Chapter 6

Three of Seven spoke, “Sir, the Raiders have stopped. They appear to be making camp at you designated target point.”

“Is there any indication from them that they know where they are?” One of One asked.

“No, Sir. They just appear to be making camp.”

“Show me,” One of One ordered.

An oval shaped image projected from the material’s seam surrounding One of One’s face appeared in front of him. He watched four men and two women working to erect a small canvas shelter.

“How long would it take to get a weapon asset out here?” One of One asked.

“A small stealth drone could be there in thirty-four minutes,” Three of Seven answered. “But you are beyond their point of not return. You would have to either pack the drone back in or destroy it.”

“That’s what I figured,” One of One responded. “And something larger, would be larger. Wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, Sir,” Three of Seven answered. “Something larger might draw notice to your presence.”

“Cut the image,” One of One ordered. The campsite’s image disappeared. “Keep the drone monitoring the spot. I’ll take care of it,” One of One stated.

“Yes, Sir,” mission control answered.

One of One started forward with his covering drones moving along with him.

“Sir?” Three of Seven asked cautiously.

“Yes.”

“Four of Seven is here to take over. My shift is over,” Three of Seven answered.

“Okay, have a good evening,” One of One responded.

“Thank you, Sir. Good luck, Sir,” Three of Seven replied.

“Four of Seven, how long to sunset?” One of One asked.

“Forty-five minutes to sunset, Sir. You are on schedule to arrive in fifteen minutes,” Four of Seven answered.

One of One picked up his pace slightly as he headed up the next slope. When he reached the crest he looked for the Raiders but they were two more rolling, hill crests away. He started down the current hill, the drones following.

Thirteen minutes later One of One stood on the hilltop looking down into the trough between crests. The Raiders, having seen him, were closing ranks around the shelter in a defensive posture.

With the sun nearing the horizon, the bottom area where the Raiders stood fell into the shadow of the hills.

“Four of Seven?” One of One called. “I don’t see any evidence that they are looking for the spot. Do you see anything?”

“No, Sir. We have done a full spectrum check. They seem to be campers,” Four of Seven answered.

“That’s a pity,” One of One said quietly. He raised his right hand up, palm outward toward the Raiders and their tent. One of One heard them shouting something at him. He was either to far away to understand them or he did not recognize their dialect. The drone drivers had a running discourse going on behind his left ear. Four of Seven was silent.

One of One spread the fingers of his right-hand wide. There was burst of light from his palm, followed by a ‘whoosh’ of wind. The trough between the two hill crests was empty. One of One moved down into the growing shadows. “Please bring one of the drones down and light the spot for me,” he ordered.

“Yes, Sir,” Four of Seven answered.

One of One heard the order given on his right and the affirmative given on his left. A drone dove in and hovered two meters above the spot where the Raider shelter had been.

One of One walked to the spot as the drone lifted higher in the air to give him space. One of One stomped heavily on the ground. A hollow, metallic sound returned.

“Dead on,” One of One said quietly. He raised his voice, “Four of Seven, open says me.”

“Yes, Sir.”

One of One felt a tremor under foot and he stepped to the side. Dirt was vibrating in a circular shape about two meters wide. One edge lifted up showing a dark line around it. The dark area increased in size as the large, round door opened up from the ground.

“Four of Seven, can you give me some light down there?” One of One asked.

“Yes, Sir. Right away Sir.”

The drone above One of One moved slightly and shone its light down the open shaft, illuminating a long flight of metal stairs.

“Just like it said,” One of One commented as he moved to the opening.

Chapter 7

Larson led Dorothy to the tunnel opening and handed her a lantern. He pointed to the dark hole.

“This where you need to start. Okay? Remember, you are looking for children. If you find them, you need to tell them we are here in peace. We don’t want to hurt anyone. Can you remember all that?” he asked.

Dorothy nodded.

“Okay then,” Larson continued, pulling a match from his pocket, “let me light the lantern.” Larson took the lantern and opened one of its shutters. He struck the match and lit the wick inside the lantern. He snapped the shutter closed, shook out the match flame and handed the lantern back to Dorothy.

“Do you know how to count to five?” Larson asked her.

“Yes, Sir. I can count to ten!” Dorothy answered proudly.

“That’s great,” Larson smiled and stroked Dorothy's hair. “I need to go outside and get the men ready to help with the children you find, so I need you to wait till I leave, then count to five before you go into the tunnel. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir. You go. I count to five. Then I go,” Dorothy answered proudly.

“You’re a smart little girl,” Larson beamed. He bent down and hugged Dorothy. She hugged him back with her left arm as her right held the lantern.

Larson released his hug and pulled away. He stood up and backed to the door. He stopped at the threshold, “Are you ready to count?”

Dorothy nodded. Larson stepped outside counting to himself.

-One.-

“All of you, get away from the house!” Larson shouted. “If there is an explosion, it could be big.”

-Two.-

“Put some space between you and the house,” he shouted waving his arms.

-Three.-

“And circle up! Someone could run out!”

-Four.-

The Raiders raced around following the orders.

-Five.-

-Six.-

-Seven.-

Silence. Larson looked around.

-Eight.-

“Wolf!” a small voice called. “Wolf!”

Larson searched inside and then outside the Raider perimeter. Finally he saw the small arm waving above the tip of Dorothy's head barely sticking out of the tunnel’s exit fifty meters from the shack.

“Hold your positions!” Larson ordered the Raiders as he ran out to Dorothy.

“Did you find anyone?” Larson asked as he came up to her.

Dorothy looked up from the hole smiling at Larson. “No, Sir. I didn’t see nobody,” she answered.

“Okay then. Give me your hand,” he ordered. “And hold onto that lantern.”

Larson took Dorothy's raised arm and pulled her from the tunnel. He sat her down on the side nearest the shack.

“There’s my woman, Maude,” he said pointing back to the women and children grouped near the shack. “Do you see her?”

“Yes, Sir,” Dorothy answered.

“Okay then, run and take the lantern to her and stay with her,” he ordered. “Now go!”

Dorothy took off running as fast as she could with the lantern banging against her.

Larson turned and studied the earth around the tunnel’s exit. As he mover farther away from the opening he found what he was looking for, footprints.

Larson turned to the Raiders and shouted, “Hump! Get up here!” He turned back to the tracks.

A bent, misshapen man separated from the Raiders and struggled forward to Larson.

“Boss?” he asked when he reached Larson.

“There are tracks here,” Larson pointed to the ground. “How many and who?” he demanded.

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Hump moved up beside Larson examining the ground of tracks in front of them. He stepped forward two steps and bent slowly down to one knee, examining the earth.

“A woman, two kids. The kids look to be the same size, probably girls,” Hump stated.

“Follow ‘em,” Larson ordered and he turned back to the Raiders and signaled them to come up.

Hump slowly stood up then moved forward following the tracks. By the time he moved into the crop and the hanging root feeders all the Raiders, led by Larson, were following behind him.

Chapter 8

Kate's mother reached out to the twins. “Give me your hands girls,” she ordered. “This is not a game. It is not practice. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Mom,” they both answered.

“We need to be like Kate. We have to move fast. Let's go!” She held their little hands tightly and started off into the field in a different direction than Kate had taken. She did not look in Kate's direction. She did not look back at the house. She let the field and its tentacled roots swallow her and the twins up.

“Kate, stop!” Kate's mother shouted.

Kate stopped at the edge of the field. Her next step would have been inside the dangling roots. She turned to look at her mother.

“You are not a milk cow nor a sheep,” her mother said walking over to Kate. She squatted down beside Kate and looked at her, eye to eye.

“Where did you go into the field the first time?” she asked.

“Right here,” Kate answered pointing to the spot, which would have been her next step.

“How do cows and sheep and some people walk to a place?” her mother asked.

“I don't know,” Kate answered. “I've never seen a cow or a sheep. How do they walk to a place?

Kate's mother smiled. “That's right. It's been that long, hasn't it?” she said wistfully. “I'm not sure they walk anywhere, anymore. But, before Soft War there were cows and sheep that lived on the surface, on large ranches, and they walked everywhere on the ranch, eating grass.” she explained softly to Kate. “You know what grass was don't you?”

Kate nodded.

“Well, the cows and sheep were able to walk anywhere they wanted on the big ranches. But they always wound up following each other and that made paths and then they just followed the paths. Anyone, anything, knew where the cows and sheep were. All they had to do was follow the path and they would find them.”

Kate's mother pulled Kate close to her and hugged her tightly. She held Kate so tightly that Kate could feel the baby move inside her mother's tummy.

“When the Softwar corporations hacked and crashed each others computers, every computer crashed. Everything was just too interconnected. Power plants melted down, gas lines exploded, dams burst, planes fell out of the air. And then it got worse.”

Kate's mother continued talking softly, holding Kate tightly. “That's when your father and I moved down here into the tunnels, away from everyone and everything. Your father was one of the first to tease the roots down from the surface and use them to grow potatoes using the surface plants as surrogate light and oxygen exchangers. But we left paths and people followed us.”

Kate twisted to look at her mother. Her mother was crying.

“We learned how not to make paths and leave trails, Kate. And you have to learn that too. Never walk the same path twice!” Kate's mother pulled away so that she and Kate could look into each others eyes.

“You have to learn that! You're a smart, clever girl, but it's not safe in this world. It never was, but it's even worse now. Do you understand?”

Kate stood stiffly, like a soldier at attention, and answered, “Yes, Mom. I'll never be a cow or a sheep. No one will ever be able to follow me.”

Kate's mother pulled her close and hugged her tightly.

“Your father and I love you so much, Sweetheart. We don't want you to be scared. We just want you to always safe.”

“I'm not scared Mommy,” Kate said into her mother's shoulder. “I'll always be safe.”

“Good,” Kate's mother said and she let go of Kate and stood up wiping her eyes. “Now, which way is the first safe spot?”

Kate pointed to the left.

“And how are you going to get there?”

Kate pointed to the right and then moved her arm in a zigzag motion.

“That's our big girl,” her mother exclaimed. “Now, RUN!”

Kate flashed away into the field.

Extended down from the top of the tunnel the roots were a helter skelter mass filling the tunnel above the field. Near the ceiling they were tightly bunched together but as they descended the longest ones became more separated, more individual. Near the ground they thinned out and only the longest ones were groomed down to the ground where they were grafted onto the field's rows of potato tubers with the tubers acting as a part of the above ground plant.

Kate stood just inside the field. Behind her was the light from the house. In front of her the field quickly cut off all the light and she would be moving in the dark, alone.

“It's no different than when Mom's with me. I will not be scared. But how can I walk without creating a path?”

She looked up at the dangling root system.

“Maybe I can walk on top of the plants?

That could tear up the plants and ruin all of Dad's hard work.

Mom said to never walk the same path. And that she and Dad wanted me to be safe.

I can try.”

Kate took hold of one of the roots grafted onto the tubers. It was as big around as her wrist and cool to the touch and hard to hold onto. It had little hair like strings dangling along its length. She pulled herself up on the top of the tuber. Her feet were off the ground. She left no path to follow!

She stretched forward and took hold of another root. It was smaller around, easier to hold onto. But when she stepped forward the root/tuber graft broke and she fell sprawling into the field.

Kate muttered one of her Dad's words as she scrambled back to her feet.

“Use only the big ones, silly.”

She grabbed a large root and pulled herself up and off the ground. She found another large root and moved forward two feet. Then the next root was off to her right and then she was another two feet forward. Kate dropped to the ground and sprinted ahead a couple of yards and then repeated the process, angling deeper into the field and toward here safe spot.

“It's slow, but I'll get faster with practice. No one will be able to follow me!”

Chapter 9

One of One stepped into the tunnel opening. “Four of Seven, get the drones out of here. I won’t need them for a while.”

“Yes, Sir,” Four of Seven responded. “Do you want one to stay on site until you return?”

“No. There is no telling how long I will be engaged below. And no telling where I will reemerge. Just get them home.”

“Yes, Sir,” Four of Seven acknowledged. The drone lighting the stairwell zoomed up into the sky and headed back to the green wall.

One of One did not follow its actions. He unslung his backpack, set it down on the top stair and opened it. He removed a hand torch, shoes and a roll of clothes from the pack and set them down on the stair.

One of One rolled the black material back and off his shaved head, down his neck to his shoulders. He pulled the material opening wide enough to free his shoulders, withdrew his arms, and rolled the material on down his waist to his legs. He pulled his legs out of the covering and continued to roll and compress the material into a small cylinder shape the size of his index finger. He put the uniform in the backpack and unrolled his clothes.

The pants he unrolled were tattered and patched corduroy. They may have been green at one time but were a blackish, brown now. He slid his legs into them and pulled them up to his waist. There was a cord with the clothes he used to cinch the pants tight. The shirt he slid over his head was a crew neck thing. It was not cleaner than the pants, but smelt worse. Something had been smeared onto it. The shoes were leather, from something. They were worn and had no laces. They curled up at the ends as they were many sizes to large for One of One’s feet.

One of One looked at himself then said to Four of Seven, “I am going down now. Close this door. You will hear from me when you hear from me.”

“Yes, Sir. Copy that,” Four of Seven answered. “Good luck, Sir,” he added.

One of One did not respond. He picked up the backpack and the torch and stepped down three steps, turned and grasped the edge of the door and pulled it down toward him. The door closed slowly after him on pneumatic and made a slight hissing noise as it sealed itself closed. The stairwell went dark and the sounds from behind One of One’s ears stopped.

One of One turned on the torch and stepped down the long flight of stairs. At the base of the stairs he stepped onto a soft, earthen floor. He bent down and pickedup a handful of dirt and threw it into his face and over his head. A second handful he tossed on the backpack. It looked sufficiently dirty so he moved on into the tunnel. The torch was his biggest worry now. Would there be others like it down here?

One of One dialed down the brightness of the torch to its lowest level. He was able to dimly see in a two-meter radius. The earth was soft and level under foot as he advanced down the tunnel. The tunnel itself was a small feeder line only three meters wide. The walls were steel, cold but dry to One’s touch.

After twenty-three minutes of walking One stopped and turned off the torch. The tunnel was pitch black while he waited for his eyes to adjust. Eight minutes of waiting and far ahead One could see a difference in the black shading.

-Another three kilometers.- One slipped off the backpack and put the torch into it and then he tossed the bag to the ground.

-No reason to take a chance.-

One reached out to the tunnel wall with his right hand and started walking, sliding his fingers along the wall as his guide.

Slowly the light grew brighter. One could hear sounds, sounds of people. Not conversations but people noises.

One stepped out of the small tunnel into a broad tunnel with a soaring ceiling. He looked around at the village before him.

Chapter 10

Just two meters into the crop Hump stopped and stared down at the ground. He looked to his right and then to his left. The light from the pole lit the area well.

“Have you lost them already, Hump?” Larson demanded.

Hump turned slowly around to look at Larson. “No,” he answered shaking his head slightly. “No, I was just making sure I saw everything clearly, Boss.” He turned back around and veered off to his right. Not mentioning the lone set of tracts leading to their left.

“Everyone needs to be quiet,” Hump instructed. “You all sound like a herd of elephants. We won’t sneak up on anyone that way,” he added.

Larson spun around and raised his right fist. He waved it warningly at the Raiders as he hissed silence at them.

The Raiders instantly fell silent, dropping their heads in fear of Larson’s anger.

Larson turned back around to follow Hump.

-That smart man Hump. He probably thinks I don’t know what an elephant is. When I don’t need him anymore, I’ll show him, again. He’ll think he got off easy last time with that busted back.-

With the Raiders silent behind him, Hump moved through the tangle of roots watching carefully. Sometimes there were no footprints for several meters. It looked like their prey moved on top of the plants sometimes, maybe swinging from the hanging roots. Other times the footprints were plainly visible as though those fleeing did not know they were being followed.

Hump raised his right hand in a clinched stop command. Then he raised two fingers, and then a third. Larson moved up beside him.

“Hump?” Larson whispered.

“A woman, two kids,” Hump answered. He motioned for silence.

Larson listened with all his might. He did not hear anything. Hump motioned with his right in a direction just off to his right.

Larson turned to the Raiders and make his swinging arm gesture. The men began to fan out to the right side.

Hump stepped softly forward, listening intently. With his raised right hand he raised two fingers, clinched his fist, then raised three fingers. He repeated the gesture.

Larson moved along behind Hump as he stepped forward two more steps. Hump stopped and pointed to the nest of roots in front of him.

Larson could hear small voices. He looked intently at the roots, tilting his head to the right then to the left trying to catch what light he could.

With the light from the house filtering through the field he made out a small space that was darker than the surrounding earth. And as he stared Larson saw a movement within the darkness.

Larson leaped past Hump and thrust his right arm beneath the thatched roots and into the hole grabbing something, someone by the hair.

Kayla screamed.

Kate’s mother grabbed Larson’s arm and bit into it.

Larson swung his arm, with Kayla still in his grip, and knocked Kay backward, making her release her bite. He pulled Kayla, kicking and screaming, out of the hole beneath the field by her hair.

The Raiders, who had encircled the spot, closed in around.

“Get out of there or I’ll kill the girl,” Larson roared. He pulled Kayla to him by her hair and clutched her by the throat with his left hand. Kayla made a small, muffled mewing sound.

“Don’t hurt her,” Kay screamed pushing herself out of the burrow and rushing to Kayla.

When Kay was within reach Larson swung his left arm, smashing into Kay’s face, knocking her to the ground unconscious.

“Don’t ever bite a man!” he shouted. “Check that burrow,” he ordered.

Hump, who was closest, did not move. He looked at Kay lying on the ground.

“Someone get in there!” Larson roared waving his left fist at the circle of men. Two men scrambled forward on their hands and knees and began to probe into the hole. They found Kaylie and pulled her out.

“Twins,” Larson beamed. “Beautiful twins. They’re mine,” he stated and looked every, single man in the ring in the eye, waiting for someone to argue. No one did.

“I need a rope!” Larson commanded. One of the Raiders unwound a length of cord from his waist and handed it to Larson.

Larson knotted one end around Kayla’s neck then he moved forward and took Kaylie from her captors and knotted the other end of the cord around her neck. He pulled both girls, choking, to Hump.

“Hump, you’re the only person I trust to take these things back to Maude,” Larson laughed tying the cord to Hump’s right wrist. “And if they don’t make it back to Maude, she’ll pay for it. And you’ll watch. Do you understand?”

Hump nodded. “I understand, Larson”

Larson laughed again. “That’s right. Now get out of here with them. I am being considerate of yours and their feelings. The men need to relax a little and this here woman will fill the need.”

A cheer went up from the Raiders, “Wolf, Wolf, Wolf!”

Hump pulled heavily on the cord bringing Kayla and Kaylie close to him. “Hurry girls, we need to get away from here,” he whispered to them.