LOCATION: INCURSION #0032-SAHARA
AREA: THE BLACK CITY
EARTH DATE: JANUARY 1, 2032 | TIME: 4:00 PM
“What is your name?” Drexler asked. He still held her hands in his. It seemed to soothe her, so he decided to let her be the one to withdraw.
She looked down at the floor and slowly pulled her hands back.
“My name is Rin. Rin Shale. This street is called Shale Street, so everyone who lives here is named Shale.”
“They name you after your street?” Drexler asked.
Samir cleared his throat.
“Rin is a beautiful name.”
He made an executive decision, and he knew Drexler wasn’t going to argue with him.
“Get everything you need, then. We have to head out right away.”
She looked at him for a moment.
“I… I have nothing to bring. We own nothing.”
She indicated the plain black pants and loose-fitting blouse she wore.
“Not even these clothes are mine, technically, but are provided by them. So I’m ready to go right now. How did you get here?”
Samir smiled.
“Follow us. We’ll be hard to see, but we’ll be right behind you. We’re headed out the gates to the top of the hill outside the city.”
“What?” Rin said. “But we’re not allowed to—”
“You’re not allowed to survive a beating by those assholes, either,” Drexler said, standing from his chair. “But you did. So what’s one more rule to break for your freedom?”
Rin, still looking at the floor, smiled. More tears streaked down her face, but she seemed to make up her mind and suddenly stood.
“Okay, then. I’m ready. And I know a way out that won’t alert any of the guards. Follow me.”
The five entered their various stealth modes again, and Rin simply opened her front door and began walking down Shale Street like she was out for an evening stroll.
She noticed some of her neighbors peeking through their darkened windows, but she paid them no mind. She kept her gaze down at the ground like they were taught in school, and proceeded to the third block, where she turned right.
She approached the fifth building on the left and slowed down.
“Are you still there?” she whispered.
She shuddered when a hand touched her shoulder, but Drexler’s voice whispering back put her at ease again.
“We’re right behind you. Don’t worry. What’s the plan?”
Without turning, Rin responded, still keeping her voice to a low whisper.
“The next building conceals a tunnel that will lead us to the rock formations on the other side of the Wall. It will let us out near the Portal, but we’ll have to run once we get out.”
“Are there guards patrolling the area?” Samir asked.
Rin shook her head.
“Not necessarily, but the portal will close at dawn, and judging by the position of the moon, we don’t have much time.”
Samir had so many questions, but the debriefing could wait until they were on the other side.
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“Okay,” he said. “Let’s move then. Stay in tight, everyone. And be ready for anything.”
Rin walked another ten feet to a building simply labeled ‘Storehouse.’ She looked around once more, and seeing she was unobserved, she pulled the door open and slipped inside.
Samir, Drexler, and their group followed, careful to ease the door quietly closed once they were all in.
Not surprisingly, everything was sooty black, and there was no light.
“Stick to the right wall and follow me,” Rin whispered.
Drexler put his hand on her shoulder and the rest of the group did the same, forming their chain again as she inched forward in the darkness.
High windows lined the wall, and moonlight illuminated row after row of metal shelving, but the floor was completely dark. The shelves were all over ten feet tall and lined from top to bottom with crates and boxes of different sizes.
They turned left at the fourth row, and Drexler could hear Rin counting paces.
“Thirty-six,” she whispered. “Should be around here somewhere.”
She squatted down and began running her hands along the floor.
Drexler and the others did the same.
“Found a hatch,” Samir whispered.
He lifted a handle embedded in the floor, and one of the large, square floor tiles lifted, revealing a ladder leading downward.
There was no light in the tunnel, and Samir thanked the gods he wasn’t claustrophobic. Or whatever the fear of darkness was called.
Nyctophobia?
They let Rin go first and followed behind.
The tunnel was dug well, and reinforced with wooden beams to avoid collapsing, but the dirt walls, floor and ceiling of the low space deadened all sound as they crawled forward, contributing to the feeling of being closed off from the rest of the world.
It took over a half hour to make their way through, but finally Rin whispered again.
“Here’s the ladder,” she said. “One of you should go first in case someone reported me.”
“You think guards may be waiting?” Drexler asked.
“I can’t be sure,” Rin replied. “But it’s better to be safe.”
Drexler smiled widely. He knew Samir was behind him.
“Samir and I will go first. We’ll let you know when it’s clear.”
Rin hugged the wall as the two larger men squeezed past her and climbed the ladder.
It was fifteen rungs to the top, so this tunnel ran deep beneath the rocky surface outside.
Drexler found another hatch, and it required quite a bit of Strength to push it open. He inched it upward and looked around.
Six pairs of black combat boots paced the area.
He leaned down to say something to Samir, but a wisp of sand blew past him and through the three-inch opening.
Drexler laughed silently.
“Oh no you don’t. I’m not letting you have all the fun!”
Drexler burst upward, and the large stone that had been concealing the tunnel entrance fell to the side.
All six of the guards turned in his direction.
Two of them fell almost immediately as Samir materialized behind them, his poisonous daggers opening up wide gashes in their throats one after the other.
Drexler faded from view, and Samir was able to take one more of the soldiers down before he joined the melee.
Not one to be outdone by his friend, Drexler dropped the other three in rapid succession with precise strikes and kicks to vital areas.
“Thanks for leaving the other half for me,” Drexler said, rolling his eyes and laughing.
He and Samir dragged the six soldiers behind a six-foot rock formation far from the hatch as the rest of the group filed out of the tunnel.
Then Drexler replaced the heavy rock over the door to keep it hidden.
Rin appeared shocked for a moment at the blood covering both men, but she recovered quickly.
She looked at the sky, trying to find the moon’s position through the heavy gray clouds.
“We’ve only got a few minutes left, and the Masters will be here to shut it down. We have to go. Now.”
Drexler paused a minute. He was looking up the hill at the portal shimmering in the distance.
The same six mages or technicians, or whatever they were, still operated the portal. Their eyes were closed with the effort now, and Samir knew they would falter soon, closing off his group’s only known escape route.
“Let’s move,” he said. “No need for stealth now. We have to get through before it closes.”
He turned toward the group.
“Rin, stay behind Erik. He’ll make sure you don’t take any friendly fire on the other side. And prepare yourself for brightness. It will still be daytime where we’re going.”
She nodded and Samir ran.
The group followed behind him.
Shockingly, none of the six controlling the portal even noticed as six people ran through the vortex, careful to avoid being trampled by the buffalo as they did.
The world flashed dark for a moment, and then they were greeted by heat and sunlight.
“Hold your fire!” someone yelled. “They’re back!”
Buffalo continued coming through. While a group of Peacekeepers handled them, the rest ran toward Samir and his group.
Still panting from the exertion, Drexler rested his hand on Rin’s shoulder.
“Welcome to Earth,” he said.
Rin smiled. Then her eyes rolled upward and she fainted.
Erik caught her before she hit the sand, and carried her toward the medical tent while Samir began receiving his briefing on what had transpired while they were gone.