Breakaway

Chapter 2 - Wrin

"You'll never catch me!" I yell back to Alice with a smile on my face.

I swivel my head back around to see a pole a couple inches in front of me. Yelping, I dodge to the left and risk a glance back at Alice who's recovered some ground.

Laughing, I turn back around and dart through the streets of Solum. When I reach an entrance to the Underground I yank open the cellar-like doors and dash down the stairs.

At the bottom I run to a stop and catch my breath while I wait for Alice.

I take in the mostly empty shelves with a couple cans of old soup and cobwebs dusting the room. There are exactly 11 entrances to the Underground and this one-number 6-is my favourite. The others are all in secret places tucked behind clothing racks or inside secret bathroom stalls while this one is just a plain old cellar door in the ground outside the florist's shop. Although the idea of it not being so secretive could one day get us caught, for now I'm just happy to enjoy the colours of the flowers outside.

The five kingdoms each have their respective colours-green for Terra, yellow for Aura, red for Ignis, brown for Solum and blue for Aqua. It's not often you get to see them all together.

Alice comes though the doors laughing and shuts them behind her.

I grab my key card that allows me-and the other's-access to the Underground. I swipe it through the card reader beside the hidden door and watch as the lights on the card reader turn from red to green.

Sliding open, the door groans in protest due to it's lack of use. Since entrance 6 is out in the open it gets used the least.

Alice and I quietly enter the Underground since it's 6am. Last night was Solum's annual celebration of the day it came together. Most people tend to leave their homes unattended on this day which means it's a great day to send out missions even late into the night. With more food in our storage than we've had all year I decide to give everyone a night's sleep well earned.

Alice and I maneuver the halls of the Underground in silence. Once we reach my room I swipe my card in the card reader and we go in.

My room is simple like most, with a single bed with two pillows and a dresser with two weeks worth of clothes in it. However, being the Underground leader does have it's perks. I have exactly 20 books stacked in two piles of ten at the foot of my bed and an out of shape mirror hanging to the right of my door. A desk sits to the left of my bed with 8 pencils and 67 sheets of paper on top. It's important in the Underground to be precise. My room is also attached to a bathroom-one of three in the Underground since they're so difficult to hook up from underground.

Alice flops onto my bed and sighs.

"One of these days I will catch you."

I chuckle to myself.

Alice is the only person I allow myself to laugh around. She's also my best friend by far.

Although we may be best friends, that does't mean I tell her everything. She was the one who found me the first day I arrived in Solum.

She knows where I came from.

What she doesn't know, is who I am.

"Wrin," Alice muses.

"Hmm?"

"There's this guy from Terra I've been trying to recruit for awhile now and I finally convinced him to join two days ago, if you don't mind I'm gonna take the day to bring him here." Alice announces, "We'll be back for the Feast."

Every year after Solum's celebration the Underground has it's own celebration where we feast on double our normal rations and play all sorts of games and generally just have fun. We call it the Feast. The Feast is the one day a year I allow myself to be not just the leader of the Underground, but to be a part of it as well.

"Okay," I comply, "just remember to use entrance 8."

"Will do," Alice says, sitting up to give me a salute.

"I'm gonna go pack and I'll be outta here by twelve."

Once Alice leaves I head to my bathroom to shower and and dress in preparation of the feast.

***

Everyone is full of excitement and bursting with laughter tonight.

The games are in full swing and soon I'll get Kade and Will to bring out the double rations which will lead to more excitement in the Underground.

I walk over to the platform which faces entrance 8 and climb the steps. Once I'm at the top I whistle and it takes only seconds for all 87 children, 388 teenagers, 412 adults and 58 seniors to quiet down and gather around me.

"Thank you all for your incredible work last night. We've gained more rations tonight than any other night of the Underground's 56 years of organization." I announce with pride.

I pause in my speech.

Alice just came through the door with her new recruit.

The recruit sweeps his light brown hair off his forehead and lifts his head to survey the crowd. His eyes find me last despite my being on a raised platform. When his green eyes meet my brown ones he smiles. Neither of us looks away while Alice introduces him to the group saying, "Meet Jay, our newest recruit."

Jay looks oddly familiar.

I swallow and tear my gaze away from Jay to ask Alice, "Is this the recruit you mentioned?"

"This is our oh-so-welcoming leader, Wrin," Alice says once it's clear I'm not going to introduce myself.

"Welcome to the Underground." I say with a strained smile.

I return to face the crowd and call to Kade and Will to bring out the double rations.

Everyone scrambles in excitement for their double rations while I push through to crowd to greet Jay.

Once I reach him, I hold out my hand and say, "Welcome,"

"Thanks," he replies with a grin as he shakes my hand.

"I assume Jay is the name you picked?"

"Yeah, it is."

"Why don't you go join in the Feast?" I suggest, "I'll have Kade show you to your quarters later since you'll be rooming with him and Will."

"Alright," he responds, but doesn't move.

We stare there for a few seconds and stare at each other before he says, "What is it?"

"You just..." Look familiar, I want to say. But I don't.

He smiles at me.

And then he bows to me.

"What was that for?" I ask him, puzzled.

"You're the leader here, right? I wouldn't imagine you get that much royal treatment as a rebel, but you deserve to be recognized." He explains, smirking.

That's when I remember the boy from the train station two years ago. What was his name?

Jack.

Authors Note

Hello again! I'm not so sure if I like how this chapter turned out and I might edit it later as I will with any chapters I decide need editing. I don't have a set update day, or week, for that matter, but I will try to update at least once a month.