Lana woke up suddenly from her nightmare, gasping in terror as the image of the decay-filled execution pit still lingered in her eyes. She frantically turned around to check her surroundings, as to see that she was not back at the rotting hellscape again, and to her relived, all she could see was the small stone cavern she had made her home.
‘It’s all right Lana, it’s all right.” She tried to tell herself, repeating her own name as if she would forget the word if she didn’t do so. After Lana eased down her mind, she pushed herself off the blanket covered stone she made into her bed and grabbed for the surrounding rock to provide support.
Lana pressed her right leg onto the floor, to her surprise; she didn’t feel any pain anymore.
‘It barely hurt now.’ Lana thought as she pressed down her second leg and stood up from her bed. Though it was still stiffed and she had to drag it everywhere, it was better than the time in the execution pit where the pain overwhelms her every time she as much brushed it on something.
Lana started her day by peeling off the bandage Doc had wrapped around her left shoulder the day before. Blood had stopped seeping out from the wound at night; it would seem as she noticed that the bandage was very much clean. Lana ran her finger ran over the healed skin and gasped as it was still hurt to the touch. She remembered Doc’s method of healing like it was yesterday, he had cut out any infected flesh with a burning knife, which brought her more pain than she was expecting, which was a lot already. Doc then sewed her skin together with a thread and needle, leaving a faded scar on her shoulder.
Lana made her way toward the center of the room and adjusted the mirror that was attached to the ceiling. When she got the correct angle, the stone cavern lit up in dim light, letting her seen her surroundings better.
‘It is best I get to work now.’ Lana thought and threw the red faded t-shirt over her head, the same one that Wall had given her on the day of their escape. Hanging on the wedged stone around the exit was a jean color jacket she received when she joined the cavern, along with underwear she was currently wearing. She threw the jacket over her shirt to combat the morning cold and left the rocky hole she called her room.
As Lana followed the series of reflecting mirror and light that lit up the stone corridor, she sewed her hand through her hair. Dried with blood and filled with filth, it would be impossible to turn it back to the way it was no matter how many times she washed them. so Wall yanked the harden straw-colored curl out with his dagger, leaving Lana’s once-proud hair a less horrid mess and it became shorter Sophia’s had ever been. Her face was likely worse as well, the last time she saw it, it was covered with filth and scar and dark spots. A drop of tear formed on Lana’s eyes, but she managed to wipe it away with her jacket’s sleeve.
As she continued her walk through the corridor, Lana reached into her pocket and brought out two things, half a chunk of cold bread left from yesterday’s dinner, and a handful of black circular pills. Lana dug her dirty fingers into the bread and stuffed the medicine inside.
She started to nibble into the bread, which she decided to serve as her breakfast, the hidden pill was conscripted by Doc, he said that eating them two times per day would help her body combated the infection in her blood, so Lana took the healer’s word for it.
The downside of it all was that the medicine was the bitterest thing she had ever eaten; beating the rat’s blood she drank to sustain herself in the execution pit by a considerate amount. Stuffing it with her food helped, but the bitterness could still be tasted through even that, as she suddenly experienced when she had eaten the part with the medicine in it and nearly coughed it all out, but managed to get it in.
When Lana finished her cold bread, she licked her fingers to scavenge any remaining crust, as she often did back in the time she was still living with her family. Afterward, Lana tugged the empty bottle of pill back into her pocket, and that was when she touched onto something.
‘Nearly forgot about this…’ She thought and pulled the item out. In Lana’s hand was an iron coin, half-covered with rust and so old that any picture imprinted on it had all faded away. The colony had given her the circular object when she arrived at the cavern, and Wall said that it was a mark of a member and a symbol of closeness of some sort. Lana tucked the coin away, for she didn’t have any use of it at the moment.
In maybe half a minute of more walking, Lana arrived at the lift.
An old and complex contraption, it was a platform made of wood and band metal. A link of chain attached to each of the edge, and then came together in the center, which was then rise into a heavy pulley system on the top of the cavern far above her, and also to the turning wheel with handles on both sides in the center of the platform.
Lana climbed onto the lift, and seeing that no one else would likely to come pulled the platform up, she braced herself and grabbed hold of the turning wheel, then started to turn it around with all her effort, and the lift started to slowly move upward.
As Lana bit her teeth together, praying that the lift would not shake violently like the way it did five days ago, and the memory of her sobbing on the wooden platform with people surrounding her flashed through her mind. Even without that fear, pulling up the lift by herself was of great difficulty, for even though Wall explained that the pulley system reduced the weight of the load by near 5 fold, Lana still needed to handle the weight of her own body and the wooden and metal lift. She was always a weak girl who couldn’t even fight back the school bullies, which was why Sophia needed to always protect her from them, and she couldn’t even lift something that weight more than a sag of potato, the fact that made even worse after her time in the execution pit. It took all her strength for every turn she managed to make, and there was still a long way to go.
When the lift reached its half-way point, Lana released her hands from the handle and fell down upon the platform, panting and heavy-breath from the effort. This was the first time she ever pulled the lift by herself, her arms were already sore and throbbing, and to her dismay, she knew she couldn’t do it.
‘Come on, Lana.’ She told herself, gathering determination she barely had ‘Sophia would not even flinch at this.’
“Here, let’s me help you.” A voice echoed from the stone tunnel behind her, followed by a creaking sound of someone climbing on the platform.
Lana recognized that voice “Wall?”
He nodded and took hold of the handle. Seeing that, Lana quickly stood up and grabbed for the one on the other side.
“On three…” Wall told her, raising up the lever in preparation “One, two, three!”
The link of chains clanked together as the wheel and pulley contraption lifted itself up by the combined effort of two people. It was mostly Wall that pulled all the weight, and the lift went up twice the speed it was going up before when she was pulling it by herself and not to mention the flow of the rising was better and constant now.
As they made another turn, Lana glanced at the man who had to save her life not long ago, out of his guard disguise, Wall was slightly less intimidating, but also seemed to look more friendly as well. He was thrice her age but still had a youngness to his face, of which was not handsome, but not ugly either. His hair was a sandy mess on his brow and his eyes were an honest blue, the same as Sophia. Today, he was cladded in whitewash t-shirt, a light blue-and-white jacket, his well-polished coin sewed into the fabric over his heart and covering his legs was a pair of thick dark trouser. Across his neck slung a strangely pretty locket she had seemed him wore every time she saw him out of the guard disguise, it swung up and down as Wall moved the around the lever.
“Are you going to get your task?” Wall asked, breaking the silence.
“...Yes” Lana struggled to say, she was often awkward around Wall, which was terrible for he was the only friend she currently had in the free cavern “You?”
Wall shook his head “Thirteen assigns me to go back to the city tonight, so I’m getting the day off from the task.
Lana nodded; quite sadly, this meant she had to eat dinner alone tonight.
“You should smile more.” Wall told her, in an effort to light up her spirit “I know that this is hard for you, changing atmosphere and all that. But we are all family here, so you have nothing to worry about.”
Lana raised her head “Is that true?”
“Not really.” Wall admitted, he was always honest “Like back in the city, there are still nasty people you had to avoid, like that Marah kid for one, that guy is all smile but all nasty underneath. And we still live under the fear of the supreme leader discovering and destroying us. But at least we live free.”
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The lift came to a halt as they reached their destination. Wall said a small goodbye to her and walked off the platform for the opposite side of the hall, but Lana stood still, thinking.
‘I really have nothing to worry about.’ Lana realized. After all, she wasn’t living with fear anymore, the food was plenty for everyone at most time here, and she was out from the dreaded execution pit at last. She tried to form a smile on her lip, but the grin she got felt force and ungenuine.
‘It will get better once Soph is here.’ She told herself, and went forward to meet the new day.
Lana climbed off the platform and did something to the chain attaching next to it like Wall had taught her. The lift unlocked itself and slowly descended down back to the bottom of the cavern, so others might be able to come up. Then after going through a short tunnel, she arrived at the well hall.
It was the biggest open area in the entire cavern, filled with near one hundred slabs of stone arranging into place to serve as tables and chairs, the ceiling was a little higher than the tunnel, so about 12 feet. At the center of the hall was a crumbling well, where the area got its name from, and on one of the sides was a small raised platform where some of the members would be making important announcements from time to time. Around the hall were also many entrances for other tunnels, reaching into different parts of the cavern. On one side stick a propaganda poster of the new supreme leader that they stole from the city, it was torn up and drew over as a pass time by some of the less-peaceful members.
The hall was near-deserted, save for a score of her fellow cavern’s members hanging about in the group. She looked around the room, searching for a tray of yesterday’s dinner so she might have a few more bite for her breakfast, but the people who had woke up before her, which was likely most of them, had already taken it all. Lana rubbed her belly in disappointment and went for her task.
The stack of stones was already mostly taken, leaving about ten of them inside the pot. Lana reached into the cauldron for one of the rock and turned it over, chiseled on it was ‘foresting’.
Stuffing the stone into her pocket, Lana made for one of the tunnels, walking through it for a while and then turned for a short stair, dragging her bad leg up step by step. At the end of the stair was a peak of light, she squeezed through the hole and went into the outside world.
Lana squirted her eyes as the shine of morning light hit her face, for she had emerged from a tunnel into a rocky mountainside. Though the surface inside of the cavern was the color of orangey-brown, the mountain itself was ash grey. The members had called the lone standing mountain ‘Freedom Mount’, which Wall said was another terrible name, but it seemed fine to her. Around the peak was a forest of the various trees with bleak green or red leaves, and at the other side was small stream of water which the member sometimes fished from.
Lana turned to the opposite side of the rising sun; there, standing on the horizon was the dark towering wall of the city belonging to the tyrannical supreme leader. Inside of the concrete spire, Lana knew, was her sister, likely waking up from her bed the same time as her, and one day they would be reunited, at least that what she told herself.
“Soph, I miss you so much…” Lana found herself said, she also missed the rest of her family too, but not as much as the sister who had always been there for her. Lana often wondered if Sophia missed her as well, though a small part of her knew she wouldn’t, as Lana was dead as far as she knew, somewhat wishfully, she liked to believe it was otherwise.
Climbing down the non-steep side of the mountain, sliding in some part, crawling in other, she made her way down to the edge of the forest. Placing her feet steadily into the bleak soil below, she went for a set of baskets woven with dried leaves beneath the cliff. One of the old cavern’s member was sitting there, guarding the fruits and herb they had gathered so far, but Lana did not greeted him for she couldn’t muster the courage, so she went to grab one of the basket, slung it on her back and left, not speaking anything.
‘Here I go.’ She thought as she walked into the forest, trotting forward on a natural pathway through the sentinel of trees, plants, vines and even blooming flowers that decorated the bleak and desolate wasteland. Clinging between the branches was a tiny little bird who would give out a pretty sound when Lana approached before flying away. It was beautiful.
For as long as she could remember, Lana had been taught that besides the farmland across the weeping rush her parents prowled on, the world outside the city’s wall was inhabitable and toxic-ridden, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, the soil her was bleaker than the city’s, the air was very thick and she coughed on it from time to time, but overall, it was much better than she imagined it to be.
Lana went deeper and deeper into the wood, as trees near the freedom mount were already all harvested for their fruit and there was none left. After maybe half an hour of trekking, Lana found an apple tree filled with ripe fruits hanging between ash green leaves. She slide the woven basket off her back and gently placed it below the branch, then stretching her arms and legs to avoid any cramp-like Sophia had taught her to always do, Lana pressed her good leg into the wooden surface, and lifted her body up and grabbed for the lowest branch.
Pulling her weight upward and switched for her bad leg to allow herself to go further, Lana struggled for the stiff leg to fit into place. After she finally founded a foothold, Lana threw her body upward and swung her thighs to have a strong branch between them. After a good quick glance around, she reached out her hand and snatched a rich-red apple off a branch, pulling it off its stalk and let the fruit gently dropped into the basket. Then after she was sure that it had landed safely, she went for a second one, then the third and then the fourth…
This went on for a while, with Lana collecting the fruits of the tree, then climbing further up the branch and collecting more apples and dropped them all into her basket. She had foresting duty twice before, and she enjoyed it more than the other tasks. The forest here was filled with pretty flower and the breeze was airy not to mention comfortable at time. But probably the best part of this work was that she was able to climb a living tree.
Inside the city, Sophia and her were only able to climb on walls of stone and metal, there were trees, but were few and all of them already dead, willow, dried up and twisted. But the many in this forest, though as bleak as the city’s were alive and grew leaves of beautiful color. Lana let her hand brushed over the wooden layer; she could feel the life emitting from its surface, lush and bountiful.
After she had plucked all of the ripped apples from this tree, Lana slid down from its branch, gasping and nearly cursed when she landed on her bad leg but managed to control herself to not let out any scream. Lana glanced at her basket; it was barely half-filled with apples, so as she slung it back on her back, she knew she still had a long way to go.
For the rest of the day, Lana went through this part of the forest, gathering more fruits and plants to be cook into food for her fellow cavern’s members. To her disappointment, Lana did not found any more fruit-filled tree like the first one, but she still managed to gather various items to fill her basket. She had found a few troops of mushroom, several handfuls of nut, wild carrots she had to dig it off the ground with her hands and a few more of fruits like oranges and berries. By the time the sun went near above her head, Lana was struggling to walk with the heavy basket on her back without, stumbling every time when she tried to shift the weight, so she decided it was best to go back to the meeting area.
When she was back at the mountainside, the same member was still sitting in the same spot as Lana had seen him in the morning, but now he was joined in with the rest of the members with a foresting duty. They were resting together under the shade of wedging cliff to avoid the blazing sun with their own filled baskets beside each of them. There was also a member, walking around the site, handing out their lunch which came freshly from the cavern’s kitchen.
Lana sat at the far corner of the shade, too anxious to join in with the people whose name she did not even know. She took off her jacket, as Lana was sweating so much she was soaking her t-shirt, and then leaned on her basket as a way to make her break.
The food was eventually given to her, a dozen or more pieces of biscuits, baked with dried berries and crushed nut. She stuffed a few into her pocket to save them for later then took a bite at the rest. She did not really like the taste, the berries were so sweet that it became tart and the nut was a little bit too bitter, but since it was better than rat’s meat, so she did not complain.
After she finished the last piece of biscuit, Lana reached into her basket and grabbed for a piece of apple. At first, she was shocked that the foresters were eating some of the fruits they gathered until one of them said it was okay to do so, and she picked up the practice soon enough afterward. Lana opened her mouth wide and bit into the juicy flesh of the fruits, letting its sour yet sweet nectar filled her throat and ran down her chest.
It was too late when she noticed the worm crawling in the apple.
Lana recoiled in disgust but did not release the apple as yet. The pink fat worm wriggled around frantically, as if trying to find a way to escape, just like the way all of those mice did as she tried to kill them…
And then the memory and sight of the execution pit flashed through the mind, she spat the half-chew flesh of apple onto the ground and tossed the worm-ridden fruit as far away from her as possible, letting it splat and rolled away on the ground.
“It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay.” She whispered to herself, shaken by traumatization, the sight of the decaying plain of flesh lingered in her eyes no matter how much she tried to blink it away “That worm is no rat, and you aren’t trying to hurt him…”
That was when she noticed that the wormed apple had attracted a bird from the nearby branch in the forest, and it was now pecking into the flesh of fruit and worm alike. The sight alone lifted Lana’s spirit, she took a closer look at the fowl, a tiny thing with orange and black feathers, its black eyes sparkled in the sunlight.
Lana suddenly remembered a trick Wall once showed her when they were walking the forest together. She grabbed into her basket and brought out a few pieces of nut, crushed it between her tiny hands, and reached out the hand that was filled with the mix of shell and its inside.
The tiny bird took notice of it, and after another pecked at the apple, the fowl spread its little wing and flew onto her palm, pecking into the shard.
‘So cute…’ Lana found herself thought as she saw the bird shifting around her hand, dipping its beak up and down to eat up the crushed nut on the palm of her hand. But as that was happening, by accident, the bird’s peck missed the nut and landed straight down into her hand, piercing into her skin.
“Ahhhhh!” Lana exclaimed and flicked her hand around. The bird gave out a squeak and jumped off her hands as she did, pecking a few more nut shards on the ground and flown away into the forest.
Lana sucked her palm, it was bleeding. The taste of blood reminded her of the rat she consumed, and she was shaking again.