Midnight Fire - Rise of the Dark Angel - Book One (9 page)

             
“Well, you
could be right about that, you’
re
kind of
ugly,” she teased him.

             
“Oh, how you wound my heart,” he said overdramatically, which chased away the last o
f the tension between them. “I’
m going
to talk to Jessica.
First of all
,
we a
re
n
’
t a couple and
secondly
she needs to realize not to mess with one of my best friends,” he said.

             
“You don’t need
to do that. I don’t think we’
ll have any more problems,” she lied to him.

             
“I’
m going to
talk to her
,
anyway. I hate seeing your body all scratched and bruised. It did look as i
f you got the upper hand though
because she has a
whopper
of a bruise on her jaw,” he said with a laugh.

             
“I bet she asked you to kiss it,” Phoenix said with a glare.

             
“You would be correct on that
but
she was very disappointed when I left,” he told her with a wink. She felt much better
knowing
that. It would be doubly crushing for him to hook up with Jessica, who was just so mean and petty.

             
Brian
gave her another hug
,
then
the two of them walked back to the main hall. The day had flown by and it was time for the assemb
ly.
Sadie came skipping out to join them. She gave Phoenix a questioning look
but
Phoenix
shook her head
and mouthed they’
d speak later. S
adie
understood
and turned to face the podium.

             
A hush fell over the crowd as the elders came into the room and took their place in front of the
people
. They looked more stressed than normal, which instantly worried Phoenix. What could possibly be wrong? She hoped nothing to
o
shattering,
with
her day
being
bad enough
, already
.

             
“As you all know we brought in two injur
ed people last night. They weren’
t in good shape. The woman
passed
and we’
ve already buried her
but
the man is still holding on. The things
he’
s been able
to share with us are terrifying
.
It
lets us know this war is far from over,” Greg spoke in a hushed tone.

             
Phoenix looked at Sadie
and a shudder ran down both their spines. They didn’t get a lot of information from the outside
world.
S
he was sure
it
was
because the elders didn’t want to scare them any further than they already
were
. She knew they were on top of things
,
though.
Something serious must’
ve happened for them to
speak
with the kids.

             
“It seems
the enemy is aware our group
resides
in
these woods
but
they don’t know where
.
They’
re finding stragglers and
torturing them for information.
Unfortunately, this is why the man and woman were in such bad shape
. Of course
,
t
hey were just escaping the city
and had no idea about us or where they were going
but
th
e enemy thought they were lying
. They tried
to get information
from
them,” Greg
said
.

             
He
waited until the shocked gasps
and worried
murmurs
died down before he continued speaking to the crowd.

             
“We’
ve seen an increase in activity on the outer perimeters of our safety zone
but
at this point no one has managed to come within ten miles of our
cave. They’
ve sent gro
ups of soldiers around the area
and we’
re sure if they had a location
they’
d be storming us
.
W
e’re still safe
,
for now. We’
re on red alert though
,
until things calm down and you
aren’t
to stray from the
boundaries
. That’
s
not up for question
,” Greg finished speaking.

             
Hands
rose
in the air and Phoenix listened while questions were asked and answered over the next several hours. She knew there was still a war going on
but
had grown comfortable in their
little
world. It was frightening to realize their safety could really fall apar
t. She didn’t know what she’
d do if they had to evacuate the caves and liv
e on the run, like others who they ha
d found had been doing.

             
She’
d heard stor
ies from people who’
d come in
. They’
d watched members of their families get slaughtered, most were
utterly
malnourished
,
and
all
light was gone from
their eyes. They were
mere
shadows of the people they
’d
once
been. She’
d never want to live a life like that.

             
“Everyone is dismissed for the evening. If you have any further questions
,
please see us up here. We’re a family and we’
ll make it through this,”
Dr. Light
spoke up
. The room started to
clear
and Phoenix wandered toward
her room. She
knew Sadie would find her
and they could comfort each other.

             
The next few weeks flew by, with many more people joining
their group
. The soldiers were out in force, actively
seeking
those who needed rescuing from the enemy
terrorist
and their numbers were growing
stronger by the day
. They knew the mor
e people they had on their
side
,
the more likely they’
d be able to survive whatever was coming
at them
.

             
Soon the immediate threat
seemed to dissipate as the enemy soldiers couldn’t find their
well hidden
camp
and figured the rumors to be false. The people
were allowed outside a bit more
but were still under extreme caution.

             
Jessica avoided Phoenix like the
plague, embarrassed she’
d gotten the worst end
from their fight. Weeks later
there was still slight bruising on
Jessica’s
pale body, which gave Phoenix
satisfaction,
even though she knew she shouldn’t feel that way.

             
It was late in the evening and Phoenix
once again lay down in her bed
and pulled out her beloved
notebook
.

             
We were sitting in complete darkness
and
I couldn’t hear any sounds
. I wanted my parents to turn the car around and take us somewhere with light
.
I’d prefer the fires to the blackness.
My dad exited the vehicle and I saw the beam of a flashlight. He walked down
a
hall
and
lit a lamp
that was permanently affixed to the wall
.
I was still tired and frightened from being ripped out of my home in the middle of the night.

             
The other
parents,
who’d ridden with us
,
did the same thing and soon there was a soft glow in the cavernous room
.
I climbed from the vehicle, noticing
rows of other
parked
cars. There were several
families
standing
outside with mixed expressions. I thought
I recognized
some of them
,
but most I didn’t.

             
The adults all
knew
each other and were busy
speaking
in low voices. I stayed behind
,
clinging to Brian, afraid of being
by
myself. Luckily
,
he let me hold onto him and we stayed where we were, until summoned.
My blanket, always one of my greatest securities, was clenched in my hands – separation from it wasn’t an option
.

             
“Kids, we know you’re confused right now but you need to follow us so we can get into
the
central room. W
e’ll explain everything to you,
there,
” my dad said to the group. Everyone started trudging after him. There
were
hundreds of people in the huge cavern. I noticed some of the adults stayed behind as we passed through an archway and then walked down what seemed like an endless narrow hallway.

             
Gas lanterns were lit every
few feet
, casting some light but more shadows than anything. It was like I’d fallen asleep and
awakened
in a
living nightmare
.
The long walk ended in another cavern almost twice the size as the first one
. The walls were a scary dark
gray
color and were
moist to the touch. I felt as if we were going to suddenly be buried alive and no one would
know
of our existence.

             
I saw my dad in the center of the room and moments later a fire was going.
Even being
several yards away it didn’t take the heat long to reach me. I moved closer, trying to get the chill from my body, which seemed
to
be there permanently.

             
“Everyone
, please take a seat and we’ll let you know what’
s happening,” my father once again spoke. We did as he asked us. I was grateful for my blanket and
ended up sharing it with Brian.
His warmth
almost made me forget I was scared. As we sat down
,
I noticed several more people
continued
drifting into the room. I wondered if the entire
place
would somehow be filled by the end of th
e night.

             
“Thank you for your patience.
I know tonight has been very scary for you
,
kids. Your parents and I have known for some time bad things have been happening in the world. We have friends who work in the higher ranks of the government and though they
’ve done well to cover up what’
s
really been going on,
w
e knew war could break out any moment,” he began speaking. There wasn’t a sound in the room as everyone listened to every word he spoke.

             
“We didn’t know when or even if the war would start but we knew it was a great possibility. The last six months we knew it was inevitable. The government didn’t speak of this to the public because there would’ve been mass panic, though I think it was more for their own selfish reasons.
T
hree years ago we knew we needed to be prepared for the worst.” He looked around the room to make sure everyone was listening to what he
said
.

             
“We found the safest location we could possibly think of
,
then
pooled our resources. This cave is not detectabl
e by air or ground
,
unless
standing
right next to it.
The enemy’s
infrared cameras ca
n’t detect heat in here and we’
re basically nonexistent to the outside world. We
worked for over a year gutting it out and making sure there w
as no chance of a cave in. We’
ve created rooms and
stocked everything we’
d need to surviv
e. We’
ll give you
a tour after we’
re done talking,” he continued.

             
“How long are we going to be here?”
A
child asked, sounding as terrified as the rest of us.

             
“We don’t know yet. We hope it won’t be long but we just don’t know,” he answered, with a deep sadness unlike anything I’d ever heard in his voice before.

             
“As I was saying, we’ve prepared this place well.
It’
s basically a small
city
. We have a huge garden so we can have fresh produce. We have animals, cooking facilities, bathing houses, bedrooms, a library, school and so much
more. You’
ll see as we take the tour.
H
undreds of us have
placed
our money, time, talents and various
holdings
to make this place a sanctuary. None
of you will go without and we’
ve also made sure to bring in some touches from home to make the long days
more
bearabl
e. If we all work together
,
we’
ll be okay,” he finished
,
with a bit of a choked up voice.

             
My eyes filled and spilled over as I watched
my dad
nearly
break down in front of a crowd. I noticed
many
other children were crying
,
as well
.
T
here was an unusual closeness among the gathered people.

             
“Please follow me and I’
ll take you on a tour, after which your parents will show you to your sleeping facilities,” my dad spoke again.

             
We stood up and followed my father down another long hallway. There was a loud gasp from the crowd as we entered a kitchen area. It was nothing like what we had at home
,
with microwaves and fancy ovens
, but it was a huge area
with clean counters, sinks and cooking ranges.

             
“We have solar power
that
provides
us limited time to
perform
different functions. For example, we can cook for about four hours each day
. We’
ve piped in water from a lake, which is a few miles away and comes directly from the mountain. The water will be continuous year round and we have about twenty
years’ worth
of filters to make sure it’
s clean,” my dad explained.

             
We left the kitchen and wan
dered through other rooms. The
library
was huge
,
with tens of thousands of books. They ranged from history to fiction and everything in between. I couldn’t imagine how much time it would’ve taken to track the
m all down and how they would’
ve kept track of what they had and what they needed. Someone asked that very question.

             
“We had a very elaborate system
linking
everyone
who was
purchasing items
. When we got new items we’
d enter them into the system
,
notifying
the others
. These systems also let us know what we still needed to get. Like I said earlier
,
we spent over three years preparing this place so we were able to go over it again and again,” Greg answered.

             
“Let’s continue on,” my dad said and we were off once more. We went through a large school room with desks and
endless supplies
. “There are minimal computers, as they would take too much of our power and we wouldn’t have internet anyway. We mainly brought in a few samples in case we really do end up having to start all over again
,
when the war is finished.”

             
I’d never thought there was a chance the world as we knew it could be changed forever. It was a sobering thought and one that didn’t sit well in my already nauseous stomach. The place was incredible but to stay there forever didn’t seem appealing.

             
We kept going through the seemingly endless tunnels
and I was amazed at what they’
d done. There were so many rooms and each one ha
d a specific purpose. There wasn’t any
wasted space in the entire facility. We went to another vast cavern, which was even larger than the meeting
room and it had those fake sun lights hooked up everywhere and unbelievably
,
there was a monstrous garden growing. Every kind of fruit and vegetable you could imagine was in it and doing well.

             
In the next room was an orchard of fruit and nut trees.
T
hey hadn’t
seemed to forget
anything. When we stepped into the animal area I thought I’d been transported onto Noah’s ark. There were several different breeds of animals, all of them
there to provide
either food or some other life sustaining
resource
such as fur or leather.

             
“I know this will sound a bit
cruel
but please don’t get attached to the animals. They aren’t pets, they serve a purpose and it would be too hard for you, as I’m sure you’re all already suffering great losses,” he said with sympathy.

             
A few kids cried when he said those words but he quickly moved on, hoping that getting the
children
away from the animals would help them gain the proper emotional distance. He led us to the shower area and I was impressed. I wasn’t sure if we were going to have to step back in time and start using outhouses but after living in a nice home all my life
,
that thought wasn’t appealing.

             
There were separate men and
women's
quarters
,
with real shower heads, private toilets and changing areas. There was also a huge
,
steaming rock tub in the middle of the two rooms
,
with privacy walls around it.

             
“One of the things we liked about this area
was
the
natural hot springs.
O
ne of those sp
rings comes into the cave and
w
e were able to lay pipe
s so you can take real showers
and bathe. Now
,
I know it doesn’t smell the best
,
but you’ll get used to that and it will be well worth it to have the hot water
soothing
sore muscles after long, hard days of work. The spring has a constant supply of fresh water so you
won’t
have to worry about sitting in filth,”
my
dad
told us
. 

             
We passed through ev
ery imaginable kind of room we c
ould possibly need
,
then it
seemed we’d made a huge circle
because we once again entered the cavern with the fireplace
.
It seemed the fire was able to chase the chill quickly from the air.