The Pioneers

Chapter 6

Please.

           At the bottom, it was barely light enough to see three inches in front of their faces.

           They'd lost the moonlight somewhere along the way. It wasn't too far down, thank goodness. Ethan pointed out that if they looked closely, the opening was visible, even if it was only a speck. If they had been exposed to any other light at all, it wouldn't have been discovered, and Amaryllis was certain that by that point, she'd have given up on any chance of leaving.

            They could learn how to climb.

            If anything, they'd figure out how to do it with their bare hands. If a speck of light was still possible to be seen from the length they were from the surface, then it would be possible for them to literally claw at the walls to find it as a whole again.

            It was smiling, celebrating their small victory with them.

            Once the movement—and the blaring noise that accompanied it—stopped, the redhead grabbed Amaryllis and Ethan again. There was another wave of noise, and light blared through the dirt elevator, causing all three to stand and let their eyes adjust to the harsh difference.

             "Welcome," the redhead said.

             Amaryllis kept a hand over one eye, allowing that one to adjust before moving on to opening the other.

             In peripheral vision, she could see Ethan doing the same thing. By the end, they found that they both had clear enough vision that they could tell what they were looking at.

             Through the opening of a skinny stone door, a city had been built.

              Matilda had now been yanked out of Amaryllis's backpack, and she stroked its fur while she tried to process the picture in front of her . . . buildings upon buildings, rectangles of habitations stretching out farther than Amaryllis could see.

                There were roads. Streets. If she looked closely, then she could make out neighborhoods of houses, but there didn't appear to be inhabitants, nor did they appear to be lived in . . . other than the dirt that must've been collected from the underground surroundings, it was all brand new, and when sharing a quick glance with Ethan, she could see that he had the exact same thought running through his head that she did: They built us . . . houses?

               "The rest," the redhead said. "Will be here tomorrow morning. Your job for tonight will be picking a house for yourselves to sleep in."

                Ethan's face wasn't nearly as red now that he'd had time to rest, but it looked like it was flushing back the more he stared at the man. "What are we doing here?"

                  The redhead folded his arms. "Finding a house."

                  Ethan walked to the opening, peering over the edge. "Which one are my parents at?"

                   "If you can find it," the redhead said, "you can stay there."

                   "But, there's miles of houses out there!"

                    "It all depends on how far you're willing to walk."

                    Ethan grabbed Amaryllis, jerking her toward the opening. There was a staircase leading down to a sidewalk. It pointed to the first street of houses, as well as curved around to a couple of skyscrapers.