Under the Mountain by Lynda Engler

Author:Lynda Engler [Engler, Lynda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-11-08T00:00:00+00:00

Daphne pointed to the blue circle around Richmond and said, “There.” The listening ears, if anyone really was listening in on their conversations, would have no way of knowing what Daphne was talking about.

Isabella hoped there really were no hidden cameras, but Teagan and Roan had both reassured her that was not the case. Their government was still a democracy, even if it did lately feel more like a totalitarian regime, but the citizens of Mt. Weather would riot if they thought they were being watched. Listening was publicized as a measure of public safety on the premise that if anyone was injured or threatened in the city, they could shout for help and an emergency response team would be dispatched. It kept violent crime down because it was well known that a rape victim or someone being assaulted could scream, and the perpetrator would be heard and stopped. Cameras, however, were too big a violation of privacy, so although that had come up for vote a few times over the decades, those measures never passed.

“How far is it?” asked Isabella quietly as she studied the map. She was good at maps and using the legend at the bottom, she could easily figure out that it was about 125 miles south, but Daphne quickly figured out Isabella was not asking about distance.

“Five hours.” Daphne took the pen in hand again and wrote out the rest.

The cleanup crew will give them instructions to head east, toward the ocean. They will be given three days’ worth of food and water. There are rivers and inlets, all very wild and confusing in that area. They can get lost there and no one will ever find them again. They’ll be safe.

Isabella wondered how she would get to these wild lands on the Virginia coast and reunite with her husband, but she would worry about that later. For now, her new family had an opportunity to escape and Isabella would do whatever she could to make sure they got to safety.

There would be 24 new human prisoners in each HSPC, including some of the 20 test subjects that had been inoculated with Dr. Rosario’s radiation vaccine; those that had survived the radiation bombardment. “What about the others?” she asked.

“Up to them,” replied Daphne, who then took the pen, flipped over the note pad to a new page, and wrote:

They can run if they want. The cleanup crew will look the other way. It’s about a day’s walk out of the worst of the Hot Zone, for a healthy person. Not sure how long for the rest. They will start weakening pretty quickly there.

“That’s not what I meant,” replied Isabella almost frantically. She grabbed the pad and scrawled in a nervous hand:

The other HSPC! The soldiers in that one aren’t your friends and aren’t in on this plan. What will those soldiers do when our group escapes?

Daphne smiled reassuringly and shook her head. She took the notepad back and wrote:

They’ll be positioned in different parts of the city, so only the six soldiers in your family’s Spec will matter.

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