We reached the cable cars on the north side of the city and headed straight to the air lock.
"No biohazard suits?" I asked as I hesitated.
"Don't worry, the landing areas are safe zones. You only had them on before because you were heading into an untested area," Laurie said, urging me forward, but I still hesitated. "Do you really think we would be going down there without suits if it was dangerous?" she pressed, clapping a hand on my arm and steering me into a waiting cable car.
The ride down still took my breath away but the excitement I’d felt before was replaced with fear. I wiped my sweaty palms on my pants and counted my breaths in an attempt to stay calm but I wasn’t convinced it was working.
At the base of The Wall where the cable cars turned around, a small group of people were gathered. I noticed some of them getting out of the car ahead of ours and could make out figures in the car behind us too. They were all dressed like me and were surrounded by Wardens.
There were plenty of scars and bulging muscles coupled with grimaces on faces that looked in no way approachable. I wondered if any of them weren't Dwellers aside from me and Taylor. I shifted from foot to foot at that thought but I hadn't been planning on making new friends anyway.
The Wardens were fanning out to create a circle around the prisoners and it suddenly started to hit home that this was really happening. We were being shipped off to take part in a televised fight for entertainment purely for being unlucky idiots.
Sorry Mom, Dad, I didn’t mean to screw up like this. I swear I’ll make you proud after I’ve served my term. I’ll work twice as hard to achieve every dream you ever had for me.
The door slid open as we reached the ground and Laurie pointed me towards the other prisoners. I stepped out and felt the softness of the dusty ground beneath my feet and the wind blowing in my face. It was like learning to breathe all over again. I’d never noticed how stuffy the city was but suddenly it was clear. I’d been trapped in that bubble for way too long. At least I’d get to experience a bit more of the outside world during my sentence.
Every cloud…
I peered around, hunting for Taylor and physically relaxing as I found him. He wasn't hard to spot standing to one side of the group and I swear he was taller than I remembered. At least six foot, maybe even more. Though his brown hair still fell into his eyes like the boy I’d always known.
I made my way to his side and he put an arm around me, pulling me close.
"Did they let you see your dad before you left?" I asked.
He nodded. "After the trial. Mom too."
"I guess orphans don't get visitors," I smiled bitterly.
“They said they were going to try and see you after they left me." Taylor held me at arms length and looked into my eyes with an annoying amount of concern. I shook him off and looked away from him, gazing up at the blue sky.
“I've been alone since I was twelve, don't start giving me the poor little orphan look." I walked away from him towards the rest of the group before he could reply, not wanting to hear any pointless apologies and he knew me well enough not to push it.
Taylor trailed behind, trying to wipe the pity from his face before I smacked it off.
The last cable car came to a stop and a group of Wardens twice the size of those that had escorted me disembarked led by Unibrow. They were surrounding a huge man who was restrained between them by hand and leg manacles attached to chains. His arms were roped with tattoos of various violent looking weapons and he was actually snarling like some kind of animal. He was tugging on the chains as though determined to cause as much difficulty for his captors as possible and I couldn’t help but stare at him.
His head was shaved completely bald and he had a nasty gleam in his eyes as they darted about, taking measure of all the other convicts. His gaze connected with mine and I took an involuntary step backwards, quickly turning away.
"Time to move." Laurie appeared next to me and I flinched a little as she spoke.
“Where to?" I asked.
She pointed across the open area of land to a tunnel entrance which was barely visible amongst the rocky terrain. The assembled group started heading towards it and we fell in with the masses.
“Transport takes you to the arena underground. It's safer, plus you don't know which direction you're travelling which helps with security." As she strolled along next to me companionably it was easy to forget she was a Warden. I was aware of Taylor following behind us, his eyes boring a hole in the back of my head and I guessed he was wondering why the hell I was talking to her.
The tunnel opened up ahead of us like a dark mouth ready to swallow us whole. The other convicts and Wardens were already disappearing rapidly downwards and out of sight as we moved to follow and trepidation built in my gut.
As we arrived at the tunnel entrance, we were met with a huge metal staircase that descended
deep underground. Each step was dimly lit with yellow lights but they didn't give enough illumination to show much of the surrounding cavern which dropped away from us.
"Line up, keep up the pace!" Unibrow shouted from behind us.
The other Wardens started to urge the remaining prisoners on. We lined up for the stairs, four abreast. Laurie was on my right by the wall, Taylor on my left and another Warden, who I christened Fish-lips, to his left. Bodies were packed in front and behind us uncomfortably close together and I was forcibly reminded of the old world images I’d seen of stampedes.
I looked back for one last glimpse of sunlight and noticed the Wardens holding the chained man at the rear of the group as he thrashed against the chains containing him. He snarled and cursed and my blood chilled as I hurriedly looked away again. I didn’t need to be told what he’d done to know that I needed to stay the hell away from him.