fifteen - polarize

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Domingo en fuego
I think I lost my halo
I don't know where you are
You'll have to come and find me, find me
Domingo en fuego
I think I lost my halo
I don't know where you are
You'll have to come and find me, find me

- Polarize, Twenty One Pilots

•••

"Hey guys." Michaels voice rings out among the group, and Luke stops moving. "I think you might wanna see this."

We've been walking for hours, and we're well into the afternoon. I'm not the best at guessing distances, but we have to be close to the capital. I don't know how much longer my weak, malnourished body can take this. Especially with Luke's sullen glances when he thinks I'm not looking, and Xavier's sympathetic eyes every time he sees me.

Michaels looking down at his hands, his fingers moving lightly in front of him, and I realize it's his smart computer that he's studying. Luke and Ivy move to stand beside him, and by the way their eyebrows furrow I can tell he's discovered something strange.

"It detects a massive open space below us." He says, pulling his lip between his teeth. "Bigger than any aquifer I've ever seen. It's a quarter mile wide and a quarter mile long."

"A perfect square." Luke says. "That is strange." He seems to think for a moment, before asking "Where is the center?"

Michael frowns. He studies the computer some more, before turning around and jogging about a hundred yards away to face us. "Right here."

The group follows Luke over to him like ants. Michaels kicking at the ground, his eyebrows pulled together. Luke bends down and swipes a hand over the ground, only to uncover blue metal.

His hand freezes, hovering over the spot. He glances up at Michael. "Do you know what this is?"

Michael shakes his head. "Not a clue."

Luke continues to brush the ash away, uncovered a giant trap door painted blue, about 6 feet wide and seven feet long. There's no button, no handle, but it's clearly an opening to something. Written on the front in black, bold letters, is AOSS.

"What the hell?" Luke mutters, and Michael squats down next to him to run his fingers over the seam of the opening.

"Is it meant to sound like ass?" Xavier asks quizzically. They ignore him. If I wasn't so numb, I might have laughed.

"I've never heard of it." Michael says, and stands up. "But I think I might know how to open this thing."

"How?"

He takes a look around, studying the broken shell of a building we're standing in. "I'm pretty sure this was built in the bottom floor of one of the Chicago banks. I've heard of them before. It's like a sort of vault."

"Wait a second." Luke sounds incredulous. "We're in Chicago?"

Michael raises an eyebrow. "Yeah? Why."

Luke seems to shake himself out of a funk, and turns his attention back to the task at hand. "No reason."

Michael sighs. "Anyways, I need the two heaviest people to come over here and stand on the edge of it with me."

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