Only those I had grown to trust most carried the rations. Makeshift packs were fastened out of spare cloth, rolled and slung across their bodies. They marched at the back with the children and their mothers. The rear was always the safest place in a large group like that. The burliest among them, I placed at the front. Most of them were part of the raiding party, at least the ones who weren’t carrying supplies.

They trudged forward mile after mile, meandering toward the tower base. I figured we would be there in a day, two tops. If it could be helped, I wouldn’t bed down to rest in an unknown section of tunnel. But then again, it was out of my control. All I could do was run the line, keeping people motivated to continue, rounding up stragglers, and pushing them to the front.

With everyone together, strung out as far as the corridor would allow me to see, I was in awe of the sheer number of refugees we had picked up. I was out of breath jogging up to the front of the pack, bumping off the rough-cut walls as I squeezed past marchers. The air hung heavy with dust from all those trampling feet. I had to keep moving or else risk the encroaching feeling of suffocation.

One of the pack carriers walked in the opposite direction, handing out kebabs of skewered meat. The children he passed eagerly rushed to him, creating a log jam in the tunnel. He had to push them away to clear the path, but not without filling their grubby hands with a slab or two of meat. I shuddered. A cold bolt shot down my spine as I watched the young ones devour the flesh.

“How much further up?” I asked, passing the man bearing food.

“Still a ways yet. How close am I to the end?”

“Still a ways,” I replied.

“I’m going to need more rations, then.”

“Stretch what you have out as much as you can. No telling how long it’ll be until we find more.” More rations, not meat.

“I’ll do my best,” he replied, then waved, setting off further down the column.

I picked my way up the tunnel. The line slinkied, extending and contracting, forcing some to stop while others ran to catch up. Ahead, I noticed the pack leaders had stopped.

“Jack,” a familiar voice called out. I couldn’t tell which way it had come from. I met eyes with a young man. He shifted his gaze around before shaking his head no. I knew it wasn’t him, but my focus stopped on him while I waited for the next call. “Jack.” That’s Ariel. But where… ah.

Ariel was near the front, barely able to see over the men on her tiptoes as she waved. “Hold on, be right there,” I said.

She was at the very front with Julien in tow. “What are you doing up here?”

“What? I thought I could help navigate.”

“It’s not safe. You should really be back there with the–”

“Jack, I’m fine. Plus, look at my bodyguards,” she said, gesturing to the men around her. They were a head taller, and some I recognized. One in particular caught my eye. I couldn’t remember his name, but I remembered his face from when he sunk a blade into the back of a shopkeep’s skull. “Your map doesn’t have this junction.” Ariel held out a crude drawing with scribbled handwriting I recognized as my own. I knew this was bound to happen. James’s directions had been indispensable but not the most accurate.

“Well, what direction does the tunnel go on the map?” I asked, tilting my head to be in line with the drawing. It was difficult to discern the scribblings in the low candlelight. Flickering shadows overtook the rough lines drawn on the thin board we used as paper.

“If this distance is accurate,” she said as she traced her finger along the line.

“Its not exactly drawn to scale.”

“Drawn to what?”

“Scale. I wouldn’t trust the distances. They’re more of approximations.”

“OK, that makes things harder. But if this is right, we went left at this fork and then another left here. So, that should put us somewhere around here,” she said, smushing the tip of her finger into the board as if to make a point.

“Alright, that would mean the tunnel veers right up ahead.”

“Right tunnel it is,” she replied emphatically.

“Not so fast. We don’t know which way these tunnels lead. Better to scout ahead and report back,” I replied. I looked behind us and whistled. “Titus, up front. And give me two more.” Heads drooped. It took a moment to realize my mistake. I pushed a lump down in my throat and corrected, “I need three. Give me three volunteers.” Seven hands sprung up. Good, they’re learning. I picked the three nearest me, sending two down the right tunnel while I took the third down the left.

The corridor ran straight for about ten paces before climbing a slight gradient and veering right. I was relieved, feeling vindicated for checking first. But then my relief turned. “Shit,” I mumbled.

“What? This is good, right?” the young volunteer asked.

“Maybe. Depends on if the other tunnel also turned right. Come on, let’s get back.”

I turned, and my companion cheerfully raced ahead, stealing glances back as he jaunted down the hall.

“Do you think we’ll go on another raid?” he asked.

“I hope not.”

“I mean, we’ll have to, right? And when we do, I want to go.”

“No, you don’t,” I replied without thinking. The words just slipped out. I had seen a thousand like him. Eager to see action but unprepared to deal with the consequences. I was like him, too, once.

“I do. I want to help. See?.” He pulled out a dull sheet metal blade, its handle barely wrapped with a scrap of blouse. He grinned, swapping his gaze from me to the weapon. His face soured when I didn’t return his enthusiasm.

“Is it sharp?” I asked.

“I think so.”

“Here, let me see.” He placed it in my hands. I ran my finger down the blade, unable to apply enough pressure to break skin. “Needs to be sharpened. A dull knife isn’t much use.” His eyes dropped, and his lower lip puffed out. “It has a good weight, though. Just needs to be sharpened. We’ll get you sorted out when we get to the tower.”

The young man’s face lit up. His lips curled above crooked, stained teeth as I placed the knife back in his hand. He had a slight bounce in every step as we descended back to the junction.

“The path goes left,” Ariel said before I could speak.

“Good. That one goes right.”

“Isn’t that lucky?”

I flashed a raised brow back at her, waving the group into the tunnel I just emerged from. After the pack leaders passed, Ariel tugged at my shirt before I could make another round down the line. “What’s up?”

“They heard voices. In the other tunnel,” she said, tilting her head toward the right entrance.

“What kind of voices?”

“Crackly ones…”

“Crackly ones?” I asked.

“Yeah, like kshhhht,” she said, her hand muffling her mouth to make the sound.

Radios. “Did they here anything else?”

“No, not that I know of.”

“Where are they?”

“There,” she replied, raising a finger toward the two men about to head into the tunnel.

“Hey,” I called.

“Calonius,” Ariel whispered.

“Calonius, hey,” I called out again, shooting Ariel a thanking glance.

The young man turned, and I waved him back when I caught his eye.

“What did you hear in there?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Ah, like someone talking but…”

“Kshhhht,” Ariel made the sound again.

“Yeah, just like that. Then voices. Only, they were strange.”

“Crackly,” Ariel said, nodding to Calonius.

“That’s a good way to put it, yeah.”

“Anything else?” I asked.

“No. Just that,” Calonius said, looking anxiously toward his companion disappearing through the hole.

“You’ll catch up. How close did they sound?”

“Close. I could talk to them through the ceiling.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“The ceiling? They were above you?” I asked.

He nodded. “That’s it. They were there, and then they weren’t. We came back after the path bent left.”

“Thanks, Calonius,” I said, allowing him to leave and catch up with his group. I pondered for a moment. Radios meant capital guard. Constantine’s guys wouldn’t risk carrying open mic’d radios, not that they had them to begin with. If they’re that close, they have to be able to hear us. A sour taste spread through my mouth at the thought we were being tracked.

“What do you want to do?” Ariel asked, pulling me from thought.

“Keep going. There’s not much we can do but keep going.”

“Do you think they were from The Capital?”

I nodded, slipping into thought once more. What are they doing down here?

“Jack,” she said, continuing once she had my attention again, “are we going to be alright?”

“Yeah. I think so. We should pick up the pace, though, just in case.”

I left her and Julien to usher our group forward. Even with the pause, there were bound to be stragglers.

******

The concrete well returned a hollow echo as I stepped onto the first stair. I stared up at the winding case. I couldn’t see the top in the dark, but from memories of burning thighs climbing floor after floor, I knew how high it went.

I was exhausted from the march. And if I dreaded that awful climb, I knew the rest would be in a world of struggle. I momentarily contemplated halting the column and resting for a few hours before making the ascent. The first floor expanded out into a series of drab, empty rooms of concrete pillars and patches of glue where carpet once lay. In that new world, there wasn’t a need for offices because there wasn’t a need for companies or commerce, but that building looked as close to an abandoned corporate headquarters as I had ever seen. Still, we were on the ground floor, and it would only take a curious Capital Guard on a routine patrol to find us out. The upper reaches would be the safest place, and we couldn’t stop until we reached them.

I led, pulling myself up floor after floor. Every so often, I would peek over the railing. The walls moved, swaying and buckling with activity. Straining my eyes, I could see more people emerging from the tunnel entrance. We might need a few floors to house everyone. I started to worry about the food. We were low as it was and would need to venture back out in the next few days. I better get used to this climb. I thought, shaking out the fire in my quads. If we were to survive, I knew I would be leading raiding parties up and down the well at least once a week.

I climbed until the base wasn’t visible. Looking down, all I could see were winding stairs until they converged on a single black point. After a short break, I tried to continue, but my legs stiffened, and my knees refused to bend for another step. I leaned against the railing and pulled my hamstrings up one at a time, massaging the tendons. A few of the stronger climbers passed me, nodding as they went. I stuck out my palm to stop them.

“I don’t think I’m making it much further without a break,” I said with a light tone to hide my agony.

“How much further is it?” one of the men asked, flicking his head upward.

“It’s far. Two, maybe three hundred more floors.”

A young man released an exasperated sigh, leaning over the edge as he peered up into the heavens.

“What’s the plan, then?”

“We’ll stop here. Take as many floors as we need, but try to keep everyone together as much as possible.”

“I’ll pass the word,” he replied.

I stepped out of the stairwell and carefully entered the nearest room. It looked just like the others—wide open and barren, only broken up by square concrete columns. The windows lining the floor were dark. Only the garish green projections from adjacent buildings provided any light. We were high enough to be out of the purview of the patrols below but not high enough to escape the upper reaches of the fake facades, blanketing the simple architecture.

“All clear,” I called back. Refugees streamed in. In an unorderly, almost random fashion, they picked out a place on the floor and collapsed. Soon, the ground was littered with exhausted bodies. I stopped any more from entering and took them to the next floor, where the same procession played out again. We occupied five full floors and part of a sixth, where I found a peaceful corner overlooking a street cutting through the city.

“There you are,” I heard someone say, but I didn’t pay attention. I figured it was for someone else. “Jack, hey.”

“Oh, hey. Sorry, I didn’t recognize your voice there for a second,” I said, catching half of Ariel’s face lit up in a bluish-green neon.

“Is my voice that forgettable?”

“No, I just–”

“I’m messing with you,” she calmly replied as she sat beside me. “What a day.”

“Yeah,” I said, trailing with a slight chuckle. “We’re almost there, though.”

“Good call on stopping. I didn’t think I would be able to go much farther.”

“You and me both. I still can’t get my knee to bend right.”

“When was the last time you ate?” she asked.

“I…” I tried to recall. Had it been a day? Two? My mind was nearly as weak as my body, but had it been so long that I couldn’t remember?

“Jack, you need to eat. Take it from me. When you’re starving, your body locks up. Joints seize. Mussels spasm. You have to eat or its not going to get better.”

“I suppose you’re right. We just don’t have much left.”

“Well, that might be so, but we need you. So, eat.”

She was probably right. Without me, none of those people would’ve been there, for better or worse. They all decided on their own accord to follow, but I couldn’t help but feel guilty. I just wanted to help. I didn’t want their blind trust - trust that weighed more heavily every day. I owed it to them to be in the best possible position to make sound decisions.

“Where’s Julien?” I asked to change the subject.

“He’s over there,” she said, pointing to a dark figure curled up beside a column just beyond the light’s reach. “Where does this all end?” she asked after a moment of silence.

Taken off guard, I turned to find her wide eyes glinting off the light as they drilled into me. “How do you mean?”

“I mean, what will we do once we get to the top?”

“Lay low, I guess. Try to find a reliable food source.”

“That’s exactly what I’m getting at. What if we don’t? Are we just going to all pack up and move again?”

“ If that’s what it takes.”

“And go where?”

“I don’t know, Ariel. I haven’t…” What I wanted to say was I hadn’t thought it through. The most likely outcome would be the group’s slow dissolution as people grew increasingly desperate for food. The only thing I knew for certain was I didn’t have the answers. Deep down inside, part of me was banking on whatever Constantine had planned. If I could just buy enough time for us, the landscape might change after his attack, and maybe we would have a chance. It was a fool’s hope. I knew that. But it was the only hope I could allow for myself.

“Maybe think it over before you make all these people climb to the top, OK? It seems perfectly safe here. And if we do need to leave in a week or two… well, the fewer the stairs the better.”

I nodded, taking in her suggestion. I still had a mind to climb higher for the simple reason that it was more out of the way, and more out of the way meant more safe. I leaned back, nestling up against the window. Seeing out into the city was comforting in a way. My stomach ached, wrenching with hunger. Luckily, my exhaustion drowned the pangs out, pulling me into a deep sleep.

**********

Claire’s bloodshot gaze dug into my chest, ripping out what few feelings I had left, laying them in the chasm between us. She shoved off of me. I tried to reel her in, but she backpedaled just out of reach. Her mouth moved, but the words sank. She was shaking. Bawling uncontrollably, her little frame quivered. I said something to the effect that I was sorry. I didn’t know why I did it or what came over me. The smell of expensive lotion laced with cigarette smoke still stained my nostrils as I tried to plea.

Even then, I could feel her touch. Numb thrashing in crisp sheets, the alcohol stealing my senses. I paid for an escape, but all I bought was the misery of the one I once loved more than anything in the world. I still loved her. I didn’t know it then, but each tear that streamed down her cheek was a terrible reminder.

I ducked. A candle sailed just wide of my head, breaking on a cabinet behind me. I looked back just in time to see the outer shell’s shattered pieces cascade onto the floor. I called out to her. My voice strained against the constriction in my chest. She walked out. I tried to yell, to beg her to stay and listen, but she was down the driveway before I could bring myself to chase after her. My legs grew heavy, and my voice fainter. Helpless, I watched her soft hair dance between her shoulders as she rounded a corner and out of sight.

My hand clenched as a sharp pain shot up my forearm. I tugged, but the hilt of my wrist was caught. A blur of scrambling bodies filled the room. Those who were standing trampled those still lying down, rushing for the exit. A moment later, my arm was released. I watched the underside of a young man’s wrapped feet as he barreled through a young woman and her child, sending them hurtling to the ground to be sucked under the current of chaos. Ariel.

Someone’s knee smashed into my back as I tried to stand. They somersaulted to the ground. A small mob closed before they could get back up, engulfing them under their feet. A pair of hands grabbed under my arms and pulled. I was able to get my legs under me, and in an instant, I was above the torrent, looking out over the crowd. Like tall grass caught in a violent wind, refugees crashed into one another, clawing their way out.

I looked back to see who helped me, but before I could thank them, they had left. My reflection in the window stared back over the projection of a tumultuous swell of human bodies. My mind turned to Ariel and Julien caught in that swell. They were buried somewhere in the crowd. Lowering my shoulder, I pushed through the pack to where I last saw them. Julien’s mousey face flashed beneath me. I dropped my hips to box out a space around him. With one arm holding the panicked current at bay, I reached down and dragged the boy off the ground. Ariel’s eyes flashed between a set of shuffling legs. The crowd grew more dense, bunching up in the center. Images of crushed protestors played out in my mind as I shoved forward to give Ariel breathing room. She lunged, wrapping her arms around me and Julien.

“What the hell is going on?” I shouted down to her. She looked up. Fear filled her wide eyes, but no response came.

I dragged them back to the relative safety of the windowed wall. Those who were able to escape left broken refugees, writhing in agony in their wake. Ariel unclenched my arm and rushed to the aid of a young girl. She lifted her lacerated face out of the pool of blood spreading out beneath her head. Her eyes remained still. Ariel gently lowered her head to the ground before moving to the next person in need. What the fuck is going on?

I handed Julien off to his mother. “I’ll be right back.”

“Where–”

“To see what the hell is going on,” I called back as I ran for the door.

The room had mostly emptied. A few stragglers limped their way out. I strained my neck above the logged doorway and saw the hall was worse. Packed in tight, people fought their way up the narrow stairway. Gone was the orderly ascent of yesterday, and I worried the platform might not hold.

“Hey, stop,” I screamed. It was the first time I noticed the mob’s deafening roar blowing in from the stairwell. My words had little chance of cutting through. Still, I tried. “Hey, stop.”

I grabbed the nearest person on my way onto the stairs, twirling them toward me. “What’s happening?”

“We have to get higher,” he said.

“Why?” I yelled back, pulling him back into the room.

He struggled against my grasp, but once he realized he wasn’t going anywhere until I let him, he replied, “They’re here. They found us.”

“Who?”

“The Capital Guard. They’re coming up right now. We have to get the fuck out of here.”

The young man ducked and, with a twist, freed himself from my grasp. “No, that’s a dead end…” It was too late. The mob had taken on a mind of its own, driving it upward into a trap.

As soon as he turned the corner out of sight, gunfire cracked from down below. I raced out and leaned over the edge. The visor of a dull matte gray helmet reflected off the skylight above as it peered back at me some ten floors below. The stairwell had all but cleared out. Looking up, I watched a snake of brown blouses slither skyward. “Fuck,” I yelled.

“Jack, what do we do?” Ariel said, standing in the doorway. Her arm was extended out, presumably holding Julien’s hand as he hid behind the wall.

“Stay here. Hide. Whatever you do, don’t go up.”

“Hide? Where?”

I looked across the open room. “Lay down next to some bodies. Cover yourself up if you have to, but stay out of sight. I’ll be back, OK?”

She turned, but before she could respond, I set off down the stairs. Taking two or three steps at a time, I lept and bounded from landing to landing. My feet nearly slid out from beneath me as I rounded another corner, met by a birdcage attached to a stubby barrel trained directly at my chest. The guard stood with his outer knee exposed, cradling his rifle’s handgrip against a pillar’s concrete corner. The barrel flashed to life, producing a second sun marring my vision. The edge of the nearest step dug into my pelvis as I was thrown backward. My peripheries darkened, and I gasped for air.

Before I could move, my arms and feet were secured with thick black braiding, and my weaning lungs fought for air. Heart racing, I prepared to bleed out right there on the stairs. I looked down. No blood? It must’ve been a riot round.

“Tower, this is Vanguard. Positive ID,” one of the guards said, standing above me. Faint lines of his face silhouetted against his visor. I couldn’t see his eyes but felt them beaming down at me. “Secure and move,” he said in a low gravel tone. A prick in my neck turned to fire as one of my captors stuck me with a needle.