Excerpt: Desolate

Marie:
August 21, 2496 C.E.
Day minus 93573
1600 feet beneath the Australian Wastelands
the Outer Tunnels

The woman stumbled through the cred, last of the 3,000 females of the Levels to do so. She turned to face the man who had shoved her, and he spit in her face. Calmly, she wiped her cheek and stared up at him.

He sneered at her, face red in his fury. “I sentence you, Marie Carok, and all your followers,” he motioned contemptuously to the women behind her, “to live out your lives here, in the Crypts. Any attempts to reenter the Upper Levels while be met with force.”

The men gathered behind him were silent; only the slight shifting of feet betrayed their nervousness. They dared not question their leader, even though many of them had wives they would never see again.

Her husband turned a sickly smile on her and turned back to his men.

For the first time since the “trial”, she spoke. “Carok, you do not condemn only me this day.”

Slowly he turned back. “I will not fall for your wiles again, Temptress. None of my men will, while you remain entombed here.”

She ignored his rant, righteous indignation fueling her speech. “Condemning us, you condemn yourselves. We all die this day. You have murdered everything we once stood for.”

He screamed at her, spittle flying. “My cause will survive! Without you to twist it to your own perverted ends.” He motioned jerkily to the man beside him, and he quickly started turning the crank, the cred closing up.

As it clanged shut, swallowing the last sight of hope, one of the woman behind her collapsed, sobbing. The beginning of the end had begun.

Bayle:
November 1, 2752 C.E.
Day 0
the Levels
the Outer Tunnels

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Bayle’s eyes flickered open, and she turned over onto her back, wondering at the sound that woke her. At first, she thought it was only her heart. Then she realized that the floor was vibrating.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Her breath hitched, and she froze in panic. The sleeping quarters were utterly still, the only sound that of quickening breathing. A shriek from the hallway broke the silence, scattering chaos in its wake.

“Beasts!”
Bayle jerked upright, shedding blankets as she scrambled for the doorway. She had no weapon, there were too few of those to go around. She was only seventeen, but surely she could help. Somehow.

The hallway was a hive of insanity. A few archaic electric lights flickered dimly alongside the lanterns. The older women, those who had survived the Upper Levels and came back sane, gathered the weapons. The younger ones scooped up the infants and little girls, shoving them toward the sleeping rooms, carved into the stone.

She alone was still among all this, had nothing to do.

The vibrations were getting louder, deeper. Her chest ached with it. How big was it?

One of the older women, Griselda, turned and pointed at her. “You, Bayle! Come!”

With an effort of will, she propelled herself into action. She could do this, whatever it was. She was strong, healthy. She could do this.

Griselda grabbed her arm and pulled her closer, yelling to be heard over the thud, thudding. “You’ve never seen a beast a’fore, girl? Get ready, you’re ‘bout to.” She handed her a leather tie.

Bayle looked at her, bewildered. Griselda motioned, frustrated. “Yer hair, girl!”

Nodding, she quickly gathered back her tangled brown hair and tied it back.
With a grim look, Griselda shoved a knife at her. “You’ll know when to use it.” She looked Bayle over thoroughly. “Steady, girl.” Then she weaved into the growing crowd of armed women.

Bayle stood uncertainly, holding the knife with a knuckle-white grip. She held her breath, trying not to start hyperventilating.

Suddenly, it was silent again. The vibrations were gone, the women didn’t speak. Someone gasped nearer the front of the line. Bayle blinked hard and stood on tiptoes to get a better view.

The knife dropped boneless from her hand with a metallic clank. Nothing could have prepared her, none of the stories told in dank shadows or warm firelight. Nothing.

The Beast was only a shadow. Lean and dark, it crouched, towering above the heads of the tallest of the women. Standing upright, would it even fit in the tunnel? It growled, low, vibrating in its chest and hers.

The women shifted, a soft murmur rising, but Bayle didn’t notice. Another sound caught her attention.
Chink, chink... Chink...

The soft grinding of chains. Slowly she turned. A foot from her, a pair of wide eyes stared back. From the other side of one of the creds. She lunged.

Stretching her eyes through the gaps in the gates, she begged, “Please, let me in, please...”

Wild eyed, the man backed up, hand on the crank. He shook his head frantically, but he couldn’t close it. She was in the way. Squirming, she was halfway through the gap in the side when she heard her name. “Bayle, no!” When she looked back, Griselda had latched on to her ankle, tugging her back into her world. She started wiggling backwards. What had she been thinking?

Something pulled on her arm. With a gasp, she looked up. The second man pulled again, and this time she fell through the cred, sprawling on the floor at his feet. He pulled her to her feet and shouted at the man at the crank, drowning out Griselda’s wail.

“You idiot! Close the cred.” The man started to stalk off, dragging her with him. “Report to me tomorrow before your shift.”

The other man mumbled something as he hurriedly cranked the cred closed.

Trying to stay calm, she glanced around. And suddenly wished she hadn’t. There were men. Everywhere. She’d never seen one before tonight, except for Adam and Abel. They had been sent back with their mothers. Nobody knew why. But they weren’t quite right anymore. They wandered the far reached of the Tunnels.

But these men weren’t like them, pale and small. They glared in the bright lights, giving her looks she didn’t recognize. None of the women had looked at her like that. She shivered, glad when he pulled her into an elevator and the doors shut.

But now she was alone with him.

He released her arm, and she backed up to the other side of the elevator. He was tall. She was a bit small for a woman, but even the tallest was no more than a head higher. She doubted she would even come mid-chest to him. He was huge.

And he was staring at her. Narrowed green eyes watching her.

The doors slid open, and he pushed himself off the wall he had been leaning against. He moved forward, wrapped his hand around her arm and pulled her into...

She blinked and gasped.

...the Upper Levels.