New Arrival

Stepping out of the transport, I took a look around, feeling a bit of a deer-in-headlights sensation. I’ve already drawn attention simply because I arrived in a transport. The only people with working transports are government agents, and they aren’t well thought of around here.

Time to make myself scarce.

I knew the direction I needed to go. I needed to hop a ride on one of the aforementioned government transports without the government finding out. I had a few things in my bag that might have encouraged cooperation from the drivers. Might… some of them were so blindly loyal, they’d lay down in the street and let themselves be fried if the governor told them to. It’s kinda… disturbing.

However, I also had the suspicion that if I just headed straight to the distribution center, I'd immediately be pegged as a government lackey, which would get me robbed and killed. There were three known factions out there: the governors, the gangs, and the helpless rabble of civilians.

Given how much the first two tried to kill each other, I preferred to stay in the relative safety of the third category.

I headed off in a random direction, down the street, looking over the buildings like a lost tourist. Within ten minutes, most of the people lost interest in me. Another government lackey that got himself fired and thrown out on the streets to fend for himself… eh, I would take it.

Not all of them, however. Those that kept watching me were probably part of the criminal gangs. They suspected something was up and they watched for any sign that I carried something valuable.

I didn’t… yet. Not really. My tablet would be considered valuable, of course. But the really valuable things weren’t what they would expect. I was after three things… keys. The three missing control keys that could save the world.

My first destination was the place where Janice disappeared to. She was supposed to get to the bunker and insert her key, but for whatever reason, she never made it. I had to find her, or, failing that, get her key. There was a risk that the key was in the hands of criminal lords, but as far as we knew, no one else knew exactly what they were. Chances were, it had been discarded with all the other useless keys that no longer did anything in doors that had no power for their locks.

“Hey… hey you!”

Given that no one else was out on the street, I suspected they were talking to me. In this world, the best thing to do was to play dumb. As in really stupid. If you seemed smart, you were a threat. It was disturbing and wrong… one of the things I intended to correct.

I kept walking. After just a moment, I felt her hand grab my shoulder and spin me around. I was looking at a young woman with short blond hair, a bit older than myself. She glared at me… I had no idea why. Had I wandered into her territory?

“What the hell are you doing out here?”

Um…

“Everyone stays in the Underground until nightfall! You know that!”

Actually, no, I didn’t. What the hell was the Underground?

Her eyes narrowed. “Are you going to answer me, soldier?”

I blinked a few times. “I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else, I’m not-”

Her hand flew back, then she hauled off and slapped me… my head rocked back, ears ringing.

“How dare you disrespect a commanding officer!” she yelled, loud enough to make the ringing ten times worse. “Get your ass back downstairs before I kick it into orbit!”

I had no idea where she wanted me to go, or what she thought I was supposed to be doing. “Look, I don’t know who you are, or where the Underground is, so just leave me alone!” I insisted.

“Oh, trying to play that game, are we?” she snapped. “Let’s go. A night in the box will teach you a lesson!”

She grabbed my arm. I would have pulled away, but she drew a very large knife and pointed it at my ribs, ending pretty much any chance to escape. For now. I could have fought her off, but at this point, my curiosity had overridden any desire to escape. If I learned about this Underground, I might have been able to find a way to get to the government complex and hop a transport.

If I fought, it would be a running battle, and in this heat, that wasn’t smart.

I was dragged by the girl through a door in the wall of a building that appeared to be nothing but a pile of rubble. It was a clever ruse; there were stairs leading down into darkness. The further we went down, the cooler it was. Our observation teams- optimistically named, since they were just one or two people with cameras- noticed that there were a few places like this, but we’ve never found out what they actually were.

I was about to find out… and I hoped I could get back out again, or this would be the shortest mission on record.

After descending about ten flights, I was led into a wide corridor with people in every direction. All young… teenagers or young adults. There were only a few older adults in sight, and they had the look of someone you didn’t screw around with.

As I walked, I carefully tucked my tablet a little further into its hidden pocket in my pants. Everything else was expendable, more or less. But not the tablet. There’s no way I could leave without it, and if the wrong people got hold of it, my entire mission- and the Central Control complex- would be compromised. I would rather have died than risk that.

She dragged me over to one of the older people. “I found this one skulking around on the surface… can I put him in the box?”

The man looked me over with a slight frown. “Your designation, soldier?”

I stared at him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about! I’m not a soldier!”

The young woman rolled her eyes. “See? Totally disrespectful!”

The man sighed. “Lieutenant… this is exactly why you’ve been refused a promotion three times in the last year. You have little to no observation skills. This boy is not one of the Underground. Not yet, anyway. That can be changed, but not if you are so harsh and demeaning to him. You’ve given him very little reason to remain, and quite a lot of reasons to leave.”

She looked between him and me, anger in her eyes, along with a hefty dose of panic. She knew she’d screwed up badly. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she shrieked.

Of course she would throw shade at me.

The man held up a hand. “That’s quite enough of that! Take him to Crispin and make no further attempts to blame or berate him. You are in a very tenuous position as it is. Go.”

She swallowed hard and nodded, then grabbed my arm again, in a not-very-gentle grip, then dragged me down the corridor.

I looked around me… the people here had the same worn, skinny, starved look as everyone else on the surface. With one exception. Those on the surface spent their days wandering around like lost sheep, going to the ration center for their daily, pitiful disbursement of food from the farms. Down here… I saw purpose in their faces. The girl had called me a soldier. Were they building an army, or was that a euphemism?

I was led into a side corridor, then into a small room. There was another man here… no, a woman. She was so skinny and buried in a jacket three sizes too large for her, with her hair in a severe cut, she looked like a man at first.

The blond shoved me forward. “Crispin, here’s another newbie, fresh off the street. He’s a live one… the General asked me to bring him to you. Good luck with him.” With one last glare, the blond girl turned and stalked out.

Crispin watched her go, then rolled her eyes and gave me the first kind smile I’d seen since exiting the transport. “Ignore her… Lieutenant Delta is always in a bad mood. The only time she’s in a good mood is when she’s in the Pit… but it never lasts.”

“The Pit?” I asked tentatively.

She nodded. “Yes, you’ll see that later. For now, it’s time for your orientation.”

I held up my hands. “Whoa, hold it… look, I appreciate you guys taking me in, but I have no intention of staying. Frankly, I wasn’t given a choice. I’m supposed to meet my aunt somewhere around this town. Her name is Janice… have you met anyone by that name?”

She shook her head, showing no sign of recognition. “No, but I rarely know people by name. Just their designations. We don’t use names down here unless you’re a senior officer. We use designations… it’s a reminder that the old world is over and we need to get used to it.”

It wasn’t… it was just on pause, but I knew I didn’t dare tell her that.

She glanced at my bag. “May I ask what you’re carrying? If there’s anything useful in there, our scavengers will pick you clean without a pass.”

I shrugged, opening it. “A few clothes, socks, a spare pair of sunglasses, and a case. That’s about it.”

She nodded. “Good enough, just hang onto it for now. Are you sure you don’t want to stay? If you join the scavengers, you could find your aunt and bring her here for safety.”

“I don’t see many people here her age,” I pointed out.

“They’re around, but they don’t work on the street teams. It’s too hot for them. They’re in the workshops.”

Shops… I started to understand how these people worked. Maybe. “Well, it’s a thought, but I really need to find her. Again, thanks, but… I’m good.”

“Okay.” She waved a hand for me to exit, then lead me back through the corridors. We didn’t go the direction I came in… and a sense of unease hit me. Something wasn’t right.

She turned a corner, and hands grabbed me again. These hands were much larger. I look to my right and left… I was held by two big, muscular guys that looked like they’d never missed a meal- or a day at the gym- in their lives.

“This one is resistant. Put him in the Chair. If you can’t wipe him, just don’t let him remember this place.”

One of the men nodded and I was dragged against my will into a side room. The Chair there looks uncomfortably familiar. I struggled until one of the guys slapped me upside the head, stunning me. “Just sit still… it’ll be over with soon enough, and you’ll be one of us. Believe me, it’s better than anything you’ll find out there.”

He removed my jacket and pack, hung them on a hook, then forced me into the Chair and strapped me down. A headset with wires was lowered onto my head and he inserted an I.V. into my arm. I struggled… I could feel the panic. I had been through something like this before, and it didn’t end well.

Once I was in place, he stepped back and hit a button. I felt something through the needle entering my body… some kind of chemical. My brain instantly felt fuzzy and uncomfortably vague.

“That’s right… just relax, and it’ll be over soon. You’ll be just fine.”

I couldn’t resist anymore… I couldn’t do anything. I felt something… electricity… I heard voices, I saw things… my brain felt like it had been dumped into a stir-fry pan. Before I could even begin to get my wits back, I blacked out.