Vitality [Teaser]

Chapter 9: The Cave

After a ten-minute hike, they came across the other Advors that have formed a line in front of a cave. Two women guards stood inside the foot of the cave checking each Advor into the system. One had a hologram appearing from her bracer while the other was scanning cards and handing it to each person. The line soon died down, and Alanis was the first to greet the guards.

"Name?" The guard asked.

"Alanis Clover." Nikos' mother responded.

The guard entered her name into the system and looked over at the other guard. The other guard then took out a glass-like card and inserted it into a slot on her bracer and then took it out. She then held out the card in front of Alanis.

"Place your thumb on the chip." She said.

Alanis followed instructions and waited until the card suddenly glowed green instead of gray color it once had. The guard then put it back into guards' bracer and wait for a few seconds. She looked at Alanis then glanced over Nikos and Orion.

"Are those your children?" The guard asked.

"Yeah. The oldest is Nikolas Clover while my youngest is Orion Clover." She said.

"Those last names sound familiar." The other guard said.

The guard then took out the Advor ID card from her bracer and hand it to Alanis. Alanis then walked a bit past the guards and waited for her sons to go through the same process. Nikos went through the guards quick, but Orion took a bit longer since he didn't keep his thumb still on the chip.

Eventually, they moved past the guards and further into the cave. The cave grew larger and fell deeper. There were smaller tunnels that led to other parts of the cave, but none of those were lit up. The central shaft they traveled in went directly to the main room of the cave. It was large enough to hold a thousand people, but only a little more than a hundred stood there waiting for the escape to continue.

A man at the front of the cave then walked in. He wore a defensive Advor uniform. A black armor suit with a vertical red stripe running down the left side of the suit. He had badges all over the right side of his chest, but most of them were covered by a gray belt that hung from his right shoulder down to his left hip. A shotgun was attached on the right side of his hip while a laser gun laid directly on his chest. He shook the rain from off his suit and looked over at the crowd. He made eye contact with Nikos across the room, but then looked away.

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE, LISTEN UP!" He suddenly yelled in a deep voice.

Everyone went silent.

"I'm General Menendez! I'm going to be leading you to what happens from here on out. The first order of business is to remove your Proditor uniform and begin putting on your other pair of clothing. We don't want to mistake any of you as the bad guys. Pile your Proditor uniform near the back. Second-order of business is that we need to assign you to a vehicle. If any of you have children, then make sure all of you get on the same escape vehicle. Finally, the last order of business is to leave the Cocora Valley before 6 AM today. We have a short time frame to do all this, but I know we'll be able to do it. Any questions?" The man yelled from the front.

A person then raised her hand.

"Yes, you. What's your question?" He asked.

"What is the procedure if we've been found by the Resinix?" The woman asked.

He thought about it for a moment and brushed his mustache.

"If that does happen, then I suggest to evacuate the area immediately and spread out as far as possible. Even if you do have any children or love ones here today. It's better to have one captured than all four." He responded.