The tunnels were still drowned in darkness, the buzz of generators, and shuffle of everyday routine, echoing in the walls. I raced through them, splashing through puddles and ducking under splayed wires and pipes. I felt my heart beating against my chest, pounding, racing with fear.
Arriving at the entrance, I slammed the doors open, inhaling the cool night: sun setting, temperature dropping, and breeze calming. All I could hear was the rise and fall of my laboured breathing, but then so much more beyond that, sounds that lurked only in my nightmares. Demons that would revisit me every night.
The edge of the alleyway revealed black, industrial military trucks, roaring towards me. Their passengers, hanging off the sides in their equally black uniforms, scouring the deserted streets for reason to unload. Something resembling a whimper escaped from my throat as I took in the petrifying sight.
And, so, I ran.
I trailed through the scum covered back streets, lean-to shanties blocking my path. Movement came over the neighbourhood like a wave. People realising what was happening only seconds after I had passed through their streets. Thundering footsteps, rummaging, shouting, crying, escaping, and then the gun fire.
I was at the edge of the township when my knees buckled, the sound of the raid overwhelming and excruciating. Raids were always merciless bit it was different this time, more violent, and that forced a deep sense of panic to pool in my stomach.
The image of a community being brought to its knees, the sounds and the panic was almost enough to dull a new scent that hung in the air. I hadn’t noticed it until then.
Smoke.
Instinct kicked in as my legs pushed my body on, faster and more desperate than before. Fear fuelled my pace, horror pulsing under my skin. Then it came into view - an orange glow, hidden in the crevasse of climbing hills.
By the time I reached the border of the property, I could see that the shack I’d been squatting in was ablaze. Monster flames, stories tall, enveloped the structure, the surrounding fields lit in sporadic grass fires. The frame was collapsing, embers popping and crackling like fire flies.
I wanted to scream, the questions of why and who in the back of my mind, and I would have, had the air not been slammed out of me. My back hit the floor, a weighted mass on top of me. We struggled in the dirt, my attacker male; taller and stronger. A coolness washed over me, as I realised he was like me.
I clasped my hands behind his neck and then dug my knee up into his groin. He growled as he whipped an object from his belt and pulled back his arm. A knife.
For the first time he looked at me, and I, at him. Those blue eyes were unforgettable, a reflection of my own.
“Elek?”
My brother froze.
A few seconds passed before he pushed himself up, climbing to his feet, and then sliding his weapon away. He was sweaty, covered in dirt and soot, exhaustion leaking from his pores. He closed his eyes, robotic with shock.
“What happened?” I questioned, as I pushed myself into a sitting position.
“I was a few hours out when the trucks passed me on the highway, I came as fast as I could. When I got here the house was already on fire and the ground was crawling with seekers, raiders, and a few bounty hunters,” he explained, wiping his brow. “When I saw the flames…. And then they began to leave….I just assumed --”
“That they got what they came for,” I finished as I found my feet.
His silence confirmed that I was right.
I looked back towards the township, through a narrow gully I could see a cloud of orange chaos. This wasn’t a typical raid, it wasn’t an inspection for prohibited memorabilia. This was a hunt, they’d tracked us, and we both knew it. The seekers had been hot on our tail for months. Collective eight was our last refuge. One of few places where our enemies were few, and our pseudonyms as humans were still intact.
“We need to go, now,” Elek said, the thick sound of burning timber, and the onslaught of smoke suffocating the silent night.
If they were here, then the asylum we’d hoped for was impossible. We did need to leave. It was a very real possibility that after we left, we’d never be able to return. A return would be too risky, our arrival, the raid, and our following disappearance, were too convenient.
I turned back to my older brother, his short hair dark, his athletic body reflecting the gruelling lifestyle we lived. HE read the plea in my face.
“No,” he threatened, as he stepped back, raising his finger towards me.
Elek knew what I wanted. There was one more thing I needed from this place. One more reason I’d wanted to come here.
“No, don’t you dare,” he begged.
I began my descent down the hill, “You know you can’t talk me out of this Elek.”
He snatched me back by the shoulder, “I won’t lose you too.”
I didn’t have a response to that. I knew it was reckless, but I needed this small thing more than I needed life. I was willing to risk it all.
He stampeded behind me, following me down, “You’re going to get yourself killed….She doesn’t deserve this from you.”
“Savour what you can from our place, I’ll rendezvous with you within the hour,” I promised, ignoring his patronizing tone.
“Don’t keep me waiting,” He grumbled under his breath, kicking a tree stump. He’d always had a bad temper.
“Don’t keep me waiting,” I retorted, as I trudged through the knee-high grass.
“Is that a challenge?”
“For me? No.”
**
It was hell on earth. When I reached the township again, everything had been turned inside-out. Fires lit the night a demonic orange, the air weaved with black smoke. Families were scattering, panic was registering, people turning on their own.
Raiders used their batons and guns, no mercy, blood staining the streets. Homes were destroyed, the little belongings people did have, shattered, ruined and crushed, collecting across the roads.
And the noise, like the cries of dying angels.
It was in times like these that I would do anything to forfeit my heightened senses.
I ran through the chaos, ignoring the tortured looks on the faces of people who did not deserve such treatment, ignoring screams of children. When I reached the alleyway that lead to the collective entrance, it was spread with gang members.
This time they fought off raiders, the smoke made it hard for them to see much, most tied up in one-on-ones. Bloodied bodies decorated the gutter and sidewalk while they continued in aimless war, oblivious to my presence.
I slipped into the tunnels, again, now lit with florescent emergency lights a ringing alarm sounding in the background.
The collective’s remained mostly untouched during Raids. They were human enterprises, most of which dedicated a fair amount of resources to hunting and turning over people like me, hence they were allowed to slide under the radar.
Not this time, it seemed.
The deeper I went, moving closer to the epicentre of our underground hub, where the dining areas and quarters were located, the worse it got.
They were everywhere, going through everything, questioning everyone, beating those down who resisted, shooting the non-compliant. It was then, that I regretted the red. Nothing caught your eye like a red dress in a room full of black.
I felt them on my tail as soon as I had passed through the cafeteria.
I had reached the civilian area, where those who had been recruited for specific skill sets, for domestic duties, for essentially anything other than being a brutal meet head who did the dirty work, lived.
It was painfully hard to walk through. They must reserve a special throne for people like me in hell. This was a new kind of selfish.
I weaved through the corridors, taking a few sharp turns and a couple back doors, hoping to throw the two raiders I knew were onto me. When I came to a familiar blank door, I ran inside, locking the door behind me. I was reluctant to turn around, scared of what I would find, or rather, what I wouldn’t.
But I didn’t have time to be nostalgic.
I forced myself to look. Our quarters were untouched. Exactly as they had been six years ago. The same bedding, basic grey, the same photos taped to the walls. It was as if we had never left, or as if someone had been waiting for our return. The third bed in the room made knots roll in my stomach, Rory’s bed, that bed would remain empty.
A powerful banging began on my door.
I ran for my bed, pulling a metal box from under it. Relieved that it was still here.
The banging grew, the hinges were loosening.
My hands were trembling as I rummaged through the trinkets, grabbing out a silver necklace. A delicate pendant hung from the chain. I’d never really known what the stone was, diamond or crystal, its monetary value was irrelevant to me.
My fingers run over the obscure cut.
She folds it into my palm. The silver is cold. I don’t like cold.
The cold makes her sad too, I think.
“This is for you,” she sniffs, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.
“Keep it safe Asher, and it will do the same for you.”
She turns the pendant over, ‘From birth to death, the fire burns’ is inscribed.
She reads it to me. The words sound pretty.
“Don’t let them find out,” she whispers.
Thud.
I slammed the box shut, shoving it back under the bed, before I buried the necklace in my pocket.
Thud. They were through.
The door gave way as two raiders stumbled through. One pulled his mask down from over his mouth, “Well what do we have here?”
Human, Asher, act human.
I cowered to my knees, “Please, please, I beg you! Don’t hurt me. Please!” I begged, “Take anything, it’s yours to search, just…don’t hurt me.”
The second raider snorted, “I’ll leave you too it,” he said, patting the other on the shoulder before wandering out.
The raider let me continue to pathetically submit as he marched to my brother’s set of draws. Each of his steps dense, the sound of iron caps against cement.
He held his gun against his stomach, rummaging through the top draw before pulling down a photo Elek had taped to the wall. It had to be eight years old. The three of us sitting on the “Welcome to Dallas” sign. The ‘m’ in welcome missing.
He went to toss it before he brought it a little closer, analysing it for a few more seconds.
“Get up,” he spat, as he turned and marched towards me.
I complied, my mind tossing over the pros and cons of killing him.
He grabbed me by the chin, tilting my head into the light. He scanned over every feature, now analysing me.
“It couldn’t be,” He murmured, “You wouldn’t be so stupid.”
My breathing grew rapid. I didn’t have a weapon and using my abilities, well they weren’t discrete. The last thing we needed was anymore suspicion.
His hand moved to my neck, his grip tightening.
A blistering heat started to burn through my veins, my blood boiling. My body was ready to fight.
But the raiders hold went limp. His eyes then went wide, he seemed to gag before his body collapsed in front of me.
He lay at my feet, dead, the smell of blood now thick.
Reeves stood at the doorway, positioned behind a rifle. Impressive, I thought. It was one thing to sneak up on a Raider, but to be able to surprise me was an entirely different thing.
He lowered his gun, “Back for a matter of hours and I’m already saving your ass.”
“Thanks,” I acknowledged, panting.
“I won’t do it twice Barbie.”
“Cool the ego Chinatown,” I smirked, before I bolted past him.
I was getting out of there, and I was going to do it alive.
~ I had some positive feedback on Chapter One and I hope this chapter hasn't disappointed! Still a few questions to be answered about what Asher is. But, I can assure you, it will all be revealed...soon ;) Feel free to leave me your thoughts, and vote if you enjoyed the read ~