by Isa Marks
“What are you doing,” she hissed.
“Look,” was all he said, pointing at the machines in the water about one hundred yards away from them. A spiral staircase led to the water below them. She could feel the wind blowing through the opening in the rock wall, even from this distance. The room must have once been a natural cave, but was now filled with metal walkways leading to the machines in the water. It looked like a harbor with a variety of boats and submarines.
“That’s our way out,” Daryl said.
Cathy smiled. Things started to come together, they finally had an escape plan. Two men walked up from behind them, startling them as they stood at the top of the stairs. They looked at them suspiciously. Daryl saluted them like he had all the guards he had come across. Their overalls indicated they weren’t guards, but they saluted him back just the same. They were probably ship personnel or maintenance workers.
“We’d better get out of here,” he whispered to Cathy.
She left two towels on the table beside the stairs before returning to the main road. She looked back and saw the men glance at her from the top of the stairs, they exchanged some words and started laughing in a way that usually made her feel uncomfortable.
“Yeah, were good,” she sighed relieved. It was just guys being guys, like those losers at home. “Let’s get to that damn lab,” she said to Daryl, “before we run into people with brains.”
CHAPTER 20
THE LAB
“Search all tunnels, she can’t be far,” Adrien yelled over the field.
Before him stood a line of ten guards. All simultaneously shouted “Yes Sir,” and clicked the heels of their leather boots together before taking off into the tunnel on the west side of the Field.
“When did she go missing?” Adrien asked the supervisor in front of him.
“Nobody has seen her since yesterday’s riots, Sir.”
“And you only came to me with this now?” Adrien’s tone became more furious.
“Sorry Sir, we were not able to get a good head count until we had all men contained. The riots took all night, Sir, and we only discovered the footsteps this morning.”
These idiots, Adrien thought, this was what he had to work with. He might as well toss them over the edge of the Field and put that escaped girl in their place. She alone had been smarter than twenty of these fools together. He usually loved situations like this, if the team was right. The thrill of the chase and the usually victorious ending, that’s what made his heart beat. Working with these fresh out of school guards however, it annoyed the hell out of him.
“Find her, and bring her to me,” he said as he walked away to the vehicle. “And get these people back to work,” he shouted as he pointed at the workers who all stood frozen in line, waiting to start another day’s work.
They looked at the raging man in fright, one order from him could end them all right then and there.
“Make them work harder than normal, we are a few people short after all and we need to reach our daily quota.”
◆◆◆
The amount of guards in the tunnels increased when Cathy and Daryl crossed from the green to the orange zone. They had taken a small tunnel to the right, and then left again into the larger tunnel. Some guards were running, bumping into Cathy who tried to stick as far to the right side of the road as possible. Steam was hissing from the door opening beside her.
“You are doing great,” Daryl whispered in her ear. He had noticed her withdrawn shoulders and how she rubbed her fingers together. He could tell she was nervous. He tried to boost her confidence, she could not lose it now, she had to keep up her cover.
“Hold it right there,” a man shouted to Cathy as she passed the checkpoint.
She heard the voice but could not define where it came from. “State your business,” he continued.
Daryl stopped right behind Cathy, he looked at the guard to her right, then looked at the girl whose skin was turning a pale shade of blue.
“Sss...su...supplies Sir,” she stammered while she was trying to focus on the direction of the voice.
The man at the checkpoint looked at her more closely now.
“What’s all the fuss about,” Daryl interrupted.
The guard turned his attention away from Cathy. “Escaped worker,” he said. “They think she escaped during the riots yesterday. Were you on night shift?”
Cathy immediately knew he was talking about Faye. The ringing in her ears was so loud that it was hard to follow the conversation. She heard Daryl in the distance, answering a blurred ‘Yeah’, then felt his warm hand support her lower back. The warmth spread over her entire body and then the world turned black.
Daryl was just in time to catch her before she hit the floor. He was anxious, a tunnel full of guards was not the best place to draw attention. The man at the checkpoint signaled two other guards to come over. Daryl sat on his knees on the floor, his hands supporting Cathy’s head. She was gone again, it had been a long time ago since she had last zoned out, the fainting was new though. The stress must have been too much for her.
“Take them to see Doc,” the man ordered the two guards.
He wanted to hold her close, but he had to keep playing his role as a guard. As inconvenient as the fainting was, this actually turned out better than planned. He lifted Cathy and held her in his arms. The guards cleared a route towards the center of the Bunker’s lower level, where an older man in a white lab coat approached.
“You can put her in the lab for now. I’ll take a look at her in a minute. Med bay is a mess after yesterday, I haven’t even had my coffee,” he grumbled as he walked right past them.
The guards nodded and motioned Daryl towards the open doors at the end of the hall. He laid her down on the table in the middle of the room. The guards returned towards the checkpoint, leaving them alone in the lab.
Daryl took a quick look around, checking the certificates and charts on the walls. He took a file from the desk and flipped through it. There could be information about Murphy here. The doors on the other side of the room had been closed, but now started moving slowly. He backed up to Cathy on the table.
“Breaking in again?” a boyish voice said. Teagan stood in the doorway, his hands filled with petri dishes holding differently colored specimens. He looked at the girl on the table, then back at Daryl. Cecilia followed behind him, carrying a box of glass tubes. The doors closed automatically behind her. She dropped the tubes on the desk, making the glass ring like the tubes might break, and ran over to Cathy.
“Cathy! What’s wrong with her?”
“I’m not sure, she fainted,” Daryl replied.
Daryl stared at the guy in the lab coat, who was looking for something in the medicine cabinet. He took out a bottle and waved it under Cathy’s nose.
Cathy started blinking and tried to focus. She saw a big bright light hanging above her, it looked like the ones in the medical rooms back home. She looked to her left, Daryl stood there with his hand on her shoulder.
He gave her a light smile, “Good to have you back.”
“I’m so happy you’re here.” Cecilia pulled her up and hugged her.
“We have a problem,” Daryl said. “They found out Faye is missing. Guards are looking for her, we should go back. It’s getting too risky.”
“No, I’m not going back without my brother,” Cathy said.
“Your brother?” Teagan asked.
“Murphy,” Daryl explained. “Cecilia said he was here.”
Teagan looked at Daryl and started laughing. “You want to take Murphy?”
“What’s funny about that?”
“Well you’re sort of dressed for the mission.” He pointed to Daryl’s incomplete guard uniform. “They keep him in isolation, that means you’ll have to pass by the medical bay and guards dorms, then break him out of a locked cell. Any plans on how to do that, especially with guards running all over the place now?”
“We’ll make it work,” Daryl said a bit grum
py, not sure if the guy was making fun of him or was helping him. Either way it was useful information.
“Ah you’re up already girl,” Doc said when he entered the room. “My boy has taken good care of you I see. He can work wonders, that he can. Give him a couple of years and he can take over this job from me.” He picked up a small flashlight and shone in Cathy’s eyes for a second. “Wonderful, I wished everyone healed that quickly. I have my hands full today. Now get out of here, I have more people to look after.”
Daryl helped Cathy off the table, leaving Cecilia and Teagan behind in the lab.
◆◆◆
“We found them Sir,” the guard said to Adrien.
“Them?” Adrien said to the boy who had barged through the door into the small square room. The boy regained his posture.
“Yes, the missing worker girl, a guy and a child, Sir.”
Adrien looked surprised. That guy must be the one that got away, he thought. The little girl had been in the other group, the ones that were missing, were they still here? Had they been here all along, right under their noses?
“No sign of a man and another girl?” he asked.
“No Sir, no mention of anyone else, Sir.”
“Hmmm, keep searching,” he said pacing behind his desk. If they were still here he would end it right now. But he needed a better team, people that he could trust. Not these clowns, he thought, as he looked at the kid in front of him, who looked like he was about to wet his new carpet.
“Go, what are you waiting for?” he shouted at the boy. He could have made him wet his pants, like he had done to many new recruits before. Instead he let him off easy, he had work to do after all.
Adrien looked out of his office window, and stared at the wall of the building in front of him. The little alley below was empty this time of day, making it one of the quieter offices on this level. Adrien locked the office door behind him and polished the nameplate on his door. He was proud of where he was, what he had become, but even more of what he would become.
He walked up the stairs of the office building in the middle of the Mall. This was the level he belonged, he thought, up with the big guys. Adrien gave a confident three knocks on the door at the end of the hall. It was not a custom to come here uninvited, but certain situations required exceptions, he was convinced of that.
“One minute,” a voice on the other end of the door said. Adrien always wondered if they were actually busy in there or if it was just a power play. A chance to make them wait to show them who’s in charge. That was what he would do, he smiled at the idea of the mental games he could play here.
“Come in,” the voice said.
Adrien saluted the man who sat before him on the desk, whose neatly polished Oxfords reflected the office light. He knew exactly what he was going to say and who he needed in his team. This man had the authority to fulfill his wishes, and he would. Not more than two minutes later Adrien stood outside the office. He had the green light he had hoped for and his team was on its way, when his walkie croaked . . . “Sir, we have a situation Sir.”
CHAPTER 21
PRISON
They made it past the busy medical bay, which was a strange mix of bruised guards on one side, and heavily bleeding workers strapped to their field beds on the other side. Nurses ran between both camps and the side of the main road, where another row of injured workers lay waiting.
The guards’ rooms were unexpectedly empty. All of them must be out looking for Faye. They followed the main road to the end, which led to the entrance of the prison area.
“Are you up for this, Cat?”
“Yeah, I’m good,” she said with a deep sigh.
They walked towards the guard post next to the heavy closed door.
“State your business,” the guard said without looking up. He had more attention for the book in his hands than for them. He sounded a bit agitated from being disturbed.
“Doctor Miller send us to get a prisoner,” Daryl said.
“Through the door and to your left. Report to solitary,” the guard responded automatically. He pushed a button and the heavy doors opened.
Daryl and Cathy looked at each other, surprised by how easy it was. They followed the ‘solitary’ signs to the left. Another guard post waited for them on their right.
“State your business,” the guard said in the exact same tone as the prior guard. He had a different colored uniform, other than that they were the same.
“Here to get a prisoner for Doctor Miller,” Daryl said again.
The guard looked up from the screens in front of him. “Already? I thought he wasn’t scheduled until tomorrow?”
“Uhm, yes, change of plans, because of the riots,” Daryl improvised.
“And her?” the guard said.
Daryl looked at Cathy, hoping she would stay silent. “Orders are to clean him up in here, to keep the pressure off the medical facilities,” Daryl said quickly, pointing at the last two towels Cathy was holding. It was the best he could come up with.
“Okay, let me give Doc a call,” he said as he turned around to get the horn of the old machine that stood on the desk behind him.
Daryl grabbed the baton from the guard’s right hip and hit him on the head.
“What are you doing?” Cathy said shocked by the sudden violence.
“Well, I had to,” he said. Daryl tied the unconscious guard to the desk with his toolbelt, and put the guard’s toolbelt around his own hips. “We have to hurry, we need to get out of here before someone finds him.”
He took the key ring from the belt and opened the gate in front of them. A corridor full of doors appeared before them. He slid the hatch in the first door open and found the room pitch black. He cranked his flashlight and shone it through the opening in the door. The light revealed a rectangular room with nothing more than a bucket in the corner.
Daryl took the guards flashlight and gave it to Cathy. She opened another door’s hatch, but it was pitch black. When she shone the light inside she screamed. She took a step back, bumping into Daryl who stood behind her. She stepped to the door again and shone the light on the same spot. The body that had been on the floor had now crawled into the corner, hiding his eyes behind his long hair. She closed the hatch with tears in her eyes. What were they doing to these people? Cathy thought. If Murphy had been here all this time, she did not want to think about what he had been through.
An alarm sounded in the near distance. Had they triggered something? Cathy looked at Daryl frightened. He looked at the guard post. The guard was still unconscious inside, that one hadn’t triggered any alarm.
“I think it’s coming from the guards dorms,” he said. “I think we’re okay, but we need to hurry. These guys are starting to get noisy.”
He was right, some of the prisoners had started banging on the doors and screaming at the sound of the alarm. There were so many doors, though most of the rooms were empty. The ones that were occupied all had the similar longhaired skinny men of varying ages. Daryl opened another hatch, a hand came through the hatch and tried to grab him. Daryl stumbled back and lost his balance. He landed on the hard concrete floor, clanking chains and keys echoed through the hallway. A set of feral eyes stared at him through the opening.
“Daryl!” Cathy shouted as she ran to him.
The banging and screaming grew even louder. But from within these screams she heard a faint familiar voice calling her name.
“Cathy?”
She thought she was imagining it at first, but she followed the sound. It grew louder the further she went down the hall.
“Cathy, is that you?”
She crawled over to the voice and now rested her ear against one of the metal doors. The door where the voice was loudest.
“Murphy?” she whispered back.
“Cathy,” he said, his voice sounded tired but relieved.
She opened the hatch and shone the flashlight at the back wall of the small room. In the corner she saw a skinny naked boy with
hair to his shoulders, hiding his eyes from the light.
“Daryl, he’s here!”
He ran to the door and tried the keys on the guard’s key ring.
“Get him out,” Cathy said, pacing next to him.
Daryl tried the keys one by one. Until at last she heard the lock click. Cathy pushed by Daryl, and threw herself into the cell.
“Careful,” Daryl tried to say, but she didn’t hear it. She wrapped her arms around the emaciated body on the floor, wiping the hair out of his face.
“Murphy I’m here, it’s Cathy. I’m here, you’re going to be okay.”
Daryl shone his light to the ceiling, allowing Murphy’s eyes to get used to a more subdued light. “I don’t want to interrupt the reunion,” he said, “but we have to move, we’re not safe yet.”
He helped Murphy to his feet, who could barely stand on his own.
“We need to find him some clothes,” he said to Cathy.
She ran off to the guard post and came back a minute later with a blue jogging suit, putting them on her brother.
“Daryl?” Murphy whispered.
“Yeah, I’ve got you.”
“Daryl, release the others.”
“We don’t have time for that.”
Murphy looked Daryl straight in his eyes, trying to hold himself upright by clutching at his shirt. “Release one, give him the keys.”
His intense stare seemed serious, but at the same time Daryl saw a cunning smile on the boy’s lips. The kid hadn’t lost his mind yet. Murphy wanted the others to get out of this hellhole, but also knew releasing the prisoners would be the perfect distraction for the guards. Daryl did as Murphy asked, he opened the nearest cell and gave the man the keys. Murphy hung between Daryl and Cathy as they made their way to the front of the prison. The guard pushed the button to open the gate without even glancing up from his book.
The alarm blared loudly in the guards dorms, which were still empty. Murphy held his hands to his ears. All that times in solitary made the noises sound even louder. They made it through as quickly as possible. Daryl grabbed a wheelchair from the medical bay and dropped Murphy into it.
