Chapter 2
A cold moonless night was not the perfect time to be hurried along a dirt road. Even though Blue, Calla and Abigail all tried to let their eyes adjust to the darkness, their captors regularly shone torch lights into the young people's eyes just to keep them disoriented.
"Where are you taking us?" Calla asked.
"You'll find out soon enough" came the terse reply.
"More to the point, why are you taking us?" Blue demanded to know.
"Ha..." laughed another voice "You'll soon find that out too."
"But try not to worry too much" a third and calming voice told them "You won't be hurt and your worries are over."
"I wasn't worried before you came" Abigail declared "but I am now!"
"Don't be please" the calming voice said "When we get home, all will be explained."
The three captives spent over two hours being pushed along dirt road, into a forest and through a deep mountain pass before the group finally did reach home. It looked imposing at first with a high stone wall and strong gates, but on the inside there was a real village feel to the place. The soft street lighting and recent snow even made the town look somewhat festive even though it was still over two months till Christmas.
Blue heard a grinding sound coming from behind and looked back to see a pair of gates being closed, locking them in.
"Don't worry, it's just to keep animals out at night; my name's Eric."
At last Blue could put a name to the calming voice but he did not feel ready to make friends with one of their kidnappers, no matter how nice he seemed.
"Well Eric, perhaps you'd like to explain what is going on here!" Calla interrupted.
"Don't worry..." Eric started.
"Why do you keep saying that?" Calla shrugged.
"...I'll take you to see Gran; she'll clue you in to this place."
Some of the people who had kidnapped the younger members of the Bull Ant's crew had already gone their separate ways, but a few still stood behind, with weapons poised in their hands. Eric led the way with the menacing ones close behind; making it clear that walking in the right direction was the correct way to stay in good health.
As they walked, more people appeared from inside the buildings and they seemed to be delighted to see the new arrivals. Eventually one of them, a woman in her forties, approached them with a broad smile on her face.
"Oh good, you found some. Did you have any trouble?" she asked Eric.
"No there was only one adult with them, and he was no trouble at all."
Upon hearing this news, the smile left the woman's face and she became very stern with Eric and his companions.
"Was he a relative?" she asked.
"Err... we didn't ask" Eric admitted.
The woman turned to Abigail and asked again.
"Was the man with you a relative of yours my dear?"
"No!" Abigail replied bluntly and promptly received an elbow in the ribs from Calla.
"Don't tell them anything" she whispered.
"Oh good; Gran does hate to split up families" the woman said.
Three other young men soon gathered to look over the newcomers, making them all feel like they were on display.
"They're a bit young" one of them said bluntly.
"Are you in a hurry?" the woman asked rhetorically "Give it time; they'll grow up."
Blue was pushed in the back and the group continued on.
"HEY, no need for that Stan" the woman scowled at the man who had pushed Blue.
She followed along with the group until they reached a cliff face with what appeared to be an old railway tunnel running into it. The tunnel was large enough for a normal standard gauge train, but the tracks coming out were quite small and hugged the left side of the tunnel wall.
"In you go" one of the armed men prodded Blue with his rifle when the young man stopped at the entrance.
"STANLEY! WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU?" the woman continued to defend the captives.
The right wall of the tunnel had a number of pipes running along it; the orange one at the top one obviously carried electrical wiring, for it was also the only source of lighting, with a glowing bulb attached at regular intervals. After they had walked a few hundred meters, two more tunnels led off on each side, with even more appearing the further they went. These side tunnels were nowhere near as large as the main tunnel, and were clearly not part of the original railway. As they approached the sixth side tunnel, the echoing sound of children's laughter could be heard; a young girl of about five years old ran around the corner squealing with delight as she was chased by a small friend.
The young child ran headlong into Calla and would have been knocked to the ground if the young lady had not caught the girl by the shoulders.
"Hello" Calla smiled "You should be more careful."
To the newcomer's surprise, the little girl gave a deafening scream before she and her friend ran back down the tunnel the way they had come.
"Sorry about that" Eric said "We teach them to be very wary of strangers."
"Good idea; there are kidnappers about" Calla mentioned sarcastically "Oh wait... that would be you."
"It's not as bad as you think" Eric smiled reassuringly.
"Oh no, being taken by armed men in the middle of the night isn't always a bad thing" Blue noted in the same sarcastic tone "Sometimes it's a real hoot and a half."
A little further on and the group was led into one of the side tunnels. It was only slightly smaller than the main tunnel and had doors on each side, every twenty meters. Eric knocked on the fifth door, which was soon opened by a thin middle aged woman with short brown hair.
"We found them Gran; brought these three back" Eric reported.
The tall woman scowled and looked over Blue and the girls before she spoke.
"They're a bit young; there were adults with them?"
"Just one unsuitable male, no relation" Eric noted.
"And you didn't even ask about that until well after you'd taken us" Calla noted.
This seemed to annoy the woman called Gran as she glared at the men around her.
"You know how I feel about separating families" she barked at them.
"Sorry Gran but we were a bit nervous at the time" one of the armed men said "You should have seen the size of their vehicle; it was huge and we were worried there may have been a small army on board. In the end it turned out to be just these three and the old guy."
"Did you take care of the drone?" Gran checked.
"It'll never fly again" Eric nodded.
On Gran's order Abigail, Calla and Blue were taken inside her underground home. Eric and the other woman they had met outside entered as well, while two armed men were ordered to stand guard outside the door. The inside was furnished just like an ordinary house, except that the walls and ceiling were all exposed rock.
"Our drone didn't do you any harm, and neither did we; so why I you smash it and how long are you planning to keep us prisoner?" Blue asked bluntly.
"I don't have to explain my reasons to you... but you are not prisoners; this is your new home" Gran stated.
"I'd prefer to go back to my old home" Calla shrugged.
"This huge vehicle I was just told about doesn't sound like much of a home to me" Gran noted.
"It was taking us home" Calla sneered "Back to our families, and you don't like separating families, do you?"
"It looks to me like you separated yourselves from your families."
"Is that how you justify yourself?" Blue sneered.
Gran stared back at Blue with daggers in her eyes.
"I don't need to justify myself to you" she stated "This is your new home now; it's a good home and a safe home."
"It's a cold dank home" Abigail mumbled but Gran just ignored her and changed the subject.
"So... are you all related?" she asked.
All three remained silent at first before Blue decided to try and talk his way out of the situation.
"This girl is my sister Abigail, and we had recently left my parents with the intent of returning Calla to her family. So if you keep us here..."
"Don't try and change my mind boy" Gran hissed "I only asked for the purpose of future pairing."
This statement made all three fall silent once more.
"W-what do you mean by... paring?" Abigail eventually dared to ask.
"What do you think I mean? Coupling... husband and wife stuff; staring new families."
"ARE YOU NUTS? ABBY AND I ARE ONLY FOURTEEN!" Calla shouted.
"Don't blow a gasket young lady; considering the circumstance of your age, you won't have to choose a partner for another five years."
Calla suddenly remembered the men outside who had commented about her age, and she suddenly felt very sick.
"Look I understand this is a lot of information for you to take in, but you have to face the facts that you are growing up, and we need to think about what will happen in the future. We have to make plans sometime" Gran said as she sat in her favourite easy chair.
"We did have plans, until you interrupted them" Blue fumed.
"Listen kid, the only reason everyone calls me Gran is because I hate being called Boss or Chief or any of that kind of crap. But in reality I am a highly qualified medical doctor and biological scientist. And before I started this place, I worked on the Mars Project for my entire adult life. Everyone seems to have forgotten that the Earth is a dangerous place to be and it's only people like me, creating places like this, that will guarantee the long term survival of humanity on this planet."
"If you worked on the Mars Project then you know this planet is doomed, whether it be in one year or a hundred years" Blue said accusingly.
"So we were told but from what I've seen, it is impossible that a Planet Killer will ever hit the Earth. The most we have to contend with are meteorites that can cause a little damage, along with the occasional City Killer, and the next one of those isn't due in this area for another few weeks; and when it arrives, we'll be ready."
Blue and Abigail looked at each other in surprise.
"Are you trying to tell us you can predict future meteor strikes?" Blue asked doubtfully.
"I don't predict, I know! How I know is none of your business but the fact is, protecting the local population by spending most of our time underground, will ensure humanities survival for thousands of years" Gran continued before pulling at her collar.
She seemed to be feeling uncomfortable, and she was not the only one.
"Is it my imagination or is it getting hot in here?"
"Central thermostat must be on the blink again; I'll go check it" the other woman said as she turned to the door.
"Thanks Nancy" Gran Smiled.
So now Blue knew the names of Eric and Nancy. He hoped there would be no real need to remember those names, or learn those of any more of locals; he hoped he and the girls could somehow escape, and soon.
"I can understand what you're saying, most people live underground where we come from too. But you have to believe me when I say, we have important things to do so we can't stay here" Blue argued.
"Yes you can" Gran stated "Now that the Earth consists mainly of smaller village style groups, it is important that we don't all stay within our own communities. One of the things I worked on during my time with the Mars Project was biogenetic diversity, and now the Earth needs to consider the same thing. In time, if our population reaches acceptable levels, then you may be able to go home and even take some others from here with you. Then you could send back more people from your own home to live here; where did you say where you were from?"
"I didn't... and don't feel inclined to tell you either" Blue stated as he took of his jacket.
Although it was still bearable, the heat in the room was getting uncomfortable for anyone still wearing their heavy outdoor winter clothing, and soon the others in the room were also removing their coats.
"How long will it be before we can go home then?" Abigail asked "I don't think there would a problem with taking some of your people with us."
Gran arose from here chair and began to pace back and forth in front of the three.
"Glad to hear it" she smiled broadly "I would think you should be able to be on your way in about fifteen years or so."
Everybody's hearts sank at the mention fifteen years, but the argument soon continued.
"You're kidding; you can't force us to stay here for fifteen years!" Abigail hissed.
"Listen young lady, when you see how well this place is set up, and how good..."
Everyone looked at each other in confusion when Gran suddenly stopped speaking. She had a look on her face that combined surprise and anger as she stared down at the pocket of Abigail's shirt. The older woman then leapt forward and tore the shirt off the terrified girls shoulders. On the T-shirt she wore underneath, was a red circle with two letters and a number inside.
It read 'MB1'.
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Nice to see there are a few people giving this new story a go.
CAUTION: GROSS MEDICAL TALK AHEAD NOT SUITABLE FOR SQUEAMISH PERSONS.
Thanks Vin for your concern and kind words, but rest assured; I am definitely taking care of my health.
On the downside though, in order to keep my eyesight from getting any worse, I have to endure a series of injections in my right eye it for the next six months. Not painful but quite unpleasant. Don't worry though, everything is going great. The Doctor is really good at what he does, and the nurse holds my hand to keep me calm. I even sing during the procedure take my mind off it. ;)