by Blair Drake
“We’ll find out soon enough. I’m hoping it’s the end of the line before the epicenter. I’m not really sure what to expect, so I don’t know.”
“The epicenter is just the big energy room, right?”
She shrugged. “You saw the map just like I did.”
“Yeah. Okay, the sooner we see what’s out there, the faster we’ll get through it.”
They emerged from the tunnel high on a platform above the edge of the city. It was unlike the part of the city where he’d gotten them food earlier in the day. He was almost glad. If Reese had to smell good food now, his stomach would surely give them both away.
“What is that?” he asked, staring at the group of workers huddled over a pile of what looked like scrap metal.
Raven frowned up at him. “Junkyard maybe? It wasn’t on the map.”
Reese peered down over the stone wall that hid them from view. It looked like chaos on the city floor. People were yelling orders out to other people. Some listened. And when they didn’t, someone would come by and smack them on the back of the head causing a momentary ruckus until someone bigger pulled them apart.
“I don’t know what it is, but it’s a mess down there.”
“Scraps,” Raven said. “I think they call them scraps. They’re scavengers by trade. Not everyone gets to work here. It’s a coveted job because the further you go out of the city, the scarcer jobs are. I don’t think they’re going to be happy if we go walking through the work space.”
“You don’t think we can hide? There’s so much junk down there I doubt anyone will see us.”
“No. They watch everything. It’s money. Like gold even. The men who work as scrappers are greedy, even with each other. If they so much as get a whiff of us down there, they’ll get paranoid, and then we’re toast.”
“How do you know so much about them?”
“I just know.”
Reese inspected the stairway leading down and searched the city floor for another way to escape if they needed to move quickly. There were stairs on both sides of the city, just like the city street he’d ventured down this morning to get to the bakery.
He quickly studied the walkway above the stairs on both sides. “I don’t see a door on that side of the city. Can you see any?”
“Not all places on the map showed tunnels. This may be one of the places where we have to go through the city to get to the next point.”
A sense of defeat enveloped him.
“We have no choice,” he finally said.
“You do have a plan, right? I hope?” Raven asked, peering up at him with her blue wide eyes.
“Yeah. I’m going to bullshit.”
As they quickly walked down the set of stairs with purpose, Reese mused that the art of bullshit was definitely a learned thing. It came natural to some. But most people needed a master coach in order to perfect their skills.
Luckily for Reese, George was a master in the art of bullshit. He could bullshit anyone. After all, he’d managed to bullshit his mother into sending Reese away.
“Just follow me,” Reese said as they reached the first landing on the stairs. “Whatever you do, stay quiet. Let me do all the talking.”
“Why?” Raven asked.
Reese rolled his eyes. “Because I said so.” And then he rolled his eyes again after realizing he’d said something his own mother would’ve said to him. When had he gotten that lame?
They continued walking down the stairs as if they had every right to be entering into forbidden territory. Reese glanced to the right, and saw that the area had been cordoned off with heavy gates. Behind the gate, metal pieces were piled high. Another gate led to a building built into the wall. At the top level of the building was a platform that couldn’t be accessed by any stairs from the outside. He guessed that perhaps it was a lookout for whoever owned this scrapyard.
Seeing how heavily locked in they were had Reese losing some of his bravado. Men were beginning to notice them already. A gnarly guy emptying out a barrel full of what looked like old components from electronics that had been pulled apart squinted at him as he walked by, head held high.
At first, he’d given them a cursory look, and then went about his business. But then he seemed to recognize one of them. Raven. His pulse quickened, but he fought to remain calm. Did he recognize Raven? How could he? No. Reese glanced around and realized Raven was the only girl in the entire place. How did these guys survive without girls?
If he’d been stuck in class and this came up as a discussion, Reese knew one of the girls in class would go off about how women had been pushed out of jobs considered to be male only trades. Most of the time, Reese laughed off that kind of talk. I mean, what was the big deal?
But now he understood, at least in part. Raven was a bull’s-eye. She couldn’t disappear in this crowd like he could. All Reese really had to do was take off his blazer and pick up a tool. Yeah, he was dressed a little different from the rest of the roughnecks. But he’d find a way to fit in. There was no way he could hide Raven. It was so obvious that she was out of place in this environment of men walking around doing what they clearly felt was men’s work.
The gnarly guy glared at Raven. “What the hell ya doing bringing a girlie in here?”
Reese remained cool. “Hey, man. Where’s your foreman?”
The man’s eyes narrowed as he glared at Reese and then at Raven again with suspicion. “Same place he always is. Scrap captain is in his office.” The man pointed to the platform he’d seen high above the scrap yard. “Probably getting ready to break someone’s back like he always does when numbers from the yard don’t turn out right for him.”
“Thanks,” Reese said. He continued walking. He had no idea how he’d get to the office, but he really didn’t care except if it caused more suspicion with the man. The way gnarly guy continued to stare at Raven was his only concern. One whistle or shout, and the whole slew of gnarlies hauling electronic parts and scrap metal would stop dead in their tracks and stare along with him.
He felt Raven close on his heels.
“Not so close,” he said in a whisper that he hoped only she could hear. But at the same time, Reese didn’t want her too far away in case…something went down.
Raven kept quiet, and for that, he was glad.
They made it about halfway through the scrap yard. No one paid them any mind, or so Reese thought. Just as they got to the midpoint of the yard and he could see the arch of a tunnel, a loud whistle blew. It was so loud it nearly pierced his eardrums and made him wince enough to put his own hands over his ears.
They both stood rooted in place, unable to move beyond that point as if the noise would knock them over. Reese turned to Raven to make sure she was still behind him, and found her next to him, covering her ears just as he was. As he fought to move, a burst of steam pushed out of a mammoth engine along the sidewall of the closest building into the middle of the open area. The steam evaporated quickly before it burned Reese and Raven. But he still felt the hot blast of air that caused them both to fall back to the ground.
A loud rumble of laughter echoed off the walls around them.
“Why are they laughing?” Raven asked, getting to her feet.
His cheeks flamed. “Because we’re idiots. They knew this was coming and we didn’t. We could’ve gotten burned by that steam. They weren’t interested in stopping us. They were interested in getting a good chuckle.” He brushed off the sleeve of his blazer which was now covered with moisture and dirt.
“What do we do now?” Raven asked in a quiet voice.
“Act cool.” Reese glanced over his shoulder to see Raven’s reaction and caught the tail end of her rolling her eyes at him. “Okay, so maybe not the best strategy.”
The laughter had stopped and a new guy glared at the two of them as they continued to walk toward the archway.
“You’re not heading in the direction of the foreman’s office,” the man said. “Something tells me you two are just taking a walk. Tha
t’s a dangerous thing in these parts.”
“Oh crap,” Raven said practically under her breath.
“What’s it to you?” Reese asked, feeling a little bit more bravado than he should. The guy was twice the size he was and could probably hammer him into the ground with one blow from his tattooed fist. Call it a gut feeling, but Reese figured this dude didn’t respond well to nice and polite very often. At least not in the way that would help Reese and Raven.
The man lifted his chin and looked down at the two of them down the bridge of his nose. “Everything that happens on this floor is my business. Everything. I say who comes. I say who goes. You so much as breathe near me and I can end you. And I say you two don’t belong here.”
“Yeah? We don’t belong anywhere.”
The man frowned just a fraction, which was good because it cracked just a little bit of his nasty façade.
The man squinted his eyes. “What you want with the foreman? Don’t lie to me, yungin’.”
“We wouldn’t dream of it,” Raven said, standing up a little straighter and coming alongside Reese.
“Oh, geez,” Reese said under his breath.
The man ignored Raven as if she was wasn’t even there and continued to glare at Reese.
“We’re supposed to be working in the outer rim. It’s tough work there. At least that’s what we were told.”
The man finally glanced at Raven and then back at Reese. “You’re a damned fool for taking a girlie with ya. A little thing like this doesn’t belong in the outer rim. Stupid?”
Reese couldn’t help but smile. “I guess that depends on who you talk to. I’ve heard a few opinions on that.”
That earned him a quick chuckle from the man. But Reese still didn’t trust him not to turn them in. There was no way they were going to head towards the foreman’s office. Chances were anyone who worked this far out the city was in contact with other foreman in some way. There wasn’t a tunnel for them to dip into quickly. At least, Reese hadn’t yet seen one in the short time they’d been exposed down on the floor.
He looked around at the men who continued to work, but clearly were interested in what was going on. They could easily be taken down by a crowd this size. They could kill him and take Raven. He couldn’t let that happen.
He’d been sheltered at the Cliffs for some time but everyone heard news reports about what happened to girls when they were captured by someone meaning to them harm. He shuddered, but recovered quickly, pushing the thoughts of what might happen to Raven if she were all alone out here.
“If you’re on your way to the outer rim, you best get there. Joe B hates it when people are late. You’ll never get a job anywhere else,” the man said.
Reese wasn’t sure if the guy was actually taking the time to give him some advice or if it was a warning. Outer rim. Was that the epicenter? He hadn’t seen anything like that on the map. Was it another place on the map he’d failed to pay attention to?
In the end, Reese just nodded his head, and grabbed Raven by the hand. The sooner they got out of there, the better. Raven didn’t fight him. Instead, she slipped her small hand into his, and wrapped her soft fingers around his skin.
They kept walking. Reese was only vaguely aware of the interest being given them. Determined to keep going, he held Raven’s hand and practically dragged her behind him. Even with that, he had to slow his gait to keep her from having to run.
He glanced at the eyes of each of the men as they walked by and noticed they were staring at Raven. He pulled her closer until she was up against him as they walked, making her stumble once. His heart beat fast and all he could think of was getting through that archway and hoping it was an empty room where he could take a breath of relief and figure out their next move.
But each of the men had that look that made his stomach lurch because he knew what they were thinking. He was a guy. He knew guys. Any one of these men could do some serious damage to Reese if they tried to get to Raven. But he was more concerned about her. She was so tiny. Tiny and mighty. But still, she was no match for what Reese feared they were thinking.
Raven stayed quiet, and kept up with him as best she could. Reese focused on the distance they had left ahead instead of on the piercing gazes of the men they passed.
Raven gave him a little tug on his hand.
“What is it?”
She bobbed her head up.
“What? Stairway?” he asked.
She nodded ever so slightly and quickly and Reese glanced at the top of the stairway to see if there were any doors that might lead to another tunnel. He could see other areas as he searched, looking back-and-forth from inside of the great open space to the other and still he saw no doorway. There were no apartments or stores or anything that indicated some reason to climb the stairs.
When they reached the stairs, Raven pulled him to the right. She quickly walked up to steps before he held her back. She turned with a surprised look on her face.
“There’s no way out up there.”
Raven glanced up at the top of the stairs and looked around before looking back at him.
“There has to be.”
“I’m not going up there unless I know that there is a way for us to escape.”
“I just…”
“Hey, you two!”
Reese’s heart stopped beating for a second. He turned around slowly, but no one was there. He turned back and saw a man climbing out of a tractor partially hidden by a pile of scrap.
“I asked you a question,” the man said again. He wasn’t nearly as big as the other guy at the beginning of the scrap yard. But there were muscles with bulging veins that Reese knew weren’t formed by sitting in a tractor cab.
Reese motioned toward the archway, which was still a good hundred yards away by his estimation.
“No one who isn’t crazy and up to no good would ever dare venture beyond the scrappage.”
The rough looking man lifted his chin and stared hard at both of them down the bridge of his long nose. Reese forced himself to clear his mind. He felt something building inside of him and he wasn’t sure exactly what it was.
“You suicidal, yungin’?” he asked. “Cuz, that’s the only reason I can figure you’d be heading in this direction.”
“No, sir.”
“Sir?” The man laughed humorlessly as his face grew red with anger. “Now I know you’re up to no good, yungin’. Buttering me up with flattery tells me one of two things. You’re a mutant or a strangeling. Either way, you don’t belong here, and you mean to do harm.”
He grabbed what looked like a metal pipe from the ground. Reese used the few precious seconds it took for him to bend over to race past him with Raven by his side. She ducked down lower as he pushed past the man just as he straightened up and started swinging. The pipe came down hard, but missed Reese. Instead of hitting him, it made a loud clang on the ground that barely got the attention of some of the people in the immediate area. The man came up high and readied himself for another blow.
Out of the corner of his eye, Reese saw a bunch of flatbed carts collected over by the large tractor the guy had climbed down from. He grabbed Raven’s hand, and pulled her with him toward the carts.
“Get on,” Reese said, grabbing the flat cart closest to him.
“And do what?” Raven asked, her wide eyes blazing with fear.
“I’m improvising. Get on!”
Reese knew he could run faster than Raven, but he wouldn’t be able to run as fast pushing Raven on a cart as he could alone. Still, he couldn’t leave her behind.
Raven didn’t waste any time getting on the cart. She faced him, and braced her arms on the metal handle.
“Stay low,” he said. ”I may have to plow through a few people.”
She shrunk down on the cart, but peered up at him. ”Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
He got the cart moving at a good clip as the commotion caught the attention of the working men around them. Some stayed at their post
, while others started running toward them with sledgehammers or pipes in their hands.
Reese pushed the cart behind a large pile of scrap and debris, and hoped that there wasn’t anything in the way that would stop them.
“There are some men running this way,” Raven said. She peered behind him as he felt the energy building inside his body, pushing him forward. “They’re behind you, too!”
He sprinted hard and gave everything he had. It had been too long since they’d eaten, and his body already felt depleted of energy. His legs burned as he pushed hard. He gripped the cold metal handle of the cart and felt pain in his fingers from holding on so tight.
“Watch out!” Raven yelled.
As they emerged from the debris pile, he saw three men running toward them out of the corner of his eye. But he kept going, and focused on the archway. There was darkness beyond, but he knew that with all the energy flowing through him, he’d at least have temporary light until he was able to calm the flow of energy inside him again.
“We’re almost there,” Reese said. “Get ready to jump off, and run with me.” He drew in a deep breath and heard the men screaming at them from behind. He could tell by their voices that they were still far away. “Ready?”
Raven nodded.
He got to about twenty feet of the archway, and then slowed down enough for Raven to jump off.
“Take my hand!”
She did and then jumped as he let go of the cart with the other hand. The force of her jump along with the forward motion sent the cart careening into the stone wall at the bottom of the archway.
Raven stumbled as she fought to regain her balance, but Reese held her hand tight. As soon as she got her footing again, they both ran under the archway into the darkness. And instantly, Reese wished he’d paid better attention to that map. Because what he found wasn’t anything he’d expected.
Chapter 10
“What the hell is this place?” Reese looked around the room, fighting with himself and the humming inside him that always made the lights blaze and his energy out of control. He wouldn’t make the same mistake he’d made on the first bridge.
