by E S Richards
“Showers next,” Joel explained. “Then we’ve got lessons in the morning and sort of like a boot camp thing after lunch. Same thing every day.”
“Boot camp?”
“Yeah,” Joel paused and chose his words. “We do, like, team building stuff and various fitness tasks. Manual labor stuff too, if anything needs doing in the pit. That’s the only time we get to mix with the other guys from the blocks. Girls too once. That hasn’t happened the last few days.”
“We might see the girls?” Chase suddenly started paying a lot more attention, excited at the prospect of seeing his sister again. “How did that work?”
“Maybe.” Joel shook his head as he stood up from the bench where they’d been eating and went to bus his tray. Chase followed him, anxious to hear more about what his friend had to say. Any chance that he had of seeing Riley again was one he had to be prepared for. He needed to know that she was okay and more than that, he needed to see if she’d found a way for them to get out of the pit.
“It only happened once,” Joel continued. “I was able to see Hazel. I couldn’t talk to her, but I saw her across the pit. The girls all look fine. They look just like we do, really. And besides, Hazel isn’t sixteen yet so she’s safe. Just like Riley will be.”
Chase found himself exhaling with relief, though he knew that wasn’t enough. He’d already known Riley was too young to be a part of the program, though he was more concerned about her than just in regard to that. “We need to get them out of here,” Chase whispered to Joel as they fell back into line with the other boys. “We need to escape.”
Joel didn’t reply. Chase saw his shoulders stiffen at the words. They both had the same goal and Chase knew that Joel would help him to complete it. Joel and Hazel’s mother was still out in the city somewhere. Joel explained how they had been taken from their home and forced to leave her by herself. Their father was out of the picture and, much like Chase worried about his grandparents, Joel was concerned about whether his mom would be able to survive on her own. If the air really was toxic then the people who were left out in the city needed to start taking more precautions with their health.
Chase wondered about his grandparents and how they were coping without him and Riley to help out. The roof collapsing had left them in a difficult position and by now, Chase had to assume that his grandparents knew he and Riley weren’t coming back any time soon. He couldn’t make up his mind about whether they were more likely to stay at home and wait, or go out looking for them. He hoped it wouldn’t be the latter—if that was the case then Chase really couldn’t guess at when his family would reunite again.
But for now, he needed to focus on Riley. He kept his head down as his block was marched out of the cafeteria and toward the makeshift communal showers. They looked like they had been rigged together by a complete amateur, the pipes leaking and the tarpaulin that covered the ground gathering large puddles in certain places as it slipped and fell out of place. They’d been set up outside—although technically the amphitheater had a roof over the outdoor area now so performances could continue no matter what the weather was—so there was no privacy or place for any of the boys to change. They were simply forced to strip off and enter the showers, or lose out on their chance to get clean for the day.
By the time Chase stepped under the stream of water, it was completely cold. He doubted whether there had been hot water to start with, but with him being from Block D, he knew he’d never get to experience it if there was. As the fourth and final block, they ate last in the morning, showered last, and Chase presumed they did everything else last as well. The pit was almost filled to maximum capacity, only one cell remaining empty beside his.
“Time’s up!”
Chase blinked as the stream of water that was raining down on him suddenly stopped, soap still covering parts of his body. A member of the Authority looked over at him, Chase, Joel and two others who were the last to occupy the showers.
“Dry off and get dressed,” he commanded them. “Lessons start in fifteen minutes.”
Doing exactly as he was told, Chase collected a pair of pants, underwear, and a T-shirt from the pile that was pointed out to him. The clothes were all mismatched and came in various different sizes, the T-shirt almost drowning Chase as he put it on.
“They’re scavenged from the city,” Joel explained as he fastened the belt in his oversized jeans. “The only things we get to keep are our shoes.”
Chase scowled as his clothes were taken away, hoping at least that his Re-Breather which he’d left hidden underneath his bed sheets would still be there when he returned. “This is stupid,” he complained as he tugged on his boots. “Can’t they at least sort the clothes into sizes?”
“I think that’s something the girls do,” Joel replied matter-of-factly. “They’re trying to get this place running better. You forget how little time all of this has been going on for.”
“Feels like forever,” Chase answered, thinking back to all the things that had happened to him since the eruption. He remembered Riley thinking that it was snowing outside and all of them being so incredibly confused by what was falling from the sky, their confusion only to then be replaced with horror when the truth was revealed.
Chase could still remember the words that he’d heard on that news report, warning the country what had happened and how devastating the effects were going to be. He thought of Mia and where she had been when Yellowstone erupted. Chase desperately wanted to believe that she was still alive. Nevertheless, he knew it was unlikely. Mia was very resilient and was probably one of the most prepared people on the planet for an event like this, but even she wasn’t invincible. No one was.
Especially not his grandparents. Chase remembered how bad the weather was getting around the farmhouse and how his grandpop’s body was not only struggling to stay strong, but his mind as well. What if he ran off outside again? His grandma wasn’t equipped to go out and run after him—what would they do if he lost his mind and Chase wasn’t around to bring the old man back inside?
Chase again tried to push thoughts of his grandparents to the back of his mind, though it was a nearly impossible thing to achieve. He would never give up on his family and he would never stop thinking about them—no matter what sort of terrible situation he was in himself.
As he joined the back of the line of boys once again that morning, Chase subtly wiped away a tear that slid down his cheek. He knew he had to be strong and to continue to try and find a way out of the pit, away from the Authority and back to the farmhouse, despite it feeling insurmountable. He was growing tired of always having to be the strong person—he couldn’t do it all the time without feeling weak inside. He missed his family. He missed his home and he missed having someone to tell him that things were going to be okay. Chase longed for his parents to still be alive, just so he could hear them speak to him one more time. No matter how devastating the eruption had been, it was nothing compared to the damage losing his parents had done to Chase. He had been broken that day and he doubted whether he would ever feel whole again.
No child was ever prepared to say goodbye to their parents. No child ever thinks that when their parents leave the house one morning, they won’t return. To know that his mom and dad would never say his name again, never see everything that he achieved as he grew up, and never know the man he would eventually become was incredibly difficult for Chase. He never told anyone he was terrified of what would happen to him now that he didn’t have a role model in his life. Even with the eruption to think about, he was still more concerned about what would happen to his future without his parents to guide him. Now, he wondered whether he would even have one.
He’d already said goodbye to his parents for the last time without knowing it, perhaps now he had done the same with his grandparents, Mia, and Riley too. Chase tried to keep himself from breaking as the thought crossed his mind. Would he ever see his family again, or was this the end?
The Fallout
The E
scaping Darkness Series Book 4
Chapter 1
Waking once again to the unchanging view of Jessica’s bunk bed above her, Riley sighed and swung her legs out of the sheets, planting her bare feet on the floor. Stretching as she sat up, she bent forward, tucking her head between her legs and looking underneath the bed. The old, rusty nail she’d found in the hallway was still there and so, as she did every morning, Riley scratched another notch in the base of her bed. Six lines. Six days she had spent captive in the pit. Held by the Authority against her will, with no firm plans of escape formulated. Groaning, Riley grabbed her washcloth from her tiny pile of possessions that sat beside the bed and made her way out of the bedroom, the other five girls all still sleeping soundly.
As she padded down the hallway, Riley walked slowly, as she did every morning. She knew the route well now, the small theater where she was kept scarce of places where anyone could hide away. From her knowledge of Houston and the information she had gathered from other girls, Riley knew the place she was being kept was one of the smallest. It was for girls aged nine to fifteen; old enough to not need nannying constantly, too young for the program. From what Riley could tell, it was the best place to be housed, but that didn’t make her enjoy it any more.
Walking into the communal bathroom, Riley smiled at the one other girl who was there. Hazel. Much like Riley, she was an early riser and they had become accustomed to seeing each other first thing in the morning. That wasn’t the main thing that bonded them though. Both Riley and Hazel had brothers being held somewhere else by the Authority and both of them wanted to find their way back to them.
“Hey,” Riley spoke first, walking to the sink beside where Hazel stood. “You all right?”
“Yeah,” Hazel nodded, offering Riley a smile in return. “You?”
“Yeah, same old, same old, really. Another day in paradise.”
Hazel laughed, a sound that was not often heard in the pit. “You can say that again. I wonder what we’ll be doing today. Laundry? Assault course? Quantum physics?”
Riley returned the laughter. The activities that the Authority had them doing on a daily basis really were made up of the most peculiar things. Every morning was the same: lessons. They ranged from the usual things like math, English and science to more propaganda-based studies that the Authority called current affairs.
They learned all about Yellowstone and the eruption that had occurred there, along with other natural disasters and how they were both caused and prevented. Riley doubted how much the Authority really knew about what had caused everything, the lessons detailing that it was just a natural phenomenon that was overdue. Perhaps it was because of Riley’s knowledge of what Mia did for a living, but she didn’t buy the volcano just erupting by chance. If that was the case, she was certain Mia would’ve known it was going to happen. She trusted Mia completely and knew that if there was even the slightest chance that they had all been in danger; Mia would’ve let her family know.
“Who knows?” Riley replied. “I feel like they just make it up as they go along most days. We’ll find out once we’re out there, I guess.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I wonder if we’ll get to see the boys again today.”
“I don’t know, Hazel. You say that every day.”
“It happened once before!” Hazel was quick to argue her point, remembering the one day when she’d spotted her brother Joel across the pit. “It might happen again.”
“You know I want it just as much as you do,” Riley lamented, picturing her brother in her head. Six days was the longest she’d gone without seeing him in the last fifteen months. Before that she wouldn’t have minded so much, whereas now it felt like a part of her was missing. After losing her parents, Chase had quickly become a safety blanket for Riley. They argued and fought like siblings always did, though at the end of the day there was a connection between them that was stronger than anything else Riley had ever known. She missed her grandparents and Mia every day as well, but she missed Chase so much more.
“Do you think they’re okay?”
“I do,” Riley nodded in response to Hazel’s question. “Chase will be able to look after himself in there and I’m sure Joel can as well. I bet they’ve made friends just like we have and are planning a way to break us all out of here.”
The faintest smile crept onto Hazel’s face as she imagined what Riley was suggesting, but the laughter was gone. As always happened between the two young girls, their conversation merely reminded them both of the dreadful situation they were in. Neither of them was any closer to finding a way out of the pit and back home, and despite their best efforts every day, they never managed to find much more new or useful information.
“Yeah,” Hazel nodded, trying to force the smile to cover her whole face, even though it looked false. “You’re probably right. They’ll have us out of here in no time.”
“In no time,” Riley repeated, her sentence trailing off as another girl entered the bathroom and gave them both a look. Immediately all talk of escape and their brothers faded away, both Riley and Hazel aware of what could happen to them if the Authority found out they were planning something.
“I’ll see you out there,” Hazel ended the conversation in a low voice, picking up her washcloth and toothbrush and walking away from the sink.
“See you,” Riley replied, not looking away from her own reflection in the mirror. They had both been there when one young girl, Effie, was found trying to escape from the pit, her roommates telling the Authority what she was doing at night. Rumors had spread between the girls like wildfire, everyone knowing by the end of the day that the girl had been trying to break out. Apparently, she’d found a loose panel underneath her bed and had somehow managed to steal a couple of spoons from the cafeteria, which she was using to chisel away at the outside wall. It was ridiculous and everyone knew it would’ve taken her years to even make the smallest dent, yet it was still regarded as treason against the Authority and she had been marched away, never to be seen again.
As a result, any mention of escape or disregard for the Authority’s rules was never spoken aloud. The girls all feared what would happen to them, more rumors circling the pit about what had happened to Effie. Riley tried her best not to listen to them—and when she did, at least not to believe them—but it was hard not to be frightened by what she heard. That was why her conversations with Hazel all tended to end too abruptly, the pair of them rarely having long to share their thoughts and findings from each day.
Packing up her own washcloth, Riley pushed her way out of the bathroom door and made it back to her bedroom without bumping into anyone else. Jessica—her bunk buddy—was finally up and about, along with Olivia and Alex, though Casey and Gwen—the two youngest girls—were still in bed, both of them preferring to sleep as long as they physically could.
In the first couple of days after Riley had arrived in Houston, Jessica had been incredibly talkative, chatting Riley’s ear off about any topic that came to mind. Thankfully that had died down now. Riley’s reluctance to respond to very much clearly giving Jessica the idea that she wasn’t interested. It didn’t bother Riley though; in fact, she preferred being left to herself. She knew she had to stay focused and keep trying to plan a way out of the city. Despite the part of her that kept niggling at her and asking for a few moments just to be a thirteen-year-old kid again. There would be time to play around later, Riley told herself. Once all of this was over and she was back home with her family—until then she had to suck it up and act beyond her years.
“Come on, guys,” Riley nudged Casey and Gwen as she walked past their bunk. “It’s time to get up now.”
Both of the younger girls groaned then eventually did as they were told, dropping to the ground and scooping up their clothes for the day in their arms. Riley turned away and smiled at Jessica, trying to make sure she hadn’t burned the bridge of their friendship too much. Jessica seemed to blow hot and cold with her—though Riley could tell it was due t
o her having issues readjusting to life under the Authority.
She was quite clearly scared, but Riley couldn’t hold her hand all the way through it. Sooner or later, Jessica would’ve had to learn to take care of herself. The way Riley saw it, this was just speeding that process up a little.
“You sleep well?”
“Yeah,” Jessica nodded, not making eye contact with Riley as she replied. “Did you?”
“Yes, thanks,” Riley smiled. “Slept like a baby.”
It wasn’t true. Riley hadn’t had a good night’s sleep since she arrived in the pit, and Jessica likely already knew that. She was lying too, her crying one of the factors that kept Riley awake through the night. Gwen often cried as well, though not as regularly as Jessica did. Riley couldn’t blame either of them. There was a large part of her that wanted to break down and cry too, she just wouldn’t let herself.
“Do you know what lessons are going to be this morning?”
Jessica shook her head, looking away from Riley. Clearly, she wasn’t in the mood for conversation that morning, something Riley couldn’t complain about. Being the first one from her room to be completely ready, Riley slipped out yet again and made her way to the cafeteria to wait for breakfast. She was still early, but Imogen—the woman who ran the cafeteria—was always kind to her and allowed her to wait in there rather than being confined to her room while everyone else finished getting ready.
There was an interesting mixture of freedom and routine under the Authority’s rule. What they all did every day was very regimented: breakfast as a group, followed by lessons in the morning, lunch, and then an afternoon of random activities. They ranged every day from doing laundry—as Hazel had joked earlier—to practical skills or physical exercise. Then the girls all had showers in the evening before being confined to their rooms for the night.
