X-Marks: Hiding Shadows

After

"Machines?" Nate said and looked at our marks as if we were animals behind glass.

"Yes, those marks have always been a mystery to me too," Abe said and flattened his lips, "But, when you spend as much time as I do, alone with your thoughts, they start to stick to each other, you see, no longer make much sense."

Abe stood from the roundtable and stepped in front of the stove where the flickering embers of the fire warmed the silver specks of his beard.

"It may be ramblings of an old man," he said, "But these machines I was told were like no other. Martha said they were used to look for something under those marks. Inside the children of all things."

I ran my finger over my mark and remembered when Buggy told us what had been put in our heads. Abe's words didn't make sense to himself, but they were making sense to me.

"But there is still something I can't make sense after all these years," Abe continued.

"What is that Abe?" Ocean said and reached her hand forward.

"Where did all the children go after?" Abe said and turned to us, a warm light under his eyes, "It never stopped burning in me all these years. Did any of them make it out, once it was there time?"

"Their time?" I said.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Mat said and pushed back into his seat.

"You probably noticed there were no teens like yourself at your center," Abe said, and set his empty bowl down on the wooden table, "Martha never like to talk about it much, but she sometimes mentioned how the children were all transferred sometime before their twelfth birthdays. They were just gone, she told me, and she never found out where they went after."

Our gasps and wide eyes all turned to Ocean. She had been telling the truth all along. Her grade had disappeared. 

Abe let out a deep breath, "It's just to see you children at the ages you are now, it seems there must have been someone looking out for. You must be very grateful for them after all you've been through."

Mat sat back into his chair and pushed his stew away.

"Can we leave?" Mat said, and looked out the window, "I need some sleep."

"Of course," Abe's said with kind eyes and gathered the empty bowls, "My apologies for keeping you up this late. It's not every day I have guests to join me. Let me show you to the bunker."

Abe walked towards the shortest of the bookshelves along the wall of his cabin and pushed it aside. Beneath the shelves was a rusted round handle. Abe pulled the handle and revealed a hidden door in the wall.

"It's been awhile since these bunks had any use," Abe said and stared into the dark opening of the wall, "But you'll find anything you need is here."

We collected our bowls and ran them under a spout from the walls as instructed and grabbed our bags. The steps down the bunk were narrow and only met our shoes halfway. The air inside, was as expected for the basement of an old cabin, dry and foul.

Abe lit a gas lamp behind us and made the edges of the bunker glow. Ahead, the bunker was a bleak and gray concrete room with just four beds along the wall and two short shelves filled with supplies and books.

"You'll spend most of your days down here, I'm afraid. It's been months since the Allies have collected their dues, and it's about time they return."

"You have dues?" Evee said and dropped her bag in the farthest corner.

"Of course! I have dues!" Abe said and put his hands on his hips, "May not be on camp anymore, but you better believe those snooping Allies won't just let an old man be."

Ocean whined into the scarf around her neck. She had been presented the idea of going fishing with Abe and now we were stuck in here. Even in the dark, her grim expression was clear.

"Now don't be making any face like that," Abe said and softened his glare, "Don't think I'd let those brutes spoil all the fun. Once they collect their dues, I'll take you out to the waters."

Ocean's smiled returned, though not in full.

"Now rest up. It's been too long since you've had any, I assume," Abe said and crept back up the first stair, "I'll be back in the morning with some food of course, but if you find yourselves bored stiff, I've got some old games me and Martha used to enjoy."

We whispered our goodnights to Abe as he left and set our belongings to the empty floor. Evee shared a bed with me near the stairs. Nate and Ocean had their own beds next to each other. Mat also had his own bed. The furthest one from me.

Evee drummed her fingers against her blanket, "I think I liked walking more than this," she said, "I'm bored already."

Nate's eyes followed Evee's fingers as he continued to adjust the bandages around his wrist.

"For once, we actually agree on something," Mat said and leaned his back against his headboard, "This is boring."

"I don't think it is," Ocean said and rubbed her feet from the edge of her bed, "Not at all."

"Come one, it'll only be a few months," I said and tucked myself into my blanket, "We'll be out of here in no time." 

It turned out no time, was more than any of us were ready for.