Ascent: (Book 1) The Ladder (9 page)

Chapter Fourteen

            Unlike Lauren, who’s had many stays in the Ban, Joe has yet to be accustomed to it. He’s spent enough nights in it to know he doesn’t want to return but he’s never been given such a long sentence before. And of course, once out of view of the Boss, the Guard decides a little roughing up is in order.

            “I told you. You little ingrates always make your way back.”

The Guard shoves Joe down the steps. The force of the push causes Joe to nearly fall down the stone stairs. An injury in the Ban plus a five day stay is not a combination anyone would want to experience.

            “I don’t know what you saw up there but whatever it was, keep it to yourself. And as far as that old man is concerned, if he ever comes back down here, he won’t just be thrown in a cell. I guarantee that.” The Guard pushes Joe into an empty cell and closes the door. “I hope you like your accommodations.” Those last words end with a chuckle as he turns to walk back up the stairs out of the Ban.

            Joe hits the back wall of his cell. The same wounded finger flares up in pain from the strike. All that’s left is to bide his time till release. Until that time, all he can do is think of a way to get everyone to follow him up the Ladder. That will mean having to deal with Mason again. And the other guards. If it can be done without a confrontation, that would be best. The more people who follow, the less likely of a confrontation happening.

Who am I kidding?
Of course there’s going to be a fight.

            He drops to the ground. It’s cold and a little damp but at least it’s not as wet as the Mud Hall. It’s certainly not as comfortable as that couch, though. “It wouldn’t be so bad, down here, if we could sleep on those,” he says to no one. “At least the whole place isn’t a jail.”

            “Who are you talking to?” The cocky voice of Lauren is unmistakable. The freckle faced girl carefully walks down the stairs and stands outside his door.

            “Myself. What are you doing here?”

            “What’s a jail?” she asks, ignoring his question.

            “A place for prisoners and bad people.”

            “Is that what we are? Bad people? You learn that on the Surface?”

            “I didn’t make it to the Surface,” Joe tells her, dejectedly. “It’s farther up than that.”

            “Where did you go? What’s up there?” Her eyes light up. For someone like Lauren, a mystery like this is too much to pass up.

            “You’re gonna end up in here if you don’t go,” he tries to convince her.

            “Did we just meet? I don’t care about the Ban. And a thank you would be nice.”

Joe looks around and raises his arms, waiting for an elaboration.

“I’m here to bust you out,” she continues.

            “How are you planning to do that? Is that how you always get out of here?”

            “I always do my time. But it’s a lot different on the outside so I’m sure we can come up with something.” Lauren looks around on the ground.

            A small layer of dust coats the stone floor. Looking at it closer, Joe notices that the floor of the Ban is a lot like the floor above the Mines. It’s less clean and fairly ground up. Stone pieces of various sizes and shapes are strewn all over. It’s as if when the shutdown happened, workers came in and started tearing up everything.

            Lauren spots a good sized stone and picks it up. “I bet this will work.”

            “What are you gonna do with that?” Joe asks, afraid of the answer.

            “I’m gonna break the lock. Stand back.”

            “No. That will make too much noise. I don’t want the Guard coming back.”

Lauren lowers the stone. “Well, Joe, you know, I’m not seeing a lot of options, here. We got small stone’s, medium stones and big stones.” She raises the stone again.

            “Wait. It’s too dark in here. What’s the lock look like?”

            Lauren sets the stone back on the ground and takes a closer look at the lock. “That’s weird…”

            What?”

            “I never noticed this before but there’s no key hole on the door.” Lauren walks to a few of the other cells. “There’s no key hole on any of them.”

            “What is there?”

            “It’s just a flat black panel. Like one solid piece…How do they open these?” Lauren asks, mainly to herself.

            Joe paces around in what little space he has. “What happens if you touch it?”

            “What, just touch it?” She asks as if the answer could really be that simple.

            “Just put your hand on it. Try it.”

             Lauren looks at him as though he’s gone crazy. But at this point, what could it hurt? She places the flat of her palm on the black surface of the panel. A light starts to blink in one corner of the panel, flickering on and off a few times before the surface goes black again. “What was that?”

            “What happened? “Joe asks.

            “There was a light on the door.”

            Joe laughs. “Lauren, I think I can open it. When I was in the room above us, I touched this black wall and I saw myself. I guess when I was little, someone put these machines—Nano machines—in me. I can open doors that other people can’t.”

            “Are you sure you don’t have the Sick?” Lauren asks.

            Joe shakes his head and reaches through the slit in the door. His arm is just barely small enough to fit but he shoves it through, scraping himself pretty good. He feels around for the flat surface Lauren tested.

            “There,” She tells him.

            Joe leaves his hand on the surface. “What’s it doing?”

            “Nothing. It’s just black—wait. There’s a small white light. It’s blinking.”

            The two of them wait for a moment.

            “Now it’s steady green.”

Joe pushes on the door, opening it effortlessly. He smiles at the new discovery.

            Lauren steps back and begins silently plotting how this can be used to their advantage. “I don’t know how, yet. But I know we can use this.”

            Joe pulls his arm out of the door slit. “We will. Let’s get the others and get out of here.”

            “Everyone’s getting ready for lights out, so we should be able to hide you in the crowd,” Lauren figures. The two of them walk slowly up the stairs.

            “Let us out, too,” a voice calls from behind them.

            “Wait.” Joe turns back to the other cells. In one of them, a teenage girl sits against the wall. “We’re leaving the mines. Will you come with us?”

            The girl nods her head. Joe places his hand on the lock and the blinking white light flickers on and off until it is a steady green. He pulls the door open and the girl walks out.

            “You’ve been to the Surface?” she asks Joe.

            “Not yet. But we’re all gonna go together. You used to work in the carts, right?” Joe asks her. Most of the kids keep to their own labor halls. And since the Eatery is supposed to be a place of silence, many of the kids don’t know anyone outside of their hall. Just nameless faces that pass by in the Junction.

            “I’m Katya,” she tells him. “Frederick is in that cell. I think we’re the only ones.”

            “I’ll get him. Wait on the stairs with Lauren.” Joe walks to the cell holding Frederick. “Hi Frederick. I’m Joe. We’re going up the Ladder.”

            Frederick shakes his head.

            “Frederick, come on. Do you want to live here forever? We’re going to the Surface,” Katya tries to convince him from where she stands on the stairs.

            “We’ll get the Sick or worse.” Frederick’s voice is filled with fear.

            “There’s Remedy above us. I’ve seen it. I brought some down. It’s safe. Come on.” Joe places his hand on the lock until the green light lets him open the door.

            “How did you do…?” Frederick is at loss for words that anyone other than the Guard or the Boss could open the cell doors.

            “Just trust me,” Joe says.

            Frederick slowly walks out of the cell. He and Joe join Lauren and Katya. Lauren signals for them to be quiet as she leads them up the stairs.

            “You guys make sure the Guard or the Boss doesn’t see Joe,” Lauren instructs as they leave the dark of the Ban.

            At the top of the stairs, Lauren signals for them to wait. She watches the Guard, trying to determine if he is able see them or not. The Junction has fewer people in it than usual but there are still several kids passing through. They should be able to blend in with them so that it’s difficult to tell one apart from the others. Fortunately, the entrance to the Ban is not far from the tunnel to the Bunks.

            “The three of us will stand in front of Joe. Keep your heads down so it’s not easy to tell who you are,” Lauren instructs Katya and Frederick. “I think we’re far enough away but I don’t want to take that chance.”

            “Get Marvin as soon as you get in the tunnel,” Joe tells Lauren.

            The four for them walk out of the tunnel with their heads down. A large group of kids make their way from the Gear Hall to the Bunks. It’s easy enough for the four of them to merge in with them and hide amid the crowd.

            “Katya? You’re out of the Ban, already?” A teenage boy recognizes her almost immediately.

            She hits him in the stomach, doubling him over then grabs him and props him up. “Yes, and I’d like to keep it that way. So mouth, shut.”

            Lauren looks back at Joe. “Oh she is definitely coming with us.”

            Joe smiles at the remark. The entire mass of kids file into the tunnel to the Bunks. Once inside they branch off to whichever row their bunk is on.

            Lauren runs straight for Marvin’s bunk. The young boy is just starting to lay down when Lauren appears on the ladder next to his cut-out. “Hey, Marvin. No sleep. We gotta go.”

            “Where?” Marvin asks.

            “Up the Ladder. Come on. Joe is gonna be there,” she adds, knowing Marvin’s affinity for Joe.

            “Joe came back?” Marvin’s smile beams.

            Lauren steps down the ladder while Marvin rolls over to swing his legs out to the closest rung. He climbs down. Lauren keeps her hands raised to catch him if he falls. Once down, he takes her hand and they make their way to Joe’s bunk.

             Joe stands on a bunk ladder while some kids stand in the row and others hang their heads out of their bunks, listening. “We
can
get out of here. We just go up the Ladder and we can be done with the dirt, the mud, the carts. Done with the Mines. Has anyone ever told us why we’re even here?”

            Some of the kids begin to murmur in agreement at Joe’s logic.

“I saw a man wearing clothes I’ve never seen before. He’s on the Surface. But why do we have to be down here?” Joe asks the Bunk Hall this question without really expecting an answer. It’s more for the others to ask the same question of themselves. “There is a room with robots and Remedy and…and a couch. I’ve never felt anything like it. And it’s just above us. All we have to do is climb the Ladder.”