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children of tomorrow -- part 5
They ran on and on, and footsteps sounded after them. They finally reached what looked like a dead end. There was a console there.
Gerard tried using his thumb, but his clearance was either revoked or it didn't work here.
“Runner, use your key,” the computerized voice rang out.
Frank and Gerard looked at each other in confusion, but then a symbol, the ankh, flashed on the screen and the computer repeated the command.
The footsteps were closer. It was another Sandman chasing them down. This one wouldn't be so kind as to let them go. This one had no connection to Gerard, he was just another member of the Thinker's army.
Gerard shook himself.. He felt like a heretic – or insane, or both – for thinking that. Was this what it was like to be a rebel? To be a Runner?
“C'mon, Gerard, I can't exactly use mine,” Frank said.
Gerard pulled the silver ankh from his pocket and looked for a place to put it. Finally, when the footsteps stopped and a voice said, “Turn around slow,” Gerard banged the ankh against the console screen in desperation.
Frank behind Gerard, in between him and the Sandman. He would take the first shot if the Sandman blasted them. Gerard took his gun out as fast as he could, spun around, and in less than a blink he had shot their pursuer in the heart.
The Sandman fell as the door behind them opened.
“Let's go before another one comes,” Frank muttered.
Gerard agreed and they went through the doorway. It was more of a hatch, really, and it closed and sealed behind them.
“I don't think anyone else is getting through that,” Frank said. “Not without the key.”
It was dark and damp where they walked, and the incline was steep. Gerard reached back for Frank's hand and felt it slip into his own. Gerard squeezed and smiled to himself. This wasn't all bad, not when he had Frank's company.
“Who's Mikey?” Frank asked suddenly. When Gerard frowned, he said, “You told your Sandman friend to look after Mikey. So who is it?”
Gerard shrugged. “Someone I know. We, um. We had the same seed mother.”
Frank stopped walking and looked at Gerard for a long time. Gerard didn't know what he was looking for, or even if he could see it in the dark, but then Frank smiled and stood a little closer to him.
“I knew there was something different about you,” Frank said.
“What do you mean?” Gerard asked.
Frank shook his head and didn't answer directly. “Don't you ever think that the way we raise children in the City is wrong? That .. that maybe there was a different way, before the Thinker and before the 'bots.”
“I've never thought of it,” Gerard said honestly.
“Maybe you could have grown up with your sibling,” Frank said. “And maybe if I had been raised differently, I wouldn't have caused so much trouble as a Cub. I wouldn't have had to grow up in Cathedral.”
Gerard wrapped an arm around Frank's shoulders and pulled him closer. “Maybe. I don't know. I don't know anything about children.” Just that his own childhood had been difficult, but that he'd had Ray from the beginning. He wondered then, for a moment, what it would have been like to know Mikey as a child. How it might have been to watch out for him from the beginning.
Frank beamed at him and rested his head on Gerard's shoulder for a few seconds before pulling away again. “We've got to keep moving.”
The walked. Sometimes they slid on water, or algae, and the way was steeply downhill. Gerard had one hand on the wall and the other tight around Frank's.
They entered a large room filled with water tanks, with glass tanks on the walls as well. Gerard thought he saw something in the depths of the water, but it might have been his imagination.
“I wonder what all of this is for,” Frank said.
There were old, corroded signs. One said, BRE DI G P OL – S LM N. They could barely make it out. But as they looked around some more, they cobbled the words together.
“Breeding pools,” Frank said. “For food source. Before we ate protein patties, we ate animals.” His face was pale and he looked as if he might gag at the reminder.
“Salmon, tuna... Water-dwelling animals, I suppose,” Gerard said, mostly to himself.
“Gross,” Frank said, pulling a face.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Gerard said.
There weren't any animals in the city, but they'd learned about them as Yellows the same time they learned to read. Gerard barely had time to learn the same things other Yellows were taught because his Sandman training was so strenuous, but he knew the basics.
Humans had suffered from things called War, Overpopulation, and Pollution. These things were never explained, never defined, but they were always put forth as proof that life before the Thinker was unimaginably horrific.
They got to a set of steps that led down, but water blocked the way. There must have been a leak in a tank somewhere.
“What now?” Frank asked.
“I guess we swim,” Gerard answered.
The water was dark and cold, and Gerard had no idea how far down it went. But they were in this for good now; there was no turning back. Gerard took the first step down and let the water slosh around his knees. Frank followed.
“Fuck, it's cold,” Frank said. Gerard knew what he meant; the pools they had in the City were all heated and luxurious.
“I doubt it gets better,” Gerard said. He went down further until it was up to his waist. He looked at Frank and then back at the dark water. “Here we go.”
They both held their breath and dove in, swimming down and down. It was pitch black once they went under, but there was the stairway railing to hold onto and pull themselves down with.
It wasn't until Gerard felt as though his lungs would burst that the railing ended and they came to a hatch. There was no console, just a wheel handle that was locked tight. But Frank's hands came to help, and together they got the hatch door open.
The rush of water carried them, bumping against the hatchway, into a small room with a grate floor. The water rushed through the grate, down and down. Gerard didn't care where it went, just that he could breathe again.
Frank and Gerard gasped for air, lying on the grate close to each other. Once they'd caught their breath, though, they raised their heads to look around.
Three walls were completely bare. There was the door that led out the way they came. The ceiling seemed to go up and up forever, but there was light coming in from the top. But there was no way out.
“What is this?” Frank said. “How is this the way to Sanctuary? Did we take a wrong turn somewhere?”
“We followed the tunnels down the way we were supposed to,” Gerard said, shaking his head.
There was a handle sticking up from the middle of the floor, though, and Frank looked at it curiously. “There's only that.”
Gerard took the handle in his hands, shrugged, and pushed it forward. And promptly fell down as the room began to move.
Frank had fallen to his knees as well, but he laughed as he looked up, the direction the room was moving. “It's a lift,” he said, stating the obvious. “It's a giant lift.”
The elevator went up, and up, seemingly taking forever. Frank shivered, his wet tunic and trousers clinging to his body, and Gerard wrapped an arm around him.
But then Gerard caught the shivers too. It seemed the higher the elevator rose, the colder it became. Soon they could each see their breath as they huddled close to each other. Ice was forming on the walls. Their clothes became stiff with the cold.
Finally, the floor settled into place, coming to a stop. The room they were in was a bluish white, covered with ice on every surface. There was an ice tunnel to the right, and Frank and Gerard stumbled to their feet to walk that way.
“I've never been so cold,” Frank said, shivering. He was tucked beneath Gerard's arm, still huddling close for warmth. “Could we die like this? From the ice?”
“I think so,” Gerard said. The floor was slippery and they skidded on ice every few steps.
The tunnel was short, and emptied out into a large cavern. From the ceiling hung giant icicles, and cropping up from the floor were ice stalagmites of various sizes.
They looked around in wonder, never having seen so much ice anywhere before. It was beautiful, and strange ice sculptures were scattered around the cavern. To their left was a pile of blankets and what looked like supplies, left by someone who'd been there before them.
Gerard and Frank skimmed out of their clothes, their backs to each other – Gerard felt strangely modest and it appeared Frank felt the same way. Naked, they each wrapped a warm blanket around himself.
“Could this be Sanctuary?” Frank asked.
“It's too cold to be Sanctuary,” Gerard replied. “And we're the only ones here. The others must have rested in this place before they continued on.” He motioned to the gear left behind.
“Yeah, so why didn't they take their stuff?” Frank asked.
“No idea,” Gerard said. He was perplexed by that, too.
Frank looked even smaller wrapped in the huge blanket, and as it slipped off his shoulder, Gerard had to suck in a breath and look away. Frank was gorgeous in an effortless way, and his skin looked smooth and warm and utterly touchable.
A loud noise distracted Gerard from his thoughts. It got louder and louder, like it was coming towards them. They both looked, but they couldn't tell where the noise was coming from. Every noise echoed off the cavern walls.
But then it came into view.
It was shiny and the size of three men. It was a robot, but not like any 'bot Frank and Gerard had ever seen. Its arms were outstretched towards them, but it had no legs. It seemed to move on hidden wheels beneath its bulky body.
“Welcome humans,” it said. “I am ready for you.”
Frank held his blanket tighter around himself and asked, “Who are you?”
“Overwhelming, am I not?” the robot asked. “The birds above and the fish below all know my name, but they dare not speak it. The very oceans know my name, and whisper and shout it aloud as it crases on the shore. Box, it says. Box.”
Gerard tried to process this. He looked around and saw what looked to be animals, flying animals, frozen in place up above among the stalactites. “What is your purpose?” he asked.
“Fish, and plankton, and sea greens, and protein from the sea,” the robot said. “Fresh as harvest day.”
Box rolled closer, tilting his shiny head up as he laughed. He appeared to have human characteristics, but he was a bit of an egomaniac, Gerard thought.
“How long have you been down here?” Gerard asked.
“How long?” Box repeated. “I do not understand. I have been here as long as I have been here. To collect the harvest: fish, and plankton, and sea greens, and protein from the sea.”
“Why?” Frank asked.
“For the City, of course. I deliver the harvest, frozen fresh. Fish, and plankton-”
“Yeah, we got that part,” Frank said, cutting him off. “This is for the humans, for food?”
“Food, yes. Food for the humans,” Box said. “I have been here since before They came, before the animals stopped coming.”
The robot had obviously gone insane being down in the ice cave for so long by himself. Without interaction with others, its IA had lost sight of reality. None of what he said made sense.
“What about the Runners? Do you know where Sanctuary is?” Gerard asked hesitantly. It was always good to be cautious when dealing with the unbalanced. He'd never had to deal with an insane robot before, but he assumed it was as dangerous – or more dangerous – as dealing with a mad human.
“I do not know these words. Runners. Sanctuary. I bring fish, and plankton, and sea greens, and protein from the sea...”
Box rolled around, seemingly admiring the frozen ice sculptures that littered the cave.
“Runners are people like us. Humans from the City, seeking a place called Sanctuary,” Gerard said. “Please, do you know how we get Outside?”
“I do not understand your questions, human. But I am ready for you now. Come,” Box said, rolling away from them.
“No, tell us about the other humans,” Gerard said, following and talking to the robot's back.
“Did they get Outside?” Frank asked. “Did they find Sanctuary? The other humans who passed through here – where did they go?”
“Go?” Box asked. “They didn't go anywhere.”
Gerard shook his head. “I don't get it.”
But Box was moving down a corridor and then stopping a little ways down, then turning back to look at them. “The animals stopped coming, but then They came. Here they are, frozen, as fresh as harvest day.”
“Oh, fuck,” Frank whispered, and Gerard's stomach bottomed out.
The corridor seemed to go on for miles, and on either side were humans trapped within the ice, men and women, frozen to stillness. There were too many to count. The number the Thinker had given him of unaccounted-for Runners flashed through Gerard's head.
Were these all the Runners? Had none escaped to Sanctuary? An even insidious question, the one of the City's food source, ran through Gerard's mind. But no, someone would have noticed if they were eating...
Gerard swallowed back bile and took Frank's hand in his.
“And now I am ready for you,” Box said suddenly, and in his mechanical hands were what looked like two guns, only they were unlike any guns Gerard had ever seen.
They moved just in time to avoid a blast that hit the wall and iced over the ice that was already there. Freezing weapons, then.
They couldn't outrun Box; there was nowhere to go. And he was twice their size and probably ten times as strong. Still, Frank whispered, “I'll take his left, you take the right,” and charged without waiting for an answer.
Frank's blanket went flying off of him as he attacked, and Gerard wished he could have stopped to admire the view, but he had to fight. Gerard went after Box's left weapon, jumping up and kicking it free of Box's hand. The freezing gun went skidding across the frozen floor, behind a column of ice where it disappeared from view.
One down, and Frank was doing his best to destroy the other. Amazingly, he climbed onto Box's back and tried to decapitate the robot with his bare hands. It didn't work; the robot was put together better than that. But it slowed Box down and gave Gerard the opportunity to run over to their clothes and grab his own gun. He made sure it was switched over to kill and aimed at Box's head.
Only Frank was too wrapped around it, holding on for dear life as the robot tried to buck him off. Gerard was a good shot, but he wasn't about to risk Frank.
Box's other weapon was not a freeze ray. The one in his right hand was some kind of ancient laser gun, and it went off again and again in the fray, blasting holes in the ceiling and walls. It was a powerful weapon, and Frank's eyes went wide when he looked up at one of the holes.
Gerard swore as he followed Frank's gaze from across the cavern, and cried out when a chunk of the ceiling fell on Box and Frank, cutting him off from them.
There was nothing to see but white. He couldn't even hear them now.
“Frank!” Gerard called desperately.
He looked through the supplies, got dressed as quickly as he could. He found a small shovel, about twice the size of his hand, and brought it over to the ice barring the way to the rest of the cavern.
He dug. He dug until he was sweating and too hot to be cold. He thought of Frank, naked, under all the ice. He thought of Frank's question before: Could we die like this? From the ice?
But Frank would not die. Gerard wouldn't let him.
He dug and dug until he uncovered a tattooed hand. He knew he couldn't pull, that Frank might be pinned beneath something and pulling would do nothing, or worse, hurt Frank.
He squeezed Frank's hand but it didn't move, not even a twitch of the fingers. Gerard dug, determined to unearth Frank's body. No, not his body. Frank. Body sounded dead, and Frank couldn't be dead. Not after all they'd been through to get to this point.
Slowly, Gerard uncovered Frank. He was unconscious. There was no sign of Box anywhere.
Gerard was afraid to move Frank without knowing whether and where he was hurt. “Wake up, Frank,” he said. “C'mon, wake up for me.”
Miraculously, Frank's eyes fluttered open. And that is when Frank began to shake.
Frank was very pale, and his tattoos stood out in stark contrast on his skin. His teeth clattered together as he shook, and Gerard forgot about waiting to see if he was injured, just gathered Frank in his arms and held him. He was very cold.
“Can you walk?” Gerard asked him, helping him to his feet.
Frank grunted and took a step forward. It was a clumsy step, but it was in the right direction. Together they walked over to the abandoned gear and Gerard wrapped blanket after blanket around Frank until he resembled a mountain of fabric rather than a person.
But Frank continued to shiver. He needed body heat, and Gerard knew this. He didn't know how he knew, just that it made sense.
Gerard took off his tunic again and crawled under the covers with Frank. Then he pulled Frank into his arms. Frank's skin was incredibly cold against him.
“Mmm,” Frank said, and moved closer, closer, as if he was trying to climb inside Gerard's heat. Gerard rearranged the blankets around them and held on tight.
“We'll be warm again soon,” Gerard whispered. “I saw a light outside the wall, where the gun blasted through the cave.” He'd use his own gun to blast a bigger hole, and then they'd be Outside. Hopefully, Outside was warm and welcoming.
He wondered how much further Sanctuary could be. He wondered if there was such a thing. But no, there had to be. And he was going to live there. Frank and Gerard were going to forget the City and the Thinker and missions and Sandman training and live in Sanctuary together. For as long as they could.
“Gerard?” Frank said, his breath coming fast against Gerard's neck.
“Yeah?”
“Thank you,” Frank said.
“For what?” Gerard asked. He let his hand slide up into Frank's hair to stroke softly.
“Everything,” Frank said simply. Then with a smile Gerard could feel against his skin, “And for being warm.”
Gerard laughed. “Um, you're welcome?”
Frank kissed his cheek softly and then settled back against him again.
And for the first time, Gerard decided that the mission, that being a Sandman, wasn't important at all. Not next to this. He made a decision. It was Frank or the Thinker, and there really wasn't much of a choice.
He was choosing a future.
cheerleading very much appreciated! I am so excited that this is being read and enjoyed. :D
Gerard tried using his thumb, but his clearance was either revoked or it didn't work here.
“Runner, use your key,” the computerized voice rang out.
Frank and Gerard looked at each other in confusion, but then a symbol, the ankh, flashed on the screen and the computer repeated the command.
The footsteps were closer. It was another Sandman chasing them down. This one wouldn't be so kind as to let them go. This one had no connection to Gerard, he was just another member of the Thinker's army.
Gerard shook himself.. He felt like a heretic – or insane, or both – for thinking that. Was this what it was like to be a rebel? To be a Runner?
“C'mon, Gerard, I can't exactly use mine,” Frank said.
Gerard pulled the silver ankh from his pocket and looked for a place to put it. Finally, when the footsteps stopped and a voice said, “Turn around slow,” Gerard banged the ankh against the console screen in desperation.
Frank behind Gerard, in between him and the Sandman. He would take the first shot if the Sandman blasted them. Gerard took his gun out as fast as he could, spun around, and in less than a blink he had shot their pursuer in the heart.
The Sandman fell as the door behind them opened.
“Let's go before another one comes,” Frank muttered.
Gerard agreed and they went through the doorway. It was more of a hatch, really, and it closed and sealed behind them.
“I don't think anyone else is getting through that,” Frank said. “Not without the key.”
It was dark and damp where they walked, and the incline was steep. Gerard reached back for Frank's hand and felt it slip into his own. Gerard squeezed and smiled to himself. This wasn't all bad, not when he had Frank's company.
“Who's Mikey?” Frank asked suddenly. When Gerard frowned, he said, “You told your Sandman friend to look after Mikey. So who is it?”
Gerard shrugged. “Someone I know. We, um. We had the same seed mother.”
Frank stopped walking and looked at Gerard for a long time. Gerard didn't know what he was looking for, or even if he could see it in the dark, but then Frank smiled and stood a little closer to him.
“I knew there was something different about you,” Frank said.
“What do you mean?” Gerard asked.
Frank shook his head and didn't answer directly. “Don't you ever think that the way we raise children in the City is wrong? That .. that maybe there was a different way, before the Thinker and before the 'bots.”
“I've never thought of it,” Gerard said honestly.
“Maybe you could have grown up with your sibling,” Frank said. “And maybe if I had been raised differently, I wouldn't have caused so much trouble as a Cub. I wouldn't have had to grow up in Cathedral.”
Gerard wrapped an arm around Frank's shoulders and pulled him closer. “Maybe. I don't know. I don't know anything about children.” Just that his own childhood had been difficult, but that he'd had Ray from the beginning. He wondered then, for a moment, what it would have been like to know Mikey as a child. How it might have been to watch out for him from the beginning.
Frank beamed at him and rested his head on Gerard's shoulder for a few seconds before pulling away again. “We've got to keep moving.”
The walked. Sometimes they slid on water, or algae, and the way was steeply downhill. Gerard had one hand on the wall and the other tight around Frank's.
They entered a large room filled with water tanks, with glass tanks on the walls as well. Gerard thought he saw something in the depths of the water, but it might have been his imagination.
“I wonder what all of this is for,” Frank said.
There were old, corroded signs. One said, BRE DI G P OL – S LM N. They could barely make it out. But as they looked around some more, they cobbled the words together.
“Breeding pools,” Frank said. “For food source. Before we ate protein patties, we ate animals.” His face was pale and he looked as if he might gag at the reminder.
“Salmon, tuna... Water-dwelling animals, I suppose,” Gerard said, mostly to himself.
“Gross,” Frank said, pulling a face.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Gerard said.
There weren't any animals in the city, but they'd learned about them as Yellows the same time they learned to read. Gerard barely had time to learn the same things other Yellows were taught because his Sandman training was so strenuous, but he knew the basics.
Humans had suffered from things called War, Overpopulation, and Pollution. These things were never explained, never defined, but they were always put forth as proof that life before the Thinker was unimaginably horrific.
They got to a set of steps that led down, but water blocked the way. There must have been a leak in a tank somewhere.
“What now?” Frank asked.
“I guess we swim,” Gerard answered.
The water was dark and cold, and Gerard had no idea how far down it went. But they were in this for good now; there was no turning back. Gerard took the first step down and let the water slosh around his knees. Frank followed.
“Fuck, it's cold,” Frank said. Gerard knew what he meant; the pools they had in the City were all heated and luxurious.
“I doubt it gets better,” Gerard said. He went down further until it was up to his waist. He looked at Frank and then back at the dark water. “Here we go.”
They both held their breath and dove in, swimming down and down. It was pitch black once they went under, but there was the stairway railing to hold onto and pull themselves down with.
It wasn't until Gerard felt as though his lungs would burst that the railing ended and they came to a hatch. There was no console, just a wheel handle that was locked tight. But Frank's hands came to help, and together they got the hatch door open.
The rush of water carried them, bumping against the hatchway, into a small room with a grate floor. The water rushed through the grate, down and down. Gerard didn't care where it went, just that he could breathe again.
Frank and Gerard gasped for air, lying on the grate close to each other. Once they'd caught their breath, though, they raised their heads to look around.
Three walls were completely bare. There was the door that led out the way they came. The ceiling seemed to go up and up forever, but there was light coming in from the top. But there was no way out.
“What is this?” Frank said. “How is this the way to Sanctuary? Did we take a wrong turn somewhere?”
“We followed the tunnels down the way we were supposed to,” Gerard said, shaking his head.
There was a handle sticking up from the middle of the floor, though, and Frank looked at it curiously. “There's only that.”
Gerard took the handle in his hands, shrugged, and pushed it forward. And promptly fell down as the room began to move.
Frank had fallen to his knees as well, but he laughed as he looked up, the direction the room was moving. “It's a lift,” he said, stating the obvious. “It's a giant lift.”
The elevator went up, and up, seemingly taking forever. Frank shivered, his wet tunic and trousers clinging to his body, and Gerard wrapped an arm around him.
But then Gerard caught the shivers too. It seemed the higher the elevator rose, the colder it became. Soon they could each see their breath as they huddled close to each other. Ice was forming on the walls. Their clothes became stiff with the cold.
Finally, the floor settled into place, coming to a stop. The room they were in was a bluish white, covered with ice on every surface. There was an ice tunnel to the right, and Frank and Gerard stumbled to their feet to walk that way.
“I've never been so cold,” Frank said, shivering. He was tucked beneath Gerard's arm, still huddling close for warmth. “Could we die like this? From the ice?”
“I think so,” Gerard said. The floor was slippery and they skidded on ice every few steps.
The tunnel was short, and emptied out into a large cavern. From the ceiling hung giant icicles, and cropping up from the floor were ice stalagmites of various sizes.
They looked around in wonder, never having seen so much ice anywhere before. It was beautiful, and strange ice sculptures were scattered around the cavern. To their left was a pile of blankets and what looked like supplies, left by someone who'd been there before them.
Gerard and Frank skimmed out of their clothes, their backs to each other – Gerard felt strangely modest and it appeared Frank felt the same way. Naked, they each wrapped a warm blanket around himself.
“Could this be Sanctuary?” Frank asked.
“It's too cold to be Sanctuary,” Gerard replied. “And we're the only ones here. The others must have rested in this place before they continued on.” He motioned to the gear left behind.
“Yeah, so why didn't they take their stuff?” Frank asked.
“No idea,” Gerard said. He was perplexed by that, too.
Frank looked even smaller wrapped in the huge blanket, and as it slipped off his shoulder, Gerard had to suck in a breath and look away. Frank was gorgeous in an effortless way, and his skin looked smooth and warm and utterly touchable.
A loud noise distracted Gerard from his thoughts. It got louder and louder, like it was coming towards them. They both looked, but they couldn't tell where the noise was coming from. Every noise echoed off the cavern walls.
But then it came into view.
It was shiny and the size of three men. It was a robot, but not like any 'bot Frank and Gerard had ever seen. Its arms were outstretched towards them, but it had no legs. It seemed to move on hidden wheels beneath its bulky body.
“Welcome humans,” it said. “I am ready for you.”
Frank held his blanket tighter around himself and asked, “Who are you?”
“Overwhelming, am I not?” the robot asked. “The birds above and the fish below all know my name, but they dare not speak it. The very oceans know my name, and whisper and shout it aloud as it crases on the shore. Box, it says. Box.”
Gerard tried to process this. He looked around and saw what looked to be animals, flying animals, frozen in place up above among the stalactites. “What is your purpose?” he asked.
“Fish, and plankton, and sea greens, and protein from the sea,” the robot said. “Fresh as harvest day.”
Box rolled closer, tilting his shiny head up as he laughed. He appeared to have human characteristics, but he was a bit of an egomaniac, Gerard thought.
“How long have you been down here?” Gerard asked.
“How long?” Box repeated. “I do not understand. I have been here as long as I have been here. To collect the harvest: fish, and plankton, and sea greens, and protein from the sea.”
“Why?” Frank asked.
“For the City, of course. I deliver the harvest, frozen fresh. Fish, and plankton-”
“Yeah, we got that part,” Frank said, cutting him off. “This is for the humans, for food?”
“Food, yes. Food for the humans,” Box said. “I have been here since before They came, before the animals stopped coming.”
The robot had obviously gone insane being down in the ice cave for so long by himself. Without interaction with others, its IA had lost sight of reality. None of what he said made sense.
“What about the Runners? Do you know where Sanctuary is?” Gerard asked hesitantly. It was always good to be cautious when dealing with the unbalanced. He'd never had to deal with an insane robot before, but he assumed it was as dangerous – or more dangerous – as dealing with a mad human.
“I do not know these words. Runners. Sanctuary. I bring fish, and plankton, and sea greens, and protein from the sea...”
Box rolled around, seemingly admiring the frozen ice sculptures that littered the cave.
“Runners are people like us. Humans from the City, seeking a place called Sanctuary,” Gerard said. “Please, do you know how we get Outside?”
“I do not understand your questions, human. But I am ready for you now. Come,” Box said, rolling away from them.
“No, tell us about the other humans,” Gerard said, following and talking to the robot's back.
“Did they get Outside?” Frank asked. “Did they find Sanctuary? The other humans who passed through here – where did they go?”
“Go?” Box asked. “They didn't go anywhere.”
Gerard shook his head. “I don't get it.”
But Box was moving down a corridor and then stopping a little ways down, then turning back to look at them. “The animals stopped coming, but then They came. Here they are, frozen, as fresh as harvest day.”
“Oh, fuck,” Frank whispered, and Gerard's stomach bottomed out.
The corridor seemed to go on for miles, and on either side were humans trapped within the ice, men and women, frozen to stillness. There were too many to count. The number the Thinker had given him of unaccounted-for Runners flashed through Gerard's head.
Were these all the Runners? Had none escaped to Sanctuary? An even insidious question, the one of the City's food source, ran through Gerard's mind. But no, someone would have noticed if they were eating...
Gerard swallowed back bile and took Frank's hand in his.
“And now I am ready for you,” Box said suddenly, and in his mechanical hands were what looked like two guns, only they were unlike any guns Gerard had ever seen.
They moved just in time to avoid a blast that hit the wall and iced over the ice that was already there. Freezing weapons, then.
They couldn't outrun Box; there was nowhere to go. And he was twice their size and probably ten times as strong. Still, Frank whispered, “I'll take his left, you take the right,” and charged without waiting for an answer.
Frank's blanket went flying off of him as he attacked, and Gerard wished he could have stopped to admire the view, but he had to fight. Gerard went after Box's left weapon, jumping up and kicking it free of Box's hand. The freezing gun went skidding across the frozen floor, behind a column of ice where it disappeared from view.
One down, and Frank was doing his best to destroy the other. Amazingly, he climbed onto Box's back and tried to decapitate the robot with his bare hands. It didn't work; the robot was put together better than that. But it slowed Box down and gave Gerard the opportunity to run over to their clothes and grab his own gun. He made sure it was switched over to kill and aimed at Box's head.
Only Frank was too wrapped around it, holding on for dear life as the robot tried to buck him off. Gerard was a good shot, but he wasn't about to risk Frank.
Box's other weapon was not a freeze ray. The one in his right hand was some kind of ancient laser gun, and it went off again and again in the fray, blasting holes in the ceiling and walls. It was a powerful weapon, and Frank's eyes went wide when he looked up at one of the holes.
Gerard swore as he followed Frank's gaze from across the cavern, and cried out when a chunk of the ceiling fell on Box and Frank, cutting him off from them.
There was nothing to see but white. He couldn't even hear them now.
“Frank!” Gerard called desperately.
He looked through the supplies, got dressed as quickly as he could. He found a small shovel, about twice the size of his hand, and brought it over to the ice barring the way to the rest of the cavern.
He dug. He dug until he was sweating and too hot to be cold. He thought of Frank, naked, under all the ice. He thought of Frank's question before: Could we die like this? From the ice?
But Frank would not die. Gerard wouldn't let him.
He dug and dug until he uncovered a tattooed hand. He knew he couldn't pull, that Frank might be pinned beneath something and pulling would do nothing, or worse, hurt Frank.
He squeezed Frank's hand but it didn't move, not even a twitch of the fingers. Gerard dug, determined to unearth Frank's body. No, not his body. Frank. Body sounded dead, and Frank couldn't be dead. Not after all they'd been through to get to this point.
Slowly, Gerard uncovered Frank. He was unconscious. There was no sign of Box anywhere.
Gerard was afraid to move Frank without knowing whether and where he was hurt. “Wake up, Frank,” he said. “C'mon, wake up for me.”
Miraculously, Frank's eyes fluttered open. And that is when Frank began to shake.
Frank was very pale, and his tattoos stood out in stark contrast on his skin. His teeth clattered together as he shook, and Gerard forgot about waiting to see if he was injured, just gathered Frank in his arms and held him. He was very cold.
“Can you walk?” Gerard asked him, helping him to his feet.
Frank grunted and took a step forward. It was a clumsy step, but it was in the right direction. Together they walked over to the abandoned gear and Gerard wrapped blanket after blanket around Frank until he resembled a mountain of fabric rather than a person.
But Frank continued to shiver. He needed body heat, and Gerard knew this. He didn't know how he knew, just that it made sense.
Gerard took off his tunic again and crawled under the covers with Frank. Then he pulled Frank into his arms. Frank's skin was incredibly cold against him.
“Mmm,” Frank said, and moved closer, closer, as if he was trying to climb inside Gerard's heat. Gerard rearranged the blankets around them and held on tight.
“We'll be warm again soon,” Gerard whispered. “I saw a light outside the wall, where the gun blasted through the cave.” He'd use his own gun to blast a bigger hole, and then they'd be Outside. Hopefully, Outside was warm and welcoming.
He wondered how much further Sanctuary could be. He wondered if there was such a thing. But no, there had to be. And he was going to live there. Frank and Gerard were going to forget the City and the Thinker and missions and Sandman training and live in Sanctuary together. For as long as they could.
“Gerard?” Frank said, his breath coming fast against Gerard's neck.
“Yeah?”
“Thank you,” Frank said.
“For what?” Gerard asked. He let his hand slide up into Frank's hair to stroke softly.
“Everything,” Frank said simply. Then with a smile Gerard could feel against his skin, “And for being warm.”
Gerard laughed. “Um, you're welcome?”
Frank kissed his cheek softly and then settled back against him again.
And for the first time, Gerard decided that the mission, that being a Sandman, wasn't important at all. Not next to this. He made a decision. It was Frank or the Thinker, and there really wasn't much of a choice.
He was choosing a future.
cheerleading very much appreciated! I am so excited that this is being read and enjoyed. :D
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I'm soo looking forward to more of this! I hope there are a few runners who aren't frozen! *worries*
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Thank you so much for reading.
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For this this is great! I'm looking forward to more. *g*
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