The second birth of Humanity

Chapter 2

They walked in silence, side by side. Benjamin and the other man explained to them how the 'kind of car' was working and how they would travel in that. They all got a helmet and goggles to prevent the sand in their eyes. They also gave them a mask and a backpack. The bag was containing an oxygen cylinder and the mask was simply to conduct the air in their noses and lungs. There was snacks and water too. The two adults were sitting in the front, while the others took at a seat at the back. The two drivers of both vehicles moved their steering wheel and placed the car in front if the tunnel. A long and dirt-made tunnel.

Elessy was going to see the surface. At the end of that tunnel. She was able to feel the adrenaline running in her veins.

"Ready?" asked Benjamin.

"Yes!" They all screamed.

"Let's go, then!"

The car was rolling much faster than what Elessy was expecting. Cole put his hand on her shoulder and whispered in her ear that if they were going that fast, it's because the tunnel was very long and if they reached the surface and be able to do the 'out-exploration-in' in only one day, they had to do a car that goes that fast.

It took them nearly three hours to get at the end. Elessy was sleeping (for her defense, they woke up very early), her head on Milo's shoulder. His was on the window of the car and Cole's was on his sister's shoulder. Nikky was all alone on the second back seat, lying and snoring.

Without the teenagers noticing, Benjamin stopped the car and left. He was going to speak with the other driver. Mike was still seated, looking at his children. He didn't even know why, but he felt a bit sad. As if it was the last time he was going to see them. Even with his tears in his eyes, he was capable to distinguish all three of them. They were all unique in their way.

Cole was the eldest. He always had great ambition. If their life was still like it used to be, he easily could have become a lawyer of a doctor. He had always been the serious one, the nerd of his class. Not a single time Mike and his wife had to go to school become he had done something bad.

The totally opposite of Nikky. He was the troublemaker. Always doing everything he could for making a joke, to bother his teachers and classmates... Mike couldn't count the number of times the principal had to make an appointment with him because of the behavior of Nikky.

And there come Elessy. The only girl they had. The youngest of all there three children. As Mike was looking at her and remembering his souvenirs of her, she was still asleep, her head now on Cole's shoulder. She was the youngest of their family. He was ready do to anything to protect her. He wasn't alone with this kind of thought. He knew that Cole and Nikky had the same. Even when Cole was trying to look indifferent. She was the perfect mix between the seriousness of Cole and the troublemaker trait of Nikky. Always smiling, giving without expecting something back...

"Hey! Mike, you're listening?" he heard.

Mike shook his head and focus on searching who was talking to him. He saw his friend, Jordy, staring at him. He stared at him too, not thinking of his children anymore.

"Sorry, no. I wasn't listening. What were you saying?" he asked.

"I said, do you think we should split ourselves? Like one car goes in the north part of the old city and the other one goes in the south. We could cover much more place like that. What do you think?" Jordy proposed.

"I ... hum... I don't think it's a great idea." He responded, the thought of being apart from his children was insupportable. Here more than ever. He couldn't handle it if something happened to them. Especially because he's last discussion with them was an argument.