The Dreaming: Dark Star (Book 5)

The Underground Highway

"Liran?"

"Ayah, It's me."

"Where am I?"

"We're underground. Thank God you woke up."

Imorah opened her eyes. The ceiling. The ceiling was made of hewn stone. I'm underground. "Where are we?"

"We're in some bunker under Weywey. Dit'teh...." he trailed off. His voice was thick.

Imorah sat up and looked at him. Was he crying? He was shaken. His hair was standing on end like he'd been rubbing his head or sleeping or something. His eyes were bloodshot. "What's going on?"

Liran couldn't speak and only lowered his head.

She looked around her, at a scene of utter destruction and chaos. There were--people lying on the ground. There were crates overturned. There was a door, and a boot. The boot of a man poking through the door. "What's going on?"

"I didn't mean to." Liran wouldn't look up. He just kept shaking his head.

She stood up, and winced. Her head hurt. Dit'teh was lying on a mattress, her body at a weird angle. Imorah went to her, and took her hand. The hand was limp and lifeless. "Liran? Is she..."

"I didn't mean to!" he shouted, standing up to face her. "I swear to God. She told me the gun was set to stun. It's not my fault!"

A man was lying on the bed next to Dit'teh, and he was lifeless as well.

Imorah walked to the door and looked down at the boot. She gulped. What was behind that door? What was connected to that boot?

"Imorah, you have to believe me. I didn't mean to kill them."

She opened the door slowly, and revealed two more bodies in the hallway. "What on earth happened?" Imorah finally asked. She felt sick to her stomach. Had Liran killed four people? "Did you kill them?" she asked, looking at him.

Liran nodded and bit his fist. "I did. But I didn't mean to. She told me the gun was set to stun, but she was lying. She lied!"

Imorah closed her eyes. "Shh..." she said.

Liran stopped speaking.

She needed to think. Didn't they know that this could happen? Didn't they have a device that could potentially kill many, many people and weren't they prepared to use it? Hadn't Phiona told them that this was dangerous? A flash of her dream. The men chasing her. Her grandmother. If she found her grandmother, would all of this be worth it? If she somehow saved her grandmother from those men, then would all of this be worth it? Somehow she doubted it, but she had to take the chance. What else could she do?

She opened her eyes. "Liran," she said, holding out her hand. "Let's go."

"But... where?"

"Somewhere that's not here?"

He nodded.

They walked calmly over the bodies and into the narrow passageway. Imorah grimaced, feeling disgusted that she would step over a dead human body and not even know the person's name, but she had a feeling they needed to get out of there, and quickly. She couldn't exactly remember what she'd been doing before she'd... ended up here, but she had a feeling it wasn't a pleasant stroll through the park. She tried to remember where she'd been, but couldn't recall anything. Her last memory was of going to sleep the night before and feeling terrified that someone would take her book.

"My book!" she screamed. "Where's my book?"

"I have it. I have it. It's safe. Let's keep going."