Cascade box set 2, p.25
Cascade Box Set 2, page 25
Zach only caught the loose retelling of what had happened in the arena, but it was enough for him to know the victor was Abbey.
As the breathing of those around him grew heavy, and after he initially feigned the same, he as quietly as possible pulled the one thin sheet he had been given back and got to his feet. A single light somewhere off across the bay gave him just enough light to navigate his way through arms and legs until he was leaning up against the closest door.
He had seen people come in and out of it all day, and hadn’t seen it locked once.
In the gloom he reached for the handle and turned it. It rotated a small amount then stopped. Locked.
In the dark he shook his head for that meant walking all the way across the bay to the only other door he was aware of. But there was no other choice. He and Abbey were not going to spend the night here.
During the day while he had been helping repair a 1990s black sedan, he memorized the entire layout of the huge area he had been taken too, after being separated from Abbey.
As he recalled the positioning of the vehicle ramps, tool boxes and machinery, he crept forward, arms out front trying his damnedest not to slam into anything and wake anyone. Not that he thought any of those sleeping would care what he was up too. Most had been captured like he had, but they had come to accept their fate. They didn’t realize that civil life still existed outside, even if it was far away and until recently under constant siege. Still, during his brief conversations with those he had been working with throughout the day, it was obvious many had tried escaping before. He wasn’t the first nor would he be the last.
His hand hit the metal edge of a rack of shelves, which he knew sat up against a wall. He also knew at the end of the row was the door he was looking for. He followed the line of the shelves until his hand moved past them, and then felt for the door.
A noise came from somewhere behind him, causing him to freeze. His first instinct even after all this time was that it was rats. After waiting a few seconds and with no follow up, he felt for the handle of the door and turned it, this time the knob kept on rotating and he pushed it forwards slowly. A cold wash of air brushed past him. He breathed in a lungful. It took him a good few hours before he had gotten used to the smells of forty or so men and women living in close quarters with nowhere to wash.
He moved into the cooler air and gently closed the door behind him. At the far end of the narrow space he was inside of, was a bright light emanating from low on the floor. He had now spent enough time exploring places in the dark, to recognize that what he was seeing was light seeping beneath a door. Using one hand to trail along the bare brick of the corridor walls, he quickly arrived at the door, and pressed his head up against it. The sound of muffled noises were just audible.
He felt for the handle, turning it, then pulled the door towards him. Light flooded into the corridor and he squinted to be able to focus on what he was walking into.
Cages, some a few stories high flooded his gaze. He walked out onto the floor of a huge underground cavern. In front of him a row of huge iron boxes full of bars inches thick, stretched to his left and right for hundreds of yards. Each one containing a creature, many of which he had not seen before.
One cage had something which was a mass of orange and red arms and legs with a tiny torso, the closest thing that came to Zach’s mind was a starfish. To the left of that was a cage which contained what looked like a tree. He walked closer not understanding why that would be locked away, or perhaps the E.L.F’s in this cage were inside the trunk somewhere. He then noticed this ‘tree’ was quivering, and what looked like bark was actually a kind of skin.
Raj would probably exchange places with me.
Most of the creatures seemed to be sleeping, or moving slowly as if they had been sedated.
High above, a few lights lit the entire area, but there were still many shadows and Zach kept to them as he moved past each cage.
A noise came from behind him, making him turn around. He looked along the row of bars, trying to see if any of the E.L.F’s were moving, but nothing seemed to be.
He carried on walking forward, keeping low, trying to find a way out of this insane zoo. The noise happened again, this time it was a lot closer. He whipped around hoping to catch whatever was the cause, but there was only empty space and darkness.
He suddenly had an intense feeling he was being watched, so he ducked into the closest shadow and waited. Then he saw it, about six cages from him, something moving. He had to concentrate to even notice it at all as its shape was only briefly visible every few seconds when it passed from light to dark. Something was walking towards him, something that had two arms and two legs, but definitely wasn’t human.
I can’t stay here. If it’s a creature, hiding in the shadows won’t help.
He emerged from the dark recess he was in and ran. It wasn’t long before he spotted another door, this one had “Exit” above it. He had no idea if it led to anywhere good, but it would be better than being down here with the thing that was stalking him. Not bothering to look back he sprinted across the smooth cold floor and grabbed the handle. He quickly pulled it down and opened the door in one swoop, and then something grabbed him.
*****
Abbey was drifting into sleep when a scratching noise came from somewhere close by. Her eyes flickered open and she laid in the complete blackness of her small room waiting for it to happen again. It did.
She pulled the sheet back that she had been given as a means to make the sofa in the room a bit more comfortable and sat up. The room had a light, but it was controlled from outside, so she kneeled on her hands and knees and waited again.
Over there.
She crawled a few feet forward until her head touched the wall, the same area where the scratching noise was coming from. She went to knock on the brick, but stopped. What if this is some kind of test?
She clenched her fist and banged on the wall just next to her nose. She waited hearing her own heartbeat when a bang reverberated against the wall, making her head pull back slightly. Just as she was going to knock again, the sound on the opposite side of the wall moved, now it was coming from a few feet away. She went to move in that direction but stopped on realizing there was a small cabinet there. She grabbed it with both hands, and pulled it backwards a few feet. Crouching back down near the wall, her fingers immediately stumbled upon bumps and indentations along the brickwork. The knock on the opposite side came again, this time much louder.
She knocked close to where she thought the noise was, and immediately realized the brick she was hitting was loose. Poking her fingers into the loose masonry around it, she got a grip and pulled it out. In the hole were the brick was only darkness, just as it was around her.
“Hey, you there?” came a male voice from somewhere beyond. It had an unmistakable east coast tinge.
“Yeah, who are you?” said Abbey.
“I’m Miles, who are you?”
“I’m… Daphne.” It was the first name that came to mind.
“Right. I thought your name was Abbey? I heard you being brought in. News on the grapevine is that you won your first match, obliterated Foster.”
Abbey sighed. “I’m not proud of what I did, but…”
“You had to survive. You didn’t do anything that any of us wouldn’t have done. That kid has killed a whole lot of people.”
“So you know I killed him then?” She wasn’t sure she wanted the answer.
“Umm not sure, I just heard that you took him out. Anyway, by getting rid of Foster you did a lot of us a good deed. Here…” The sound of scraping came from inside the wall. “Reach in, my arms not long enough to go the whole way.”
Abbey reluctantly felt for the rim of the bricks, and then plunged her hand forward into darkness upon darkness, feeling the dust and the cobwebs until she felt something plastic. It pushed towards her and she grasped it then pulled it quickly from the wall.
“It’s some pieces of bread,” said Miles.
She unwrapped the plastic covering, immediately feeling the soft sponginess of the bread, and started eating it. “Thanks,” she said between bites.
“No problem. So where you from?”
“South.”
“Where south? I’m from New Jersey.”
“Texas.”
“But you’re not from there originally right? You sound more north, maybe Boston?”
She didn’t want to reply. Is this one of Hemming’s people fishing for information?
“Yeah, I was born there, but spent many years elsewhere.”
“How you survive the Cascade?”
“I got evacuated to one of the camps, but then that fell, and I ended up just roaming. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was a Cas—coach I wouldn’t have survived. What about you?”
“I was on a business trip. Got trapped down here. Somehow ended up in this place, just trying to survive too. I didn’t even know I had these… abilities, I had to be informed by others like me. What a laugh.”
“You haven’t tried to escape? Surely it’s only a matter of when not if, you meet someone in the arena that kills you?”
“They made examples of others like us early on. And anyway, were am I going to run too?”
“There might be other camps, other communities out there that would take you in?”
“You know of any?”
“No. Wish I did.”
“Anyway Daphne or whatever your name is, I’m going to get some shut eye, my match is tomorrow evening. Wish me luck.”
“Yeah, umm good luck.” There then came a scraping noise and Abbey was once again alone.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
A sudden intense rush of cold woke Zach. His head was spinning and he could feel the water running down his face and neck. A man moved away from him with a bucket.
“Good you’re awake.”
Hemming’s stood in front of Zach with his white shirtsleeves rolled up. Something silver glinted in his right hand.
“Where… Where am I?” said Zach.
“That doesn’t matter. What matters is I can’t have people sneaking around our town at night, there are rules!”
Before Zach could reply, a fist of metal slammed into his stomach, making him retch.
Hemming’s and his brass knuckles stepped back. “I knew you would be trouble the moment I set eyes on you! You’re not a team player! If it weren’t—” This time the solid fist of Hemming’s slammed into Zach’s ribs. An unmistakable cracking noise quickly followed. “— For your woman, I’d just feed you to the creatures, like we usually do to trouble makers. But I have a feeling her cooperation will be short lived if she learns you’re inside one of the creatures she’s in the ring with.” He shook his head and sighed. “What am I going to do with you.”
Zach tried shaking his own head, trying to stop the room from spinning.
“That disorientation you’re feeling, that’s from what we call a spinster. A fella from up north brought one down, traded it with us for a truck. You just got to be a few hundred yards from one and your mind goes all screwy, they give off some kind of chemical, don’t affect the coaches though. I don’t understand the science, but they come in real handy to stop people from escaping.” He then stepped in close to Zach, grabbing Zach’s head and lifting it so their eyes were parallel with each other. “I’ll tell you what. If you learn to do your duties, work hard, be one of the team we have here, then I won’t kill your Abbey, how’s that sound?”
“You need—” The words only just about formed in Zach’s mouth.
“Coaches are a commodity I’ll grant you that, especially one like your woman, but sometimes you just got to cut someone from the team, for the sake of the other players, you get what I’m saying son?”
Zach nodded. Hemming’s let go of his head which then fell back down and rested on Zach’s chest. The room was spinning slightly less now.
Hemming's receded back into the shadows. “Take him back to the maintenance bay, and tell Corman that if we find him wondering around where he shouldn’t be again, I’ll find another chief mechanic.”
*****
Abbey was already awake when the door to her small room opened. It was Morri, and he had a small bag with him which he threw to her.
“Food and drink is in the bag. Eat up lass, you need to get your strength back.”
Abbey remained still.
“What’s wrong? Aren’t you hungry?”
“I’m not a performing clown.”
He sat down next to her. She moved slightly away. “Ah, lass, I know you’re not. But if you don’t perform then—” he grimaced. “— You got a role to play. You keep the minds of the people in this place occupied. If everyone really stopped for a moment to contemplate the shit they are really in, then everything would fall apart! You’re keeping everyone alive, by going out there.” He patted her shoulder and got back to his feet. “You weren’t going to fight for another few days, but I got you bumped up to tonight! You’re going to be fighting Miles—”
A jolt ran through Abbey which she hid from the man standing in front of her.
“— And his giant jelly-plant thing. It’s hard to describe, but it has these tentacles that—”
Abbey looked upwards, directly at Morri, making him stop talking. “What did you do before this?”
He started to fidget, like he suddenly developed an allergy. “The past is the past.”
“I want to know.”
“Bit of this, bit of that. Anyway, you win tonight and I can get you out of this room, get you some bigger digs.” He went to leave.
“The man I came here with, you said if I won, we would talk about me seeing him.”
“Ah yeah I did say that, didn’t I.”
“If I don’t see him today, before I go back into the cage, then I’m not doing anything for anyone. Kill me, do what you want, but I’m not moving, or eating, or drinking unless I see Zach.”
Morri slid his hand over his face, then his slick hair. “Lord, ya gonna be the death of me girl.” He kneeled. “Abbey, we got a good thing going here. I’ll be honest, I haven’t had the best luck with coaches, but you got the gift more than I’ve seen before. You and me could go far in this place.”
Abbey picked up the bag he brought and threw it against the wall, making Morri duck down slightly.
“Alright, alright! I’ll see what I can do! Sheesh. But eat that food!” He then got up and walked out. The door closed behind him.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Zach looked up into the V8 engine of the 80s pickup truck, and smiled. He rubbed his fingers together and felt the smooth grease between them. His mind drifted back to helping his dad with their car when he was a teen. The sound of footsteps approaching brought him back to the here and now and he plunged his hand back into the underside of the car that was on the lift above his head.
“Felton! You need to go with these men.”
Zach froze and looked down at the set of tools near his feet.
“They’re taking you to see your woman, so hurry up before they change their minds.”
Zach quickly ducked down beneath the pickup and grabbed a nearby cloth, wiping his hands as he followed the two armed men through the door that had been locked the night before.
Within a few minutes and with him recording every twist and turn in his mind, he came to a long corridor on what he counted was the second floor. Doors lined both sides, and a faded sign with the words “Press rooms” hung lop-sided from the ceiling.
The men walked him to one of the rooms, and opened the door. Abbey immediately sprung up from the sofa and hugged him, causing him to wince a little.
She pulled back. “Are you hurt?” She then turned angrily to a man that was in the room with her. “If he has been hurt I’m not doing anything for you!”
“I’m fine, I just injured a rib when working on a car.”
Morri walked past them both. “You got ten minutes, make it count.” He then ushered them both back into the room, and one of the armed men closed the door behind them.
Before Zach could say anything else, Abbey moved to the door and listened against it. She then grabbed Zach’s hand and they moved to the sofa. “They’re on the other side of the door but if we speak quiet I don’t think they can hear us,” she whispered.
“How are you?” they both said at the same time, then smiled.
“I’m okay, surviving,” said Abbey.
“You had to fight in some kind of cage match, with E.L.F’s last night?”
Abbey sighed. “Yeah, I know it’s crazy. I just got lucky and managed to take my opponent out.” Her eyes then filled with tears, and she leaned into him. “He was just a teenager Zach, maybe fifteen. But I had no choice…”
Zach put his arms around her and pulled her in tight to his chest. “You did what you had to do.”
She pulled away. “We have to get out of here. I’m meant to be fighting again tonight. There’s a man in the room next to me, I think his name is Miles. He gave me some food. They want me to fight him tonight, I—”
A knock came at the door. “Five minutes!” said a male voice.
“I can’t fight him Zach. I don’t want to kill anymore, I won’t do that.”
“He gave you food? When?”
She leaned in closer. “Last night, through a hole in the wall,” she looked down to her right.
“Is he in the room now?”
“I don’t know, maybe, why?”
Zach quickly moved to the small cabinet and quietly moved it back.
*****
Morri stood in the doorway, holding a leather jacket with “Wolf-girl” emblazoned across the back. “Here, put this on. I had some of the girls downstairs make it.”
Abbey took it from him and pulled it on. It was a bit tight, but strangely felt good on her.
