Grandfather (44 page)

“Damn questions,” he said.
But this time, he wasn’t angry with me. “Mr. Harrison says he’s
glad you got away,” He looked at Belladonna and Robert. “There’s a
way into the city without having to get past Cornelius’s
soldiers.”

Belladonna’s ears perked.
“How?” she asked impatiently.

“I’m meeting up with Mr.
Harrison later today,” Edgar said. “I told him I’d give a call to
get a location.”

“What did he say?” Robert
asked, also impatient.

“There’s an old subway
tunnel that isn’t used anymore,” Edgar told them. “Mr. Harrison
said there’s a way to get inside the damn thing outside the
wall.”

“And where will it come
out at?” Belladonna asked. “We still have to watch out for soldiers
when we get back to the streets.”

“Yeah,” Edgar said. “Don’t
have all the answers yet. But I suppose I will after I meet up with
him.”

We were all silent for a
second. Belladonna looked at the ceiling in deep thought. Then, she
grinned. “This is a good start,” she said. “It’s better than
nothing, and it will work.”

“Right,” Robert agreed.
“We’ve also decided who all is going with us.”

Edgar asked for the list
of names.

“You, Robert, and I will
go,” Belladonna answered. Then she named eleven other names I
didn’t recognize except for Cain’s.

I could feel Marley’s eyes
running straight through me. She hoped I wouldn’t say anything. But
I just couldn’t do that. “And me,” I said.

“No,” Belladonna and
Robert answered immediately.

“Um, yes,” I
declared.

“This is the one thing
that you can absolutely have nothing to do with,” Belladonna said.
“I’m serious. We can’t have you getting killed.”

I could tell that she was
serious by her facial expression. I could actually see fear. I
supposed it made sense because it was going to be dangerous. But I
still wanted to go. I expressed this to her.

“
I’m afraid I’m with
Belladonna on this,” Edgar said. “You’ve only shot a gun a few
times. This could get messy.”

“
Messy?” I asked. “There’s
going to be fourteen of you and seven of them. I can go and not be
in danger.”

“
Son, you never know what
will happen,” Edgar snapped.

“
I’m going,” I declared
again.

“
I’ll lock you up if I have
too,” Edgar shouted. “Don’t think I won’t. Now, after this is done,
you can help catch the others all you want.”

“
I want to help now,” I
said.

“
Carsyn,” Belladonna said
in her soft, soothing voice. The fear completely left her face.
“Carsyn . . . the one thing you lack is patience. But please . . .
trust me when I say that this is the one mission you do not need to
go on. When we return, you can do whatever you want. And as I had
promised when you first arrived, I’ll help you in doing whatever it
is you want to do.”

I said nothing. Man, I
really wanted to go. Marley had a sympathetic look. I felt her hand
graze my arm, which actually seemed to calm me down.

“If I can’t go on this,
then you have to help me get these walls torn down
afterwards.”

Belladonna smiled. “So
you’ve found something you want to do?”

I nodded. “I realized that
destroying Grandfather won’t destroy the walls.”

“Well,” Belladonna said
slowly, walking toward me. She placed a hand on my shoulder. “As I
promised before, I’ll help you . . . if that’s what you want.” She
took her hand off and walked back to Robert’s side. “And I’ll
continue helping you until you’re right where you need to
be.”

“Thank you,” I
said.

“Edgar patted me on the
back. “Sorry son,” he said. “But like you said, destroying
Grandfather won’t destroy the walls. There’s a lot more work to be
done, and you can help do that all you want.”

Marley agreed. “And the
people love you. You’re the perfect person to do it.”

Would people still be
obsessed with my story once they found out that I was faking
everything? I didn’t know, but I sure did hope so. Not because I
liked the fame. It would just make things easier if they would
listen to me. Maybe I’d meet up with Olivia and have her write my
story. I knew she would love that.

“Can you promise me one
other thing?” I asked.

“What?” Belladonna and
Edgar asked at the same time.

“You think you can find
out whether or not Cornelius was lying about my parents? And what’s
in the safe? Does it have anything to do with me?”

I asked again when nobody
answered me.

“Is that what this is
about?” Edgar asked. “That’s why you want to go?”

I expressed my concerns
with killing the only one person who claimed to know the truth
about my parents. Belladonna said exactly what Marley had said
about finding another way.

Edgar could tell that I
wasn’t too satisfied. “I can try,” he said. “I’ll do everything I
can to help you find the truth.”

I wanted to accept that,
but I couldn’t. I didn’t tell Edgar that. I just nodded, making him
think that I was okay with his answer. Did they honestly think they
could keep me away? As I had told Marley, I’d sneak out and follow
them. They didn’t have to know that. I wasn’t going to remind
Marley that I would sneak out if they didn’t let me go. With any
luck, she wouldn’t remember. I didn’t want her trying to prevent me
from going. More importantly, I didn’t want her trying to go with
me. That sounded like something she would do.

Later, Edgar gave Mr.
Harrison a call and they agreed to meet a few minutes outside of
the wall. Marley and I went to see Ashton. He wasn’t too happy that
his ankle would prevent him from going to Cornelius’s meeting. “I’d
sneak out if I could,” he told us. I didn’t say anything. I could
feel Marley watching me, but she never said anything.

“It’ll be healed in a few
days,” I assured him.

He knew I was right. He
even claimed that he could already move it even more. “It’s not as
painful as before either.”

Edgar got back from
meeting Mr. Harrison right after dinner. We all gathered around the
table in the meeting room while he laid a map across it, pointing
at an area just outside of the wall. “Long ago, there used to be
buildings here,” Edgar said, completely business. “Gone now, but
the subway that ran underground is still there.”

“Does it run into any of
the new subway tunnels?” Belladonna said.

“We don’t want to be
inside a working subway and get run over,” Robert said.

Edgar understood their
concerns. “The empty subway tunnel runs in a straight line across
the entire city,” Edgar said. “It does connect with a working one.
But we’ll only be in it for a couple of minutes before we reach an
exit.”

Mae didn’t seem too happy
with the plan. “That’s dangerous for you guys,” she said, placing a
hand on Edgar’s shoulder. “What if you’re in there when a subway
train goes by? Why not just use the empty subway tunnel the entire
time?”

“Because all of the exits
for the empty one were destroyed,” Edgar answered. His finger
followed the long red line that I assumed was the empty tunnel. He
stopped at a point where a black line intersected the red line.
“This is the working one we have to use,” he said. “We’ll enter
here. And besides, it won’t be that dangerous. Remember the curfew?
Subway trains probably won’t be running.” His finger moved an inch
down the black line.”

“Where will we exit?”
Belladonna asked. “We have to remember the soldiers They’re more
dangerous than those officers.”

“That’s where we’re in
luck,” Edgar said. “Damn exit leads us just yards away from
Cornelius’s tower. Cain said that’s where the meeting is,
right?”

“That’s right,” Belladonna
said.

“We have stun guns,” Edgar
said. “We’ll have to use them either way for any of the soldiers we
do meet.”

“Good,” Belladonna said,
growing excited. “That won’t draw attention to us.”

“Exactly,” Edgar said,
smiling at each of us. “I think we got it.”

Belladonna squeezed her
hands together, agreeing with him in excitement. “I’ve waited for
so long,” she said. “Finally. This. Is. It! Everything will
change!”

I had never seen
Belladonna so excited before. She couldn’t even stay still in her
seat. Robert rubbed her back, which was kind of awkward. But he was
excited too, just like the rest of us. And when they would leave,
I’d be right behind them. I couldn’t believe I was going back so
soon.

I would have to steal a
stun gun first, just in case I ran into any soldiers. But in my
mind, if I was following their path, they would get any soldiers
before I even got to that point. Pretty solid plan if you had asked
me. There was one more question, but I was pretty sure it had the
same answer. “What about those inside the tower?” I
asked.

“Same thing,” Edgar said.
“Stun gun.”

“Oh,” I said. Yeah, I
figured.

Belladonna’s excitement
kept growing until she decided to leave in order to get rest.
Robert stayed for a bit longer before taking Edgar’s map to aid in
explaining the plan to Cain and the others that would be
going.

During lunch the next day,
Edgar explained the plan to everybody. “We’ll be free to leave this
damn mountain,” Edgar told them, and they all applauded and cried
out in joy. I imagined that a lot of them were happy that
Grandfather would be destroyed without a war. At the same time,
there were probably some like Ashton who had been looking forward
to taking out a few Grandfather members. I mean, that was why they
had chosen to live under a freaking mountain. But I guess what
mattered the most was that everybody would be able to leave to
start their lives again in comfort hopefully, eating better meals
and living in safety.

The next days were
exciting. Everybody was telling each other their plans after
leaving the mountain. Some planned on staying in touch with friends
they had made there, and some even planned on going to the same
place to start their new lives
together
. There was even a couple in
their late twenties who planned on getting married and starting a
family once they left. I thought that was pretty neat. I only hoped
that they didn’t have to deal with the inequality between the poor
and rich. I supposed that would be up to me and some others. I
wondered if I could just blow up the walls the same way Cornelius
blew up those people in the city. Now that was an idea, but it was
obviously not possible for every city in the nation. At least it
wasn’t possible to do alone. I didn’t know what I was going to do
yet, but Ashton told me that he would be there to help. Marley
wanted to as well. She just had to run it by Mae. Mae would
probably be sad that they wouldn’t be settling down, but she would
be happy and would help us out too.

The day of the meeting was
the most exciting. Everybody was celebrating. And I mean everybody.
There was so much singing and laughter going on. Some people were
even packing the little belongings they had. Edgar, Belladonna, and
Robert along with Cain and the other ten spent the entire day
practicing their shooting and going over the plan.

When nobody was looking, I
snuck a handgun similar to the one Edgar had let me shoot. Along
with that, I stole a stun gun, just in case. I didn’t want to make
a lot of noise shooting behind the others. They would find me, and
Edgar and Belladonna would’ve been pretty angry. So angry that they
would lead me back to the mountain, I’m sure.

Dinner was the most
exciting. It was just hours before leaving to meet up with
Cornelius. Edgar went up to the front of the dining room.
Belladonna and Robert stood beside him. Unlike the others, Robert
wore a suit. Belladonna was also dressed nicely for the occasion.
Her hair was pinned into a bun, only a long red pin holding it up.
She was very beautiful. I figured she would’ve been worried about
getting her nice clothes dirty if things turned ugly. But I guessed
that since Cornelius would be outnumbered by many, she probably
wouldn’t have to do much. The other soldiers, including Cain, stood
in a line behind them, armed. I sat with Marley, Ashton, and
Mae.

“Folks,” Edgar started.
“For two damn years, we’ve stayed hidden under this mountain. For
two damn years, we’ve spent a lot of time gathering information on
Grandfather, trying to learn their plans. And for two damn years,
we’ve waited for the right time to take down these
bastards.”

Edgar examined the entire
the crowd. They watched him, smiling. Edgar continued. “We’ve been
a step behind Grandfather these past two years. Well, tonight,
that’s changed. Grandfather doesn’t know what’s coming. They’re no
longer a step ahead of us. This will be their last night.
Tonight,
we
are
steps ahead.” Edgar motioned at somebody toward the back
door.

We all turned around to
see several men walk in, carrying crates of bottles filled with
something. Man, there was so much. Where in the world did all of
that come from? Everybody began cheering and some threw their hats
into the air. I thought it was kind of funny when quite a few
jumped up, yelling out “
wine
”.