by Jen Crane
Too late, she remembered to hide her eyes, and panic buckled her knees. Oh God, she thought. Did they see? Did they see? She angled her face down and away from the light, but any damage had already been done.
When the headlamp finally switched off, Nori could just make out the silhouette of the man stepping from the machine. Her heart pulverized the inside of her chest. But it wasn’t Wallace, or Sarge, or Jenks, and she blew out the breath she’d been holding.
“What the hell, Nori?” Cooper eyed her suspiciously, angrily as he stalked toward them. “And you,” he spat in Kade’s direction. “I never thought you’d do something this stupid.”
Kade sputtered before finally finding words. “I didn’t break her out, if that’s what you’re accusing me of.” He stepped forward, his deep voice sharp and defensive. “I bought her freedom. And my own, long ago.”
“Oh, I know.” One of Cooper’s brows arched haughtily. “Hank told me everything.”
Kade straightened. “Did he, now?”
“He did. He was feeling pretty bad about some of the things he said. Didn’t tell me word for word, but I got the idea.”
“Feeling bad?” Kade snorted. “He send any money back with you?”
“Well.” Cooper’s eyes danced. “He wasn’t feeling that bad. Where, ah…where you two headed?” He feigned nonchalance, but his dark brows crept together, giving away the depths of his interest.
Nori and Kade exchanged glances. Should they let Cooper in on their plans? Kade’s shoulder lifted slightly, and she gave him a quick nod.
“We’re free to go where we want.” Her words tumbled out in a rush. “Kade’s going to help me look for my parents.”
Cooper’s nostrils flared before he schooled his features. He looked back and forth between them for several tense moments. “Fine,” he finally said. “I’ll go with you.”
Nori smirked as her head snapped back. “I don’t remember asking you.”
“Look,” Cooper said through gritted teeth. “I’ve been to the Surface since you have. It’s a mess. A dangerous, disastrous mess. I had to backtrack three times and climb in places. You need my help, whether you admit it or not.”
Nori wasn’t interested in changing their plans and stepped to Kade’s side. She slung her backpack behind her. “We can do just fine on our own.”
Cooper’s dark eyes held cold irritation. “You know how to get to the Surface?”
“No.” Nori spat the word, but it was hardly more than a whisper.
“Do you?” Cooper nodded at Kade, who blanched. “I didn’t think so,” he said.
“I can find it.” Nori’s hands flew to her hips. “I marked the entrance when I first came in. If we just keep going, I know I can find it.”
“Why?” Cooper shook his head. “Why waste time and effort when I know exactly where to go?”
“Well.” She snorted without grace. “Reason number one is that you captured and sold me. I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you.”
Cooper’s nostrils flared again, which Nori was pretty sure meant he was incensed. “You don’t trust me? Even after I took you to safety, to Hank. After I went days out of my way to find your parents, and bring you news of them? I didn’t have to do any of that.”
“You owed me for saving you, and you know it.”
“I did. That’s true. But you might admit I went above and beyond.”
“You said you took me to Hank for protection. What’s to keep you from thinking I need it again, from taking me right back there?”
Cooper’s mouth twisted wryly as his gaze slid to Kade, and Nori grunted.
“Maybe you’re leading us right to Wallace, and Sarge, and that idiot Jenks. Maybe you’re going to sell us both this time.”
“I’d like to see him try.” Kade’s face was confident, an unabashed challenge.
“I’ve left their company.” A shudder ran through Cooper.
“Why?” Nori asked.
“I don’t need them anymore.”
“Why?”
“I’ve learned all I need to know,” he ground out.
“What do you mean learned? It wasn’t an internship. What, are you wise in the ways of the slave trade now?”
Cooper straightened, and his hands clenched to fists. “Look. I’m going that way.” He nodded in the direction she and Kade had been going. “I know where there’s another bike. You wanna walk the rest of the way, or take your chances with me?”
Nori’s answer was unintelligible as she kicked at a pile of rocks.
“Think about it, Nori,” Kade said, suddenly the intermediary. “He knows the way, and we could get there faster on a bike. I don’t see the problem here.”
Cooper’s eyebrows inched toward his hairline, and he nodded thanks in Kade’s direction.
She shook her head, preparing to argue again, but the fight was gone. Only fear, and dread, and sorrow remained.
“I guess… ” Her words were strained with emotion. “I guess because he’s so sure they’re dead. And I don’t need that kind of negativity.”
Cooper’s gaze softened, and he started toward her, but stopped at Kade’s warning snarl. “Can we just start over?” Cooper asked. “I’ll take you there, and you can decide for yourself.”
Nori didn’t say anything for so long Cooper stepped around to see her face. “I promise to keep my mouth shut about it. Okay?”
Nori ran her fingers along her cheeks and cleared her throat. “Okay.”
“Okay,” Kade and Cooper breathed at the same time.
“How much farther is this bike?” Though her leather hiking boots were worn and comfortable, Nori’s feet ached. She rolled her shoulders, her neck sore from hauling the weight of a backpack for so long.
“There’s a storage facility just ahead.”
She had a bad feeling she knew the answer, but asked anyway. “Whose storage facility?”
Cooper’s answering grin was sheepish. “Sarge and his Boss’s.”
Kade cursed. “They don’t know we’re going to ‘use’ this motorcycle, do they?”
The muscles along Cooper’s wide jaw clenched. “No.”
“Why would you steal from your friends?” Nori asked.
“They’re not my friends.”
The vehemence in his words surprised her, and she exchanged a glance with Kade. “What were you doing with them, then?”
Cooper didn’t answer, and Nori stepped in front of him. “Either we trust each other, or we don’t. I have every reason not to trust you, yet here I am. Trying. Now it’s your turn.”
Cooper searched her face until her cheeks heated at the attention. Finally, he took a deep breath, his eyes shuttering. “Fact finding,” he said, and pushed his bike ahead without another word.
“So, you expect me to drive this thing?” Kade approached the motorcycle like it was a pit viper.
“It’s that or walk another forty miles,” Cooper called over his shoulder as he pilfered gas and supplies from the storage facility. “I’m really surprised you can’t ride.” His voice held the slightest of taunts. “How have you gotten around this whole time?”
“Jeeps can fit through most tunnels. That’s how we traveled for fights when I was with Hank.”
“There was a Jeep at Hank’s?” Disbelief laced Nori’s high-pitched squeal.
“Yeah.” Kade shrugged.
“You didn’t think to tell me that?”
“What, so you could steal it? No, I didn’t think it wise to tell you.”
She snorted and shook her head. “Unbelievable.”
“He let us go, Nori. That’s one thing. But stealing from Hank is another thing entirely. He would’ve come for us, and you’d never make it to look for your parents.”
“He’s right,” Cooper chimed in then frowned. “Anyway, you wanna learn to ride this thing or not?”
After a series of mind-numbing instructions on kill switches, clutches, and throttles, even Nori had the basics down. An idea snaked through her head.
Yes. Later she would have Cooper show her how to ride.
Kade’s big body dwarfed the motorcycle like a circus strong man on the clown bike. Slowly releasing his grip on the clutch, he pressed the toe of his boot to shift down into first gear. The bike made a quick jerk then settled, and Kade let out a long, relieved breath.
When he pulled back on the throttle and released the clutch, though, the back tire jolted into gear, throwing him off balance. Kade’s eyes flew wide, and his mouth flew open on a high-pitched yelp. His big legs swung wildly, and he grappled with the ground to recover.
Nori started toward him to help, but Cooper held her back. As she watched Kade’s clumsy one-man show, she simultaneously tried not to panic and not to laugh.
Finally, Kade released the throttle and braced his feet. The bike stilled, but his panic didn’t.
Cooper shook his head. “What do you see in him?”
Nori’s surprised grin grew wicked. She had no problem letting Cooper think what he would.
After several more practice runs, the determined and capable Kade Nori knew resurfaced. “All right,” he said, though his voice lacked confidence. “I think I’m ready.”
She smiled as she marched toward her friend, preparing to mount the bike behind him.
“Oh, no, no, no.” Cooper said, his mouth forming a perfect “o.”
“What?” Nori asked.
“You can’t ride with him. He can barely support himself. You’ll throw him off balance and get us all killed. We need to move fast to avoid…anyone, and riding with him will slow us all down.”
Cooper was right, of course. Kade looked petrified enough without her on board. With a hopeless groan, she threw a leg over the bike behind Cooper, and remembered with distaste the last time she’d found herself behind him. At least she wasn’t handcuffed.
Nori reached under Cooper’s leather jacket to find belt loops at the sides of his leather riding pants. She was relieved she could hold on to them without having to get too close. But as soon as her butt hit the seat, Cooper threw the bike into gear without a word, accelerating so quickly her neck snapped back and her body tipped backward. Yelping, she linked her arms around Cooper’s waist and held on for dear life.
Muscles moved beneath her clenched hands. He was laughing.
31
You Can't Go Home Again
Nori shot occasional glances behind her to check on Kade’s progress. After the initial panic wore off, the tightness around his eyes softened, making it almost look as if he were enjoying himself. He worked to keep his mouth closed and dust out, but a grin kept slipping onto his face, his top lip rising to show a row of straight teeth. Nori couldn’t help but grin, too.
Just as when she’d first entered the subterranean world weeks ago, there were only grimy rock tunnels for miles and miles. With Kade and Cooper she sped through the underground roadway, the roar of motorcycle engines doing nothing to drown out the thoughts in her head. Was Cooper right? Were her parents… No. She couldn’t bring herself to even think the word. What would she do if they weren’t in Ralston? Where would she go then?
Nori pressed her forehead to the space between Cooper’s shoulder blades and closed her eyes. She wouldn’t think like that. They were alive, whether still in Ralston or somewhere else. They were all right, she just knew it. They had to be.
Nori’s body surged forward when Cooper geared down and the motorcycle slowed. Grip tight on his gray t-shirt, she leaned around to search the tunnel ahead for signs of danger. Nothing.
“Why are we stopping?”
“This is where we go to the Surface.”
A bit farther up the tunnel widened, and the outlines of a path leading left were faintly visible. Her heart rate vaulted, anxiety giving her a fresh jolt. Could it be the same way she’d come in? She whipped her head to the right in search of the arc she’d drawn with a rock that first day with Barker. Even through the odd shadows cast by the motorcycle headlights she could see it. Faint, but there.
Kade pulled up beside them and executed a perfect halt. His eyes danced with pride. “What’s up?”
“This is it.” Cooper nodded toward the side tunnel. “There’s an incline then an iron door. Our bikes’ll just make it through. I’ll lead.”
Nori’s breath left in a rush. Her nerves were shot, but she straightened and turned to smile at her friend. Kade’s face was bone white. His gaze shot wildly from her to Cooper to the new tunnel. “And on the other side of the door?” he asked.
“Outside. It’s still a few miles into Ralston. We’ll have to…”
Nori stopped listening to Cooper.
Her friend’s throat bobbed nervously. “Kade?” she said. “Are you okay?” He gave no answer, just a panicked stare at the tunnel. “Hey,” Nori said low. “It’s going to be fine. I grew up out there, and I’m all right.” She smiled at him. “Right?”
A fine tremor ran the length of Kade’s big body. He was frozen with fear.
“What’s wrong with him?” Cooper whispered.
“Everything he believed about the world is about to be turned upside down.”
Nori waved her hand to get her friend’s attention. “Kade?” she said. “Kade, look at me.”
He slowly turned his head toward her, though his body remained rigidly forward.
“I didn’t know about your world until I had to find a place to wait out the scorch. My parents and I denied its existence at first. It couldn’t be true. A whole world out there we didn’t know about? No way.” Nori’s voice was low but coaxing. Soothing. “But I took one step, and then another. Little steps of faith that ultimately led me to you.” She swallowed. “Can you take a few steps for me?”
Kade turned more fully toward her. His grip relaxed on the handlebars, and some of the tension left his lips. He nodded and took a deep breath.
Nori sighed and closed her eyes. “Good,” she said. “Good. We can do this.”
“Let’s go.” Cooper didn’t wait. He started his motorcycle and inched toward the tunnel exit. Kade followed.
The iron door she’d come through before was rusted and round, and over six feet in circumference.
“Be right back.” Cooper’s movements were confident as he engaged the kickstand, slid his leg across the bike, and stalked toward the massive door.
A metal turnstile stuck out from the middle of the door, which looked, Nori decided, exactly like the rusty old door to a bank vault.
“Is there a secret code?” she asked to lighten the mood, her voice echoing through the small space.
“Not from the inside,” Cooper said. Nori couldn’t tell if he was kidding or not.
Cooper strained to spin the turnstile, and when it finally gave, the lock sprung free with a thick click. It creaked on rusty hinges as Cooper worked to pull it wide.
Nori sent a last excited grin to Kade behind her, whose answering smile wasn’t really a smile at all.
Closing her eyes, Nori prepared to breathe in the glorious fresh air that awaited just beyond the door. It had been so long since she’d inhaled anything but damp, stale air that was tinged with garbage, or metal, or male sweat. The first gust of wind brought not the sweet scents of home, though, but the sharp, chemical smell of burned things. Nori’s eyes flew open, and she strained to see beyond the door frame.
Cooper checked his watch before straddling the bike and releasing the kickstand. “We’ve got about two hours of dark left. We’ll have to search for your parents and get back underground as fast as we can.” He eased through the door, waited for Kade to pass, and then closed it behind them before mounting the bike once more.
“If for some reason we get separated—” Cooper stopped, turned in the seat, and found Nori’s eyes. “If we get separated, you can always find your way back underground by looking for the signs.”
Her head cocked to the side, but she held his gaze. “What signs?”
“Like that one.” He pointed to a battered metal electrical box a hundred or so feet from the doo
r.
She looked between Cooper and the spray-painted symbol, her brows wrinkling in confusion. “That’s just graffiti.”
“It looks like graffiti.” He shook his head. “But it’s much more.”
The red and black eye watched back. It was intricately done, though the final result appeared primitive. The outline of an eye was spray-painted onto the metal in black then covered in red. A translucent orb was left unpainted inside the pupil, giving the symbol near-animated soul.
“Is it always this symbol?” Nori’s voice was hollow as she grasped the gravity of the information he’d shared.
“No.” Cooper hadn’t moved. “This one, the scarlet eye, means beware of watchful eyes. Make sure you’re alone before using the passage. Make sure no one sees.”
The bike roared to life and they were off, the incline brief but bumpy. Nori gritted her teeth as tires gripped cement ridges and weaved toward the top of a hill.
“This is the dam outside Ralston,” she said. “I knew I heard water when I came down.”
She peeked back at Kade, whose eyes were as big as saucers and nearly all white. Every time he could manage to look away from the road in front of him, he looked up. Nori searched the night sky for what held his interest. Then it hit her. Kade had never seen the night sky. Though the atmosphere was hazy and dense from the recent sunscorch, the stars were still visible. To never have seen the stars… She shook her head. How very sad. With a wistful smile in his direction, she turned back to Cooper with more questions.
“How long has that entrance underground been there?”
Cooper shrugged as if there must be more to Nori’s question. “Since they built it.”
“What, the dam?”
He nodded.
“You’re telling me that passage underground has been there for, like, sixty years and no one knew it?”
“Oh, people knew it,” he said over the roar of the engines. “Just not the people you know.”
Nori’s mouth pressed into a thin line as the information filtered into her understanding of the world she’d always known. A world wiped out and rebuilt time and again. A world that had lost entire countries, entire populations, entire families. A world that had lost billions of people to environmental devastation that was never even a concern to those living Subterranean.