Abhuman: Revelation (The Covenant - Book 1)

Chapter 4 - The Resistance

"WHY DIDN'T YOU GO WITH her?" Cheska asked.

Jak smiled sadly. "I wanted to. But when Del's abilities were discovered we didn't have much time to react. We faked her death and I got help from friends to smuggle her body to the surface. I had to stay behind to make sure there were no loose ends and nothing could track back to her. I couldn't even contact her. I knew the Aoratos were down here, but I couldn't risk it. We had to say goodbye."

"And now we get so say hello," Delfina said, squeezing his hand. Cheska saw how cloudy her eyes were, but she held it together—brave woman.

Delfina escorted them into an underground bunker, deep beneath what she called Mount Mandirama.

"It means sanctuary, in an old Earth language called Nepali," Delfina said, as they walked down a seemingly endless stone incline, sliding ever deeper beneath the mountain.

"Old Earth?" Cheska asked.

Delfina turned back and smiled shaking her head. "Oh, you have a lot to catch up on, Cheska."

"So it seems," Cheska said, looking to Jak.

Jak gave her a shrug. "Don't look at me, kiddo. I haven't seen my girl in twelve years. I have a lot to catch up on too."

"Who built this facility?" Dr. Foehner asked.

"We did," Delfina said, "The Aoratos—the resistance. Aoratos means the invisible,"

"Resistance?" Dr. Foehner said, more to herself than anyone else.

Taro had been walking beside Cheska but had said very little. "So you're real," Cheska said, trying to break the ice.

"Um, yeah." Taro patted his flat black armor. "I think so?"

"I wasn't sure if all that had been a dream or not," she said.

"I thought the sour milk test proved I was real?"

Cheska grinned. "Yeah, sorry about that."

"A girl has to know if the man of her dreams is real, right?" Taro smirked.

She scowled at him. He was even more handsome and charming in person, and he had a mischievous glint in his eye. She liked that.

The incline finally leveled out into a great cone-shaped cavern, the neck of which, seemed to flow straight up the mountain and out the top. Cheska thought she saw a glimmer of daylight peeking back at her through the peak.

The walls of the cavern, at the base of the cone, were riddled with holes. As they walked through the cavern, Cheska noted that these holes, hundreds of them, were actually little hangers, each populated with some kind of craft. "What are those?" she asked Delfina.

"We have to have some way to travel around the planet. They're gravbikes. Fast, and they can reach orbit—assuming you have a breather and suit on." Delfina grinned.

When they had crossed the vast expanse of the cavern they arrived at a set of massive blast doors, at least five-meters square each. Without Delfina touching anything, the doors began to rumble open, each sliding sideways. Dust fell from cracks and ledges as the great maw opened. Cheska gaped at the thickness of the doors—each had to be a meter thick.

After the blast doors, they passed through an airlock before entering the facility proper.

"You can take your breathers off now," Delfina said. 'The atmosphere down is here is safe for humans."

"Humans?" Cheska asked.

"That's what you are, Cheska. Come, I'll explain everything. I promise."