Down and Out: A Young Adult Dystopian Adventure (The Undercity Series Book 1) (6 page)

“Cad is right. You gotta cut down on the food.” He fell backward as his brother lurched forward with a wild yelp.

“How about you two stop picking at me about it?” said Jolon, his face flushed and hurt. “I got my insecurities just like you guys. Don’t need either of you throwing them in my face.”

A wave of guilt brought heat to Teddy’s cheeks as he got off the floor. He clapped his brother on the shoulder. “Sorry, Jol.”

“I come too? Your father said make scarce.”  Henri stood on the stairs, smiling at them and nodding.

He beckoned to the brute to join them. What the hell why not? He dusted his pants before going to the end of the ledge and opened the door to a room about ten by ten feet with a large window with a view of the floor below. The desk, chair, and bookshelf were already there from the previous owners. The shelves overflowed with his books from school and any other scraps of stories he collected.  He smuggled in a few things to make the space more personal: blankets, pillows, and a few cushions from dilapidated couches. This was where he went when he needed to be alone during the day.

His brother slid down the wall in a corner, his face sweaty. “Okay, so maybe a few less cookies and a little more running around in circles.”

“Good room,” the brute said, taking up most of the space.  “You like books.”

He nodded.

“Like ‘em,” Jolon cut in, “he lives for them. Knowledge to him is like....”

“Food to you?”

“Ha, ha... I get it, all right? Two-second apology and you’re done.”

Henri checked him over. “You not so big.”

Jolon cocked his eyebrow and scanned him too. “Not compared to you, I guess.”

The brute rubbed his broad stomach and laughed. “All muscle.”

Teddy chose a book from a pile and started to read. “Yeah, that’s something only in Jol’s head.”

“Wow, you can be sooooo not funny.”

“Hey, that’s what siblings are for, right? Ow!” he yelped as Jolon whacked him with a book.

“That’s what siblings are for too,” his brother said, making a face.

He scowled back.  “You’re not exactly pure water and fresh veggies with the side comments either.”

“’K, fine. You lay off the body jokes, and I’ll lay off any violent retaliations, fair?”

“Fair,” agreed Teddy and went back to his book.

“Where go?”

He glanced up from his story. “What? Oh, That’s a vent, I think, or at least, something similar. I never took the cover off ‘cause you can never tell what lurks up anywhere,” he said as he realized the brute was talking about the opening in the ceiling.

Henri kept staring at the grate as though he expected something to appear.  “Why not go up?”

“Like he said, we don’t know what’s up there,” said Jolon in an exasperated voice.

He stared at them both as though they didn’t make sense. “So, go up and check, yes?”

“So, go check, no,” Teddy threw his book aside as he realized he could not read with Henri around. “You ever scrounge?” The brute shook his head. “No? Well, we’re scroungers from childhood and we understand you don’t go poking about just because.”

“Too dangerous,” his brother said.

“Exactly.”

Henri sighed, his face sagging with disappointment. “Some day, you go.”

Teddy went to the window, his curiosity nagging at him. He couldn’t tell if the guy made a statement or asked a question. “Don’t push.”

“Yeah, too late. Forget it, Ted,” Jolon told him as he placed his hands on the windowsill. “Listen to your own advice.”

Right, forget. That would be fun to do.

“You two good friends,” Henri observed with a wistful expression.

“Don’t you have any friends, family, or anyone?”

He shook his sad head. “No, none. Just Georges and she okay. Had one friend, brother years ago. Big ruddy buddy, Keme. He nice long time. He disappeared, taken to brute auction. Never saw again. Heard he got picked by clever Upperlord, but nothing else.”

“Time to move, gophers. I do believe we’re wanted.” Jolon tapped his fingers on the glass and waved at Pa below.

He stood by the service desk signalling to them as three men in black suits strode away with their two massive brutes hauling their merchandise behind them.

“Why can’t you be like them?” asked his brother, gesturing to the two walls of meat glaring like they could burn through cement with their eyes.

Henri seemed hurt and confused. “I don’t?”

“No.”

The guy flexed his biceps. “I as big.”

“It’s not the size, buddy.” Jolon turned to Teddy with a silent plea for an explanation.

“Don’t listen. You’re fine the way you are,” he said, sticking his tongue at his brother.

They scrambled down to the warehouse floor and joined their father.

“So this is your brute,” said Dorkas, a fellow scrounger. He stepped around a shelf of dishware and plastic bins, his face cracked with sores and scars. The creep poked a finger at Henri and sneered. “Piece of the scum-riddled bottom of the sewer, ain’t he?”

Pa gave the guy a tight smile and a couple of credits. “Thank you for the goods, Dorkas. I’m sure I’ll be able to find someone who wants them. If you get any more, drop by,” he said as he escorted the man out of their warehouse.

A shiver ran up Teddy’s back as the creeper left. “Why do you do business with him? He’s the worst sort of garbage.”

His father scrubbed his hair and sighed. “Yes, he is not the type one trusts, but I like to keep an eye on him. He could cause more trouble otherwise.”

“He was lingering about the Adult Quarter yesterday with some toady, greasy character.”

His father grasped his stash. “Not surprising. I don’t trust him, and he doesn’t trust me, but we pretend we do. You don’t want to lose track of a man like him.”

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T
wo hours later, they arrived at Montgomery Mall once more. Caden stayed behind. Her illness was one, which often overcame Underlings especially those born near the pits on the lower South Side where sludge and noxious fumes flowed. The further south one went the more warped the bodies and minds.

Teddy had been lucky and grew up in the stability of Northside where life was the closest to normal. The warehouse was in North Side as well. Pa’s family worked hard to establish their territory and keep them safe.

He leaned his shoulder against the wall beside the room he suspected was an elevator and adjusted his mask.

“Okay, Pa, where do we go from here?”

His father scrunched his eyes and tapped his pant leg as he thought about their next move. “The map says this is level three, and the area is solid rubble in that direction,” he said, indicating the glass entrance. “So, either this whole building is buried, which would kill our ambitions, or, if luck pays us a visit, the first two levels are clear.” He cast his light in a circle as he turned. “Let’s try the elevator first.”

“Why?” he asked, straightening. “We have no electricity; we can’t use it.”

“Yes, but you never know. We might be able to climb down the shaft.” Pa took out the crowbars and passed him one. Together they forced the doors open. His father shone a light in, and Teddy gasped.

The tiny room was filled with bodies, corpses of men, women, and children, all trapped and dying centuries ago in a place with nothing, but a few buttons on the wall. He turned away, gagging. This wasn’t the first time he found remains, but he still hated it.

Pa let the doors close. “Let’s try the next one. This is the best tomb we can give them.” He went over to the other exit and pushed the silver bar that opened the door with ease. “Well, come on. Let’s explore where this leads.”

They came to a clear stairwell, and the only direction was down. Pa trotted on ahead. As they reached the next platform, the stairs turned and continued downward. There was another door on the landing after that. He pushed the bar. This one stuck. He passed Teddy the light and shoved until they could make their way through. They checked the air quality and removed their respirators.

He scratched his head where the band of the mask caused an itch while they made their way into the open. The left was a solid mix of debris and dirt. He did not peer too close in case he discovered more bodies. How the right side of the building managed to come away almost unscathed was more than he could figure out, but it was a lucky break for them.

“Pa, what do you think life was like back before the meteors?”

“Strange and wondrous. Hey, shine your handlight over here.”

He turned his lantern in the angle his father wanted. His light glinted off a tall glass window, and he jumped as a bizarre woman stared back. He had gasped before he realized she wasn’t moving. He came closer, and his father went through the door. Teddy joined him, keeping a careful eye on the statue-woman. It was creepy, unnatural, and made him tremble. He tried to turn his attention to the rest of the room.

“Look at this place,” Pa said, excited. “If even half of this merch is any good, we are in business.” He worked through piles of clothing and displays scattered everywhere and reached the main desk in the centre of the room. “Check for anything useful,” his father said as he rooted through some drawers.

Teddy pulled out a blue dress filled with holes and stained with things he did not want to identify. Something scurried in some clutter to his left and what he thought was a shirt, moved. Rats, mice, and bugs made their home in whatever they could. “Ah, Pa? I’m not too sure any of this will be any good.”

“Hmmm. Check the clothes still hanging. There’s little chance anything lives in them. Keep an eye out for ratdogs. Haven’t seen any yet, but ya never can tell.”

Gingerly, Teddy crept over to the first rack on the wall, a cluttered selection of pants and tops. They were the kind of goods the Upperlords paraded around in and scroungers near the vast crater in West Side supplied. Their leader was a large woman with pox marks and sores all over her skin, which she hid under layers and layers of cloth and jewels. She piled her hair high on her head and always had at least two or three decorations stuck in the coils.

He turned toward his father who was collecting a satchel of jewellery. “This stuff might put us in direct competition with Madame Belle. I’m not sure Henri can stand against her temper.”

Pa snickered. “True. Who can say? She might fall for his sweet innocence. Still, you may be right.”

“Um, how about we go and check what else is here before we start stockpiling this stuff?”

His father stored his satchel in the side pocket of his stash and brushed off his hands. “Good idea.”

They left the store, and he was happy to leave the mannequin behind. The stall next door was filled with broken glass and pieces of dishes.  A skeletal hand stuck out from behind one of the displays near the back.

“Let’s go back to that one later,” Teddy said, backing away.  He didn’t want to see anymore.

As they searched on, the hall branched off to their left. They paused, and he shone his handlight forward. Mud and debris blocked their way.

“Appears we turn,” his father said.

“Hope so. Otherwise this is it.”

His father shook his head. “Nah, there must be more. I can feel it.” He flashed his light down the other way. “You notice the air?”

Closing his eyelids, Teddy stood still, breathing deep. “It’s cool and moves.”

“Yep.” Excitement danced in his eyes. “It moves... it’s a wind....”

Teddy’s heart leapt. “Mechanical or, or,” the words did not want to come out, “natural?”

His father took hold of his arm. “Who cares? Both send the blood stirring. Imagine, just imagine, Teddy, either something is making the air,” he paused, his nose wrinkling as he sniffed, “fresher and moving, or this is real air.” His tone dropped to a whisper, as though afraid he would spook the breeze if he spoke too loud. He took out his tester. “All is good. Pure enough to breathe.”

Teddy stared at him. Either possibility was overwhelming to think about. These passageways were their life. A shiver went down his back—to get out of Undercity.... He once asked his teacher why they lived underground when the farmers and the greenhouse people talked of clear skies.  His teacher told him the story of how they did attempt to re-establish life outside right after the meteor strike.     According to him, the entire team of researchers died an agonizing death. Since then, they passed a law keeping everyone inside and no one ever brought up the issue again.

“Pa, we can’t...”

He draped an arm around Teddy’s shoulder. “Oh, my boy, you’re getting worried over nothing. I have no scheme, no real desire in attempting to go outside. I’ve seen the pictures and stood by the memorial, but we might be able to establish a better life for the Underlings.”

“A new city?”

“A new city. A new city where everyone gets to live in homes with the basic necessities without having to grovel and depend on anyone else.”

“The Uppers won’t like that.”

He touched Teddy’s nose and winked. “That’s why we keep this a secret. That’s why we got a brute.”

“You don’t think Henri will be much use against the Upperlords, do you? I’ll agree he is powerful, but he’s harmless. I doubt he would hurt a bug, let alone stop the Uppers taking over this place.”

“He’s a beginning. From this point on, we go slow and careful.”

Careful indeed. They would need to creep along in baby steps by his thinking. “Pa, if one hint of this gets around in Upper, they’ll descend on us like a dirt slide. They’d lose their workers, their power. They might even need to work for themselves, and that would not go over well at all.”

His father didn’t respond as they continued. He held his light high to show their path. The wall to the right was solid and covered with the words ‘Celporia, Opening soon. A New Way To Be Fashion.’

“There might be merchandise behind the sign,” Teddy said, peering close.

“Just a cursory search today,” Pa said and kept moving.

In the next window was a large picture with grand splotches of green and gold lights behind a group of people performing what he figured must be music.

Music—a few Uppers owned the few instruments found by the Underlings. They were special people, almost more elite than those who controlled the water, food, and air. However, they had a limited song selection and restricted public performances to a yearly concert. Otherwise, they played at the sole discretion of other Uppers. He shuffled into the store with a touch of reverence. Songs were enticing, haunting; the melodies locked in his head and stayed.