Ivory reentered the underground city with her group following closely behind her. The mind of the young woman was slowly becoming more and more fragmented. She had forgotten how she even entered the cave.
The missing blanks in her memory were slowly becoming a problem.
Lilith says, "Wow. This really is something."
Rui takes out a blue microfiber cloth out of his pocket to wipe his glasses out of amazement.
Hudson tried to compose himself but his mouth was left agape.
Ivory's eyes were slowly becoming devoid of life as she gazed at the underground city once more. The large round orange led light shined and hung above the city illuminating it with a mesmerizing glow.
Ivory mutters to herself, "The stores, the people, the artificial light, this was all so beautiful."
Abigail taps Ivory on the shoulder.
Abigail stumbles over her words, "This... really is amazing. I can't really even believe my eyes."
Ivory mutters to herself gazing at the large orange led light, "I want to be one with the sun. I want to descend into it."
Abigail says with apprehension, "What... Ivory, are you okay?"
Faye quickly gets in between the two young women and tries to shake Ivory out of the trançe she was in. The older woman had seemed more worried now than during the fight with the flesh monster not too long ago.
Faye says, "Shit... Shit."
She turns around to face the thugs.
Faye says, "Do any of you have anything to eat? Protein bars... Anything?"
Rui reaches into his pocket and slowly takes out a generic green granola bar.
Faye snatches it and tilts Ivory's head to meet her eyes.
Faye quickly unwraps the granola bar, "Ivory, I've got some food for you. Can you eat it?"
Ivory says, "Eat? Yes I can do that. Yes, give it to me."
Ivory takes the green granola bar and eats it quickly.
Faye says, "Feel better?"
Life had returned back to the young woman's eyes.
Ivory holds her head, "Sorry everyone. I don't know what happened."
Abigail's voice trembles, "What's happening to her, Faye?"
Faye turns to face her with a cold gleam in her eyes, "Nothing. We just need to make sure Ivory is eating properly."
Abigail says quietly, "Bullshit."
Faye says, "What?"
Abigail looks at her with determination, "Ivory wasn't acting at all like herself and you're making it sound so normal."
Abigail turns to look over at the rest of the group, "Don't you all agree. This isn't normal. Well none of this is really..."
Ivory holds her head and looks at her group, "I'm really fine... Let's just."
Faye grins, "Okay this is good. Abigail, do you even know how abilities work? Especially concerning individuals with the mutation."
Abigail sneers, "No you're right I don't. I in fact know almost nothing about what's going on. I want answers and to start, I want to know what's happening to Ivory?"
Faye furrows her eyebrows, "It's exactly what I just said. Ivory hasn't eaten anything in awhile and her abilities rely on calories to function properly."
Faye gestures openly with her hands, "It's a side effect."
Abigail looks over at Ivory who looked sleep deprieved, "So... She will be fine as long as she eats?"
Faye nods her head, yawning, "Yes."
Ivory says weakly, "Everyone... I'm fine. Let's just go."
Faye says with annoyance, "Good idea."
Faye moves past Abigail to reach the front of the group and all of them begin their trek to the bar.
In a few minutes the group could make out a red led light sign far in the distance labeled the Last Light.
Abigail looks toward the sign, "This Last Light place is soooo far away. I hate walking."
Ivory yawns and says, "The bar is supposed to be a meeting place. It's where we can all meet with a faceless called Icarus."
Ivory wipes her eyes, "I... at least think that's why we're going."
Abigail turns to look her in the eye, "Icarus? Faceless? The faceless are trying to kill you aren't they?"
Ivory smiles faintly, "I guess not this one. He seems well. I want to say friendly but I'll say interesting."
Abigail mutters, "Can we really trust them?"
Rui slows down his pace to match the two girls, "I think Icarus likes sunburn users."
Ivory chuckles, "Yeah... I guess he does, so does that make him trustworthy?"
Rui shrugs, "Just what I heard."
Hudson playfully puts Rui in a headlock as he desperately taps out.
Hudson says, "No talking to the enemy..."
Ivory rolls her eyes, "Yeah sure. The enemy."
The group started to move past a residential area of the underground city. The homes of this city, unlike the world above, were culminated to be one with the cave. The houses made of stones were made to resemble a variety of different shapes. Most commonly hexagons, rectangles, and circles. These shapes were mashed together and with the addition of tinted blue windows, created very interesting pieces of architecture.
Ivory's eyes shifted toward the homes that were camouflaged with the grey stone walls. If it weren't for the blue tinted windows, she would have no way of distinguishing the homes from the walls.
Ivory says with a hint of confusion, "I guess, I missed this when I first came around here."
Faye says, "That's understandable. The underground city's houses are harder to see compared to the houses from above."
She couldn't help but notice upon further inspection the peering eyes of citizens looking at her group through the window.
The eyes reminded her of the red circles that enshrouded her mind earlier. She held her head tightly.
Ivory mutters to herself, "It's just some citizens. Nothing else."
Ivory exhales slowly and turns to look at Abigail.
Abigail meets her eyes for a moment, gleaming with worry.
Ivory shakes her head weakly and whispers, "I'm fine."
Abigail says, "Promise?"
Ivory smiles faintly, "Promise."
The group walks through the residential area and wanders far enough away to reach a pesky muddy terrain that would make it harder to walk on by foot.
A street vendor up ahead seemed to have the wheels of their cart stuck in the mud. The middle aged man seemed to have the spirit ripped right out of them. The long frown on their face was something Ivory had not seen in this underground city before.
The children that she saw in the past seemed to be so carefree and happy but they were all gone now. All that was left was the same smell of wet soil from the past.
The two young women move past the street vendor.
Abigail whispers, "Ivory, shouldn't we help them?"
Ivory shrugs, "There's not much we can do for them."
A rule Ivory had learned since she was little was simply to mind her own business. In a world that changed drastically, you should always prioritize your own safety over another.
One of them seemed to not understand this rule very well.
Hudson, completely unaware of his surroundings, bumps into the cart and fully knocks it over. The wooden cart's wheels weren't the only thing stuck in the mud now, but half of the cart was submerged in the sludge.
Hudson tried to move past the street vendor but he was stopped by a firm grip on his shoulder.
The street vendor says, "Come on. Help a pal out. You knocked over my cart, you know?"
Hudson slaps his hand off his shoulder, "Hands off freak."
A sunburn glowed on the street vendor's neck.
Lilith and Rui quickly took an offensive position at Hudson's side preparing for what might happen next.
Faye gets in front of the thugs as the two young women watch from ahead.
Faye smiles politely, "I'm so sorry about this one. He really is quite stupid."
The street vendor says, "That young man lacks common sense... Would you all mind helping me?"
Faye says, "Of course."
Faye lifts her right hand up with an open palm as a thorn pierces the man's chest.
The man had a smile finally appear on his face and closed his eyes.
Ivory says, "Faye... Why did you?"
The group in an instant had been surrounded by four masked bandits wearing large purple raincoats along with numbered purple masks to conceal their identities.
Sunburns glowed on each of their necks.
Faye says, "Interesting... I'm glad I kept in contact with Icarus while we were out."
Faye holds both of her hands out to signal to the rest of the group to not take a step forward.
The masked bandit labeled one says, "You all are smarter than you look. Give us everything you have and we might just let you go."
Faye holds out her palms once more as a dark shade of green starts to be lit up in her eyes.
Ivory hadn't seen this happen to the older woman before. In the last battle she didn't show clear signs of using her ability like she did. Did this mean that there was a way to mask her symptoms?
Faye says, "Before we hand you over everything we have. I want to know why. Why go against your own kind?"
The masked bandit labeled one says, "People with the mutation aren't our kind. Councilor J hunts those with the mutation with the intent to keep them alive."
The masked bandit labeled two says, "The reason public approval has risen recently for the council is because of someone with the mutation."
The masked bandit labeled three says, "That's exactly right... Someone froze the twins to be on public display."
The masked bandit labeled four says, "That couldn't have been an ordinary sunburn user and we know you aren't either."
Faye clenches her fist while maintaining a polite smile, "Thank you."
Four large thorns appear out of the ground and pierce each of the masked bandits through the chest.
The frowns turn eerily into smiles and each one of them dies instantly.
Ivory looked away from the gruesome scene.
She thought, They're outraged because of me?
Faye walks past Ivory and Abigail with the gang following closely behind her.
The deaths didn't even seem to shake the gang members. Not even the kid. What did that poor child go through?
Faye says, "Let's move."
Faye waves her hand in the air. In an instant the dead bodies and her large thorns she created sunk deep into the mud.
The group walks for a few minutes traversing through the mud carefully. The same thought was on almost all of their minds. What the hell was going on?
Ivory saw the vertical glass tube up ahead that would take them to their destination. There was little to no time left to stop but she just had to know.
Ivory's voice shook, "Faye, who were those people?"
Faye says, "Bandits, criminals, and whatever else you want to call them."
Ivory shakes her head, "No. Stop doing that. I mean why did they attack us?"
Faye looks at her with dismay, "Councilor J gained public approval recently through promising to get rid of the twins. That was the flesh monster you froze to be put on display not too long ago for our escape."
Ivory felt nothing but an emptiness stir in her body. She didn't understand it. What did any of this mean?
Faye shakes her head, "All of this means that sunburn users are growing more aware of other users with the mutation. More prejudice and crime recently has started to occur due to outrage of public approval rising for councilor J."
Ivory sighs, "I see. I guess it was foolish to think this place would be absent of violence forever."
Life in this world had an even faster cause and effect relationship than in the world before the shift. This was something she had forgotten.
The young woman took a moment to compose herself. Councilor J was supposed to suffer for what she did but in the end it was innocent people.
Ivory felt the guilt of her actions and quickly turned out of comfort to look at Abigail. Her friend hasn't spoken in awhile. The look in her eyes was of someone who wanted to cry and run away. The deaths she had witnessed were taking a toll on her.
Ivory sighed and shifted her focus to the present.
In the distance upon reaching the vertical glass tube. The group could see the stores GO-GO-GROCERIES, MACHINES & MORE, CRY NO MORE, and the LAST LIGHT.
Abigail sighs, "The stores down here are just as weird as above ground..."
Ivory smiles, "I guess it can't be helped."
Faye goes into the vertical glass tube first and gets propelled by air to reach the upper levels of the underground city.
Faye yells from above immediately, "Stop waiting around and get in already!"
The gang members go in one by one with caution approaching the vertical glass tube.
Hudson screams in a high pitched tone as he gets propelled by the air erasing the stoic persona he presented himself with before.
Lilith gets in the vertical glass tube and yawns as she gets propelled.
Rui was the last to go in and shook at the sight of the long vertical glass tube. The child unaffected by murder seemed to be afraid of heights.
Ivory says with enthusiasm clapping her hands, "You can do this Rui!"
Rui looks back at Abigail and Ivory, gives a quick salute and enters the vertical glass tube which propels him up.
Abigail gets in next and the machine quickly propels her through the air, making her scream.
Ivory gets in at last muttering to herself, "I'll never get used to this."
The glass tube shoots her up and causes her to get the air knocked out of her.
Ivory remains airborne reaching the top of the glass tube and exits the contraption.
Everyone took a second to catch their breath before they all located the red led sign labeled the Last Light.
Faye yawns, "We finally made it..."
Ivory coughs, "Somehow... We did it."
The group in a frenzy runs toward the Last Light.
Abigail looks toward the sports bar with unease.
Ivory looks toward her friend and puts a hand on her shoulder.
Ivory says, "Everything will be fine."
Abigail shakes her head, "Ivory. I don't know. Everything that's happened. All of this. It's just a lot. I keep trying to put one foot in front of the other but... I don't know."
Ivory smiles sadly, "I get it. You being here is all that matters. After we finish this meeting. We can talk about everything."
Ivory squeezes her friend's shoulder and lets go.
The group approaches the Last Light after the long trek and opens the bar's door to get inside.
Ivory looked around for a moment with her mouth agape.
The bar wasn't any unordinary small sports bar now but had transformed into an old fashioned diner. Unlike before the diner was filled to the brim with people. The rowdiness of the crowd was jarring.
The floors were different now too adorned with green and white stripes resembling a candy cane.
Rows of maroon booths, bar stools, wooden tables, wide screen tvs, and chairs filled the room.
The stage seemed to be set to encompass a gigantic meeting.
All of the people sitting and talking in the bar stopped their discussions to turn and look toward their group. The stares left Ivory speechless. Sweat slowly started to drip off her forehead. What would they even say?
Icarus peers from the counter, "Ivory, I just knew you would end up coming back."
Icarus takes a closer look to examine the group, "I see you brought some friends with you as well. Why don't you all, come in and find a seat."