“You have nothing to fear from the Vault,” the Messenger reassured her. “The answers you seek reside there. Go when you wake.”
“I will,” Taylor said. “What do I do after that?”
“You lead these people, Taylor Hart. You were selected for a reason. More strength lives in you than you realize.” The woman turned to leave the room, her white cloak trailing behind her. Before she vanished completely she turned with a rueful smile on her lips. “Oh, and, Taylor?”
“Yes?”
“The Vault can wait until you shower.”
***
Taylor woke with a start. The dream she had woken from had felt so real. She jumped from the bed and looked down the hall. A quick glance outside told her it was still dark, the morning sun only beginning to reclaim the night sky.
Replaying the events of her dream in her mind made Taylor turn to the shower with excitement. Not only did she feel a million times better now that she had rest but answers had been promised to her by this Messenger.
She ran to the bathroom debating whether she was crazy to believe a dream. A quick inventory of the world at large said it wasn’t any crazier than her being able to shoot explosive energy from her hands.
The water felt amazing against her skin. The hot liquid washed over her like a force of new life. She found soap and shampoo in the shower and put both items to use. The drain ran brown for a long period of time as she scrubbed her skin until it hurt. Steam billowed all around her like puffs of clouds rolling past.
Taylor was rubbing herself dry with a red beach towel when a tentative knock came on the bathroom door. Instinctively she wrapped the towel around her with her right arm. Her left arm outstretched and held a white ball of energy ready to be discharged.
“Who is it?” she asked, ready to jump into action at a moment’s notice.
“It’s me,” an unfamiliar female voice said. “I brought you clothes and some food. I made you sandwiches.”
There could only be one person who in the middle of the end of the world take time to make her sandwiches. Taylor threw open the door. Cidney stood in front of her with a large tray of food and a pile of clothes pinned between her left arm and side.
Taylor ignored the gaping older version of her friend. Instead of words she walked forward and wrapped the girl in a hug. The tray of food was squished between them.
“Wow,” Cidney said, leaning into the hug while still trying to carry the food. “You’re, like, super naked. Imagine if it was Frank who brought you this stuff.”
Taylor separated herself from Cidney with tears of joy. “You made it. You’re okay.”
“Of course I’m okay,” Cidney said, setting the tray and clothes on the dresser. “I’m a lot older but I have you to thank for me not being grandma age right now. If you hadn’t saved me when you did, well, I’d be using a walker.”
“How are you feeling?” Taylor asked. Her stomach was staging a protest that was building in intensity but the joy of seeing Cidney up and walking was filling her capacity at the moment.
“I’m great,” Cidney said. “I know this is going to take getting some used to. In a way I’m kind of happy. I can be of more use to you now. I can fight with you. I can help.”
“Oh, Cid,” Taylor said with a heavy sigh. “You always helped. There are more ways to be useful than pulling a trigger or swinging a blade.”
“I guess so,” Cidney said. “You better hurry and get dressed, there’s a meeting being held in a few minutes.”
“A meeting?” Taylor asked, reaching for the offered clothing. It was a blue guard uniform, with black boots and a matching jacket.
“Yeah,” Cidney said. “Frank and Melissa have really done a great job keeping order. They’ve called a meeting to decide the future of the compound.”
“And Lu?” Taylor asked, lacing the boots.
“He’s secured the wall and started clearing the bodies. Others are helping him get this place back in living order.”
Taylor tied her dark hair in a ponytail. She grabbed her plate of food, already salivating. “Well, let’s get going.”
Chapter 17
By the time Cidney and Taylor reached the bank’s steps Taylor had managed to consume the two sandwiches, apple, and water that were brought for her.
“You’re a machine,” Cidney said, eyeing her as Taylor licked her fingers.
Taylor could only smile. Every time she looked at Cidney a rush of feelings overwhelmed her. Sensations of joy at having her friend back, wonder at the events surrounding her aging process, and fear at nearly losing her.
“Stop looking at me like that,” Cidney said with a sheepish grin. “It’s me. I look older now and we’re probably going to have to have a talk about boys soon but it’s me.”
A conversation Taylor didn’t even know how to begin was knocking on the door. Lucky for her they had entered the bank where a heated conversation was taking place.
“We can’t trust them,” Tilk said. He was sitting on one side of the cleaned bank. Two other former slaves, an elderly woman and a young man, sat quietly next to him. Tilk was shouting at Frank and Melissa, who sat in the middle of the council, three compound guards on their left. “You don’t understand what it was like to be a slave beneath these people. I watched my friends die under their watch.”
“We were doing what we had to do to survive,” one of the three guards said. “Cole didn’t give us a choice.”
Taylor recognized the woman. McPherson. She was the guard that had helped her change the first day she was taken from the doctor’s house.
“There’s always a choice!” Tilk screamed.
Taylor thought a fight was about to break out. The older woman sitting next to him placed a weathered hand on his arm. The action alone was enough to make him rethink his next words. Seething, Tilk resumed his place in his seat.
“I’m not saying what we did was right,” McPherson said with a heavy breath. “But the guards who stayed and helped you fight off the Dread stayed for a reason. We want to work with you. Standing alongside you was the first act in a long road to redemption for us. We’re willing to travel that road. Are you?”
The room silenced for a moment. To Taylor’s surprise Melissa took the lead in the conversation.
“What we need to know right now is that the two of you will keep your factions from tearing each other apart until we can agree on a long term solution.”
“I can speak for my group,” McPherson said with a nod toward Tilk. “We have surrendered our weapons. We’ll give you and your people space. We’ll agree to obey whatever is decided by this council.”
The old woman whispered something in Tilk’s ear. The bearded man set his jaw. It was clear he was struggling with whatever comment she had given him. “We will keep our people from harassing theirs,” Tilk said so slowly it felt like an eternity before the entire sentence came out. “Still, some kind of punishment has to occur. Our people will only begin to accept them once they have atoned for what they’ve done.”
“I think we can agree on some kind of probation or sentence,” Melissa said. For the first time she looked at Taylor and Cidney. “Taylor, it’s great to see you up and about. What do you think should be done with the compound guards?”
Taylor paused to gather her thoughts. She wasn’t expecting to be asked her point of view, much less be looked to for answers. All the eyes in the room were on her now. Truth be told, with the compound safe for the moment all she really wanted to do was open the bank vault.
“I think both sides are right,” she said. “The guards who stayed should be given an opportunity at redemption while the atrocities that were inflicted on the slaves can’t be overlooked. Perhaps the guards are put under watch in a probationary capacity for the time being while a suitable and fair sentence is decided. One thing is for certain, without the help of those guards that stayed many more lives would have been lost. I think that already says a lot about their commitment to making things work.”
McPherson stood from her seat and walked over to Tilk with an outstretched hand. “I don’t know if we’re ever going to be friends, but I want you to know that I’m going to work to gain your trust. Not a day went by during my life as a guard that I didn’t wish there was another way. I was too sacred to try and rebel. I have nightmares every night about what was done here. I’m going to have to live with that. I’m sorry.”
Tilk’s intense eyes bore through the female guard. For a moment Taylor didn’t think he was going to accept the offered hand. With a herculean effort that showed across every inch of his face the man stood and took McPherson’s hand in his own. “Like it or not, we need each other if we are going to survive in this world.”
***
“Well, that didn’t go as well as it could have,” Frank said, examining the detonation device on the right side of the vault door.
“It’s going to be a long journey to get those two groups to trust one another,” Melissa said. She was studying a notebook full of numbers. “We have enough food and supplies to last for a while. Sooner or later we’re going to have to go out again.”
“The defenses are going to need some work if you people plan on staying here for any length of time,” Lu said, walking through the large hole in the side of the bank wall Taylor had made during the fight. “Walls will need to be raised and strengthened, maybe even a moat dug around the compound.”
Taylor was listening without hearing, her sole focus on the vault. It was eight feet tall. Shining steel covered the circular entrance from top to bottom. A giant wheel was set in place to open the door.
Frank was disconnecting the wires to the explosives Cole had erected. He worked meticulously, a pair of pliers in one hand, a concentrated furrow on his brow.
Taylor checked back into the conversation when she heard Cidney ask about the Dread.
“The crazy thing is that all the wounds that should have turned people into the Dread didn’t. Dozens of bite and claw marks were sustained during the fight in the compound. No one turned, we’re only worried about normal bacterial infection,” Cidney said.
“The Dread is evolving and so is its plan,” Lu said. He perched himself behind Frank for a front row seat. “It doesn’t want to turn more humans. It needs its work force, plus it can count on humanity to keep itself in check. Just like what’s been happening in these walls. People are fighting people instead of the real threat.”
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Melissa asked Frank with a raised eyebrow. “Should we be in the same building with you right now?”
“Got it,” Frank said, clipping a red wire that ran from the detonation timer to the plastic explosive set in the vault door. “There, we should be able to take it out no problem now.”
“Should be?” Taylor asked, approaching the door. With her bare hands she removed the extra pieces of steel welded to the frame that added support. “If we all go up in a ball of flame I’m going to be pissed.”
“You’re good to go.” Frank removed the detonation device and began scraping off the clay-like substance. “See? Come on guys, have a bit more faith in me.”
“And we’re sure we want to find out what’s on the other side of this thing?” Lu asked. His saber was back in its sheath, pulled from the corpse of Jason’s body. He reached for it now.
“This is the reason we came in the first place,” Taylor said, remembering the message they had received while still in the Ark. The dream she had of the Messenger also ran vividly through her mind. Although she wanted to tell the others in detail about her dream, this wasn’t the time. “If Cole was so hell bent on us not finding what’s on the other side, I think we’ll be fine.”
Lu drew his saber. Melissa, Frank, and Cidney stood back while Taylor cleared the remaining pieces of welded metal.
She was stronger than she knew. Each section of steel that had been fused to the vault door and the wall itself came away in her hands like pieces of bark from a tree. Each time she tore a piece away not so much as a scratch blemished her skin.
Taylor cleared the last remaining section of the large vault door and began working on the gigantic wheel. It silently refused her attempts at entrance. Taylor leaned into the action, pulling the wheel up with concentrated force. Heat rushed to her face as her lungs heaved. The wheel moved. Like a sea captain turning her helm, Taylor forced the wheel over.
When it did loosen, it spun like a top. The loud clangs of opening locks echoed through the vault door as rods forced into the same position for so long came free. In a second the behemoth of a door was slowly swinging open revealing a dark passage on the other side.
“I vote that Lu goes first,” Frank said, peering around Taylor’s left shoulder.
Lu gave him a sideways glance.
“What? You can see in the dark with those yellow eyes of yours can’t you?”
Lu walked forward into the pitch black.
“We can’t send him in by himself,” Taylor said, following closely behind Lu. Melissa and Cidney moved forward as well, with a grumbling Frank bringing up the rear.
It was so dark, Taylor focused on her other senses to tell her what she was walking into. A smooth floor, blank walls on either side, a musty odor in the air that confirmed the vault had been sealed shut for a very long time. No sound.
Fear would have been the overpowering feeling at the moment if the Messenger hadn’t told her to open the vault. Without knowing her Taylor already trusted the woman that came to her in her dreams.
Ahead, a small light shone through the dark. Taylor was leading the group side by side with Lu now. “What do you think it is?” she asked him.”
“It’s a circular light with an arrow pointing down,” he said under his breath. “It can’t be a—why would someone put an elevator in a vault?”
Taylor reached the light first. Sure enough it was a single glowing white button with an arrow pointing down.
“No way,” Cidney breathed from her spot behind Taylor.
“I vote we should go back,” Frank said.
“Too late now,” Taylor said. She pushed the button.
The entire group jumped back when the elevator doors dinged open. A large square box waited to take them down. It was ordinary in every way minus its location.
Excitement was tingling its way up and down Taylor’s spine. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t a bit nervous, still, fear wasn’t part of the equation. “Let’s go.” She stepped into the elevator and examined the row of buttons on the control panel. There were seven floors altogether.
“I’m not trying to be a Frank here—” Melissa said as she and the others entered the box.
“Hey, I’m standing right here,” Frank snapped.
“—but could this be some kind of trap?”
“It’s possible,” Lu said, crossing his large arms over his chest. “There’s only one way to know for sure.”
“You’re not very reassuring are you?” Cidney asked him with a smile.
“It’s not one of my better qualities,” he admitted. He pushed the button on the control panel marked with a large number one.
The elevator descended in silence, making its way into the unknown. Each member was left to his or her own thoughts on what they would find below.
It was a short ride. Seconds after their descent began the elevator jarred to a stop and the steel elevator doors dinged open.
Taylor and Lu took positions at the door, the latter with his saber drawn and ready.
Unlike the walk from the vault door to the hidden elevator inside, this room was brightly lit and occupied. A man rivaling Lu for size stood waiting for them.
He wore a cloak across his ebony skin, two weapons tucked in a leather belt. His hands were resting by his sides, non-threatening but ready to move into action at a moment’s notice. His eyes trac
ked their movements as they exited the elevator.
“I’ve been waiting a very long time to meet you,” he said in a slight African accent. “She told me you would be coming.”
“Who told you?” Taylor asked. Her eyes searched the man for any sign of danger. As far as she could tell he was alone. Doors on either side of the hall opened up into rooms behind him.
“The Messenger,” he said, as though it were obvious. “I was instructed to stay here with the others, wait for you, and train her once she arrives. I have to say, after a year and a half I was beginning to have my own doubts.”
“What do you mean by ‘others?’” Lu asked still edging forward. “Who else is down here with you?”
“As many as I could convince to join me in safety once the Dread began spreading over the Earth.” The man hesitated, searching each of them with his eyes before he continued. “There is much to explain and a hall is not the place for allies to converse.”
He motioned with his hand for them to follow. Without waiting to see if they would, he turned his back and headed down the hall.
Taylor looked to the others with a shrug, “Into the belly of the beast?”
“I think we can trust him,” Cidney said.
Together the group followed the back of their large host. In a few yards he ducked into a room off to the right of the hall.
Taylor made sure she was in the lead once they entered the room. If anyone was going to be harmed because of her insistence they open the vault, it should be her. She prepared herself for anything as she entered the room. Her hands were already balled into fists, her stance poised and ready for a fight.
The room they walked into was something like a large den. It was actually the most welcoming scene Taylor had seen in a very long time. Even rooms at the Ark didn’t compare to the hominess the room exuded. A dense rug covered a large portion of the wood floor. Cushioned couches were staged strategically around the room, with a fake fireplace set into the wall. Pictures of the world gone reminded Taylor of what they were fighting for, portraits of smiling families, groups of people on vacation, and exotic places around the world.
All The Broken People (The Dread Series Book 2) Page 18