The Twins

Chapter 1: Untethered

Part 4: Pink

   Matthew's breath felt like it was rattling against his chest. It slammed on his ribs as if it was trying to escape, making him wheeze and gasp for the air he was losing.

  "If I'd known I was going to have to run for my life all the time I would have joined a sports team." He muttered to himself, the words escaping as another wheeze the moment they left his lips.

   Marie ducked and weaved between rocks and boulders as they ran. The twins had found themselves in a rocky canyon. It was much harder to see without the lights of the camp but eventually their eyes had grown adjusted to the continuous shadow they had been running in. Matthew chanced a look upwards to see the under belly of edis looming overheard.

  It was an odd feeling. Everyone knew that Edis was hundreds of metres above the surface. It was the whole reason that the glass dome was over the city; the air was too thin up there. The height hadn't really meant anything to Matthew until he could see it himself. They were indeed very far away from home.

   Matthew thought about Amani. Had he known that Edis was up to something? How much did he know? Somehow his token told him that Amani's parents had been gotten rid of by someone in Edis. It hadn't been an accident and it wasn't true that his parents had been arms dealers. Matthew wondered if Amani had ever really thought of Edis as home. He must have lost a lot of trust for the city when that happened. Did he miss it? Did he miss him?

   Finally Marie stopped running and ducked into a cave motioning for Matthew to do the same. His eyes had to adjust yet again to the darkness. Something wet was dripping from the ceiling, making a gentle "plop" sound as it fell and shattered on whatever it landed on. One such droplet landed on Matthew's head, rolling itself down his cheek.

    "Water I think." He called out to his sister after trying to taste the droplet.
  
    He didn't have to see her to know she was staring at him in disappointment,"What else could it have been?"

   Matthew got defensive,"I dunno could be blood or piss or something. Water isn't the only thing that's a liquid." He retorted scuffing his shoe against the ground.

   He also didn't have to see his sister to know she had rolled her eyes at him.

    "Ooh! I hear something up ahead!" Marie exclaimed, the sound of her feet speeding up to a run echoed around the cave. The sound of her falling flat on her face also echoed a moment later.

    "You really are the graceful one out of the two of us." Matthew mocked.

    "Hey I am full of grace!"

     "Uh huh. Sure." He responded sarcastically.

   Marie grumbled then spoke again,"I did hear something. It might be an underground river or something."

    "We can't see anything though. If we try to find it we might fall in." Matthew responded looking around himself. It was still almost pitch black.

     "Chance I'm willing to take." Marie responded in a joking voice as she began waking deeper into the cave.

    "No seriously It's a bad idea."

    "Whoever they sent after us probably won't go looking for us in a dark cave. They know we don't have any flashlights. Besides we'll need water to survive and this might be is. Like it or not I'm going." Marie's voice echoed back to Matthew. He sighed and followed her. Better to stay together and besides, she had a point.

   It was a river. large but not very deep, tucked away in a cavern deep inside the series of caves. It was Perfect for drinking from without getting swept away. That wasn't the most surprising thing the twins found when they got to the cavern though.

   The cavern had light.

   Bioluminecent plants and fungi glowed brilliantly from between cracks in the cavern walls. They immuninated other plants hanging from the ceiling and even growing up from the ground. This would put anyone in awe, but for the twins, who had never seen a real plant before, it was magical.

   "They said that there was no life left on the surface besides the people sent there. Somehow all this survived the war!" Matthew whispered. There was somethg about the cavern that made the teens feel like they had to whisper.

   It wasn't like plants didn't exist on Edis. There were several greenhouses with different trees and flowers that were kept for research, medicine, and free air. Only employees were allowed in to see them though, as the government hadn't wanted people to try to steal them or accidentally kill them. So all the plants around the city were fakes, brilliantly manufactured to look and feel real. Though many people said that the actual plants weren't like their synthetic doppelgangers at all.

   Neither twin had seen these plants anywhere though. Not in pictures even. It left them feeling pleasantly shocked, standing with their mouths open, unable to speak.

   Suddenly another sound echoed throughout the cave. It wasn't the water or the twins.

    It was the voices of someone else.