Found (Book 1 of the Haven's Army Trilogy) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 12

We were still paddling when we heard a voice from behind us.

"Hey wait!"

I turned. It was a girl from The Victory, as obvious from her practically flying over to us. That and her features. But I couldn't tell if it was Laura or Rachel. Emma's hair was shorter than this girl's. As she got closer, I realized it was Laura.

When she got to the boat, she was panting with effort. She landed in the boat.

"I want to come with you," she said, out of breath.

"Well we wouldn't want to make you go all the way back," I said. "Let's go."

It was an awkward boat ride since we all didn't know Laura very well. Laura looked uncomfortable too; she kept fidgeting with her fingers.

She had a satchel on her shoulder. I wondered what was in it, but decided it would be rude to ask.

When we got there, I realized what a dull place the island was. The ground was covered with scrap metal, which we had to climb over, and the few buildings were small, squat, square, and dull brown. In the center of the island stood a huge building that looked just like the others but way bigger. Out of the top rolled tons and tons of smoke, making up the dark, polluted sky.

"Wow," I said, a little disgusted. "This is...um..."

"Amazing?" Kathryn asked.

"No," I said. "No offense people but I don't like The Gear." I touched the ground. "There's no earth for miles down!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah," Peter said, "we've been recycling this metal for years."

"Why don't you use it?" I asked.

They all opened their mouths.

"You know, she has a point," Andrew said. They all nodded.

"Wait," I said suddenly. "Where's Laura?"

"I'm over here!"

We followed her voice. She was behind a small building.

"There!" she said. She was pointing at a silver trapdoor, identical to the one over Ronnie's underground place.

"We should go," I said.

"No wait!" Kathryn said.

"What?" Laura asked.

Suddenly, kids came pouring our of the main building. They walked right past where we hid. Kathryn, Peter, and Andrew walked out and went against the crowd, making excuses like "Forgot my backpack" or "Dropped my hammer" or "Didn't grab my spade drill bit when I left."

I had no idea what this meant but when all the students cleared, Andrew grabbed the handle and pulled.

Laura walked up to him. "You're not doing it right."

"Move aside, weaklings," Kathryn said in a dramatic voice. She stepped forward and pulled the handle. It came open easily. Smoke billowed out.

"It must only work with special ones," I observed, coughing. "Smart. Don't have a bunch of random kids coming in all the time."

"All of them are like that," Laura said.

"How do you know?" I asked. "Never mind, don't answer that. We need to get in before anyone sees us." Then I thought, If you did know, why didn't you say so?

Kathryn held it open. Laura slipped in, then Andrew, then Peter, then me. I held it for Kathryn. We coughed in the dense smoke.

"Get down," Laura said. "You can avoid the smoke."