Underground

12

August
"Who's she?" Kathryn asks from the doorway. 
I turn. "This is Logan, Estelle's adoptive sister."
"Oh, I'm Kathryn, August's sister." She says. 
"As nice as greetings are, I need to talk to August in private." Logan says, stepping in. 
"I'll get the guys and we'll go upstairs." Kathryn says, walking away. 
"Come in, do you need anything to drink?" I ask. 
Logan picks up the bottle of bourbon on the side-table of my entryway. "Might wanna crack this open."
"Why? What's wrong?" I ask.
She sighs. "Maybe we should sit down." She sets down the bottle where it was and we walk to my living room.
Her eyes immediately go to the small pile of bourbon bottles in the corner of my living room. "I see you're handling this like Jackson."
"What do you mean?" I ask, sitting down on the couch. 
Logan sits opposite if me on the chair. "Well Jackson's been drinking a lot too, he's convinced it's his fault or whatever." 
"What happened? Is someone hurt?" I ask. 
She shrugs. "That, we don't know yet." 
"Who is possibly hurt, Logan?" I ask. 
"Estelle." She says. 
My eyes widen. "What happened?" 
"You know how she's special?" She asks. 
"Like from Pangaea? Yeah." I respond. 
She pushes back her black hair. "She got caught, by this big lab that the government funds, so it's quite impossible we can get her back." 
"So you're not even gonna try?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. 
She scoffs. "August, we can't do anything, we'll die!" 
"You haven't even tried!" I retaliate. 
"We're trying as hard as we can!" She yells back. "You have to realize you're not the only person that lost somebody." 
"Can I help?" I ask. "It's the least I can do." 
"Nigel thinks it's best to keep it in the family." She says. 
I look down. "So I can't help?" 
"I'm afraid not. I'm sorry." She says. "But I highly suggest taking care of yourself, I feel like you'll be one of the people Estelle's gonna wanna see if we get her out." And with that, Logan stood and walked out of the house.
3 minutes later, Ned comes downstairs, followed by Kathryn and Stefan. 
"What was that about?" Ned asks. 
"In a strange twist of events, Estelle didn't ghost me, she got kidnapped." 

Estelle
"I wonder what's going on with August." I say, looking over at a sleeping Luca. 
"August?" One of the other inmates asks. 
 I look over at her. "Yeah." 
"Who names their kid after a month?" She asks. 
I shrug. "His psychotic parents." 
"I doubt they were that bad." She says.
I stand, pressing my hand up to the maxi glass between us. "Do you wanna fight?" 
"Fight me, you're like a stick." She stands up too. She was at least 6'4 and had biceps the size of basketballs.
I take a deep breath. "Actually, I'm not in the mood to fight a gorilla."
She looks anger by that. She slams her fist into the glass, a small crack forms by her sudden attack.
Agents come rushing in, 3 taking her down with small syringes filled with clear liquid.
"What happened?" Luca asks from behind me.
I turn. "She insulted my friend's name."
"So?" He says.
"Are you trying to insult him, too?" I ask, walking up to the glass between us.
He stands too, looking concerned. "Estelle, deep breaths, you cannot go crazy just before we make our big break."
"I'm going crazy?" I ask. "It's you going crazy, I didn't do anything."
"Estelle, deep breaths." Luca says, pressing his hand to the glass
I take his advice and breathe, feeling the air fill my lungs. "I'm sorry Luca." 
"No problem, the first week is the toughest." He says. "But you need to hold on to that sliver of reality you have left." 
"I'm so tired Luca." I say, looking at him. 
He nods. "I am too, but I swear to you, we'll get through this." 
"What's the point?" I ask sadly.
Luca sighs, and looks up obviously annoyed. "You have people back home, right?" 
"Of course." I answer. 
"Name them to me." He orders. 
"Why?" I ask. 
"It'll help you keep your sanity, now please, name them to me."
"Well there's Nigel, Jane, Logan, Jackson, you, and August." I say. "Wow, I just realized I don't have many friends." 
"I'm glad I made the cut, Estelle." He says. "I don't have many friends either, whenever somebody gets caught and I talk to them they kinda just give me a glare. You talked back, thank you." 
"So who do you have Luca?" 
"Nobody. Just you, me, and the wind." Luca says. 
"Not even your mother?" I ask. 
"Nope." 
"Father?" 
"Never met him." 
"Really?" I ask. 
He nods. "I didn't really have a picture perfect life like you." 
"My life was literally somewhere where there wasn't cameras." 
"Whatever." He says. 
I change the subject. "How was the sim?" 
"Terrifyingly gorey as per usual." He says. "How bout you?" 
"Not a lot, people died, I cried, blah, blah, blah." I say. "Man, I wish I could text August."
"Who's August again?" He asks. "I get your four friends mixed up." 
"August's the guy." I say. 
Luca claps. "You're so poetic." 
"Shut up." I sass. 
"What did you do when you were free?" I ask. 
He smiles sadly. "Well besides hunting not a lot. We lived in the center of Nowhere-ville, so I couldn't do like anything besides shoot my bow, and help my mom." 
"Sounds simple." I say, giving him a closed-mouth smile. 
"I hope my mom's still alive when we get out of this prison." He says. "I was her everything, so losing me would've been distressing." 
"True, true." I say. "I hope everybody's alright when I get back, too." 
"Can I meet them?" He asks. 
I nod. "They'd love to meet you." 
"I'd love to meet August, the guy." He says dramatically, leaning on the electronic door. 
"I hope that breaks under you." I say truthfully. "Then you'll finally be free." 
"Let's be honest here, I wouldn't know how to survive without you." He says. 
"Well I wo--" 
A loud electronic voice speaks up. "Total system failure." Then all the lights shut off.