“The glory is killing someone like you who keeps fighting even when she thinks she has nothing left to fight for.”
He swung his sword as she threw herself to the ground. He stood and laughed as he watched her. Turning, he knocked Paul out with a blast that sent him to the ground unable to move. Stalking her, he made sure she was cornered and lifted the sword again.
“You won’t feel a thing.” Raising the sword over his head he never heard the small being behind him. One minute his sword was raising the next there was a knife jutting out of his back. Instead of falling dead like a good Demos he disappeared.
Before Tara could say thank you, someone slipped up beside her and knocked her out.
Chapter Fourteen
Tara woke trying to move, but nothing she did allowed her to wiggle free. She was sitting in a chair struggling to breathe. Opening her mouth, nothing came out. She looked over to see Paul in a chair next to hers. Well they wouldn’t be making escape plans. Of course this meant they couldn’t express their undying love either. They would have to be in love for that to happen. She didn’t have time for that in her life anyway.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?”
Coming back to the present, she looked into the darkness trying to see who was talking. Eventually they would remember that they had gagged them. The voice continued to talk, but she ignored it looking around the room. They had to be in a cellar. The type that you would see in a house a hundred years old. It had a brick cellar that was cold and creepy looking. Where had this house come from? There had been none close to where she had passed out. The area had been empty except for the fence and the guard booth. There had been no sentry. It had stood tall like a silent sentry, observing scenes of devastation that were no longer visible to the naked eye.
She was ungagged from behind with a rough voice in her ear telling her not to turn around.
“I will ask you one more time, who are you and what are you doing here?” The voice was definitely female. She almost wanted to smile it seemed they were always rescued by young females.
“I am Tara and that’s Paul next to me. We are trying to get home.”
“You don’t live around here.”
“No.”
“You don’t live on this planet.”
“Now that can be argued.” Tara gave a brief smile, maybe the whole universe was smaller than she had thought.
Had she jumped from the frying pan into the fire? She was sure whoever was talking was human, but right now that offered no comfort. This timeline was dead and she had no idea why.
“Why don’t we stop playing games?”
Bless Paul, he really did like to come to the point.
“Why are you here?” Their captor asked again. Was there a hint of frustration in that voice? Maybe the sound of youth growing inpatient?
“Well it’s simple. We were attacked by demos, but somehow survived. Then we found out there was a plan to invade our timeline. We came up with a counter plan. When we put the plan into effect we were captured. Maybe to be held for huge amounts of money, but more than likely to be held as a token to make our people fall into line. Anyway we escaped and ended up here. Now all we want to do is return to our timeline, but instead we are being held captive again.” Tara said this as if it was no big deal to her.
Being held captive was right up there with passing out and waking up someplace new. When this was over, if it was over, she would have to write a memoir of what not to do if you wake up a gateway.
“Now.” Paul said, pulling her out of her thoughts. “You know who we are and why we are here. It’s time to tell us who you are.”
“I am Ariel.” The voice said slowly leaving the shadows. “I know she should not exist.” The extended finger was pointing at Tara.
Of course I shouldn’t exist. I was told that I was dead on this world. Of course I was hoping dead meant I had simply not been born? Yeah I knew better, but a girl can hope.
“Why shouldn’t I exist?”
“Because you’re dead.”
She said it so naturally, as if there were no doubt about it that I had to stop and consider it. Yeah, it was the other me not the real me, but this was one of those times I wondered if that was just splitting hairs?
“As you can see I am here. Very much alive.” Well at least for the minute. The way things were going my death did seem to be imminent. “I am obviously alive and not some sort of ghost or zombie.” As if we needed one more scary thing to come to life. “So why didn’t you just kill me and go on with your life?” There had to be a reason I was here.
“Because of my cousins.”
She had finally stepped out of the shadows. She had straight black hair that looked like it had never seen a chemical. Now that made me envious. Skin that was beautiful. It was not too light and not too dark, but truly sun kissed. In my timeline, she would be a model. She was lovely. In the end though, it was her eyes.
She lifted her face and her shocking green eyes staked me. I could barely breathe around my astonishment. They were not a natural green. They were other worldly green. Where could she have gotten eyes like that? Heck how many humans would kill to have eyes like that? Or kill to make sure no one with eyes like that ever looked at them again? It was like she could read your soul, your very essence. I am betting her life was hell.
She slipped a big pair of oversized shades on. The kind that had gone out of style many years ago for me. It left me wondering how long the Demos had been here.
“Do I know your cousins?”
“Maybe not, but the one who looked like you did. She loved my cousins and they loved her. They would tell me about her and as I got older they would take me around her. She was always nice to me.”
“Of course she was. You were a baby and she would have loved holding and playing with you.”
“Maybe. Whatever the reason, she was good to my family. Because she is dead, but I will repay her kindness with you.”
“You return all your favors by tying your guests up?”
I smiled when I said it. I really couldn’t help myself. First thing, I liked her. She had to be between nineteen and twenty-three. Living here in this time line couldn’t be easy, but it was more than that. Both she and I knew she had saved my life. Yet she had not mentioned it or puffed up in pride about it. She was very mature for one so young. She was also the girl in the hologram, so I was in the right place to do whatever. So yeah I smiled, because maybe just this once everything would turn out in my favor.
She nodded her head to the shadows. “Untie them.”
The ropes binding my hands and feet were cut and blood began to surge through my joints. Yep, life was looking up. I looked over to see Paul rubbing his wrists helping. Now what?
“Do you remember me?”
Yeah I did. In my time line she would be a little younger? Maybe not. I remember holding her and making her laugh. More importantly, I remembered her cousins were my friends. They could make me laugh. I missed them something fierce when I ran, but I needed to go. Also my not being around made sure that their lives were safe.
“I remember you. I am surprised you remember me. John my oldest cousin made sure I would always remember you. Now we will find out if his death was worth it. Follow me.” Ariel’s voice was laced with grief.
She led us out a door into what looked like a maze of halls. There were two young men guarding the door. They were brawnier than I would have thought given the state of this time line. Each nodded respectfully to her and then took up positons of security as we followed her.
“I tell them all the time I do not need a protector, but they seem to never hear what I have to say.” She laughed, then sighed good naturedly. “It is nice to have them around. This is our city. It’s an underground city, but it is ours. Here there are no demos. Here we can live freely.”
We had walked for quite some time before coming to what looked like a large open community space. There were people all around with artificial light
everywhere. There were those that looked like street vendors hawking their wares. It was like a scene from a renaissance fair. The more I looked, the more I smiled. It was a different life, but in the end that didn’t matter. They had found a way to survive.
The people of this timeline had not just laid down and died. They had adapted in such a way that the Demos above had no idea of what was under their noses. Suddenly, I was happier than I had been in a long time. They still had hope and the will to fight. I felt like we had a chance no matter what happened to me.
“This is where you come to sell your goods? Is there a hospital around here?” Leave it to Paul to ask about the medical facilities.
“Yes to both questions. We have a large underground system here. Not just here, but all over the country.” Tara had to smile at the pride she heard in Ariel’s voice.
“That’s amazing. Why do the demos think that you have given up?” Tara wanted to try and reconcile what she was seeing with what she had seen on the surface.
“There are still those who choose to live above. Some of them are spies. They keep us informed of what the Demos are up to. Others are older and they feel they cannot adjust to life underground, so they say if they have to die so we can live, so be it. Still others simply choose to live above ground and no one knows their reasons. Either way, enough stayed to make the Demos think they have won.”
“But you haven’t given up.” Paul looked around wishing he could see a hospital. “You’re just waiting for something or someone.” Tara knew the last was a shot in the dark, but once said it really made sense.
“Yes we are waiting. Shall we continue our tour?”
Tara hung back to trade looks with Paul. They were waiting on her of course. That was the easy part to figure out. The why was so much harder? From the looks of it the other Tara had died many years ago. Why would Ariel be expecting her to come then? How did a young girl her age become the leader of this rag tag group in Pittsburgh? What was it about her eyes that was trying to jog a memory loose?
They took a trip through the local infirmary as they called it. Paul was impressed despite himself. The physicians had managed to salvage many of the modern day machines, those that weren’t too heavy, and even make them work underground. They had both natural and man-made medicines they were using. In some ways, it was like the Demos had never invaded. That is if you could ignore the living underground part.
They had schools to teach not only the children, but those who wished to specialize in a field of interest like medicine. They also had a communication system that kept them abreast of the news happening across the world. There was only one thing missing. Soldiers.
“What you have done here is mind boggling. To be able to move a whole society underground and keep it running. How was this managed?”
Ariel smiled at Paul. His praise for what they had been able to do was radiating as joy from the smile on her face. “Everyone pulled together when I was still young. Doctors, lawyers, scientists you name them, they helped. My cousins were part of that number. They called it the new world order. There was so much chaos during that time.”
********
Ariel thought about what it had been like to see what looked like people with wings on their backs, black wings. The devout had thought that Satan had been unleashed on them. Even now she could see how they would think that. There had been those who thought they truly were demons and tried to worship them. That had not ended well. More than anything, there had been panic in the streets. The looting had been overwhelming. People just taking what they wanted or thought they needed.
There had been many deaths simply because someone had been trampled or tried to take something away from someone bigger. The children had been kept inside because it had become a danger to be out. The Demos had bathed in the chaos. It seemed to feed their sick desires.
All would have been lost if not for the plan. The plan the other Tara had put in place and died to protect. Now she was back and it was now or never. If this last part did not succeed, then they were all dead. Ariel would make sure their planning wouldn’t be for nothing.
“Surviving was not easy. We should have died and probably would have if not for the plan. The underground cities were already under construction when the Demos arrived. We already had a place to retreat to. Not just here, but all over the world. We survived because of foresight and people putting their lives on the line.”
“That person is to be commended.”
Ariel gave Paul a weak smile. “Yes she is.”
“Where are all the doctors, lawyers, scientists and let’s not forget the government officials?”
“They are dead, Tara. The Demos wasted no time. They went for the heads of every government first. They felt that any resistance would come from them. They had no idea that your doppelganger started much lower on the totem pole. We were able to rescue some of the children of the government and military, but that was all. We moved people down here. Since there had been so much senseless death, no one including the Demos, had any idea of the death toll. That sad truth worked in our favor.”
“So you have schools and teachers. You have businesses and vendors. We have walked by many places that I assume are housing. You even have an infirmary and physicians and nurses to run it. I have seen laughing children and smiling parents. I have seen teens and happiness in the midst of bad times. What I haven’t seen besides your two protectors is a military facility. Some place you train your men and women to fight.”
*****************************************
Tara watched as she pushed her too big sunglasses back up her nose to hide her flashing eyes.
“Why would we need a military?” She was trying for nonchalance, but fell short of pulling it off.
“A military would help you to take your planet back.”
“Tell that to all the men and women who are dead. They may disagree with you.”
“Point noted. No matter what you think, the Demos will eventually find you down here. When they do, if you’re not ready to fight, they will destroy you. Children and all.” Tara pushed the point home using it like a sword to find her weak spot.
“I have been wondering why you and your friend were stumbling around my neck of the woods instead of finding your way to the only open gateway in this vicinity.” Tara smiled hearing the anger in Ariel’s voice.
“We were looking for you. Thank you for finding us. That made it so much easier.” Now they were getting someplace. Hopefully the anger Ariel was feeling wouldn’t make her refuse their help.
“Why?”
“If I knew the answer to that, we would have left already. Why didn’t you kill us?” She wasn’t buying the whole you were nice to me as a child story.
“You died to protect this. The underground city. Not just this one, but all of them. In the process of your dying, you saved my cousins lives. Told them they had been born for such a time as this. Because they lived they saved my life. When they died they reminded me that it had always been me. I just needed to wait until I saw hope one more time. That would be you correct?”
Tara nodded, but said nothing. They were now sitting down at a small food vendor. Paul had ordered for them so she took the time to eat and avoid answering out loud. Time was running out. She needed to put all the pieces together.
She turned at the sound of running feet. There stood a teen about fifteen. Her hair was matted to her head in sweat. It was obvious she had just run full speed from somewhere and the panicked look in her eyes meant it was not for fun.
She nodded respectfully to Ariel and waited.
“Speak.”
“The Demos have found one of our underground entrances. The one in town.”
Chapter fifteen
Tara looked into Paul’s eyes and nodded. This fight had to happen sooner or later and sooner seemed to be the way things were going. The Demos who had found the entrance would have to be dealt with. Killing was so not on her resume, but they had shown a complete wi
llingness to kill her. Or at least torture her. She sat still watching Ariel. She had to be the one to make the decision for war.
“Seems I am to be infected by the plague of hope you carry with you. Instead of calling for a retreat we will defend our doorway.” Ariel stood with her two protectors and began to run down the hill.
Although Tara had no sense of direction underground she did know The Hill District. Down could only mean a few things. They were headed to town, she was sure of it. They had already been half way there. Ariel gave the signal to stop, leaving them roughly a half a block away from the Demos if the sound of their voices could be trusted.
The area they were in was very congested and looked like part of an old subway system. There were wide open platforms and other sections that had been used for storage, out of the sight of the pedestrians. They moved quietly, staying hidden in the area behind what was once the tracks until they could see the Demos. They counted seven figures.
“Should we tell the commander we found something?” The first voice hit Thea’s ears making her want to sigh. Here we go again.
“Let’s see where it goes. If we find something worth reporting we may end up receiving an award from Tayrel. If on the other hand this leads nowhere.” The Demos shivered as the thought sunk in.
The sound of that voice sent an icy shiver down Theas back. It did not matter. She couldn’t catch a break. Motioning to Paul they moved a little closer so they could get a better look.
“Are you sure you want to come to the attention of Tayrel?” This came from a Demos with white hair. “I have heard that is it is much better to stay unnoticed, no matter how glorious your news is.”
“That is why so few of you advance through the ranks. You are all too scared or hopeless to see that there could be more for you.” He said this with a taunt as if it was an old argument between them.
Hope (Other World Protection Agency Book 1) Page 11
