by S. C. Ransom
The dog looked up at the mention of his name, and Will gave him the top to sniff again.
“Right then, Foggy, find her!”
Foggy jumped up and started off out of the little room without hesitation. I flicked my torch left and right – luckily the corridor was clear in both directions so the two of us jogged along behind him. All the time I was watching over my shoulder for light or movement, trying not to think about what might happen if someone turned into the corridor and saw us. But no one appeared.
As we ran we kept the torches on. The darkness without them was so utterly black we would have run straight into the first bend in the wall, but even with the comforting little puddles of light I hoped that Foggy wasn’t going to suddenly nip to the side and cause a pile-up.
He led us unerringly through what must have been a maze of tunnels, with turn after turn. I tried to keep a picture of where we were going in my head, but it was impossible. With the limited light we had there was no way of spotting any landmarks, and I tried not to think about how we would get back out again if we didn’t find Aria. There was no way we could instruct the dog to retrace our steps. At one point we crossed a very much wider corridor. I could feel a breeze of warm air on the side of my face, and the floor was so polished and worn it was no longer flat. Countless feet had worn grooves in the rock, and when I lifted the torch the thin beam of light disappeared into the distance. Still Foggy carried on, taking us further and further from any escape route. As we rounded one corner I stumbled on a ridge in the ancient floor, putting out a hand to steady myself in the dark. Will grasped it to stop me falling but didn’t let go.
“Are you OK?” he whispered.
Will was holding my hand.
“I think so,” I mumbled, distracted.
We negotiated another bend in the corridor and I was suddenly conscious of a change in the air. There was an unexpected feeling of space and distance all around us. I stopped dead, and I felt Will freeze too. We both clicked off our torches. Some strange sense told me that we were no longer alone.
Gripping tightly on Will’s fingers, I tried to pull him back to the tunnel. There was an unmistakable noise of people – lots and lots of them moving, breathing and snoring – and I knew we were in trouble.
“Hey, you, what are you doing out of bed?” hissed a man’s voice. “It’s nap time.”
We froze.
Will was the first to gain his voice.
“Toilet. Not well,” he hissed back as I quickly groped for Foggy. If the dog growled, we were finished. I clamped my hands round his muzzle and we backed carefully into the tunnel without anyone raising the alarm. Feeling my way along the wall I led Will back round the corners we had turned before he risked flicking on his torch for a moment, shielding most of the light with his hand.
“That was close,” he whispered. “What are we going to do now?”
“It was too close. They might follow us at any minute. We need somewhere to hide, and quickly.”
Will turned the torch on the walls, but there were no doorways into rooms where we could hide.
“Quick, back down here. I think we passed some doorways down this one,” Will said, catching my hand again to pull me along.
“Here, look down here,” I gasped as we passed a small corridor with lots of archways off it. “Another service route.”
“Good call,” agreed Will, turning to following my torch beam.
We moved silently down the corridor and stopped by the first doorway. Will flicked his torch around it briefly. It looked pretty empty, so we slipped inside, safe again in the dark. I felt my way along the rough wall and then stopped, leaning my back against it. I could hear my heart thumping in my chest.
“That was too close,” I said to Will as I felt his warmth close beside me. “What on earth are we going to do now?”
“I don’t know. Give me Foggy’s lead, will you? I’ll give him a treat.”
“I don’t have it – I thought you did.”
“What! Where’s he gone then?”
We heard a brief scraping noise. Will snapped on his torch, lighting up the face of a young woman who was hunched in the corner of the room. She let out an ear-splitting shriek that echoed around the empty corridors.
“Run!” I cried, grabbing Will’s hand again and dragging him back out of the room.
“Strangers!” screamed the woman’s voice behind us. “Strangers among us! Get them!”
As we ran the noise increased, more and more voices taking up the call. We ran almost blindly, torch beams waving madly around as we turned corner after corner, trying to get away. I thought we were pulling away, that the voices were getting fainter when yet again I was aware of a much bigger space around us. The torch couldn’t find the wall so I shut it off quickly.
“Will,” I hissed, stopping abruptly. “This isn’t right. We must have gone in a circle.”
“I know.” His voice was wary. “Stay close to me.”
Back to back we peered into the dark, only too aware of the commotion approaching from behind us. There was no way back that way.
“Have you got your torch ready?” he whispered over his shoulder to me.
“Yes.”
“On the count of three, let’s see what we’ve got here.”
I felt my mouth go dry and could feel my heart pounding in my chest.
“One,” he started, his voice wavering a little.
“Two…” I joined in, holding my finger ready over the switch.
We never got to three. The room was suddenly starkly bright as all the lights came on. Blinking, I squinted around, pressing myself closer into Will’s back. We were in a huge chamber, and all around the edges men were sitting up in low, uncomfortable-looking beds. As each one saw us they gasped, and the noise ran round the room like a wave. Then slowly – and almost as if they were being pulled by the same string – they got up and started advancing towards us.
Will’s hand found mine and squeezed tightly. “Not exactly part of the plan then,” he said, obviously trying to sound calmer then he felt. “Can you see Foggy anywhere?”
“N … no,” I stammered as the crowd began to tighten in a ring around us.
This was all my fault – I had to try to do something about it. For a second I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm myself so that I wouldn’t squeak.
“I’m sorry that we disturbed you,” I said as clearly as possible, trying to catch the eye of any of the men who were now circling us. “I’m afraid we got lost. We’re—”
“You, strangers! What is the meaning of this?” I spun round to see a thickset, bearded man advancing towards us from the line. He was wearing a badly fitting suede jacket and pinstripe trousers, all hugely creased, and he looked furious. He stopped a few metres away and folded his arms. “Who are you? How did you get here?”
“We’re from Above,” said Will, standing up straight and tightening his hold on my hand before leaning back towards me and muttering under his breath, “We’re just going to have to brazen this out.”
We stood back to back in the middle of the circle of angry men.
“And what are you doing here, eh?” said the man menacingly.
“We’re looking for a friend of ours.”
There was a murmur from the crowd and I sneaked a glimpse at them. They were watching us closely, pointing and frowning, and commenting to each other. Will’s blond hair particularly seemed to fascinate them. All of them were wearing a strange mix of clothes that looked as if they had all come from a raid on an Oxfam shop. Nothing matched and, like the clothes of the man who had spoken, everything was really crumpled. The men themselves were very lean and some looked very grubby, which seemed out of place in the otherwise clean environment.
“What makes you think he’ll be all the way down here with us?” asked the bearded man.
“It’s a girl, actually,” started Will. “Her name’s Aria.”
The muttering of the crowd stopped abruptly. You cou
ld have heard a pin drop.
The bearded man took the last step and thrust his face close to Will’s.
“Aria? You come here looking for Aria?”
Will didn’t flinch.
“Yes, sir. She’s our friend and we believe she needs our help. Can you take us to her, please?”
There was a gasp from the crowd.
“Oh, we’ll take you to her, don’t you worry,” said the man with a nasty smile.
I felt a distinct chill ripple through me. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that you can join her in fulfilling a useful function. We’re a bit short of Feeders at the moment, you see, so the Farmer will be delighted to have some visitors.”
Everything stopped. Without looking I could feel Will close beside me.
“I don’t understand,” he said to the man.
“It’s very simple. You’re not welcome down here, and yet you came, so you must be punished. You’ll get a trial, but as you’re clearly guilty the Farmer will have no choice – you will both become Feeders.” He looked slowly from Will to me, and back again. “No one leaves the Community. Ever.”
Will and I were grabbed from behind and our captors wrenched our arms up behind our backs. The pain was excruciating.
“Hey,” I called after a few minutes. “There’s no need to be so rough. Where am I going to run to?” The man holding me ignored me completely.
“Can you give her a break, please?” asked Will, calling over his shoulder. “She’s right – where are we going to go?” The next thing I heard was a grunt as his guard practically doubled him over. Neither of us said another word.
We were bundled along the twisting corridors, unable to make any sense of the direction in which we were travelling, before stopping abruptly. I lifted my head to see a wide door, which was thick and studded with huge strengthening bars. Whatever was on the other side clearly wasn’t getting out – or in. I shivered, hoping that it wasn’t another entrance to the Crop. I really didn’t want to face it again, not before I’d had the chance to make some sort of a deal, and there was no point in making a deal with guards, if that’s what they were.
“I need to talk to the Farmer,” I announced as we waited outside the door.
There was a moment of stunned silence before one man gave a hollow laugh. Will was doing his best to stand upright with his wrist rammed up between his shoulder blades, but he caught my eye and nodded.
“We both need to see him,” Will said in a strained voice. “We’ve got important information for him.”
The man holding him relaxed his grip momentarily, allowing Will to straighten up. He was taller than most of the men and I could see them take an almost imperceptible step backwards. The guy with the beard pushed his way through the crowd.
“What’s this? What’s going on?” he boomed in his deep voice.
“We need to see the Farmer. Both of us.”
“What business do you have with him?”
“I really don’t think that’s any of your concern, do you?” retorted Will, staring at him unblinkingly.
The two of them eyeballed each other for a moment before the bearded guy looked away.
“Maybe they’ve come to let us know about an invasion,” called one guy from the back.
“Silence!” roared the man with the beard towards the small crowd. “Not another word in front of them. Lock ’em up,” he said gruffly, handing over a large key to the man holding Will. “I’ll get the Farmer.”
There was a great wrenching noise as the key turned in the enormous lock and slowly the door swung open. We were bundled into another dimly lit corridor, but the men seemed to be treating us with slightly more respect. The Farmer was clearly not someone you called on lightly.
All the other corridors had been clean and smooth, but beyond the door the air was damp and the floor was roughly dug stone, which was awkward to walk on. A couple of times I stumbled when I caught my toe, and the man holding me hauled me back upright again. Above us, the lights on the string were dim and really far apart, creating long stretches of gloom in the low, winding tunnel. The man holding my arm suddenly stopped. He yanked my wrist up and gave a smile I didn’t like.
“You’ll not be needing this now,” he said, laughing, and ripped my watch off. He threw me to the side. I crashed down on to the rough floor, sharp stones digging into my knees and arms.
“Give me that back!” I yelled, jumping up, but it was too late. He slammed a metal gate shut behind me. Then there was a scuffing and a clanging noise some way off to my left and I guessed that they were throwing Will into another cell.
“What’s happening? Where are you going?” I grabbed the bars, shouting as I heard their retreating footsteps. “I want to see the Farmer!”
There was no answer, just the dull thud of a distant door slamming shut.
Everything went quiet.
I looked around. I was in a small cell with stone walls, locked in by the metal gate made of rusty bars. They had used a huge key which must have been centuries old. Was the rest of the gate that old? I shook it gently, seeing the red dust fall from the extensive rust patches.
“This is ancient,” I said to myself as I shook it harder. More rust fell on to the uneven floor. I stood back and faced the lock, and summoned all my anger at being caught. Then I took a deep breath and kicked out, remembering a long-ago judo lesson. There was a satisfying crack.
Without thinking about how much it had hurt, I kicked again. The old lock fell to pieces and tumbled to the floor. I was free.
Something strange is going on. There has been shouting in the distance, and the sound of the door slamming, and although the lights have come back on the Farmer hasn’t returned yet to question me again. I take the chance to look round my little cell properly. I always wondered where they kept the Feeders before the end. I had hoped it was somewhere nice, perhaps with a few little luxuries, but clearly not. The stone floor is damp, and the mattress of old rags I’m sitting on smells horribly mouldy. I’m trying to decide whether to risk eating some of the food they left me earlier when there are a couple of short, sharp bangs, and then moments later the sound of an unexpected voice getting closer.
“Where are you? Please say something!”
I’m so surprised that I freeze. Surely that can’t be Lily? The voice gets louder.
“Are you OK? Please – where have they taken you?”
Footsteps are coming. I can’t believe that this is happening. How has Lily got in here?
I hear her mutter, “This is hopeless. It’s a complete rabbit warren.” Then she takes a deep breath. “WHERE ARE YOU?”
The noise reverberates around the walls, making me jump.
“Lily?” I ask. “Is that you?”
My voice seems tiny and insignificant after that monumental bellow. There is a moment of silence before I hear feet running towards me.
“Aria?” The voice is quieter now, more tentative. “Are you really here?”
“I’m this way,” I call. “Follow the sound of my voice. You’re not far away now.”
As I utter the last word, a figure appears in the open doorway of my small cell.
“Aria? Is that really you? Thank goodness you’re OK!”
Relief and fear wash over me in waves. Relief that I haven’t lost my friend after all, that she’s risked everything to come and find me, but utter fear that she is here. Fear that I’ve actually completed my mission and what that means for her. I move out of the shadows.
“Lily – what are you doing here? How on earth did you manage to get past the Crop?”
Lily looks over at me and takes a small step, her hand reaching out before she drops it back to her side. She looks uncertain and I can’t run over and hug her like I want to, to show her everything is OK.
“I’m so sorry, Aria. I made a terrible mistake and I had to try and put it right.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that I thought that you—”
; “Shhh! Wait a minute.” I put my finger to my lips. “There’s someone else here.”
I listened hard, then caught the sound – a rhythmic thumping, and then, more distantly, a shout.
“Let me out of here! Lily! Where are you?”
I can’t believe that Lily has taken such a terrible risk.
“Did you bring someone here with you?” I ask.
“It’s Will. He wanted to help find you, obviously.”
I sit back on the rag mattress, appalled.
“Will? You brought him down here? You have to get him out of here, and now!”
“It’s OK for the minute. We’ve asked to see the Farmer.”
This time I’m so surprised I can’t actually speak. Lily can see my face.
“It’s the only choice we have. He’s the one in charge, isn’t he? We were hoping to sneak down here and fetch you without being spotted, but it was harder than we thought, and calling on the Farmer seemed the only other choice. I’ll just have to try and persuade him.”
“The Farmer won’t care what you want, believe me, and he absolutely won’t tolerate Will,” I say. “He’ll be killed. You have to get him out of here, and quickly.”
I can’t keep the note of desperation out of my voice. I can’t be responsible for Will’s death.
“They’re not really going to kill anyone, I’m sure. That would be barbaric.”
Her voice is beginning to quiver and I can tell by the way she is biting her lip that she is trying to convince herself as she speaks. Before I can answer she takes a deep breath and steps back towards the door.
“Come on, you can fill me in on the important details as we release Will and find the way out. We need to escape.”
She turns to leave and I lift my leg to show her my ankle.
“I’m not going anywhere. You’re going to have to sort this out alone.”
The heavy manacle has cut into my skin, leaving it red and raw.
“Oh my God!” Lily is on her knees, trying to prise the metal ring off my leg. “It’s inhuman! They can’t do that to you.”
“You have as much to learn about life down here as I did up there, you know. This isn’t important; Will is important. You must go and rescue him. Men are not the ones needed down here.”
