Insolation

by Bradlyn Wilson

  “This way!”

  She practically ran to it, followed closely by Paxton. She reached for the handle but Paxton stepped in front of her. “Are you sure?” he hissed. Hadley pulled the coin out of her pocket. She saw a tiny slit in a pin pad to the right and put the coin in. She heard it clink as it rolled down a metal tube. The pin pad alighted and she heard the echo of the lock unlatching. The coin hit the end and was released back to her in a tiny trap door. She grabbed it immediately and slipped it back into her pocket, ensuring she’d have access again.

  “Like I said before, I’m sure of nothing—” Hadley stepped around him and opened the door into the building.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  They walked in, hearing the door clink behind them as it locked back into place. They were in an office building. They waited a moment to let their eyes adjust. Hadley could see artificial light glowing at the bottom of a staircase. It made a thin line across the floor, the only light around. The staircase was long and narrow. So long in fact that they could only see the light at the end and the first step. From there it seemed to lead them into an abyss.

  “This way—” Hadley whispered. She took a step and descended in the darkness, relying on faith alone.

  They tiptoed down the stairs, carefully feeling each before actually stepping. They were almost at the bottom when there were creaks on the stairs above them. They stopped suddenly and listened. They both held their breath waiting; Pax had a hand lying gently on Hadley’s arm. Nothing happened. Hadley motioned to keep going. They got to the bottom of the stairs and saw the light was coming from under a door.

  At this precise moment she wished she had brought a gun. They walked to the door and as she was just about to open it there was a click behind her. So audible in the tight space it seemed deafening.

  Hadley froze and turned around to see six guns pointed at her, all emitting tiny red lights that were scattered across their chests.

  “What do you want?” a recognizable voice said in the darkness. Though Hadley couldn’t put her finger on where she knew it from.

  “I need answers—” Hadley stuttered bluntly, taking a leap of faith they wouldn’t shoot.

  “Who are you?” the man said in an exasperated tone. He rolled his eyes somewhere in the darkness.

  Hadley thought of giving a fake identity but she decided against it, she had already told one of them who she was and he hadn’t seemed to believe her. Above all else she was there for the truth and didn’t want it under false pretences. “I’m Hadley Evans—”

  “Sure you are—” the man laughed. Hadley furrowed her brows confused.

  “I left myself a safety deposit box with this address in it and this coin—” Hadley tried cautiously. She pulled the coin out of her pocket in the dark and turned it over in her hand. The warm metal was heavy in her hand.

  Someone turned a light on, on a tablet and the staircase was flooded with light. Then men standing holding guns took off their night vision goggles and lowered their guns.

  “That’s Hadley’s coin; she’s the only one who has one that colour,” a tall man said in a professional tone in the back.

  “I know,” the man who had been talking said. It was the tattooed man from before. Hadley and he made eye contact that was uncomfortably personal.

  “Do you know who I am Hadley?” the man said gently, his tone underlying with condescension and belittling.

  “No,” Hadley said simply.

  “Great,” the man said with an air of frustration.

  “Should I?”

  “That’s up to you.”

  “What?”

  “Exactly.”

  The conversation was going nowhere.

  Hadley changed its course, realizing she wasn’t going to get anywhere with this. “Do you know me?”

  “I did. But that seems a lifetime ago now,” he said sadly.

  “So cryptic,” Paxton chimed in with a laugh. No one else found his statement amusing, Hadley laughed inside her head though.

  The man studied them both for a moment as though deciding how to proceed.

  “Follow me this way,” he said walking past them and opening the door into the room. The other men walked behind.

  The room was a large foyer with many hallways shooting off of it. It was completely cement with extensive amounts of graffiti. It was extremely clean but there were too many people for the small spaces. But everything was perfectly in place. The smell was a combination of bleach, lime and smoke.

  They walked down one hallway and into an empty room. The tattooed man opened a closet. Hadley gasped when she saw the wall was blown out and a metal gate was hanging on by a few hinges. The dark metal was old. Older in fact than anything she had ever seen since waking up. It was thick and heavy. It was ornately welded into an intricate pattern that reminded her of vines.

  “This tunnel system was built in the early 18th century and originally connected the entirety of this area. Over time the system was walled up for security reasons. We have spent a large amount of time reconstructing it for our purposes.”

  “It’s a good way to move around without anyone seeing you,” Paxton noted.

  “Where is it going to take us?” Hadley asked.

  “To see what you came here to see. First though, and I’m sorry about this, but arms up!” the man said lifting his eyebrows with a smile. Hadley brought her arms to shoulder height. The tattooed man began his thorough pat down. Hadley glanced over and saw one of the other men patting down Pax.

  The tattooed man took his time, but not so long it made her uncomfortable. He wanted to make sure they were unarmed. After he was done and his other man gave him a nod of approval the other five men dispersed into the rooms. The man went to a closet and pulled out two large metal bracelets.

  He grabbed Hadley’s left wrist and pulled up her sleeve hard. He put the bracelet on and turned her wrist over to latch it. The second he turned her wrist he inhaled sharply and held his breath. He looked at the tattoo on her forearm intently. She listened as he exhaled slowly. He clicked the bracelet closed; it perfectly covered her chip.

  “You’ve seen it before? I’d love to know why I got it.”

  “I…” the man said, but then choose not to continue.

  Hadley waited for an answer that didn’t come.

  “The bracelets cover any signal from your tracker and send the gov’s a signal that you are on the street outside the complex. They also track you through our systems.” He thrust the other bracelet painfully around Pax’s wrist.

  “Hey!” Pax exclaimed but the tattooed man paid him little attention.

  The man then ducked his head and disappeared into the black tunnel with a wink. He was so carefree, it made Hadley smile.

  She followed him. Keeping her head down, she felt her way by feeling the wall. The tunnel was long and dark. The ponytailed man seemed to go through effortlessly, probably because he had done it a hundred times. Hadley felt something crawl on her hand she jumped hitting her head.

  “Ouch!” Shivers ran down her spine as she shook her hand to get whatever it was off; she didn’t have the stomach to look. They kept walking though, attempting to not lose sight of the man in front of them. Pax was so close behind Hadley that she could feel his breath on her neck and it was giving her goose bumps.

  They emerged into a slightly larger tunnel and saw there were offshoot rooms from this one. Each room had a gate but none were closed. It got colder as they got further into the tunnels. They passed by a group making a fire in one room. Hadley watched transfixed as a woman hit two stones together causing sparks. She raised a ball of grass to her lips and carefully blew until flames emerged. Hadley watched mesmerized at the primitive form of survival. Fire by rocks was something that hadn’t been used in decades. As she watched, the fire turned to blue and to purple. Then the ball of flaming grass started floating. It turned in place before a loud popping sound and it turned into a black marble.

  “Energy transfer technol
ogy production,” the man said nonchalantly. Hadley was extremely impressed considering where they were. Turning a primitive form of energy into such a useful tool was impressive. It looked like magic. Hadley felt desperate to get back to her to ask how it worked. But she didn’t want to push her luck.

  They kept walking through a maze of underground tunnels. It was like the city had moved below itself. The path got narrower and narrower again. So they crouched lower and lower until they were crawling on their hands and knees. The wet mud was soaking through Hadley’s pants and she was up to her wrists in cold thick mud. She had to forcefully pull her hand out with every movement. They started to crawl upwards and it got drier. Hadley kept crawling until she went to set her hand down and there was nothing. She fell forward slightly before her other hand, which was firmly planted on the ground caught her weight. She pushed herself out of the tunnel and stood up. They had emerged beside a deep black abyss of a gorge.

  “It’s usually not that muddy sorry— it’s been raining a lot lately and we don’t have the resources to block the water.” The man stated plainly. Hadley and Pax both gave him a nod.

  “Come on.” He motioned forwards and they started shuffling sideways on about six inches of ground next to a dirt wall. The ground was firm and solid. Hadley slid her foot across it, concrete she decided. She grasped at the dirt with her fingernails trying to keep herself back instead of plunging forward.

  The wall crumbled in her fingertips. There were a vast amount of sharp shale rocks and she was tearing up her palms trying to keep her balance. The presence of the tattooed man in front of her was profound, she knew exactly where he was without him saying anything.

  Hadley could hear running water below but couldn’t see anything. She peered down harder but it was no use. It was just an empty darkness. In front of her the man stopped his face lit by a small hanging light bulb over top of a three-foot circular platform. He put his hand back to stop her and she felt his hand on her stomach. She inhaled sharply as his large palm came in contact with her body.

  “This is the hard part,” he said calmly. His hand lingered for a moment against Hadley’s abs and she shifted uncomfortably. He took notice and moved his hand.

  “I thought that was the hard part,” Hadley said with an awkward laugh, motioning to the ledge they had just trekked. Every single moment of that walk had seemed as though they were on the edge of death.

  “You wish,” he laughed raising his eyebrows again, “This was once a subway track but during the war a major water way broke through and has been running through here. It is over twenty feet deep and deadly. We haven’t had time to connect the two halves of our system. That is why we are going through this crazy obstacle course.” At least he realized this was the most intense thing Hadley had done in a while. “The only way across the river is this—” He listened for a moment “We had better hurry the rain is causing flooding and the water will be way higher in just a few minutes.”

  The man motioned to a singular thin wooden plank hanging above the river. There were two ropes tattered hanging parallel to the board. Hadley felt Paxton grab her arm behind her. She was pinned to the wall and her heart was beating a hundred miles per minute.

  The man brushed Hadley’s arm accidentally and then he grabbed the ropes with both his hands and stepped onto the board. Hadley watched as he slowly traversed the board. Keeping his feet steady, he took one determined step after another. She watched as he jumped onto the ground on the other side. He looked back and smiled.

  Paxton pushed Hadley back and grabbed the ropes next, stepping over her. She almost protested but watched as he slowly traversed the river. Hadley watched the black water getting closer and closer to the plank, it reflected the single light. The bulbs light glowed in tiny ripples. The water was running down the walls and dripping from the roof.

  “Your turn,” Pax called back. She rolled her eyes and reached one hand up and grabbed one of the ropes. She rapidly grabbed the other steadying herself. She slowly lifted her foot, tensing all of her muscles. She put her foot on the plank steadily. It wobbled and vibrated. She took a deep breath letting the air fill her lungs and put her other foot down.

  Then she took the first step across the thin beam. Then another, she started to walk faster. She was halfway there when she felt the water hit her foot she looked down to see the rapids licking at the plank. In an instant the plank was engulfed along with her feet and ankles. She kept her footing but the raging water was doing its best to get her off of the board, which was barely holding.

  “What do I do now?” She looked at the man. His eyes were wide. He no longer had a casual air about him.

  He put his hand into a fist and raised it to his mouth. He thought for a split second. With narrowed eyes he said, “Try to take another step.”

  “But—” Hadley protested.

  “I don’t know—” The man said. Hadley knew there was nothing else she could do but try to get to the end of the board. She lifted her foot and set it down again. For a split second she thought she had done it.

  Then she felt herself fall as the board was carried off into the moving water. It was all in incredibly slow motion. She screamed as the water slowly got closer to her now horizontal body. She tried to hold onto both ropes for support but she felt her hand slip from the one upstream. She managed to hold on with both hands to the one rope as she fell into the water. The cold hit her like a thousand bullets. The air instantly left her lungs and her whole body tensed up. She couldn’t make a sound as she struggled to hold on. Her feet fluttered behind her as she tried to push against the raging angry water. She hung on for dear life as the water rose.

  The tattooed man stood at the edge of the water. His feet submerged assessing.

  “What do we do?” Paxton yelled over the sound of the rushing water.

  “Can you pull yourself up?” the man yelled. Hadley could only look at him; she couldn’t say anything. Not even a retort to the dumbest question she had ever been asked. She made a mental note that if she ever got out of this mess to call him out for that.

  She pulled with all her strength but finally felt her face go under. The water burnt as it flushed into her nose and eyes. She pulled up with all her might and managed to get a breath, which she held as her face went back under the water. The muscles in her arms were tearing as she dug her nails into the thick abrasive rope.

  “I’m going to have to jump in, cut the rope and you will pull us back!” the man yelled at Paxton. It was all Hadley heard before the water pulled her further under. It was a peaceful sensation even as she struggled to hold on. For a moment everything was quiet.

  Her lungs started to struggle to inhale. They had used all the nutrients and oxygen from the now useless air that filled her lungs and were desperate for more. Every muscle in her body urged her to breath. They were desperate.

  One breath and it would all be over, a little voice inside Hadley’s head sneered. She could feel her lungs burning. Her chest pressing with all its might. The dark cold quiet was encompassing.

  She felt the splash beside her but it was too late.

  Her lips parted and she took a breath.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  2228

  The waves crashed against the rocks Hadley was sitting on. The hard grey boulders lined the water creating platforms that were perfect for picnicking and cliff jumping. The turquoise water below bubbled white as it hit the rocks. She looked down unable to see the bottom. She watched a school of white fish swim by; their scales glittered in the mid afternoon sun. They shone different colours near the surface.

  Hadley watched as some gruesome waves approached, sent from a speeding boat passing by. She waved at the people onboard and they waved back before speeding off. As the waves crashed against the rocks she felt the sea spray across her skin. Though the hot sun combined with the gentle breeze and she was dry almost instantly. She felt her skin getting tough with salt and her hair blowing gently in the wind.

  Ha
dley looked away from the water; past the path she had used to get down to the water and up to a small villa balcony. It was white and shone in comparison to the copper coloured house. The balcony door slid open and a man emerged; he was the only person around. The house was secluded and she felt they were the only two around. The man had a fluffy pink towel tied around his waist and even from her distance Hadley could see the beads of water on his tanned skin. She smiled as she looked at him and blushed, feeling as though she shouldn’t stare, even though she knew she had every right. He was hers, they were together.

  He caught Hadley’s eye and she smiled and waved for him to come down, he shrugged and winked. Hadley smoothed her yellow dress and looked up at him before reaching for the back zipper. She slowly unzipped the zipper watching him watch her as he rushed down the path. She slid one sleeve off at a time letting them hang off her shoulders. Then without a glance around she let her dress fall to her ankles.

  Even from the distance she could see the colour go to his face. He hurried down the path forgetting to close the door behind him. Hadley laughed out loud and turned to face the water. She stood in the wind for a moment before she stepped forward and dove into the water. The ten or so meter drop seemed to take forever. However, the water was refreshing as she slid through the cool surface and she took a moment before she surfaced. She looked around and saw she was surrounded by a swarm of colourful fish.

  She swam for the surface, watching the sun sparkle on top of the water. The light twinkled and she felt as though everything was calm in the world, she revelled in the moment. The only care she had was using her body, her muscles, to push against a force she could beat, the rushing water. The earth was composed of forces that humans couldn’t ever hope to understand fully. Though she tried.

  Hadley looked up and saw the man. She used her arms to keep her up pushing them back and forth. She watched him take a running start and backflip into the ocean. He emerged seconds later feet from her. She laughed as he swam towards her. He grabbed her waist and she felt his body get closer. He kissed her hard, with a need only she could fulfill. She loved him so much and he was all hers. Forever.