Forgotten Memories

Chapter 17

"I have a surprise," Sean told Charlotte with a glint in his eyes. She immediately knew he was up to something. "I know you don't know a lot of people here and you've had to memorize a bunch of names, so... I thought I would find the two people you do know...Besides me of course."

"Sean! You didn't!" she could almost scream with excitement.

"Yeah, actually, I did."

She ran after him into the smallest underground library of the rebels.

"EEEK!" She barreled into Matt and Carson, catapulting into Matt's arms. "I missed you!"

"We missed you too." They said in unison with huge smiles on their faces.

"So, what should we do first?"

"Actually, I hate to disappoint, but I have a meeting to get to." Carson tipped his hat as if to say goodbye and mentioned getting together soon. Sean followed him, likely going to the same meeting.

Matt laughed, bringing Charlotte's attention back to her newly reunited friend.

"What?"

"It's just so obvious."

"What is?" Charlotte had no idea what he was hinting at.

"Nothing...I do have an idea for what we can do today, if you're up for it that his." His eyebrows danced, daring her to say yes.

She wasn't sure where they were going or why, but she was already excited by the mounting surprise.

They had been climbing the circular stairs for ages and she was starting to think they were going to the very top. She hadn't been outside for several weeks, seeing as there was too much business to attend to. Today was her first free day since she told Sean she would be their symbol.

Matt lifted the heavy trapdoor open, letting sunlight and fresh air stream down the drafty staircase.

"Wait, we are really going outside? I haven't been out in eons."

"First of all, that's perfect. Secondly, no questions." Matt looked back at her just long enough for her to catch the mischievous glint in his eyes.

She breathed in the earthy smell of fresh grass and moist dirt. Her eyes kept flickering up to the sky because she had been crammed in 8-foot-tall rooms. She allowed herself to bathe in the glorious sunlight filtering through the trees in magnificent rays.

They continued walking until they reached the end of the forest where all of the trees just suddenly stop. From the edge of the tree line, they could see nothing but grass for miles in each direction.

"I bet you can't catch me." Matt dashed off like a 7-year-old, ready for an adventure.

"Oh yeah?"

"Oh. In your wildest dreams, princess."

"Puh-lease." She chased after him, laughter filling the open air, wind lifting the weight off of her shoulders.

They ran and ran, arms out like planes in the wind until they fell to the ground in pleasant exhaustion.

Charlotte hadn't been so content since she was much younger and she hadn't been this tired in almost as long, but it was a feeling that she welcomed with arms wide open. As her body hit the grass she let her eyes flutter closed for a while, basking in the warm sunlight.

She heard Matt move next to her and she opened her eyes. Matt rolled onto his side to face her, leaning on one arm. She turned her head to face him and smiled.

"Thank you, for all of this. I really needed this."

"Of course princess." They sat like that, pondering in the silence until Charlotte broke the silence once again.

"So, have you heard the news?"

"About you becoming the new symbol, yeah, that's all everyone is talking about. You may not know everyone yet, but everyone knows you." He laughed when he saw how uncomfortable she looked, "You will do great, I don't know why you don't see it."

"Trust me I wish I saw it, it would make this whole thing so much easier, I just don't." She grabbed a handful of grass and let it fall back to the ground.

The sun was about to sink below the treeline, so they knew that they should be heading back soon.

"I'll race you back," Charlotte shouted back in the direction of Matt's body, still lounging in the grass, as she pumped her legs and spread out her arms once more.

"Hey! No fair!" Matt shouted back at her as he raced to get up and chase after her.

As Charlotte and Matt were reaching the tree stump where the entrance to the tunnels was, she noticed Sean was pacing around the stump with his hands in his hair.

"Sean? What's wrong?" Charlotte slowed down to a jog as she approached him, Matt not too far behind. She quickly looked back at Matt to stick her tongue out in victory before she refocused her attention onto Sean's concerning mannerisms.

"Thank god, Char, we need to get back down there ASAP."

She and Matt were practically shoved down the entrance with Sean racing to close the trapdoor behind them.

"What in god's name is going on!" She yelled towards Sean, panic taking over her mind as her brain pumped out worst-case scenarios.

"Bomb threat. The radar is picking up a bomber plane. We need to get as far down as possible. Floor 12 is our goal but the bunkers for these situations are floor 14 so we need to MOVE."

They ran and stumbled, shock and panic coursing through their veins. They wouldn't make it. She knew they wouldn't make it. There was no way they could run down 10 more flights of stairs let alone 12.

"I have an idea!" Matt yelled as he turned the corner unexpectedly.

"We'll never make it." She yelled back.

"Well then what do you have to lose, right?"

She looked back at Sean, wondering what he would think of it. He nodded, and they raced after Matt.

He had led them down a hallway that wasted an entire flight of stairs. All she could picture was a mental hourglass slowly running out of sand, she wanted to give up and lay down on the cool tunnel ground, but she pushed those thoughts aside and continued to run. She refused to let the government or whoever was sending this bomb win that way, if she didn't make it to the bunkers on time that was one thing but if she didn't even try, then she would die a coward and a failure.

At the end of the hallway, she could see nothing, and a realization hit her like a punch to the gut. "Matt! You led us to a dead-end?!"

"You have so little faith in me. No dead-end is as much of an ending as we may think it is." He bent down to the ground at the end of the tunnel and pushed down on the ground. Much to her surprise, the ground popped back up in response and he moved it aside. Underneath was a ladder spanning for what looked like miles. "Slide down the sides of it instead of using the rungs and we may get our time back."

She raced to the ladder and slid down the sides. The further she went, the more momentum she gained, and the more the mental hourglass refilled. It took them 3 minutes and 24 seconds to reach floor 13. They ran down the hallway parallel the hallway they had used up above, then ran down the remaining flight of stairs. She could see from up above the huge steel door that they used to close off the bunker from the rest of the tunnel for added protection from incoming bombs.

The door was slowly closing, inch by inch, and it was already more than halfway closed. They had a minute and a half before the bomber plane would arrive above them. "Stop. Stop the door. Please wait one second, there are three of us out here." She yelled and pleaded but the steel door closed with a thud right as they reached it.

She fell to the floor as Sean pounded on the door. "Hey! Open the door!"

They heard clanging from inside the door as machinery started up again and the door cracked open, inch by inch. As soon as they could squeeze through, they leaped inside, and the door shut behind them. Charlotte ran into Sean's arms and Matt asked the guard at the door whether he had seen Carson or Scarlett.

Then the bomb hit.