2080

Chapter 13

• April 17th, 2080 •

Addilyn could hear her screams from down the hall, but that was before they stabbed her with a shot of a sedative. She could not hear the screams anymore, and that scared her the most. Was Addilyn a time traveler, was she possessed, or was she actually dreaming that whole time? She splashed cold water on her face from her drink cup.

Addilyn sat at the window watching the day stroll by, maybe she could even start to hear Harper stir awake.

The sun began to set and with time, the guard would go on his break and Addilyn would make a sneak for it.

Addilyn opened the doors and the guard was sleeping, per usual. The halls were empty being so late in the night and the terrible shrieks of labor in another room was heard down the halls. Addilyn winced at the sound of the woman screaming and then made a run for it towards Harper's room.

Addilyn snuck into the room quietly. Her focus on another guard not seeing her, she turned around and was face to face with the love of her life, but this time, she was awake, and she had no clue who Addilyn was.

"Who are you?" She asked, her voice as soft as silk, Addilyn missed it, she wanted to cry at the same time because she didn't know if she was dreaming Harper being alive or not.

"I- I uhm, I'm someone you don't know..." Addilyn started, but she caught herself. What if she had dreamed the person Harper really was, and Addilyn didn't know her as well as she thought she did.

"Well duh. What's your name?" Harper smiled at Addilyn's goofy attempt to basically introduce herself.

Addilyn sat there and smiled, "Addilyn, but that's not what I came here to talk to you about." She went over to the bed Harper was strapped down to and began lifting the straps. Harper watched her in awe.

Addilyn felt so deeply compelled to reach out to Harper, not even 24 hours earlier from her dream, or whatever was happening to her life on replay, Harper had died and Addilyn thought she lost the love of her life for good. She stood mesmerized by Harper's soft brown eyes that made Addilyn melt like chocolate. She was so beautiful, she was so real. Definitely not a robot, so she had made it in time. Her compelling feeling to wrap her arms around Harper grew too strong and Addilyn hugged her tightly, never wanting to let go.

"I have to get you out of here, this sounds so crazy, but I know you, and you don't know me, but I am someone you can trust." Addilyn reached out her hand this time, looking her square in the face, "come with me."

It was more romantic when Harper did it first 12 years ago. Back in Addilyn's room late at night when everyone was sleeping. She remembered it so faintly then, but she wished she could remember Harper more. Harper stared at Addilyn like she was crazy.

"Can you explain yourself at first?" Harper cocked her eyebrow and folded her arms over her chest.

"There's no time to explain, it's now or never." Addilyn shook her hand that was still outreached to Harper.

With Harper so confused, Addilyn was willing to take exaggerating measures to save her life. Addilyn came closer to Harper's bed and grabbed her angelic looking face in her hands and kissed her. Harper sat on the bed filled with awe. Once Addilyn pulled off, she begged Harper once more to come with her and Harper took a hold of Addilyn's hand and together they snuck out of the hospital room with nobody noticing.

Addilyn searches room after room to try and find the supposed hatch she remembers so well, just when she's had enough, she sits on the rug on the floor and it feels as if there is something under it, something like a chain. Addilyn rips back the carpet to expose a long chain attached to half a visible hatch on the floor. She begins to laugh, this was real, the tunnels, the wife, Nevada. Addilyn begins to lean her weight into the crates covering the hatch and they move inch by inch.

Harper found a lock cutter and she snaps the chain's lock in two. With the unraveling of the chain, Addilyn pulls back the hatch and exposes a thin layer of cob webs and dust.

Addilyn and Harper cough as  the dust starts flying around the room. Addilyn takes her shoe and makes a way through the cobwebs and starts down the spiral staircase. The feeling felt so similar when she went up and down the staircase before, it was like a dream before, going up and down the staircase, but this time it felt so defyingly real, she hesitated at first, but then finished down the spiral staircase and she could see where the tunnel changed from a dirt-packed wall to the eerie luminescent lights along the ceiling and walls.

A smile spread across her face and she laughed slightly. She was surprised how realistic something was that she had never really seen before. She runs back up the staircase and grabs Harper's hand leading her down.

"At the end of this tunnel is the rest of the world. You don't remember obviously, but you told me a theory once that involved a wall and it was a place not affected by the war, at the end of this tunnel that place is there, but an even better plus, your mother and brother are alive and they are safe there too." Addilyn watched Harper's eyes for her response.

Harper looked at her in awe, she never told Addilyn about her brother and her mother, but somehow she knew about them and the fact that she said they were safe made Harper break down, they were safe, most importantly, they were alive when she wasn't sure they had lived through it or not.

Harper hugged Addilyn, this bit of information made her feel like she could trust her.

Addilyn came back with two prepared bags for outside, they would need the water and food in them and across the top of the bag "willow-creek" was stitched on them so they could tell which community the body was from if there was ever a dead troop in the radiated areas outside.

Harper stopped Addilyn before she started on her way. "Are you sure there's something at the end of here?" She looked so nervous, it was understandable, the tunnel was long and there was no end in sight.

"I'm positive, do you trust me?" Addilyn reaches out again and lends her hand to grab and Harper smiles at it. "Last chance, you don't have to go."

Harper half-heartedly chuckles and looks back at her hand, grabbing it and interlocking her fingers.

"Please, you're not the only one born for this." And with that Addilyn remembered faintly that famous line, maybe there was a way Harper could remember everything they had been through, but that wasn't the real her, this was the real her. They began their journey through the tunnels and as they walked, they talked more and more.

By the end of the journey, they would probably know most if not everything about each other. She was hoping to get Harper safely to the other side and then she would go back for her people.

Addilyn traced her free hand against the lights covered with a foggy glass. She smiled at it and how futuristic it was. How were these tunnels here the whole time and the curious Addilyn had never found them. She looked back from the lights to Harper who looked so much stronger than Addilyn could remember, but using the tunnels would save her life, and for that Addilyn was thankful. A dream, a premonition, a flash-forward into the future. She didn't know what it was, but for whatever helped Addilyn save the real woman she knew she loved so much and would go on to help save and rescue her own community, she was grateful.

Addilyn would never forget what her mother told her the day in the tunnels, "your father didn't want you to lead, because he knew you'd be better at something else."

He knew Addilyn was curious, he knew she would find the hatch. Addilyn's father was so hard on her because he was shaping her into a leader of a movement, not the leader of a community.