Cured (32 page)

I smiled
again, the boy was right; we all knew full well where we were. I
noticed that Theo’s fingers were curling slowly into a fist, so I
reached for his hand to calm him. I linked his fingers with my own,
his grip instantly relaxed.

“Jett,” I looked the boy in the eye, “What is
down here?”

The boy’s
face was lit with his cheeky grin, “TARTARUS!” he shouted, pumping
his fist into the air.

“
Jett…” I
tried to stay calm but was desperate for some
information.

“
Come with
me,” t
he boy said, beckoning to us before
dragging a strange looking machine from the shadows.

“What is that?” Ellina asked.

“
Called a
Segway,
” Jett said as he stepped on the
machine’s low platform and held its handlebars. “They used to use
them back in the twenty first century for a while, but they were
too slow to be of much use,” he explained.

“What does it do?” Felix was examining the
wheels up close.

Jett
chuckled, “They drive you around, stupid. See. Look!” He twisted
the handlebar and the machine lurched forwards. “They are no use in
the real world, because there are HoverCars and HoverBuses for
transport nowadays. But down in the caves, they work pretty
good.”

He twisted the handle further and the Segway
sped off down the dark channel. He pressed a button by his thumb
and his headlight lit up the tunnel. We had to jog to keep up as
the boy drove, twisting and turning as the walls did. We passed
three fork intersections, where he turned left once and right the
second two times, before he came to a stop at a dead end.

“Are we lost?” Theo asked.

“
About as
lost as you were when you chose to come down here,” Jett sniggered.
Then he started to run his hands over the wall, knocking every now
and again. Finally, he knocked on a spot that sounded
hollow.

“Aha!” he said, before knocking on the spot
twice quickly, and then another three times with a beat in between
each rap on the wall. A small door slid open to reveal a keypad
with the numbers 0-9, the letters A-J and four basic shapes: a
circle, a square, a triangle and a pentagon. Jett made a big deal
of using his hand as a shield, to ensure we couldn’t see his
movements on the keypad, before pressing a sequence of buttons.
There was a bleeping sound as the wall in front of us began to roll
up to reveal a large dining hall. There were four long rectangular
tables in the room that had been set out to create a square
shape.

Everyone
sitting at the table was around the outside of the square, facing
inwards. There didn’t seem to be any order or reason to the seating
plan, as some people were just yelling across the room to people on
the other side of the table, whilst others were chatting quietly to
their neighbours. The atmosphere was vibrant, although disorderly,
it seemed like everyone was happy. I couldn’t help but think how
refreshingly real it seemed after years of either polite
conversation, or silence during meals at home with my parents. As
soon as we entered the room however, the noise came to an abrupt
halt. There weren’t even whispers as Jett led us through the center
of the square and out the other side. I looked at the ground as we
walked, unable to meet any of the grubby faces that stared as we
interrupted their dinner.

Jett stopped walking in front of a tall,
lanky man with a balding head and an impressive black
moustache.

“Jett.” The man nodded his head in
acknowledgement of the boy, before flicking his hand in a shooing
motion. Jett nervously shuffled on the spot for a second.

“
Go, boy,”
t
he man said sternly, and Jett darted
away, rushing to a nearby seat, where he took a plate but didn’t
add any food to it, instead cocking his ear in our direction
eagerly.

The man shook his head solemnly, and muttered
something about nosiness before beckoning for us to follow him. He
tapped the wall behind him expertly in a series of knocks, causing
the wall to roll up. We walked through another corridor, which he
lit for us by extracting a torch from his pant pocket. The tunnel
was a short one, and at the end another code entered into a hidden
keypad allowed us into a small room. The only furniture was an old
wooden desk and a single shabby chair standing behind it.

“
Sit,”
th
e man said.

We looked around for something to sit on.
There was nothing, so I led the group in sliding down the wall, to
sit cross-legged on the floor.

“
Names?”
t
he man asked.

“I am Theo, and this is Avery, Felix and
Ellina.”

“Primes?”

“Uh… Um… Yes.” Theo stuttered. He was such a
bad liar. I made a mental note to give him lying lessons later
on.

“
Lying,”
t
he man said, and pointed at me, “She
isn’t.”

“
You’re
right.
I’m not. I am human
still.”

He seemed sure in his accusation and I didn’t
want to make him mad. Plus, the authorities already knew that we
were human, so what did it matter if one more person knew?

“Not Cured?”

I shook my head.

“
What about
you?” the man pointed at Ellina. In response she punched the wall
behind her, causing a dent and sending shards of rock
flying.

“
You?”
t
he man asked turning to
Felix.

Felix raised his fist as though he was about
to copy Ellina’s impressive punch, and I sniggered. He shot me a
dirty look, before deciding against breaking his knuckles, and
lowering his hand.

“
Not Prime.
Not Norm. Same as her,” he said, tossing his head in my
direction.

“You’re Avery Rose Optime.”

I nodded, unsurprised that he knew my name;
everyone did.

“
And you.
You’re Felix Fidus.”

Felix nodded too, we were both well known on
Olympia and in the Fields, because the media loved to follow us
around and make up rumours about our love life that had never
existed. We used to make fun of the stories that the WallScreen
News came up with. I had allegedly been pregnant numerous times,
and Felix had proposed on a few occasions. Suddenly needing my best
friend again, I reached for Felix’s hand, but he clenched his fist,
making it impossible for me to entwine my fingers with his.

Theo cleared his throat and spoke up, “Excuse
me,” he started, “I don’t mean to be rude, but did this place used
to be a prison?”

The man
ignored Theo completely. “How did you evade the Cure?” he asked,
twirling his moustache around one finger. That single movement
struck me as familiar, and as he twirled his moustache round and
round, the sense of déjà vu grew, but I couldn’t place where I had
seen it before.

“We… erm… We don’t have to take it because we
are Descendants.” Felix tried.

“
I am aware
that the rules changed,” the man said, his eyes squinted at Felix
in a suspicious expression. “Do not lie to me or I will have you
killed.”

Felix’s eyes grew wide, “Alright, alright,
someone had cockroaches in their cornflakes this morning.” He
snickered at his own joke but none of us joined in, and the man
looked unimpressed.

“
We pretended
to take it,” h
e muttered, sobering up
quickly.

“
How have you
completed
the challenges?”

“
A lot of
luck and some help from these two,” Felix answered, pointing to
Ellina and Theo.

The man nodded thoughtfully before turning to
me. “Your parents are royalty.”

I nodded.

“You could get them in great trouble by doing
this.”

“
They’ll
cope,
” I answered, thinking about my
parents’ recent actions in disgust.

The man frowned at me, still twirling his
moustache.

“
Rude,”
h
e said in a curt manner that required no
reply.

Finally the man stood up. “You may stay until
we decide.”

“Can you please tell us where exactly we
are?” Theo asked, “And what do you mean by decide? Decide
what?”

The man
ignored Theo again and picked up a black device. “Come to my office
and lead these people to their accommodation, and be quick,” he
said into the object.

A minute later there was a knock on the wall,
and the man walked over to the door where he pressed a red button.
The door slid open and Jett stood on the other side, wringing his
hands anxiously.

“Hi Sir.”

The man did not react, but placed his hand on
the small of my back, and pressed, ushering me from his office and
back into the passageway.

Once the door rolled shut behind us, Theo
bombarded Jett with questions whilst we walked the tunnel.

“Who is that?”

“Our leader.”

“Who are you guys?”

Jett shrugged.

“Are you a Prime?”

“Nope.”

“Cured?”

“Nope.”

“So human still?”

“Yup.”

“Does anyone know you’re here?”

“Nope.”

“Did this used to be the prison
Tarturus?”

“Yup.”

“How did you get here?”

“Walked.”

“From where?”

“
Labour
Field. My family were farmers. It backs onto the
desert.”

“How did everyone else get here?”

“Walked.”

“What do you do down here?”

“Live.”

“Do you ever go out?”

“Not really.”

“What is the point of being down here
then?”

“We are free. We are not Cured.”

“But…”

Jett stopped walking and spun around. “Look,
Mister.” He poked a finger into Theo’s chest, which is the highest
he could reach, “I am under strict orders to tell you absolutely
nothing. So stop asking me stuff.”

Theo fell silent, and lightly pushed Jett’s
finger away from him. Jett started to walk again, taking a left at
a fork intersection, the opposite direction to the dining hall.
Finally we came to a halt.

“
Boys in
there.” Jett pointed at a door. “Knock on the wall twice and your
code is 123ABC, Circle.”

“Why such an easy code?” Felix asked, “I want
a cool complicated one like you.”

Jett scowled at him and Felix held his hands
up in mock surrender, before backing into the room that Theo had
successfully opened.

“Ladies, please follow me.” Jett beckoned and
we walked a few more steps along the tunnel. “Same deal,” Jett
said, “Knock twice, same code. If you are scared then you can come
to my room and I will protect you.” He winked and I snorted in
surprise. “Hey, what is so funny?!” Jett asked, “I can protect
you!”

I smiled at him and leant down to peck him on
the cheek. “I am sure you could, Jett, you must be pretty brave to
come and get us at the entry like that.”

Ellina kissed Jett’s other cheek and he
blushed a deep red, before looking to his feet.

“
Okay bye,”
h
e said, his voice high pitched, and
scurried off down the tunnel again.

Ellina turned to me when he was out of sight
with a raised eyebrow. I shrugged. This place was weird. She keyed
in the same code that Jett had told the boys.

The door slid
open to reveal a bare room, except for two small rock plates,
covered in ratty blankets. I walked over to one of the makeshift
beds and sat down. It was hard. I lay, with my head on a bundle of
rags that had been bound together by string. It was by no means
comfortable, but I was exhausted and I immediately fell
asleep.

I woke up to Ellina leaning over me, tapping
my forehead.

“
Wake up,
Ave. They’ve left us dinner,” she said, and I sat up groggily. I
smelled something deep-fried and my mouth began to salivate. Ellina
lowered a plate onto my lap and I picked up a piece of fried
chicken, eagerly taking a massive bite. It was divine. Grease
dribbled down my chin, but I was too hungry to stop eating long
enough to wipe it away. I finished the chicken, before shovelling a
pile of corn into my mouth using my hands. Still famished, I
reached for my backpack and pulled out two rolls. I tossed one at
Ellina who must have been just as hungry, and we devoured them
quickly. Then Ellina pulled two Lamingtons from her backpack and we
chewed through those as well. I let out a sigh of satisfaction and
lay back down on my bed.

“Shall we go see the boys?” Ellina suggested,
but I shook my head.

“Not in the mood.”

“Because Felix is mad?”

“Yeah. He hates me.”

Ellina sighed. “He doesn’t hate you. Quite
the opposite in fact.”

“
Well he
certainly isn’
t acting as though he loves
me.”

“He does.”

“Like a sister, though. And siblings fight
all the time. So we will be okay, right?”

Ellina lay
back on her bed and looked at the ceiling. “Hmm… have you ever
talked to Felix about that?”

“About the fight?”

“No about the sister thing.”

I laughed. “I don’t have to. I can tell.”

Ellina sighed again, but didn’t reply.

I lay,
thinking about the conversation, and wondering what she’d meant,
when I must have fallen asleep again, into a deep, exhausted
slumber.

It was impossible to know what time it was
when I awoke, because there was no sunlight in the cave. I had been
relying on the sun to wake me up for so long now that I was
disorientated, wondering if I might have slept for days.

“Ell, what’s the time?” I asked, knowing she
would already be awake.