Chapter 4 – Saved
Weeks, months maybe even years passed. It was hard to keep track of the days when there was no source of time in the caves.
Everyone was welcoming and treated us like family, showing us around the caves and explaining how things worked there.
We grew things in the main room, carrots, corn, spinach, potatoes - a variety of different vegetables. A dazzling light shone through the large hole in the roof, it got very hot in there. I never understood how until I asked.
"Like the magicians, kid," Jeb grinned at me, "with mirrors. Took me a while to get them all up there but it was worth it."
Jeb stood proudly in front of me. He really was insane – but he was a genius too.
The first raid was the scariest. Setting out to collect goods from the aliens was like sneaking into the lion's den. I drove into the city, it was alight with street lamps that made an orange glow in the sky. It was late so the town was empty.
Once we'd stolen our supplies we loaded the cars and got ready to leave. It was fine; we were going to get out alive. Or so we thought.
"Hello," a voice came from behind us. We didn't turn. "Isn't it a little late for …" it's voice trailed off as Kyle spun around.
There was a thud and the man collapsed. Blood oozed down his nose.
We stood looking down at the body that lay before us. We were all panting, sweat trickling down our necks.
"What do we do now?" I whispered.
"We can't leave it here," Kyle hissed, "It'll wake up and tell the – the seekers! We'll be caught and – and…"
"So should we take him – it?"
Kyle looked at me. He was shaking. "What other options do we have Ian?"
I sighed, lifted the body and dumped it in the car.
When we returned we handed the body to Doc. He looked at us in surprise and pain struck his eyes.
"Try," Kyle muttered, "We couldn't leave him there. It was too dangerous."
Of course Doc failed. It didn't matter how many times he attempted - it never worked. He sliced open the scar on the body's neck, opened it up and tore something out.
"What is it?" Doc said, his voice was in horror.
"It looks like a - a centipede or something," Kyle said in disgust.
A small creature lay lifeless on the ground, splattered with it's own silver blood.
I'd left by then as my stomach knotted in horror and pain. Tears trickled down my face as I ran from the room. From the dead man and silver centipede. I was glad the tunnels were dark and no one would see me cry.
Life was tough in the caves – but we had a lot of people living there - nearly 30. We all did our bit to help with chores but supplies were low, we didn't like to go on too many raids because it was so dangerous.
But then we were saved. Jared came.
We found Jared Howe in the desert with Maggie Stryder, Sharon Stryder and Jamie Stryder. Maggie was Jeb's sister, Sharon was her daughter and Jamie was his nephew.
Jared was with Jamie when Jamie's sister and Jared's love, Melanie, had gone to look for her aunt and cousin. She never returned. Melanie had been given directions to find Jeb's hideaway but never really understood them. Jared soon found the clues and it all added up. He found Maggie and Sharon and took them to the caves.
"They were just lines on an old photo album," Jared laughed sadly as he explained what they were doing there.
Maggie and Sharon were like doubles of each other. Hard, grumpy and impatient. But soon Doc took an interest in Sharon and they were partnered. I never understood how he managed to see past her irritating personality.
Jamie was only 13 but always looked so sad and distant. His childhood was lost in a messed up world, destroyed by an army of silver centipedes.
Jared saved us. He was great on raids; always knew what to do, how to sneak away. He changed all of our lives, brought us hope and hope was all we had left.
