Through Tunnels and Trash

She sat knowing what was coming, aware of what was fixing to arrive. The war between the two clans had at last ensued; the brutish and unlearned barbarians against her own advanced and civilized people. Fear clamped tightly on her heart as she stood to the side of the green expanse of field where the battle would began; the field that led out of her world and into another. After endless miles of travel, the enemy waited just below the bottom of a monstrous hill that warped the entire field. Soon the army would reach the top where the city’s own troops were gathering. Amongst them was every man willing or not. Some were young, only sixteen. And, somewhere out there with the other youth was the boy she loved. She stood there her heart wrenching from her chest but only for an instant, then she darted away to her home to find safety and shelter.

The enemy would invade the city and kill every single man, woman, and child they found. The wealthy had retreated behind their well constructed fortresses. They would be safe from the invading army, but the poor, like her, were helpless. She stumbled through the door to her home, greeted by moldy crumbling walls and rusted sinks, wondering how she would survive this.

I don’t want to die, she thought, I don’t want to be beaten and raped. Even as these thoughts flooded her mind she moved down the long narrow hallway pushing her hands here and there, searching for something. Her neighbor, a motherless little boy of only eleven whose father had gone into battle rushed up behind her, grabbing her hand. She turned startled, but then smiled faintly at the boy. Like her, he had nowhere to go and could only wait for his assured end should his father and the army fall.

“Are you looking for the secret passage?” he asked, his eyes much too wide to match his brave disposition. The girl nodded, though she wouldn’t call it that. When the house was first built there was a tiny closet shaped like an L with one door in the hall and one in the bedroom. However, as the house grew old and fell apart so did the room and it was boarded off and closed up. Now it matched the faded yellow stained walls so perfectly she wasn’t sure she’d be able to find it.

A battle horns deep call rattled the air. Time, precious time, she was wasting it. Mentally she ticked off the seconds until they would arrive, her house being in the region closet to the battle would be one of the first pillaged. She had to find the door now. At last her fingers brushed over the uneven line where the wall meshed with the poorly sealed door and she let out a triumphant cry. She stepped back and kicked the spot as hard as she could, the paint and rotten boards easily giving way and crumbling at her feet. She slipped inside the room, the boy following closely and they waited for their eyes to adjust to the dimness.

Dust hung thick and heavy in the air, cobwebs dangled from the falling boards that had once formed shelves and a thick layer of dirt had settled over everything. Too late she realized there was nowhere to hide in here and the warriors would surely notice the hole in the wall. She went back to the door knowing the time was up; at any second they could burst through the entry way. She grabbed a bookshelf nestled to her left against the wall and tugged it. After several seconds of pulling and grunting she finally had it concealing the majority of the door. Sighing, she sat on the floor breathing heavily. This wouldn’t do, not for long and she knew that. Her hiding place wasn’t good enough, wasn’t safe enough. She glanced at the boy, his eyes bright with terror and worry; if they stayed here he would die.

She rose, shaky from her own fear, and then began stomping the lose floor boards. Frightened and set on edge by how she was acting the boy rushed over and grabbed her arm. “What are you doing?” he wailed. “They’ll hear you!” She didn’t answer, instead she knelt and grabbed the upraised edge of one of the boards and began to tug. Her eyes narrowed and her arms clenched as she bit her lips and pulled back. Finally the board tore free with a groaning complaint as its nails where uprooted.

She only needed one more and the boy would fit through, one more. She picked another next to the one she had already removed and repeated the process, falling backwards this time as it gave way.

“Go down there,” she commanded him panting. “Hide between the bricks in the middle under the house; they won’t think to look there besides its dark so they can’t see you. Stay there until it’s safe to come out. Understand?” She waited for his answer searching his face.

“What about you?” he demanded. The girl could only shake her head.

“We won’t both fit so they’d spot me if they thought to look and you’d get caught with me. Also, someone has to replace the boards, don’t worry I’ll hide up here, they won’t catch me I promise.” She told the lie so easily as if it were true and even if the boy doubted her there was nothing he could do except obey. So he hugged her tightly then slipped down through the hole looking back up briefly before vanishing.

“Be quiet,” she whispered after him praying for his safety. Then she heard the loud bang as her front door collapsed.

Drawing in a rapid intake of breath she replaced the boards and slipped into a corner with lots of hanging shelves, praying they didn’t notice. Concealed behind the thick spider webs, dust and tangle of wood they might not see her if they were not keenly searching. Their footsteps thudded hollowly down the hallway and she placed her hand over her mouth to silence her breathing. The steps stopped in front of the bookshelf and she felt her heart flop and her gut knot.

“This shelf is blocking some sort of door,” a deep voice grumbled, another answered it saying to move it. The girl bolted from her hide-out, careful not to make a sound and vanished around the corner. There she stood her back pressed against the wall, the whites of her eyes whirling wildly, and her long brown hair falling lose from the bun she’d pinned it in.

I have to get out of here, she thought squeezing her eyes shut. The sound of the bookshelf grating across the floor squealed in the air and she bit her lips so hard blood trickled down her chin. No longer caring if they heard her she ran to the other door, which was still sealed, and rammed through it, landing in a heavy heap on her bedroom floor.

“Did you hear that? Someone’s in there,” one of the men boomed, his voice slightly excited.

Are they that blood thirsty? What monsters were these barbarians? She wondered standing and dashing to the window. The dusts and webs clung to her. Outside she saw people running and screaming, bodies lying strewn, fires burning. It was already a blood bath. Still, she pushed up the window despite its protests and creaks reminding herself that death was at her heels. The footsteps of the men thudded closer.

Open, open, hurry, she screamed mentally. At last it squealed up enough for her to slip through. Quickly she did, tumbling out and down to the ground. She hadn’t expected to land by another of the barbarians. He was there looming over her dark and demonic, hair covering his face and scalp like the fur of a wild animal. The blade of a bloody battle axe gleamed in his hand. He lifted it was if he might swing but a broad sword planted itself in the man’s side and he turned to face his attacker instead.

It was Roan, another boy she knew who was only eighteen. He jumped back dodging the swinging blade of the warrior who though stumbling was still alive. Then Roan ran forward and in a deep sweep decapitated the body. The girl shied away, trying not to yell and draw attention. Roan, dark haired and eyed, blood matted all over his clothing and weapon stood before her, his face a mixture of unsure emotions. Finally deciding something he walked toward her and offered his hand.

She accepted it and allowed him to pull her to her feet. He glanced around and then looked back at her, his eyes plagued with a loss of his childhood.

“It’s not safe here, you have flee now,” he hissed scanning the crowds for any signs of an approaching threat. The girl felt like crying, she had no place to go, not anymore.

“Where?” she pleaded ready to just give up and join the corpses surely the boy she loved would be with her soon that way.

“Take the old route out of here, the whole city is going to be destroyed. The front line has already been breached. You must go now, before it’s impossible.” He gently pushed her. She only shook her head, disbelieving what she had heard.

“That can’t overrun the city, we’re too advanced. And besides that way goes right along the battlefield in the thicket tunnel and then through the trash heap, it’s too dangerous. I’d never make it, please, please just end my life now,” she begged grabbing his shirt and gazing up into his face, tears streaming down her cheeks. He turned away anger pinching his jaw.

“There are thousands of them and only hundreds of us, no matter how much technology we have, we can’t defeat them.” He turned back to her, grabbed her hands to pry them free. “If some of us don't escape now, there will be nothing left of our people."

In his eyes she saw a decision, an important one. He glanced around at the chaos. The air reeked of smoke and copper. She let go of his shirt.

“I’ll flee with you,” he declared. "I don't want this. I will make sure you live."

"Then we must take Theo!" She dropped to her stomach and crawled in the dirt till she was partly under the house. "Theo!" she called into the dark. "Come out, quickly."

After a moment of silence, scuffling could be heard. Soon, the boy had reached her, trembling all over and the whites of his eyes rolling. He was too big to carry, but she wished she could scoop him up into her arms. They rose and locked eyes with Roan. He held his sword steady and nodded. Then together they began to run, Theo's hand held tightly in hers as she pulled him along. Numbness settled into her and her legs moved faster than she thought they could. They wove around dead bodies, moaning victims, and more than once Roan raised his blade to slash down an enemy threat. As they dodged about, she did not relent Theo's hand for even a moment, fearing he would vanish.

As they reached the tunnels of thick overgrown vegetation that even the sunlight could hardly penetrate, realization dawned on her. Roan had just given up his chance at glory. If her people did somehow win, the brave men who fought would be remembered and honored forever. Those who charged forth gallantly and survived would be proclaimed noble protectors, but Roan would not be one of them. He would be branded a coward. A deserter. Was he? He slipped into the tunnel and she followed behind, memories and warnings splaying through her head.

Never enter the tunnel, never, her mother had warned.

That tunnel there, it holds death’s secret, death sleeps in there.

No one who enters ever comes out again, never again.

She drew in a deep breath as she slipped inside it, the scent of decaying leaves and damp earth flooding her lungs. Faint sunshine gleaming through cracks in the vines and brambles that formed the tunnel was their only light as they stumbled slowly along. No one else appeared to be down there, and for a moment she wondered why they didn’t just hide in there until the fight was over. A bright light ahead greeted her in answer as flames danced this way and that. A huge gap had been burned into the maze, leaving only three feet of the tunnel standing. Roan's shoulders tensed and Theo’s hand tightened on hers. They stopped to examine the situation.

“You two go first, okay?" Roan said. "Stay low and against the right wall so no one will see you but move fast. I will follow.”

The girl snapped her eyes to Roan, fear bright in her eyes. The tunnel wove alongside the field where the majority of the battle was taking place; to her right just through the layer of plants men would be slaughtering each other.

“You’re crazy,” she protested with a hiss.

“Do you want to die?” he asked simply his emotions hidden behind a manufactured calm.

“No,” she murmured in response. The urge to give up earlier had passed and now she wanted very much to live. She wanted to survive and push onward, even if that meant what lay ahead would be terrifying and difficult. She wanted to live. "I'm going to have to let go of your hand," she said to Theo.

Without further hesitation or argument she dropped down to her hands and knees and began to crawl forward slowly. Theo mimicked her, whimpering softly to himself.

All around her she could hear the clang of steel, see thick smoke, hear the dying screams, and more than anything else the metallic scent of blood invaded her mind with such a strong presence that she could almost taste it. Her pace sped up and she moved as rapidly as she dared attempt without getting seen. The distance stretching ahead of her seemed like hundreds of miles instead of a hundred yards as her knees scrapped the raw dirt and her eyes stung from falling ashes. An ember burned her arm. At last she reached the cool security of the tunnel again but she didn’t stop crawling until she was deep inside it then she collapsed in a heap. Theo crawled into her arms, shaking.

Roan was right behind them as he promised and watched as she trembled and rolled over to vomit. Politely he turned his head away until she was finished, then he tugged her to her feet. Theo quickly stood without help. His eyes searched the dark ahead anxiously.

"Ready?" Roan asked. Mutely she nodded and brushed the lose strands of hair out of her face. She was fine, she had made it, and it was over for now.

Though, as fate would have it, after only a few steps they reached yet another challenge. The tunnel was now formed by a high dirt wall but at the top only scraggly vines and small trees shielded them, they would be spotted. The top of the hill must have been at this point because the battle was a thundering roar here and the girl resisted the urge to cover her ears to drown out the sound.

“Do we make a run for it?” she asked unsure and timid. Roan frowned and shook his head.

“No, they’ll take you out with arrows. Their archers are at the top of the hill and they can shoot ten men before you can get close enough to kill one of them.” He turned around and searched the tunnel. He let out a joyful sigh as his eyes settled on an old piece of metal.

“Just as I thought, we’re getting close to the trash heap,” he commented picking it up. To the girl it looked like an opened book, only a lot larger, the metal silver was rusted but still in well enough condition to shield one person from arrows.

“You’ll have to hunch down in a little ball and move very quickly. If you hold it like an umbrella with part of it over your head and the other part protecting your right side, you might be able to get through.” He explained it all calmly as he handed her the piece of metal but she could see the apprehension in his eyes.

“What about you?” she asked her gut knotting again and squirming with butterflies.

“I’ll run ahead and take out any I can see and watch your back.” As if to prove his statement he un-slung a bow from his shoulder and notched it with an arrow. The girl hadn’t noticed those before, only the shining blood covered sword which was now sheathed. He nodded at her and charged forward already turning in preparation to shoot.

With more courage than she thought she had the girl dropped low and angled her shield. She pulled Theo close so that he was tucked into her left side, protected by the shield and her own body. Just as predicted arrows rained down, one here, another there. She heard a thunk as one bounced off of the metal and allowed herself a chance to glance up at Roan and see him release an arrow before jumping back to dodge one that nearly struck his chest.

That’s too close, she thought trying to move faster without allowing herself to become vulnerable. A loud hiss in the air whirred behind her and she felt a sharp sting as an arrow grazed her ankle.

“Hurry,” Roan shouted at her notching another and moving again. She was being too slow, and she knew it. At this rate they would all die down here and deep inside her body protested. Surprising herself and Roan she rose higher to where she was only bent over and ran blindly forward, keeping Theo right at her side. Behind arrows clicked into the ground and if it weren’t for the trees making it difficult to aim they would have hit their intended targets.

At last they reached the ending of the tunnel and together spilled out like overflowing water into the trash heap; the place where her people had foolishly discarded everything from old bed mattresses to useless pieces of metal. Her landing wasn’t soft as her body smacked into an old dryer and then a mess of useless rusted metal parts and trash bags. Theo laughed; he was uninjured. She scrambled to her feet ready to run again and glanced behind her to see Roan leaning against a fridge, the bow on the ground beside him in a pool of blood. She wanted to be worried and concerned for him but a stirring rustle from in the lower parts of the garbage drew her attention away.

There below what appeared to have once been a dock was a woman standing by the polluted lake that bordered the field and trash heap. One glance told the girl this woman wasn’t from her city. As if to verify this the woman lifted up a massive sword that made others the girl has seen look like toys. The woman was built and muscled well enough to handle the heavy blade with ease. Without thinking the girl snatched up the bow and pulled back the string as if it were loaded.

The girl was angled just right so that the woman couldn’t see that there was nothing notched on the bow to fire, and wisely she lowered her sword and backed away. That was when the girl noticed the two boys cowering under the dock, filthy rags draped over their thin limbs and with them was a sick man just as poorly dressed. They weren’t the enemy. She lowered the bow. Their lodged canoe bobbled in the side of the water. The family must have come from the other side of the lake, the side where the barbarian army had marched to reach her lands.

That’s when the girl looked back and saw that Roan was gone. Terrified she twirled around calling out his name shrilly, but there was no sign of him or reply. Confused and bewildered she began to weave her way down through the debris to the woman and boys.

"Wait here," she ordered Theo.

Had he left her now that she was safe? Didn’t he realize how dangerous it was in the trash heap? Had he wanted to go back and fight, or had he received a fatal wound and went off to die on the battle field with dignity? She didn’t know the answer and couldn’t fathom it but she did know how she felt; abandoned.

The woman called out to her in a langue she couldn’t understand.

“I don’t speak that,” she replied staring into the deep brown eyes, trying to reason with the woman who only jabbered on.

One of the little boys came forward and offered up a piece of bread to the girl. The bread had been reshaped by his fist from clamping tightly onto it for days.

“No, you eat it,” she told him pushing his hand back to him. He smiled showing missing teeth behind his busted lips. He nodded as if this confirmed that he did deserve it and carefully tore it in half to share with his twin brother. Despite his disheaval, girl looked like she needed it more. Her blue eyes were wide and red, her face pale and strung with riddles of emotions, and her body was trembling as if it could no longer support itself. Besides the boy had thought he was unworthy to have the bread; he had stolen it from a dying man, taken it away while leaving him to rot as he fled his home with his mother. The guilt had never left him so he had been unable to eat it, and though it could never be explained why the girl’s simple persistence that he have it had erased that guilt, it did.

The girl examined the mountains of trash as the woman continued to ramble. She would have to leave here, and quickly. Disease, sickness, and death were all that was here. However, she didn’t know which way to go or how to get there through the jungle of rags and metals. Desperately she wished Roan were there and for a moment her hand clenched and ached with emptiness. He would know what to do, he would know the answer. She shook her head to vanish such thoughts. But he was not there and she would need to leave with Theo before the enemy decided to search the heap.

At some point, Theo had decided to disobey her order and was now clamoring down to join her. It was just well, they would need to cross the heap. A shrill neigh made her jerk her head up frightened; the barbicans used cyborgic horses, not her people. However, it wasn’t a warrior coming to kill them all, it was Roan leading a black mare with one arm and holding his newly bloodied sword in the other. The control trip on the horse's neck had been smashed to override its commands. Carefully Roan picked his way down through the trash to them.

“I thought…I thought…” she gasped running forward to hug him. Tears threatened her eyes.

“I promised,” he scolded. “I went to fetch us a stead or we’ll never make it through here. Now let’s go, they’re pursuing me as we speak.” He moved to help Theo mount first, then her. But she shied back when it was her turn.

“But you were hurt, I saw the blood,” she exclaimed noticing the clothing wrapped and tied around his left leg.

“It isn’t bad; I'm not even limping.” He sheathed his sword and placed his hand on the small of her back. “Put your left foot in the stirrup, grab the saddle horn, and hoist yourself up.”

She obeyed, almost falling back but his hand pushed her up the rest of the way and into the saddle. Theo was tucked in the seat with her, causing the leather to pinch them tightly. Roan swung up behind her and grabbed the reins.

Two horses would have been more ideal, but she didn’t protest knowing he had done the best he could, which was better than what she would have managed. Roan looked down at the woman and pointed to the boat then waved his hand in a shoeing motion. The message was received clearly enough that they should leave because the woman shook her head in response.

She couldn’t explain to the young man that there was nowhere for her to go anymore, no home left and no home to be found. She couldn’t tell him that she was already dying of poisoning from drinking the contaminated water of the lake, that her family was as well, that her husband was already about to go greet death. She only smiled sadly and whispered words of good luck that they didn’t understand as Roan shrugged and urged the horse forward.

“We’ll stay along the shore where the horse can move more quickly,” he explained as the girl turned to peer back over his shoulder, the woman’s words engraving themselves in her memory, burning into her mind like the image of the little boys staring after her with sad haunted eyes. Softly she whispered farewell.

The girl never did find out if Roan was right about being chased after or not. The mare moved along quickly and nimbly, dodging any objects in her way and making time dissolving behind them. On foot she would have been hard to catch as she cantered along tossing her head and whinnying occasionally.

After a while Roan finally slowed the beast down to a walk so it wouldn’t become worn out. Even with robotic parts, it was still a living animal. The morning was rapidly fading as the sun bore higher, however the September weather remained pleasant enough. Like any tired animal would the horse stopped and tried to drink. Knowing the water here was ruined because of the trash Roan quickly jerked the mare’s head up and kicked her forward. With a snort of protest she complied and trudged onward. Theo kept his hands pressed against the mare's neck for balance and comfort. The smell of equine enveloped them.

At last they reached the end of the trash heap and all stared stunned; before them stretched a field of tall yellow grasses rippling in the wind and reaching out to swallow even the sky. Excited and glad to be free and safe at last Roan urged the horse into a gallop and they raced through the dancing blades of grass. A giggle was even roused from the girl when they finally drew to a halt by a dirt road but it died on her lips.

The road, the path the invaders had taken. She squirmed in the saddle and looked back behind her but all she could see was the dark mountain of trash and the lake. The sun was setting onto its surface and the world was lit with clouds of crimsons and pinks, flaring oranges, and yellow flames. Blood, death, fire, emptiness, was all painted there for her to behold.

“Don’t look back,” Roan whispered into her hair. “Never look back, promise.” Startled she turned her head up to meet his eyes and saw her own emotions mirrored there.

“Our home is lost, the ones I love dead, everything is burning,” she mumbled her gaze drifting down to the ground as tears cascaded down her cheeks. Theo's frail hand reached out and found hers. He squeezed gently. They were both completely orphaned.

“Don’t give to despair. There will be others that escape, and they will pass through here, so in the meantime we will wait.”

For three nights they waited, neither saying anything to the other, all eating food that had been left in the saddle bag and drinking water from a pouch that was there as well. Finally on the fourth day as the girl rose and stretched from sleeping she saw faint dots moving in the distance. It stretched out like a long snake weaving its way through the land but unlike a snake ecstatic excitement was stirred by the sight of it. She shook Roan and Theo awake quickly and pointed to it.

“Let’s go to them,” she said already reaching for the saddle. For the first time since fleeing, she allowed her heart to worry about the boy she loved. Was he with the trail?

"Do you think father is there?" Theo whispered anxiously. Roan shook his head and tugged the reigns away from the girl.

"I'm not even sure it's our people," he cautioned. "Could be part of the barbarian army circling back.

Instead of approaching, they moved further away, to the crest of a hill. They staked the horse to the ground on the other side, out of sight. The three children law flat at the top of the hill, concealed in the grass and watched as the thread of people moved closer. Desperately the girl’s eyes scanned the distance bodies, searching for a sign they were her people. Her heart sat heavy in her throat throbbing and pulsing wildly, waiting to be swallowed or spat on the ground. Then at last her eyes made out the shape of familiar armor and clothing. A woman's pale orange dress blew in the wind as she looked sadly ahead, her back ridden with supplies. Orphaned children trailed behind her, their faces streaked with soot.

The girl felt elated and uttered an unintelligible cry of joy, but then another emotion crept in and she turned to look at the boy who had rescued her who had given up so much to save her and Theo's life. Roan’s eyes looked full of pain and yearning along with other things she couldn’t place. He would be shamed for living. For escaping. Deserters were usually arrested.

“Roan,” she whispered softly. He smiled at her through the hurt and grief, a kind smile of understanding.

“I cannot go with you to them,” he stated. They both knew she would have stayed with him bound by a feeling of duty if he had asked it, they both knew he held her freedom since he had rescued her but, "go," he bid.

She slipped from the shelter of the grass, clutching Theo's hand and pulling him along again. They ran away; feeling fear and happiness all tangled in raw knots within their chests. Without hesitation the woman in the orange dress broke free from the line and rushed for them. It was mother. The girl burst into sobs as she was pulled into the familiar arms.

“You’re safe,” she marveled. “I thought you were gone, I thought you had died. I tried to find you, tried to save you but I couldn’t. There were so many of them. It was all I could do to get out with the children.” The girl wrapped her arms tightly around her mother, allowing the moment to sink into her soul, to wrap itself warmly around her for eternity.

As she stood there a name echoed through her heart and she looked back just once to see if Roan was there, but he had vanished.

**********************************************************************

This story was actually created from a dream I had. I hope you enjoyed it, thanks for the read.