MACHINE

12. And Satan Commanded to Cain, "Hit Abel's Head with a Stone and Kill Him."

I was submerged in darkness, sliding against what felt like a metal tube. The descent was extremely steep, but I managed to regain my footing when I landed. It was not any lighter at the end of the tunnel than at the start.

I could hear the voices of the group around me, and removed my cloak to let my glow patterns illuminate the room. It was not a room, but a raised platform. We were standing at the base of the circular opening which we had slid through. Down a ladder looked like a sewer. I saw Ezra pulling a lever, closing the entrance of the tube we had slid down.

We stayed silent and still for a moment, we could still hear the movements of the government agents above us. When we heard the gruff "all clear" of a Deathmonger voice, Ezra flicked on a bright flashlight (showing us our damp stone surroundings) and motioned for us to follow him. We each slid down the ladder in turn, our feet splashing against the grey liquid mixture of rain, leaves, and excrement. As we made our way through the tall sewer tunnels, I asked Jed what was happening (since Ezra was acting very annoyed and stand-offish). He told me they had studied the sewer plans beneath the city, and had created multiple entrances and exits throughout the sewer system in the city when they were a bigger group. Now they only used the pathways in 'dregland' (as they called the slums), because this was the safest place for the rebellion to hide.

Eventually we made it to another raised platform. At the top was one of the 'entrances'. It was a similar metal tube to the one we had traveled through before, except this one slanted upwards so we had to crawl on our hands and knees up the slope, gripping small metal nubs to keep from sliding down.

We exited the tunnel, greeted by a sunrise. We kept our heads low and our hoods down, walking quickly. After walking through a few more streets and back alleys we finally arrived at the warehouse. It stood, a large grey slab of rusty metal sitting on the harbor. Around the building were docked ships where some shady types congregated, muttering to one another as they saw us pass. They knew of the rebellion, but none of the Dregs would ever tell the authorities, especially the ones who spent time near the almost-abandoned dock. They were criminals, so it was partly an 'honor among thieves' type thing and partly because they knew not to mess with the group if they could help it.

It seemed the rebellion was respected, and even feared, in dregland. The dregs regarded us with wary looks as we passed by.

The sunrise was pale yellow against a light cyan sky, and even the polluted harbor looked gorgeous in the light. The sun made everything ugly and degenerate around us look beautiful, even me. I could feel the warmth and the freshness of the air through my faux skin, and the sun seemed to illuminate my pale complexion and I appeared to almost glow with ethereal warmth.

I pulled my eyes away from the sunrise, and followed closely behind the rest of the group. We entered the front door of the warehouse, unlocking the huge metal padlock keeping the large metal double doors shut.

As soon as we went inside, Ezra turned to us with a scowl on his face. His eyes looked black and hateful. "One of you betrayed us." He said, his tone icy. "Otherwise they never would've seen us there. Never."

The group fidgeted awkwardly under Ezra's sinister gaze. "All of you, swore to me!" He roared. "You swore your loyalty, punishable by death!" He huffed, out of breath. "If you come forward now I may show you mercy."

No one stepped forward, they all stood still. Eden piped up, "I'm sure it was that rotten Bot!"

"Shut up Eden!" He snapped. "So quick to judge are you?! How do I know it wasn't you? You question me constantly, avoiding every order I give you. I am your leader and you are insufferable!"

Eden looked utterly shocked. "Me? How dare you accuse me! Kane and I have been with you from the very beginning! We risk our lives for you every day!"

Ezra shook his head. "Well it was one of you, wasn't it." He grumbled, then picked up his head to look me in the eyes. "Was it you? Can you communicate telepathically with the rest of em'? Was all of your intelligence crap just a ridiculous ruse?!"

"No." I said bluntly. "All I want is to find Lucas, and if you're all dead you can't help me find him. It would be pointless to rat you out."

Eden piped in, "That doesn't stop us from thinking you're reading out a script right now. Or, on the off chance you aren't, you could of ratted us out to them in exchange for a nice cushy palace for you and your boyfriend."

"I can't prove it, but that simply isn't the case." I insisted, with more genuine hostility than I wanted to reveal.

"What about Jed?" Said Eden accusingly. "He's just been sitting there silently the entire time, letting us jabber on and on about who's the traitor when he's sitting there unaccused! Now tell me Jed, why wouldn't you rat us out?"

Jed shook his head, "I wouldn't rat you out because I hate the Deathmongers and all they stand for. This argument is ridiculous! Whoever said something, if it even was one of us, is still gonna be here after dinner. Let's just keep an eye on eachother and figure this out like rational people."

"Sounds like something a traitor would say." Said Eden incredulously.

Rada approached now, stepping away from her worktable. "All of you, sit down and have some soup. Jed is right, we need to discuss this like civilized people. So calm down, eat, and then we can figure out how this happened."

We all sat down near Rada's work area, which was cluttered with pots and pans. She cooked soup over a small cooking oven that looked like she had made it herself. They all sat down with a tiny metal bowl of soup, some sitting on the cleared worktable, others on dirty stools, and some simply on the floor. I stood a couple feet away from them, just watching because I had nothing better to do, and because if I wandered off they might've accused me of going to 'contact my Bot brethren' or something equally absurd.

Everyone was completely silent as they ate, not making eye contact with one another, except for Rada who shot Ezra worried looks. Ezra still looked like he would throttle someone as soon as they said another word to him, and the rest of them looked equally angry. Except for Kane, who just had a look of solemn determination on his face. Throughout all of the previous hullabaloo, Kane had been completely silent. It was a curious thing, so I decided to keep an eye on him in case he was the traitor. Eden had been pointing fingers so haphazardly at anyone around her, but had forgotten to accuse her brother. I hadn't forgotten about him, though.

After everyone was done with their soup, Kane and Eden wandered off to some corner and were discussing something under hushed voices. Eden looked extremely angry, her face just as red as when she had been accused seconds before. Ezra and Rada were discussing something in low voices as well, but not voices of desperation or anger but tones of love and softness. Rada was trying to reassure him and comfort him, likely. Jed simply went upstairs and was probably sleeping. I went and sat on one of the tattered couches near the middle of the large room, changing my batteries for the ones I took from the Bot at the rations station.

Suddenly, breaking the blanket of silence surrounding the rebel base, we heard Eden cry out. "Are you serious? I can't believe you of all people would think so little of me!"

All eyes looked at the two of them, but it didn't seem like they saw us. Kane was holding a piece of paper up to Eden's face. "I found it in your bag, Eden. Don't lie."

"Is that why you were quiet the whole time, because you thought it was me?" Eden asked, she sounded like she was about to cry.

Kane reached into his cloak and took out his pistol, held it up to his sister's forehead, and pulled the trigger before she had a chance to scream.