Chapter 18 Chapter 16 Assignment of Tasks

The edge of the rocky exit was damaged, but I scratched my palms and shin when I rushed out of it.As I was so stiff it was painful to stand up and I was short of breath.Head dizzy as the blood trickles down. I only cared about one thing - where Jared was so I could put myself between him and his attackers. They all stood there motionless, staring at me intently.With his back to the wall, Jared lowered his hands into fists.In front of him was Kyle, abs clenched, crouched ready to attack.Ian and a stranger a few feet behind him, mouths gaping open in surprise.Taking advantage of their surprise, I took two trembling strides and got between Kyle and Jared.

Kyle was the first to react.I was within a foot of him and his first instinct was to push me away.He put his hands on my shoulders and pushed me hard to the ground.Before I fell, something grabbed my wrist and pulled me up. As soon as Jared realized what he had done, he let go of my wrist, as if something acid was dripping from my skin. "Get back there," he growled at me.He pushed my shoulder too, but not as hard as Kyle.This made me stagger back two steps towards the hole in the wall. The hole was a dark circle in the narrow passage.Outside the tiny prison, the larger cavern looked exactly the same, only deeper, taller, and tube-shaped instead of bubble-shaped.A small lamp - powered by what I can't guess - lit the passage with a dim light from the floor, casting strange shadows on the faces of the men, turning them into rage Devil's face.

I took another step forward toward them, with my back to Jared. "I'm the one you want," I said directly to Kyle, "none of his business." For a long time no one said a word. "Sly fellow," Ian murmured at last, his eyes widening in terror. "I said go back there," Jared snapped behind me. I half turned around, not wanting Kyle out of my sight: "It's not your job to sacrifice yourself to protect me." Jared looked distressed, and raised one hand to push me into the hole again. I jumped away, which caused my body to move in the direction of those who wanted to kill me.

Ian grabbed my arms and clamped them behind my back.I resist instinctively, but he holds on tight.He twisted my knuckles backwards desperately, and I couldn't help gasping for breath. "Get your hands off her!" Jared snapped. Kyle grabs him, turns him around, scissors his neck and pushes him forward in a wrestling motion, while another grabs Jared's wrestling arm. "Don't hurt him!" I screamed, trying as hard as I could to break free from the grip of my hand. Jared's free arm slammed into Kyle's stomach hard.Kyle gasped and let go of his hand.Jared twisted his body away from his attacker, stepped back suddenly, his fist hit Kyle on the bridge of the nose, and bright red blood spattered on the wall and lamp.

"Finish it, Ian!" Kyle yelled.He ducked his head and lunged at Jared, causing him to crash into the other man. "No!" Jared and I yelled at the same time. Ian let go of my arm and clamped my throat in his arm, choking my breath.My stubby nails clawed at his hand in vain, and he gripped me even tighter, my feet lifted off the ground. It hurts - the arm around my throat, the sudden panic in my lungs, the agony of death.I wriggled, not so much to escape the murderous hands as to escape the pain. Click, click. I had only heard this voice once before, but I recognized it, and everyone else recognized it.None of them moved, and Ian's hands were tightly wrapped around my neck.

"Kyle, Ian, Brant—back off!" Jeb snapped. No one moved—just my hands, still grasping, and my feet squirming in the air. Jared suddenly sprinted out from under Kyle's motionless arms and rushed towards me.I saw his fist fly towards my face, making me close my eyes. There was a loud snap from inches behind my head.Ian roared and I fell to the ground.I fell down at his feet, gasping for breath.Jared glanced angrily in my direction, then backed away, and walked over to stand by Jeb's arm. "Boys, you're guests here, don't forget that," Jeb growled, frowning. "I told you not to come to this girl. She's my guest for the time being, and any guest is trying to kill anyone else. Man, I'm not letting him go."

"Jeb," Ian moaned in pain above me, his voice muffled by a hand over his mouth, "Jeb, this is crazy." "What's your plan?" Kyle asked forcefully, his face was covered in blood, he was fierce and ferocious, but there was no sign of pain in his tone, only suppressed resentment, "We have the right to know. We have to be sure Is this place safe, or is it time to move on. So how long are you going to keep this thing as a pet? What do you do with it when you’re done playing God? All of us should know the answers to those questions.” Kyle's uncharacteristic words echoed the thumping sound in my head.Treat me like a pet?Jeb just treated me as a guest. Is that another way of saying a prisoner?Is it possible for two people to coexist without claiming my life, or confessing without suffering?If so, it's nothing short of miraculous.

"There's no answer you want, Kyle," Jeb said. "That's not up to me." I doubt that any other answers Jeb can offer them will only confuse them more.Four people in total, Kyle, Ian, the man I didn't know, and Jared, all stared at him in amazement.I'm still gasping for breath at Ian's feet, hoping that somehow I can crawl back into my hole without being noticed. "It's up to you?" Kyle repeated at last, still in disbelief, "So, who? If you're thinking about voting on this, you've already done so, and Ian, Brant, and I are delegates based on the vote. "

Jeb shook his head—very little, never taking his eyes off the man in front of him. "It's not up to the vote, it's still my home." "So, who?" Kyle yelled. Jeb's eyes end-flick to another face, then back to Kyle. "Jared decides." Everyone, including me, turned their eyes to Jared and stared at him intently. He gapes at Jeb, as shocked as the others, and then he clenches his teeth so hard we can all hear him.He glanced angrily in my direction, pure hatred in his eyes. "Jared?" Kyle asked, looking directly at Jeb again, "that doesn't make any sense!" He couldn't help himself now, and snapped out in a fit of rage, "He's more serious than anyone else." Biased! Why? How could he be sane about it?"

"Jeb, I don't" Jared muttered vaguely. "She is your responsibility, Jared." Jeb said firmly, "Of course I will help you. If there is another trouble like this, I will help you keep an eye on her and related things. But when it comes to It's up to you to make the decision." When Kyle was about to protest again, he raised a hand, "Look at it this way, Kyle. If someone is out searching for food and finds your Jody, bring her back here, do you want me, or the doctor, or a vote to decide what we do with her?" "Jordy's dead," Kyle snapped, blood spurting from his lips.He stared at me angrily, almost exactly the same eyes Jared used.

"Well, if her body is wandering here, it will still be up to you to decide. Do you want to use another method?" "most--" "My home, my rules," Jeb interrupted sharply, "this is over, no more votes, no more execution attempts. You three spread the word—do it from now on , new rules." "Another one?" Ian muttered under his breath. Jeb ignored him: "Even if it's unlikely, anyway, if something like this happens again, no matter who the body belongs to, it's up to whoever decides." Jeb pointed the bolt of the gun at Kyle, then pointed it at Pulled a few inches in the direction of the aisle behind, "Get out of here, I don't want to see you in this place again, you let everyone know that this aisle is off limits. There is no reason for anyone to come here except Jared, if I meet Someone's sneaking around, and I'm not going to ask why, you understand? Go, now!" He pointed the gun at Kyle again. I was amazed that the three assassins immediately stormed down the aisle without even stopping to give me or Jeb a stern look. I desperately wanted to believe that the gun in Jeb's hand was nothing more than a pose. Jeb has been friendly in every way since I first met him.He never once treated me roughly; there was not even discernible hostility in the way he looked at me.Now it looks like he's one of the only two people here who won't hurt me.Jared probably fought to keep me alive, but he was clearly conflicted about the choice, and I sensed he could change his mind at any moment.Judging by the look on his face, he kind of wants this to be over—especially now that Jeb has put him in charge.While I was doing this analysis, Jared looked at me sullenly, his distaste evident in every wrinkle of his face. However, no matter how much I hoped that Jeb was just trying to scare people, I watched the three of them move away from me and disappear into the darkness, and I knew he was not playing tricks.Beneath the surface, Jeb was sure to be just as ruthless as anyone else.If he hadn't used that gun before - to kill with it, not just to intimidate - no one would have obeyed him like this. The situation is dire, Melanie said softly, and in the world you have created, we cannot afford kindness.We are all running for our lives, an endangered species, and every choice is a matter of life and death. Shh, I don't have time to debate, I need to concentrate. Jared was looking directly at Jeb now, a hand stretched out in front of him, palm up, fingers curled limply.Now that everyone else is gone, their body positions are less tense.Jeb even grinned under his bushy beard, as if he enjoyed winning a draw at gunpoint, weird human. "Please don't leave this to me, Jeb," Jared said. "Kyle's right about one thing—I can't make a rational decision." "No one ever said you had to make a decision now, she's not going anywhere." Jeb glanced down at me, still grinning, the eye closest to me—the one Jared couldn't see. Only—quickly closed it, and then opened it again, he was blinking, "She has gone through all kinds of hardships to get here, you have plenty of time to think about it." "Nothing to think about, Melanie's dead, but I can't—I can't—Jeb, I just can't" Jared seemed unable to continue. tell him. I'm not ready to die right now. "Then don't think about it," Jeb told him. "Maybe you'll figure something out later, in a while." "What are we going to do with it? We can't guard it day and night." Jeb shook his head. "That's exactly what we've had to do for a while. Things will subside. Even Kyle's murderous rage won't last a few weeks." "Weeks? We can't afford to be guarded here for weeks, we have other things to do" "I know, I know." Jeb sighed. "I'm going to figure something out." Jeb smiled down at me. "You're not going to give us any trouble now, are you?" I stared at him silently. "Jeb," Jared whispered dejectedly. "Oh, don't worry about her. First, we'll be watching her. Second, there's no way she'll find her way out of here—she'll wander aimlessly and get lost before she bumps into someone else. Which leads to the third point: She's not that stupid." He raised his bushy white eyebrows at me, "You're not going after Kyle or anyone else, are you? I don't think any of them like you very much." I just stared at him, wary of his casual, informal tone. "I hope you don't talk to it like that," Jared whispered. "I grew up in more polite times, boy, and I can't help it." Jeb put a hand on Jared's arm and patted it lightly. "Look, you haven't Rest, let me continue to guard here, you go to sleep for a while." Jared was about to say no, when he gave me another look, then hardened. "It's up to you, Jeb, and I don't—I'm not going to accept responsibility for this thing. Kill it, if you think that's best." I shudder. Jared frowned at my reaction, then turned abruptly and walked back to where the others had disappeared.Jeb watched him walk away and I crawled into my hole when he wasn't looking. I heard Jeb sit down slowly on the ground beside the opening.He sighed, then stretched his legs and stretched his joints a few times.After a few minutes, he began to whistle softly, a cheerful tune. I curled up on my bent knees, pressing my back against the deepest part of the cell.My lower back began to tremble, moving back and forth down my spine.My hands trembled and my teeth chattered lightly, despite the humidity and heat. "Lie down and get some sleep," Jeb said, and I'm not sure if he was talking to himself or to me. "Tomorrow's going to be a rough day." The shivering passed shortly afterwards—perhaps after half an hour.When they all walked away, I was exhausted.I decided to take Jeb's advice.Although the ground was more uncomfortable than before, after a while I fell into a dream. The smell of food wakes me up.This time when I opened my eyes, I felt dizzy and disoriented.Before I could fully wake up, an instinctive sense of panic made my hands tremble again. The same tray sits securely on the ground next to me, with the same food on it.I could see Jeb and hear his voice.Viewed from the side, he was sitting in front of the cave, looking straight at the long circular corridor in front of him, and whistling softly. Being thirsty, I sat up and grabbed my open water bottle. "Good morning," Jeb said, nodding in my direction. I froze in place, my hand on the bottle, until his head turned back and he started whistling again. Only now, not as thirsty as before, did I notice that the water tasted less palatable.The taste is consistent with sour air, but slightly stronger.This strong taste lingered in my mouth, lingering. I ate quickly, this time with soup at the end.What I ate today gave my stomach a kick, and it was much more receptive to it, with barely a gurgling sound. My body has other needs, though, now that the most ostentatious need has been met.I looked around the dark, cramped cavern with few visible options, but the thought of speaking up, making a request, even to the eccentric but friendly Jeb, was almost overwhelming to my horror. I rocked back and forth, struggling internally, my hips aching from following the bowl of the cave. "Oh," said Jeb. He looked at me again, his face darker than usual under the white hair. "You've been stuck here for a while," he said, "do you need to get out?" I nod. "You don't mind if I take you there myself." His tone was encouraging.He rose to his feet with an astonishing agility. I climbed to the edge of the cave and peered cautiously out at him. "I'm going to take you to our little lavatory," he continued, "so, you should know we're going to have to go through, so to speak, some major crowds. Don't worry, I think everyone's got by now I got the news." Unconsciously, he compared the length of the gun. I wanted to choke up, but I couldn't hold back, just constant pain, the kind of pain that was impossible to ignore.But to walk through the lair of raging killers with dignity?Can't he bring me a bucket? He weighed the panic in my eyes—watching me automatically duck deeper into the cave—he pursed his lips in contemplation, and he turned and walked down the dimly lit hallway. "Follow me!" he yelled back, not checking to see if I would listen to him. The image of Kyle finding me alone flashed through my mind vividly, and within a few moments I was right behind Jeb, fumbling awkwardly across the distance between me and him, then stretched my stiff hands. Legs limped to keep up with him.Standing up straight again was terrifying and wonderful—a lot of pain, but a little bit more relief. When we came to the end of the aisle, I was right behind him.The dilapidated tall oval exit is dark and eerie.I hesitated, looking back at the little lamp he had left on the ground.This is the only light in the dark cave, should I take it? He heard me stop, turned his head and squinted at me.I nodded toward the lamp, then looked back at him. "Never mind it, I know the way." He stretched out his free hand to me, "I'll show you the way." I stared at his hand for a long time, then I couldn't hold it anymore, and then I dawdled and put my hand in his palm, barely touching it - I acted like I was somehow forced to touch a snake like. Jeb led me through the darkness with firm, swift steps.After passing through the long tunnel, the road becomes winding and criss-crossing, which is confusing.When we suddenly turned a V-shaped turn along the way, I knew I was being detoured, but there was nothing I could do.I'm sure that was on purpose, and why Jeb left the light on.He didn't want me to know too much about how to find my way out of this maze. I'd love to know how this place came to be, how Jeb found it, how the others got here, but I forced my lips together.In my opinion, silence is the best option at this moment.What I was hoping for, I'm not sure.How many more days?Just to stop the pain for a while?Is there anything else left?All I know is that I'm not ready to die, and as I told Melanie earlier, my survival instincts are in every way fully developed, like those of an ordinary human being. We turned another corner, and the first rays of light hit us.Just ahead, a tall, narrow chasm shone with light from another room.This ray of light is not artificial, like the little lamp in my cave.It is too white, too pure. We couldn't walk through the cleft in the rock side by side, and Jeb went first, pulling me close behind.Once through - and able to see things again - I broke free of Jeb's grip on my hand.He didn't react, just put the free hand back on the barrel of the gun. We entered a short tunnel, and a brighter lamp illuminated the rough arched doorway, and I heard the chatter of the crowd.No one was expecting to see us today, and I can only imagine the reaction to me and Jeb being together.My palms were cold and wet, and my breath became short of breath, gasping for breath.I get as close to Jeb as possible without touching him. "Relax," he whispered, without turning around, "they're more afraid of you than you are of them." I doubt this, and even if it could be true, the fear will turn into hatred and violence in the human heart. "I'm not going to let anyone hurt you," Jeb murmured when he came to the archway. "Anyway, get used to it." I wanted to ask what that meant, but he went straight into the other room.I tiptoed after him, only half a step away from him, trying to hide my body behind him as much as possible.The only thing harder than making my way into that room myself was the thought of falling behind Jeb and getting caught here alone. We were greeted by sudden silence. We came again to the huge bright cave where they had taken me in the first place.How long ago was that?I have no idea.The top of the cave is still too bright, and I still can't figure out how it's lit.I hadn't noticed it before, but there were cracks here and there in the cave walls—a dozen or so irregular gaps running through, connecting the tunnels.Some of the openings were very large, others were barely wide enough for a man to bend over; some were natural crevices, others were at least worked by someone's hand, if not chiseled by hand. Several people stared at us from the deepest parts of these cracks, standing motionless as we passed in and out.More people came out and stood in the open space. No matter what they were doing at the time, our arrival interrupted their activities and made them freeze in place.A woman bends over to tie her shoelaces.A man's arms were waving in the air, and he was about to raise his hand to explain something to his companion, but he was frozen in that moment.The other staggered, stopping suddenly and throwing him off balance.As he struggled to gain his footing, his feet hit the ground heavily.The thud of feet on the ground was the only sound in the vast space and echoed throughout the room. It would be wrong in principle for me to be grateful for the terrible weapon in Jeb's hands, but I do feel that way.I know that without guns, we are likely to be attacked.These humans aren't going to stop themselves from hurting Jeb if that means they can get me.We could be attacked whether we had guns or not, though, and Jeb could only shoot one of them at a time. The scene in my head became so horrific that I couldn't take it anymore.It was bad enough that I struggled to focus on the immediate situation. Jeb paused for a moment, the gun at his waist, aiming out.He stared at the entire room, seeming to lock his eyes on everyone in the room one by one.There were less than twenty people here, and it didn't take long.When he was satisfied with his research, he walked towards the left wall of the cave.Blood buzzing in my eardrums, I followed his shadow. He didn't go straight through the cave, instead, he kept walking along the curve of the wall.I didn't know his route until I noticed a large, darker square occupying the very center of the ground—a very large area.No one stood in this darker place, and I was too frightened to notice anything out of the ordinary, without even guessing why. There was a small commotion in the crowd as we circled the silent room.The stooped woman straightened up and wriggled to watch me leave, the gesturing man folded his arms around his chest.All squinted, all faces elongated in exasperation.However, no one came towards us, no one spoke.Whatever Kyle and the others had said to these guys about their confrontation with Jeb seemed to have had the effect that Jeb had hoped for. As we made our way through this "jungle of human statues," I recognized Sharon and Maggie watching us from a wide-open exit.Their expressions were empty and their eyes were indifferent.They weren't looking at me, they were just looking at Jeb, and he ignored them. After what felt like years, we were finally at the far end of the cave.Jeb walked toward a medium-sized exit that looked dark against the bright house.The eyes staring at my back make my scalp tingle, but I dare not look back.People still don't say a word, but I fear they might follow, and it's a real relief to slip into the darkness of this new passage.Jeb's hand took my elbow to lead me the way, and I didn't move away, and the chatter didn't ring up behind us again. "Things are going better than I expected," Jeb said softly as he led me through the cave.What he said surprised me, and I'm glad I didn't know what he thought was going to happen. The ground slops down beneath my feet, and a dim light ahead saves me from blinding my eyes. "I bet you've never seen anything like my place." Jeb's voice was louder now, returning to the same chatty tone he'd been using before. "It's pretty cool, isn't it?" He paused briefly, in case I might react, and continued. "Discovered this place back in the seventies. Well, it found me. I fell off the top of this big room - probably should have died, but I was too strong and it took me It took a while to find the way out. I was so hungry I could eat rocks before I found it." "I was the only one left on the ranch at the time, so I couldn't show anyone a look at it. I dug every nook and cranny in the cave, and I could see the possibilities. I'm sure here Possibly a secret I'll only reveal when I have to, just in case. That's what we, the Stryders, do—we like to be prepared." We passed those dim lights - light coming in through a fist-sized hole in the top, creating a bright circle on the ground.As it fell behind us, I saw another bright spot in the distance. "You're probably wondering how that happened." Another pause, shorter than the last, "I know myself, I've done a little research. These are lava tubes—can you guess? It used to be a volcano here. Well, it still is, I guess. It's not completely dead, maybe you'll see before long, and all these caves and openings are bubbles that meet lava that's cooling. Over the last few It took me a lot of work over ten years, some easy - just a scratch on the arm to connect the tubes, others more imagination. You see the top in the big room Is it? That took me years to get right." I wanted to ask him how he did it, but I couldn't bring myself to speak, silence is the safest. The ground began to slope downward and became steeper.The ground was starting to be uneven, but firm enough that Jeb led me down confidently.As we get closer to the ground, the heat gets hotter and the air gets more humid. I froze when I heard the cacophony of talking again, this time from the front, and Jeb patted my hand kindly. "You'll love this one—it's always a favorite," he promises. A wide archway shimmered in the shimmering light.The color of the light was the same as in the Great Room, pure and white, but it danced and flickered in a strange rhythm.Like everything else in this cave that I can't understand, the light frightens me. "Here we are," Jeb said enthusiastically, pulling me out of the archway. "What do you think?"