The Day Earth Died

13. "May God Bless Us All"

By now, I could feel the rush from the drug. Man, did I miss this.

Amell and I ran along the platform until we reached a building. It was made out of wood, which didn't respect the construction guidelines set by the government. From what I was told, a structure had to be built with some solid materials and respect very specific rules to withstand the gravitational pull of Under. Wood wasn't even close to being allowed, plus it didn't grow naturally anymore. This building, whatever was its purpose, was either not handled by the government or straight up illegal. Either way, it was our best shot at hiding.

Amell tried pushing the door open.

"It's jammed, Mal, it's jammed," he panicked.

"Prop me up." I pointed at a window set low enough to be in my reach.

He did so and I grabbed the windowsill, pulling myself up. I nudged the glass with my elbow and it squeaked at me, rotating on its screws. I crawled in and gingerly got off onto some wobbly scaffolding. After climbing off, I opened the wide doors, pulled Amell in and closed them as fast as I could, hoping the officers hadn't seen us. We stayed there, wheezing, backs against the doors.

"I think we're safe," Amell said. I hummed in agreement.

"You got any of those glow sticks left?" I asked.

We were given glow sticks in case there was an electrical failure in the meadow so we could climb down safely. I had used up all mine playing around; boxing in the dark mainly.

"I might." He rummaged through his bag and handed me one.

I snapped it and soon, green flares lit the room. We started looking around.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"I don't know, this isn't on the map."

"Looks like a warehouse."

As we kept walking forward and examining the place, we met a wall.

"That's it?" Amell whined.

"I think they're in here," an officer screamed behind the front door and started banging on it.

"What do we do?" Amell asked, suddenly agitated.

"I think I saw something back there..."

I went back on my steps and surveyed the floor again.

"We don't have the time, Mal."

"Right... Here!" I shoved open a hidden trapdoor and, with the glow stick between my teeth, shinned down the ladder in it.

Left without much of a choice, Amell followed. The trapdoor shut soundly over his head. We were lit by green hues in the narrow metal tunnel. After climbing a little less than 2 meters down, we reached another platform, this time set inside a wide cavern of stone. It was lined by railing. A motor hummed loudly and made everything tremble.

I glanced down. A huge spacecraft of around 2 kilometres long and 1 kilometre wide was held still by thick chains and plugged into wires on its sides. Some officers fiddled with electrical panels on its beam end. Guards patrolled around. The vessel could hold a couple thousand people, no doubt.

"What is that?" I asked.

"I've never seen anything quite like it," Amell answered, slightly dazed.

"Aren't you curious about what's inside?" He snapped out of his trance as soon as I spoke to frown at me.

"What if we get caught? This is a bad idea, Mal," he warned.

"Have you learnt to fight for nothing?"

"You're not that reckless."