However, the intake of water was a different story. Dana reached for his phone once more.
Taking careful account of what was around him beforehand, he navigated into the main frame once more and disabled the Dome.
The Dome shut down far faster than it boot up. Dana was immediately plunged into darkness, with only the dim orange glow of a few emergency lights allowing him to see his surroundings. He listened to the fan in the water slowly grind to halt, his hand drifting through the water as he felt it slow.
The current was still quite strong. Dana was unsure everybody who escaped was a strong enough swimmer to fight against the current.
However, he had to investigate.
His heart was beating excitedly, his entire body on edge, his nerves firing in anticipation of solving his mystery.
Dropping his phone to the ground, Dana stripped off his three-thousand-dollar suit and threw it haphazardly to the ground. Once he was naked, he submerged himself in the water, barely feeling the bite of the cold. He allowed his eyes to adjust, feeling each droplet pass over his skin, which only served to excite him more. He took a deep breath, his eyes fluttering shut, reveling in the feeling. When he opened his eyes again, he could barely make out the wall of the Dome in front of him. He took a few steps against the current and ducked underwater, reaching out with one hand to find the blades of the fan. When he found them, he maneuvered himself through the large opening, climbing up the blades of the fan and the cement above until he could feel his hand emerge from the water.
He was almost tempted to stay submerged a while longer, his head going light from lack of oxygen flooding him with euphoria. He was enjoying it so much he wanted to push his limits and see how long he could hold his breath.
But the thrill of his mystery was enough to force him to emerge from the water’s depths, taking a deep breath and allowing his brain a moment to soak in the oxygen and start working again.
His heavy breathing echoed in the wet, damp passageway. It was incredibly dark, and Dana had to stand very still and wait for his eyes to adjust before he even thought about moving. When he could barely discern the outline of the edges of the river with his enhanced eyesight, he moved to one side and heaved himself onto the cement. He could not remember anything about the maintenance shaft for the river. He only recalled that they had put grates across the water as a safety measure, but he could not remember where those grates were.
Even with his enhanced vision, it was still very difficult to see. He slid his feet over the rough concrete, feeling the bumps, grooves, and cracks, but being sure that he knew where he was transferring his weight before he stepped further.
His toe gently bumped against something and he reached forward to investigate. His hands passed over a steep incline of concrete, rough and wet, and his memories came rushing back. He remembered being bored the day he had been shown the mechanics that ran the river. But he recalled that they engineers purposely showed him the slope that they had created on the walkway and the big metal grate that kept anyone and anything from getting caught in the fan, such as animals and fish that could be pulled into the intake culvert.
Using mostly his sense of touch, Dana felt his way to the top of the incline, having to have to climb on it to reach the top. He hooked his fingers along the sharp edge of metal and felt one way until the he hit the wall, and then the other way until he reached the edge. The grate was missing. There was one bracket near the end that was meant to hold the metal, but the structure beyond meant to keep objects clear of the fan was gone.
A broad smile crept over Dana’s face.
Excitedly, he pulled himself over the incline and slid down the other side, walking as quickly as he could along the damp passage, feeling along the walls, hoping his limited vision was enough to see the exact point used to escape the Commission basement.
It took several minutes for him to finally come across the steel rungs of a ladder. The Commission of the People, being so deep underground, Dana knew it would take a considerable amount of time to climb the ladder to the surface. But waiting would not have been as dangerous in the passageway, since there were no cameras.
Even though the escape seemed simple once Dana had discovered their passageway, he was still impressed they were able to pull off such a remarkable feat—he truly had underestimated all of them.
Still grinning with joy at uncovering the final pieces of the mystery, he began ascending the metal rungs of the ladder. When he got bored, he started counting each rung, making it a song in his head to keep his buzzing brain occupied. After an indeterminable amount of time, he started to see the faint glow of two small holes letting in sunlight.
He was approaching a manhole cover.
He hooked his arm in the top rung and used his shoulder and his forearm to heave the heavy metal off the top of the exit shaft. The fresh air hit his face and he took a deep breath, allowing it to fill his lungs and feeling each molecule of oxygen trapped within his chest. His arm remained hooked on the iron rung, his brain settling back into noticing every sensation and stimuli. He decided to make it a point to go back into the dark access tunnel if ever he wanted to slow his brain down—which was not often.
Dana pulled himself onto the sun-warmed concrete slab and looked around. He was standing next to massive water tanks, their brown color faded from long exposure to the elements. He felt the sun’s rays beat down on his naked body, warming his skin and evaporating the droplets that still cling to him.
There were several water tanks perched on the hill and he had to walk a few steps to look around one to locate exactly where he was. He caught sight of the reservoir just down the hill and smiled, knowing he had to turn around and go up the hill in order to find them Lily and her revolutionaries. After all, there was no way that they were taking refuge inside the reservoir waters.
He walked easily around the water tanks, looking them over and feeling the way his feet hit the concrete. He tried to imagine Lily’s frantic run once she escaped the Commission. Once they were out in the open air, it was much easier to be seen. She would have been panicking, her hair is still damp and clinging to her face from swimming through the river, her heart racing, her face flushed with excitement and terror…Dana wished he had seen it.
Dana felt the shiver run through his body and he took a deep breath, closing his eyes and allowing himself to imagine Lily and her frantic newly-escaped state for only a few more moments.
He spotted the chain-link fence that surrounded the water tanks, meant for keeping ruffians out. His gaze falling chained gate, he stepped forward to investigate.
He gently touched the hot metal chain and followed its links around the gate until he saw the padlock, but the padlock was hanging open, broken.
His smile great even wider.
He had Little Lily now. He knew how she had gotten out, and he knew the vicinity in which he would have to look to find her hideaway.
He unwound the chain and allowed it to fall heavily to the ground, satisfied with the clink that the metal made when it made contact with the concrete.
He open the gate, and stepped forward until his toes were hooked over the edge of the concrete slab, looking around at the trees and thick brush littering the hills of the reservoir. He looked for any sign of heavy traffic, looking for any trodden-on grass or broken bush branches that would show him exactly where Little Lily had run with her revolutionaries.
But of course, time had erased those tracks and Dana knew that he would have to send his men out in droves to try and find the exact entrance where she had stowed the Central Angels.
Grinning so much his face was beginning to ache, Dana turned and walked back the way he had come, not bothering to close the gate again, ready to find Little Lily and end their game.
re this book with friends
Inside Page 199