Unfortunately, he was right. Until we could make or find tools, we were pretty limited in our forms of shelter. As much as I hated the thought of living in a cave even for a short time, it was probably our best bet at survival. “OK, a cave it is,” I said, trying to put enthusiasm in my voice. From his dry chuckle I knew that he wasn’t buying it.
Looking at where he pointed, I was a little worried because it was definitely far from the city, but closer than I liked it to be. “Are you sure we shouldn’t look around before settling on the first mountain we see?”
“You never took me as the type of girl who would want a bigger mountain.”
“Smart ass.”
“Well, if we’re going to get there, we’d better get moving,” he announced, no more trilled with the idea than I was.
Ugh. Getting up, I grabbed my stuff, hoping that we weren’t making a mistake, and followed him. Smiling to myself, I realized all the time we were children he followed me, trying to keep me out of trouble and now here I was following him with no hopes of keeping either of us out of trouble.
The closer we moved toward the mountain, the farther away it seemed. Every night we fell to the ground exhausted, we weren’t even lighting fires any longer. A few days back, we had been blocked by a large ravine, water raging loudly deep within it. We spent hours moving along it, trying to find a narrow part to cross with our ropes, and instead we found a beautiful stone bridge to carry us across. In the middle of the mass of wilderness stood signs of human life and though Tristian hadn’t said anything, I knew that it worried him as much as it had me. We had assumed that the Loyalists stayed within the city, but this bridge proved that someone came out this far. Far enough that they built a bridge large and strong enough to carry vehicles across with ease. The only comfort that I had was that the bridge appeared old and I didn’t see any recent tracks, though it was defiantly maintained and in good repair.
Strange things had been happening ever since we had crossed the bridge. I suppose “happening” isn’t the right word, it’s more like a strange feeling had descended over us. A feeling of being watched and judged. The closer we came to the mountain, the more it seemed to creep over me. At night when we slept, I could almost swear that I heard whispered conversations around us. During the day, the woods seemed almost eerily silent, as if they were waiting for something. We had been walking most of the day when we came across a small stream and decided to take a rest.
Tired, I dropped my bag and took off my shoes before wading my way into the stream and sitting on a boulder. Even with how tired I was, my gaze kept searching the woods as I absently touched the knife at my side, something that I had carried on me without fail since we were attacked that night. A small movement to my side caught my eye and turning to it, I was frozen in shock. A little face peeked out at me from behind a tree, smiling and giving me a wave of her fingers when she saw that she had my attention. Tearing my gaze from her, I slowly stood up, my gaze searching the shore as I backed up to get to Tristian.
My foot had just touched the shore when I felt his hand wrap around my wrist. Turning my gaze to him I found myself staring at his back. I tried to take a step to the side, but he tightened his grip, silently telling me to stay behind him. Rising to my toes I saw what held him so still. About twenty men and women stood in front of us with more coming out of the woods behind them. A woman separated herself from the group and stepped forward, holding her hands out in a peaceful gesture. Looking to the others with her, I saw that they were armed, but made no move to reach for their weapons as they gazed at us.
The woman stopped walking when she was halfway between her people and us. “We mean you no harm, please put away your knife before someone gets hurt.”
Since my knife wasn’t out that meant Tristian’s was. Ignoring the tightening of his grip I kept my body close to his, but moved it around so that I was next to him instead of behind him. Reaching out slowly, I covered the hand holding the knife, gently pressing it down. If these people wanted us dead, they would have done it by now and there was no way to escape them. We were surrounded. But instead of saying that, I whispered, “They have children with them,” hoping he would understand what I meant.
After a moment’s hesitation, he sheathed his knife. “Who are you?” he asked the woman as she lowered her hands.
“My name is Mayla and we live in the village ahead.” Seeing the fear that flashed through our eyes, she shook her head vigorously and hurried to explain. “We are not from the City to the West, we will not harm you”
Finding my voice, I said, “I don’t understand. If you did not come from the city, then where did you come from?”
Instead of answering me, she said, “You are welcome to come with us to our village. You were headed that way anyway,” she smiled, pointing toward our original destination. “We have been watching you to make sure that you had not come from the city. We know now that you are not Hunters, but Prey, and are welcome to come.”
What the hell did she mean “Prey”? Opening my mouth to ask her, I was cut off when she started walking to the water, giving us a wide berth as the people behind her followed and crossed the water, joining the child I had seen on the other side. Keeping them in our sight, we watched them until they disappeared into the woods.
“What is going on?” I asked in confusion, not expecting an answer.
“I don’t know, but gather your things, we’re leaving,” Tristian said. Moving around, I put my shoes back on and picked up my bag, surprised when Tristian stopped me from crossing the water. “What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded. “I said that we were leaving.”
Wait, what? “I thought you meant that we were going to their village.”
“Are you crazy, we have no idea who those people are or what they want and you just think where going to walk into there?” he said, looking at me as if I had finally cracked.
Rolling my eyes, I said, “Tristian, listen to me, those people, whoever they are, have information that we need.” Seeing that he wasn’t impressed with my words, I tried a different tack. “They could have killed us at any time, so they obviously don’t mean to hurt us or force us to go with them.” When I saw the grudging admittance of that flash in his eyes, I pushed forward. “We have no idea how to survive on the surface and obviously they do. Even if we don’t stay with them, they’ll have tools that we will need to survive.” When I saw him close his eyes and heard his long, drawn-out sigh, I knew that I had him. Hiding my smile, knowing that he wouldn’t appreciate it, I kept my eyes cast down as he pulled me across the water.
Chapter 11
We saw no one for two hours, though we felt their eyes on us watching. Our first look at their world was breathtaking. There was a very large valley at the base of the mountain filled with buildings of all shapes and sizes. But it was what you saw when you looked at the mountain itself that was astounding. Huge figures and designs were carved right into the mountain surrounding a large entrance that people moved through, going and coming from the town below. Vehicles like I had never seen before moved on roadways heading in and out of the valley from all directions. As we moved closer, the sound of children’s laughter echoed from a large spot that they played at where there were all sort of strange things that they climbed and swung on.
“It looks just like the movies that she used to show us,” I whispered, thinking of the treat that the teacher would give us if we behaved. An old movie that had been passed through her family. This is the world we were meant to live in.
Squeezing my hand, Tristian pulled me nearer to him as we saw the child and the woman from the water. Smiling to us, they waited patiently for us to join them. Once we almost reached them, the child broke away, coming to me and grabbing my free hand. “Come on,” she said, smiling and pulling me forward.
“I’m sorry, Helen has been impatient for your arrival, wishing to show you off to her friends.” The pretty dark-haired woman said, smiling down at the child. “But she understands t
hat it must wait for a bit until after you are settled and we answer each other’s questions. Don’t you?”
Turning big eyes up, she said, “Yes, Mama, I understand.”
Turning her gaze back to us, Mayla said, “Please follow me, we will get you settled before we eat.”
Letting go of the little girl’s hand, who immediately grabbed a surprised Tristian’s, I moved up to walk next to Mayla. “I’m sorry we have been rude, it’s just that we never expected to find people like you. My name is Misty and that is Tristian.”
Smiling at me, she said, “We know. The others having been following you for days.”
“Why were they following us?” I asked, ignoring the creepy “We know.”
Frowning, she answered, “To make sure that you were not Hunters.”
OK, now here is something that I definitely wanted to understand. “What are Hunters?”
Changing her frown to one of confusion, she asked, “Are you not Prey?”
“Mayla, I have no idea what you are talking about.”
Stopping, she turned and looked at me. “If you are not Hunters or Prey, then where did you come from?”
Seeing that she was truly baffled by us, I said, “We escaped from the caverns,” watching her reaction.
“I don’t understand, what caverns?”
She really had no idea about the caverns or she didn’t realize what I meant. Glancing at Tristian, I got his slight nod. Talking slowly, I tried to explain it in a way for her to understand. “The caverns that the survivors went to after the government destroyed the surface of this planet during the last great revolution. Where we are forced to live to this day as slaves for them.”
I watched as what I said sank in. “But that’s impossible,” she whispered in denial, “all know that only those that live within the city besides us survived the great destruction.” Strengthening her voice, she said, “Yes, you are mistaken, you must be Prey from the city and are just confused,” turning and walking ahead.
Catching up with her, I grabbed her arm to stop her. “Mayla, have you ever heard of the caverns before? Have the Prey every spoken of it?”
“Most of the Prey we save do not survive long, they are too injured or weak. The few that have survived have never mentioned the caverns before. I know of them because of our history discs, these lessons are taught to our children at school,” she said, smiling sadly at me.
Seeing that this was upsetting her, I said, “I don’t want to hold you up. Let’s go get settled, then we’ll speak.”
I could see she was still troubled by my words, but she nodded her head and led the way to a large building. I was glad when she opened the door for us to enter, but the stares that we were getting weren’t helping my nerves. Taking us to an elevator, we entered and rode several floors up into the building. Stopping at the eighth floor, we got off and followed her through a long corridor lined with doors until we reached one at the end. Opening it, she led us into a large home.
Smiling, though not as brightly as before, she said, “This is where you will stay for now. Please use anything you wish, everything has been placed here for your use.” Moving to the table in the center of the room, she said, “if you place a drop of this solution in each eye, it will clear them so that the sun will no longer bother you.” Opening her mouth as if to say something, she stopped, taking a deep breath before continuing. “I hope it is alright to dine here with you for today. Some of our people wish to speak with you and I thought that you would be more comfortable here”––waiting for our nods, she continued––“we will eat in three hours. I will see you then. Come, Helen,” she said, before hurrying out of the room and leaving us alone.
Walking around, it was like nothing I had ever seen before––bright colors and different textures were everywhere. Moving into the room off to the side, I saw that it was a bedroom. A large bed stood in the center of the room, looking soft like a cloud. Moving around, I found a closet full of clothing and a large bathroom. This place could have fit my old home inside it three times over. Feeling uncomfortable, I went back to the main room.
“What do you think, Tristian?”
Looking as uncomfortable as I felt, he said, “About what, this place or Mayla?” Sitting down on the couch, he asked, “I don’t know, why they would take us in like this?”
“I know, I guess the only thing we can do is wait until dinner to find out what they want in return for this,” I said, looking around at the beautiful room then down at myself. “I think we should go and get cleaned up for dinner. They left clothing in the closets for our use.” Walking over to the room I just left, I quietly closed the door and began to prepare for the trial ahead.
Putting it off for as long as I dared, I exited the bedroom feeling more self-conscious than I had ever been in my life. A dress had been laid out on the bed when I came out of the bathroom. I had never worn one before, but I guess that this was what you wore to dinner here. It was a deep green that matched my eyes and it fell to my feet. The material felt as soft as the petals of a flower and moved around me as I walked. I put on the matching shoes with little jewels gracing my feet and left my hair down, not knowing what else to do with it.
Quietly opening my door, I found Tristian where I left him, sitting on the couch with his back to me, except he was bathed and in fresh clothing. Walking out, the smell of food caught my attention as a girl stepped forward. “May I get you a drink, Miss?” she asked.
“Um, no thank you, I’m fine” I said, before turning back to Tristian. He was no longer sitting but standing looking at me as if he had never seen me before. Caught in his gaze I don’t know how long, we would have stood like that forever if a knock at the door hadn’t broken our concentration. The girl who offered me a drink walked by and opened the door, letting in the small group of people waiting on the other side. Before I had a chance to get uncomfortable with their obvious appraisal of me, I felt Tristian move to my side. I smiled at Mayla, the only face in the group we recognized, and she moved forward to stand at my other side.
“Tristian, Misty, please allow me to make introductions.” Motioning to a tall, dark-haired man in a uniform, she said, “This is Johnathon, our head of security. The man to his right is Marcus, our local Council Representative.” Turning me a little from the short, portly man, she continued, “The lady right there is Evelyn, Marcus’s wife, and last but not least this is Peter, a good friend of mine and our head historian,” she finished, indicating the older tall man pushing up his glasses.
Murmuring our hellos, we followed Mayla’s lead when she motioned us all to the table. Everyone remained quiet as the two girls moved around the table serving us. The food they put in front of us were things I had never seen before, delicious smells rose from each as they uncovered them. Smiling, the two girls stepped forward, whispering in my ear as they placed a little of each thing on my plate, letting me know what it was. When they were finished, they went back a few feet and just stood there waiting for us to eat. Confused, it took me a moment to realize that they weren’t going to join us. Unable to back to hold back my anger, I said, “I didn’t realize that you kept slaves.”
Four shocked expressions turned to look at me. “These girls aren’t slaves, they work here. We don’t keep slaves,” Mayla said, the first to find her voice.
“Then why aren’t they joining us?” I demanded, not believing a word coming out of her mouth.
“Because they work here,” she said, puzzled at the anger she could see of my face.
“Are they allowed to leave when they wish and stop working here at any time?” I asked, still suspicious.
Before Mayla could answer me, one of the girls stepped forward, smiling, “This is a job for us, we’re paid weekly for it and are able to quit at any time and go find work elsewhere. We’re not forced to be here,” she said, as the other girl nodded, looking confused.
Letting out a breath, I could feel my cheeks turning pink, but I kept Mayla’s gaze, “I’m sorry if I insulte
d you, but I had to be sure that you weren’t the same. I’ll die before I live like that again,” I venomously told her, wanting there to be no misunderstanding.
“We had heard from Prey that escaped the city’s Hunters that they were kept as servants, but they never reacted as you have,” the thin man named Peter said, speaking at me as if I was slow. “So we are sorry that no one informed you that the indentured servitude system is not in use here,” he explained, smiling at me as if I was a child.
“I don’t believe I said ‘indentured servitude,’ but ‘slaves,’ and as I told Mayla, we do not come from the city. We have never seen the city. We did not know of its existence until recently,” I told him coldly, annoyed at his superior attitude.
Making a scoffing sound it his throat, he said, “If you didn’t come from the city, then where did you come from, under a rock?”
Placing a hand on my shoulder, Tristian stopped the blistering retort that I was going to deliver. Looking over to him, I saw the hardened look he speared Paul with before speaking. “As a matter of fact, we did crawl out from under a rock.” Seeing the disbelieving look, he continued. “Or to be more precise, we crawled through them. Since the day the government let loose the cleansing upon this land, our people have been kept deep within caverns below the surface as slaves. Generation upon generation have been born, worked, and died in those caverns. Slaves to a system that caters to the Loyalists and their needs.” Holding up his hand, stopping Peter’s interruption, he said, “Each year we have a lottery as a form of population control. All those but a select few Contributors in their twenty-first year are put to death. We recently learned that it was a lie, along with many other things. Until the day we crawled from a hole and saw the sky, we believed that the world above was still uninhabitable. We took a chance and barely managed to escape the cavern, losing her two sister in the process.”
“You’re survivors of the Cavern of Death,” the man named Johnathon said in disbelief. “It’s real.”
In The Shadows of the Cavern of Death (Shadows of Death Book 1) Page 10