by Harper North
Sky glares at her. “Yeah, because I’m not motivated by some sort of weird, greedy desire to be turned into a Leech.”
"I'm not greedy," Lacy says. "I just don't want to be taken advantage of anymore. There are a lot of crappy people back there." Tears well in her eyes as she points back in the direction of the Slack. "People who treat you lower than dirt."
She's right. When Lacy was five, several of the older kids decided to pick on her because she was small. Most of the Oven workers turned a blind eye. But not me. I took plenty of punches in my time standing up for her. But it was worth it. We did the same thing for Drape.
I pop Sky in the arm so he returns his attention to me instead of verbally attacking my friends. “Listen, Sky, I know you want to save her, but you’ll die up there.”
“Not if you modify me!” he argues.
“I’m lucky I wasn’t killed. I don’t even know how to work this piece of equipment.” I throw the full water pack over my back and reach down to retrieve the mod kit. A part of me longs to smash it here and now, but as I fiddle my fingers in my pocket, I realize it’s gone. I spin on my heels. “Lacy!”
My friend, the most fearless pick-pocket I’ve ever known, has managed to one-up me.
I pounce as she desperately presses a few buttons before I can snatch it from her. A bolt of energy erupts out of the device, and the shockwave knocks her off her feet. I fall in a heap at her side.
“Lacy!” I shout again in unison with Drape. The three of us circle her.
She’s sprawled out, her limbs spread in different directions.
“You all right?” Drape asks nervously, bending down beside her.
Lacy blinks slowly in an attempt to gather her senses. “I’m okay,” she breathes.
Drape and I each grab an arm, sitting her up. We help her stand, and I snatch the device up from the ground and grip it in my hand, considering smashing it.
I swing my attention from the black device to her. “That was really stupid. What were you thinking?”
“I feel a little woozy… whoa…” Her eyes roll back in her head slightly, then snap back. “I feel different.”
Concern overtakes my anger. “Different how? Different bad?”
“Stronger,” she growls, yanking her arms away from us.
The fury from her impulsiveness returns as my fist forms into a tight ball. “Let's see about that!” I bellow and punch her in the gut.
She doubles over, but her recovery speed is impressive. Lacy rises and holds up her fists. “Why did you do that?”
“You could have killed yourself!” I screech.
“Quiet!” Sky shouts and then points.
Far up the cavern wall, one of the trams moves upward. Although, there are no people here in the cavern itself, there are people visible through the windows of the interior-lit trams.
Lacy gives me a haughty look, raising her eyebrows. “Sorry, but I wasn’t going to let you be the only hero.”
“This isn’t about being a hero,” I snarl. “This is about thinking. Thinking clearly, which you’re not doing, are you?”
“I’m thinking just fine,” Lacy says.
“You said you felt different. Different how?”
“I told you,” she says. “Stronger, I guess.”
“But that’s it?”
She pauses, then frowns intently. “Hey, I got gypped! You got smarter, right?”
“Keep it down,” Drape says. “You’re lucky it didn’t kill you, Lacy.”
“Now modify me,” Sky says, tapping my shoulder.
I spin and glare at him. “What? No.”
“You think I’m planning on trusting you and this brainless slag to get my sister back?” Sky snarls, waving a hand in Lacy’s direction.
Lacy’s jaw drops and her fists clench. “What did you just call me?”
Dwellers don’t call us miner’s “slags”. It’s an insult reserved for EHC’s.
Sky ignores Lacy, his attention trained on me. “I get there are risks, but it’s my sister. Please.”
“You don’t know how dangerous that thing might be,” Drape warns.
Sky’s eyes narrow, and he rounds toward Drape, anger brewing. “I’m going. Whether I’m modified or not.”
“That’s ridiculous!” I yell. “You’ll die.”
In my distraction, Lacy snatches the device right out of my hand. She tosses the device to Sky.
“Don’t!” I yell.
Another shockwave bursts out of the device, sending Sky back into the cavern wall with a crack. He falls forward, dropping the device and landing on his hands and knees.
“Oh, man… I’m gonna be sick,” he mumbles.
“Look who’s brainless now. Get up,” I growl, yanking him to his feet. Slowly blinking, his face goes white.
“Let go.” He snaps out of it, examining his hands and flexing his fingers. The blood returns to his cheeks.
Drape steps our way. “Do you… do you feel alright?”
Sky smiles. “I do. Stronger.”
“Just stronger?” Lacy asks.
He pauses for a beat. “Yeah.”
“No enhanced cognitive abilities either?” I ask, and he shakes his head. I cross my arms and swing toward Lacy. “Why would you do that? It’s one thing to put yourself in danger, but this? You could have killed him.”
“We’re three for three,” Lacy says. “So far your little theory about this tech being dangerous is starting to seem far-fetched. Maybe you’re not so smart after all.”
“There’s no time for this. Let’s go,” Sky says. “How do we get up the cavern? If we try to board one of those trams, we’re bound to get busted by guards.”
I stare into the abyss. He’s right. What’s done is done, and I can have it out with Lacy later. “We climb.”
“Whoa!” Lacy shoots back. “We can’t free climb that. You can’t even see the top.”
I flex my arms. It would be a serious climb, but I’m experienced. Above us wait various ledges. It’s not like Sky and I couldn’t take an occasional break on them. I ignore Lacy. She’ll start to notice her strength in greater bursts soon, and she’ll realize how possible this is for us now.
“Sky, are you ready?” I ask.
He exhales deeply. “Yeah.”
“Okay, I’m going, too,” Lacy pipes in.
“No way,” I start to argue.
“You two aren’t leaving by yourselves.” She rolls her eyes and turns to Drape. “You go back to the Slack. Hide out. Hopefully none of the guards will recognize you and you’ll be able to just slip back in.”
“Oh, yeah, sure, Lacy,” Drape moans. “The pasty red-head isn’t going to be the one who gets recognized, right?” He bends down and picks up the device.
“Drape, don’t!” I yell, wishing I had snatched the tech back after Sky had used it.
“Three for three, right?” he says.
He presses the buttons and gets knocked down on his back by the blast. He moans, but then slowly starts to sit up.
“Drape, you feel all right?” Lacy asks, but Drape doesn’t answer. He falls back, convulsing.
“Drape!” I cry, rushing to his side. His eyes roll into the back of his head and he makes this horrible gurgling sound. His entire body twitches violently as I grab for him. “Drape, can you hear me?”
Lacy screams, a whaling sound of horror mixed with a stuttered breath.
“What do I do?” I can figure out how to deal with a broken limb, but not seizures.
Drape goes limp in my arms, and Lacy throws herself beside him. “Drape?” she sobs.
Emotions I’ve never felt swirl in my mind. He’s like family to me. This isn’t right.
A few seconds pass and Drape coughs, his lids shooting wide open.
“You idiot!” I say and wrap my arms around his neck.
He sits upright and gazes into my eyes. “Are you an angel?”
“What?” I yelp.
But before he has a chance to answer Drape clutches
his midsection. “I might be sick.”
Lacy leans down and punches him in the arm. “Don’t scare us like that!”
Drape shakes his head, the tiny bit of color he has returning to his face, and jumps up to his feet, apparently forgetting what he just said to me. “Wow, this is incredible!”
“Let me guess, you’re not suddenly a smarty-pants like Fin, right?” Lacy asks.
“Um, maybe? How would I even know?” Drape asks.
“Trust me, you’d know,” I say. “But you can’t come with us. Not after that.”
Drape opens his mouth to argue when the blare of an oncoming transport train rattles the rails above.
“That transport stops on the interior of this cavern,” Sky says. “We have to move. Now!”
I curse under my breath and Drape crosses his arms and smiles triumphantly. He won’t have time to make it back to the Slack before the oncoming assortment of EHC operatives arrive. “We need to make it to that next ledge before they get off the tram, or they’ll see us.”
The four of us make for the side of the pit of the dim cavern. It’s beyond intimidating, but we need to go.
“You got any extra glow sticks?” I ask Sky.
“No,” he says.
“Sorry. I dropped mine back there in the vents, too,” Drape pipes in.
I grasp the nearest handhold I can touch and thrust myself up with hardly any effort. The rest tail right behind me. With his new strength, Sky is actually doing a fair job of climbing now, but he’s slow.
“Hurry up,” I whisper. “The tram just slid into the station.”
We all pick up the pace, and Drape reaches the ledge before us. Well, that’s a first. The ledge is narrow, so the four of us squish together to stay out of sight from the EHC operatives exiting the tram.
It’s too far down to hear what they’re saying, but their voices are low and full of anger. Searching for us, I suppose. I grin. If these men knew just how close we were, fifteen feet over their heads watching them. The last of the ops head down a tunnel, out of sight.
“You see that ledge up there?” I point. “That’s our next stop.”
“That has to be a forty-foot climb,” Drape says.
“Maybe you should just stay here, Drape,” I insist. “Wait it out. There could be more side effects. Can you even climb further with your messed up ankle?”
“My ankle’s fine now. I feel great. I’m not going to sit here on this ledge waiting around just to wind up getting caught by EHC,” he argues. “I can do it.”
“You and Sky aren’t exactly climbers,” Lacy adds.
“I climbed that shaft just fine!” Drape argues.
“It wasn’t meant as an insult, Dope!” Lacy says, play punching him. “I just mean that Fin and I should partner up with each of you. Show you the rocks to grip and where to place your footing.”
“Oh,” Drape says.
“All right.” I stand up on the ledge and start to climb. “Sky, match me. Put your left foot here, not here.” I show him where I’m placing my boot.
And so we begin our climb. It’s not easy. Even with my new strength, it takes us twice the time to make it to the nearest ledge. By the time we get there, my lungs burn and all I want to do is rest, but from the scene around us, my wishes are dashed.
“This is a track,” I say. “We can’t rest here. We might get hit by a shuttle train.”
Drape puts his hands on his knees, panting. “Great,” he moans.
I grab for the rock face again and the rest follow. It’s fifty feet or so to the next ledge. When we reach it, all four of us are drenched in sweat. I even feel a greater tickle of surface heat and radiation on my skin with every few yards we advance. Pressure stings my ears again from the elevation change. Nausea roils in my stomach. I gulp to keep it down, but it only accentuates my parched tongue. One after another, we all suck water from the tubing that sticks out from my water bladder. The water is warm and not quite as refreshing as I hoped it would be, but good enough.
At the sixth ledge, the jutting edges of the rocky cavern allow even less light than there was lower down. We have a considerable distance to climb, and I don’t know if we can do this, but I force myself to continue moving. The rest continue to follow my lead, Sky right on my heals. His extra motivation is helping him.
We haven’t stopped for at least thirty minutes now. Exhaustion and the lack of visibility overwhelm me and I visualize myself just letting go. Giving up. My lids sink shut when a red glow pierces through the endless darkness. I open my eyes to the source above our heads, slightly illuminating the next ledge.
Hope flows in my core like a jolt of energy. “We’re almost there!”
I pull myself up onto the closest ledge, followed by my friends. Relief floods my body. This ledge is considerably larger than the others. We collapse and lean with our backs to the cavern wall, stretching our legs out in front of us.
“What’s that light?” Drape asks, breathless from the climb.
“I think… it might be the Sun,” I say.
The hair on my arms stands on end at the thought. The Sun. It’s like a mythical creature I’ve just learned is real. I wonder what it’s like. What awaits us at the top of this cavern? What awaits us on the surface?
“It’s sealed up there. How can it be the sun?” Lacy asks.
“I don’t know, but I can feel the warmth. It’s different.”
“Whatever it is, that’s a long way away,” Drape says. “You guys, I really need to pause for a minute. I can’t keep up.”
I let out a sigh of relief that someone said it. We’ve got at least an additional thousand feet to climb, and there’s no way we’ll make it without resting for a bit. Free-climbing is dangerous enough inside the mining tunnels, but this is entirely different. If we fall, we wouldn’t just be dead, we’d be mush.
We finish off the rest of the water and I toss the empty pack to the side. The air hits my sweat-lined back and it feels good. We sit in silence for who knows how long and I study the walls. There are no more ledges I can see apart from tracks, and resting there would be dangerous.
“Hey Fin,” Lacy whispers, distracting me from my analysis. “Something is different. I feel off.”
I look past her and see the boys creeping over the edge, amazed at the drop.
“I told you that device isn’t safe. You should’ve listened to me.”
She shrugs. “Oh, there was no way you could’ve stopped me from using it, Fin. I’m not letting you do this alone. I'm just going to have to deal with it.”
Sky sits back up and turns to me. “Are we going to do this or what?”
I flick my attention back to Lacy who’s now staring up the rock face. I sure hope she can deal with it. I’m worried for her, but we will have to continue our talk later. We need to move.
“Get ready,” I say at length. My existence as a common dweller is one ledge from changing forever. “We’ll have to climb the rest in one go.”
How we do it, I’m not sure. Sheer will, I guess, but one by one we make it up. Arms shaking and back throbbing, I wrench myself onto the top of the cavern. The ache from the blisters on my fingers eases a bit, but blood still slicks my hands.
My relief is short-lived as a wave of heat envelops me. I pull myself to my feet and there it is. Bright rays of light stream just ahead of us, burning my eyes with their intensity. I reach for the light as if it’s calling to me. It’s a sort of side shaft that opens to the surface, a natural escape that bypasses the EHC controlled exit. It’s a break we definitely need.
There’s no changing our minds now.
CHAPTER 6
We emerge from the dark into a scene none of us have ever witnessed. We’ve heard stories about it. The underground EHC personnel would often brag about it to make us feel even worse about our lives, but I never knew it was like this.
A hazy blue horizon stretches as far as my imagination can ponder. Resting below, a cracked and rusty landscape contrasts the beauty above
. I’ve only seen vegetation in books, and the dry, brittle shrubs that dot the flat surface don’t live up to the vibrant life I’ve read about. While hot and dry, the air smells fresh. It lacks the minerals and dust we inhale every day.
“I thought… since we were… modified… this wouldn’t be… so bad,” Lacy gasps, kneeling down on the desert-like terrain.
“We’ve spent… our entire… lives… underground,” I pant. “We need time… to acclimate.”
“Ahrg,” Drape mutters. “Don’t stare… directly… at the sun.”
Slowly, my vision starts to adjust. A massive cement hatch covers the opening of the cavern. Several shafts jut out from the top. They must be where the trains exit and enter. Ahead is a sizable building that likely was the entry station to the right of this underground seal. Not much to it. Just random structures and pieces of equipment on the roofs.
We manage to sneak over to what I guess is tall shrubbery and hide in the brush. Peering around, there’s nothing but train tracks leading out of the station in all directions for as far as we can see. Even under the scattered shade, the sunlight burns my skin. I keep my head between my bent knees to block out a portion of the brightness.
“It’s beautiful,” Lacy says after a few minutes.
“What is?” I ask, not looking.
“The sky. That’s what it’s called, right?”
“Yes,” Sky answers. “I should know, it’s my namesake.”
I squint at her, blinking to clear my blurred vision. Lacy’s head is tipped back, gazing upward. I glance up, and find she’s right. The sun is low, and there is white and purplish puffy artwork spread out above our heads for miles and miles.
The scene breaks when a large flying piece of machinery whips by, clearly heading somewhere in a hurry.
“What was that?” Drape shouts, and I throw my hand out to cover his mouth.
“A hovercraft, maybe,” I whisper, pulling my hand back. “Get down.”
The four of us crouch in the scrub and watch. The ship lands right outside the station on the pavement. I’ve heard the EHC ops, that grace us with their presence below, talk about these machines that glide through the air. A hatch opens, and people unload and load various crates of whatever the miners have gathered for the EHCs for the day.