The Rebellion

Chapter eight

It was a four minute drive to their home. They lived in the Seward forest which was filled with different types of terrain, making it hard for anyone who didn't know the area to find them. Plus since it rained a lot in Seattle, their tracks would wash away. They'd walked here so letting Mack sit in the front with Duke, they showed us where to go.
Tracy had practically fought to sit near me, as did Connor. They asked us questions about Las Vegas, what was it like to live in the ground and what was it like to battle, really battle with the Golik. We answered politely and they 'oh'd' and 'ah'd' at our tales. At one point Connor was brave and asked about the halfling and if he had come back. I let Ezra answer the question, my throat seizing at the constant reminder of the betrayal. With one short answer from Ezra though, no one asked about him again. They did ask questions about my enhancement, what was it like and did I feel any different. I answered honestly, explaining my talents and saying sometimes, when I fought, I felt more like a beast than a human. This earned a few smiles from the Seattle team but a few concerned looks from Frankie and Spencer. All of this happened in four minutes. In four minutes they had made me feel more comfortable about what I was then my entire stay at the Chambers.
We came up to a small village, the first thing I noticed was that this community had built houses, big houses in the forest without cutting a lot of the trees down. They built around them, a lot of the houses having trees sticking from their roofs and I was in awe of their structure. They were like tree houses but on the ground. All the houses seemed to be in a circle, with a small row of a couple of houses leading into the centre circle.
As we parked in their little town square, hearing the roar of the engine had caused a lot of people to come out, guns pointing at the truck waiting for someone to come out. At the head of the circle was the bigger house that seemed to have a lot of people coming from it. There were make shift light posts in front of each house as they turned on there was a circle of light. I almost felt like I was in the middle of a coven of witches about to be sacrificed to their dark lord.
"Wait here," Mack instructed as the others got out of the car, "Put your guns down everyone. Just me!" Mack called out and everyone followed his instruction.
"Jesus Mack, why'd you get a van? And did you find the intruders?" A women asked and he chuckled as the others were reunited with their friends or family. Maybe even both.
"Yeah we did, brought them back with us. C'mon out you guys." Mack called out and following Duke's lead, we jumped out of the van slowly, leaving our bags behind. The cold air whipped at me and I regretted instantly not wearing that second jumper. Walking to the front of the van, suddenly all the guns were back up pointing at us and I couldn't help but smile at the sense of déjà vu.
This is exactly how I was greeted at the Chambers the first time I was there.
"Guys woah, they're fine! Jeez, I wouldn't bring just anyone here." Mack teased out and my hand was twitching to the pull out my own gun, not liking the fact that there were about thirteen, fourteen guns pointed at me. Some people, under Mack's instruction lowered their weapons but they didn't stop them from keeping them ready.
"C'mon everyone. It's like four in the morning, I'm knackered and I'm sure our visitors are exhausted so let's get them organised and let us all sleep." He yelled out and suddenly a women and a man came out of one of the houses, bringing torches with them though unnecessary.
"Mack it's four in the morning and you decide to bring visitors now?" A women tutted at Mack and he stepped forward, grinning.
"Ah you know me. C'mon we'll get them into the house." Mack walked over to the women and slung his arm around her small frame. I couldn't see her face but I knew she was too young to be a lover. But then again, in a post-modern world, everyone had their own right to be with.
As we followed them into arguably the biggest house in the neighbourhood, I couldn't help but be at awe at the structure of the house. From the outside, I knew that they had built around the trees as opposed to knocking them down. But it wasn't until you were inside that you realised how much they had used the trees to help support the structure. The trees inside the house had spread through the floor and taken root there, in the most mystic way that I couldn't help but stare. Vines from some of the trees had begun to spread on the floor and even as we walked, the locals made a conscious effort to step over, instead of on the vines. The floor was decked out in shiny floor boards and there was a lot of stylish furniture in the house. As soon as you waked in, after you past a tree, you were immediately in a kitchen, dining room and hang out area.
Suddenly beneath my feet there was a sound, like chains rattling and what sounded like a muffled cry. Looking to Ezra, immediately I reached for my gun but Duke's hand was on my shoulder. Looking back, he pushed me forward shaking his head. I looked at him disbelief but continued on as if nothing had happened. Mack and the two others didn't even notice or flinch to the sound as they directed us upstairs. We were given two rooms to share between the seven of us and I stayed with the Tremor brother's while Duke stayed with Frankie and Spencer.
"We'll see ya'll tomorrow morning bright and early." Mack waved as he kissed the women on the head, who had light brown hair.
"Dad, you this morning not tomorrow morning." She turned to look at us from over her shoulder, her eyes alight love for her father, "My dad is going senile, I apologise."
We all just smiled before walking into our separate rooms, Duke following us into our room. As soon as the door was closed behind him, I looked at him questioning.
"Please tell me I'm not crazy and I'm not the only one who heard that?" I asked as I looked around the room and Ezra shook his head sitting on the double bed.
"Look, the reason I didn't question it is because we are their guest. We can't exactly come out guns blazing." Duke whispered and I rolled my eyes, "Remember why we are here."
"What if it's a human?" Robin whispered, looking around worriedly around the room and a moment I thought that this room could be bugged.
"What if it's a child?" Little Jon gasped and my face began to lose blood as I looked at Duke who threw his hands in the air.
"Don't snoop." He ordered and I snorted at him, tilting my head in his direction.
"When have I ever listened to anything you'd told me to do Duke?" I asked him rhetorically and Duke without another word storms from the room, slamming the door behind him. "Can you believe that guy?"
"I hate to say this, but we should probably just wait." Ezra commented and all eyes turned to him in disbelief. "Now don't look at me like that. What if they are cannibals? And we've pissed them off? Right now, we are on their side and maybe they'll be able to help us. This could mean getting back to the Chambers, to Eli!" Ezra accounted and I threw my hands in the air at him.
"Okay Duke." I mumbled as I threw myself onto the couch in the room. No being physically able to sleep in a bed with one man, let alone three, the couch seemed like my best option. Without another word, the guys hopped straight into bed. As I tried to get comfortable, the Seattle chilly morning air began to settle on me and I shivered, as I rolled over to face the cushions. Little Jon, realising this, brought me a blanket from the top cover of the bed and I smiled at him warmly as he tucked me in.
"Goodnight Olive." Little Jon mumbled and I blew a kiss to him before saying it back to him.
I closed my eyes but every time I closed them all I could hear was the rattling off the chains and the muffle cries from help. Every time I pictured someone different, an old lady, a young boy, a mother, a father... Trapped in bondage underneath the house. The hours ticked by, Ezra's snores filled the air and I still couldn't stop listening to the rattling.
The sun was beginning to rise and I had a pressing need to pee, so slowly getting up, I began walking through the hallway trying to find an upstairs bedroom. As I went to one of the doors, I realised that I had been in such a rush to get into my room to speak to Duke that I hadn't thought about if all of these rooms were bedrooms. Not wanting to accidently walk in one anyone, I made my way downstairs, almost tripping on a fallen branch.
Finding a toilet near the kitchen, I sighed in relief and closed the door behind me. As I washed my hands, I looked into the mirror and couldn't stop the gasp that left my lips as I looked at myself. My skin had lost a lot of its colour and I looked way to thin. There were dark shadows developing underneath my eyes and my hair looked disgusting. Quickly splashing water on my face, I redid my hair into a long plait behind my back and it made it more presentable.
As I walked out of the bathroom, I rounded the tree and suddenly there it was again. The rattling. I stopped dead in my tracks, my heart beating hard as I stood still next to the tree. Slowly looking over my shoulder, next to the front door we had come through, was another door that we hadn't noticed. Goosebumps exploded over my body as I bit my lip. Duke and Ezra's worries and thoughts crept into my head. But the rattling continued and I did what I always did.
Turning back to the door, I walked towards it determined to get through and was surprised to see it was unlocked. As I turned the door handle and pushed it open, the rattling stopped. There was no sound except for my heart that was practically throbbing in my ears.
There was a light down a wooden flight of stair cases, and clearly this was the only part of the house that had a basement. From the walls, it kind of reminded me of Cawker City and their underground tunnels in the ball of twine. Going down the stairs slowly, I moved one step at a time with each step making a low creaking noise. As I stepped into the light, I saw body down below, sitting on the dirt group and curled up into a ball. The light on their skin made it look transparent, almost like they were glowing and I stared in amazement. On top of the head of the body, was blonde white hair that could be seen as translucent. The body was tall and long, their limbs curling around their body like rope. Around the person's wrists was a set of handcuffs that had a good chance that had been cemented into the floor; like someone had dug a hole, stuck a pole with a metal chain and poured concrete into that hole.
The moment I reached the bottom, the person in shackles looked up and I was confronted with a big pair of hypnotic blue eyes and for one second, my heart stopped. A name fell out of my lips and tears began to prickle at my eyes. The eyes stared at me with confusion, not recognising me with nothing but disgust, hatred and fear lingering behind it. As the man moved, a blond strand of hair fell over one of his eyes and like a whip at my face, the spell was broken.
Stepping into the light, I stared at the Golik chained and gagged to the floor, his bare arms completely cut up and stained from their blue blood. He seemed to have no top on and from between his legs, with were curled to his chest, I could see numerous of marks and cuts covering his torso.
Kneeling to get down on his level, I really studied him and guessed from the dark circles under his eyes, he hadn't slept in days and from the way his cheeks were hallow and the lack of any colour, he hadn't been eating much.
Suddenly from the top of the stairs the door slammed shut and I stood up slowly, as heavy footsteps began thumping down the stairs. I swallowed quickly and kept my hands by my side as Mack appeared at the bottom of the step, with a mighty grin on his face. Not the type of grin that reminded you of a kid who had been caught red handed taking a cookie out of the cookie jar. No, this look was more of a 'I see you've found out my secret, isn't cool?' kind of smile.
"Told you, you'd like how we run things."