Words at Random

Remembering Things We'd Rather Forgotten 3

I was plucking the last few weeds from the ground when I heard the lunch bell toll, signaling the end to our work hours for the day. Packing up my things and making sure to get rid of the weeds while checking for any stragglers, I made my way back to the city. Lily was pushing ahead of me and into the crowd as I tried to keep up, making sure to keep my eyes on her soft blonde curls and blood red flannel. Lily was definitely a cute girl, many of my friends before the End had crushes on her, constantly asking me to hook them up with her. I never tried to push them onto her, I just told her about the knuckleheads interest and left it up to Lily.

Finally catching up, I made sure to grab her hand to keep her from losing me. I saw her turn to me, smiling and winking before tugging me over to a small noodle place at the edge of the city market. It was a small shop, mainly just stools surrounding a bar and the kitchen right there in front of you. I loved it because I got to watch the cooks making my meal right in front of me. A lot of the time this noodle place, "Bard's Noodle Shop," was a place that me and my friends loved to visit and hang out at. When Lily and I sat at the bar, Eddie, the main cook, walked up.

"So what brings ya' hear Scotty? More of that Steak Stroganoff? I've got a new and improved Parmesan sauce fer ya..." He winked, smiling his big old friendly smile. He was a big man, kinda reminded me of a bear, but he moved through that tiny kitchen like it was nothing.

"Sure Ed, what did you put in it this time? I hope none of those stinky yellow mushrooms, I was throwing up for hours after that." I told him chuckling while placing my hands flat on the table.

I looked at Lily, "So what are you gonna get this time?" Knowing it would probably be some weird out of the box sort of mix.

"Probably just some of that green jerky with bow-tie noodles and a yellow sauce. You think you can do that for me Eddie?" She smirked, brushing her hair away from her face as she challenged Eddie.

"Darlin' I'll get right on it!" He bounced away, cooks scurrying to get out of his way before he stepped on them.

"So, Lily, how's that new guy in the food district settling? He try anything on you yet?" I smirked, cocking an eyebrow at her.

She smiled back, "Nah, it doesn't seem like he's all that interested. If anything, I'd say he's got eyes for the hot redhead that works in the veggie department."

I sighed dreamily, "Ooo Nick? He sure has a good build.. Man if I wasn't working in the Garden I would've worked down there just to get a jump on him." We laughed at that, me holding my stomach while she smacks the table. I look over behind me to see what looks like Josh making his way over to us. I wave and pat a seat next to me.

"Josh! What's up man? How'd work go? Nothing went wrong with the pipes this time, I hope?" I asked him as he sat down, picking up the menu to tell Eddie his choice.

"I'll get the Pan Noodles with extra sauce please." He turns to me and grins "I'm good, the pipes didn't have any problems today." He said, looking relieved. Working down under the city, Josh helps the mechanic team with the pipe system that goes all around the city. Most of the stuff down here is pretty shabby and slapped together in the span of a couple days, leaving many houses with little plumbing and next to no electricity. The city itself had been sort of carved out of the walls and pieced together before my family and I had arrived here.

"Well that's a relief, I don't like it when things go wrong down here, It makes it so much easier for so many more bad things to happen." Lily said, biting her lip and playing with her fingers. I looked back at Josh and patted him on the back,

"It's good that you're working down there, you really know what you're doing." I tell him, giving him a small smile, "I mean, if I had tried working down there I would've screwed everything up."

He chuckles, "Yeah, yeah, I like working down there, so all's good. What about you Lils? Anything new to the Food District? I heard there's a new family moving in down the block from you."

Lily turned to him, an eyebrow cocked, "Really? I know the new kid Max had moved in not too long ago, but another family? We're gonna run out of space down here if families keep showing up." I nodded, even though father was working in the tunnels trying to make more space for the newcomers, he told me a lot of the areas they dig into aren't gonna be habitable for a long while.

I spoke up, running my hands through my hair, "My father says that it's likely the new tunnels they've dug out aren't gonna be habitable for a few months. He complains a lot about how the Directors keep pushing to build in the less recent tunnels and how many times he has to stress that they can't be used yet." I sighed, "There isn't much anyone can do right now besides work and hopefully get somewhere." Josh and Lily nod along as I speak, Lily sighing and looking away.

When silence seems to begin taking over us as we think, we are brought out of it as Eddie shows up with our food.

"Alright guys, eat up! Don't even think of leaving anything in those bowls!" He rumbled as he placed each of the bowls down, smiling his big, warm smile.

And so we set to work on finishing the bowls, not taking the time to continue talking with each other, just eating. It was then that I started thinking again,

What if this place wouldn't be able to expand for years? Would we have to start shutting out anyone who needed a safe place to stay? What would happen if things stopped functioning and couldn't be fixed? Was the light ever going to come back or would everything slowly keep sinking into the darkness?

I remember seeing some people out there who had wandered out into the dark by themselves, their pupils were so expanded that the iris was just a thin ring around it. You could barely see the iris, the whites of their eyes even darkened. Some of the few I had seen had pupils so big they almost took over the entire eye. It was terrifying. These people had gone crazy a lot of the time because no matter how much their eyes tried to adjust, nothing could be seen.

Being outside of any kind of " safe-house " or underground base or whatever, can take a toll on the human body. Especially when things seem to be evolving so quickly now. I mean, there were creatures down here that were the size of bears, creatures that sort of worked like angler fish, they used some kind of lure to catch prey. Things like those lived down here, along with many other horrific creatures. Sure, we had the moles and the city was working on making a team of researchers just to find a way to defend against creatures like the angler thing. At least, this is what I had heard.

I had been thinking so hard that I hadn't noticed I had finished with my food, causing my fork to clang into the bowl and sort of wake me up from my thoughts. I quickly set my utensil down and stood up from my stool. Josh and Lily were startled by my actions, causing them to ask me what was wrong.

Josh was looking at my face carefully as he started to ask me "Hey Scott... You alright there buddy? You're lookin' a bit pale.." I nodded my head, slipping my hands into my pockets,

"Sorry I was just thinking about the future. I guess I accidentally got too into it." I answered, chuckling nervously.

Once Lily and Josh were done, we all headed back into our districts, Josh living in the Engineer District. Watching each of them leave as I slowly made my way back to my home, I realized that if anything did happen to us down here, we would deal with it and continue. We would just keep patching things up until they didn't need it anymore.

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Aaaaand Part three done! I feel like this is a good cliffhanger but if you want more wellllll...

Comment, vote, and follow hah ;D

(I might actually make this a book by itself though, I actually enjoy reading through it myself..)