by Matt Brennan
“Ellie, I’ll be gone a month—two at the most. You’ll see. I’ll be back.”
“You’re already dead.”
Zack brightened, and said, “That’s where you’re wrong Ellie and I can prove it!”
Ellie looked up with skepticism on her face that would have rivaled my dad, “How?”
“You may not believe your eyes, but you have always believed your technology. Go to your computer, run a search. You’ll see, the signals are coming from our biospheres. Go on.”
I could have kissed Zack!
Ellie slowly got up, sat at her desk and punched a few buttons. Slowly she increased her speed until she was typing like mad. Suddenly she got really angry and began typing faster than I had ever seen her type before.
Finally she said, “There. Take that!”
Suddenly a message came through on my screen, it read:
“No one can see this but you. I sent it to you in a way I never told anyone about. I doubt any human being could figure out what I did, even if they were looking directly at my keystrokes. I knew I was being shut out by some really smart people before you came on my screen. I tried everything to get a signal out, and you know me, everything is a lot! So I just piggybacked a signal onto yours. No one will pick it up. It’s hidden in my search query. You can’t trust these people. I get you want to save the world and maybe you can. But they are definitely trying to control you. What happens to you when they get what they want? Your blood? Then what? If you do have the cure in you, do you know how much that would be worth? Play along, but do not let them take you. If you do, I doubt they will ever let you go. I love and trust you. I know you’re real. I know Zack is real. I kept waiting for one of you two idiots to pick up on my strategy. Thankfully Zack did. Just so you know, Zack and I have been communicating using the HAM radios our parents had. He told me you were alive. I was never so happy! It was just Morse, but it was enough. I will be here when you get back, but I’m playing the crazy card for now. Never let your opponent know how strong you are, till it’s too late. Hit the spacebar to erase all evidence of this message from your computer.”
I finished reading, hit the spacebar and the screen went completely blank.
“So did you find us?”
She pushed away. “So what, if I were hallucinating, wouldn’t I see what I want? This proves nothing!”
She got up and went back to her bed.
“Dude, don’t worry. I’ll get her through this. You just be careful!”
I have never loved or respected these two people more than I did right then.
“I hope so buddy. And don’t worry. I will be. And Ellie, I will be back.”
Ellie shifted a little. “Whatever.”
I shut down my connection to them. Even if they shut off the connection between the two of them, I know Ellie will be all right. She and Zack have the HAM radios. I forgot about them. That’s how Ellie first communicated with the outside world. She found people who taught her things. It was her internet for a long time.
I logged back in, and Doctor Sanderson was there.
“I need to know how far I’m walking and how long it will take me. I’m thinking I can find some warm clothes in the big closet that’ll fit. And I can get my dad’s old coat and boots. I think I even have a backpack. If not, I can figure something out. So I’m signing out for two hours. When I come back on, have the details ready. Don’t send them to my Nexus account. Send them directly to me.”
Doctor Sanderson looked confused. “Well, how do we do that?”
“You shut down the world’s satellite system. Figure it out.”
And I signed out.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I almost fall out of the sled and I snap out of my deep and ill advised sleep with a jerk.
I’m such a loser. Here it is my mission and I’m the one who falls asleep and nearly crashes us.
Pathetic.
We’d gone almost sixteen miles when we start to see the sun shining through the storm drains above. Well, the light anyway. We must be close to Vancouver! My skin is tingling with anticipation. I’d never been to the city before and the excitement is overwhelming. I mean, I’m not a total idiot. So part of me is frightened. You know, the part that believes the stories of Lyssa’s dad. Those horrible tales of cannibalism and murder. But the rest of me yearns to see the giant buildings, the parks, the architecture.
You know, everything.
Even if her dad was telling her the truth, which I’m not sure he was mind you. After all, I have no doubt her mom was killed by cut throats, but a pack of organized cannibals seemed a bit of a stretch to me. Besides, I doubt the cannibals could have lasted that long, just living off people. First of all, they’d run out of people—fast. Secondly, I read an article once that said a tribe in South America died out because it practiced cannibalism. They got this disease called Kuru. It mentioned something about prions, I didn’t really understand it, so I don’t know if it’s true. I mean, I only read about it on Wikipedia and you just can’t trust anything written on that place.
Especially not these days!
“Dorian, stop!”
I slam my feet down and pull on the brake as hard as I can and we come screeching to a halt. And there in front of me is a giant wall of debris. It looks like the ceiling collapsed ahead of us and the building that was above the pipe came crashing through the hole it left.
“What do we do?”
She sighs, “The only thing we can. We go topside and try to make it past the cave in I guess.”
I swear under my breath, “How? The last storm drain we saw was a mile back.”
“Exactly. Wait, let’s look at the map, what does that number say?”
I spin my light to the orange lettering, “C35-41b in Section thirteen. Thirteen, bad luck.”
Lyssa groans, “Don’t be such a ninny, my map says there is an access pipe over to the rest of the drain system, about three hundred feet back on the right.”
I frown, “I don’t remember an access pipe.”
Lyssa huffs, “Well, it’s there. I’m sure you were too busy falling asleep to see it.”
I totally deserve that, but I get defensive anyway, “I only did that once!”
Lyssa laughs out loud, “I felt you fall asleep at least four times!”
“No way I fell asleep more than three times!”
“Ah ha! A minute ago you only fell asleep once. Which is it, enquiring minds want to know.”
I glare at her, “You know, nobody likes you.” It’s something I’ve heard her say a million times now.
She turns, “Well, your tongue said otherwise.”
“My tongue didn’t say anything!”
She turns and looks at me seriously, “I wasn’t talking about your words, I was talking about how it kissed.”
And that was that.
End of discussion.
Man, she was really good at ending those. My mother was too. Is that like a genetic thing with women? Like, do they just instinctively know how to put an end to any conversation without even breaking a sweat? Because Ellie was a freaking champion at it, as well.
Of course, maybe it’s just that I’m stupid.
Yeah, that’s probably it, now that I think about it.
Lyssa walks back towards the bypass and I grab the lead rope on the sled and follow with my tail planted firmly between my legs. It is becoming clear to me that Lyssa is not going to forgive me. Suddenly a bolt of fear strikes me, what is Ellie going to do if she finds out?
Holy crap! I’m dead.
I mean, Lyssa is totally going to tell her. I just know it. She’s probably counting the seconds before she can tell her.
Or will she?
She might want me to do it. In fact, I’ll bet she is certain I’ll do the right thing and tell her myself. So if I don’t I’ll disappoint her again. Yeah, I’ll bet that’s it.
I shake my head. I have to stop thinking about this! I mean, I’m going to drive myself crazy.
I walk right into her back, “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”
She shakes her head walks to the wall where there is a hatch recessed. It was difficult to see, unless you were looking for it. She walks over and spins the release and pulls the door open. There is a dark passageway beyond the opening, that stretches on for what looks like infinity.
Did I mention it smelled? Well, there was horrible smell. It was like a doorway opening into hell.
There was no way I was going down that hallway.
Lyssa stepped right through the door and started down the passageway before I could protest. So now I’m stuck. There is no way a girl is going to out bravado me. She’s walking down this passageway, then so am I.
“There is no way I’m walking down that tunnel.”
I’m such a loser.
Lyssa’s hand reaches through the doorway and grabs my jacket and pulls me in. I have to tell you, I thought it smelled bad from the doorway. But that was nothing to what it smelled like on the inside. The light from our flashlights barely penetrated the blackness in front of us. The ground under my feet felt gooey. It felt like every step took more effort than the last.
“What is that sticking to my boots?”
“Not sure, it smells like it’s poop. But it can’t be. The bacteria would have eaten it already. So it’s probably some kind of slime mold.”
“What’s a slime mold?”
“It’s a mold that oozes around.”
“Oh my god that’s disgusting!”
Lyssa rolls her eyes, “Look, would you stop whining! Honestly, you’re so annoying! Do you think I want to be here? If it weren’t for you, I’d be in a nice warm bed. I’d be just waking up right about now and probably reaching for a book. But no! I’m stuck in a sewer pipe with my legs ankle deep in sludge! And if the toxic smell weren’t bad enough, I have to listen to the constant complaining of the most arrogant moron I’ve ever met! Just suck it up and be a man, for once in your miserable life!”
Okay, so even I could hear the difference between our normal banter and that rant.
So I say nothing. Not out of respect, but rather fear. We trudge through the muck in silence.
We reach a junction point, our tunnel moves onward in the same direction we were going. And other takes a hard right and looks to go on forever. There is a right turn as well, but I can clearly see that it ends in rubble like the last one. But there is a ladder that go up to what looks like a manhole cover above our heads. I can see light coming in through the tiny round holes.
Lyssa looks up, “Look, these collapses, they’re beginning to look way too strategic to me. I don’t think we should move forward till we know what topside looks like. It feels like we’re being funneled in one direction. I don’t want to go any further. In fact, I think we should we should go back. We walk to the last drainpipe and then approach this area with some stealth.”
I sigh, “What can it hurt to climb the ladder here and see what we can see, right?”
“It might not. Of course it could be the worst thing we could ever possibly do. There’s no way to know. The point is, we should approach this whole area as hostile and go back to move forward.”
“Yeah, but I mean if a sinkhole developed at the other tunnel, it might have been big enough to cause damage this far away as well.”
“You’re right, but let’s be sure. It’s the smart play.”
“Look, let me climb up, if there is nothing to see, I’ll come back down and we go back. Or if it looks hostile, we go back. But if it looks clear, why wouldn’t we go ahead?”
“Because, if I were going to lay a trap. I’d make sure it’d look clear as I could.”
That made sense. But we were here and I’d kill myself if we went the long way for nothing. Actually, those men probably would.
“Worth a look. Be right back.”
Lyssa crosses her arms and looks really annoyed, but she doesn’t stop me. I climb the ladder, it’s covered in gooey stuff, but not nearly as bad as the ground. When I reach the top, I see there is a storm drain and grate that I can peer through. I’m blown away. There is what looks like a wall, that is made out of buildings that have been knocked over. There is rubble everywhere. I don’t see any people, but there is a clear divide between this side of the rubble and the other side, which I cannot see any of. I can’t tell if the rubble was put there as a barrier, or the result of a massive explosion. In fact, I can’t even tell if there is any rubble on top of the manhole cover. Just for the sake of argument, I try to give it a push, but I can’t make it budge.
So I swear under my breath and climb back down.
“So?”
“I dunno, looks like a bomb went off. Rubble is everywhere. Buildings are knocked down in a line, stretching as far as I could see, which wasn’t far. And that manhole must be covered up, either that or it is way too heavy to move.”
“So, in other words, big waste of time?”
“Only if you consider valuable intel about what it looks like topside a waste of time. Let’s go, we should backtrack to the last drain.”
And I walk away.
Wait, if I’m not mistaken, I just ended that discussion. I’m not quite sure though, since I’ve never done that before. It feels kind of good actually. I wonder if this is how Ellie and Lyssa feel all the time?
We trudge through the muck, till we reach the hatch. Then we walk back up the tunnel, which after the muck and stink, is a relief. I have to tell you, I’m beginning to think my initial view of the outside was right.
It stinks out here.
I have never smelled anything as revolting as that passageway. In fact, I can say without any hesitation, I would rather dunk my head in a bucket of chicken poop, rather than walk down that hallway again.
It takes us about a half hour to reach the ladder up to the drain, that’s when I realized that we have the sled and we’ll never be able to take it with us. So we divvy up as much of our stuff as we can, then start climbing. When we get to the top, we’re in luck, the storm drain is huge. Plus, there are several cars giving us immediate cover. We easily get our backpacks through it and then scamper out ourselves.
Lyssa is the first to her feet and she peers over the hood of one of the cars and pans around. Then she freezes and drops to the ground for cover.
I whisper, “What is it?”
Lyssa looks like she saw a ghost whispers, “ They’re here.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I freeze.
Lyssa didn’t say, but I knew who she meant. The men who’ve been hunting us for days are here.
I’m screwed.
We look each other in the eye and then scramble back down the drain. We hit the bottom and throw our bags on the sled and start running back to the blockage. We have no plan. We just started running without thinking. But Lyssa stops.
I turn back, and whisper, “No, don’t stop! We have to move!”
Lyssa whispers, “No, I think I have an idea! Give me the map!”
I roll my eyes and give her the map from my pocket. She takes it and quickly scans it. Then she finds where we are and gets really excited, and whispers, “Quick, follow me!”
She instantly takes off back in the direction of the bad guys, I try to protest, but it’s no use, and so I follow, dragging the sled behind me, cursing under my breath.
She passes the ladder we just climbed and keeps going. I have no idea where we are going, but I’m getting a little upset now. We need to be going back to the hatch and trying to find another way to the harbor—not wasting time going in the wrong direction.
Besides, the tunnel goes uphill and I’m really out of shape.
We keep running for about ten or fifteen minutes and finally Lyssa stops and looks around. I nearly drop to my knees; after all, I’m not used to running. Then she bolts off to the right of the tunnel and starts heading back up the tunnel, but along the side. I feel like my lungs are o
n fire. I’m beginning to think Lyssa is doing this just to get back at me. I grab the sled and follow.
Finally, I see a hatch on the right. Lyssa reaches it, spins the release and pulls it open. Then she darts in. As I approach, a light appears from the opening and I almost stop out of fear. But curiosity wins out and I open the door and slip in. I see a short passageway ahead of me that leads to another door that is now open. Beyond that is a room filled with light.
Lyssa shouts from within, “Close and secure both doors! And hurry up!”
Even though all I really want to do is collapse into a wheezing mess, I manage to yank the sled through the first door and secure the first hatch. Then I turn and pull the sled through the second door and secure it as well. The room is huge and filled with electric lights, though I have no idea where the power is coming from. I see an opening that leads to a ladder. I walk to it.
I see Lyssa clear the top and disappear over the edge.
I don’t care what she says, there is no way I’m going to lug that sled up there by myself. I drop the rope, grab the ladder and start to climb. Slowly. As every muscle in my body is screaming out for rest right now.
When I reach the top, I see Lyssa through big glass window staring at something on some kind of control board. I see a door to my left, which enters the room, but it doesn’t give me the motivation to move. But when I see the chair behind Lyssa, I move as fast as I can towards the door. I stumble into the room completely out of breath and energy, then fall into the chair. I’m totally spent. I really have to start exercising more.
In between gasps, I say, “Hey, what are you doing?”
“My dad showed me how to do this. He called it a weapon of last resort. There are these control rooms all along the spillway. They were built as emergency shelters, you know, in case workers were trapped in the tunnel when the dam let loose. But each one also doubles as a control room. If the main control room was ever compromised, workers could get to one of these and release the overspill valve. Which is exactly what I’m going to do!”