Blocks

by Tara Basi

  “Did you hear me?” Battery Boy repeated.

  “You asking me if I can hear you?” Worry spluttered, collapsing in a fit of laughter, accompanied by a number of unseen others. For a while none of their captors seemed able to speak. On and on and from all sides they cackled.

  “Boy, I can hear the blood in your veins. Even so, got to hand it to you. Somehow, you knew about the QQ path. Odd though, taking all that trouble to sneak past, then you shout out stupid numbers, begging us to come get you. That’s not good sneaking.”

  “You’re the danger, the danger in the map, you’re not the free people,” Battery Boy exclaimed, strangely relieved, despite their situation.

  “Idiot boy, we’re the only, and I say again, the only free people left,” Worry responded angrily.

  “Who the hell are you?” Jugger said, speaking for the first time.

  “Long story, I’ll give you the short version. I was a census team leader, in charge of security for census area seven eight three, zone four two one three, sector ABZ-one-twenty-one. Never forget them numbers.”

  “Census?” Stuff asked.

  “Forget, you’re so young. Thought we’d be OK, being security and all but things were not going so well, no way past the fences, mines and stuff around the Block. Last weeks the Crawlers appeared, thousands of them and, well, we ran. Found this space, underneath and a whole group of us snuck down here, no one came after us and we never went back.”

  “A guard, you guarded the census runs?” Battery Boy asked, unexpectedly reminded of Tress’s stories.

  “What do you know about it?” Worry shot back, surprised by Battery Boy’s question.

  “How old are you?” Battery Boy repeated.

  “Fifty something, not really sure. Anyway, no Block stuff down here just us free people.”

  “Fifty? Fifty?” Stuff repeated to himself in disbelief.

  “We’re real sorry if we disturbed your peace. You just give us back our things and we’ll be on our way,” Jugger said sounding absolutely confident Worry would comply.

  “You boy’s gonna be freed, don’t you worry about that. But, got to be careful. Crawlers could still come. QQ lot leaving us alone so far and we let them past. They got guns, and now… we got one as well.”

  “QQ people?” Battery Boy asked trying to sound only mildly interested, realising they might be the free people he was looking for.

  “Initiation takes a little time to organise. Not done one for a few years. Some of the youngsters soon be old enough, so good practice. Everything needs to be properly done, if infection sets in you won’t survive.”

  “What initiation? You let us go, now,” Battery Boy shouted, getting to his knees.

  “Boys, best you calm down, we gonna fix your eyes. Eyes only get in the way, you’ll settle in and learn faster. It’s for the best. And, you should be honoured, you’re joining the very, last, few, free, people, in the whole, wide, world. No Bands and such down here, none of it works. That’s why big boy’s head’s still on. Now shut up.”

  Battery Boy was too shocked to ask how Worry knew Jugger had a Band in the pitch black and before he could say anything or think of running, he was grabbed by many hands, dragged off and chained up with Stuff and Jugger.

  The three boys sat on the ground, in silence, shackled together by a chain running through iron cuffs around their ankles, their shoes had been taken. Jugger had already tested the chain, the padlock and the metal ring it was attached to with all his strength. It wasn’t coming loose without a key. Worry’s crazy story was still running around Battery Boy’s head. None of his rambling diatribe made much sense, though bits of Worry’s history reminded him of Tress’s story. The only thing he was sure about was the initiation, he wished he wasn’t sure about that.

  Jugger pulled savagely at the chain again.

  “Ow, that hurt,” Stuff squealed, in-between gasping, quiet, sobs.

  “Wait till they scoop out your eyeballs, I’m guessing that’ll hurt more. Not for long though, first chance I get you and your mouthy friend are going down a pit,” Jugger said.

  “Shut up, we need to find a way out. Think, what do we know?” Battery Boy asked, ignoring Jugger’s threat but half-thinking it might be better to go down a pit than survive like some mole.

  “I think they can see,” Stuff whispered, swallowing another sob.

  “See?” Jugger asked.

  “Like bats, with their clicking,” Stuff nervously replied.

  “You’re crazy. There’s nothing to see, eyes or no eyes,” Jugger hissed at Stuff.

  “He knows animals. In his school he studied at the screens, all the time,” Battery Boy explained.

  “You wasted school time on the screens? You dumb twat,” Jugger hissed.

  “I’m not dumb. They see sound. Clicks probably echo back, like porpoise sonar.”

  “Damn porpoise again, you crazy kid,” Jugger replied.

  “Makes sense, they can see, knew about your Band. How else?” Battery Boy asked.

  “Fine, they can see. Doesn’t really help. Get real close, listen,” Jugger whispered.

  Jugger didn’t say any more but he got Stuff and Battery Boy to grab the chain. He pulled a long length free by shuffling up very close to the other two and then with a quick movement wrapped it around his free arm and pulled tight. Battery Boy ran his fingers over the chain now tight around Jugger’s beefy forearm.

  “Got it?” Jugger hissed.

  “Yep,” Battery Boy answered. Jugger was going to try and grab one of Worry’s gang, or Worry himself and loop the chain around their neck. Then maybe get Worry to free them. It was a plan, a chance. Battery Boy couldn’t think of anything else.

  “Get what, what’s going on?” Stuff squealed.

  “Shut up, just shut up. Don’t say another word or I’ll show you exactly what’s going on,” Jugger told Stuff.

  Stuff went back to softly sobbing.

  Battery Boy squeezed up close to Jugger, with Stuff as the filling, giving Jugger as long a length of free chain as he could. Talking too much might be dangerous. One of Worry’s gang could be sitting just an arm’s length away, they wouldn’t know. There was nothing else to do but wait in the dark and stay alert.

  “You the bag boy?” The voice came unexpectedly out of the dark. It was the barely audible voice of the young girl who’d brought the bottles when they were hanging in the cage. She was clicking as well, just like Worry, but not as strongly.

  “I had the bag,” Battery Boy softly replied before Stuff or Jugger could react.

  “Can you open the door?” the girl whispered, almost inaudibly.

  “Yes, but I need my bag. Do you know where the door is?” Battery Boy answered in low tones, wondering if he really could. The book’s instructions about the door were as clear as the map, not clear at all.

  “Shush. Don’t speak; tap my hand, one yes, two no,” and then she grabbed hold of his hand with tiny, thin fingers.

  “The door’s not far, if Worry catches us he’ll kill us all, you still wanna go?” The girl quietly asked, almost challenging Battery Boy to refuse.

  He tapped her palm, once, for yes. She withdrew her hand and Battery Boy could only guess that she’d gone, she hadn’t made a sound. The only noise was their breathing.

  “You’d better have said yes,” Jugger whispered, “or I’ll kill you.”

  “Maybe we could stay, you know, if they’re the free people, might not be so bad,” Stuff whimpered, his voice trembling with fear.

  “Not so bad?” Battery Boy replied angrily, “Are you crazy? Tress told me about the census guards. They didn’t help anyone.”

  “Leave the little sod, he can eat glop shit and bat click for the rest of his miserable life. I ain’t staying,” Jugger hissed.

  Battery Boy felt for Stuff’s throat and gripped it tight, then slapped the boy hard across the face.

  “We all go, we all make it, or we die, nothing in-between, no half-life in a new wasteland, got it,”
Battery Boy whispered right into Stuff’s ear.

  “I just didn’t want to hold you back.” Stuff lied, coughing and crying in spurts.

  “Keep your voice down, and stop crying,” Battery Boy spat.

  For a moment Battery Boy thought he should let Stuff stay, if he wanted, but the kid wasn’t thinking right. Stuff was half-starved and scared out of his mind. He couldn’t see that being blind, down here, was nearly as bad as getting a Band. If they stayed they would be stuck with Worry and whatever crazy rules the old man had, for the rest of their lives. Battery Boy remembered Jugger’s jibe about Battery Boy’s rules and how Stuff wasn’t free, and it nagged at him as he settled down to wait for their next visitor. Would it be Worry coming for their eyeballs, or the little girl?

  Battery Boy didn’t actually sense her returning, he just heard a faint click and then the gentle rasping of the chain being carefully pulled through their shackles. Small hands unlocked the ankle cuffs. A bag was thrust into Battery Boy’s chest. Feeling around inside, everything was there, the gun, fake collar, toy block and the book. He tied the cut canvas strap together with a couple of knots and slung the bag over his shoulder. With silent touching gestures the girl got them to join hands and led them off faster than felt safe with the pits all around.

  The girl invisibly trotted at the head, Battery Boy followed by Stuff formed the body, with Jugger at the tail. Winding through the night they were covering a lot of ground very quickly. Battery Boy guessed she was leading them in wide arcs around the pit’s corners, so she didn’t have to slow down. The only sounds were their breathing, bare foot falls on the hard earth and a constant, faint, clicking. Battery Boy couldn’t tell if it was roaches or the girl, probably both. In the far distance Block lights flashed from time to time.

  After jogging for about an hour without speaking the little girl started slowing down, then stopped. She didn’t say anything; everything was quiet for a moment.

  “They’re coming, run,” she whispered and raced off, dragging the boys behind her. Battery Boy couldn’t hear anything different but then Worry’s lot didn’t make much noise. They ran on. She was running fast, almost too fast for Battery Boy to keep up. Running at full pelt into absolute darkness surrounded by bottomless pits was terrifying enough, without the thought of Worry coming up fast behind them.

  Just when Battery Boy thought he couldn’t run any further the girl brought them to such an abrupt halt they tumbled over each other, sprawling in disarray, mercifully onto hard ground and not down a pit.

  “They’re coming, open the door,” she hissed.

  “Where… is… it?” Battery Boy gasped in between desperately refilling his lungs.

  “Stupid pig, use your light,” the girl answered, almost shouting for the first time.

  He fetched Jugger’s torch out of the bag, took the gun in his hand and switched on the light. The brightness blinded him at first, after so long in the dark. As his eyes adjusted he just snatched a glimpse of a naked pair of legs even bonier than Stuff’s moving back into the shadows. Turning to spread the light around him, the door slid into view. It was like no door Battery Boy had ever seen. An oblong slab, made of the same stuff that lined the pits, was set flat in the hard-packed earth. The door, if that’s what it was, was almost featureless. At its centre was an indentation, a perfect fit for the toy block he had in his bag; immediately above that, a hand-sized rectangle of opaque glass. Grabbing the block he easily slipped it into the obvious waiting space. If it was that easy why did the girl need them, she had the bag before she released them? Of course it was not that easy. The block was absorbed and sank away. A one-time key and now it was gone. The glass panel was faintly illuminated with blue writing.

  “Enter the sign, you have sixty seconds,” Battery Boy couldn’t help reading aloud.

  “Use the book,” Jugger urged pointlessly.

  The glass was ticking down the seconds as Battery Boy stared at the blinking blue numbers. What sign, what did it mean? There was nothing in the book about a sign.

  “You can’t get in, can you?” the girl cried out despairingly.

  “We can get in, we need your help, come into the light,” Battery Boy desperately urged.

  As the glass ticked off fifteen seconds more, Battery Boy realised Worry and his gang had arrived. There was little sound, but clouds of kicked up dust floated into the light from all directions.

  “Little girl, you there? Come here, now, come here,” Battery Boy pleaded.

  A small dirty bundle was thrown at Battery Boy’s feet, a shivering little skeletal girl of no more than eight or nine, naked except for the dirt that covered her.

  “She’s all yours. Planned to betray us to the QQ, did you? Ungrateful sods, traitors. We was gonna free you. Now you’ll be staked out, eyelids cut off, pour lots of Block gunk over your nasty pupils and wait for the roaches to eat your eyeballs right out of your heads. It can take a long time,” Worry barked from the dark.

  Stuff screamed, Jugger growled, the girl was silent, sprawled in the dirt, covering her eyes with her hands.

  “Duck,” Battery Boy shouted and began firing the gun again and again into the encircling crowd of skeletal spectres which his light occasionally illuminated.

  Some bullets hit home, judging by the shrieks of pain and the short-lived fireballs that followed, most streaked off into the distance. It was as if their tormentors were not alive enough for the missiles to find. As he span on the spot he could see the ugly creatures moving tentatively into the torch’s beam and then jumping back as his light struck them full in the face, like a blow. Even eyeless, the ghouls seemed more scared of his light than his gun. They had horrible skulls covered in sparse, sickly clumps of hair, mouths with black teeth set in withered gums and empty eye sockets, which loomed into existence only to duck back into the black as his light touched their hideous, albino faces. He couldn’t keep this up much longer. The gun would need reloading, or he would fall, drop the light and then they would be on him. Jugger was hunched down, ready to attack anything that came into the light. Stuff was frozen in shock, barely breathing. The girl was still curled up in a bony ball.

  The glass had ticked away thirty seconds.

  “Girl, you’ve seen the QQ people at the door, what did they do?” Battery Boy shouted, she still had her faced pressed into her knees, arms over her head, hiding from his light as much as Worry.

  “I don’t know, I couldn’t see, the light hurts. They did this thing with their hands,” she shouted in response.

  Without lifting her head from her knees she held her hands out to her side and formed a circle with her fingers, but left the smallest finger sticking out.

  “A Q, a double Q,” Battery Boy whispered to himself.

  “Your bullets or light’s gonna run out soon and then, your eyes are mine,” Worry called from the dark.

  As the bright numbers in the glass counted down the final ten seconds Battery Boy stopped spinning and bent down over the slab in the dirt to scrawl a double Q onto the glass with his finger. In that moment, with Battery Boy’s torch pointed at the door, Worry flew out of the dark and grabbed him by the throat and tore the torch and gun from his hands. Worry was followed by the whole pack, closing from all directions. In the dark he could hear Jugger fighting hard, Stuff screaming and the girl swearing like he’d never heard anyone curse. Good on her he thought as he elbowed Worry as hard as he could. The crazy old man grunted in pain but he didn’t let go. Already, more bony hands than he could count were pulling him down.

  When the light came, the blinding beams of a hundred torches, Battery Boy thought for a moment he’d been struck in the head and was falling unconscious. The slab had lifted up out of the ground. It floated two metres above the hard earth, releasing a sun-burst of light that was shining straight up out of the ground.

  “Welcome, please enter, the door will descend and lock in ten seconds, keep all body parts clear,” the door announced in a warm inviting voice.

  With
whimpers of pain from every direction the talon fingers released him and the whole gang slipped back into the dark.

  Directly under the floating slab was an opening in the ground with a brightly lit set of stairs leading down into the earth. Jugger was already on his way down the steps. Battery Boy gathered up the still swearing girl and a frozen Stuff, and pushed them ahead of him towards the opening. Stumbling and falling they started down the stairs as the door began to descend and close the entrance.

  “I’ll be waiting, I’ll get you,” an unseen Worry screamed after them.

  Still squinting Battery Boy careened down the stairs half fearing that some of the pack had followed him.

  Below the earth everything was white; white stairs, white walls, white ceiling. It was difficult to focus after days of only the smallest shards of light. Ahead, Stuff was almost rolling down the stairs, the girl was still struggling with the light, trying to keep her eyes tightly covered with her arms as she edged slowly forward, feeling her way after Stuff. Squinting painfully Battery Boy could make out Jugger just ahead, carefully taking in his surroundings. Eventually they all clattered to a halt at the bottom of the stairs and paused to gulp down some air, realising they really had left the pack behind. In front of them stretched a very long, milky white, corridor ending in a shimmering green waterfall, or that’s what it looked like to Battery Boy. Jugger was running his hands over a clear glass panel that barred the entrance to the corridor. All of them were still fighting for breath, even Jugger. Battery Boy rested for a moment and just observed the others. They were all blinking like owls caught in a spotlight, shading their eyes with their hands, though it was not obvious where the light was coming from. The boys were filthy, bruised, bleeding from a colourful collection of minor cuts, barely dressed in torn rags, still covered in drying and peeling glop from their test in the pit. The girl looked like she’d been rolling in the dirt like a dog, she was pathetically naked. Her skin barely covered her sharp bones. She was so thin it seemed her legs would snap like dried spaghetti if she tried to stand up, though she was obviously tougher than her wrecked body suggested. The brightness of the light was physically pressing the little girl to the floor. Squatting in a tight ball, she had her head buried under her arms and her face tightly pressed into her knees. Long greasy black hair ran over the jutting razor spine of her back ending just above painfully bony buttocks. Only Jugger, a head taller than any of them, still looked fit and strong.