Flash back!
Boom! Smash! Crack! Billow of dark clouds cascading down mist of the rubble of a fallen, buried, city...
"You are Crazy!" Yells Polo across the caver.
She laughs, "Trust me! It's fun!"
Oh Marina, so full of life. Here they are, miles beneath the Earth, already consumed in the sheer idea of insanity and she wants him to zipline across this cavern. What if the rope snaps? What if he falls?
"Oh..." He groans.
Then he shuts his eyes. In the back of his head is a voice but whos? When? There, among the earlier memories of the year. It's Ander. Sweet, kind, quiet, and dying Ander. Ander is always dying. Ready for it it seems. So, why in the world would Polo be thinking of him of all people?
Because of death. Isn't it dreadful. To always be thinking of death. Not for Ander. It's a way of life for that one. So, why else would Polo be thinking of that night, asleep on a porch above the sand of a beautiful beach listening to Ander breath and wanting so much to wake him up. Oh, thank God he didn't have to.
Pressed down into Anders stomach, Polo's face emerged slowly to the awakening puppy of a boy.
"Porar." Ander giggles, "Why are you here?
Polo begins to pull away but no, Ander won't have it. He's pulling young Polo back, "I know why your here."
They're face to face so close, but Polo is afraid, and Ander says, "You stall... why? Polo I could die and you still won't be honest with me."
The memory fades but Polo holds onto it as he peers across the dark juts of shadows among the grey stone where a beautiful bridge once towered over water so high. Here, now, there is only polo, a rope, and a deep cavern of stone. Still, death could come at any time so why not. He pulls in a deep breath, steps back, listens for the click, and lets go. There he goes...
He feels it. All of it. Every bit of the air that swallows his body whole through the vortex of time. When he's on his feet again and the journey is a memory he's almost hollow. It was the most wonderful thing he's ever felt and all he can think about is Ander.
She places a hand on his shoulder, "Crazy, no?"
He smiles as big as he can and then the guy leading the expedition beckons the twenty of them to continue on the path towards what they were all sent out here to discover for the first time since this world became lost.
It was different down here for Nadia. She felt an eerie flutter in her heart as she walked past what was once a total stranger's restroom in an apartment blown apart down here in the dark and she saw her reflection in the mirror as they all walked along. Their torches held high, there beams on like beakers or speakers that sneak their brilliance through a landscape of goodbye.
The ideology behind what she saw in the flat surface startled her. There was something about these mirrors that reminded her of a fun house. As Polo and Marina walked on by behind her she was suddenly frozen in time imagining herself as something before. How she'd have hated life. This reflection? This person? Oh, what a sorrow. Down here in the Earth she knows there to be a birth of an ugly form of humanity.
Then she's pulled away by another student. Guzman, her closest aly in the way of life the one to pull her from disaster. He's always been a neon soldier to her. Loyal to the mission. Loyal to the cause. Never loyal to himself. Around him the music sounded so loud. Almost a glitch in her way but then there were those moments in fragments of water reflected in fire light that she saw his true identity. That sweet kind boy who kept her from wanting to step into the burn of the flame.
They come across the destination and all things come to a halt. The world has a silver/blue sheen no one could ever dream existed. The burial site was over ran and infested with light. Here, where three towers once stood, enlies a concove cave of brilliant lilac and ocean blue mist.
"They were taken here." Says Midaff, an arnry old man in his military uniform from a war that ended four decades ago.
Guzman looks over to his comrad Nadia, "They?" He whispers.
Oh, so suddenly he's whispering to her. How out of character. Usually, he is so in uniform. Never question the higher ranks. Keep your chin up, eyes forward, and feet moving. No slowing down. No disassociating. No self-destructive tendencies. Down here there's a set way things must work. Otherwise, it all falls apart. The very Earth could crumple in and crush them. So, why, out of all things, would he break that even if it's just to whisper one word to her.
Kodack, Polo's deeply sorrowful brother (on a bio-dad situation), was absolutely against being here at all. That man who is responsible for bringing them both into one world is so careless to bring them into another. The weapon he carries by a strap on his shoulder feels foreign and unnecessary. So many beautiful things could lie in this cavern but all they'll see is a reason to spark up their own defense.
He speaks with such authority, and they all listen. Poor Guzman who follows so blindly. Poor amigos for thinking this would be a fun get away, a field expedition, a chance for something new. Kodak couldn't help but love his estranged brother for when one finds out they have some hidden connection in the world. Why are they here? Because of one little boy.
Cricket Green. A silly, carefree young lad who was blindsided when the world spun a little too quickly. Kodack Green is not only Polo's secret-family brother, he's a brother to two siblings from Big City. The world on top of this world. Cricket and Tilly we're abducted by people affiliated with Chip Whistler. While Kodack was away at college this pervert perused the Green family in their farmhouse in the center of a massive corporation battlefield. Now, after discovering he had a whole secret family and flying out to Spain to meet them for the first time just in time to surprise them all at a Las Encinas dance back in 2018.
Polo is so curious, "Why an airport? What's so significant about air travel that it has this effect?"
Mr. Green was once a man who owned a farm. In his descending madness he's something hard to peg for more people than just Kodak. So darkly, he responds, "Getting off the ground takes sacrifice."
"Booo! Bummer show! Let's not make this morbid. Sure, it's a rescue mission but we're also about to discover some major things, Bill. Lighten up." Nancy Green is super chill and Polo, Kodak, and even Guzman can totally peg the respect it takes for a mother whose child is missing to be strong like that.
Nadia feels a cold chill run down her back and expects a back firing of patriarchy and sexism but instead Bill Green kind of eases, "You're right Nancy. Sinking low won't get us anywhere. Let's document as much as we can people. Videos are welcome but be cautious, lights can startle these creatures. We resort to violence only when we have to. You know who the real monsters are and why we are really here."
Polo stands with a city at his back crumpling in despair and growing mold on it's walls and the soft glow of something new and wonderful on his face- terrible- but so full of wonder that it makes him feel excited. He knows Ander is probably gone, if it wasn't the locals, the elitism, or a falling boulder then it was the cancer, but he still holds onto hope that he'll find something worth living for.
Carla reaches out her hand with all the pretty painted fingernails so sparkling in the light and smiles at Luceria. Luceria smiles back so gently with that subtle glint of madness in her eyes, and they follow the crowd into the void hand in hand. The tunnel of emerald, green light swallows them as the moss hangs down like teeth and it's leaving a lot behind none of them take the time to truly consider. Their life, the sun, their sanity... oh but for a pair of brothers like Kodak and Polo finding that which was taken is worth every last sacrifice.
Marina throws her arms around both their necks and they laugh. The silhouette of sleek blonde, spiral curl red, and waterfall brunette fade into the darkness and the sound of gravel crunching beneath their feet grows quieter.