Page 33 of Uprising

“And how are we meant to do that when you get your head blown off every time you go above ground?”

“Get me the guns.” He says. “Then I’ll show you how.”

I don’t know if he’s crazy or not. I don’t know whether I’m crazy, to be here, to think that he can help. But what choice do I have? I won’t just hide here and leave my family to their fate.

“I’ll get you guns.” I murmur. “But I need a car, a phone, and clothes.”

“Whatever you want, we’ll have it for you.”

The way he says it is so confident, as if he has the entire world at his disposal. I can’t decide if I like it or hate it. “How far do these tunnels stretch?” I ask.

“Under the entire city.” He states.

“So we can pop up anywhere?”

“Anywhere you like.”

“Do you have plans for it all?” I ask. I need to get my bearings. I need to see where we are in terms of the buildings above.

He gets up. “Follow me. It’s about time you learnt where the command room is.”

“Command room?”

“You’ll see.” He says walking out, no doubt expecting me to follow. And I do. Like a dog, hot on his damned heels.

Roman

He wasn’t kidding when he called it a command room. It’s like something out of a movie. One wall shows dozens of screens all with a CCTV feed.

“We usually have the main locations up but we can switch to specific ones if needed.” Tia says.

I glance at her, she looks like the cross between a computer nerd and some weird cosplay character the way her hair is dyed bright orange and big thick framed glasses perch on her nose.

“Can you hack into them, can you block the feed so they can’t get it?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “No, the technology they’re using is too advanced. We haven’t figured out how to get past it. All we can do is see what they’re seeing.”

I grin, sounds like I can teach them this at least.

“Where is the map?” I look at Koen.

He’s staring at a screen as if transfixed. I give him a nudge, probably not the best thing to do and he gives me a look that says he might just rip my fucking head off.

“What is that?” I ask looking at the building he seems obsessed with.

“It’s the new Barn.”

“What?”

His face goes so hard. “They built it especially. We got some guys inside, they were live streaming to us what’s inside before they got found and well…” He makes a gesture like he’s blowing his head off which I guess says enough. “The place’s got state of the art medical facilities, holding bays, they literally gut and cut them right there and there’s an incinerator on sight to ensure there’s no body left at the end.”

“Fuck me.” I murmur.

“They learnt mate. They learnt after you burned the last one down.”

“How did they do that so quickly?” Surely such a thing would take years to build, to construct?

He lets out a sigh. “You’ll be surprised the things you can do when you have enough money.”