by Jiny Lee
And finally, someone from the back of the sisters came out, but he was not the one we'd been expecting. He was holding something in his left hand. I didn't know what he was holding at first glance, but I saw the agitation from the boys and girls in the front. I looked at my mom again. She was passing out. Diane's dad looked terrified, too. I quickly turned my head and looked at Diane. Her face turned so pale and looked like she would fall down in any second. No one was supposed to move during the ceremony but I tried to get close to the front row. I had to. I had to see what it was that he was holding. I pushed some boys on my way and finally, I managed to see what it was.
It was a head.
The head of the guard whom we bribed.
6
His name was Hannibal, but he was known more as the scar. It was because of the scar on his face, on his left cheek to be more precise. Whenever he passed by, young kids used to say, 'the scar! There's the scar!' in a small voice. It is said that he was shot by a rebel on his face. The bullet went into his face and it went out right through the back of his head, but he didn't even flinched. Instead, he walked right in front of the man, took the terrified man's jammed pistol from his hand, and fixed it for himself. Tab, rack, and bang, on the terrified man's head.
He was one of the chief guards in the building. He was in charge of the floors from the first to the thirtieth. I later heard that there were more than five to six chief guards in the building, each administrating 30 to 50 floors. Among them, Hannibal had comparably high influence, even though he was in charge of the lowest floors. That was probably because he was the most infamous one as well.
"I know many of you are curious and wondering why I am standing here, and why the hell I am holding the head of the man who you thought supposed to be standing here. I know some of you are now pissing your pants, scared to fucking death to know what had happened. And most of all, I know some of you had bought your tiny hopes at some tiny expenses. But listen carefully. That was a false hope.'
His voice filled the hall like a savage beast roaring out in front of his preys.
'I can still see those terrified stupid dumb faces looking at me like there's still a thing called misunderstanding. Well, I'll tell you the truth.'
He held up the dead man's head high in the air and shouted out even more loudly.
'This rodent was a fucking law breaker who had broken the sacred code, and disrupted the system. So I corrected it. This dirty rat was a rebel, who tried to un-stabilize the system, and a thief, who tried to steal what should belong to the system, so I corrected it. And I can see the faces of this dirty rat's friends on this stinky rat nest.'
He slowly looked around the hall. Even I could see some faces agitated, terrified, and hopeless. And that included Diane's dad. Will he be dead? Shot in front of everyone? Crucified? Burned? What about Diane? Her face seemed so pale as if her heart stopped beating to pump her blood up to her face. I thought I should do something. But what? What could I possibly do? I was just one of the thirty forty terrified little boys.
Hannibal dropped the man's head in front of the girls. Some girls in the front collapsed on the floor. He took out a piece of paper from his inside pocket.
'This, I have, is the list of the names. The names of the maggots who tried to bribe the owner of that skull, and also, the names of their daughters.'
Then he paused again. He looked around and watched carefully the faces of the girls. He seemed to enjoy the moment. The moment of despair.
'In case you may not know, I'm a generous man. After all, maybe, it's not your fault. You are weak. You are nothing. You are just some bolts and nuts in this building who follows orders. I mean, I understand. I also have a daughter. I know you would've done more for your daughters. I understand that every father doesn't want to let his daughter go away even if that's in the name of our holy goddess. I don't blame you. I don't blame you even though that's, what's the word, blasphemy. According to the law, all of you and your daughters should be executed for that, you know what I'm saying? Blasphemy! How dare you question and deny everything that's being done in the name of our holy goddess?'
He shouted. Even though I was a boy, I could see how good he was at delivering a message, manifesting his tone of voice, and using some big words to overwhelm people.
'So I've decided to save your daughters. I'll spare their lives. And also, since I'm a generous man, I'll forget about everything that happened today. Everything. And that's it. I won't inflict any kind of punishment upon you and your daughters.'
No one seemed to be understanding what was going on. I looked at Diane. She looked a little relieved but not quite. There was still a sign of anxiety on her face. Then I looked at her dad. He looked the same, a little relieved but not quite. I tried to prepare myself. To be prepared for anything cause I was sure that he was not going to end like this.
'Let us proceed. Since the announcer for today is no more available to deliver anything, let me announce the names. And in order for that, I need a list....'
When he said thus far, I immediately realized what he was trying to do. The only thing that was on my mind was Diane. He started to say the names of the girls on the list he was holding. I didn't hear him saying Diane's name but I didn't have to because her name was on the list for sure.
I tried to run to her, but I don't remember what happened next. I remember a few guards were coming my way saying 'stay where you belong.' but I don't recall any further. The moment I was about to get through the boys, I was buttstroked on the back of my head and I passed out.
...
I woke up the next day in a small room. Kimmy was sitting next to me, looking after my wounds. I wasn't just hit once. They hit me and stumped on me even after I passed out. I asked her where I was and what happened. She said we were on the basement floor of the building. I had never known that there was a basement in the building. It had been a secret headquarter for the rebels.
Kimmy seemed reluctant to tell me what happened. She kept telling me that I needed some more rest. After I insisted on listening, she finally told me that after I passed out, there was a huge massacre and a battle between the guards and the rebels. Danny saved me and some other boys and girls, but... they took Diane. I asked her what happened to mom. She didn't answer. Instead, she left the room to give me a little space. She said I needed some rest, and some time to grieve.
I spent a few months down there. There were not many options for me to choose from. I was in a pretty bad shape and I needed help. But I couldn't stop thinking about what might have happened to Diane. She was taken. Her father died. My mom died, too. Everyone treated me good but... I couldn't be sitting there doing nothing.
7
When I got recovered pretty good, I talked to Danny that I shouldn't be just sitting around. He told me he could use some help, too. He trained me for a few weeks. He taught me how to shoot. He taught me how things worked underground.
They were preparing a war against the cartel. Their plan was quite simple. Take over the top floors, kill all who in charge, and set free all the people. But free from what? Free from the walls around us? Free from our 'condition?' Kimmy said free from fear at least.
At the first day of my training, I was given a small pistol, the name of which started with an s or something but I don't recall. He didn't give me a real bullet. He had me practice with dissembling and assembling, saying that it's important to know how the thing works. When I became able to do it in twenty seconds, he let me load the gun. But still I didn't shoot since it would make a lot of noise. That was the first reason but the biggest reason was that bullets weren't abundant.
We had a shooting range and we practiced with some air guns. It was enough, though. Danny told me that accuracy wasn't actually a matter. 'What matters is to be able to pull the trigger at the right time, faster than the one who's standing in front of you,' he said. He was a great teacher. A great soldier as well. He started from the bottom and by the time I was assigned for my first mission, he was
leading a squad.
We had our own system, like a small military. I was a private. Danny was a corporal. A corporal led a squad of five to six privates. And then we had a sergeant who's in charge of a platoon. which composed of three squads. And we had a company, composed of 4 platoons.
Our company captain was called Daug. He was a great man. He was dedicated to the rebel. Everyone respected him but he was stubborn as hell from time to time. He was a kind of guy who doesn't compromise. If he had a plan, he went straight for it. No changing of anything in the middle of the mission. His instinct was right for most of the time, but most didn't mean always. He couldn't be right for all the time.
My first mission was to smuggle in some supplies from the lower floors. People were supportive to us, in general. But we had to be careful since we didn't know who's cooperative to the cartel.
It was an easy mission. There was nothing that might block our way. When we got to the first floor, I met this old lady at the market place. She recognized me. Of course she did since she had been seeing me running around for my entire life since I was very young. She told me she thought I was dead, too. I said no, I wasn't dead yet. She was very helping. She gave me some food and told me where to go if I was looking for some ammo. Then she told me how sorry she was about the things that had happened to Diane and our parents that night.
Though it wasn't the first time I heard what happened, but it was still hard. It was hard to really accept the truth that I can't them her anymore. She said it was glad at least that the young survived. Me and Diane.
At that point, I don't know why I did, but I lost my mind and got angry at her. I said, 'What's the point in surviving? Diane is up there! She gotta live the rest of her life as their.... That's a life worse than death!' Well, I knew it wasn't right to get mad at her. She wasn't the one who messed things up. I had nothing to say if she got angry at my attitude. But she didn't get angry. She didn't say anything but just gave me a little hug and showed me her little secret. She pulled up her sleeve and showed me the lunar mark tattooed on her arm. And she quietly whispered in my ear something I'll never forget for the rest of my life.
'There's nothing more meaningful and important than being alive. Darling, trust me. I still have nightmares, but dear, you know what? I'm still alive.'
That was what she said. That was the moment my life changed forever. The reason I joined the rebel changed. At first it was just because I felt like I couldn't be sitting around. But after that moment, I began to believe. That became my motto. I began to believe that there's nothing more meaningful than just being alive.
After we returned to the basement, I told Kimmy what I was thinking. I said I wanted to fight. I asked her if she thought it would be possible for us to break down the cartel and save Diane. She told me with a complex smile on her face, that hope is what makes us strong.
After the day, I trained myself harder than everyone else. I joined several more missions. I missed mom. But more than that, I missed Diane. It haunted me every night thinking what would be going on to Diane, but I decided not to think about it. I just put my every effort on concentrating on what I could do at the moment to set her free someday.
...
A year had passed after that. I became indispensible in my team. There were six of us. Danny, me, and four other guys.
Alex and Wonder were from the first floor. They were twin brother and sister. They said they started out helping the rebels from an early age. Alex was good at running. Probably he was the best runner in the whole company. But he was careless. He nearly got caught by the guards many times and managed to run away. He told the story as if it was a proof that he's talented at improvising, but everyone else treated it as a proof that he was stupid. Especially, Danny hated him talking like that cause it could endanger the whole squad. He was a good kid anyway.
On the other hand, Wonder was a quiet girl. She couldn't run as fast as her brother but she also had an excellent physical talent. She was especially good at disguising and also good at physical combat, which made her appropriate for some works that needed to be done quietly.
I didn't believe that they were twins at first since they were so different. But they had one thing in common. They had this strong will in their eyes. They were not like, you know, people who lost a spirit in their eyes. Their eyes were light brown but sometimes they looked flaming red.
Alex and Wonder always sticked together. Of course they had that brothers and sisters kind of arguing and quarrels from time to time but they took care of each other pretty well. I envied them a little since I was the only child. To have someone to get your back all the time. But it didn't take long before I stopped envying. They treated me like I was their brother, too. In fact, we became like real brothers and sisters including the other two guys.
The other two were Fox and Purple. They were pretty older than the rest of us. They were both older than Danny, either. Fox joined the rebel after she escaped from the guards when she was chosen as a sister at Chigan Sar. She said she had to kill one of the guards who tried to rape her. It was obviously a self-defense but it left her with only two options; to get killed or get the hell out of there. She chose the latter and somehow made it here. She said she escaped with some of her friends, but they got killed on the way. It's a sad story but not an uncommon one around here for sure. The only uncommon part in her story is that she survived. No one ever successfully escaped other than her.
Fox was also friends with Kimmy. Kimmy didn't usually share her emotions with others, but to Fox, she told everything about herself. She seemed to rely on her. Fox was good at listening to others and make them feel they're cared for. She acted like a tomboy but she had one of the warmest hearts. Sometimes, when I got insecure and helpless, she noticed and sat next to me. The fact that someone was next to me and saying, 'It's okay to feel that way,' was what really mattered, I guess. She was also good at physical combat and making quick decisions in the hard times as well.
And finally, Purple was a so-called weirdo. He didn't talk much with the rest of us. He had a cat named Violet and spent the most of his free time with her. Violet was a black cat, which made it quite difficult to find her when she got into some gaps between things, like furniture. Everytime that happened, everyone started to call out, 'Purple! your friend is missing again!' and he found him immediately. And he always mumbled afterwards like, 'what's the fuzz? isn't it obvious she's under the desk in commanding office? Hey Daug! Didn't I tell you about how bad it is to give Violet tuna cans! It's too salty for her and she becomes addicted to it! If you're going to give him food, be sure that it's not salty!' And everyone new to this happening got shocked at two things. First, 'That guy could talk?' And second, 'Can he say to his senior officer like that?' I later found out that cats were Daugs weakness and that it was Daug himself who allowed Purple to live with his cat in the basement and it was also Daug himself who named the cat Violet, saying it went well with Purple.
Purple didn't say much about himself. I was told that he's from some floor between 40 and 50. There was not much of a big story of why he came down and became a rebel cause he never said. He just came down one day, knocked the door and got in. He was suspected as a spy sent from the guards but by the way he acted and talked, he became free of all the charges before long.
The longest chat I had with him was when I mentioned about Orion. Purple said, most of the cats or dogs in the building must have got inside the building from the outside. I asked him if they were lost. He said they must have been pets and abandoned by the owners.
He said, 'You see, the people in the city are so wealthy and rich that they just pick any animals in a pet store as a fashion item. They pick one, carry them around or place them in their house like an ornament and throw them away when they get bored.' I don't know the truth but that was what Purple thought. He was so convinced by the thought that his dream was to make one of the floors designed only for animals.
I asked him, 'Like a zoo?' and he got mad and sa
id 'No! A preserve!' Then I asked him again, 'What's the difference?' And he started lecturing me about the difference between a zoo and a preserve. He said, a zoo is where people put animals in purpose of collection but a preserve is where animals are brought to live while being protected. I still can't tell the difference between the two. To me, they are both just constricted areas surrounded by walls. But I didn't continue to say anything since he was having a really scary face.
He was a daydreamer, I guess. He truly believed the difference between the two. I thought of Diane and what she said before. She was also a daydreamer. She told me one day, 'Maybe, we're not caged around these walls. Maybe this building is our shelter that protects us from the outside.' I asked her 'from the sunlight?' and she said 'sunlight and maybe something more.'
Anyway, that was our team. It took a little while for us to function as one, but we really did function as one in the end. We didn't get some big missions at first, until we got the real big one.
8
We didn't have any door leading directly to the first floor from the basement level. Instead, we had some secret doors leading directly outside the building. We had to get out of the building from the basement first, and then sneak into the first floor of the building through the openings. Normally, these openings were disguised as ventilating hoods or covered with vending stalls or anything.
Getting outside was the most tricky part since we couldn't afford to being spotted by the patrol units outside. They are some sort of drones equipped with UV lasers and thermo cameras detecting the kind of us. They are merciless. If you get caught by a patrol unit, they burn you down without any hesitation.