Thousands of dark hands suddenly burst out of the shadows, grasping at her. A brutal cold enveloped her entire body, seeping into her bones. The scream finally tore loose from her lips and she burst forward, sprinting with terrified passion away from the shadowy creatures. All around her, voices whispered, wailed, shrieked in her ears, spurring her onward. Shadows rose from the ground, trying to snare her legs.
She tripped, stumbling awkwardly for several feet before falling to the ground face first, skinning her arms and knees on the rough grass. She rolled over, but before she could try to rise, hands burst from the earth in a shower of dust. They quickly enveloped her, holding her secure, their touch chilling beyond belief.
A face coalesced from the darkness in front of her. Matted hair, bloodshot, yellow eyes. Sunken, hollow cheeks. Cracked lips, barely concealing rotted teeth. He leered forward, madness in his eyes and arcs of blue electricity haloing his visage. He grinned and gave a chuckle, letting a small burst of sickening breath into her face. He murmured in a wheezing voice, “Goodbye.”
The hands that bound her began to pull. She sank, deep into the ground. Cold beyond measure, cold to the very core of her being. Smothering her, earth filled her mouth, nose, lungs, suffocating. Darkness all around, senses…
She broke through and began to fall, into sheer darkness. She coughed and spat, clearing her mouth and nose of soil as she fell. Wind rushing past her, a faint thought sparked. It’s hollow inside, the tiny voice murmured. She could see a dim red glow speeding towards her. As she approached, it divided into two, slanted lights, glaring more fiercely all the time. They looked like… eyes. An opening gaped ahead. Jagged teeth. A deep thrumming filled her ears and the rushing wind transformed into hot, rotting breath. She opened her mouth to scream, eyes wide, but once more no sound escaped. As she fell further down towards the terrible maw, the deep thrumming dissolved into a rumbling laughter, as the creature of shadows in the hollow of the earth opened wider, swallowing her into final darkness. Before she faded away, the monster spoke to her, in Elijah’s voice, “There is a heavy presence in the streets, stay hidden for a while.”
******
Kaylee bolted upright and the scream finally tore loose from her lips, piercing the silent darkness. Her eyes jerked back and forth in the massive room, tense, watching for movement in the shadows. Her breath came out in ragged gasps, adrenaline coursing through her as the nightmare began to fade from her mind. She glanced at the door, with the heavy dresser shoved haphazardly in front of it. It hadn’t moved. The windows; still bolted shut. A little grimy, but undisturbed.
She let out a lungful of air, exhaling slowly, and flopped back down on the bed. Her heart, rushing like mad to fulfill its duty, began to slow as the dream began to blur around the edges. The dark had become a tool for staying out of sight. It was safe. However, her subconscious retained the old childhood fear of it. She shuddered, remembering what Rick had told her once.
“Some people couldn’t get used to the constant dark.” He had sadly shaken his head. “They didn’t last very long at all, frightened half-to-death all the time. We’re lucky we could figure out how to handle it.”
Are we really that lucky? Kaylee wondered wryly, leaping up from the bed. She walked over to the dresser.
The platform and bridge construction had begun well before Kaylee’s birth, a project that took decades before the final pieces settled in and Old Haven became underground ruins. “I actually remember some of what happened up until then.” She had told Rick. By that time, her body was no longer wasting away from malnourishment, and her temperament had softened somewhat. “How could I forget it?”
Rick had merely nodded, letting her continue.
“My parents worked nonstop.” She had explained. “Dozens of their applications were turned down. Their genes just weren’t good enough or something. Still, I remember seeing a lot of the platform bridges being built. I even remember some of the construction-related deaths.”
Rick had winced. “Oh yeah… it didn’t matter how gruesome the mess; progress didn’t stop for any reason.”
“Yeah. I didn’t understand it. My parents were worried and I didn’t know what the upper platforms were used for.” She had laughed, smiling sadly. “I actually thought, at first, that they were to help the buildings stay standing.”
Rick had shaken his head, chuckling, “Hah, I wish it were something so nice. The Citizens just didn’t want to share the air with the people not in their club. The Citizens could live in the Escape, but they still had to do business in the streets with the dregs.”
“Yeah, I know that now.” Kaylee retorted. “I was only eight. I didn’t understand anything about inequality back then, so people trying to get away from other people didn’t make any sense.” She had laughed bitterly. “My parents knew. They knew and they were getting worried.”
“A lot of people were,” Rick had said. “Lange could do anything he wanted. He had his Citizens eating out of the palm of his hand, and that included the government. He probably could have put 172 in place without the assembly approval.”
Rick somehow knew, word for word, the speech that Lange had given, regarding Proposition 172 before the general assembly. Kaylee recalled Rick’s recitation, bitterness in his tone, lacking the righteous fire that Lange likely used.
“There is plague. A disease. An affliction that all of us see, feel, and smell every single day of our lives. We do our best not to notice it, but it cannot be ignored any longer. We share these streets with the poor, the destitute, the addicts, the criminals, the prostitutes, the mindless working class. We are Citizens! By birthright we deserve better; we have earned better. We will create better.”
And they did, she thought, laboring against the heavy dresser. They’ve got their nice happy paradise, free of us filthy nobodys. She scowled and shouldered into the dresser, shoving it away from the bedroom door. She paused for a moment, remembering the free-fall of her nightmare, the hollow center of the earth, and the hideous creature. She, like anyone else, had bad dreams. Unsurprisingly, they usually related to the sun disappearing.
“I remember when I couldn’t find it anymore. The sun.” She had told Rick. “My parents were gone by then. My mother had a single application approved so she just left. My father stuck around for me. He was able to get papers for the two of us, but when he went to get ‘em, he never came back.”
Rick had winced. “Oh shit. He got mugged.”
Kaylee had nodded. “I think so.”
“I saw a lot of people beaten or killed for those approval papers.” Rick had sadly shaken his head. “But by then the new city was already operating. Working as a garbage man or personal servant was better than sticking around here.”
“Yeah, that’s why I don’t really blame my mom,” she had muttered with obvious tones of bitterness. “She saw her chance to get out and took it.”
“A lot of families got broken apart by that. Not everyone could get approval. Hell,” he had said, “some people were just too paranoid to even try.”
“How much worse could it be than this,” Kaylee muttered, creeping once again through the dark hallways of the living quarters. She had taken a brief nap in one of the luxurious bedrooms, as per Elijah’s instruction. A little weird, but those beds are really nice, she thought, smiling.
After her parents were gone, she shuffled back and forth between squatting in abandoned apartments to the few foster homes still remaining. There were still tens of thousands of people living below in the darkness, but it seemed almost everyone was clamoring to escape. “Everything else down here collapsed within months because people wanted to be Citizens.” Rick had mentioned. “It’s not surprising that you had trouble finding a place to stay or people to take care of you.”
Kaylee knew the next part quite well, as did everyone else who was still left. A number of years after the final separation, the Citizens grew further complacent. They needed servants, so they just took people. Kaylee didn’t know anyth
ing about the conditioning process pioneered by rising-scientist Citizen Michaels, but she knew that she didn’t want to be captured.
In her many discussions with Rick, Kaylee had finally grown weary of discussing the Citizenship regime. “What about Elijah? Where does he fit in?”
She recalled very keenly the first time she had heard the mysterious man’s voice. “Give this one something to eat, or she will be of no use.” His transmitted voice droned through the intercom when Rick took her to “meet” him.
“Well, he stays out of sight. Only the people he trusts the most can meet him in person.” Rick had told her.
“Have you seen him?” She had asked. He had merely smiled.
That’s why I don’t trust Elijah. I don’t know anything about him and no one will tell me. Is that so weird? She thought to herself as she exited the building. Crouching low, she faintly heard a percussive chattering in the distance. She stopped for a moment. Is that gunfire? She wondered, apprehension spreading through her body. She remained motionless for a moment, nervous and scared, wondering if she should wait a while longer before moving. She looked at the can of peaches tucked under her arm, remembering her task.
Damn.
She moved hastily across the barren central area of the Escape, shuddering as she recalled her recent subconscious encounter in the location. It wasn’t quite as dark as her nightmare portrayed, but there were plenty of shadows and places for creatures of the most sinister nature to hide.
Her nervous energy brought her pace to a brisk run, crossing the distance to the crumbling wall in short order. She arrived, heart pounding, more from anxiety than from exertion, and picked her way through some of the rubble to the lowest point.
She glanced at the can of peaches in her hand, frowning and wishing she had brought a pack with her. She needed both hands to climb. She shrugged and muttered, “the hell with it.” She chucked the can over the break in the wall. It thudded into the hard soil on the other side.
She leapt vertically, grabbing at empty spaces and protruding bricks. She carefully ascended the wall as she had earlier. She scaled it with ease, reaching the top in moments. She reached upwards with one hand, grabbing at the apex, some twenty feet above the ground.
The stone came loose in her hand, striking her in the shoulder as it fell and cascading dust into her face. Her free hand flailed wildly, straining to grasp at anything possible as her feet slipped in her panic. She experienced a short drop and a jolt of pain firing up her arm. Her fingers clenched, and somehow her remaining hand managed to keep gripping the stone. Her head, carried by the momentum of her sudden drop, cracked against the wall.
She dangled for a second, bright stars flashing in her vision, as her hold began to slip. Distant realization, along with a mild desire to prevent broken bones, gnawed at her faint consciousness, and she lazily swung her other arm up. She grabbed at a blessed, solid handhold. She slowly, methodically, tested the stones at the break in the wall before hauling herself up onto it.
She collapsed on her back in the nook, legs and head dangling on either side of the wall. She felt a warmth on the side of her head. She gently probed the injury, just above her right ear, with her fingertips. A little blood, a large bump, but nothing serious, she thought, wiping her fingers on the wall.
Head pounding, she sat up, taking in few deep breaths. She rubbed the tense muscles of her strained shoulder and wiped her face with her sleeve, doing little but smearing the blood.
“This is just not my day.” She muttered as she eased herself over to the opposite side, turning to descend back down. As she maneuvered, something caught her eye back inside the wall some distance away in the park. A pair of small, faintly glowing lights within the shadows. She blinked hard several times and shook her head, vision still swimming from the impact. They were still there.
The image of the hollow underground and the eyes of the monstrous shadow creature from her nightmare flashed into her mind. She swallowed hard as a feeling of intense apprehension crept through her weary body, cutting through the haze. She descended the wall hastily, luckily not twisting her ankle or even incurring a minor scrape. Once her feet touched bottom, she scooped up the severely dented can and sprinted towards the nearest alley. She crouched there, watching the wall for several moments. Nothing followed, and nothing emerged from.0 the crevice.
She breathed a sigh of relief, and her rational mind reasserted itself. “Probably just a cat anyway,” she mumbled, before turning into the alleyway and continuing along the grimy concrete path.
Tired, high-strung, and already feeling as though she needed another long nap, Kaylee’s vigilance slipped as she plodded back towards home. When she rounded one corner out of an alley, she collided with a man going the opposite direction, sprawling them both on the ground.
Adrenaline pumping, she leapt nimbly to her feet and gasped, staring at the three other very angry-looking men with assault rifles leveled at her torso. She froze, eyes lighting upon the Citizenship symbol of a crescent moon imposed over a five-point star etched into their uniforms. Unlike the usual clean appearance of the soldiers, their clothing was torn, bloody, and encrusted with filth. All of the men appeared to be ragged, sporting injuries and makeshift bandages of various degrees. It looked as though they had just come out the wrong end of a brutal fight.
The lead man clamored awkwardly to a standing position, grunting in pain. He clearly favored his right leg which had a strip of bloody cloth bound tightly around mid-thigh. He pulled a silver .45 handgun and pointed it at Kaylee, limping up to her.
His breath reeked of tobacco, and his voice sported a thick Cockney, “’oo the ‘ell are you?” He grimaced at her. She took a step back.
He pulled the .45 into a two-handed grip, eyes-widening, “Don’ run off now, luv, ‘fore we ge’ a chance to ge’ acquainted, like.” He grinned, revealing a set of yellow teeth. “You’ll be comin’ wif us.”
His companions stole brief glances at each other, and at the streets behind, “We gotta get outta here, Cap! Shoot her and let’s go!” hissed one of them, long cut on his cheek bleeding freely. Kaylee swallowed hard.
The leader whirled around, his aim wavering. “We don’ go until I say we do, and we don’ go back empty-‘anded!” He glared for a moment at the soldier who mumbled a quick “Yes, sir,” looking at the ground.
Kaylee saw an opening. Her fingers tightened upon the can, still firmly in her grasp. As the leader turned back to face her, she hurled it into his face.
The can smacked him squarely into his nose; a wet crunch resounded followed by a scream of pain. Blood oozed from the injury as he toppled backward, blocking his companions’ line of sight. Kaylee used the moment of disorientation to duck back into the alleyway, sprinting through the darkness. As she ran, she heard angry yelling. She glanced back, seeing her pursuers begin the chase, but they were injured and moving too slowly. A few ill-aimed bullets whizzed by, ricocheting off the walls around her. She ducked her head and turned forwards. She had time to let out a quick gasp-
-colliding once more into something very solid and sprawling backwards. She scrambled to her feet, mouth dropping open as she viewed her assailant. She screamed, a high-pitched cry piercing the night. A pair of glowing, slanted eyes stared down at her from a figure, man-sized, wrapped in the shadows of the alley. Oh my God! Her mind shrieked. The shadow creature came to get me! She whirled around and began running in the other direction, terror clouding her thoughts.
With a dull whump! the air rushed out of Kaylee’s lungs as the butt of a rifle pounded into her midsection. She immediately crumpled to the ground, eyes wide, gasping for breath that would not come.
“How do you like that?” someone shouted down at her. The same man grabbed her arm and hauled her roughly to her feet. She immediately stumbled and collapsed against the wall, coughing and wheezing. A hand closed around her throat and the barrel of a handgun was placed under her chin. Inches away from her face was the visage of a furious man, nose
bent awkwardly and blood streaming down his lips and chin.
“Ya god an’ broke be dose.” Men on either side gripped her arms; she struggled, feebly, still wheezing to draw breath. “Oh, now, don’ try goin’ dowhere else. Ya see; you’re cobid’ wif us,” came the incoherent nasal Cockney. He pulled the gun back and struck her with it, snapping her head to the side and drawing blood on her cheek. “Ya broke by goddab dose!” She reeled, shaking her head as the world swam. She glared back at him, eyes glazed but very angry.
She kicked out, aiming between his legs. He twisted to the side, blocking the attempt with ease. One of the men holding her rammed his fist into her stomach, once again blasting the wind from her lungs, leaving her gasping. The lead man stepped forward, and her scalp screamed as he pulled her head, by her hair, to meet his face. The .45 loomed in her vision, close enough so that she could read the etching. He placed the barrel on the tip of her noise, aiming to the side.
He smirked, “Eye for ad eye is fair.” He chuckled. “A dose in dis case.”
Kaylee’s vision swam, she felt weak and battered, unable to struggle as the man prepared to permanently disfigure her face before taking her away to the surface to be tortured, then going on to God only knows where. She gave a feeble laugh. At least I’ll get to see the sun again…
“You tink dis is fuddy you ruddy little bitch?!” He shouted, cocking the pistol. She squeezed her eyes shut.
She heard a wet, muffled crack just before she was deafened by the roar of a gunshot, deafening so close to her ears. The two men holding her arms released her and she vaguely heard the sounds of shouting as she fell to the ground, entirely numb. Her eyes popped open, expecting to see a twisted red, mash of tissue where her nose used to be. It was completely intact, if a little dirty. Her hands immediately went to her face, confirming the information from her eyes.
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