Beneath the Fallen City - A Dystopian Fantasy Romance

Chapter 4

A few days later, Kayla was underground. Against Veridian's advice, she snuck out of camp and headed back to the ruins. Veridian grudgingly followed her, unwilling to let her scavenge alone. She knew he was apprehensive about making Leo angry.

In Kayla's opinion, she'd stayed above ground long enough. Sitting in camp made her stir-crazy, and she found herself snapping at people left and right. She figured Leo wouldn't be all that upset at her leaving. In fact, she reasoned he would probably end up welcoming a more relaxing day without having her yell back and forth with him.

"Dropping down to level four," Kayla announced over her headset. The cable lowered her into the ruins in Sector Twelve. Once her feet touched the floor, she pressed the button to signal she'd stopped her descent. Kayla unhooked the harness and looked around the room again.

This is where I belong.

Most other ruin rats might look at scavenging as a way to survive, but there was something eerily calming about being in the ruins. Walking through rooms forever frozen in time allowed her a glimpse of another world. She could almost get lost in other people's memories.

Kayla smiled to herself as she moved through the old bedroom and spotted the empty jewelry box she'd thrown in the corner. She picked it up and stuffed it into her bag. It probably wasn't worth much, but it might get them a few credits.

Making her way across the room, she climbed over a partially collapsed wall separating the bedroom from the hallway. Working her way through the hall, she was careful to check the stability of the ground before each step to avoid another collapse.

She came to a large hole in another wall, which appeared to lead to another bedroom. This room was remarkably well preserved and appeared to have belonged to a child. Kayla began sorting through debris for any salvageable items.

She moved to the other side of the room and discovered what looked like an old toy chest in the corner. Grinning, she knelt on the ground. It might not look like much from the outside, but sometimes the contents were in decent shape.

Kayla pried open the rusted lid and discovered a few old-fashioned toys inside. One looked like some sort of worn, plastic music player. She put it in her pack and picked up a ceramic doll wearing a long, faded red dress. It was in better condition than she expected. She added the doll to her pack as well.

The rest of the items looked like trash. She doubted they would bring in many credits but made a mental note in case she ever wanted to come back. There wasn't much else in the room she could carry, so she headed back to the hallway.

"Kayla," Veridian's voice called over her headset, "we've got a problem. I've got three riders on approach. It looks like Carl again."

"Shit. That guy is seriously becoming a pain in my ass. It can't be a coincidence he knew we'd be here today. How long do I have?"

"Less than five minutes. If you get up here now, we might be okay."

Kayla dashed to the harness, strapped herself in, and hit the button for the cable to lift her to the surface. The time would be close, but it was possible. "Disengage the UV guard and get the hell out of here, V. I'll take care of the cabling device and meet you where we discussed."

"On it," he replied.

By the time she climbed out of the hole, Veridian was already driving away. She grabbed the cabling device and attached it to her bike. Glancing up, she saw three bikes rapidly approaching. She leaped on to her speeder and fired up the engine.

With a grin, she pulled back on the throttle and took off speeding over the landscape with the three bikes following her.

Leaning forward, she pulled back on the thrust lever. The bike engine roared and shot forward at near breakneck speed. Let's see how well you can ride, Carl.