The group of soldiers followed Ian and Celine out of the building. Ian took the bottle of liquid out of his backpack and read the instructions on the side.
“Where’s the center of the underground?” he asked. His voice was shaky. Celine realized he was scared. She knew why. Not only where both of his parents, his only family, dead, was he in charge of an entire city and getting the citizens above ground and to safety.
“Over there,” pointed a soldier. Celine and Ian walked over to a blue spike in the ground marking the center of underground San Francisco.
“Dig a hole 15 feet deep,” ordered Ian. The soldiers rushed to get shovels. Celine stood by Ian’s side and waited. She squeezed his hand. He took a deep breathe.
“We can do it. We are almost there.” He nodded as the soldiers came back and started digging. After a while of digging, the hole was big enough. Ian ordered the soldiers to back away. He the cork out of the opening to the bottle and poured it into the center of the hole. At first, nothing happened. Then Celine heard a crackling sound. The green liquid ate away at the earth in all directions. In a matter of seconds, the hole had expanded to a circumference of 20 feet.
“The instructions say that water disables the acid. Get water,” Ian commanded. The soldiers ran and got hoses and buckets and water guns. They ran back to white lines that marked the edge of the cave city and waited. Ian and Celine ran over to the metal building to watch.
Soon, the acid had eaten away the cave ceiling. They could hear the screams and shouts of confused citizens as light streamed into the ginormous cavern. The cave floor became visible 50 miles below them. The soldiers had to keep backing up to not fall in. As soon as the opening was as wide as the city itself, Ian ordered them to stop the acid.
“Hurry!” he yelled. “Before it gets to big!” The soldiers frantically ran around the edge of the opening spraying water wherever the green liquid was visible. Backup soldiers came to help till there where hundreds of soldiers spraying water everywhere. After a couple minutes of spraying, the acid was finally destroyed. Citizens below were screaming. Ian looked determined but confused.
“Is there a way to get the citizens up here?” he asked a soldier.
“We can use helicopters sir,” he said.
“Uh, sure. Use those. Have the other soldiers clean up the city. Get rid of the dead people and the cars and clean up the trash and dirt. Keep families together and assign them to abandoned houses, but make sure the houses are empty and clean first. Hurry.” Soldiers ran around cleaning the city and traveling down to the bottom of the cave to tell the citizens what was going on and to calm there fears and worries. After a couple of hours, they were ready to start bringing citizens above ground. Celine walked over to Ian, who hadn’t moved. He had stayed in the same spot, yelling at soldiers and giving them instructions.
“I think they have it now,” she told him. He looked at her and smirked.
“I can’t believe we did this,” he said. “I knew we would but…I don’t know. It’s just crazy.” Celine nodded in agreement.
“Celine?” a familiar voice said. She spun around. In front of her was her favorite person.
“Dad!” she screamed as she ran over to him. She jumped into his arms and he winced. She jumped down.
“Sorry!” she said. “Are you ok?” He nodded. “Celine, I am so proud of you. I knew you and Ian could do it. I knew it.” She started crying but he wiped her tears.
“You look so much older and braver and mature,” he said.
“Dad you’re a genius,” Celine replied. “You had me worried sick! Between you and Adam…..oh my gosh we have to go get Adam!” Her father nodded. He went over to a soldier.
“Could we go down next?” he asked. The soldier eyed him up and down but then agreed when he saw that Celine was with him. On their way to a helicopter, Mr. Reisman went over to Ian. They talked for a while as Celine waited. Ian and Celine’s dad walked over to her.
“If Ian’s family is gone,” he said. “We are his new family.” Celine nodded and smiled. Together, the three of them boarded the helicopter. Celine closed her eyes until they were only about a mile above the floor of the cave. Everyone was being frantic, but she only cared about getting to her brother. When the helicopter landed, Celine jumped out and ran through the crowded streets to her house. Her father and Ian trailed after her getting caught up in the traffic. She burst open her door. Her brother was staring out of the window watching the commotion.
“Adam!” she said. He whizzed around. His reaction reminded her of sun. Hopeful and full of warmth. He jumped up and tackled her. She fell onto her back and hugged him.
“I missed you so much!” Adam said into her shoulder.
“I missed you more,” Celine replied.
