"Can I help you?" A voice called from the back. I looked around and saw a curtain, it was pushed back and a giant man came through, saw me, and his jaw dropped. "Oh, shit. Uh- miss- I mean, Young Lady, are you lost?"
I shook my head. "No. I want to see this. It's fascinating. Are you giving a tattoo right now?"
He swallowed. "I am. Uh-- does your Daddy know you're here?"
"It's fine. I'll be quick, canIsee how you do it? I like to draw."
"What's your name?" He stared at me as if trying to decidesomething.
"Eleanor, please sir, I don't get to do stuff like this often."
He sighed and waved me back. "Don't touch anything. And you have to stand. I don't want to get your pink dress dirty. If they ask, Itoldyou to leave," he warned.
"Understood."
The artist took me through the process, explaining the anatomy of his machine, what he was doing totheskin, and how he learned to do it.
"I apprenticed for a long time beforeIgot to own my shop. Maybe once you're out of the program you can come down and I'll teachyoua thing or two."
The bell chimedjustas my heart began to soar with hope. Could I do this one day?
"Hello? One of our Young Ladies has gone missing, and if she's not found,the warden will be placing the bunker into an emergency state." A familiar voice sent an electric bolt of fear through me. Callahan.
He stepped through the curtain andhiseyes fell upon me and then the tattoo artist. I squeezed my hands together at my chest and shrunk into myself as he stared at me. I stared back at Callahan in fear. He and Milton were best friends, but he hated me. Why did it have to be him, of all people, to find me?
"Please, don't tell anyone," I whispered. "I just love art."
Callahan's eyes shifted from me totheman tattooing and back to me. He looked panicked. Heopenedhis mouth and shut it multiple times before nodding.
"Your secret is safe with me. Let's go."
Chapter 10 - Callahan
Don’t rat on your fellow DITs.
"What happened, soldiers?" Cecil, the DITs’ warden, barked when the door to the rec hall slammed closed.
When we stayed silent, Cecil growled, "Someone better fucking speak. We have a Daddy dead and a DIT missing. What the fuck happened out there?"
Silence.
"Well, then. If no one cares to explain, we'll just have to deal with the consequences. There'll be no more alcohol, cigarettes, and no excursions until we get some answers."
Lewis bolted up. "Sir, we had nothing to do with the crawlie attack. We did our best out there. I need my smokes."
Cecil clicked his tongue. "I see, now we know something. It was a crawlie attack?"
"Yes, sir," Lewis lied. My jaw tightened, and I fought back the urge to kick the back of his calf and knock him to his knees. Fucking rat bastard.
"And where were all of you?" Cecil paced as he interrogated us. The warden was one of the first children in the bunker. He still remembered what it was like before the bombs, and he never let us forget it. "Because it looks like you just let Dale getmurdered in cold blood by one of those pumped-up, radiation-filled monsters, and our best and brightest DIT was taken. How many were there?"
"Too many for us to fight off. We barely got the girls back to the bus," Russel said. "I don't know where they came from. I've never seen that many in one place."
"Did you deviate from the approved plans?" Cecil demanded. All of us tightened our lips. If the warden found out that we'd found a way to turn the power back on, he'd whip our bare asses until one of us closed our eyes for good. I kicked Lewis, still standing.
"No, sir. Everything was going just as planned," he answered.
"And no one knows where Milton went?" Cecil shook his head. It was suspected that Milton and Cecil were related. Not only was he undeservedly at the top of our class, but the many physical resemblances were not just a coincidence. Any of us could have died and it wouldn't have been a big deal, but it wasn't just anyone. It was Milton.
