Underworld

“Get up.”

I was awoken by a dull pain in my side. The end of a long wooden stick repeatedly prodded my side as I slept. After more than a few seconds awake, the pounding pain in my head quickly flushed away the pain in my side.

A tall, built man with a well groomed beard continued to poke at me with his stick.

“Knock it off will you!”

I instinctively swung my arm towards the man. Clang. It was a halfhearted swing but my knuckles still clattered off the metal bars separating me from the man. That hurt.

He poked me more aggressively. “I said get up. Now.”

Rising to my feet took more effort than I anticipated. My legs struggled to stay firm as I stood, like they were made of jelly. My entire body felt sapped of its strength. The pounding in my head grew louder as I exerted myself.

The man placed a key in the lock and swung open the door. Three stone walls and a fourth of metal bars. There was no mistaking it, I was in a prison cell.

I followed the man down a dimly lit hallway, passing numerous cells on the way. My arms and legs were not shackled, a surprise, but unnecessary. In my current state I couldn’t put up a fight even if I tried. Like an obedient animal I followed the man, not saying a word.

While I was still in a daze, the world around me looked entirely unfamiliar. Buildings, streets, and more were carved delicately out of stone imprinted with intricate patterns. The consistent clay color set an entirely different mood compared to the dull metal of the Cube. We walked what felt like an excessive distance, but I failed to get my bearings. Eventually, we arrived to our destination.

The man guiding me pointed toward a lone wooden chair and table positioned in the middle of a bare room. I dragged my feet to the chair and took a seat, relieved just to get off my aching feet. The man left the room, closing the door behind him. I was alone.

Eventually, the door opened again. A man and a woman, both wearing attire which could only be described as extravagant, came to the table. Both had the same fair complexion as Dawn, and equally dark hair. They were followed by two young men, both wearing identical tattered rags to my own, carrying chairs. They placed the chairs at the table and hastily left the room. The man waited for the woman to take her seat before unbuttoning his jacket and taking a seat himself.

“Welcome to the 35th district.” His voice was deep and booming. “I hope your stay has been comfortable thus far.”

I said nothing in response. I doubt he expected a reply, anyway.

“We were amazed to see more of you out on the surface,” the man continued. “It’s rare to see you outside of your floating monstrosities.”

The woman grabbed my cheeks with her hand and forced my gaze upon her and the man beside her. “Don’t drift off now, pay attention to those talking to you. Don’t you want to know what happened to your friends?”

She had my attention now. Until now, my mind was in a daze. All it took was a few words from this woman to snap my back to reality.

“Where are they?” My voice was weak, but I tried to act tough. It was a fruitless effort. I sounded pathetic, like a whimpering, dying animal.

“Most of you died up there,” she said with a hint of a smirk. “You all really don’t go down without a fight, do you? Even with the option to surrender, some kept fighting to the very end.”

How many people died? Did Amber make it? Was she okay?

“There was a girl,” my voice gained strength. “A girl with beautiful orange hair. Where is she?”

The man and woman remained stoic even as I raised my voice. “You’re not the one who gets to ask questions,” the man said. “You talk, then we’ll talk, if we feel like it.”

I was in no position to negotiate, but that didn’t matter. I was angry now. At this point, Amber was all I had, and I failed to protect her.

“Tell me where she is.” I was ready to lunge across the table.

The man slammed his fist on the table. “Shut your mouth, kid. You need to learn some damn respect.”

Beyond the man and woman at the table, the door was cracked open. When the two attendants left, they closed the door, no doubt about that. Someone was watching, or listening, from behind the door.

“Stop eavesdropping,” the woman snapped. How did she know someone was listening? She couldn’t even see the door.

The door swung open. My jaw dropped as a figure emerged from behind it. Dawn.

“I should have known it was you.” The woman let out a chuckle. She turned back towards me. “So, what’s your name?”

“Ray. Ray Alder.”

“Well Mr. Alder. You should thank this young lady here. Without her, you’d be dead.”

This man wanted me to thank her? Dawn was nothing but a worthless Dweller. She snuck onto the Cube, tried to kill me, and has done nothing but cause trouble. I had no reason to thank her.

“I guess I’ll throw you a freebie,” the woman said with another smirk. “You are one of six prisoners we captured.”

One of six? Dawn of course, was a worthless Dweller, meaning only six of us survived out of 27 genuine members of Squad Delta. 21 deaths. If the Dwellers ever had any sense of humanity, it was long gone now.

I grit my teeth in anger. “You’ll regret making an enemy of us.”

She could not contain her laughter. “Making an enemy of you? You selfish fools brought this upon yourselves! Justice is being served.”

Dawn and the man were both in the room, but silent. This woman clearly held the authority in the room, and no one was going to speak over her. She was the shot caller.

“You should consider yourself lucky,” she continued. “You are the first prisoner we’ve brought in here for questioning.”

Enraged, I spat across the table at her. I was playing right into her hand, falling for her provocations. She slapped me across the face, hard. I couldn’t see my own cheek, but I had no doubt it quickly turned red.

That slap to the face made me realize something. A fact I had ignored until now. She just made contact with my bare face. And I was looking at her, this man beside her, and Dawn, all without any form of facial protection or air filtration.

“Where… where are we?”

Another devilish smile grew on the woman’s face. “Well, Ray, welcome to the Underworld.”

The underworld, a popular motif present in numerous religions and cultures throughout history. As we learned in school, people of the past followed religious and cultural beliefs to explain the natural phenomena of the world. One core concept, present in ancient and pre-modern religions alike, was the concept of the underworld. A land of the dead and cursed located below the land of the living. A perfect name for the world inhabited by Dwellers.

As I lay on the floor of my cell, all I had was my own thoughts. My thoughts ate at me like a mutant ravaging a corpse. I knew there were five other survivors, but I still didn’t know who they were, or if Amber was among them.

“Hey, Ray.”

I recognized that voice. There was no reason for me to turn and face her. I continued to stare at the ceiling. If I ignored that brat, perhaps she would walk away.

“I’m not going away that easily,” she continued, as though she read my mind.

“How the hell did you even get back here?” I continued to hold my gaze on the ceiling. “This is a prison, isn’t it? Why would they let some random girl come back here?”

“That’s none of your business. But, I did come back here for a reason.”

“Oh yeah?” I couldn’t care less what her reason east

She let out a long winded sigh and lowered her voice. “Thank you.”

My ears perked up. Did my hearing deceive me? “Come again?” This time, I turned to face her. Her head was bowed before me. A sincere showing of gratitude.

“Thank you,” she repeated softly.

I was speechless. Was she mocking me? Receiving her thanks filled me with anger, even though it appeared genuine.

After a moment of silence, I finally had something to say. “What the hell are you talking about, Dweller.”

She finally lifted her head. We were now holding eye contact. I shifted in place and tapped my finger nervously on the floor.

Our eyes locked for what felt like an eternity. I heard the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway. Whoever it was, they were light on their feet.

My glance shot down the corridor. “A little girl?”

A small child, no older than 12, came down the hallway and settled beside Dawn. She tugged at Dawn’s pant leg and hid behind her, as if I were a threat to her from inside my cell.

“This is my sister, Luna.” Dawn placed her hand softly on the top of Luna’s head. “I know you were only trying to use me, but you spared my life. And because of that, I’m back with my sister, so thank you.”

My confusion quickly faded and was replaced with more anger. “You’re thanking me for that?” I started to raise my voice. “I don’t care if you have a sister or not! She’s just as worthless as you!”

Her kindness pissed me off. I didn’t want or need the compassion of a dirty Dweller. This conflict between us, it was all their fault. Compassion or pity now was far too little, too late.

Dawn remained surprisingly calm as I unleashed my verbal tirade. “What was her name again, Amber right?”

“Keep Amber’s name out of your dirty mouth.”

“She’s still alive, I made sure of that. When we were on the surface, I told our soldiers to spare her.”

Amber survived? And this Dweller saved her?

“Liar. There’s no way you would try to keep any of us alive! You just want us all dead, just like your kind always has!”

Shouting at her accomplished nothing. I was overwhelmed, letting my emotions get the best of me. But there was no productive purpose behind yelling at her. It wasn’t going to get me out of this cell, it wasn’t going to reunite me with Amber.

“This is going nowhere fast,” she said with a sigh. “Someone will come to fetch you tomorrow. Later.”

I watched her leave from behind the bars of my cell. At least I knew Amber was still alive. Alone with nothing but my own thoughts, I waited for the night to come.