Chapter Two
Someone tapped her shoulder and shook her awake.
"Wakey wakey, sleepy head." Eric whispered. Savine slowly opened her eyes to find Eric standing in front of her, arm outstretched. He grabbed her hand and pulled her up with a little groan.
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
Eric walked over to the doors of the train car and pulled it open just a little more. Bright sunlight shot through the car and a cool breeze blew in. It carried a faint smell of fresh pine leaves and grass. Savine took a small peek outside and was astonished. A gigantic building loomed over the train track. The trees around it did a terrible job at hiding it. The windows were bright blue and streaked from one side of the building to the other. The outside of the building was all painted white, and near the front, there was a pair of what looked like blast doors. A few hundred feet away from the building was a sturdy looking metal wall, floodlights and barbwire ringed around the top. There was also a large sign that hung from the wall that read; WARNING MINEFIELD – property of
"Talk about fortified," Eric huffed, walking towards the doors. Savine nodded and walked back inside. She plopped down on top of an old crate. Its lock glinted in the sunlight and caught her attention. She held it in her hand and inspected it. supply crate #92 was inscribed onto the steel lock. Savine didn't think much of it and let it drop and dangle from the chain that held it close to the large box.
"Let's go outside, get some fresh air ya know?" Eric motioned for her to exit the car with him. She jumped off the crate and skipped over to the exit. Eric helped her get down and held her steady, incase she fell. She took another look at the building and noticed things she didn't earlier. A decent sized dam blocked off some of the water from the large lake. Probably used for getting power. Some electrical cables ran from the rooftop to a small plant near the base of the building. Another waterfall was located by the left side of the building and it ran into a man-made moat in front of the walls.
"What are you guys looking at?" A quiet voice asked from behind. Startled, Savine and Eric both whirled around to find the masked figure standing behind them, cat on his shoulder, licking his paw. He extended his hand and said," Good morning." Eric and Savine both shook it.
"So… what are you guys looking at?" He questioned again.
"Just the white power plant," Eric replied," er… at least I think it is." while taking his toque off and scratching his head. Savine just nodded.
"I see," the masked man said as if he was deep in thought," what are your names?"
"I'm Savine, this is Eric," Savine said while gesturing towards herself, and her new friend.
"Ah, I see," the masked man paused again," I'm Andrew, but you may call me Andy." He smiled and pet his cat on the head.
"Nice to meet you," Eric said," uh…nice cat?"
"Thank you."
"So…." Savine tried to strike up a conversation. Just then, the train whistled and a cloud of smoke rose from the engine.
"We'd better get back inside; the train is starting to leave again." Andy mentioned for them to follow as he helped his kitten get into the car.
"Careful," the masked man reminded the two as they clambered onto the car. Within moments, the train began to chug down the track, leaving the power plant. Savine felt something crawl on her leg and looked down. The white kitten curled up and sat on her lap, rubbing its head on her arm until she pet her.
"I think she likes you," Andy mused, a small chuckle leaving his lips. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette. From his other pocket, he pulled out a lighter and went to light the cigarette, now dangling from his mouth. Eric walked over to Savine and reached his hand out. He scratched the kitten behind its ears and knelt down so he was level with its face.
"Hey there little guy" The answer he got was a small mew.
"Her names Marshmallow," Andy offered as he took a puff from his cigarette.
"Hi there Marshmallow," Savine coaxed and ticked its tummy. Marshmallow squealed in delight.
"How much longer?" Eric asked, clearly tired of riding on the train. Andy checked his watch and replied," Ten more minutes." And then he went back to puffing on his cigarette and staring out the opened doors of the car.
To their delight, ten minutes later, the train clunked to a stop. A loudspeaker sounded outside of the long line of cars," WE HAVE REACHED OUR DESTINATION. PLEASE EXIT THE CARS AND LINE UP BESIDE THE ENGINE FOR A HEAD COUNT. " The message ended in a cringe worthy screech as the intercom was being disconnected.
"Let's go," Savine bound over to the doors and leapt out. She looked over her shoulder to check if the two men were following her. Sure enough, she saw Andy and Eric jump out of the car and land on the gravel that covered the tracks. They made their way towards the engine.
At the engine the trio was joined by two others. A man wearing a red trench coat, a military grade helmet, and a few ammo pouches strapped to his thigh. The woman beside the man with the helmet was wearing a red tank top and had a bandana over her hair. She also sported a pair of baggy, gray, pants with a deep pocket on each side. She nodded as they walked towards the head of the engine. The man with the helmet waved back. He looked about the age of 30. The woman with the bandana was juggling a pair of grenades in her hand. She looked over at Savine and smiled. She was about the age of 25, three years older than Savine.
"What's up," a man said as he exited the top of the train engine where the conductor sits. "I trust you are all well rested?" Everyone nodded. "Good, follow me, we will be proceeding in foot for the rest of the way. The Administrator wants the base hidden as best as possible."
The six people walked deeper into the forest, all silent. The conductor jerked up all of a sudden ad whipped around.
"What?" The woman with the bandana asked.
"Just checking to see if you are all present," the conductor sighed, and continued leading the way.
Andy turned to the pair of new acquaintances and asked for names.
"I'm Buck," the man with the helmet answered. Then he pointed to his "friend"," that's Sylvie.
She glanced over and did a casual salute, pointing to the sky with two fingers.
"Nice to meet you," Eric offered his hand out. Buck gave him a fist bump while Sylvie actually shook it.
"What positions?" Savine asked, trying hard to not sound awkward.
"Well isn't it quite obvious?" Buck replied, adjusting his Kevlar that was strapped to his chest. He chuckled and explained," I'm the Soldier, Sylvie's the demo expert"
He then leaned closer to the three and whispered as he put his hand around his mouth," just in case I forget, Sylvie's a mute. She can't talk. The only thing she every mentioned was that she was caught in an unlucky series of events. Don't ask her about it though, she gets really touchy. On the train, I asked her why she was so quiet, and she threw her grenade launcher at me."
"I'll take a note of that," Andy mused as he attempted to light another cigarette. But the breeze was blowing the fire out and pushing the smoke back into their faces. Savine saw Eric scrunching up his face. She rolled her eyes and kept on walking. The group hiked in silence for another ten minutes or so until the conductor broke the silence.
"Welcome to RED base lads, we have reached our destination." He then pointed to the small cluster of building underneath a clearing of trees. It wasn't much to look at. Two huge main sections of the base were painted in red, along with a logo of Reliable Excavation and Demolition painted onto the side. A small wooden hallway connected the bigger buildings to three bunkers. Infront of the bunkers were a pair of garages, and beside that , there sat a rickety tower with a satellite dish perched on top.
"What a sight for sore eyes…" Buck murmured. The conductor just laughed.
"C'mon, I bet it looks better on the inside than the outside," Eric said, trying to be optimistic. But the look on his face told Savine otherwise. Behind them Marshmallow meowed in disgust and slid inside Andy's jacket. Sylvie shrugged and proceeded to the clearing. The conductor led them towards the front of the base. There was a sign that read; RED CAMP DO NOT ENTER UNLESS AUTHORIZED.
A sad looking booth sat in front of the camp, behind it was a wooden wall that encircled the entire place. A bored looking man sat up and fumbled his way to the window. He pulled a lever and the doors attached to the wall opened. The conductor instructed them to go inside the main building. On its walls hung more propaganda posters; this time of a muscular man revving up a minigun. Under it were faded captions that were barely readable.
"I gotta go," the conductor mentioned," you guys just enter the main building to your right and someone should fill you in on the details." He turned towards the booth and stalked over to the exit.
Eric swung open the main doors and held it open for Sylvie and Savine.
"Ladies first."
Sylvie smiled at him and entered, Savine trailing behind her.
"Aren't you a gentleman?" Savine joked once they were all inside.
"I just like being polite." Eric answered, slightly turning pink.
Buck looked around and at the receptionists' desk," there's no one here."
"I see," Andy said, as if deep in thought again. Everyone looked around the room to see if anyone was to be found. After a while they gave up. Savine pulled a chair from the desk and slumped in it. She watched specks off dust float around in the air as the sun beams shone through the only window in the room. Sylvie started juggling grenades again and Andy lit another cigarette. Buck stared at yet another propaganda poster on the wall. Now it was a young lad standing on an unconscious body dressed in blue. In his hand, he held a bloodied base ball bat. The only readable caption on the bottom of the poster was the date, 1978.
"You shouldn't smoke ya know, you might get cancer," Eric nudged Andy with his elbow while trying to impersonate the narrator of one of those, "don't take drugs or alcohol" commercials. Andy arched his eyebrows and replied in an irritated voice," I'll keep that in mind."
After a few more moments of silence, a creak of un-oiled hinges sounded behind Savine.
"Good, you're all here, let's get started, shall we?"