Renegades Rising: Mouse
This is the second book in the Renegades Rising Series.
Early 2023
Excerpt: Unproofed / Unedited: Chapter 1
Amber knew this was another big, fat, dirty lie, even as Darius spoke. “Don’t worry, baby. Once me and the boys get back, you’ll be safe. We’ll live happily ever after.” Shadows by the cave entrance to the ledge hid most of his face. He hadn’t even glanced at her.
Which was good because she’d struggled to keep her face expressionless. His words became a spiky ball in her gut, making it feel like she had swallowed a living cave rat. She’d always been able to sense a lie. Something about the tone of voice or the way a person held themselves always gave it away. She was not going to be safe, and they were not going to live happily ever after.
This lie meant Darius or one of his men would make sure she had a fatal accident when he got back. The steep drops and narrow ledges would make her death easy. She’d heard the rumors about what had happened to his previous women, but until now she hadn’t believed them.
Darius left without another word.
The soft click of the door echoed in the tiny cave.
This would be the last time she would see the inside of the home she had tried to build over the last two years.
Where could she go? Her family was long dead so couldn’t protect her. The Hole was a cylinder carved out of the rock with rope ladders between levels. Caves where families could live lined the outside. All of the good caves were taken, but that didn’t matter, really. No cave would be safe from Darius. He had too much status and was too ruthless.
The bat caves above the Hole had their own sleeping areas for bat farmer families. She wouldn’t be allowed to stay with them.
Below the Hole were the miners. They lived in long straight tunnels that radiated out from where the Hole met the mine shafts. She had no idea where the miners slept. The mine shaft was where the sparklies were found. The miners would not welcome her either.
There were a few natural caverns which connected to the Hole, but they were dangerous. The side caves had hidden groves of algae. She’d been one of the few who had explored, but not too far. The tracks she had found in the caverns were large and clawed. She had no idea what lived in the dark. Whatever monster lived there was deadly. She shuddered. The caverns couldn’t be her new home.
She pushed down the faint echo of her Mom’s voice singing that came when she thought of the caverns. There was no time for childish songs. She needed a practical plan.
Her only option left to consider was DL-6 which was above the Hole. She’d heard that DL-6 was the bottom level of a series of caverns constructed long ago when the Earth’s surface had become unlivable.
The main access to DL-6 was through a door which led to a tunnel between DL-6 and the Hole. Darius’s men guarded the tunnel. The door between the DL-6 and the Hole was usually just slightly open. Tales said if the door ever closed, the door could never be opened again.
She knew a secret way through the natural cavern to get there. DL-6 was the one place that Darius would not be able to find her. Since the people of the Hole and DL-6 rarely communicated. Even though she didn’t know a soul who lived there, DL-6 offered the best chance for her to survive.
That decided, she gave herself a moment to grieve the loss of her home. Not because she would miss Darius, but because she had worked so hard to make it livable. She tucked the floor file that she had used to round off the sharp stone edges in the main room and sleeping corner into her belt. She took one of the three layers of bat furs that covered the sleeping area. The sheets of bat guano sat in a box next to the little stove that kept the place warm. Behind the stove was a panel that led to a tiny pantry. She’d processed the bat meat and the algae herself. That small stockpile of food had taken years to amass.
Lastly, she lifted the stone top that hid the map and book she had. The map showed the deep-levels and everything in between. She kept it because the straight lines and intricate details made her want to believe in the other levels.
Her mom had taught her to read in secret. The cover said ‘Aesop’s Fables’. The book’s tattered edges and the picture of the turtle with a fox and the ribbon at the end of a race warmed her. She’d read it hundreds of times over the years. Whenever she needed to feel connected to her Mom, she read it.
Learning to read and surviving the last few years hadn’t been easy.
Enough. The sooner she left the better the odds of her not getting caught and thrown off the edge.
She opened the door and walked onto the ledge. The soft blue-green glow of the glow worms gave her enough light to see by. It had been easy enough to encourage them to live by the door. Just above the door in the shadow, she pulled out her go-bag. The bag had a change of clothing, dried food, knives, and rope. She tucked the book and map in a special pocket in her bag. Darius would miss the knife more than her.
Amber turned and stared across the Hole. Pinpoints of light marked the small caves that dotted the vertical walls. Some families had encouraged glow worms to live around the door for extra light. Other caves had small torches that could be lit.
Darian’s cave was near the top of the Hole where the air was fresher. She needed to get to the natural caverns. The closest entrance was a fissure on the shelf below the level she was on.
Amber climbed down the rope ladder to the next shelf. She followed the shelf until it became too narrow. Then she turned toward the wall and reached up to the hand holds she’d made. She side-stepped along the wall. The rough stone brushed across her belly. The darkness loomed around her. A constant companion with the thought of falling. She stepped-sideways until her legs and arms ached and her fingers stiffened.
She had no choice now. Not if she wanted to live. Survival meant going to a place few people from the Hole went. DL-6 wasn’t exactly forbidden, but it was looked down upon by the Hole residents. There was sickness there and different rules. She’d at least have a chance. Probably.
After what seemed like forever, the ledge widened until she could walk again. Her legs ached but she kept moving, sidestepping along the wall the way she had been, afraid that walking normally would cause her to pitch over the edge. The ground was a long way down.
After a few more steps, the wall veered into a small offshoot cave. The cave came into vague detail in the glow worm’s green-blue light. As far as she knew, no one currently living in the Hole but her had ever been to this cave. She had another cache of food and more equipment hidden here.
Her mom’s silly song entered her mind. She only sang it when she was alone. The words made no sense. She had once tried to sing it to her adopted mom, but she’d been shushed.
“The only songs you should sing are about survival and things you need to know,” the woman had scolded.
Amber remembered thinking maybe her family needed to know this. Her mom had been so much different than everyone else in the Hole. That was the beginning of her keeping the song a secret.
Across the gap the lion lazed
Around the bend to the rabbit chosen
Up the tunnel the ball’s edges glazed
Beyond to the bowl of green and frozen
There’s never been a hint of another knowing the song. Every time she sang it strange old memories surfaced, but she had no idea what it meant. All songs had meaning. The song didn’t seem to be of help fleeing the Hole.
She’d been a fool to trust Darius’ soft words and to ignore his reputation. Darius was like every other male she had been with. At first his lies had been few. The normal things guys lied about: Where they went, who they were with, what they thought of her efforts to make them a home.
His lies had increased over time. She’d heard the rumor that he had his sights on another girl. His new girl was the daughter of one of the bat farmers. She came with connections and a guarantee of food. If Amber was out of the picture, he would be able to keep the benefits of Amber’s hard work and have what the new girl offered. She now believed the rumors surrounding the fates of Darious’ previous women. They’d ended up at the bottom of the Hole because of unfortunate accidents.
Amber had nothing to counter that and no one to protect her. Her family was long dead and gone. She was left with only vague recollections of the day she was left behind.
She sighed, trying to work up some anger towards Darius. She couldn’t. Everything down here was business. It was rare that anything was done for loyalty rather than what one person could do for another. Everything was about survival.
Amber added the extra food and supplies to her backpack. The far end of the cavern had another opening. She’d put a bunch of glow worms in a jar there to see if she could make a light. Around the corner she’d find out if her efforts had worked. The next part of the trek would be harder to navigate in the inky darkness.
She rounded the next corner and could see a concentrated glow at head level. She’d found the jar. The glow worms were still alive.
She lifted the jar and held it in front of her. The glow helped her find the first left turn. After fifteen paces, she took a sharp right, and one hundred paces later she came to the tiny tunnel that led up to DL-6. If she went straight, instead of to the left, she would go toward the lair of the biggest predator in the caverns. She shivered, remembering the blast of hot, odd smelling air, the strange noises, and the missing people.
She headed to DL-6. The journey had taken her an hour because she was being careful to be quiet. She put the jar in the corner of a dark ledge just in case she needed to go back. Not that going back was really an option, but it felt wrong not to leave an escape plan. She heard the flutter of a moth and snatched it out of the air. The moth would keep the glow worms alive for at least a month. She put it on their sticky strands so that the glow worms would feast.
Amber crawled through the fissure closer to where it exited into DL-6. When she turned the corner, she squinted in the bright light. The light seemed harsh after the glow worm’s soft glow. Her gut twisted in nervous anticipation. What would DL-6 be like?
Strangers walked by and she heard the ever-present spiky ball of lies. People twisting facts to suit their own needs. Even here in this new community, people were the same.
Once her eyes adjusted, she peered around trying to make sense of what she saw. The caves where people lived were boxes along the ground. There were doors and some had smaller openings through which she could see people inside the home.
A man opened the door of the home, stepped out, and climbed up the side of the box. He picked up a basket and pulled something green and placed it in the basket. Was that Algae? The people of DL-6 must grow their food on the top of their houses.
She couldn’t make out what he was doing with the flickering lights above him. The light didn’t fall on the path between houses, but mostly on the roof.
Two men stood chatting between two houses. The soft murmur of voices carried the discordant notes of untruths. The fact that people lied was unchanged.
Amber sighed and rubbed her eyes. She hated to start over, but didn’t have any choice. None of the work mattered, she was a survivor. She would watch and wait for an opportunity to reestablish a home. Maybe this time it would last. All she had ever wanted was a place to belong. A place where people would value her and her hard work and determination.
When she heard someone speak and didn’t hear the discordant note, she jerked in shock. She had never heard anyone speak without it. There was a brown-haired man standing next to the two guys on the corner. The brown-haired man didn’t look like anything special. Not handsome, or heavily muscled, tall but not very tall. He must be someone important because the men stood at attention when talking to him.
She took careful stock of his features. Blue eyes, even face without the pock-marks and scars that marred most of the men in the Hole. He looked nice and like what she had always pictured a good guy looking like. His appearance must be a lie. She’d seen plenty of men that looked honest and good, but as soon as they’d opened their mouths, she’d known. They were liars.
She leaned in to hear what he had to say.
“Would you guys give me a moment? I need to meet someone here and they won’t come if you are here.” His voice was deep and carried to her. She waited for the discordant note in his words, but she felt nothing. His words were like the single taste of chocolate she’d once scrounged. Smooth, and rare. What he said matched what was true.
“Why not?” The other man asked.
“They are shy.” The words held no spike.
Her heart fluttered and she swallowed against the sudden dryness in her throat. Could she have met someone who didn’t lie? For the first in a long time, hope warmed her chest.
The two guys looked at each other and shrugged. They walked away, leaving him on the corner.
“I’m Tully. I know you are there. Why not come out? I won’t hurt you.” His deep voice held a note of kindness she hadn’t heard in forever.
Because there had been no lie in his voice, she eased out of the fissure and went to him.