18 December 2012
The scream is above us, above the trapdoor.
"Quiet. Climb faster." Summer hisses. I almost want to just let go of the latter and fall, but I don't.
Then I hear a shot. A shot of a gun. More screaming. Police sirens? A giant boom.
The boom shakes the ground, almost knocking me off the ladder.
"What was that?" I whimper.
"Terrorists." Summer says instantly. So quick I'm still finishing my words.
I'm getting creeped out now. More screams, more sirens, more shots. No more booms, though. What is going on up there?
"Where are you taking me?" I ask.
"Lawryn Cave, also known as LC. Very safe. Very secure."
"Where's Ellie?"
"In LC. She's sleeping. Oh, by the way, there might be some more bombs coming soon." Just then another boom shakes me. Thank goodness the dirt walls are covered in steel, or else they might've caved in on us.
See, this is one reason why I don't like Summer. She's always taking me to dangerous places, like here.
A couple minutes go by, and we finally arrive at the bottom. Summer presses a button on her watch (since when did Summer wear watches?) and a little dot appears on the wall next to us.
"Little Monthly Child." she says. The dot spins then disappears. a bigger dot appears this time. Summer presses her finger on it, then it disappears. The wall slides away.
"Cool." I whisper. We walk into a bigger room. The wall slides back in place, and a red light fills the room.
"Summer!" I yell, pounding the wall, looking for a door of some sort.
"Relax. Just a scanner."
Summer looks at me, and her eyes sparkle. Ugh! "Follow me. Don't touch anything." a door appears on a wall and slides open. I follow Summer out it, then I gasp.
Blinking red lights are on machines that could've been made in the future. Giant computer screens are on the wall, showing stats of stuff I'm not sure about. People are running around, screaming orders at no one. This is LC?
"Who are they talking to? Why couldn't I hear this in the scan room?" I ask.
"Sound proof walls and micro headsets." Summer walks to a woman at a very high-tech looking computer. "Room AE 26."
"Who for?" the woman doesn't even look up, just keeps clacking away at her flat keyboard.
"T Season." Summer answers. The woman clicks a button on her bracelet.
"Hallway 9, fourth door on your left." a door slides open next to her computer. We walk into it.
"Ummm..." I ask.
"Code names." Summer looks at the numbers listed above doors. "3...4..." she mumbles.
"Is T Season mine?" I ask.
"Yes."
"What's yours?"
"S Season."
"Oh. What's Ellie's?"
"M Kitten."
I laugh. "M Kitten..."
"9." Summer presses a button next to a hallway with 9 above it. "Stand in front of the door." She commands to me, no sparkle this time. I walk over and stand. A red beam hits my eye and disappears. The door clicks open.
"Fourth door on the left." Summer waves me off. "My room's on hallway 3. You can't go into a hallway that isn't yours."
"Oh. Is my room with Ellie?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because you both came into LC for the first time around the same time. Go!" I don't move. Summer's eyes sparkle. "Go to the fourth door on your left." I walk through the door. It clicks shut behind me. I hate Summer!
I walk up the hall without counting doors, but I still turn to the right door. I look around and see a button, so I press it. A flat thing about the size of my fingertip appears with a little piece of something that looks like paper below it. Based on my prior knowledge about security things, I press my finger against the flat thing. A zap hits my finger, and I place my finger on the paper thing. My fingerprint comes out in blood. The two things disappear into the wall, then the door opens. Wow, Summer wasn't kidding when she said this was high-tech.
I walk into the room and find Ellie laying on a bed.
"Ellie!" I wail. I run over to her and she starts crying.
"Autumn..." she moans. We hug, then I sit down next to her.
"What happened?" I ask.
"They... They... They said I'm..." Ellie stutters.
"What?" I don't mean to sound pushy, but I do. "What?"
"They... They said... They said I'm the Pope's daughter!"
January, Chapter 6 • Opuss № I