, she kept repeating to herself, I will not let go. I will not let go.
Tom’s other arm snaked around her middle, putting less pressure on the one linked around her neck. His legs straddled either side of her so he could place his feet on the wall. Now that she was no longer supporting all of his weight, she let out a few gasps of air, feeling the beginnings of relief. This thing was not over, but she could see the light at the end. They were going to survive this.
“Jessie!” Tom yelled into her ear.
She jerked her head and looked down the tunnel. Some strange metal contraption was slumped up against the wall. It was creaking as it grated along the cement, sending sparks flying in all directions like an angry spitfire. Whatever this thing was, it was headed straight for them. They couldn’t get out of the way without letting go of the lever, but if they stayed, it would ram right into them. The relief that Jessie had felt just moments ago was instantly whisked away as the facts played in her head. There was no way around it. One way or another, they were going to be pushed over the edge.
The arm that was around her neck lifted as Tom reached out for something. She was about to ask what he was doing, afraid that he might have been about to sacrifice himself so that she could live, when his arm came back with something. There was a white rod of metal in his hand. It looked like it had once been the handle to an oven. He jammed it in the crevice between the lever and the wall. His other hand came around her and pulled down on it.
There was a quiet creak as the lever moved an inch. It did not stop the flow of the tunnel, but it proved that the lever could be forced down. Jessie gripped onto the oven handle as well and helped Tom yank it down. A loud ringing filled the tunnel. She looked to where the metal contraption was grating against the wall towards them. It was slowing down! It was working! They were stopping the tunnel!
With one last heave, the lever thudded to the bottom position. Now that it was sloped downward, the handle began to slip. Jessie let go of it and grabbed onto the lever. Tom hugged tightly to her middle, the white handle still in his hands. The tunnel rumbled to a stop. A few more items toppled over the edge. She watched their decent as they landed in the molten grave. With their final disappearance, the furnace was quiet. There was a dull roar of fire, but it sounded muted past the rush of blood in her ears.
Slowly Tom slipped his arms from around her middle and stepped on a patch of solid ground. She heard the sound of the oven handle as he discarded it to the floor. Her arms and legs were like rubber as she let go of the lever. Her arms were burning with ache, so much that they would not stop shaking, and her legs wobbled as she tried to step down.
Tom came up behind her to keep her from falling and caught her in his arms. He carefully turned her around and pressed her to him in a tight hug. They were both shaking, and all Jessie could think to do in that moment was to let out a trembling burst of laughter. Tom did the same, his hands pressing firmly against her back as his chest shook in relief.
“I thought that might have been it,” he admitted.
“Me too.”
He shifted as he buried his face in the crook of her neck. Warmth washed over her skin like a swell of hot water.
“My heart nearly stopped when I saw you go for that lever,” he breathed out.
Air stalled in Jessie’s lungs as she thought she felt his lips brush across the skin on her neck. Had she imagined it? She felt the touch again, higher up this time. Was Tom really…
The silence shattered as a siren blasted throughout the junkyard. Their emergency shutoff must have triggered an alarm in the system. She pulled away from Tom and looked down the tunnel.
“We have to go before someone comes,” she said.
He avoided her gaze as he started forward, moving quickly along with her. When they exited out the hatch, the siren grew louder, ringing in their ears. Crouching on the top of the tunnel, she looked out to the city streets. She could see no spinning blue lights in the distance signaling Task Force. The alarm had gone off several minutes ago. That should have been more than enough time to assemble a squad. So where were they?
“Why isn’t anyone coming?” Jessie shouted past the siren, confident that her voice would be lost in its wail.
“Maybe the guard on duty thought it was just a malfunction of the system,” Tom reasoned.
She nodded, hoping that’s what it was, and helped him hop down from the tunnel. Stealing across the dirt lot, they found the break in the fence where it had been subtly cut wide enough for a person to pass through. Hitting the east-end streets, they kept walking until they could no longer hear the siren in the distance. It took them another hour before they found a suitable place to spend the rest of the night. Tom hardly spoke a word to her as they settled down on the cold cement floor. A safe distance of at least three feet had been placed between them, and he had yet to look her in the eye. Whatever had happened or had almost happened between them in that tunnel, she got the feeling that that’s where it would stay.
Chapter 4
No Use Resisting
It was late afternoon. The sun was low in the sky and the lights of Aero City were begging to come on. Jessie and Tom had been following a Task Force squadron for the past hour. It was the safest place for them to during the day. The only place a squadron wouldn’t look was right behind them. It also ensured that no other squadrons would be in the area. They needed to spread out in order to cover the most ground, so if a Task Force squadron spotted another one of its kind, it would head in another direction. However, the only draw-back to this plan was that they were stuck travelling wherever the group decided to go.
At one point, the squadron they were following stopped in the middle of the street, and a few agents left the group to search inside of a restaurant. Jessie and Tom watched them from a few yards away, hiding in the shadows of a small alley. On the other side of the squadron, Jessie spotted three people standing on the side-walk. They were blocked by the men in gray, but she could still tell who they were. One of them was a young woman she did not recognize, but the other two were definitely Carver and Denneck. They had on civilian clothes and were scanning the area while trying to look like casual on-lookers.
Jessie turned away and looked back to Tom. She didn’t know how to feel about seeing her father searching for her, but she didn’t have time for her emotions right now.
“What is it?�
�� Tom asked. “Are they coming this way?”
She shook her head. “No. I’ve spotted a chance out of here. My sergeant and Lieutenant Carver are here. I think they’re looking for us. They must have figured out that we’d be tailing a squadron.”
“That’s great,” Tom whispered. “So how do we let them know we’re here?”
Jessie took another quick glance out before retreating back to the shadows. “That’s the problem. They’re on the other side of the agents. We can’t get to them without being seen.”
“We’ll just wait for them to move then,” he reasoned.
“Maybe, but...” She bit her lip in thought. “The thing is, if we wait until Task Force can’t see us, they might be too far away as well. I think we have to act now.”
“What? Just run out there?” he asked disbelievingly.
“No, actually, you’re going to stay here.”
“No,” he shook his head vigorously. “No, that’s a stupid plan. I’m not letting you do this.”
She placed her hands on his arms in reassurance. “I will meet up with you as soon as I can.”
“At the apartment I brought you to on the north-side?” he volunteered.
She nodded.
“And if you don’t show up?” he asked, his eyes filling with panic.
“Then you have to go on without me.”
“And what?” he demanded, placing his hands on her arms as well. “Live the rest of my life hiding in the shadows of Aero City? Or leave its walls to go scavenge in a world that died hundreds of years ago? I might be alive, Jessie, but that’s not living.”
“What is it you think we’re doing now?” she asked sadly. “All I am doing is trying to survive. I can’t fight up in the skies anymore, I can’t help anyone. I’m stealing food and breathing and that is all. At least let me save you.”
She tried to pull away, but he grabbed onto her even tighter. “Old City,” he said. “Head for Old City. You can lose them easier in there.”
She creased her brow, wondering how he would know such a thing. Maybe he and Tag had once gone there for an experiment.
“Promise you’ll come and find me,” he pleaded.
“I promise,” she replied hastily. “Now you need to let me go.”
His eyes flicked from his hands to her face. Reluctantly he released his grip on her. She cast him one last fleeting look of farewell before running out into the street.
Jessie made sure to stop in the middle of the road so everyone could see her. It took only a moment before there were shouts of Bandit. The Task Force agents started to run towards her, but she remained still. Her eyes flashed to the windows of the restaurant. The four men that had been sent to search inside were now rushing out to join the others. Behind them, Denneck, Carver, and the girl were staring at her.
When the fastest runners of the squad were only a few yards away, she knew she had waited long enough. She took off down the street, turning the corner before any of them had even made it halfway there. Her dry mouth reminded her that she needed more water, but the thirst was bearable. She would be able to do this without stopping half-way to go searching frantically for water.
She jogged down to the end of the next street and waited at the corner. When she saw the first agent emerging at the other end, she turned out of sight and jogged casually to the next corner. Slowly she led them towards Old City. It was named such because it was the part of town that had been the first foundation of Aero City. It was where they made the planes and the parts that went into the military air-base. Now it consisted mostly of abandoned factories and vacant lots that had been overgrown with weeds and muddy snow.
Jessie had been running through one of these lots when an agent fired their first shot at her. It went wide, but she felt the volley of dirt and snow hit the back of her legs as the bullet ripped through the ground.
She was about to run at full speed, determined to actually try to lose them now that they were far enough away from Tom, when the ground underneath her feet gave way. It was as if there had been a mini earthquake beneath her in the range of a few feet. She stumbled and slowed down to regain her balance. Before she could begin running again, the ground moved once more, this time violently throwing her on her back.
The snow on the ground cushioned her fall. A few patches of tall weeds surrounded her, giving her a little bit of cover from the approaching squadron. She rolled to her elbows so she could see how far away the men were. They were spreading out in an arching line, blocking off her entrance to the rest of the city. She was about to swing around, planning to hide in one of the abandoned factories nearby, when suddenly she was jerked into darkness.
It took her a moment to realize that she was falling straight down. She flexed her hands and could still feel the weeds and snow underneath them. Then she looked back up. There was a hole several feet wide above her! The clouds moved beyond it, but the circle of sky was shrinking by the second. Clumps of snow fell from the opening and landed around her. She was travelling fast into the rocky ground, but for what purpose she could not say.
The ground under her shuddered abruptly, and she felt her descent slowing. From somewhere close by, she heard someone shouting out in a loud whisper, “Jump off when it stops! We have to send it back up!”
A moment later the ground lurched to a stop. There was a darkened tunnel to her right, and a bearded man stood in front of it, holding up a strange lantern that flickered in bursts of purple. Jessie quickly got to her feet and ran over to the light. The man faltered in shock, for she had moved so quickly it almost appeared as if she had vanished. When he realized that she was standing right next to him, he pulled a lever that had been on the side of the wall and sent the makeshift elevator up to ground level. The metal contraption creaked and moaned as it raced to cut them off from the view of the world above.
“Who are you?” she asked once the ground had been safely returned to the top. “Why did you save me?”
“You didn’t really need saving,” a voice announced from behind her. “And we were more hoping that you might save us.”
When she turned to see who had spoken, she saw a dozen or so people holding glowing purple lights, lining the tunnel. Standing a little ways apart from them was a man with a long coat and dark hair. He looked young, probably ten years older than Jessie, yet he could have been much older. It was the expression on his face that made it so hard for her to place his age, a stare she had seen in so many officers in the military. This man had seen battle. No matter how young his face looked, his eyes would always carry that weight.
“You know who I am?” she asked the man warily.
“Of course,” he responded with a smile. “You’re the girl everyone’s out looking for.” He extended his hand to her. “Jessie Fifty-Fifty, it is an honor to meet you.”
Her eyes flicked down to his hand. “You don’t think I’m a Bandit?”
The man let out a laugh, a single exclamation that echoed down the tunnel and set it alive with bitter humor. “There may be a lot of people out there that are willing to let the government run their brains, but down here we’re smart enough to put two and two together. You’re certainly not the first person that the government’s accused of being a Bandit just so they can get rid of them. In fact, I’ve lost count of that number. But you are one of the few that have managed to make it past their firing squad.” He extended his hand again. “My name’s Jason. As I’m sure you’ve already guessed, we’re with the Resistance.”
She stuffed her hands inside her pockets as she asked, “What does the Resistance want with me?”
He brought his hand back down and sighed. “I might have said we didn’t save you, but I think at least a little gratitude is in order.”
“Okay. Thank you for plunging me down into this hole against my will. Now put me back up.”
Jason studied her face and then regarded the purple light in his hands. The light came from a thin rod with a button on the top. He clicked it a few times on and
off in contemplation.
“You know, I thought you would be happy to join us,” he said sincerely. He lifted a finger and pointed to the ground above them. “Living on the streets is not something people enjoy doing. They can only stand it for so long before they give up. Whenever we offer those on the run a chance to join our ranks, we’re offering them food, protection, a full night’s sleep without having to worry that a Task Force agent is going to wake them up with a bullet to their foot.” He gave her a shrug. “I can only conclude that something happened that caused you not to like us.”
“Your attack on Division Bank may have had something to do with it,” she responded dryly.
Jason shook his head in aggravation. “The thirty people they say died. It’s all a bunch of lies. We were careful in our timing. I was even there myself. Nobody died.”
“So was I. Forgive me if I don’t believe you.”
He put his hands up in defense. “I’ll admit, people were hurt. There was a lot of confusion and fear, and injuries were bound to happen. But we are fighting a war against the government. We had to accept that there would be at least some casualties. You’re a soldier, Jessie. You should know that.”
She tightened her jaw and looked harshly up at him. “I fight Bandits. That is not the same thing as scaring innocent people.”
He nodded his head in understanding. “Well I hope in time you can come to see us differently.” He motioned to the bearded man holding the lantern. “Take her to the second entry point,” he ordered. “It will be safer for her there.”
“We’re letting her go?” the man asked.
“We’re not holding her against her will, Benny,” he responded, the faint echo of a chuckle in his voice. “If she doesn’t want to join us, we can’t make her stay.”
