Underneath The Hidden Stars

Chapter XI

After what felt like hours of walking, Mira noticed that her torch's light had started to go dim. She picked up the pace, but it seemed like she was getting nowhere. Whatever she was supposed to reach, was definitely somewhere else. She also wondered whether she had gone in complete circle, as the tunnel did curve a little bit. When she was finally about to give up and go back though, she saw a ladder in the distance.

"Okay, I guess I was right about the circle." she whispered to herself, but sighed in relief at the thought that she didn't have to go all the way back.

As she reached the ladder, however, she didn't see any broken chairs around it, which made her wonder if someone had moved it out, while she spent a couple of hours chasing herself. Mira carefully placed her torch on the ground, hoping that the fire doesn't go out while she's going back up, and started climbing. As she came nearer to the top, she heard familiar voices bickering, though she couldn't make out exactly what they were saying. She then heard a loud slam and the room above her went quiet. Thinking the coast was clear, Mira placed her palm on the lid that was covering her exist and lifted it up.

Mira lifted it up a few centimetres first, just she could safely look around, but once the lid was up, she heard a sound coming from a few meters to the side of it. It was the sound of someone crying, and Mira decided to push the lid up a bit more and see who it was, but the crying stopped and a calm female voice replaced it.

"Gerald?" the voice inquired, but no one answered.

Mira, startled by the sudden speech, let go of the hatch lid and almost fell of the ladder, but managed to keep it together. Terrified that whoever that was would come after her, she quickly got down the ladder and flattened herself next to the wall. She picked up her now fireless torch as a weapon and waited. A few moments later, she saw a ray of light show up in the tunnel as the lid opened.

"Gerald? Is that you?" she asked again, but received no answer in response. "Are you injured?" she inquired yet again, but after receiving no reply, changed her method. "I'm coming down there, but I have no light on me and this lid won't stay open, so you better light something up when I get down, okay?" she said and started climbing down.

As the girl reached the bottom, Mira didn't even wait a second and jumped on her. However, what she didn't take into account was how strong the thin looking girl was. Their strengths were pretty much even, so even overtaking one another took some time. As their grapple continued, the girl tried speaking.

"Wh- who are y- you?"

But Mira didn't reply. Both of the girls were fighting pretty quietly until the girl pulled on Mira's hair, making her scream out in pain. After hearing her scream, the girl jumped back. Mira was about to jump back on her and respond with the same hair pulling technique, but the girl opened her mouth.

"Mira?" the girl asked, but got no response. "Oh my goodness, Mira it's you, isn't it?"

Mira didn't respond, but she picked up her torch, and lit a match up again. She lit the leftover fabric and looked back at the girl. Back at her, with a wide smile, stared a red headed girl, who immediately went in for a hug.

"Ava?"

After a long overdue hug, the friends stared at each other and started giggling. After that fight, they both had multiple bruises, and Ava's lips were bloody, but they couldn't stop smiling. They sat on the cold and damp floor for multiple minutes and said absolutely nothing. Just having the company of one another seemed like the best thing to have happened to both of them in a long time.

As the silence became annoying, Ava opened up her mouth.

"So... what brings you here?" she asked, gesturing at the tunnel.

"Well..." Mira pointed at the safety office badge on her left arm. "Work, I guess."

"Oh, right... I forgot you're of them now."

"One of them? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you're part of the government operated facilities, aren't you?"

"I mean, yeah, so what?"

"The government is extremely corrupt, Mira. That's what."

"Name one thing that isn't corrupt, Ava." Mira proposed, but Ava had no answer. "Thought so. Enough about me though. What are you doing here, anyways?"

"Me? Oh, you know. Stuff."

"Stuff? Really? That's all you're gonna say? Cause as far as I'm concerned, you expected to find Gerald down here, not me, so what gives?"

"I- I can't really say..."

"Oh, you can't? Or do you just not want to? You know Gerald, and coincidentally, I know him, too." Ava lifted her eyes in confusion. "Hm? You don't know? The reason why I'm here is to find him. I followed him here, Ava. I shot him in the leg for the crime he committed, and followed him here."

"What... crime?"

"He deleted security footage, and I found out. He's gonna rot in the jails of the below, once I find him."

After finishing the sentence, they both went quiet for a moment. Ava was about to respond, but turned around after hearing sounds coming from behind. She glanced at Mira and said one word before quickly climbing back up and disappearing.

"Police."

Mira stood up and started slowly heading into the direction of the sound, which was from the opposite side than that from which she came. Moments later, around 20 officers showed up with flashlights and guns.

"Fader?" one man shouted out and ran to her aid after seeing bruises all over her face.

"I'm good, I'm good, I just fell from the top of the ladder."

A few officers looked up and noticed how high up the top was and looked back at her.

"How'd you even fall?"

"I was pushed off by someone at the top, I couldn't get a look on them though. But they did think I was Gerald before pushing me off!"

"How do you know that?"

"I heard a female voice shout out Gerald when I tried opening the lid? But she pushed me off before I could do anything, really."

"She needs to get to a hospital, she might have a concussion or something."

"Yeah, okay, I'll take her."

"Hold on," a man started and walked right in front of Mira. "you disobeyed quite a few rules, Miss Fader. First, you shot a fellow officer. Second-"

"BUT HE THE ENEMY'S SPY-"

"Second, you entered a building and searched it without a search warrant, and thirdly, you didn't wait for backup and tried playing hero - we're supposed to be a team, Fader, and your behavior is unacceptable.

"But-"

"No buts. You're off the job for a month. Think about it during then." he walked out of her way and looked at the officer next to her. "Take her to the hospital, will you?" after receiving a nod, he looked at the hatch. "We're going in, boys and girls!" he shouted out as the lid opened and they threw in a smoke grenade.