“I’ve never been in here before,” came a whisper. Sirius had, long ago when he was a child, but it had seemed to… deplete over the years. His mother did keep saying about how if they didn’t do something about getting more soil, then there was only a matter of time before they couldn’t grow any food at all. The plants seemed a lot smaller, but maybe that’s because he was so small when he was last inside this place of wonders; apart from long, glaring gazes at the sky gardens, with their cascades of creepers running down the skyscrapers and their seas of flowers, this was the only place he’d ever seen with so much life.
A quick look around the place suggested that they were alone. They could hear Airborn guards making their rounds, talking and laughing outside, but inside the greenhouse was as quiet at the grave.
“Alright, fill your bags, and let’s get out of here,” Tyna hissed. They scattered and did so. Sirius pored over rich, ripe tomatoes and cucumbers. He’d had no more than a handful of food so fresh and clean a week for as long as he could remember, and his stomach cramped with how long it had gone without anything, so finished off the biggest fruit with three simple bites. It satisfied and re-hydrated him at the same time, bringing a smile to his lips. He looked over to see Tyna doing exactly the same as she swept greenery into her knapsack. She caught him looking and grinned, mouth full of tasty, tender leaves. Ziggy was staring with wonder at the amount of water pouring out of the enormous tank at the end of the greenhouse, more water in these large metal containers than he had ever seen in his life. The thrill of their success and the sight of so much plenty seemed to lift everyone’s mood, and a hushed giggle could be heard from across the cavernous glass room.
A bang suddenly announced the opening of the greenhouse doors. All seven of them hit the floor. Sirius felt several vegetables squash slightly in his pockets, and thankfully the noise of water filling the tanks halted.
Illuminated by the light of his own lamp, an Airborn guard stepped into the greenhouse, just a few rows of crops away from where Tyna was crouched. Sirius’ heart entered his mouth. This was bad- really bad. If they were caught now, then the weaker members of the Missing Ones wouldn’t only be without a plan, a leader, or their stronger fighters, but they’d also be without water, without food…
The guard didn’t seem to be on alert, simply doing the rounds, however when he got to the hole in the ground he stood at it for a moment, staring down into it.
“What in spirits” name?” Sirius heard a murmur, before he saw the guard turn, ready to call for others to investigate. Just as he did so he caught sight of Ziggy crouched, looking terrified, staring back. Something took hold of Sirius, something deep and primal but coming straight from his aching and strained heart. He leaped over a row of crops and ran up a row to smash the cudgel he’d been given against the side of the guard’s head, knocking him fully unconscious. He fumbled to catch both the scrawny guard and his spear before either hit the ground and made a noise, but only managed the spear. The older man collapsed.
“That was amazing!” Tyna hissed at him. “Now let’s get out of here!”
“The second tank isn’t even half full!” Ziggy warned, but Tyna put on a face like thunder.
“Too much risk. Get down the hole, now, all of you!” she snapped, but not before with a straining of the wiry muscles laying under the skin of her arms she had heaved the Airborn guard up and down into the hole. A sickening crunch sounded far below. “Go!”
Too horrified by what had just happened to argue, the six of them did as they were told. Tyna hurriedly passed the lamp down to Sirius and pulled the manhole cover back into place. It closed on them with a heavy thud, flooding them in complete darkness.
Chapter Four
“Why did you do that?” Sirius demanded as they began their descent. He’d used the strap attached to the spear to hang it on his back, and was trying his best not to poke a silent and terrified-looking Ziggy with it below. “He wasn’t a threat anymore.”
“You really think that? He looked right at Ziggy. He could have told the whole city that there were kids running around stealing food. Someone would have put two and two together, and they’d have come looking for us. Better him than us.” Her voice was cold. Sirius said nothing, simply putting one foot behind the other, the sound of boots hitting the rungs of ladders echoing into the abyss below them. They stepped over what was waiting for them at the bottom and kept going, their eyes on the darkness ahead.
The air was tense and silent.
“So… we’re killing people now?”
Tyna whirled around from her place at the front of the party, her face illuminated in the sickly light in a way that made her look unearthly and frightening. Sirius felt a lump form in his throat.
“If we have to? Damn right we are,” she snapped.
“But our lives don’t mean anything different to theirs! I thought that was the point!” Ziggy cried out, looking as though he was close to tears. Tyna’s face softened slightly.
“But they don’t see it that way, Zig. Sirius will tell you that.” Ziggy looked up at the older boy, who slowly shook his head.
“I’m really sorry kid,” he mumbled, feeling like he was robbing a child of some sort of comforting fantasy. “But they don’t care about me and they don’t care about you anymore. And if it means us or them, then it’s got to be them. Come on.” Sirius, feeling somewhat awkward, slipped an arm around the other’s shoulder and guided him forward. The other four said nothing. It felt bizarre; as the middle child, Sirius had never been depended on much for anything until Xan had died. Even afterwards, despite his closeness with Kora, he’d never really felt like a big brother. Always sullen or lost in thought, he’d rarely be approached or asked for anything, whether physical or emotional. But right now, in this dark and frightening place, he felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility to these people, these kids; some of them had even chosen this life over the privilege of being born to the spirits of the air. It touched him in a way that he couldn’t express or even process at that moment. He thought of his sister and his eyes burned.
As they reached the section of the tunnels where the large pools of stinking water sat to the left of them, Tyna stopped and squinted into the dark. Something large and shadowy was sprawled across the path in front of them.
“Wait. What’s that? That wasn’t there before,” she whispered to Sirius, as though he would be able to tell her anything. “Hold the lantern.”
He did so and she approached, spear in hand. As the sphere of light surrounding them touched the edge of the shadow in front, it reflected back at them in two eerie orb-like points against the dark. Tyna stopped and staggered back.
“What’s wrong?” Sirius asked.
“I could… I could have sworn that thing had eyes,” she murmured. Sirius looked at her for a moment, trying to figure out if she’d chosen a really bad time to make a practical joke… but then something hissed at them in the dark, and the orbs came closer. A massive, gnarled snout poked into view, nostrils flaring, testing the air.
“Spirits alive, what is that thing?!” he heard someone yelp as rows of impossibly numerous teeth gleamed in the lamplight. The company took a step back, just as the monster, whatever it was, put forth a leathery paw and took a step towards them. Sirius’ heart leaped into his mouth. The first thing he thought of was the fanged land fish that Kora had brought home that fateful day, but this was different. It’s skin looked as though it was made up of thousands of tiny, milk-white tumors. Bile rose in his throat and he found himself for a moment frozen in place as another muscular arm ending in a set of jet-black claws pulled the hulking monster towards them.
Suddenly a splash sounded, followed by a yell and a scream. One of the kids that they’d brought with them was dragged from the side and into the water in seconds. Nobody saw what had grabbed them, only that they were at their side one moment, and the next, Sirius was spinning round, reaching out, and missing their fingertips by mere inches before disappearing into
the dark.
“NO!” Tyna yelled, the cry bouncing off each wall as she flew to the edge.
“Tyna, be careful!” Sirius yelled. He grabbed her by one arm as rubble rushed out from beneath her feet and slid into the stinking pool. All the while, the monster on the path was inching towards them, a low snarl rumbling in its throat like the hissing of a thousand pistons. The other Missing Ones formed a protective barrier, weapons outstretched. Ziggy opened his mouth and let forth a furious roar, banging the butt of his spear on the ground in challenge.
“Ziggy, what are you doing?!” Sirius yelled. Tyna, using the strength of Sirius’s arm though it was starting to shake, was peering into the water, trying desperately to put eyes on the other Missing One.
“Doki!” she screamed. “DOKI!”
“My Da told me to do this if a dog ever tried to bite me!” Ziggy called back, taking a deep breath and letting an evil-sounding howl escape his lips. The hairs on the back of Sirius’ neck stood straight up, recognizing it as the sound he had heard when he faced banishment.
“It’s backing off!” one of the kids called.
“Keep at it Ziggy!” Sirius told the boy, looking to Tyna, trying to hold her fast and shine the light enough that she could see into the gloom. “Don’t lose the water! Don’t lose the food!”
“We’ve got bigger problems right now!” Tyna snarled at him, just as a shock of tightly-curled dark hair broke the surface and the missing girl burst from the water, gasping.
“It’s got my le-” she tried to scream, but with a thrashing of an enormous tail the monster rolled from under the water. She went under again, this time with no way of taking breath first. Tyna readied her spear, bringing it up above her head and sending it down into the water. The force had her and Sirius both tumbling in after it.
Sirius also had no time to breathe before the ice-cold splash came up to meet him. The water was stringy with stinking, unidentified lumps, and he could taste copper. Before long he breached the surface, gasping, to be grabbed by a dozen hands and hauled from the fetid pool.
“It’s alright! We’ve got you!” Ziggy slapped Sirius on the back. “Now get out of the way!” the younger boy crouched at the edge, offering the butt of his spear down. Doki came first, lifted by the hips by Tyna. Her face was drained of its dusky color and her limbs shook violently, an awful moaning coming from her mouth. When she was hoisted to one side Sirius saw why. Her leg was… in pieces.
Gnawed chunks were hanging off, the ligaments torn to shreds. Shards of bone stuck out of the flesh like bad cuts of meat, the foot vibrating in its boot with the cold and the agony. They laid her down, one of the other kids holding her by the head, the other jumping straight into action and delving into the small knapsack slung over one shoulder.
“Tyna?!” Sirius called out. It was completely pitch-black now that the lantern had been smashed on the floor, save for a flare that one of the kids had the good sense to light.
“I’m here,” she replied calmly, hauling herself up. Her spear was slick with blood. The water below was still churning, but when Sirius looked down, he saw that the monster on the path had slid back into the water to feast upon the corpse of its fellow. Their slippery white bodies entangling together as strips of flesh were torn from bone made him gag and retch. Tyna sighed.
“Might as well have the other one too,” she muttered, face set in furious stone. Before Sirius could protest she was leaping back into the water, her spear this time piercing the top of the living creature’s skull and slamming it’s jaws shut on the other. Up to her waist in filthy water, Tyna pushed both hulking, bobbing bodies to the edge of the water and had the other Missing Ones help haul them up.
“God, what are they?” Ziggy asked, trying in vain to distract them from the screams of Doki as her leg was tended to- as much as it could be. Tyna shrugged.
“Dead now,” was the curt answer. “I need three to carry Doki. Sedate her so we can make it back without the whole city above us hearing it.” The cries petered out to whimpers once she gave the order, then finally there was silence. “Right. Two on each of these bastards.”
They tried their best, but eventually had to give up and instead carry one, each of them heaving even holding just a paw of the beast. They made the journey back in silence and under the light of a spare lantern. “It will make up for the food we lost in the fight,” Tyna said.
But Sirius had a feeling that wasn’t the only reason why she’d risked her life to kill both monsters. It was something that he recognized in himself; the tendency to get angry when one was actually worried or stressed was something that had plagued him ever since he was a kid. Tyna, with her diamond-hard training and discipline, was able to outlet it with the blade of her spear, but even now Sirius could see the line of her jaw working furiously as they dragged the offending creature back to the cavern.
There were whoops and cheers upon their return, though they quickly turned to hurried questions and exclamations of shock, both at the state of Doki and the toothy newcomer. Tyna had them dump it by the fire, turning to their cook and ordering for it to be made transportable and edible, along with the rest of the food that they’d stolen and hadn’t been lost in the tunnels. Sirius saw Celeste, who he had found out was the name of her dainty sister, glide over to her and speak in hushed tones. He figured that he likely wasn’t invited to this conversation, so wandered off to one side sat down heavily by the fire. The short amount of time he’d spent in that water had chilled him to the bone.
“Are you alright, friend?” he heard Ziggy’s voice as the scrawny boy sat down next to him, legs crossed.
“Yeah. I’m just worried. About tomorrow. About getting out.”
“About the potential death by blazing sun and little water that we might be facing tomorrow?” Ziggy grinned, his face impish in the firelight. “I get you, Sirius, but really, what else have we got? You saw that back there, there are monsters in these tunnels, and those aren’t the only ones we’ve seen and killed, trust me. This is the first time we’ve been ready to really do something. We’ve lost people. People have gotten sick, in here and in here.” He tapped his head and his heart. “For one I’m sick of watching us drop off. I say we all go out together or not at all. The stakes sure are high enough.” The younger boy turned his face up to gaze at Sirius, determined eyes flashing. “Don’t you think?”
Sirius said nothing for a moment, before a smile crept its way onto his face.
“Right. Damn right.” Their fists bumped together in a show of comradeship. Eventually the company all gathered around, some eating, some preparing for the day ahead. Someone put a crudely-beaten bowl of unidentifiable slop into Sirius’ hand.
“So what happened?” two or three voices chorused. Sirius kept his head bowed to his food, eating furiously, until he realized that the attention of the cavern was on him. Celeste and Tyna were still speaking off to one side, and it seemed to be getting slightly heated; awkwardly he shuffled where he sat and explained, to several gasps and wide eyes.
“How is Doki going to make it across the desert?” one voice asked the uncomfortable question. Sirius twitched. It wasn’t actually something that he’d thought about, but he knew that it needed to be decided. Would they leave her here? Return her to her family and let the cruelty of the city to run its course?
“She’s coming with us. I don’t care how, and I don’t know right now,” Ziggy cut in for him. “But we’ll find a way. Right, Sirius?”
“Right.” He returned his attention to his bowl, but before he could dig in again another question came from around the fire.
“What if we just… went tomorrow? I mean, once we get the kids from the Harvest, they’ll be after us, I know they will. And they have vehicles. We don’t stand a chance of outrunning-”
“Stupid!” the thud of a cuff being leveled at an unsuspecting head sounded. “His sister’s in there, show a little respect.”
“It’s okay.” Sirius’ voice was quiet, full of pain, whi
ch hushed the kids again in concern before a raised voice rung out through the cavern.
“Fine!” Tyna barked, storming away from her sister and coming to sit down by the fire heavily. She should have done so much sooner-her lips were tinged with blue and she was shaking. Someone passed her a blanket, which she sullenly wrapped herself in until only her head was visible. Sirius felt it was the wrong time to point out how funny she looked, especially as the soft fuzz that covered her scalp was even softer and fuzzy for being through the water. “The answer to your question is that we’re saving them. And that’s that. If you want to run on ahead into the desert, with the dogs and the ghouls and the screaming souls, you be my guest. But if you want to actually survive it, I” d suggest you come with us.”
Sirius blinked at her and her harsh words, but said nothing. Celeste stepped forward into the circle of light. Over the silence, slight moans and groans could be heard as those with any medical training did all they could to relieve Doki of her pain and clean her wounds… though there were murmurs about having to take the leg. Sirius shuddered. A man at the chop shop had lost his hand once. He had no interest in hearing the sound a human being makes when they lose a limb. Not again.
But he felt as though he might be about to hear that and many more terrible things in the days to come. Celeste approached the mouth of the dead monster, drawing a knife.
It took a long time, separating the hook-like teeth from the thick pink gums. When she was done, a tooth for every Missing One was laid in each of their palms, stained with blood and deadly sharp.
Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction: The Missing Ones: A Dystopian Adventure Page 5