Chapter 8

Chapter 8 of Red Dawn. Apologies for it being so late!

Chapter 8

 

“Who are you?”

Michael sat seated on a small stone rock in the park with Milly, Tommy, and Felix all standing around him. It had taken many hours to convince Milly to talk to Michael, but in the end, she gave in and agreed to talk to him.  She stood with her arms crossed and eyes narrowed as she asked him.

“I’ve already told you.” Tommy answers for him “His name is Michael.”

“I want to hear it from him!” Milly strictly says “Who are you!?”

“Michael, like he said,” Michael says looking up at Milly who still glares down at him.

“Who’s the girl?” Milly presses

“Marybeth.” Michael answers one wordily.

“Where are we?” Milly asks suddenly.

“Domino City is what we call it.” Michael willingly answers.

“Why?”

“Uh… I’m not sure how to answer that?” Michael puts on an extremely confused face as he looks at Milly.

“Never mind that. Michael our stuff? Where is it?” Tommy asks.

“If it’s anywhere it’s probably with Marybeth. She keeps all guns and equipment with her.” Michael says making hand gestures as he talks.

“How do we get it back?” Tommy questions.

Michael shakes his head in reply and says: “You can’t. No one can. She’s the only one that knows where it is.”

“Can’t you like sneak in or something?” Milly says as Michael shakes his head: ‘no’ Milly turns on her heel and takes two steps away from them and her arms crossed. Tommy turned a bit away from Michael and looked up at the sky’s blue reflection.

Felix looked at the boy and gently placed his hand on his shoulder leaning down to his level so his eyes met with those of Michael’s. Michael looks into Felix’s eyes and watches him contently.

“Are you sure there’s no other way?” Felix softly presses. Michael looks to the ground for a second: thinking, then back towards Felix.

“There’s no way for me to get it…. But, maybe…” Michael stops biting his lip as if in a war against himself “If I can find it…. You can collect it?” Michael looks at Tommy who’s now giving him his full attention.

Felix thinks about it for a second, looking at the grass blades blow softly through the wind. He looks up at Milly watching her back as she continued to stay with her back to them and her arms crossed.

“Milly.” Felix calls her “What do you say?” he questions softly to her.

“I think your both bloody morons!” She turns her eyes glaring with disagreement and…. fear?

Felix stood and moved towards the outraged Milly. He slowly wrapped his arms around her shoulders - her arms still crossed  - and held her tightly to her chest. Milly let out a sigh and dropped her head onto his shoulder muttering 'you’re a b*****d’ into his clothes.

“Actually… there is another way.” Michael says while looking at his feet

Milly softly pushes Felix’s arms away from her and stands in front of Michael - her eyes glaring but hopeful. Michael ruffles up his hair and looks up at her " meeting her gaze.

“There’s... there’s a guy I know…. Lives in the runways under the surface.” He pushes his hair out of his face and rubs his eye at the corner.

“A subway?” Milly asks, leaning down to his level.

“He knows them better them anyone. If you go see him, he could help you get your gear back.” Michael says.

“What about the girl? " Marybeth or whatever.” Milly states looking from Tommy to Felix and down to Michael.

“She refuses to go near the subway or my friend, she doesn't trust him - though she wants his trust.” Michael explains.

“Not bad. But there's still a problem present. We don’t know where the subway entrance is.” Tommy piped up, looking down at Michael.

“Don’t worry about that, I'll show you.” Michael answers, looking up at him.

“I’ll bring a map with me tomorrow and show you all the access points into the subway.” He continues.

“What about your friend?” Felix asks.

“He won’t mind; just tell him I send you down " his name is George.” Michael explains.

“Wait I thought you didn’t know where all the gear and guns were held?” Milly states.

“I don’t, but this is your best shot of getting out of this city.” Michael says as he stands.

“I’ll give you the map to the subway and George will find it from there.” Michael explains further.

“How can we trust him?” Milly asks.

“You’ll see when you meet him. He’s quite friendly.”

~

They returned to their so-called prison and went to their corners in the store. The guards returned to their posts at the door and the sunlight shone through the blurred window until it disappeared behind the buildings.

The day’s food came in and was left at the door with a cloth laying over the top of it. No one moved to retrieve it but instead left it to rot at the door mat. Milly - who had basically walked over the food - took up her time wondering the shop, exploring the possible escape areas and occasionally looking at a dress or two - if not ruined. Tommy stayed seated on the floor piling glass shards on top of each other on the ground, while Felix sat scratching at the ground with a glass shard that cut into his hand dripping small drops of blood down his palm and glass. He didn’t really care, though, to him it felt like nothing, but also felt good. It made him feel as if he’s actually alive, it reminded him that he was still alive.

The hangers scratched along the rack as Milly pushed them along. They were all long formal dresses and were left to rot within compressed storage bags. Though there was no purpose at looking at the dresses, it gave her a sense of longer, of missing. Her lips edge up as she recalls a time when her mother and herself had gone looking at dresses, in her younger years. But the smile quickly faded as she remembered what happened after…

She dropped the dresses sleeve that she was looking at and removed herself from the dresses. She turned around and went back to the boys - who were both still seated on the ground playing with glass. She steps over the glass, the shards cracking under her boot. She reached the wall and slid down it and landed onto the ground with ‘flump’ sending small dust particles into the air.

Resting her head against the wall, she closed her eyes and watched the black nothingness clouded her vision. She listened to the slight scratch of the glass and the sudden sound of glass hitting the glass pile as Tommy would add another shard to the growing tower.

Her eyelids felt heavy over her eyes and the small sounds were starting to ring in her ears - appearing and disappearing. Her thoughts started to derail as her brain started to fall asleep, her mind drifting between consciousness and sleep, just before it gave in, and her thoughts became non-existent.

~

That morning Michael arrived without fail, whether he had the map or not was a completely different story. Like the last few days they left the building of a prison with Michael, but unlike every other time they didn’t go towards the open empty park, but instead walk past the street towards it completely.

Milly watched as the park disappeared behind the buildings and felt a nervous shiver break over her body and down her spine.

The further they went the more they realised just how ruined the city was. Buildings had collapsed or fallen in own themselves, the street’s roads were full of cracks and dirty water laid all over the ground. Michael looked over his shoulder then looked ahead again, his eyes traced over the walls and grounds of the surrounding area, watching for movement Milly assumed.

Suddenly a can rolled out into the open, clanking on the dishevelled ground. They came to a sudden stop and looked at the direction of the rolling can before their eyes flicked towards the dark alley just centimetres from it. A cough erupted from the darkness and then the shallow gloomed eyes peeked through the dark.

“…. Help…. Please….” Her hand reached out towards them. The temptation to help her was so strong, but something told them; something was off.

Her hidden face and cracking voice seemed to play tricks on their minds. Her feet lay motionless on the ground and skin looked old like that of a grandmother. Her hair fell out in clumps and her rags for clothes were covered with water and mud.

She reminded Felix of an abandoned doll… It scared him.

Her groaning and moans tore apart Felix’s safety wall to his memories, it reminded him so much of the day it all started, listening to the sound of their horrid groans and watching them limp up the road towards him. The thought quickly left his mind as he gave himself a light pinch on the skin of his hand.

Felix watched Michael speak to the girl, but no words were heard. Felix looked to Milly and Tommy, and when they made no signs of having the same problem Felix tabbed the side of his head like an old machine that refused to work - in this case, his brain. Slowly sound came flooding in with fizz’s and blurs of words. It cleared just as Michael spoke his last word.

“…Sorry.”

Michael stood - he had squatted down - and her hand dropped to the ground in defeat. They watched as she shrank back into her gloomy dark corner and disappeared into the shadows.

“This way.” Michael urged on, ignoring the event that had just taken place.

After many turns and twists of the streets, an underground subway line entrance comes into sight. But they don’t go any closer, than where they stand - about 50metres. Guarding the subway entrance was two older looking boys - Michael age, by the looks.

They stayed standing at the entrance watching the road stretched out in front of them. Then a third came into view, he was walking around behind the stair barricade, checking down streets then moving on and checking another.

“That’s the entrance down to George.” Michael states in a whisper.

 They watch from the side as one of the guards lazily leans against the railing and fiddles with his gun - flicking the safety on and off. Milly held her hair out of her face as she leaned down and looked past the wall. Her eyes narrowed as she watched the three boys stop and turn to each other before cracking to a fit of laughs.

“How are we supposed to get there, exactly?” Milly questions, her eyes never leaving the three guard boys.

Just as Michael was about to answer, they see movement from the dark shadows of the subway overhead cover. A person emerged, coated in dust and dirt and their face impossible to see. The guards straightened up and pointed their guns down towards the figure, their mouths moved but no words were heard from where the group stood in anticipation.

The person removed their rather filthy hood, revealing their face. Their face coated in dried mud and dust all through their red hair, standing out like greys on an aging man. The person stood with his hands away from his body in a sign of peace as the gun was nudged towards them.

One of the soldiers yelled something down at the man and he started to back down the stairs in slow steady paces. The man spoke back up to the boy as he took his last step before entering the shadows again.

One of the guards suddenly lowered their gun and the three couldn’t help but feel confused as they grabbed some sort of bag and threw down to the person. They court it with jittery hands but didn’t fail to catch it, he then turned on his heel - from what they guessed " and headed back into the darkness.

There was a sudden clutter, that echoed out from the darkness and bounced off the walls of the streets. One of the soldiers yelled something down towards the darkness before grabbing what looked like a glass bottle and throwing it down into the abyss.

The loud smash of the glass echoed just like the previous sound, but this one sounded as it was several pieces hitting the ground, not the whole bottle.

The scene quieted down and the three guard boys went back their business. Michael simply tapped the three shoulders and flicked his hand in a motion of ‘follow’. They headed back to the empty park - passing through the creepy alleyway with the still sobbing girl - and just sat in on rocks of the rubble, words not being exchanged just; silence.

“Was that…. George?” Felix asked from above Michael - he was seated on the highest rock, while Milly, Tommy and Michael sat on the lower rocks.

“Yea.” Was all Michael said, His fingers playing with grass strands that he’d broken off.

“What was he doing?” Milly pipes up, her eyes tracing over the clouds that floated through the skies.

“probably getting food, if anything.” Michael says as he throws the piece of grass away - it just floated back in front of him again, though.

“They supply him with food?” Tommy questions “What’s the point?” He questioned himself.

“To gain his trust.” Michael answers simply “When Marybeth arrived and started taking command of everything, George just went underground and decided to live in the subway lines. Marybeth hasn’t stormed the place yet because she thinks there’s more than just a few people down there. She’s cautious with George and is trying to get on his good side, don’t ask me why - I’d assume it to have more people in her army? But I wouldn’t know.”

“Aren’t you, like her second in command or something?” Tommy questioned while absorbing all the new information.

“A second in command wouldn’t get pushed around and treated like a rag doll, Tommy.” Milly states, kicking Tommy in the foot.

“True.” Tommy nods his head towards her, as he realises the logic behind it.

“I’d say I’m more of a guinea pig, that’s used as a dog.” Michael says as he leans back against the rock.

“So, when do we act?” Tommy asks as he leans his back against the rubble wall.

“In two days, Marybeth’s going out to the city to one of the outer borders that we set up. She won’t be back for several hours, that leaves you plenty of time to get the subway lines and to the sanctuary.” Michael explains the simple details of his plan

“Sanctuary?” Milly tests the word.

“Like I said, Marybeth doesn’t want a fight with George. Because she doesn’t know what’s down there in those railways and that’s why George is called a sanctuary by most of the kids up here on the surface. Cause she won’t make a move against him…” They all look at each other and their eyes seem to give off the feeling of agreeance.

And the war against Marybeth began…

Author's Note

I'M SO SORRY!!!! I didn't mean to leave it this long! I was taking a break over the school holidays (they only go for two weeks) then school started up and it was like argue!!!!!!!!

Reviews

[MightyMouse]

I think it needs work. The story in itself is good, but there's details lacking. Some of it seems a little jumbled up and kind of rushed. It isn't bad, it just needs a little bit of touching up.

[PenguinEmpiress]

Yea, this chapter was a pain to write, cause it was just a constant thing to stop and have to start writing again a week or so later. i had to leave it for months on end untouched at one point because of assignments and this just ended up being the end result of a rushed chapter, I so badly wanted to write and get out of the way.

While, I'm at my Nan and Pop's I'll surely work on these chapters and fix up as many mistakes as I can. Thank you a lot for taking the time to read them all!! i really appreciate what you've done for me!!

[MightyMouse]

My pleasure :-)