Under Ground (19 page)

***

It’s strange for
me to sleep
in the same room as
Chi,
but his presence comforts me. He fell asleep after just
a few minutes, and I've spent the last hour watching him. He’s
lying on his stomach, with his arms around his head. His mouth is
open, but he doesn’t snore. He looks so innocent in this position,
with his messy hair spread over his forehead and his eyelids closed
to bring him peace. I try to stay awake and drink him in for as
long as I can, but eventually, slumber takes over and darkness
wraps its coat around me.

At some point during the night,
Chi comes to lie down on my cot. He pulls the cover back over me;
it had fallen to my feet as I was fighting my way through a vivid
nightmare. Chi pulls me to him and wraps his arms around my stomach
as he spoons me close against him. His lips brush against my
hairline and his sweet words pour into my ear. "Shhh, you're safe
now, Thia. Go back to sleep."

I nestle against his body, snuggle
in his warmth, and sleep soundly for the rest of the night. I only
open my eyes when the sunlight comes streaming through the window.
Chi is gone. I get up and put on my clothing from last night. I
step out of the bedroom. Chi and Oliver are standing around the
kitchen counter, along with a tall, handsome man. His features are
highly defined and his skin dark brown. His head is shaved, his
nose is long and straight, and his plump lips are set in a stern
line. His appearance radiates physical strength, and his expression
is closed and uninviting.

He looks up at me as I walk in.
His eyes pin on mine, observing me with slight suspicion. This
man's intensity makes me uncomfortable, and I don’t dare move
closer.

“I’m guessing you’re Thia,” he
finally says, without introducing himself.

I nod shyly.

“This is Taylor,” Chi says,
beckoning for me to join them.

Taylor holds out his hand to me.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Thia.”

Not once do his sharp eyes leave
my face. I walk to him and grab his hand. His grasp is
straightforward.

“Taylor is one of the leaders of
the Underground," Chi explains. "He’s in charge of our state with
four other leaders. He’s also a journalist and a liaison inside the
authorities.”

I look at Taylor again. His eyes
shift between Chi and me. “The news on TV is all about you two and
the authorities are on the look-out. We need to be careful. I have
a meeting to hold. I didn’t want everyone to come here and raise
suspicion among the neighbors, so I’m taking you to my
house.”

“Is it safe to go places if
they’re looking for us?” I ask.

“We’ll ride in my car,” Taylor
replies.

“You have a car?” I ask,
stunned.

“Yes, I’m a journalist, so it’s
pretty much as if I work for the authorities. They keep a strong
grip on the news. So yes, I have good resources and a car—all perks
coming with my glorifying job," he says with a hint of
sarcasm.

“So, what are we meeting about?”
Oliver asks.

“I want to see how we are faring
so far, with the weaponry and all that. Let’s go. We’ll talk at my
place.”

We head out. Taylor has parked his
car in the back of the house. After locking the door, Oliver goes
to sit in the front seat, Chi and I in the back.

“There’s a comforter in the back
seat. When we are downtown, you guys will have to hide under
it.”

“Nice memories,” Chi
says.

“Sorry, man. That’s the way it
is.”

Chi rolls his eyes.

After riding for a while, Chi
turns to me. "I haven't told you about the attack yet."

Taylor sends me a look through the
rearview mirror before shifting his gaze to Chi. When their eyes
meet, Taylor acquiesces with a motion of his head. Chi clears his
throat while rubbing his neck.

"You remember how I told you my
parents were taken away, right?" he asks, as if I could ever forget
something like that. I nod.

"The Underground has been working
on locating various camps in the state," he continues.

"And you're going to attack those
camps," I simply state.

He pauses for a second. "Yes. Our
group will target Camp 19. That's the camp where my parents are
held. It's the closest camp to us, located between Eboracum City
and the Catskills."

I don't like hearing that there is
a camp so close to here. Tremors shoot down my back and I bite my
lower lip.

"I'm coming," I say.

"What?" Chi's eyes narrow
slightly.

"I'm coming with you to get your
parents," I explain.

"It'll be dangerous, Thia," he
protests.

I shake my head. "I'm not going to
stay behind without moving a finger while your parents and all
those other people are imprisoned to work in a camp. If you're
going, I'm going too."

Chi casts a glance at Taylor
through the rearview mirror, his eyes pleading with Taylor to agree
with him on this one. But Taylor's lips are now curled up into a
grin, his eyebrow raised at Chi mockingly.

"I like her," he says. "You'd
better keep her."

When we arrive close to downtown
Eboracum City, Chi and I lie on the backseat. Taylor lives in the
suburbs, on the other side of town. After twenty more minutes, we
reach his house and he backs his car into the garage. Then he
closes the metallic door so we can finally get out. I have cramps
from the uncomfortable ride and I'm sweaty from the warmth of the
cover. Chi stretches his legs and runs his hand through his messy
hair.

We follow Taylor into his house.
His job does give him access to nice possessions indeed. His
spacious home and the luxurious items here equal those of people
with the best status in society. That’s how the authorities keep
leashes on their journalists and control over the media, by
offering them resources they wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.
Belongings can become addictive. Some people would do just about
anything—dreadful things—to live in a house like this.

We enter the living room, where a
few people have gathered already—most of them women. They are of
all ages, and based on their outfits, from all levels of
society.

“All right, we’re back, everyone,”
Taylor calls out to them. “I invited a bunch of you over to discuss
the progress in the camps and get your reports back.”

Everyone turns toward us. Their
eyes shift to me right away; some of them observe me with curiosity
and some others with doubt. Chi wraps his arm around my neck
protectively, resting it on my shoulders.

“I'm sure a lot of you saw the
news already. Our Chi here is quite popular with the media right
now, though not in a good way. Just to make it clear, he obviously
did not kidnap Thia as the media is claiming. Thia was attacked by
her promised fiancé during her pre-nuptial night, and she joined
our group willingly. I don’t need to explain to you ladies what
that’s like. But that’s not why we’re here today. So, let’s all
welcome our new member Thia and move on.”

Everyone is still looking at me,
but then someone moves forward, taking the attention away. He's a
strong man, with full blond hair on top, completely shaved on the
sides.

“
Liam says everything’s going well
in Camp 19. I've met him a few times in the past couple of weeks,”
the person says. “He hasn’t heard anything suspicious. He's rallied
a few guards to our cause, and he’s trying to figure out how to
access the central security system to turn it off when we arrive.
He’s already managed to free a few prisoners each day. He'll keep
on doing that until we arrive.”

“Thanks, James,” Taylor
replies.

"James works for the authorities,"
Chi explains to me. "He drives the food from Camp 19 to the poor
areas. He'll take us into the camp when we're ready to
attack."

“Where is Liam taking those
prisoners?” a small girl inquires of Taylor before Chi can tell me
anything else. She's petite, with beautiful features, long natural
blonde hair, and a black uniform reminiscent of the ones worn by
the officers.

“I’m sorry, Tina, you know that
for our own security, I can’t tell you guys everything,” Taylor
replies, with a sudden cold look on his face. Then he turns toward
an incredibly tall and handsome man, whose midnight brown hair and
tanned skin are accentuated by sharp electric blue eyes.

“How are we doing with the
weaponry, Chase?” Taylor asks him.

“It’s been real hard getting the
guns from the military houses without raising suspicion. Craig’s
been modifying the records. He's over-supplying the place to our
benefit. The warehouse is holding a nice collection now, plus all
the guns you've got here already. We should have a weapon for each
person that’s going to Camp 19.”

Chi pulls me closer to him. "Craig
works in the military. He used to live in Chase's old neighborhood
in New York City."

I send Chi a quizzical glance. "I
thought New York City was completely flooded and
off-limit."

He shakes his head. "That's just a
rumor spread among the upper-class. Old Manhattan is uninhabitable,
yes, but there's a portion of New York City that's still above
water. When the rich fled the city during Hurricane Vega, the poor
were left behind. The ones who survived took over what was left.
The place is deteriorating, but there's still a bunch of people
living there."

"How do you know all that?" I
ask.

"Chase explained it all to me. I
just told you he used to live in those slums."

"Used to? Where does he live
now?"

Chi doesn't get a chance to reply
because he's cut off by Chase's interaction with Taylor.

"We've got two trucks to carry the
prisoners out. We'll just steal more of them when we get there,"
Chase says. "I've already found a place to hide all the trucks
after we hit the camp."

“Awesome!" Taylor replies before
turning to a gorgeous, muscular girl. Her skin is dark, her
cheekbones high, and her lips full. Her hair is styled in a
beautiful mohawk that's falling loosely over her eyes and down her
neck, the sides of her head shaved.

"Kayla, babe, are the apartments
operational?” Taylor asks her.

Kayla moves forward and wraps her
arms around Taylor’s waist. She looks up at him with adoration. Her
mouth has spread into a warm smile. “Yes. We won’t have
electricity, of course, but the water tanks on top of the buildings
will provide cold water. We’ve got candles, batteries, generators,
food, and all that. It's been tough getting the resources over
there, but Jenna's done a great job getting everything
ready.”

“Great!" Taylor exclaims. "That’ll
give us a safe place to crash when things go down." He turns to us.
"I want everyone to remain discreet. Keep an ear out for anything
suspicious. When the camps are free, our correspondents in the
media will let the information loose. We need to make a big splash
and wake up this drowsy population. They’ve been asleep for way too
long. It's time they found out where their resources come from.
It's time they knew where the authorities are keeping their family
members. The civilians need to open their eyes and see this system
for what it is. Let's expose its flaws once and for all." Everyone
around the group cheers at that. "Let's show them how this system
has failed us."

Everyone nods enthusiastically.
Some people even hoot while some others clap loudly. When Taylor is
done talking, he looks at Chi and me. He beckons for us to follow
him to a different room. We exit the living room, walk across the
hall, and enter a large study.

“Chi, you need to be careful. The
authorities are really pissed at you, and we can’t afford for them
to spot you. Stay put at Oliver’s house until this all blows over.
Same thing goes for you, Thia.”

“Why do they think Chi kidnapped
me?” I ask.

“They just made it up to make him
look worse. Don’t worry about it. Just stay put and don't bring
attention to yourselves. I’m glad you met some of the gang, Thia.
If anything happens, reach me here. Learn this address by heart.
I’ll take you guys back to Oliver’s place now.”

He taps Chi on the shoulder and
steps out of the room. Chi pulls me to him, takes my hand in his,
and we walk out of the study. On my way out, I notice a girl
staring at us. She’s the petite blonde girl who was talking
earlier. Tina I think her name is. She looks at Chi and averts her
gaze when she notices me observing her.

"Who's that girl?" I ask
Chi.

"That's Tina. She's an officer
working undercover for the Underground."

Chi doesn't explain further. Tina
sends him one last glance, and pain flickers through her eyes
swiftly before her cheeks turn crimson red.

Chapter 24

This morning,
the TV is on
in Oliver’s living
room.
It’s an old machine; the image is full of static
jumping up and down. Oliver is sitting on his old couch, watching
the news. We all know the media is full of lies; it's a mendacious
device that has been used for years to deceive and control the
minds of the weak. Oliver, however, thinks it's important to stay
informed. He believes the lies tell a certain truth and that it’s
up to us to read between the lines.