Rising Storm Read online

  Ian Sashes closed his eyes tight. There was nothing but inky blackness behind his eyelids. He didn't really need to close his eyes, the tunnel he stood in was already in absolute darkness. But the action helped bring him focus. He needed to concentrate on his next task, it wasn't going to be easy.

  Stepping forward, Ian slowly began moving down the passageway. The floor of the corridor was cracked and uneven so his footing was less than firm. He recalled what Dell and Jason had taught him. Walk on the balls of your feet, keep your center of gravity low, and most important – listen. The sounds which echoed through these tunnels could be used as guidance, communication, and warn of coming danger.

  Under the city of Chicago lay miles of drainage systems, old freight tunnels, reservoirs, and even old cable-car tunnels from more than a century ago. All of these formed a massive maze Ian was slowly moving through. This underground labyrinth had provided protection and refuge for a small band of Humans. These underground dwellers hid themselves from a much larger population of aliens on the surface. Aliens that looked and sounded just like humans, at least their bodies did.

  '120 paces till I reach the end of the tunnel,' thought Ian as he slowly picked up his pace. He was careful each time he stepped forward. Each footstep placed with meticulous timing, he needed to be silent as he moved.

  Living in these tunnels had taught the Humans much, how to move and navigate without any light. To pass silently and stealthily as the aliens who called themselves Souls sometimes sent search teams down into these tunnels. Known as Seekers, there were a scourge to the dwindling population of free Humans still on Earth.

  Nearing his one-hundred and tenth step Ian could tell he was coming to the end of the corridor. Letting his hearing do the seeing, he heard the faint echo of his movement from the wall in front of him. He could either turn left or right. Ian focused on remembering what lay in both directions. To the left he remembered the tunnel went on straight for almost a mile. A good way to get some distance, but there were few exits that way and he could easily get himself cornered with no way out. If he went right, the shaft would break up into multiple paths. Much easier to hide.

  Turning to the right Ian almost started walking again when he heard it. A faint clip-clop sound of someone moving less than stealthily in the tunnel. Someone coming from the right. Ian suppressed a groan and turned to the left. The tunnel's surface was smoother here and he made better progress. But he only went about thirty feet in his estimation before he stopped. Listening he heard the soft footsteps behind him. They were the sound of someone who wasn't certain if they were going the right way. Indecisive, starting and then stopping, slowly seeking him.

  Ian opened his eyes to the ocean of darkness around him. Buried here deep in the Earth there wasn't even a glimmer of light. Therefore, Nan's light starved eyes could already make out a faint glow coming from behind him. His pursuer had a flashlight.

  Usually he would consider someone with a light source to have the upper hand in this inky blackness. However, Ian had learned much since coming to Chicago. Yes, light could find you out in these tunnels. But every light cast a shadow and there were many places to hide in the shadows.

  Picking up his pace, Ian sacrificed some of his stealth for speed. If his hunter did follow him down this tunnel, he would need some distance to put his plan into action. Ian recalled the Arizona caves he had lived in for the last two years. There, like these tunnels, he had gotten used to moving through them until he knew every contour of the stone floor. That even in utter blackness he could move without stumbling. Ian had worked hard to learn these man-made caves, but he still had a lot of ground to cover. Putting his foot down, Ian realized he'd stepped into a divot. Sometime in the past a chunk of cement had broken free from the ground and left a sizeable hole. A hole which caused Ian to misstep and then clumsily, and loudly, hit the ground.

  "Oh, damn it," breathed out Ian in anger. He had been trying to move too fast while his body's center of gravity was too high. Righting himself and then yanking his foot out of the hole, Ian risked a look back down the dark passageway. The soft glow of a flashlight was still visible, but Ian didn't hear the quiet padding of footsteps. His stalker had stopped moving and was now listening. Ian stood absolutely still, daring to not breath, and waited.

  All at once the glimmer of the light behind him began to move. Now a new sound reached Nan's ears, the sound of someone running. The smack-smack of feet landing on hard cement of the tunnel. Cursing himself again for making such a stupid mistake, Ian began to move again. He could try sprinting himself, but he would be running blind and after his last mistake he didn't want to screw up again.

  As he moved, Ian pressed his right hand on the wall of the tunnel. The sounds echoing from his pursuer was growing louder with each second. Ian knew he had to be close now, just a little more. Twenty steps went by, then thirty. The light behind Ian had grown strong enough to turn the black surrounding Ian to a deep gray. He only seconds now before his relentless tracker closed the distance and caught sight of him.

  Nan's hand on the old stone wall skittered along its surface as he moved, just the cold hard cement against his fingers. And then he felt nothing but cold, dry air. He had reached the side tunnel. Ian wanted to shout for joy, but he kept his mouth shut. He was out of time. Sliding to the right, Ian pushed himself into the cramped space.

  Calling the passage he found himself in a tunnel was being very generous. It was in reality a narrow crack barely wider than Ian. Over the years, this section of the drainage system had deteriorated to the point a large crack had formed. A crack that had been carefully widened by the Humans rebels to the point it could be used as a hiding spot. Ian pressed himself as far back into the crack as his tall body would allow. It certainly wasn't easy for him as the sides of the crack were rough and uneven. A particularly sharp edge poked Ian painfully in the back.

  The footsteps had slowed and Ian could make out the sounds of someone panting. The light of the flashlight was now intensely bright to Nan's oversensitive eyes. He began to slowly lower himself down, not easy to do in this constricted hole. He could feel his leg muscles already begin to cramp as he forced his body down. Ian knew he was in a pretty awkward position and if he was caught he would have no chance of escape. But his only real choice was to successfully hide here and then turn the tables on his would-be-tracker when they had passed him.

  The light of the flashlight beamed directly into the crack. Ian felt every inch of his body freeze as solid as ice. He kept his head lowered, letting his dark hood cover his face completely. Ian dared not even breathe. The light panned through the crack and shadows splayed in all direction as the light bounced off the uneven sides. With his dark clothing and hunched close to the floor, Ian was lost in those shadows.

  Turning from his unseen prey the figure carrying the light turned in a slow circle in the middle of the tunnel. The light filled the outside corridor, but Ian remain hidden. Slow seconds trickled by and finally the person returned to his original slow walk down the passageway. Once the light began to recede, Ian finally began to breath.

  Gradually and more than a little stiffly Ian began to pull himself up in the tight space of the fissure in the wall of the larger drainage tunnel. Silently he pulled himself from the crack. In front of him, the silhouette of his pursuer was illuminated by his own flashlight. Ian smiled to himself, down here light was a double edge sword. As much as it could help in dark, the light betrayed its user. Unseen, Ian crept closer to his adversary.

  Still uncertain of his quarry, the man in front of Ian was slowly panning his flashlight back and forth as he studied the path before him. Now Ian was right behind the squat man. Looming over him, Ian jabbed out with his index finger into the man's back like a mock gun. At his finger's contact, the man went stiff in alarm.

  "Bang, you're dead," said Ian with dark humor in his voice.

  The short man breathed quickly and the let out a dry laugh. "I knew you were behind me."

  "B
ull," replied Ian with some heat. "Jason, I've got you. Plain and simple."

  With a slow sigh, the stout Chicago rebel turned to face Ian in the tunnel. Jason folded his thick arms in front of him and said after a moment of contemplation, "I suppose so. You were hiding in the crack back there, weren't you?"

  "Yeah," said Ian as he rolled his shoulders to work a kink out of his back. "Wasn't easy. Thought I was going to get stuck in there."

  Retracing their steps Jason probed the crack with his flashlight. He nodded slowly to himself, "Not bad, I didn't think you could get yourself in there." He chided himself, "Didn't look close enough, and I should have." Jason turned back to Ian and added quietly, "If I were a Seeker, I would have. They are very thorough."

  "Yeah, I know," replied Ian grimly. He had a good deal of experience with Seekers. They could be relentless and as Jason had said, very thorough when they hunted their prey.

  "Just saying," said Jason as he spread his arms and made a small shrug. "Still not bad, you've been learning a lot in the last two months."

  As they began to walk down the tunnel Ian was silent as he considered his latest 'test'. He'd spent nearly every day down here for hours at a time with either Jason, Dell or one of the other Humans from Chicago for the last week. Sometimes it was lessons on how to move and navigate. Other times, like now, he was tested as one or more people hunted him in the dark. Even after all his practice Ian was pretty sure he had only scraped the surface of what the others knew about this underground maze.

  Turning down a new passageway, Ian asked Jason, "Same time tomorrow then?"

  "No," replied Jason after a moment hesitation. "Bright Moon on Fallen Snow says the Seekers will be running another expedition down here tomorrow." With a slow smirk forming on his face Jason added, "We don't want to be here when that happens."

  "Hell no," replied Ian with a grin of his own. Curious he asked, "How many are they sending this time?"

  "Marc said she believed it would be about half the Seekers in the city, about fifty in all," said Jason with a shake of his head.

  "Still can't believe she's on our side?" queried Ian.

  Jason was silent as they walked along. Ian briefly thought about the blond-haired blue-eyed Seeker who had at one time hunted Jason and the other rebels. Now she was allied with the very same Humans. There were very few Souls who would be willing to go against their own people and try to save the remaining Humans. For a Seeker, called to protect Souls and eliminate the Human threat, it was nearly unthinkable.

  But in the last few months the city of Chicago had been the location of some truly remarkable events. An outbreak of a virulent plague had infected thousands of Souls in Chicago. The disease resisted every attempt by the Souls' Healers to provide treatment. The Humans that hid in the city also become ill. With both sides desperate, they did the unthinkable. Humans formed a truce with the Souls and worked together to cure the sickness. Seeker Bright Moon had reevaluated her beliefs about Humans, in no small part because of her growing relationship with the Humans rebel leader, Marc Walters.

  "Mummy," replied Jason at last, "Trusting a parasite isn't the easiest thing to do. Trusting one of their Seekers is damn near impossible." Jason looked up quickly after he realized what he called the Souls. With a weak smile he added, "Sorry, no offense to Wanda."

  At one time Ian would have grown swiftly angry if someone insulted his Wanda. But Wanda was quick to point out to Ian that Humans had every reason to fear and distrust her people. She was a Soul, a small silver centipede-like creature which lived in and controlled the body of young blond-haired woman. Her people had systematically conquered Earth and driven humanity to near extinction. Wanda never resented anyone who didn't like her. She was kind and gentle to all, always forgiving, and with a few exceptions entirely selfless. It was Wand's pure generosity, her kindness, which led Ian to fall in love with her.

  "It's alright," said Ian with a shrug. "You guys have made Wanda and I feel right at home here. Almost everyone has been descent to Wanda." Dark memories intruded into Nan's mind when he first met Wanda. Of his hands around her neck, squeezing tight as she desperately struggled to breath. He pushed the old, unwanted, memories away with a deep sigh. "Trust me, your guys' welcome for Wanda was far more pleasant than ours out in the desert."

  Leading Ian down a small side tunnel Jason replied thoughtfully, "I guess somewhere along the line we became more…tolerant of the Souls. Maybe if we hadn't meet Auntie it would have been a lot different."

  auntie' was the affectionate name given by Jason and the others to Autumn Gusting Wind. A kindly Soul who had first helped and protected the Humans during the early days of the Souls' invasion of Earth. It was with her help that this small clan of humans had been able to survive in the city. She had loved them, and they loved her back. And they were greatly sadden when she became one of the many Souls to succumb to the mysterious plague.

  "You guys found Autumn years before we met Wanda. There might be more Souls out there than we think who would be friendly to us," speculated Ian.

  "Trust me, not many," replied Jason with a frown. "Back in the day, Autumn tried speaking with other Souls about humans. Carefully, of course, nothing to reveal how far she was going to protect us. Most didn't even want to hear about it. We were just bunch of violent animals to most of them." Season's face clouded with anger. "They take over billions of us, and we're the monsters."

  "Yeah, I know," said Ian sympathetically. There was no denying that most Souls still greatly feared 'wild' Humans. They saw humans as vicious and savage race, no longer worthy of their world. Souls were kind and peaceful to each other, always. The violence humans were capable of inflicting was nearly incomprehensible to the gentle Souls. And nothing proved this to the Souls more than when they learned the source of the plague. The cause of the illness, a seemingly simple bacteria, was found to have been developed and released by an enigmatic group of people who work for an organization ominously called the 'Facility.'

  Jason and Ian reached the end of the tunnel. It dead ended at a brick wall. The old ruddy colored bricks had faded to a dull brown and looked to be barely held in with the decaying mortar. Both men did a quick check as they looked back to ensure no one had discreetly followed them. Jason pushed with his hand on a weathered old brick to the right side of the wall and then quickly yanked on two more bricks in the middle of the wall. There was a faint clunk from behind the barrier and after a few seconds both Jason and Ian slowly pushed the 'wall' back until it swung wide open.

  As the two men made their way into the hidden section of the tunnels, Jason cleared his throat. Ian glanced back as the fake wall clicked back into place and then back to Jason. The stocky man had a quizzical expression on his face as he stared at Ian.

  "What?" asked Ian as they resumed their walk.

  "Do you trust Seeker Bright Moon?" inquired Jason. His face had grown tight with concern. "I mean, you're still kind of an outsider here. You never had to deal with her when she was chasing us. What's your opinion of her?"

  Ian considered his answer while they walked along. He and Wanda were a relative new addition to this little clan of Humans in Chicago. They traveled here just over two months ago. After learning about the plague and the unusual alliance between Humans and Souls, Wanda had come hoping to find these Humans and work for real peace between their two people. They had barely arrived and located Marc's group when members of the Facility led a series of brutal attacks.

  In the space of a day, the soldiers of the Facility had brought the city to utter panic. Agents decimated the ranks of the Seekers and took a dozen Souls hostage. In an effort to destroy any chance of peace between Humans and Souls they killed Tim, a young boy, and made it look like the Souls were responsible. Enraged Marc's group nearly launched their own attack on the Souls before they learned of the deception. In the end, it was Marc who faced off against the leader of these soldiers. A psychopath named Adams, who revealed the truth about the plague and the coming war between t
he Facility and the Souls. They had little concern about how many people died, as long as the Souls were destroyed.

  Mulling his answer over carefully Ian said, "She's had plenty of opportunities to betray us, and she's helped keep the remaining Seekers off our trail."

  "But do you trust her?" asked Jason, "Everything we've heard lately sounds like the Seekers are getting very paranoid. If they start getting suspicious of her, what's to stop them from forcing her to tell them everything she knows?"

  "Souls would never harm her, they're just not capable of violence towards each other," said Ian. "And Marc trusts Bright Moon."

  "Yeah," replied Jason with a grimace, "but I don't think Marc is entirely level-headed when it comes to dealing with her."

  Ian wondered if Season's real concern was Bright Moon's and Marc's budding romance. As much as he had found these people to begrudgingly accepting of Souls, they were more than a little perplexed by Nan's and Wand's relationship. Human and Soul relationships were still unusual and more than a little rare. An affair between a Human and Seeker should have been impossible. No one had spoken openly against Marc's relationship, but Ian sensed there were limits to what his new family was willing to accept.

  "Look," said Ian to Jason as they crossed through from the regular passageway to a narrow damp tunnel. He had to step carefully as they made their way forward. "I don't know Bright Moon very well so I'm not in a good position to judge, but Wanda and she have talked. Wanda thinks in a lot of ways Bright Moon is very lonely. That as a Seeker she feels isolated from her own people. That in some ways she's better at relating to Humans than Souls."

  Jason was silent again as he digested Nan's response. Ian wasn't sure how the man felt about his answer. They were now nearing their shared destination, a set of old stairs leading up from the tunnels to their hidden home in an old hotel building. As they neared the base of the creaky old stairs, Ian saw there was a figure sitting on the bottom step. His smile only grew as he saw who sitting there waiting for him.