Ch 9. Senior orphans

Sammy, unlike his trash marrauding teammates, kept himself glued to Diaz's foot, using it as both a shield and a pillar that casted a shadow over all the things he didn't want to glance at. During their short walk form the orphanage to the rundown tunnel, the little boy had seen enough piles of decomposing trash and rotten bodies which only the worms could call appealing to mark him for life.

Diaz- " Believe it or not, those are actually traps to catch rats and other sources of meat", he said and gave an indiferent shrugg. " Unfortunately that also means that this place has been scrapped for anything of value, but if we're lucky we could scrounge up some wires or recyclables ."

The large tunnel seemed like it went for a quite a while in the black void, and the young worker told the three kids about the rumors surrounding it. A few decades or centuries back, lines made out of steel and concrete would lead shiny, reflective boxes way outside the confides of the Underlevel.

Sammy- " Wait, you mean beyond the border to the outside world? Isn't there only sand and, and, uh, wind?"

Diaz- " Beats me, but I don't believe that these tunnels go that far. After the upper managemnt stripped the tracks for parts, no one even dared to -", after which he quickly grabbed on the loud child, who was one foot away from exploding into a sprint- " that wasn't an invitation, Pelium-; no one dared to try and find out. Or if they did, never returned to spread some high tale about it."

A clap captured the kids attention and Diaz split them into groups. He would go by himself and , under the guide of the curious one, Mercius, the three preteens would dig into the trash from another location. Which was the exact scenario that Sammy dreaded the most, but neither pleads or cries would convince Diaz to change his mind.

-" I get it. But you can't expect me to keep an eye out for you every-time we go out to find work. Every kid born here goes through the exact same thing, so unfortunately you're going to have to deal it." The worker turned halfway around, rolling his eyes but a tingle in his fingers made the tight heat in his chest more alarming.

"No, this is the right choice, it wouldn't be fair for the other kids", thought Diaz.

A tight pull of her hand hid Eury before the large group of people gathered before the tunnel's entrance could notice her.

Zuwa- " Goddammit, they found out that the kids are down there. And the other entrance is 20 kilometers away. We should follow after they enter, right?"

The girl pondered, but her nerves were clearly played on. " Maybe…but do you know any of them? Or do they know you?"

Zuwa stretched his mechanical neck and counted on his fingers. "No pretty faces in that crowd, so probably not. Why do-", but then realized her intention. "Right, right kiddo. Listen, Diaz probably took them north, said that he hopped to find something there. When you find the occasion, slip in and head straight that direction. Ok?"

The old man then made his presence know and somehow managed to fool the crowd that he could help them traverse the tunnels. Apparently neither thought to hire a guide or find a map. Still, to their misfortune, that didn't meant that the crowd would keep the crew together, and split into four groups, with Zuwa making a correct map for each, except for the north crew.

-" That place is creaky, boys. Collapses and such probably ruined some tunnels, so sorry in advance if the map might be, uh, wrong."

-" Sure, guide, whatever. Let's just get this over with", replied a jittery voice from a modulator installed in the neck of a very relaxed person. The man's spear almost dug halfway into the ground with how much force it was applied from just him using as a standing pole. " Remember, only 2% of the bounty goes to you if we do find the kid. Otherwise, there's no payment." Afterward he grunted toward the tunnel and everyone, silently, took a step into it.

What Sammy didn't knew about Diaz's plan was that the worker was just always keeping an eye on them, from a floor above. The child was still scared by everything around him, and whenever any of his teammates called out to him, his reaction was to jump like a cat on his feet.

-" Right, I guess you'll keep doing that" said Mercius, the curious one, after the third time this happened.

-" Sss-ssorry", was the first thing that Sammy thought he should reply with.

Mercius -" God, if only we could eat that. You'd be like a dispensor of tasty sorries."

-" Hey, check out his knees" , pointed Pelium the loud one, to Sammy's shame. " Reminds me of how Julia used to shake during her first months back home."

Mercius rotated his blue tinted eye, zooming in closer on the wobbling towers. " Nah, more like the chid without a shoulder." The boy then noticed a hanging cable behind Sammy and called out to him "Hey, you should sit down if your legs do that. There's a lot of things that you could trip on here." Unsure of what just happened, Sammy did as, at least he interpreted, ordered to do.

-" You mean like these totally tasty cables?!" screamed the other kid, pointing his flashlight finger at the possible valuable object.

-" Nice find Pelium. Hey, fresh bolt, take a second to relax, ok? We'll need help to carry these back."

Sammy- " Shouldn't we find Diaz first?"

-" Diaz? Oh, you actual- no, no, he's been on the floor above us this whole time." While they couldn't see his red cheeks and blushing nose, the wide eyes betrayed how embarrassed the boy felt.

Pelium- " Ha, it's funny to see others fall for the trick. Don't worry, the older scavangers do this to us all the time, it's a weird trick they like. But I probably won't use it. Don't really see the point of pranking someone like that."

Mercius -" I do. It's to make sure we can figure things out on our own; like when you want to fix a bent thing, you hit it really hard, right?"

Pelium scratched the back of his head, not entirely convinced, while Sammy fidgeted his fingers, also not convinced by the comparison. Actually, he thought it didn't really applied to people that much. His words stumbled on dead air for the first few attempts; until the third one managed to push itself out " But, isn't it better to heat it up a bit before trying to straighten it up? "

The curious kid felt very proud of his insightful simile, so much so that Sammy's basic observation came like a meteor over him. " But, and what if", he tried to add, not helped the loud giggles of Pelium. " Most of the times, but-" stopped once falling can resonated all through the tunnel. Followed by a second, then third and finally more noise of falling heaps made the kids to tuck to their knees and cover their head.

-" Diaz? Is that you", whispered Mercius, hoping that this time he was correct.

Pelium-" That's gotta be him, right? He wouldn't prank us like this, right?"

-" Shush! What, did you learn to whisper in factory? And no…maybe, I don't know."

Sammy- " I only copied you guys, but I thought you just tried to mess with me. You think we're really in danger?"

Before any could reply, the loud footsteps got closer and closer, sprinting like a wild animal. All the kids were now turning around like headless chickens, unable to comit to hide, scream for Diaz or gun it. The marching sounds of feet ignoring all the metal and trash didn't helped their nerves at all.

All of the sudden, a figure pushed a heap of garbage to the ground. Which made the figure flinch, and knock another heap, causing a dust cloud to rise around.

-"Fucking cabinet, my foot is stuck!", cursed the person from the dark.

-" This is our chance, run!" but Sammy couldn't follow it, as the voice of the stranger held him captive on the spot. Even more, it made all of his uneasiness go away from the single cuss.

Eury- " Goddamn this place! Sammy, wait", she yelled out while inhaling a sweeping amount of dust, which in turn led to more coughing sessions. The boy ran to hug her, a bit relieved to see a familiar face; even though the day wasn't as bad as he feared. " Where's Diaz?", she then asked, but her answer came when the boy zipped down from the upper floor, summoned by the noise.

She threw him dagger gazes for leaving Sammy by his own, as she feared, which Diaz could swore he felt on the back of his head.

Eury- " Not the time, though, my fuck up just now will probably attract the others. We need to hide, or get out of here. Pronto!"

Sammy wanted to ask a question, but he quickly found himself carried on Eury's back while Diaz handled Mercius, while Pelium could parkour better than the rest combined.

Diaz- " Alright, you take the lead Pelium. I trust your senses much more than mine."

Pelium- " Fuck yeah, let's go!!"