High Pressure System: First Season Underground

by K. D. Kinney

  “I’ve never been the life of the party before.” I slapped my leg and quickly stifled my laugh when they gave me nothing. I just walked down the hall. “So now he can crack jokes and mine are stupid.”

  “Yes, yours are stupid,” Aaron nodded before looking back at me and laughed. “I’m just kidding.”

  Then they were busting a gut and I wasn’t. “This is why dogs are better company than humans.” I folded my arms and scowled at the floor.

  “You think that’s why the bots wanna be friends with Rachel? Because she doesn’t like people?” His name was Kyle. I was going to rename him Pyle, more like pile of crap.

  I shook my head and was done talking.

  Micah tugged on the stupid rubber hood. I batted his hand away and followed him to the room while the others set up their electro shock unit in a different apartment.

  “Hey, they didn’t mean nothing.”

  “You didn’t either, right?” I wouldn’t look at him.

  “Why are you so moody?”

  “Why are you joining those guys in harassing me? It’s not funny.”

  “Maybe because you stomped on my foot and didn’t apologize?”

  “I shouldn’t have to say I’m sorry when you wouldn’t let me go when I was uncomfortable.”

  “I was just taking a wild guess as to why you decided I was being a total jerk today. Maybe I’m actually just getting you ticked off so you’ll yell more and attract those bots. Hear them?”

  Sure enough, there was so much noise from them gathering on the other side of the vent that I backed away.

  “You guys ready? Because I think we’ve got a bunch ready to fry,” Micah said in his radio.

  “Stand by.”

  “Keep talking, or yelling. Whatever you want. Tell those bots how you really feel about them.” Micah motioned for me to get louder.

  “Now I feel stupid. I’m sick of this rubber suit. It sticks when I walk. I feel like I’m in a sauna. It’s so fricken hot.” I pulled the jacket off and tossed it on the floor. The anger was building and I yelled, “I wouldn’t have to wear the damn thing if it wasn’t for all the little eight-legged-freaks crawling around this stupid hole in the ground. Get out of our ant hill!”

  “Good thing Brandon didn’t hear you insult his pride and joy.”

  I shrugged and wiped sweat off my forehead. “I’m starting to feel gross again. Did I actually swear? I think I’m really losing it.”

  “Have a sit and make sure you holler about how annoyed you are they made you sick.”

  I really wasn’t in the mood anymore. The noise from the bots on the other side of the vent was starting to concern me.

  “You got something on your foot.” Micah pointed to a bot crawling up my boot. There were a bunch crawling under the door. “Hey, why are they coming in this way?” I searched for something to block the crack. The apartment had nothing useful. I smashed all I could.

  “Go,” the scratchy speaker said and sparks flew from the vent.

  “Fireworks!” Micah laughed as I backed up. The bots on the floor scurried out of the room.

  We did the same thing on every floor for the rest of the day. As Micah and I went back to his apartment, I started to feel guilty that I had been so cranky. He didn’t say a word. With the number of bots greatly reduced, I gave up on wearing the rubber sauna suit. The cool bunker air was a welcome relief and I could handle the small numbers of the bot fan club following me around as we walked down the stairs.

  The dogs were happy to see me when we arrived. I stayed on the floor and let them romp over my legs while Micah went to the kitchen area. I kept an eye on him. He was still giving me the silent treatment. Or maybe he thought I was.

  “I have something to show you.” He handed me a cup of water and nodded at me to follow.

  We walked to the very back of the cave. The place where he planned to keep his chickens and where he had a stack of boxes covered with plastic. He pulled a new curtain aside. All the boxes were stacked against a wall and there was a new bed in the center of the room instead.

  “I set this up and stayed in here while you were sick. But this space is for you. I especially felt it necessary after the bots started targeting you, I figured you’d feel better about staying here if you had a place that was your own.”

  My eyes blurred and I grabbed Micah and hugged him briefly. “Thank you. I’m surprised you even bothered to show me this today after how grumpy I was.”

  “It hasn’t been an easy day, that’s for sure.”

  “How come you’re always so … even. Like you never fall apart. Even Jim and Brandon have had their moments. Not you.” I tilted my head to the side as if that would help me figure him out.

  “I feel all the things you all feel. See these pick marks?” He ran his hand over the uneven marks on the wall. “There’s my anger. It’s my pain and frustration over everyone that I miss and mourn. The plants, there is my hope and somehow chipping away at these walls takes away the helplessness. I understand what you feel even though I can’t see it. But you’re the only one that has seen how deep my grief is.” He hung his head.

  There was a giant lump in my throat. I had to swallow hard before I could speak again.“Thanks for putting up with me.” I turned up the corner of my mouth when he gave my shoulder a squeeze.

  When I sat down on the bed, all I wanted to do was sleep. Falling back on the pillows, the dogs thought it was an invitation to join me and lick my face. I pushed them away and opened my eyes, Micah was laying beside me with his head propped up on his arm. He didn’t usually wear button down shirts, probably because he seldom wore anything with long sleeves. I fiddled with one of the buttons so I didn’t have to look him in the eye. He was staring at me and making me wilt.

  “You know what I could use right now?” I plucked a piece of fluff off the bristly scruff on his chin.

  “What?” He leaned a little closer.

  “Pizza. One with all the fixings.” I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling. The color of the stone overhead reminded me of bubbly cheese melted over the sauce “I could even eat a cheese pizza. I just love pizza. I sure miss it. When I’m sick, I think about all the foods I can’t have.” I turned on my side to face Micah again. He wasn’t looking at me anymore. In fact, he was on his back. I scooted a little closer and rested my hand lightly on his chest. “What do you miss?”

  He was quiet. His hand rested on mine and he sighed. I could feel how fast his heart was beating and then it slowed. “I’ve tried not to think about fast food. I’ve been here longer than you though so I started missing it long ago. I’m sort of over it now.” He rubbed the back of my hand as he thought. “I miss burgers and fries. Chinese food. Going to the movies and having popcorn.”

  “I miss soda. There was one place I loved to go to because they got the ice and soda mix just right.”

  “Wait here,” Micah got up and sorted through a few boxes. He left the room with one. When he came back, I was ecstatic.

  “Brown bubbly goodness on ice!” I let the bubbles tickle my lip before I took a drink. “Now I know I love you.” I closed my eyes and tried to make every sip imprint in my brain. “If only I had known how much I’d miss soda, I would have packed some. This is wonderful. Do you have a stash?”

  Micah grinned at me funny and nodded. “Another secret of mine.”

  “Since you shared some of this with me, I wouldn’t want you to have to share it with anyone else. You’re secret is safe with me.”

  “Well, I’ll leave you. You’re probably tired. I wouldn’t want you to rebound and fall ill again tomorrow. Today was probably a bit much.” He started to leave.

  “Wait.” I grabbed his arm.

  He turned to face me.

  “I’m really sorry I was crabby today. You keep surprising me with things like this little room of my own so I’ll be safe, the soda that made my day. I feel terrible. I can’t seem to do nearly as much for you. Maybe my problem is I feel like I don’t deserve to
be friends with someone as nice as you.” I tugged on the bottom of my shirt.

  “I don’t even think about that. I just do things. I don’t expect you to do anything back.”

  I studied my socks. But I could do something. He was about to step away again and I grabbed his shirt. I had never done anything like it before, not initiated it all on my own. My heart was pounding and flipping all over in my chest when I was getting the nerve to go through with it. When he looked at me to see what I wanted, I quickly slid my hand around the back of his neck and pulled him closer until my lips met his.

  I’m sure I surprised him. In the rush that consumed me, fear also trickled in. Then he kissed me back, really kissed me. I had to stand on my toes to wrap both my arms around him.

  He held me tight and that felt even better. I didn’t intend to make out with him, and he seemed to pick up on that well enough. I rested my head on his shoulder, he rubbed my back. I could feel his stubble on my scalp as he rested his chin on my head. There was no disappointment coming from him. Just comfort and I was reluctant to let him go.

  29

  A Change in Plans

  The next morning we electrified the ducts again since there was an influx of new bots. They were after me even more if that was even possible. We were interrupted in the middle of the day for a bunker meeting.

  “That’s great. It gives the bots time to spread out through the bunker again,” Chris said as we jogged down the stairs to outrun the bots.

  It was the first time everyone in the bunker had been together since the big spider invasion started. I was in my rubber suit so I couldn’t slide down the rails and I was out of breath trying to outrun the creepy crawlers that took shortcuts down the walls.

  I eagerly pulled the jacket off when I was sure they had the community room secure. It wasn’t hard to tell how badly the residents had been hit with all their illnesses. A few appeared to be on the mend. I noticed some of the parents looked quite weary and thin as they were finally reunited with their children that had been in quarantine.

  Brandon looked far more frail than ever. Gaunt and hunched over, his eyes appeared abnormally large. He, along with many of the others, sat in a chair. He waved me over.

  I pulled up a chair next to him so he could talk to me easily.

  “Are they still after you?” he asked.

  “Yes, I feel like I’m a fishing lure in this rubber thing, but it’s doing its job and we’re killing thousands of the little invaders.”

  “We’re done killing them. We need to capture them instead.”

  “What?” I couldn’t have heard him correctly. He had to be kidding.

  “I’ll explain to everyone in a minute.” He scanned the room. People were still coming in and settling on chairs or crunching bots that came in through from the stairs. “You look as if you didn’t get as sick as the rest of us.”

  “I guess not.” I didn’t want to tell him how Micah had helped me. The two of them still gave each other looks even though they never said anything to each other.

  Once it appeared everyone was there, Brandon stood and held onto the table to steady himself. “We’ve been lucky that we haven’t had any more casualties with the current round of sicknesses. I’m not sure we’re done with it yet. The doctors say some of us could be ticking time bombs of something worse. And Rachel has suddenly become the focus of the bots. So that might be relief for some. Not her of course. We have a somewhat risky new plan. We are looking for volunteers. Please discuss with your loved ones before you volunteer.”

  The murmuring escalated.

  “We have sealed up the two primary areas where the bots are getting in. We have a crew that has killed a large number of bots that have been arriving nightly. Here is the new plan. We need to capture all the bots we can. Steve has created boxes for everyone. You will need the big tweezers he’s supplied or the heavy rubber gloves to stuff them in the boxes without breaking them, no missing parts.”

  “But there’s usually so many,” I interrupted.

  “Around you lately. That’s why we want everyone else to collect them. Our plan is to collect all we can, reprogram them, and send them back on the drones that come to switch out bots. Every round of bots seems to have a different agenda than the round before.

  “I’m not going to announce in this setting what our entire plan is right now. What I need are some volunteers to risk their lives to go outside the building for a specific task.”

  That made my heart beat faster and it made everyone fill the room with questions. They were impossible to understand with so many coming at once.

  “Why?” I whispered and I turned to Micah. I couldn’t read him and I didn’t know him well enough yet. He was fearless yet was prepared to shut himself away from all of us if he needed to.

  Brandon held up his hand to silence everyone. “This is not to be taken lightly. We don’t know if the storms are waiting to ambush us when we leave. The storms have been uncommonly quiet while the bots are here, probably because of how fragile they are and they have a job to do. They are doing it well. However, I feel things could be changing soon. Before you volunteer, understand it is risky. However, it could change everything if it goes well.”

  I closed my eyes when Micah was the first to say, “I’ll do it.” My heart about jumped out of my chest in protest.

  “I’ll do it,” Aaron said.

  “No, son.” His mother crossed the room and yanked his arm to turn him around. “You’ve already had me scared for your life with everything you are already doing. I won’t allow it.”

  “Aaron, discuss this with your family first and we’ll come back to you.”

  The room was silent for a very long minute. I was feeling it tug at me. A few of the couples whispered to each other, I could tell some of the men were wanting to volunteer, their kids were in tears, the wives were scared.

  I knew scared and I knew what was out there. Unlike the rest of them. Maybe that was where their courage came from. Aaron wasn’t convincing his mother. Marjie was in the middle of the conversation. She kept looking at me. She motioned for me, wanting to know if I would do it.

  I couldn’t respond.

  “We need about three more volunteers if Aaron can’t do it.” Brandon was going to wait as long as it took.

  Families were getting even more stressed. That was bothering me more than the flashbacks. The Anderson girls, Alison and Maddy, were hugging their father’s legs as he raised his arm to volunteer. His wife Christa turned away and hid her face against her toddler son’s shoulder.

  “I’ll do it.” Mr. Anderson peeled his daughters’ arms off his legs as he stepped forward.

  “No.” I blinked several times before I realized that it was me that protested. “I’ll go in your place. Your family is too young for you to take that risk.”

  “You’re too young to take that risk.” He protested. “I won’t let you.”

  Brandon grabbed my arm and shook his head slightly. “You had a hard time after, you know.”

  “I know what’s out there. I don’t have any family ties in here.” Besides, if something happened to Micah, it had better happen to me too. “Mr. Anderson, your kids, your wife need you more than anyone needs me in here.” I bit my lip so I wouldn’t tear up acknowledging who wasn’t in my life anymore. “I don’t take volunteering for this lightly.” I twisted my gloves round and round in my hands.

  “We can tell,” Micah said as he took the gloves. He frowned at me.

  “I volunteer.” Marjie pulled her arm away from her mother. “I’m older than Aaron. If Rachel is going to do it, you won’t let Aaron, then I’m going.”

  The Coopers protested again. Everyone else started to argue, taking sides.

  “Everyone, be quiet,” Micah shouted. No one noticed Brandon had been trying to get our attention.

  “I don’t want strife. Unless the Cooper adults consent, the kids may not go,” Brandon said.

  “Then let me,” Ben Cooper, their father spo
ke up.

  Everyone turned on him and said, “No!” at once.

  “Micah and Rachel have already done so much for everyone. There has to be someone else that will volunteer.” Brandon shifted in his chair until he could push himself up onto his feet. “You can see I’m not strong enough yet.”

  “I will,” one of the younger men volunteered. I didn’t know his name. He was quiet and married to a young woman whose waistline had been expanding noticeably lately.

  I touched Brandon’s arm and shook my head.

  “Someone with family is going to have to volunteer.”

  I didn’t even notice he was there, but Jim crossed the room. “I’ll do it.”

  Then I slouched deep into my chair. He was the last person that should volunteer. Jim squeezed my shoulder once he was by my chair. “I’m doing much better.” He handed a tablet to Brandon. It had several views of the outside in little squares.

  “All right. I have a few more of you I will consult with on our plan. In the meantime, I hope we can get back to normal while everyone collects wayward bots. I need them all brought to the new control room down below daily. Our plan is going to be going into motion as of right now so I need as many as you can find.”

  The main meeting was dismissed. Brandon, those of us that volunteered, and his computer smart techies, including Aaron, all went to Brandon’s new control room. Before he opened the door on the landing, he made us stop while bots migrated towards us.

  “Collect any that climb on you. Leave Rachel be. Don’t take any off her yet.”

  “No, take them off me too.” I started to stomp.

  He grabbed my hand. “Be still.”

  I fought the urge to stomp and closed my eyes. I didn’t feel them at all on the rubber suit.I could hear their little clicky legs crawling all over me.

  “They’re getting those little stinger things stuck in the rubber,” Brandon said. “Get that one that’s near her chin though.”

  I flinched big time when someone brushed against my face.

  “Open your eyes, Rachel,” Micah said softly.