Down and Out: A Young Adult Dystopian Adventure (The Undercity Series Book 1) (17 page)

“Georges, they are asinine.” Pa moved his gaze from one to the other, despair on his face. “We can work this out so every- one can thrive in comfort and protect our resources too.”

“You’re a dreamer.”

“This is ridiculous,” Nuna said, shaking her head.

“How?” Teddy asked, looking into her eyes. She turned away, and he shifted to the Upperlord. “Why? Think about what you are saying. You are condemning hundreds of people to their deaths. You gotta understand.”

“Ted, you shouldn’t be out of bed.”

“Come on, boy, we’ll get you some water and a book or two. Your father’s right. You should be resting,” Nuna said, turning him around.

He tried to turn back, but her hands were firm on his shoulder.

“You too,” she ordered Jolon. “No one’s making any decisions at the moment, so you needn’t stress,” she added with a pointed glance backward.

They stopped by a desk, and she took out a couple of books from a drawer, which she shoved in his hands. Just days ago, he would have been thrilled with something new to read, but right at that moment, he wanted to throw them at something.

“I don’t want a book or anything,” he said as she guided him back to his room. “I want you to understand what is happening on the other side of this world.”

She opened his door and ushered them in. “Now, we’ll talk later. You rest and relax.”

“I can’t relax,” he shouted, but she closed the door and left them alone. “Thanks for the help,” he snapped, but his brother gave an indifferent shrug and lay out on the bed across from Teddy’s.

“They’ve been going over the same argument for most of the day. I tried to get my credit’s worth in earlier, but they’re efficient at shutting down anyone who is too young to deserve an opinion. That’s about when I took to staring out windows and taking baths. At least, it felt as though I was doing something. Georges fears the Upperlords are going to hear of this place and take over.  Nuna is afraid we’ll bring so many people here the resources will run out, and this place will die too, and Pa wants every one of us, Uppers and Underlings, to be happy. Don’t know how they’re gonna fix this, but I don’t want to leave.”

He tossed the books on his bed. “What about Ma and Deb, Caden, and Henri? You wanna abandon them on the other side?”

His brother glared at him. “No, that’s not what I meant. Don’t accuse me of being a selfish ass. It’s hard to dismiss some- thing like this once you found it and go back to that hole.” He jabbed toward the window. “Look at the view, dopy. It isn’t dirt. It’s beautiful and amazing, and you’re missing it.”

Teddy refused. “I don’t need any more reasons to stay here.”

“Check out this room. Isn’t the light different, softer, but more intense? This isn’t like gazing out a crack in Uppercity.  This is... incredible.”

“Incredible, right. Fine.” He leaned on the sill and took a peek out the window, and then gaped, holding his breath. He gripped the frame tightly, his fingers turning white. Trees, majestic, tall, sweeping trees stretched out far into the distance, their luscious green leaves dancing in a breeze he longed to feel. “Oh.”

“Uh, huh,” Jolon said behind him. “How do you leave that?”

“I always imagined what the outside was like, but... it’s a forest.”

“What’s a forest?”

“That is,” Teddy replied, pointing to the vast grove of mysterious trees. “At least, that is what my books describe as a forest. I don’t know. They might be called weeds, or something else plant-like, but who cares? This is amazing. It doesn’t need a name.”

“Haven’t seen anything moving, though. I searched for most of the morning when the sunlight invaded my sleep, and you refused to get up.”

“What do you think you’ll find?”

He shrugged in his usual Jolon way. “Can’t say. I guess I’m hoping there’s something out there alive so we could say—hey, we can live out here—and all this survival scrounging would mean nothing. We could all live... start over... climb a tree.” His brother sunk back down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. “I’m empty. I shouldn’t be this tired. Don’t you think we’re all a little too young, too something to be this worn?”

Teddy sighed, soul-weary. He curled up on his bed. All he wanted to do was find a way to save their people. “Henri would defend this place.”

“Huh?”

“I said, Henri, he would fight for this place. So would the others. They would keep it safe. They would do anything to keep the resources from dwindling. They would because they know what life is like in the worst shit hole in existence. I mean, isn’t it hard to imagine any place being worse than Undercity?”

“Don’t like to dwell on that, but I think you’re right. He would defend it, Henri. Not that I think he would be able to with his sad eyes, but he would try. I would try.”

“So would I,” Teddy admitted.

“Do you think other places like this exist?” his brother asked after a moment.

He thought about this. “Makes sense there would be. Nuna came from somewhere, and we found this place.” “Why didn’t anyone ever find it before?” Jolon asked as he rolled over and supported himself on his elbows.

“Don’t know, but consider how much time it took us to get through to here. I think most people, in the beginning, were trying to struggle through and survive with what they had. I figure the general way of life became more important as society settled, so no one even thought there might be anything beyond our world. Think about how long that door had been in Pa’s family as a secret treasure before anyone even bothered to venture deeper. Kinda ridiculous to think this was all waiting a few hours’ journey away for all this time.”

“Yeah, kinda ridiculous. Hey, you wanna read one of those books she gave you? I could use to think of something else for a while.”

“Sure,” Teddy agreed, taking up one. He propped himself up with some pillows and got comfortable before he opened the first page.

It was a good story he decided as he stuffed the room with images of elves and trees and magic. The descriptions were rich and the characters fascinating, but after the first chapter Jolon propped himself in a chair so he could stare out the window. Teddy studied him for a while and his brother didn’t complain. He hadn’t been listening; Teddy suspected he had been in another world for a while. Closing his book, he snagged another seat and joined Jolon, putting his feet on what must have been some heating or cooling system in the past. They sat for quite a while, soaking in the view. There was little to see—only trees moving about in a dance that made him wonder if they were alive. The sky was empty, a desolate blue extending forever.

“Do you think we’ll ever be able to go out?” Jolon‘s voice went quiet as though he was saying something forbidden.

“Can’t say, but you would think if the trees are thriving, we could too.”

“But we haven’t seen any other signs of life. Just trees.”

Teddy rose and peered downward to the ground. “Well, and the other green stuff. That, I think, is called grass or some kind of plant.” He pointed toward the slope of land stretching away from the building at a sharp angle and jutted far below to the beginning of the tree line. “Seems the first floor is almost completely buried underground, so even if we wanted to get out, we would have to find another way.”

“Don’t start thinking of how to get out.”

They whirled around. Nuna placed a tray of food on a side table and joined them at the window.

“That was the first thing we talked of when we arrived here and saw the view,” she said, leaning against the sill. “For days, we would do nothing, but stare out these windows yearning to know what it would feel like. The scene captivates you—pulls you in and you find yourself wishing...” She fell silent, and they waited.  “But you don’t know what you’re longing for.” She shoved the tray toward them. “Feed yourselves. Don’t get locked up, or your days will go by, and you’ll dwindle away.”

“Is that what happened to your wife?” The sentence spilled out of him before Teddy could close his mouth.

The look she gave him revealed her pain, and she sank on the bed, her eyes shimmering. “No, to me,” she admitted. “I couldn’t stop no matter what she tried. I would watch and cry. I don’t even know why I cried. Everything hurt so much. Never saw anything more than the trees, but your mind messes about with you, and you start to think you have. I swore I saw someone moving out there once. It was right in front of the open patch. I even showed my wife, but she didn’t see anything. I think that was the day she resolved to try to find out if we could leave the building. I guess she felt it was the only way she could bring me back from the hole I had fallen into. It was a slice of desperation, but I couldn’t stop.”

“So, what happened?” Jolon asked with a cautious glance to Teddy.

“Don’t know, not sure. It is all muddy, a half-melted picture like some of those you find in the rubble. All I know is she was gone, and it took me days and months to crawl out of my hole.” She sniffed and wiped her face. “I don’t want you people to leave. This place is too large and quiet to live here by myself.”

“We can’t go back,” he said, leaning on her vulnerability. “At least, not to stay. There is no life there. People are scraps of survival. They mean nothing to anyone except for those who can’t seem to do anything about it.”

“Teddy.”

He cut off her protest by placing a hand on hers. “Come with us.”

“What?”

“Yes.” The thought improved as he thought about it. “Come with us and see for yourself.”

“Oh... oh, oh, oh. I don’t... no.” She stood, brushing him away and skittering about the room like a trapped spider.

“It’s a good idea,” Jolon added. “Our mom would like to meet you, and you would like her lots.”

She jolted to a stop and stared at them with a slicing glare. “I bet you two think you are clever. You have this plan I’ll be moved to compassion and, and....”

“And what, dear lady?”

It was Georges standing in the doorway behind Pa.

“Let the hordes descend? That’s a side issue. This is an insane thought....”

“Oh, yes, Georges, we all know what you think,” his father snapped, his face flicking from complacent to annoyed. “You’re a little mouse peeping out from under your covers and sneaking around the edges. The rest of us need more to survive.”

“Oh, fine,” She pattered off to the window.  “Don’t listen to me. The brute I gave you is no match for the squad you’ll have upon you when the Upperlords cling together, but what does that matter? What do I know? I’m a mouse... eep, eeep, eep.”

Teddy laughed. It hurt, but he couldn’t stop, and it spread through to the others like a cold.

“Fine, fine,” Nuna gasped as the fit dwindled to the odd twitter. “I’ll come, I’ll see, but I make no promises.”

Pa bowed and winked. “That’s more than I hoped for.”

––––––––

“W
ell, this is... is... well... it is good to meet you,” Ma stammered as she stood with her hands full of old dresses she had been trying to mend.

Mrs. Fish didn’t rely on ceremony or manners as she paced around Nuna like a bug looking for a place to land, chuckling and clicking her tongue. “A new person. My, my.” She lifted a corner of Nuna’s coat. “Plus, she’s clean, sparkling clean.”

“Fish,” Ma scolded as she dumped her load on a nearby box and opened her arms. “Come now, Nuna, let’s leave the ware- house. It’s a claustrophobic place. Our home is over here, and I just put a pot of water on. We don’t carry much for tea, but Henri found a few leaves the other day.”

She gestured to the brute standing by Caden—not too near to annoy her, but close enough to be attentive.

“Hey, scroungers, it’s about time you showed up,” Caden greeted, falling in behind them as they went to the house.

Henri doted along, happy to be with her. While he cared for his sister, Teddy didn’t understand the attraction. He guessed they balanced each other out, her aggressive cynicism and his soft mushiness.

“Good to see you too,” Jolon said.

Their parents, Mrs. Fish, Georges, and Nuna gathered around the table in a huddle, which left no room for anyone else. Teddy stopped, and they piled into him.

Caden shoved him. “Give warning.”

“I’m done with this,” he muttered, not wanting to hear any more of the adult conversations he was not able to be a part of. “I’m going to my office. If you guys want to come, fine, but they’re going to sort out their territory whether we say anything or not. I’d rather wait for the outcome somewhere else.”

They trailed behind as he ascended the stairs. He halted at the place where they used to climb the rail to get over to the landing. A crude, narrow bridge now spanned the distance.

“Surprise,” Caden said with a smidgen of enthusiasm. “Henri built it.” She punched the brute on the shoulder. “Didn’t ya, brawny?”

He glowed red and grinned. “Easy.”

For him, Teddy decided as he took a step onto the metal surface stretching across the space between the stairs and the landing. Well, it was solid. He crossed over and went into his office, making himself comfortable in his chair.

“So, what like? Is good?” Henri asked, sitting on the floor in front of him.

“Better than that,” Jolon said, perching on a stool by the window.

“We live there?” he asked. “Healthy?” He snuck a glance at Caden as he said this, the hope in his eyes vivid.

“That’s the plan, I guess...I don’t know,” Teddy answered, thinking about Nuna. “The place has running water and power, and rooms, beds, air. I don’t think the Uppercity can even compare. There’s room and sunlight. You can see through the windows...”

He glanced Jolon’s way. His brother kept his attention on the main floor; his face dejected as though he didn’t like the view.

“Trees stretch out beyond any distance I ever thought possible,” Teddy added, dejected by how dingy and empty the warehouse had become.

“So, what’s the problem?” Caden asked. “The lady?”

Teddy picked up a broach he kept to fix for his mother. “Look at this thing. I found it in a jumble of rubbish after my parents disappeared. I replaced a couple of the jewels, but the hinges are bent, and the clasp doesn’t want to stay closed. Doubt I’ll ever get it right.”