Chapter 5:
Jenny was too busy running for her life to be afraid. She knew, of course, about the tunnels. Most people who lived Below knew about the creatures that lived there. The Terrra-rats that could kill and eat a human being in a matter of seconds, depending on how large the swarm was.
Whatever was behind them, if they were worse than the rats, then she would take the tunnels.
Besides, Jessica seemed to know what she was doing.
Not for the first time since she had met Jessica aboard that slave ship masquerading as a bride ship, Jenny found herself wishing that she could be more like the other woman.
When Marik and his brothers had taken the ship, it had been Jessica and several others who had fought back, clawing and kicking and punching, but it had been clear that it was Jessica who had the most combat skills even then. As for herself? Well, she had cowered in a corner, praying that this would not be the end of her life. That she would somehow manage to make it back to her home planet and find Ben.
As they reached the entrance to the tunnel and then went down, it hit her that that dream had come true.
She was back. Now what she had to do was find Ben.
Those thoughts drifted apart as they carefully made their way over a series of upper bridges made of rotting rope and rusting steel. Every step could be the last one that she took, and she knew that. The rats were below, their long teeth flashing in the dimness and their stinking bodies slunk low toward the trash-strewn floors.
Some piles of garbage were so high that the rats could scamper up the sides of it, and they did, climbing those piles as if they were hills that they were used to strolling. Marik hissed in a breath and yanked her forward just as one particularly vicious and brave Terra rat launched itself off the top of a pile. Talon drew his weapon and blasted it.
A thick and disgusting stink filled the air. The rat fell backward, quite dead. It landed on the floor, and its fellows ran to it. The sound of their feasting on the dead thing made her stomach churn.
What had happened in her absence? Everything, obviously. War had come, and open rebellion had begun. The rebellion had been between those who lived Below and those who lived above ground, but that rebellion had ended when the Federation traitors and the parasitic race known as the Borlites had come streaking out of the skies, intent on destroying the planet and the humans upon it so that the parasitic race could take it over.
Everything was ruined and wrecked. Her heart ached at the sight of so much destruction. She had never seen the above ground, but from what she always heard, it was beautiful.
Maybe it had been then, but it was nothing but devastation now.
Marik’s words to her aboard the ship came back to her. Maybe it could be beautiful again once things healed.
That thought gave her hope and a slight sense of courage as she raced across yet another rickety and dangerous rope bridge slung high above the trash piles and the rats. The rats continued to stalk them, and those who were carrying the chest were in the greatest danger simply because they were weighed down so heavily. Her heart pounded and thumped with every step, and she knew that she was not the only one who was afraid.
They made a sharp turn and came up against the closed vault door. Jessica beat on it and then tried to open it.
Jessica looked at them all with worry on her face. “The codes no longer work. The power outages have probably done that.”
Marik strode forward. “Let me try.”
They all stood there, their eyes trained on both Marik and the rats below. The sound of their teeth gnashing together and snapping, their low, squealing cries made the hair on the back of Jenny’s neck stand up, and she shivered. What if they were trapped there now? They had Rovers behind them and rats below them.
It was a fate she did not want to consider and thankfully did not have to. Marik said, “I think I can do this.”
He put his hands on the spokes of the turning mechanism and then he pulled. His massive body strength was evident as he strained and tugged. Talon joined him. Jenny could see that the door was trying to open but that it was still not willing to do so. Unwilling to stand there and do nothing while death came for her, she raced in. Her body nestled in close to Marik’s and the heat of his body and the straining muscles moving against her flesh made sweat and heat run all through her nerve endings.
She tamped that down. Her fingers found the spoke on the turning mechanism and she tugged downward. Marik did as well, and Talon, on the other side, pushed forward. Jessica also came in to assist. They strained and pulled and just when it seemed that everything was lost, the door issued a low and awful screech that made shivers run up and down Jenny’s back. It came open, and they dashed inside.
Talon managed to reset the lock and Jenny watched as he did so. “What if we need to get back out?”
Marik shook his head. “I guess that’s something we’ll have to worry about then.”
Jessica said, “We will get out another way.”
The corridors were silent and hushed. They walked along them quietly, none of them willing to disturb that silence that had fallen in the empty space. Jenny stared at him, confused. It was clear that once there had been people there. There were empty spaces outlined against walls, proof that something had once rested there.
She asked, “What is this place?”
Jessica said, “At one time it was the heart of the rebellion. It was the headquarters.”
Jessica’s mouth went flat as she spoke and Jenny glanced over at her. It was clear that was not something that she wanted to speak about, and it was equally clear that she knew that from personal experience. Had Jessica helped to take down the rebellion?
