Ascent: (Book 1) The Ladder

by Thackston, Anthony

  “Hurry up!” Katya yells up to him.

  Frederick climbs halfway before a wild bolt hits him, knocking him off the Ladder and back to the dirt floor. Lance tries to grab the Guard’s arm to keep it from hitting anyone else. A few of the other kids make it to the Ladder and begin climbing. Dina is the first into the tunnel.

  The Guard frees his arm from Lance and fires a bolt at those nearest the bottom of the Ladder. It knocks them back, away from the Ladder, just narrowly missing Marvin’s feet.

  “Marvin!” Lauren yells up.

  “Get him. I’m fine,” Joe tells her.

  Chris tries to hold the Guard’s legs down while Lance and Katya grab hold of his arm and pin it to the ground. Joe looks around for a weapon but only manages to find a large stone. It will have to do. He picks it up and walks, quickly as he can, to the four of them grappling on the ground.

  “Move,” Joe tells the others.

  Lance and Katya release the Guard just in time for Joe to slam the stone down on top of the robotic hand.

  “Go,” He tells them.

  Chris, Katya and Lance race to the Ladder. They are the last ones to go up. Everyone else has made it into the tunnel. Joe watches the Guard push the stone off his hand before making his way up the Ladder.

  The Guard looks at the smashed metal hand as yellow sparks fly from it. He runs after Joe. Not quite halfway up, Joe feels a hand grip his ankle before he’s torn from the Ladder. He hits the ground, the air escaping from his lungs. He gasps to inhale but manages only a weak cough.

  “You call that a cough?” The Guard walks to a lever on the wall. “I know something that will really make you cough.” He pulls the lever and a hissing sound echoes through the Junction. Along the bottom of the wall, a fog sprays into the cavern. “I should have done this a long time ago.”

  Joe gets to his feet and looks around. It’s not just the Junction. Fog rolls out of the other tunnels as well. “The whole Mine is gonna get the Sick,” Joe warns him.

  “That’s right,” the Guard replies gleefully. “Not long after that will be the silence of the prison. And none of you will ever escape me again.”

  The Guard and Joe turn their heads to the Bunks as the sound of mass coughing emanates from the tunnel.

  They look back at one another. The Guard’s expression moves from glee to incomprehension. “It should be hitting you by now. Where are your symptoms?”

  Though worried about the others, Joe manages to put on a show of confidence. “I got a vaccine. I can’t get the Sick.”

  The Guard looks at the fog along the ground then at his damaged hand before walking to the Boss and picking up his metal stick. “Then I suppose I’ll have to do this the old fashioned way.”

  The Guard begins to step toward Joe but the Doctor leaps on him. Her attack throws off the Guard’s balance, forcing him to his knees.

  “Go. I can’t hold him for long,” she says through her own cough.

  “What about the others?” Joe asks.

  “You brought Remedy. They’ll be fine.” She struggles with the Guard.

  Joe backs up to the Ladder. “It’s not enough for everyone.”

  “Go!” The Doctor yells one more time.

  The coughing from the bunks gets louder as some of the kids wobble out, the vertigo already affecting them. Joe turns to the Ladder and climbs up it as fast as he can.

  The Guard throws the Doctor off of him and watches Joe near the tunnel. It’s too high for the Guard to really do anything now. Joe looks toward the Bunks and sees some of the kids walking out. They struggle to stay on their feet.

  The Guard looks back in that direction and sees the kids. “No more prisoners will escape.” His voice, again, takes on a cold, emotionless tone. He slowly walks toward the kids.

  “No!” Joe yells. He knows what the Guard will do. And they’re all too weak to defend themselves.

  The Doctor falls against the Ladder and looks up. “Go. Climb.”

  “But he’s going to…” Joe watches the Guard.

  The Doctor pulls another lever and a slow sliding door starts to cover the tunnel entrance. “I’ll take care of it. Go. Lead them out.”

  Joe stares down at her.

  “You’re the only one who can get them to the Steps. Please, go.”

  “How did you—”

  “Go,” the Doctor says before rushing after the Guard.

  Joe takes one last look then climbs through the narrowly closing door.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The Ladder quickly becomes unstable as the sliding door pushes the lower section further from the wall. The wood cracks and bends under the force of the door. It’s worse for those who’ve climbed higher as their balance is thrown off.

  Joe watches while the last of the light from the Junction disappears below him. The door closes with no sound and the Ladder stops moving as it settles into its new position.

  “Joe!” Marvin calls down.

  Joe steps off the Ladder and onto the sealed door. He looks up at the others. “I’m ok.” The bottom of the tunnel is dimmer than it was earlier. Joe looks at the broken bulbs that surround the opening. “Why did you stop climbing?”

  “Something weird is in the way!” Dina yells down.

  “It’s just the smog,” Lauren explains. “Once you go through it, you’ll get the Sick.”

  “You say that like it’s not a big deal.” Chris’ voice echoes in the vertical tunnel.

  Lauren smiles at him. “It’s not, because—”

  “It’s fine,” Joe breaks in. “Just climb past it. I know where more Remedy is.”

  “What happens when we go through the smog?” Gary asks.

  “First is an itchy throat, then the cough and after that you’ll get dizzy,” Joe calls up.

  “I’m pretty sure getting dizzy on a ladder is a bad thing,” Katya says.

  “Listen. Everyone just climb as fast as you can. Don’t stop in the cloud. The less time you’re in it, the better. Once you get to the top, there’s a door. Push it up as hard as you can and you’ll get in the room above. There’s Remedy there,” Joe assures the group.

  “You mean the Surface isn’t gonna be there?” Lance asks.

  “It’s ok. Just climb.” Joe’s voice is tense. He’s tired and worried about the others they left behind.

  Dina begins climbing with Gary behind her, followed by Lauren, Marvin, Chris, Katya and Lance.

  Joe begins his ascent behind them. “Everyone just be sure to watch whoever is above you. Help them if they look like they may fall.”

  Dina disappears into the green fog. She holds her breath just in case. Gary hesitates just under the cloud. He looks down and sees Lauren in the green light. Her freckles look darker in the green hue.

  She smiles at him. “You’ll be fine. Just go quick.”

  Gary climbs quickly into the fog.

  “You ready Marvin?” She looks down at him. He nods his head. She disappears into the fog.

  “It’s really quick through it,” Dina calls down. “Hold your breath if you can.”

  “Will that help?” Lance asks.

  “It can’t hurt,” Katya answers.

  “How far is the top, Joe?” Lauren calls out from above the fog.

  “It’s pretty far up. We need to hurry so we can get Remedy to everyone before it gets too bad.”

  “I made it through, Joe!” Marvin calls down.

  “Good job, Marvin. Keep climbing.”

  Chris pops his head above the cloud and exhales. “That wasn’t as bad as I thought. What about the other thing?”

  “What other thing?” Lauren asks.

  “That thing that killed the others.”

  “Woah!” Dina yells from the top of the Ladder as it’s shoved by something. The force of whatever hit it shifts over to another spot on the wall.

  Everyone is shaken by the impact and the Ladder’s second new resting spot.

  “What is that?” Dina continues.

  Out of the wa
ll from the Ladder’s original placement, sharp lances jut out from behind the cloth covered cut-out. Along with them are metal blades that sweep through empty air.

  “Joe?” Marvin calls down.

  “I’m still in the cloud. I can’t see,” Joe tells them.

  Lance and Katya climb higher. Lauren is almost on top of Gary, trying to give the others more room.

  Joe climbs out of the smog. “What is it?”

  “You don’t know?” Dina is shocked. “I thought you climbed all the way up.”

  “Just keep going,” Joe tells her.

  Gary and Marvin start to cough.

  “Guys. I’m not feeling so well,” Dina yells down.

  “Everyone hurry. As fast as you can!” Joe yells up.

  The group climbs faster. A few times, Gary almost loses his grip but Lauren catches him before he can fall. The coughing is coming faster now, from all of them except Joe.

  “Joe, I can’t hold on,” Marvin whines.

  “Watch him, Chris!” Joe yells up.

  “I won’t let him fall. But it is getting harder to focus. How much farther is it?”

  Joe pushes himself out from the Ladder to get a better look up. The widespread lights make it hard to tell how much higher they have to climb. He looks back down and sees the dim glow of the green light. “Just keep going, you’ll know when you get there. No one stop if you don’t have to.”

  “Try closing your eyes,” Dina says between coughs. “It will keep you from feeling too dizzy.”

  Joe keeps his eyes on all of them the best that he can in the dark. Since he’s the only one not coughing or dizzy, he’ll have to be the one that catches anyone who falls. Hopefully, if that happens, it will be the closest person. Hopefully it doesn’t happen.

  Lance wavers. “I can’t…”

  “Lance,” Katya calls down, almost losing her grip.

  Lance reels back. His unbalanced weight causes his fingers to unclench from the ladder rung. Joe quickly shoves him back against the Ladder.

  “What’s happening down there?” Dina asks.

  “Keep going. Worry about what’s above you,” Lauren barks out as she grabs the top of Gary’s pants and tries to push him up higher.

  Joe finally passes the cut-out and sees the lances sticking out from the wall. They look exactly like the ones Scraggle used in the room above them.

  “Did he..?” Joe says under his breath. He shakes his head. There’s no time to think about it. “We’re almost there.”

  Dina can see a light above her and nothing beyond that. She climbs to it and hits her head on the door. The light impact combined with her dizziness make her feet slip. Lauren just barely sees Dina’s feet flailing in time to block Gary. She tries to put the girl’s dangling legs back on track but she ends up getting kicked in the back of the head. The impact sends her rolling off the side of the Ladder.

  “Lauren!” Marvin calls out.

  Joe looks up in time to see Chris grab her but the force of her fall almost pulls him off the Ladder. She slips from his grasp. Katya and Lance reach out to her. Their grips last only long enough to slow the falling girl. Joe swings his body out to try and catch her. He places his feet on the Ladder and his back against the wall of the tunnel. Lauren falls into him and they tumble down several feet before either of them are able to grab the Ladder again.

  “Got you,” Joe says as he tries to push her back on the Ladder.

  “My hero,” she says in a daze.

  “They’re fine. Keep going!” Katya yells up.

  “I found it,” Dina says in her strain to open the door amidst her escalating cough. “It won’t open.”

  “It will. Push as hard as you can,” Joe tells her as he and Lauren aright themselves back on The Ladder.

  The door flies open and the force of Dina’s push sends her off the Ladder again, only this time a pair of hands catches her. She finds her footing on the Ladder while Scraggle helps her up out of the tunnel. The bright, piercing light floods eyes already unfocused and dizzy. The adjustment from dark to bright is almost too much and Dina falls to the floor.

  “Hasten yourselves. I would like to get to the Surface before I pass,” Scraggle says as he next helps Gary then Marvin up.

  Chris has his hand on the floor before Scraggle can get to him so Scraggle walks back to the couch. He watches Katya and then Lance climb out and roll to the floor, coughing. He sits down. Lauren and Joe come up last. Joe helps Lauren to the floor before slamming the tunnel door shut.

  “I’m glad you kept your promise. These are the only ones who wanted to join you?” Scraggle asks. “This is what I waited for?”

  “They need Remedy,” Joe says.

  “You certainly know where it is.” Scraggle wipes away the kids’ dirt and dust from his clothes.

  Joe walks to the wall and touches the panel. No lights flicker or glow, the cabinet door just opens. Joe pulls out seven vials and syringes.

  “You might consider antiseptic before injection. Always good to disinfect first,” Scraggle tells him.

  “Where is it?” Joe asks.

  “If you had left them, they wouldn’t be—”

  “Where is it?” Joe yells.

  Scraggle touches another panel on the wall and a separate cabinet opens. It is filled with bottles of antiseptic. Joe passes them out and those who are still strong enough open the bottles and pour out the liquid onto their shoulders. Lauren and Katya help Marvin and Gary as best as they can under their owned strained conditions. Joe stabs the syringes into each vial and, one by one, injects everyone, making them all fall asleep.

  “Did you make those sharp sticks come out down there?” Joe takes an accusing tone as he faces Scraggle.

  “How would I benefit from such an act? No, dear boy, I did not try to sabotage your escape. The Ladder defense system is automated. It reset itself not long after you went to retrieve your friends.”

  Joe’s eyes move from the old man to the floor, and he is slightly ashamed he asked such a question. This has been a harrowing evening since he broke out of the Ban. “Thank you for helping,” he says, reluctantly, to Scraggle.

  “I did nothing more than wait. Now, perhaps you would consider holding up your end of this agreement.”

  “Once they wake up. Then we’ll all go.” Joe looks at the others sleeping on the giant stone floor.

  “Very well. But I’m taking the sofa. It has been too long since I’ve felt the soft support of cushions under me.” Scraggle stretches out on the couch. His back is to the kids.

  Joe looks at the black wall and walks to the place where he saw himself before. He looks back at Scraggle then at the wall, placing his hand on the black surface. His image appears. He looks at the singe marks on his disheveled clothes. His hair stands up slightly. His arm and his neck have dark spots and lines on them.

  He moves his palm away to see his skeleton. It looks as it did before. Joe motions to see his musculature. The fibrous tissue has a few dark spots on it. They look like bruises. He then looks at his vascular system and notices very few of the green lights that were there before. He looks back at Scraggle for an answer but thinks better of it.

  I wonder what happened to them.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Except for Scraggle, Lauren is the first to wake up. She opens her eyes to the bright tube lights of the room. Sleeping on a stone floor would normally be uncomfortable but after years in the Bunks, it’s just another night. Fortunately the Remedy makes it a sleep-filled one. She sits up then leans back on her hands, knocking something aside. She looks behind her to see a wrapped item on the floor. There is one next to everyone.

  “Eat that,” Scraggle tells her. “It will provide all of your nutritional needs.”

  Lauren picks it up and opens it. The rectangular bar looks to be a mash of different things, most of which Lauren has never seen before. She smells it first. The smell is sweet and most definitely like nothing they’ve eaten before. Eyes widen after the first bite out of th
e bar. Most of the food they’re given in the Eatery of the Mines has a soggy texture to it. Rarely tasteless but certainly not what any of them would call good. But this has several flavors and all of them good. The chewy bar sticks her teeth together.

  “What is this?” Lauren asks with a mouth full.

  “We just call them nutrition bars. They were helpful for people who received no break during the day. They can be eaten while on the way to anywhere.” Scraggle explains while twisting out a kink in his back. “I will have to reacquaint myself to sleeping in comfort again. Too many years on a dirt floor.”

  “Where can I get one of those?” Lance sits up and looks around the floor to find the nutrition bar next to him. He opens the wrapper and doesn’t bother smelling it before taking a bite. He smiles at the different flavors.

  “Hey, thanks for helping me down there. All of you.” Lauren says to Chris, Katya and Lance.

  “Don’t mention it.” Katya sits up and grabs her nutrition bar. “There’s already too many boys, here. Can’t risk losing one of our own.”

  The four of them laugh at the comment.

  “He got us out.” Katya turns to Joe who lays by the black wall.

  “Yeah. Then he stuck me with a needle. I’ll have to get him back for that,” Lauren teases.

  Dina, Marvin and Gary wake up and eat their nutrition bars. Marvin and Gary giggle at how good it tastes.

  Scraggle walks to the back wall where Joe lays. He puts his hand on the wall and his image appears. Moving his thumb reveals his skeleton. He grimaces at the slight spinal curvature. The old man exhales, annoyed. Years sleeping on a dirt floor have not been kind.

  These children will likely have the straightest spines in the world after developing on such rigid surfaces, he thinks. He looks down at Joe.

  Lauren walks up to Scraggle and whispers. “Can he sleep a little longer?”

  “We must be moving.” The old man walks away from the wall and opens another panel on the white wall with the couch. It is filled with nutrition bars. He grabs a hand full then tosses a few to Lauren.

  She catches two of the bars while the others fall to the floor. “But we’re out. We have time now. It’s ok to let him rest a little longer.”