Chapter 15. The door from the other side.
Bradley shrugged his shoulders.
“I guess we all should go,” he muttered in discontent. “I don’t like this, but we have an opportunity here, and John is already in. I worry about him. After he learned to fly, he’s not thinking anymore.”
Bradley peeked around the door and slowly entered. John was nowhere to be seen. The girls followed Bradley with caution. At first Bradley did not see anything at all. It was semi-dark with a few lights here and there and no people anywhere in sight. It became very quiet, too. Smoke rose from the ground in a few places, and the ground was covered with pieces of metal of different shapes. Bradley called out for John, but got no response. They kept going along the wall, staring into the darkness trying to see John or anybody else, but to no avail. Suddenly, Mary ran into something that she did not see in the dark and hurt her arm.
“Ouch!” she muttered.
Everybody crowded around her. They stood next to some sort of machine, about human height, made of metal, but of such a shape that it was hard to guess what it was intended for.
“Is this what they are building here?” whispered Bradley. “What is it for?”
He walked all the way around it, but still could not guess. Some distance away he saw another such device and what appeared to be a person next to it. He came closer and found out it was John.
“John, I don’t think it’s safe to wander off alone like you did,” Bradley rebuked him. “Who knew what we would find in this place?”
“But we didn’t find anything dangerous,” John pushed back. “Everything’s just fine. They are building stuff, that’s all.”
“Stuff?!” Bradley exclaimed. “Do you have any idea what this stuff is for? And do you know WHO is building it? Why do you think those guys walked so hastily out of here and so negligently left the door open behind them that we could get in?”
Chills suddenly ran along Bradley’s back. What if this was all set up on purpose to get them to enter this door? Trying to be calm, he suggested, “We should probably check whether that door is still open…”
Megan and Mary ran off but soon returned and reported that the door was locked.
“This is exactly what I was worried about,” admitted Bradley. “They set some kind of a trap for us. The Tenacious didn’t follow us in the morning, and we should have guessed that since we didn’t have any trouble from the Unknowns all day, something was not right”.
“What are we going to do?” asked Megan.
As much as Bradley did not like the idea of hanging around this suspicious place, he realized that it was likely the only chance they had to find out what was here. Even if they got back to the tunnel the next day, they might not see the hall again, and the chances that the door would be open were even slimmer. So Bradley suggested, “Since we are here, I would say we should still check this place out. Get away from the wall and see what’s out there. John, you have to promise you’ll stay with the group at all times.”
“Why should I promise that?” John complained in his usual whiny manner. “I could get around on my own all this time while you guys were all cooped up in your rooms. Maybe I will fly and see how this all looks from up above. Megan, want to join?”
But Megan refused.
“Megan, maybe you should go with him this time,” suggested Bradley. “Two pairs of eyes are better than one, and you can also help to keep him accountable.”
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” protested Megan. “What if we run into Unknowns and they see me fly? Then they will know I can and will insist on me taking the test!”
“I think at this point this is irrelevant. But Ok, John, you can go by yourself, just please try not to take too long,” decided Bradley.
John jumped up from excitement to begin his flight, but plopped back to the ground.
“It didn’t work!” he exclaimed in disappointment. “Something is drastically wrong!”
He jumped again, this time more careful to prevent himself from falling down, but he could not fly up. Then he saw a metal box on the side of the road, ran to it, climbed on top and tried jumping off, but it did not work either. John came back to join the group.
“This is not right! I could fly all day today! I told you guys, I had to go to bed and get some rest; maybe this is the reason I can’t fly anymore!”’
“Hold on, cool down,” Bradley said sternly. “I think this is much more serious than this. What are those structures down the street?”
It was hard to see, but when his eyes adjusted to the semi-darkness of this place, Bradley could distinguish rectangular structures piling up on both sides of the street. The street appeared to be a long corridor between two rows of boxes. The others looked more carefully and confirmed to Bradley that they could see them, too.
“Do you think anybody could be living there?” whispered Mary.
Bradley made his decision. He said, “Everyone stay here, I will go check it out. We don’t want to show up as a crowd in case somebody is there.”
Having said that, Bradley went forward. All the rest hid themselves behind some metal boxes on the side of the road, one of which John used as a platform to attempt his last flight. Bradley was sure that John was still very upset that he could not fly, but happy that he quieted down. Maybe, he hoped everything would be Ok and his ability would come back to him.
Bradley was gone for a while. What he was discovering sent more chills down his back. He saw fences and guards pacing back and forth along the rectangular structures. It did not take very long for him to realize that this was a prison. One time he was almost seen by a guard, but just in time he hid himself in a trash can. Someone moved right next to him. Bradley was going to complain, but just as he was about to do it, he heard a hissing noise and thought better of it.
He heard someone whisper, “Quiet, let them pass.”
A minute later the same whisper continued, “Now. We have to go now, otherwise they’ll be back.”
A boy of the same age as Bradley jumped out of the trash can and ran up the street to the area where the other kids were hiding. Bradley jumped out as well and followed him. He caught up and grabbed the boy by the sleeve.
“Who are you?” he asked hastily.
The boy introduced himself as Mike. He had been here for a while, and today at the end of the day before everyone was locked up he managed to run away and hide in the trash can. He told Bradley that this prison was intended for people who were not happy about flying so the happy ones didn’t see them around.
They were approaching the group of kids, and Bradley saw John impatiently show out of his shelter. Bradley waved at Mike to follow him behind the metal boxes and summoned everyone. He introduced Mike and reported what he found.
“This is horrible!” exclaimed Mary. “And you think because we didn’t want to learn to fly, they arranged it so that we would get to this place by ourselves and get stuck?!”
“I would not put it past them,” replied Bradley. “It’s very possible.”
“But it’s not fair!” interrupted John. “I was flying! I was going to take the test! And just because I happened to be with you, they put me here?!”
“Calm down,” Bradley cut him off. “Don’t be silly. The situation is much more serious. There are all these people here who want to go home but are stuck in these horrible conditions and are used as free labor for whatever the Unknowns need or want. We need to do something!”
“We need to get out of here!” said several girls simultaneously.
“That, too. But all these people need help. Mike will tell you more when we have a chance. Now we have to try to sleep. We don’t know whether we can run away from here, and we have to be prepared to act in case they find us.”
“If they find us, they’ll put us to prison!” objected Mary. “We need to try to get out now!”
But Bradley started to see a much more global picture. He tried sharing his vision with others, “There are man
y people in prison already. I think they need to be encouraged to fight back against the Unknowns and then break out and use the exit that we found.”
But Mary argued, “Break out? If we don’t find out how to break out ahead of time, then how do you think we would break out when we are already in prison? We also don’t know how and when the exit works. We need to get out now and get prepared better.”
Bradley understood very well that the girls were scared. But he truly believed they would be more effective if they found a way to bring hope to all these people in prison by telling them about the existence of the exit. But as Bradley was about to make his convincing speech, he heard steps behind. He did not know how that happened, he had to be too carried away by the argument to notice, but, while debating, they started to raise their voices. Bradley could not forgive himself for this recklessness.
All the kids were grabbed by the Unknowns and carried along the street towards the rectangular sinister structures. It did not take very long before they were all locked up in one small prison cell. Bradley could not stop thinking that the Tenacious somehow took a part in their capture.
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