Evan jerked awake, matted in sweat. If he was dead, then he certainly hadn’t made it to heaven. First, he smelled mildew and rust, then he noticed grime-streaked metal floors. Strips of lights around this room produced a muddy glow over everything. Scattered wires chased the corners of the room. Brass pipes created a labyrinth of humming metal along four walls and into a vented roof. Though, it was more of a closet than a room, with the right and left walls close enough for Evan to touch at the same time. Behind him was a rack of boxes, and ahead of him a sealed door with a turn-wheel. His brown coat stretched over his body like a blanket, while he lay on a yellow stained mattress on top a raised metal slab.

The night replayed in his mind. The bartender’s death rattled him. Crunch. Thud. Crunch. Thud. He sunk back to the mattress which might as well have been a bed of nails. I killed people, again. He thought. I gave in, just like everyone said I would. The mutilated bodies of soldiers wracked his brain. But they would have killed me if I hadn’t done something. His stomach churned.

Brisk air nipped at his chest. My chest.

His body was stiff underneath his thick coat. He sat up, yanked it off, and slid his hands in search of the damage Krow had done to him. Instead, his fingers glided over slick green vines that hugged his skin tightly. Purple bruises peaked between gaps in the plants. It felt like someone was squeezing his lungs as he took shaky breaths. He ripped off the vines and prodded his body in disbelief. Everything was in the right place, even where he was certain he should have broken bones. It was still too dim to see, despite the strip lights, but he could feel that the damage had been reduced to small creases where the skin was scarred by what may have been surgical incisions.

He sat forward, his body shaking. The Feds had to know he was Afflicted now, there was no hiding it after what he did in Hazard Station. All those years protecting his secret were wasted – his mom’s death, his dad’s careful planning, and his friend’s sacrifice – all of it. He should have never boarded that train.

The door creaked open. He prepped himself for what might step through it – but he wasn’t ready for it to be a normal looking girl. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail except for a collection of bangs that brushed across her cheek and over green eyes. A cross necklace swayed around her thin neck. She wore a grey sweater and black pants, both with their share of holes and frayed stitching. Her lips curled into a smirk; her voice led by grand dimples.

“Cool,” she said. White light enveloped her.

Evan blinked and she was gone, leaving behind nothing but an open door. He stared blankly at the spot where she had been, certain he wasn’t insane (or maybe he was).

“He’s awake!” Came the girl’s voice again, a muffled thing, like an echo dancing through a metal cave.

Once again, Evan crossed Federation custody off his list, uncomfortably certain he’d been dragged deeper into the rabbit hole that was the Blood Red Army.

His father’s voice replayed in his head. The key to a position of power is to act before forced to react.

So, Evan willed himself to stand and zipped up his coat. The front was stained with an unfortunate muddy red splotch. He swallowed the musty air and stepped through the door, ready to confront these people. He found himself in a narrow corridor. To his left was a hatch with the words “Port Turret Controls.” To the right were a couple more doors before the hall curved out of sight, and where voices murmured.

Clank! “Híjole!” came a woman’s voice, followed by a muffled boom.

“What was that?” a familiar voice shouted.

The woman responded with a string of curses.

Cold metal grating vibrated beneath Evan’s bare feet as he crept around the corner.

Another, smoother voice, called back. “Ny dropped her tools and is taking it out on Addie.”

“Daniel, I’m going to kill you,” the woman said.

A younger girl interrupted. “Hellooooo, did anyone hear me?”

“Sorry, I meant Shrapnel, is trying to blow us up,” the smooth voice corrected.

The familiar voice grumbled, “Well, stop that.”

The woman let off another barrage of expletives.

The young girl cleared her throat. “I saaiiid-”

What am I about to walk into? Evan thought as he rounded the corner into an open room.

The walls were lined with flight seats and straps. A man lay in the right section with his legs stretched out. He held up a tablet and swiped through its display. At the center of the room was a compartment where someone worked head deep; grated panels shunted to the side. There was another hall at the opposite side of this room where the blonde girl stood with her arms crossed.

The girl cleared her throat. “I saaiiid.” She waved an arm at Evan. “He’s awake.”

The guy with the tablet dropped his feet to the floor, and a woman poked her head up from the floor compartment like a hedgehog. The three of them stared at Evan. He suddenly felt like he was wearing someone else’s skin.

The woman sat herself up on the edge of the hole, whipped her multi-colored bangs from her face, and scratched a shaven patch of hair on the side of her head. She wore a tank top, revealing arms sleaved with flame tattoos that contorted as her arms flexed.

The man slouching on the seats called to the hallway with his goatee lined mouth, “Hey, guys? He’s awake.”

“Fantastic,” replied the voice that Evan recognized as Vihn’s.

The young girl sighed but didn’t take her eyes off Evan, making him feel uncomfortably warm.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Something walked in from behind Evan. It was a boy, about his age, with bleached hair, green eyes, and another cross necklace. His eyes widened when he saw Evan. He opened his mouth and pointed energetically at him.

The girl nodded. “Yep.”

The boy formed signs with his hands.

The girl made similar gestures back.

With a judicious smile, the boy reached a hand out to Evan.

What else was he to do but shake it? After they met, the boy strolled over to the girl, giving Evan a weird sense of déjà vu when staring at them side by side. Twins.

Now, four strangers stood in silence, studying Evan as he searched for something to say. Despite recent events, waking up in a weird place surrounded by weird people still wasn’t something he rightly knew how to react to.

Vihn walked in from the far hall, hunched over by a sloping roof. “So, he lived.”

How was Evan supposed to react to the man who kidnapped, used, and forced him into exposing his powers? Evan didn’t know what possessed him, or how he managed to close the gap of at least twenty or so feet as fast as he did, but his fist connected with Vihn’s jaw again. This time Evan regretted the sudden overcoming of emotion, noting it as a dangerous pattern.

Vihn grabbed his face and stared back at Evan with dark eyes. “Blink.”

“Huh?” Evan was blinded by a white light. He stumbled in the radiance, and quickly found himself tripping into a bed. Clarity returned. He was in the room he had woken up in. He went to exit, but the girl was there and managed a “Sorry.” Before slamming the hatch in his face. He slid to a stop and pounded on the door.

“Let me out!” he screamed.

No one responded.

Evan huffed. “That was a stupid thing to do,” he said to himself. “Well done.” He slid to the floor with his back against the door. Every moment that he was trapped there, was a moment that either his friend might be killed, or that his father might be arrested.

Control, Evangelos, he remembered his dad say. Cap your emotions. They can’t hurt you or anyone else if they are hidden.

He reflected on that. He had hurt people because his emotions took over. If only he were an unfeeling husk, then maybe nothing bad would happen to him and those around him.

Someone knocked.

“You going to sock me again if I open this?” Vihn asked. “Because, I can just have Blink teleport you outside next time, though it’d be a pretty high drop.”

“I hate you,” Evan whispered.

There was no response.

Evan closed his eyes. “I was just trying to help someone I cared about. Now a bunch of people are dead, the Feds know I’m Afflicted, and I’m a prisoner – because of you. I hate you.” Evan didn’t feel any better having said it.

Vihn sighed. “You and me both, kid.”

The door creaked open. Evan stood to face Vihn.

“Alright,” the rebel said. “I guess I owe you better answers. What do you want to know?”

Since running away from the rebels hadn’t worked, and fighting was moot, perhaps it was time Evan tried to turn them into allies. He shook off his stress. “Just tell me where we are.”

“Do you want longitude and altitude?”

“Can’t you just answer my question?” He paused. “Don’t you mean latitude?”

“Right…” Vihn said. “Come with me.” He brought Evan to a small room at the head of whatever this was – then it became clear it was Vihn’s airship, Ad Astra. The cockpit was a narrow arrangement that Evan had to duck into. It was encased in a panorama of glass, with computers and consoles laden throughout it. At the helm were two chairs, one of which sat Rowic who manned a flight stick.

“Howdy,” the hacker said.

Evan may have disliked Vihn, but he found Rowic to be alright.

Vihn sat in the thick chair next to Rowic. “Make contact yet?”

“Yep.” Rowic pointed to his headset.

Vihn put on a similar device.

They flew lower over a wide forest of round topped trees. The Sun was just rising. If Evan had been at the Academy, he’d hear the morning train about now.

“This is Phoenix One, requesting flight path,” Vihn said.

There was a muffled reply from the headset.

“Copy,” he replied.

The ship descended steadily toward the woods below them, and it was obvious that the slivers of spacing between the leaves would not be enough for a successful landing.

Evan asked, “you’re not trying to land here, right?”

“Check this out.” Rowic pointed at a concentration of taller trees.

Vihn relayed instructions. “Phoenix One, making touchdown.”

The canopy dissolved before them, exposing grand city ruins, smeared by a great fog that made them look like an oil painting.

“There’s no way…” Evan gawked.

Rowic sniggered. “You sound like someone who doesn’t live in a world full of meta-humans.”

Ahead of them was a range of mountains. A portion of the rock face shook and separated to form a large hole like that of a missile silo. The ship diverted through the opening into a tunnel and was swallowed by darkness. Headlights snapped on, guiding the ship through what looked to be an abandoned railway tunnel. The ship hovered in place.

Shunt!

Light poured up from below them as four slices of the ground pulled back, revealing a cavern beneath. The ship descended into the gaping mouth, down further past the surface through a massive tube of concrete, florescent lights, and copper pipes.

Words tumbled from Evan’s lips. “Where... are we?”

Rowic twirled the chair and faced Evan. “West of Philadelphia, deep in the Trans American Metro-sewer system.”

“You mean-”

“Yep, ground zero. The city above us is where it all started.”

“Titan Project?”

“Yep, and the Affliction.”

It boggled Evan’s mind. Never had he imagined he’d make it within a mile of the Great Wastes where the rebels had attacked the Monolith Industries lab. It happened before he had been born, but his parents told him that the explosion killed everyone in the city, and the disease spread out to the surrounding cities from DC to Boston before anyone realized what the true damage of the attack would be. The people closest to the fallout died from rapid mutation, and those a bit further was infected with a dormant form of Affliction that took a week later to show any symptoms, and by then it had already spread to millions. One in every hundred people would either develop Affliction or be born with it, and it was a dormant gene – impossible to detect until puberty. Thus, Evan’s life story.

He asked, “How hasn’t the Federation found this place?”

Rowic stretched his hands behind his head. “Well, they know we’re here somewhere, but every time they’ve come searching, a lot of people die, or they can’t find us. Between mind manipulators, mutant animals, biohazards, holograms, and hackers – it’s not worth their time. ‘Sides, they know they can wait us out. We have to scavenge for survival, and because they have the general populace on their side, every time someone pulls a stunt to get back at the Federation, we end up creating a thousand more Federation enlistees.” He gave Vihn a side glare.

That was a bitter realization. The conflict at Hazard Station could have created many more enforcers, people who’d think they were protecting their loved ones. Well, from what Evan had experienced, they would be protecting them.

“We’re here,” Vihn said.

Rowic swiveled back to his flight controls.

The tube opened into a world of which resembled something that Evan had only seen in movies. Before him was a subterranean city carved into concrete and rock. It was like descending through a space station, or a dwarven city – as odd as that seemed fitting. From bottom to top, dozens of terraces ribbing it like a stack of giant tires, with tunnels branching out from it. As they descended further, it was apparent that there were more tunnels that ran off from the terraces, like that of a termite colony. Everything was lit by amber floodlights, television screens, and barrels of fire. Across the terraces were tiers of shanty houses stacked along the walls of the expansive city. A waterfall rushed out of a maw and dumped into a river that bisected the tunnel straight through the middle of the city. Arching metal braces held the concrete ceiling where trickles of water fell to join the river below. People skimmed across the canal by way of small boats, which they pushed forward with poles three times their height. Crowds milled about the city levels like ants. Once low enough, Evan witnessed dozens of video screens crowding around the topmost floor, each broadcasting the news.

“Breathtaking?” Rowic asked.

It was stunning, but the city wasn’t what stole Evan’s breath, but rather the utter dread he felt seeing his father’s face on every screen.