Golden

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Three

            The journey to the underground base was much more tiring than I had previously expected. I had to leave my swords in Kia’s house for fear of appearing dangerous to any passing atriens as we drove towards the desert.

        Kia had made it fairly clear to Quinn and I that we were to do as she says, mainly because she is more knowledgeable of this world and its approach to certain situations. She said that stealth was the safest route for all of us, and so I had no choice but to comply. I have not forgotten Julen’s warning that weaponry is very apparent in Atriel, and I don’t intend on ignoring his words.

        The desert was an awfully long drive; Kia continuously had to stop the vehicle – which we are now aware is called a car – in order to use her ability to find the underground base. Since neither I nor Quinn knew how to drive, we were unable to find an alternate solution to the constant starting and stopping.

        However we did find the entryway as planned and only now does Kia decide to inform us about the security cameras.

        “This world has made such technological advancements,” Quinn murmurs from behind me. We are crouched behind a large, tan rock, our boots crunching audibly on the hard sand and rock pieces.

        The base is a low dome, rising to a low height above us and spanning the length of miles and more. The gate providing our entry opens to a cement pathway that leads directly to a door in the base. The security camera hangs above the door, moving from side to side as it sweeps the area every few seconds.

        “It’s a good thing I brought this,” Kia says lightly as she pulls out a black weapon from her pants. “It’s called a gun. I fitted it with a silencer so it suppresses the sound and doesn’t alert the guards.” Every so often, the camera turns to face the opposite direction; when it turns away from us, she aims the gun at it and fires twice. The shots ring almost inaudibly as the camera cracks and a few pieces crumble to the ground. “That should do it,” she grins before placing the gun back in its holster.

        “When will the guard be on his break?” Quinn whispers.

        “In a minute. We need to hurry; now that we’ve broken one of the cameras, the guard watching them will notice and get suspicious,” she pauses, her eyes blanking. “The guard just left.”

        The guard who was previously standing there is at the door to the base. He presses a button and the doors open, allowing him to step through and into an enclosed area. A weapon that appears to be a larger form of Kia’s gun is strapped to his back. The doors close and with this, Kia stands and hurriedly moves over to the gate.

        “We have ten minutes – we need to hurry,” she repeats, facing a keypad of some sorts. She presses eight numbers and the gate opens. “Let’s go.”

        We run to the door, waiting as she presses the button. It takes a few seconds for the door to open and we hurry inside. The space is small, with an array of buttons patterning one side of the wall.

        “This is an elevator,” Kia explains, pressing one of the buttons. “It’ll take us underground. They actually only need one button to take them down but they have multiple as a safety precaution. If someone presses the wrong button, the elevator will take them to a specific floor, where they’ll be ambushed.” She grins, “they’ll never see us coming.”

        The door closes and the elevator begins to move. The ride down is a bit choppy, with the elevator rocking ever so slightly, but we make it underground in just a few seconds.