by Moore, TJ
“Geez, Mel.”
Tossing the silverware into the top glass, Melanie kept glancing into the kitchen. “You have to be careful, Cameron. They can’t know that we…”
“What? That we know each other – from the outside world?”
“Yes. We have to be careful.”
A sudden urgency came over Cameron, and he set the stack of places on the table. He took a moment to look out to the living room before speaking. “Melanie, your boys are doing well.”
“No, they’re not, Cameron. They don’t have a mother anymore.”
“But listen, Mel. Sometimes they play kickball with Sarah at the park with the other neighborhood kids.”
“That’s why I have to get out of here. I have to see them.”
“And you will.”
Melanie leaned closer to Cameron, keeping her voice just below a whisper. “They gave you a tracker, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then you know already. This is your new family now.”
“We don’t have to accept this.”
“What do you think I’ve been doing here for the last four months? Making quilts?” She leaned back to steal another glance into the kitchen. “This whole place is messed up, Cameron. You don’t know how…”
“What is this place, Melanie? We have to get out of…”
“Well, hello there you two,” Sheri poked her head into the room before wheeling an empty tea tray next to the dining table. “It’s taking an awfully long time for you to clear the table this morning.” Then she turned to Cameron. “I know. You’re probably still sore from the crash last night, but that’s to be expected. A solid day’s work will cheer you right up. Now hand over those plates before the rats smell the leftovers.”
“Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that. I really think I need to take the day and rest.”
Without breaking eye contact, Sheri took the plates from Cameron and placed them on the teacart. “I’m sorry, what did you say? You just woke up. Isn’t that enough rest for now?”
“Look, if I…”
“I don’t want to hear excuses, Cameron.” Sheri grabbed the glasses out of Melanie’s hands. “We don’t want you to get soft before your first day of digging, do we? Now, you can still get a quick chance to rest for a bit before Dallas comes up to get you. Let your breakfast settle, and I’m sure you’ll start getting your strength back before you know it.” Sheri eyed the two suspiciously. “We aren’t here to make friends, are we Melanie? We’re here to work as a team. Right...teammates?”
Sheri took a handful of silver butter knives and wiped them individually against her kitchen apron. “The Leader doesn’t feed you and offer you a warm bunk just so you can make friends.” Then she narrowed her gaze until her eyes were two thin slits. “You two have met before, haven’t you?”
“No,” Melanie answered confidently, ending her lie with a slight smile.
“So,” Sheri looked to Cameron. “You’ve never met before? Huh?”
“I don’t even know her name, Sheri.”
Sheri placed the knives back on the teacart. “Her name is Melanie Garcia. And Melanie, this is Cameron Frost. He’s apparently very skilled in construction. Good. Now that you’ve had a chance to meet, we’ll let Cameron join the others for some morning board games. Melanie, why don’t you help me in the kitchen?”
“Sure thing.”
Sheri eyed Cameron over her shoulder as she pushed the teacart back into the kitchen. “You have yourself a pleasant day, Cameron. You know where to find me.”
Cameron looked out towards the living room.
Chess and checkers were morning favorites since these games were short and could be easily picked up at a later time. There was no specific time the crew was needed below in the tunnels. They simply waited for their dayshift supervisor, Dallas, to ascend and call them below. He did this to condition the crew to be ready for work at any time. Some mornings, they waited for a few hours after breakfast for Dallas’s voice. Other times, he interrupted their breakfast and barked for their descent. Either way, Dallas knew the crew would be ready on his order. This style of discipline gave the power to Dallas instead of the clock.
After sneaking back upstairs, Cameron looked in the large bathroom mirror and he felt eyes on him once again. A slimy suspicion. Regardless of premonition, his bathroom time was up, so he limped downstairs to join the others. Cameron looked into the living room full of workers. All of the workers wore a tracking anklet and also sported bags under their eyes. The unfamiliar faces wrinkled with laughs and smiles as the crew enjoyed their time of social ease.
When Cameron reached the bottom of the stairs, the chatter quieted and the faces turned towards him, summing him up.
“Hey look,” one of the workers laughed. “It’s the new guy!”
Oddly enough, no one else in the room laughed, creating an awkward silence. Apparently, everyone understood what it felt like to be new to the compound, and there was nothing funny about it. This realization put Cameron at ease for a moment. Then, a friendly hand shot up, welcoming Cameron to join a new game of checkers at a round table at the back of the living room.
Upon this gesture, the rest of the crew went back to their conversations. Cameron’s focus shifted to the smiling face at the round table, and he walked forward with forced confidence.
A boy in his late teens extended a firm handshake to Cameron and smiled a sly grin. “Hey, I’m Max. Max Parsons. Take a seat.”
Cameron carefully swung his legs into the chair, trying not to hit them on the edge of the small table.
“Welcome to the crew. I heard they brought in some new blood last night. I guess you’re it.”
“That’s right,” Cameron confirmed. “I’m Cameron Frost. Nice to meet you, Max.”
“So, Mr. Frost. Frosty...can I call you Frosty? Great. Frosty, were you out finding a place to fish when they grabbed you or did you just get drunk, stupid, and lost out here in the forest?”
“Actually, there was a storm and my car rolled into the ditch.”
“Ouch! I’m sure it didn’t help when you saw the creepy lantern guys coming out of the trees. I’m trying to persuade them to come up with something more original, but they just aren’t open to my ideas. My influence is limited here.”
Max had short, spiky brown hair and a voice that had barely dropped to a manly register, breaking ever so often when he spoke. He wore a digital watch on his left wrist, and had a barbed wire tattoo curled around his right arm. The scrawny kid seemed to be the youngest person in the room, but his confident attitude made up for his ripe age.
Max positioned his checkers on the board as he spoke, “So, Frosty. Tell me, how was your first night in the bunks?”
Cameron gave a tired grin. “I’d give the room a one out of five, but that’s only because the snoring was just awful.”
“Yeah, man. My first night here, I had to sleep on the couch because they didn’t have any bunks yet. They added a larger dining room table a few months ago and finally installed some consistent air conditioning. Other than that, this rickety old house is about the same as my first day. Of course, Sheri hasn’t changed at all.”
“Yeah she’s…odd,” Cameron said, scratching his chin.
“Hey, one of the guys told me you’re in construction?”
“Uh, that’s right.”
“You shouldn’t have told the Lantern Boys that. Big mistake, Frosty.”
“Why not?”
“They might permanently put you on the digging crew. Or worse, you might be the guy crawling through the ventilation system every day making sure it’s up and running. I guess it is one of the most important jobs here ‘cause if those vents stop working, there’s no air circulation in the tunnels. However, on the bright side, if the central air stopped working, we’d all just come up here and play games and tell stories.” Max played his first move on the checkers board. “On second thought, if you were assigned to the vents, we could get a day off whenever we felt
like it. You could turn off the air and flush everyone out of the tunnels. Man, that job has some benefits. You might want to reconsider.”
In the checkers game before them, Max played more offensively while Cameron protected his home pieces and focused on a defensive strategy. Max jumped his opponent and brought the defeated piece up to his face.
“Well, Mr. Frost, I guess your fate is in the hands of Dallas now. Whatever he says goes. And when he cracks his whip, you’d better hop to it.”
Cameron looked worried.
“Hey, chill out Frosty. It’s not a real whip. He’s just a real strict guy. Anyway, I’ve been here longer than he has, so I’m not afraid of him. He was just as scared as you when they first brought him in. The rumor is he’s a convict on the run. He broke out of a prison in Nevada and came up here in hopes of dealing black market items in San Fran. The fool never made it past this highway. The Lantern Boys got him when he was nearly dead. If it wasn’t for them, he’d be buzzard food.”
“How long have you been here, Max?”
“It’s been about two years now. I’ve been here longer than most...from the beginning. But, what can I say? They needed some young blood in here to balance out Sheri’s old bones.”
Cameron thought back to his conversation with Dan, the firework salesman. Dan mentioned his son went missing two years earlier. Cameron couldn’t resist asking. “Are you related to someone named Dan?”
“Yeah. That’s my old man. What? You know him?”
“Not exactly, but I helped him fix a flat tire yesterday morning. He told me about your disappearance. It sounds like he hasn’t given up hope about finding you.”
Max laughed sadly, “So close, and yet so far away. If only The Leader would just let me go. I just want to go hunting again with my Dad.” His eyes became red. “Is that too much to ask?” Then he leaned forward, concealing his words with his hand. “We’re like prisoners here, man. Only we don’t even get family visits. No phone calls either. Heck, they don’t even let us go outside. Why do you think we’re all pale as swine in here?”
“So, you were brought here?”
“Oh, we’re all taken. You think anyone wants a tracker strapped to his ankle? Stan knows when I eat. He knows when I sleep. Everything. Constant monitoring. I feel like a rat in a lab.”
“At least they feed us well. What was that, like a four course breakfast?”
Max scratched his head. “You do have a point, Frosty. Sheri’s da’ bomb. Sure, I give her a hard time, but she’s been a real trooper through all of this shit.” Max lowered his voice. “Think of her, man. She’s trapped in her own home. I bet the last thing she wanted after her husband died was for a bunch of strangers to move in and start digging tunnels under her property. I mean, how would you feel? Talk about invasion of privacy.”
Cameron jumped two of Max’s pieces. “So how did this all start, anyway?”
Max suspiciously eyed other crewmembers. “Man, we can’t talk about that here. Not now…”
“Alright, everyone!” Dallas barked from the kitchen. He emerged chomping a blood-red apple. A piece of the apple flesh caught on his thick red mustache. He shook his head, and his long, wavy, red hair swayed as he moved.
Holding the members of Unit Two in a sustained silence, Dallas ate the rest of the apple, threw the core into the kitchen, and tied his long, red mane into a ponytail. He stepped forward. His Nevada boots clicked together, turning the pointed spurs on the back. He stuck the left spur into the wood flooring and rolled it back and forth. Then, Dallas popped a toothpick in his mouth and adjusted his belt as he stepped forward to address Unit Two.
“This is crunch time, people. I’ll be checking your individual progress. If you don’t keep up, The Leader will assign a consequence.” He raised his left boot spur up to his waist and sharpened the spurs with a pocketknife, letting his red ponytail drape over his shoulder.
The members of Unit Two waited in silence for Dallas to look back up. Once the spurs were sharpened to his liking, Dallas planted his boot down and stroked his fiery mustache, locking his gaze on Cameron. “Oh yeah. I heard we had a new one. Unit Two, go below!”
Max led Unit Two towards the elevator, and Cameron walked forward, following behind.
“Whoa. Everyoneexceptyou.” Dallas walked slowly towards Cameron, pushing him back a few steps and down into the checkers chair. Dallas knelt down. “I’m supposed to educate you today.” He glanced down at a clipboard. “Alright, Cameron Frost. I want to get something straight. I’m the teacher. You’re the student. The student does not teach the teacher. This is out of obvious respect. And believe me, Ideserve your respect. Now, I’ve read here about your little mishap last evening, and I think you’ll be just fine. Sheri told me you’re keen on the house – at least where the boundaries are – so the next step is to take you through our operations.”
Dallas slammed the clipboard on the checkers game, and some pieces bounced to the floor. “But before we get to that, I’ll need you to sign this contract. Here’s what this means. You will not tell anyone outside our group anything about this organization for the duration of your stay. If you are ever released from here, you must never speak of anything you saw or experienced here to anyone. Not a word. And if you do, let’s just say we have ways of finding people and making them pay. Out here, your words can be your ally or your enemy. It’s your choice.” He dropped a ballpoint pen on the clipboard and stood, towering over Cameron with folded arms.
Cameron scanned the document, knowing he had no other choice than to sign, and he regrettably did so.
Dallas grabbed the clipboard and cleared his throat. “Now, follow me.”
They both ducked into the freight elevator and rode it down one level. Dallas stroked his red mustache and looked away from Cameron in the crammed space. “We’re going to start from the ground level and move down. The first time through, it can be easy to become disoriented. You’re a partial owner of the property now, so you’d better know your way around.”
The elevator door opened and they moved forward. Cameron tried his best to walk normally. It was clear Dallas had no patience for weakness.
“This steel door to your right is the security room. This is where Stan spends most his time. You, of course, met him last night to get your ankle tracker activated. If you have any questions about our security system, don’t bother asking me. Don’t bother Stan either. The Leader keeps him busy enough without workers banging down his door. Curiosity is not a virtue here.”
They walked further down the narrow dirt path and reached another steel door.
“These are the emergency stairs that lead up into the house. We’ve only had to use them a few times, but now you know where they are. Whatever bonehead designed this floor didn’t think about how we’d escape from the tunnels if the elevator gave out. It was my idea to expand the stairs, and make them accessible from any underground level. So, you’re welcome.”
Dallas looked down to Cameron’s tracking device. “Just so you know, I am an advocate of freedom. There’s a rumor about me, and it’s true. I escaped from a maximum-security prison in Nevada. And no, it’s not a secret. I broke out through the ductwork. Course, look where that led, I’m a prisoner again. It’s not all bad. I’m actually grateful to our Leader now. Anyhow, feel free to thank me every time you have an actual conversation with one of the other workers. Stan wanted the trackers to record audio too, but I argued against it until he agreed. Stan can be a real pisser, and I wouldn’t put it past him to turn on the audio recorder just for kicks every now and again. So take my advice and watch what you say. Down here, you never can be sure who’s listening.”
Dallas closed the fright elevator and pressed the down button, descending to the second underground level.
“This is my favorite level because it represents the first phase of why we’re here. Our Leader started this organization in hopes of cleaning up San Francisco. In order to do that, we need significant funding.”
They
stepped out and walked to a double steel door surrounded by glass windows. “This is the practice room.” Dallas typed a twelve-digit code into the door keypad and the entrance slid open. “We’re very proud of this new addition. It’s still a work in progress, but I’m sure you understand that since your file tells me you’re a construction worker.” Dallas entered two more twelve-digit codes into two more sliding doors before Cameron witnessed the build-up Dallas had been alluding to.
The final sliding door opened into a polished lobby with a receptionist desk. Cameron knew this lobby. He’d been here before. Most recently, it was to bring Jen flowers for their anniversary. The room was an exact replica of the Empire Bank Lobby; and it was spot on - right down to the artificial plants near the main desk.
His mind raced to his wife.
OH GOD! THEY HAVE HER!
Cameron wanted to slam Dallas into the wall and demand to see his wife, but a deep-seeded fear made him hold his tongue. Besides, if Dallas knew he was the husband of their ticket into the real bank systems, Dallas would probably lock him up and throw away the key. In order to avoid placing himself in even more danger, Cameron kept his mouth shut and tried to appear calm as he looked around the uncanny replica of the bank.
“Somethin’ else, huh?” Dallas’s red ponytail moved like a tail behind his head. “The blueprints for this copy of the bank were stolen from the systems manager. There’s really no other way to crack banks these days. The security is too sophisticated. Doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying though. You may have read about our most recent attempt in the paper a few weeks ago.”
It made sense now. These were the people...the break-ins who injured two bank guards in their first attempt. Cameron breathed in the fresher air that seemed to be all part of the replication.
“Unfortunately,” Dallas said, “We weren’t ready then. I think we finally have the last ingredient we were missing. We could have saved so much time…”
As Dallas continued to allude to Jen’s abduction with all but saying her name, Cameron’s fists clenched in a furious brick. It took all his will power not to tackle Dallas to the ground.