by Young, B. R.
The elevator came to a stop and they all climbed out. Lili hit the button to send the car back down and then they headed down the tunnel and made their way to the door that would lead them into the sewers. They got as far as the edge of the tunnels when Lili noticed a shadow moving just at the edge of the tunnel, she motioned for the others to stop and be quiet.
She handed her supply bag to one of the others and dug out the hatchet. She slowly made her way to the edge of the tunnel and peered out, she saw a guardian standing watch over the tunnel entrance. She could feel the nerves taking hold of her as she hoisted the hatchet in her hands ready to strike. She crept up to the guardian slowly taking aim. She swung and lopped off the head, unfortunately her aim was a bit off and the hatchet skimmed off the body of the guardian and embedded itself deep into her leg.
She let out an agonizing scream that brought the others running to her. Sara and Gwen were panicking at the sight of the blood. Gar immediately went into action he took off his shirt wrapping the shirt around the wound keeping as much pressure to the wound as he could. “Sara run back to the elevator get Dawn quickly.”
She ran down the tunnel as fast as she could crying as she went. Gwen stood there in complete shock bawling her eyes out. She went to Lili’s side holding her hand. Lili was barely conscious from loss of blood. Gar could do nothing more for her but try to keep the blood from coming out any faster.
Moments later Dawn, Reggie and Sara came running down the tunnel. “Step aside let me tend to her,” said Dawn.
Dawn removed the cloth and got a good look at the wound and saw the massive gash in her leg, she wasted no time, she opened the laser on her arm. “What are you doing,” exclaimed Gwen.
“I need to stop the bleeding, using the laser will burn the wound closed and stop the blood flow,” she said
She angled the laser so it would skim her leg, she yanked the hatchet from her leg and fired instantly burning the skin, closing the wound. Lili let out a scream as she passed out from the pain and blood loss. “We need to get out of here and fast before more units come,” said Reggie.
Dawn lifted Lili in her arms and everyone else grabbed their gear and made their way down the tunnel to the door that led to the sewers. They flung open the doors and Reggie led the way through the sewers, they ran as fast as the humans following could keep up. They barreled on through the sewers getting to the spot they needed to climb out and got out to the streets in no time at all. They did not bother with the cover as they ran across the street, not even looking to see if there was even a guard at the end of the street. Luckily for them the guard had moved on to another section of the city and they were in the clear as they left the city and headed out of town.
They stopped on the outskirts of town near the edge of a forest and set Lili on the ground. She was still unconscious but Dawn had stopped the bleeding so she had lost no more blood. “What happened back there?” asked Dawn.
“We were about to exit the tunnel when she stopped us. There was a shadow at the end of the tunnel. She took the hatchet and took off his head, but the hatchet must have slipped off of something and it went into her leg,” sobbed Gwen.
“Well she sure made a mess of her leg,” said Dawn.
Reggie went into the woods and gathered some branches and twigs. He brought them out along with some vines he had found and fastened them all together to make a litter that they could use to better carry Lili on so she would be more comfortable. Once they had her strapped down they started on their way, it was a long journey back to their camp.
31
Kev, Reggie, and Mal had been getting the camp set up and were starting a small fire when they saw the silhouette’s coming up the road. They raced up the road to greet them and they stopped as soon as they saw the litter with a body being carried. Kev immediately noticed Lili was not among the ones walking and ran the rest of the way. “Lili,” he yelled.
Dawn shook her head, “I am sorry Kev she was very badly wounded.”
“What happened?” he asked.
“Let us get some more distance between us and this city and we will talk,” said Dawn.
“I thought you guys were going to head straight back to the camp?” said Reggie.
“I didn’t want to go too far and leave you guys behind, just in case. We were going to wait 24 hours. If you hadn’t come back by then, we would have left and come up with a new plan. I’m glad we waited,” said Kev.
They went back to the small campsite and packed up the rest of the gear they had collected and tossed everything into the carts they had stored. They managed to rig the litter to the carts so they could push Lili along the road on the carts for a much smoother, easier trip. They walked on for several more hours until it was near dark, they had managed to walk forty miles from the city that day.
They all stopped and made introductions and worked on setting up camp. Dawn took charge of taking care of Lili and gave her some medication to help ease her pain. She feared there was not much more she could do for her. She needed blood and they had no way of giving her more, not out here, not without knowing the blood type of her and the other humans with them.
They built up a fire and talked about everything that had transpired throughout the day. They talked about what Lili had done to save the others and how she had lost quite a bit of blood. She had not lost enough to do serious damage, but enough to make her weak for quite some time.
“What else can we do for her?” asked Kev
“There is not much we can do but wait and see if she will pull through. We will take her back to the camp and keep her as comfortable as we can, that is the best we can do for her,” said Dawn.
“You have all had a very long and tiring day, we will watch over Lili, all of you should get some rest,” said Reggie.
They all settled in close to the fire to get some sleep, it had indeed been a day of excitement for the newcomers to the party. Kev lay near Lili on her litter, he was afraid he may lose her and had a hard time getting to sleep, but eventually sleep did take hold.
Most of them slept through the night, Kev kept having bad dreams about losing Lili and did a lot of tossing and turning. They ate a small breakfast and did the best they could at trying to get some food into Lili, mostly ground up berries and breads mixed with some water to wash it down, giving it to her in small bites.
Once they finished with breakfast they packed everything up and started out towards their camp. They still had many miles to walk before they would get there and if they walked quickly they could make it in a couple of days. They walked on all day stopping only long enough for the humans to rest for a few moments when they needed to and then they would set off again.
It was well into the dark of night on the second day by the time they finally reached the edge of the forest where they had settled their camp. Reggie and Bard made some torches for Kev, Mal and Gar to carry while the girls carried the supplies and Dawn and Reggie carried the litter with Lili, while Reggie carried the carts. They were soon all back at the camp they called home and had a fire roaring in the pit with everything put in order.
“Mal, Gar, Sara, Gwen welcome home. We have worked hard to etch out this place for ourselves and hopefully with your help we can make it bigger and better, then we can discuss the plans we have for overtaking the mainframe and getting all of our people out of the farms and taking back our world,” said Kev
“It’s truly beautiful up here, I could never have imagined, in my wildest dreams, it would ever be like this,” said Gwen.
“And Dawn said there are lots of animals here as well,” Sara stated in a questioning tone.
“Yes there are a great number of animals. We have hunted, skinned and smoked some bear meat in the pantry area. We will show you everything in the morning when there’s more light,” said Kev as he pointed out areas for everyone to sleep. “We should all get some sleep, we’ve done a lot of walking today.”
“Yes I agree and we have many batteries that are going to need to be charged and
stored. We are going to need to see about getting more generators and charging units somehow,” said Reggie.
“We can figure that out tomorrow as well. Tonight we must watch over our friends while they sleep and be sure they are safe. Sleep well my friends we will be sure that no harm falls upon you tonight and in the morning all will be well,” said Bard
“Goodnight,” they all said at the same time. Everyone found a spot and got comfortable for the night and they quickly fell asleep.
32
The following morning they rose before the sun had broken through the trees, the fire had died to a crackling ember in the pits. Dawn, Bard and Reggie were at the edge of the camp charging their extra supply of batteries. Kev jumped up, immediately checking on Lili, “There has been no change. I fed her a little while ago before you all woke,” said Dawn
He let out a sigh as he stood, “She seems to be getting a little bit of color back into her face.”
“Yes she does, that is a good thing. Perhaps with time she will pull through, we can only wait and see. For now all we can do is work on the camp, make our plans and wait,” said Dawn.
Dawn and Kev joined the others around the fire to eat a little breakfast. “Is there a source of water nearby?” asked Mal.
“There is a stream several hundred yards from here, we fill our jugs when we need fresh water,” said Kev.
“I was thinking perhaps I could rig a system to run water directly from the stream to here so we wouldn’t have to keep going up there. We’d have running water on hand. Something similar to what we use on the farms. Not quite as big but as efficient,” said Mal.
“That would be a great idea,” said Kev.
“What about animals, are there any animals like the ones on the farm up here that we could capture and bring here to use for stuff like milk and eggs?” asked Sara.
Kev looked to the guardians that knew more about the world above than he did. “There are wild cows and chickens roaming around, they will be quite difficult to catch but I am sure that we can attempt to get some. You may wish to build a structure to contain them before we undertake catching them,” said Bard.
“Then Sara and I will get started on that right away,” said Gwen.
“And I can find edible plants in the forest that we can store. Perhaps someone will show me how to hunt,” said Gar.
“I will be happy to accompany you and show you what to do,” said Reggie.
Everyone split up and started working on the projects they wanted to do. Kev and Dawn stayed by Lili’s side. “She’s going to pull through this isn’t she Dawn?” Kev asked.
“It is hard to say for sure. She lost a lot of blood but she does seem to be getting some color back into her. The only thing we can do for her now is keep her fed and comfortable until she decides it is time for her to wake up,” she said.
“So what do you know about the guardians taking humans to D.C. for this thing they call processing,” Kev asked her.
“I am afraid I do not know much. I was very seldom on the farms when I was active. I was part of the city crew that maintained and constructed the cities above and kept historical records. That is one of the reasons I know so much about your world,” she said.
“Well this makes me all the more curious and eager to get to D.C. We need to find out just what it is that’s going on down there,” said Kev.
“Yes me as well. We will have to plan well and pack plenty of supplies. Someone will need to stay behind with Lili. D.C. is a long ways from here. It will be several days walk loaded down with provisions. We will need to talk with everyone later and see what they all think and see who will wish to stay here,” said Dawn.
Dawn left Kev to tend to Lili and went to check in on the others. She first went to see how the eldest of the party, Mal was doing. She stood against a tree watching as he worked, he had started out digging a small trench starting near the creek that would lead to the camp. It seemed like hard work and the older man was sweating a lot. She grabbed a bottle of water and brought it to him.
“You look as though you might be thirsty,” she said.
“Yes thank you,” he said as he took a huge gulp from the bottle. “I owe you all so much for saving me. I have to say I don’t understand what the guardians wanted with me. I thought I was going to the retirement farm but they said there was no such place and I would be processed at a place called D.C.” he said.
“We intend to find out what that is all about, as well as many other things that are going on in D.C. we just need to come up with a plan of attack. First we need to get the camp up and ready. It will be a long hard road to getting your people freed but we will get there,” said Dawn. She looked over the work he had done so far, “So what exactly is it that you are doing here?” she asked.
“I am digging the trench and then I will try to hollow out some old logs to use as tubes the water can run along and eventually, if we can scavenge enough parts, build a system where we can turn it on and off right from the camp,” Said Mal.
“Well that would definitely make everyone’s lives much easier. I will let you get back to your work, we will all meet later and discuss what to do about going to D.C., said Dawn.
The day wore on and she checked in on the others, the girls had erected a pen that would temporarily hold cows until a more permanent shed could be built and were working on a smaller coop that could hold chickens and other birds. Bard and Gar had been wandering through the forest gathering a wide variety of roots and berries as well as hunting and had come back with several sacks full of wild game and vegetation they could put aside in their pantry area. The camp was starting to come along nicely for the 6 humans that now inhabited it.
It was starting to get dark and everyone had been working hard throughout the day. Kev had been busy in the camp preparing a meal for everyone while they were all busy working and they all were rewarded to the smells of cooked meats and wondrous vegetables as they made their way back into the camp. They all sat and feasted on the food as they chatted about their day, Dawn took a portion which had been prepared for Lili and took it to her, feeding her as they normally did so that the others could enjoy themselves, they had all worked very hard today and deserved to rest and enjoy themselves.
Once the meal had been finished it was time for them to make the hard decisions, “Now we must decide when we will go to D.C. and how we will strike, as well as other things that we will need to do. Also someone will need to stay behind to care for Lili since she obviously will not be able to travel with us and it will be no trip in which we can carry her,” said Dawn.
Everyone looked around at each other and finally Gwen spoke up, “I will stay behind with Lili, I will be sure she is safe and taken care of but someone will need to show me how to work the weapons and stuff before you go.”
“Thank you Gwen. I will teach you myself before the time comes,” said Dawn.
“Now it is going to be a long walk to D.C. 200 miles at least. We pack light, food and weapons. We can always hunt and scavenge for food along the way if we must,” said Reggie.
“The hard part is going to be getting into the city, I do not think the sewers are going to work this time. We may need to split up into 3 small groups, it will be easier to go undetected with smaller groups. Each taking a different entrance point within the city. If each group has one A.I. in it we all know the layout of the city so we can easily get to the Whitehouse that holds the mainframe. Once we get there we will have to move very slowly taking out one guard at a time in order to get deeper into the building. If even one guard sees us it is all over for us,” said Dawn.
“Isn’t there anyway we can come into the building from underneath it, like a basement or even from on top of the roof?” asked Mal.
“No, unfortunately the roof is guarded and the basement is lined with steel so we would never be able to dig our way through it,” said Bard.
“What about your lasers, couldn’t you adjust them somehow to cut the steel, you know the way you
closed Lili’s leg?” asked Sara.
Dawn looked at the girl for a moment and smiled, “You are far smarter than you think Sara, that just might work. I should be able to modify the laser to sustain a blast of continuous beam that would burn hot enough to melt the steel wall.”
“But what about your battery, that would drain your power fast,” stated Kev.
“Then we will need to be sure we have several back up batteries fully charged to take with us. Bard and I do not have the laser arms, we can run for a full month on a battery so we will not need the extras,” said Reggie.
“I will get to work in the morning on modifying my arms. If we are all in agreement I think we should leave within the next couple of days. We should make sure that Gwen will have ample supplies for her and Lili and that she knows how to shoot and everything else she will need. We need to try and get some of those cows and chickens for her before we go,” said Dawn.
“I will take the girls out in the morning and see if we can find some to bring back,” said Bard.
“I’ll go along as well,” said Kev.
“I will go to the village where you found us and see what supplies I can bring back, it will eventually get cold out here and the humans will need better living quarters,” said Reggie.
“I’ll help you, if you want the company,” said Mal.
“That would be most appreciated, thank you,” Reggie said.
“And I guess I’ll stay here and work on building the cow barn,” said Gar.
“I would be happy to help you with that,” said Dawn.
“Well now that everyone has a plan for tomorrow perhaps we should get some sleep, it will be a long day and there’s a lot to do,” said Kev.
Everyone went to their spots in the camp and laid down to get some sleep. Kev went to check on Lili, she had been getting more and more color back in her and seemed to be doing better but she still had not woken up. He was getting more and more worried about her with each passing day, he couldn’t understand how it was she seemed to get better yet would not wake up. He laid down next to her and he too soon nodded off into a dreamless slumber.