“What can we do to help, dear?” my mother asked.
“I told you! There’s been a cave-in and I can’t get back.”
“How about we get your hands cleaned up, Abby,” I said. I gave her a little tug in the direction of the corral, hoping she would follow me.
“No!” she screamed. “I’m not going there! I’m going home!”
“Hey, calm down,” my mother said. “You’ll be okay.”
“Please help me. There’s just a few rocks to move, but they’re too heavy to move by myself.”
Mom looked at me. “What do you think? Go help her move a few rocks?”
“Mom,” I whispered again. “You know she’s a little…” I left it hanging.
“Upset,” she finished for me. “And maybe moving a few rocks will help calm her down. Then she’ll let us clean up her hands—right, Abby?”
She nodded her head vigorously.
“Okay…” I said uncertainly. “I should let Jack know I’m going.”
“Is he your keeper now?” my mother asked sharply.
“No. He’s my—” I almost said husband, but realized that might upset her more. “Partner. We keep tabs on each other.”
My mother shouted to a woman not too far from us. “Hey Reesa, can you get a message to Jack Kenner?”
Reesa nodded.
“Tell him Sunny O’Donnell has gone to move a couple of rocks. She’ll be back in fifteen minutes.”
Mom glared at me when she said it. I realized maybe I was being a little ridiculous. We really weren’t going that far or for that long.
“Come on,” I said.
Abby led us away from the corrals, in the direction of the mountain that housed the Dome. We walked a lot farther than I had anticipated and I was about to suggest we turn back when she pointed toward a small opening in an outcrop. We had to get on our hands and knees to crawl down through the opening, and then navigate a steep incline to the floor of the cavern.
“Okay Abby, far enough. Where are those rocks you want us to move?” I asked.
“Back here. Not much farther,” she said, and took off quickly. We walked at least another ten minutes, in a straight line, and came to a dead end.
“This is as far as we can go,” I said. I just wanted to get this over with, take her back, clean up her hands, and find that quiet spot to sleep with Jack.
“This is it. These are the rocks.” She pointed to two rocks almost the size of boulders, with smaller rocks on top of them.
My mom rubbed her hands together. “Let’s get to work.”
I rolled my eyes, exhausted, but I put my back into it. The rock budged. All three of us pushed at the same time and it rolled. The smaller rocks on top clattered to the cavern floor.
“That’s one rock,” my mom said.
We attacked the next one. It was wedged in a little tighter, but we worked it loose. More rocks clattered to the cavern floor.
“How’s that Abby?” my mother asked, wiping sweat off her forehead.
“I don’t know how to thank you!” She hugged us both.
Then she crouched down and crawled through the space.
That was unexpected.
A jolt of panic shot through me. “Abby! Get back here!” There was no answer. Oh God, what had we done? “Abby!”
“Where did she go?”
“Through that hole!” I said, stating the obvious. “Abby!” I yelled.
Her head finally poked back out. “Stop yelling,” she said. “The guards will hear you.”
A creepy feeling came over me, raising gooseflesh on my arms. “Did you say guards?”
“Yes. They’re mostly nice now because of you and Mr. Kenner. But there are still some bad ones. You need to be quiet.”
My mother looked at me wide-eyed. “Is she talking about what I think she’s talking about?”
“There’s only one way to find out.”
I crawled through the hole, close on Abby’s heels. It was a short, narrow tunnel that emptied out into a bigger area. But this place didn’t look like the natural cavern we just came from. This was a manmade room, with the cloying scent of coal. It was an intimately familiar scent. It permeated every crevice in the Pit and clung to the clothes of every miner. I was pretty sure it was even in our blood.
We were home.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
My mind flashed back to when I was leading everyone through the caverns. That manmade noise we heard was the distant sound of bong bongs.
I didn’t know my way around the mines very well. I had only ever visited a few times, back when Reyes and I first started seeing each other. They were foolhardy rendezvous made all the more exciting by being forbidden. But we were young and thought we would live forever, or at least until the ripe old age of thirty-five.
“This way,” Abby said.
I hesitated, thinking that I should go and get Jack. But the tunnel we came through wasn’t that stable. What if we left and it collapsed? I’d never get back in. This might be my only chance.
I heard my mother breathe in deeply. “Smells like home.” She spoke my thoughts aloud. “I hate to say it, but I missed this place.”
“Me too,” I echoed. Hard to believe I spent a lifetime dreaming of leaving here only to find out I was emotionally bound to it.
“I wonder what time it is here?”
“I don’t know. I remember when Jack and I left we discovered the Dome was out of sync with the natural world. Maybe it’s night here.”
“It’s not lights out yet,” Abby said.
This was unfamiliar territory for me, but Abby seemed to know her way. Most of the lights were out, only the odd one illuminating the shaft. I wondered if it was an area of the mine that had been abandoned. Maybe they had stopped mining here because they had come too close to breaking through the mountain wall. That would make sense.
Abby opened a door that squeaked loudly on its hinges. We walked through into a hallway. Homes were strung along the side of the stone wall and a few people came and went from them.
“What level are we on?” I asked.
“The second level,” Abby said.
“We should go home to six. There’s bound to be someone we know in the common room,” my mom said.
Summer might be in the sixth level common room, too. This could be my chance to save her. Catch her before she went upstairs to Holt. I could smuggle her out of the Dome.
“Okay,” I said.
“But the Alliance meeting is on the fourth level,” Abby said.
“We’ll come back to it,” I promised. As soon as I had Summer safe beside me.
The stone steps were just as I remembered them—narrow, worn to a polish and a little bit slippery. There was traffic on the stairs, including guards patrolling the area, but no one stopped us. Either they were Alliance guards or it was that most special hour in the Pit—evening. That was when work stopped, dinner was served and we had some time to socialize. Moving between common rooms was technically against the rules, but as long as we did it peacefully, the rule was never enforced. And now that the Alliance ruled down here, it was doubtful we would be stopped.
People were staring at us though—me in particular. I was still wearing shorts. No one in the Pit wore shorts. Jack’s pistol was still in my waistband. Sunglasses were sitting on top of my head. Then I realized my hair wasn’t covered. It was full-on red. No coal, no hat. I smoothed it down, gathered the ends in my hands and hoped that sufficiently hid it. Yeah, I blend right in now.
Two more levels to go before we hit the sixth, my old home.
Summer. God, what was I going to tell her? How many nights had we spent
watching movies and fantasizing about life outside the Dome? I could hardly wait to be the one to take her by the hand and lead her out into the sun. Watch her face as she discovered that the wind made a sound when it blew through the leaves. That a babbling brook really did babble. And that the sun did rise and set, only it was more beautiful than the textbooks ever taught us. But mostly I wanted to see her face when she filled her lungs with her first deep breath of fresh air. The thought gave me renewed energy and I quickened my pace.
As we approached the common room, the guards came to full attention. They were watching us. The look on their faces wasn’t good. I slowed down. Their eyes zeroed in on me.
One of the guards opened his mouth. “Sunny O’Donnell?”
Did my red hair give it away? Or did he recognize me from when I lived on six? Either way, I was hoping to deny the charge. If they were Alliance guards, they’d spread the word pretty fast that I was back in the Pit. If they weren’t, they’d arrest me and take me to Holt. Neither one of those scenarios was ideal at the moment.
“Um…” I said stupidly. “Distant relative?”
“Of course it’s Sunny,” Abby said. She brushed past them and opened the doors to the common room.
I pushed my mom ahead of me. “Tell me if you see Summer,” I said. I didn’t want to go in and cause pandemonium. By now the entire Pit probably knew Jack and I had left to find out if the Earth was habitable or not. My return was bound to create excitement.
My mom didn’t hesitate. She stepped into the common room with Abby and the door closed behind them, leaving me alone with the guards staring at me.
“Did you really make it outside?” asked one of them.
Wasn’t that obvious? My skin was pink and I was pretty sure my freckles had multiplied. Of course my glowing skin could be mistaken as a side effect of radiation poisoning…which would scare everyone into not going outside. I was still debating on how to answer his question when my mom burst out of the common room, Abby right behind her.
“I didn’t see her, Sunny,” my mom said. “I saw that fat ol’ Giza though. I swear she’s bigger than when I left. She’s gotta be eating her husband’s rations too—he’s thinner than paper.”
“Did anyone recognize you?” I should’ve thought about that before I sent her in. People might get a little nervous when they saw Lilly O’Donnell resurrected from the dead.
“No one noticed us. Someone’s singing at the front of the room and all eyes were on him. He had a good voice.”
“If they’re into the entertainment part of the evening, we don’t have a lot of time left before lights out.”
Before we turned to go back to the stairs, I put a finger to my lips and gave the guards the ssshhh sign. I didn’t need them spreading the news just yet. I had no idea what impact my return was going to have. What was I going to say? Hey everyone, I’ve been outside to the promised land and there are a few thorns. Oh, and by the way, the Earth’s still a little toxic so don’t stray too far. That probably wouldn’t go over well. It might even cause a riot, considering everyone in the Pit suspected Holt planned to annihilate them. If they thought going outside wasn’t an option, they might feel trapped. Maybe I could say, the world isn’t perfect, but it’s still better than being killed by Holt. That was at least more positive. It showed that outside the Dome was the better option.
Here we were. Fourth level.
The thought of Jack filled me.
I had never spent much time on the fourth level until our accidental marriage. If I turned right instead of left I would find our old apartment—the place where I started a new life. The place where we hatched the idea for a revolution. The birthplace of the Alliance. It was on this level that I met Crystal. Her beautiful song united the Pit and her horrible execution propelled them to violence—the real start of the war.
My steps drew me ever closer to the fourth floor common room. Would the Alliance still be meeting here? Two guards stood sentry on either side of the closed doors. There were a few people traversing the hall, casting odd looks our way. The guards did a double take when they looked in our direction.
Abby reached the door first and pulled it open. Voices raised in argument drifted out. There was no singing coming from this room. I recognized David Chavez’s voice. Then I heard Bron. This was an Alliance meeting in progress.
A guard stopped us. He took in my odd appearance and cast a glance at my mom. Her skin was dark from the summer sun, her hair chestnut brown, and her sunglasses rested on her head. But at least she was wearing pants. “Excuse me. Are you sure you’re on the right level?”
“I’m part of the Alliance,” I said.
“She’s Sunset O’Donnell,” Abby said from the open door. At the mention of my name, the arguing that drifted out from the common room lowered to a murmur. The guard looked at me suspiciously but stepped aside. “Come on, Sunny. Everybody’s here,” Abby said.
The guard backed up a step, allowing us to pass. I caught the door just before it closed and pushed it open.
All eyes turned to me.
I hesitated, my mouth suddenly dry. I still didn’t know what I was going to say.
I recognized David, Bron, Raine and Micah. Reyes was there, now on his feet with a girl clinging to his hand. We all just stared at each other, none of us knowing where to begin.
Then my mom pushed me in the rest of the way.
“Mom!” I hissed.
“Well don’t just stand there. Go in,” she said.
I clearly heard the door close behind us because there was no other sound in the room to drown it out. I took a few steps closer to the stunned group.
“Hi,” I said, giving a little wave. “I’m back.”
David’s chair made a loud scraping sound as he came to his feet. “Sunny!” He strode toward me. “Did you make it outside?”
Excited chatter began to fill the room.
“Has anyone seen my brother?” Abby yelled above the voices. No one paid attention to her.
“Where’s Jack Kenner?” someone shouted.
I held up my hands in a plea for the crowd to calm down. Bron stood and whistled. Abby was beside me, becoming agitated.
“I’ll tell you everything, just please calm down,” I said in a loud voice. “Can someone help me find Abby’s mom or dad?”
“Someone get Angel,” Bron’s voice called out. “We found his sister.”
His sister? A memory niggled at the back of my mind—the story of a set of twins. In a rare act of kindness, the bourge doctors allowed them both to live since one was expected to die within weeks of birth. I couldn’t remember whether the child lived or died…I had always thought the story was just an urban legend.
My mother stepped out from behind me and Bron stopped in mid-stride. “Lilly?” she asked in disbelief.
She walked up to Bron and gave her a hug. “It’s good to see you again.”
At the sight of her, Reyes’ eyes widened and his mouth gaped open. “Mrs. O’Donnell? You’re alive?”
“Excellent observation, Reyes,” my mother quipped. “You always were quick.”
My mother never did care for Reyes. Good-looking but dumber than a replicated plank, she used to say. I wondered if throwing insults at him just came naturally to her. How else could the snipe just roll off her tongue in the middle of all this commotion?
Reyes extricated himself from the girl clinging to him and strode toward me. My stomach tightened. This was not a conversation I wanted to have right now. He stopped a few steps away because he couldn’t really get any closer. David made it to me before him, Abby was still at my side, and more people were flocking around me.
“I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” Reyes said.
It
was hard to tell if he was sad about that or if he’d actually never wanted to see me again. By the look of the girl eyeballing us, I’d say he had moved on. Good. I was happy for him.
“There were times I wasn’t sure myself,” I said. The anxious chatter in the room grew louder. My ears started to buzz with it. I turned my attention to David. “This is getting out of control. We’re going to attract Domers.”
David shook his head and cast a glance over at Reyes. “Too many Domers went missing so they don’t send them anymore.” Reyes smiled broadly. “They send armed soldiers for frequent, random checks instead.”
“An armed militia is worse than Domers,” I said.
“I won’t argue there. They’ve been brutal. But we’re armed now and ready to start fighting back.”
“Things have really progressed since I left.”
David nodded. “Tensions are high between us and the Dome. Something’s going to break soon, so I’m hoping you have some good news for us.”
I realized that everyone had been listening to our conversation and now all eyes were on me again, waiting for my reply.
“First the bad news,” I said. I figured if they had the bad news first, it would make the good news seem not as bad. “Radiation is still a problem outside.” A collective groan rippled through the group. “But! The Earth is habitable.”
Confusion.
“Well, is it safe outside or not?” someone asked.
“It is, but we’re still dependent on the Dome for drinking water and food,” I said.
Reyes narrowed his eyes and looked at me. It wasn’t an unfamiliar expression. He always looked at me like that when I had done something to make him mad. “Are you telling us we’re still stuck being slaves to the bourge?”
My mom came to stand beside me. “Not anymore. Sunny and Mr. Kenner allied with the heathens and took the city. The bourge no longer control the outside.”
The room went from orderly to chaotic in seconds.
Worlds Collide: Sunset Rising, Book Two Page 30