From Nothing to Something

Chapter 12

Ash only remembered tiny pieces of what happened next. 

He remembered seeing light with a vaguely humanoid shadow holding a shovel. 

Then he remembered rough hands loading him into a soft chair with wheels, then the sensation of flying. 

Then he remembered getting out of an elevator and getting rushed to a room with a rusty door. Fluorescent lights flickered.  

Then he woke up.

A man stood in front of him, surrounded by other men. They wore goggles that looked like they were made out of metal. They held guns the size of Ash. 

"Hello, Ash. Welcome to the Refuge." 

***

"So, where'd you get the bow from?" The man asked. After some confusion and introductions, Ash learned that his name was Victor. He was only 19 years old, only 4 years older than Ash, but he was the President of the Third Refuge.

"I found it in a rusty box in the corner of a collapsible shed that almost killed me." Ash said.

"Huh." Victor said.

"What's outside? I felt the sensation of riding an elevator."

"We're underground right now. There was a dock at ground level that allowed the Airstriker that carried you to the main city."

"What's an Airstriker?" 

"It's a transport helicopter." 

"Can you show me around a bit?" Ash said. He was starting to feel a bit awkward.

"Sure. Come with me." He walked to a flat section of the glossy wall. A blue rectangular outline glowed, and the section of the wall inside of the outline slid outward, then upward. Within seconds, the smooth wall turned into a doorway that showed a concrete hallway.

Victor walked out. Ash followed, grabbing his bow along the way. 

He reached the end of the hallway. There were stairs going down on the left, and Victor continued going down. But Ash looked out the window to see the view.

They were inside a massive underground cavern. In the top, a giant light source glowed, acting as an artificial sun. The bottom was very flat. A city with tall skyscrapers stood tall, some touching the ceiling and acting as supports. 

Surrounding the city there were small neighborhoods with large green plains. Past that there was a large river that poured out of a hole in the wall. It encircled the city, then it got drained into a hole next to a large factory. 

"Hey, Ash?" Victor's voice called from somewhere deep down inside the staircase. 

"Coming!" Ash said, and hurried down the stairs, where Victor was waiting next to a large metal door. There were no door handles, so Ash didn't know how it opened. 

"We don't need to use the stairs anymore. The bottom is hundreds of feet down." 

"Then how would we get down?" Ash asked. 

"By elevator." Victor said. 

As if on cue, there was a ding, and the metal door slid open. There was a little room with a window facing outside.