Asunder Chapter 8

Chapter 2.3 (8)

The Woman

Fresh Air

“When I look at them, their eyes glow hollow. They are less scary, having lived around them for so long now. Everyone else has spent their whole lives around them, which is somewhat new to me. It was so easy to forget their hatred, that is, until Elo Warder dropped the laser and broke it, then they broke him.” - Journal of Jane Rose - Entry 791

- Present Day -

- The year 2296 -

Adult Jane stretched open her eyes to the sound of thudding metal steps. Her head pounded as her brain tried to promote consciousness and sustain it. A shadowy figure swept by, quickly eclipsing the parallel strips of the flashing red emergency lights streaming through the metal grate. Where was she? What was going on?

A crackling fabricated feminine voice echoed over the intercom system, “All personnel, report to your dormitories immediately. I repeat, all personnel report to your dormitories at once.”

Suddenly, the smell of a particular burning stench permeated her senses and ignited her memories. The screams echoed in Jane’s mind from just moments before. A remembrance of the events came to the forefront of her mind. She was running. Realizing her action of remaining hidden caused the death and destruction of her dear friends. She had to make herself known to the machines—to stop the massacre. Though she was not who they thought she was, someone planning an attack, she would not let anyone else die. Reaching for the knife resting near her, she exhaustively lifted it and slipped it into the slit bordering the grate. Feeling the same latch as the previous ventilation grate, she pushed up, which released it, and subsequently unlocked the metal panel. The grate creaked open, revealing a now empty hallway. Only the haunting glow of the silent flashing red lights remained. She could still hear the metal-on-metal pounding of the retreating machines. Grabbing the edge of the ventilation shaft, she pulled herself out and, in so doing, clumsily fell the short distance into her shoulder, hitting the hard ground below. Trembling, she weakly lifted herself onto her knees, using the wall as a crutch.

Looking down the curved hall leading away from the dining area, Jane opened her mouth to yell toward the machines who passed by just moments before, hoping to give away her location to end the carnage. The machines were no longer in sight. Only the sound of their footsteps remained. She strained her voice, but only a faint whisper escaped her lips. She imagined the machines going to her dormitory and vanquishing her neighbors and friends. The thought compelled her further. Realizing her voice would not do the trick, she frantically reached into the ventilation shaft and grabbed hold of the knife she had used to open the grate. Then, in a rapid motion, she slammed the blade repeatedly against the metal grate, attempting to make as much noise as possible. The echoing noise of her action clambered off the walls, abruptly silencing the retreating footsteps. She began slamming the knife harder against the wall, as she had clearly caught their attention.

Suddenly, a barrage of blaring sirens followed by the same electronic feminine voice booming through the hallways muffled the sound of her banging knife.

“Alert, alert, source found, all Enforcers report to sector G17.”

I did it, Jane thought. She stopped the carnage from continuing, so she slumped to the ground, drained. Waiting for the machines to round the corner to intercept her, she panted, feeling the child in her abdomen pressing against her lungs with each breath.

The message repeated itself. As the sirens dissipated, Jane impatiently waited for the sounds of advancing metal footsteps—for the machines to intercept her and stop their carnage. Except they never came. She waited in bated anticipation, but the footsteps only disappeared into the distance. Panic flowed through her suddenly.

The voice said they had found the source.

The voice said the source was in sector G17.

G17?

Where was G17?

Looking about her, she saw large white letters spanning the wall across from her as it curved out of sight.

B08.

That couldn’t be right. Then Jane remembered her dormitory stood in sector E11. Neither of which was G17. Sector G17 was near the medical wing, if she remembered correctly. The Takers must have disregarded her noises and gone to rally with their comrades in G17.

But who had they found?

Were there others they had been searching for?

Did they mistake someone else for her?

She heaved herself back up to her feet. Her dormitory was a good ten-minute walk at an average even eight-month-pregnant pace, but in her current state, it would take at least twenty minutes. But in doing so, she could warn her neighbors, reveal herself, and stop further destruction. Jane hesitated for a moment.

What if I’m not the one they are looking for? Clearly, she wasn’t!

She was not someone who planned any sort of attack. Unless… Had they found evidence of the bomb she had been making for a distraction to escape? Likely not. She had kept it on her person at all times. It sat in her pouch at her hip currently. What had they said? She was the leader of a rebel group? She was not. She was Jane, a pregnant cook, imprisoned and widowed, not some leader of a rebel group hoping to fight the machines.

The overhead voice said they had located the source. Maybe Jane was not the source? If so… this moment could be the chance she had been waiting for—her chance to escape. Perhaps she could take advantage of the ensuing confusion and finally make her move, she thought. This could be the break she had hoped for, the moment of truth. Steadying herself, Jane stood and looked down the corridor. In the distance, the lockers where she kept her grab-and-go bag glimmered in the dim fluorescent light. Stumbling weakly across the hall, she made her way to the lockers. If this was the moment Jane had been waiting for, she needed to act fast. She quickly found her locker among the masses, reached into her apron, and retrieved a keychain containing the key to the locker. She hesitated. If she did this, there would be no turning back.

Jane wasn’t sure where to go after the escape, but anything was better than this place. As she reached for the lock, the image of her old home popped into her head. Of all places, Jane wanted to return to her home valley the most. It had been years since she was last there, and the machines likely forgot… right? It wasn’t likely too far, especially if she assumed the facility’s location correctly. She could not return to the cave she had lived in before. The machines had only extracted her from there a few years ago and likely kept a close eye on it. Though they knew the location of her home valley, they had not known it was HER home, so they likely wouldn’t think to look there.

Settling on this in her mind, Jane would make her way there and hope someone had reinhabited it. Though comprised of rough terrain to traverse, sparse and full of wild animals and Watchers, it was nothing she couldn’t handle. Her parents raised her to survive. Her father had taught her to hunt, trap, gather, and withstand the elements. The only question was whether she could do these things eight months pregnant. She would likely make the trip in double the time it would typically take, but she had no other option. It was now or never.

She inserted the key within the lock, and the mechanical tinkering delivered her to a locker jammed with her enormous backpack. Pulling it out, she heaved it over her shoulder. Noticing she still had the knife, she reached down and slipped it into her right boot. Then, peeking over her shoulder, she assessed her surroundings. No machines were coming. She closed the locker and, slowly limping, made her way toward sector A02: the waste disposal sector. The machines’ rampage had set her plan in motion—a blessing in disguise. Though she could not save the others around her, she had no choice. She was not the rebel leader they were looking for. And so she would escape and save her baby.

§

The pain in her chest started to ease the further she walked. The screams of her friends and family echoed in her mind. She could see her father running off into the distance, her mother falling from the sky, and the red glow of the Watcher as it traveled through the valley, ripping up the land below it. The red glow transformed into the palm of the Taker. The memory of the fiery illumination emanated through the grate as it seared its evil energy into her soul. The flashing red lights around her only amplified the nightmares haunting her awake state.

She had advanced through most of sector B without any sign of human or machine. The shape of the facility was a circular tunnel cut into the mountain, so she remained on guard as she could not see beyond the curve of the corridor. Off-shooting tunnels connected each sector to the main corridor she currently traversed. The machines had categorized each sector alphabetically. By this categorization, she knew the waste disposal sector was only a little farther—A09.

Having worked in the kitchen, she had witnessed the waste disposal droids leaving to the incinerators. She would send the trash from the dinner each night in the care of the disposal transfer robot to sector A09. According to her late friend and mother figure, Anja, the machines removed the ash from the facility in large metal crates at the end of each week. One of her earlier contingency plans, which she discarded, involved escaping hidden in one of the crates during disposal day. She kept the plan in her back pocket in case the ventilation shafts in the incinerator room remained heavily guarded.

Jane reached the hall connecting Sector B to Sector A and peeked around the corner, revealing a long tunnel. A cold draft blew through the corridor. She had never been in this sector before. The fresh, cool air smelled of pine and rain. This place was definitely where the machines built the ventilation shafts. The fresh air revitalized her to a degree, and she wished she would’ve known of this place before, as Jane had not been outdoors in years. More than anything, she craved the fresh mountain air. Finding no machines currently at guard, she looked over her shoulder one last time and then entered the forbidden sector. Signs posted everywhere indicated humans were not allowed in this area of the colony.

Ash deposits lined the main tunnel of Sector A, indicating the nearby waste disposal area. She always imagined this area would be rich with the smell of rotten food and human excrement, and, therefore, she was pleasantly surprised by only the scent of ash and soot. As Jane reached the end of the hall, a shuffling noise suddenly scurried behind her. The same disposal transfer robot she saw each night to dispose of her garbage rounded the corner she had just entered from. The droid, surprised to see someone else within the hall, stopped in its tracks. It stared at her for a long moment. A curved metal neck connected its sleek, elongated head to its hunched mechanical shoulders. Ten spider-like legs lined its flat underbody. The droid carried and disposed of whatever the machines and even the humans wanted, be it the trash or the dead.

She breathed, praying the robot would stay silent and continue working. The prayer was unanswered. Suddenly, the droid burst into a frantic shout of alarm. Apparently, the machines programmed it to warn them of any human whereabouts. Fuzzy chirps and beeps spewed from its audiometer. It scurried back around and down the hall it came from.

Panic-stricken, she quickly turned around and started jogging toward sector A09. She hoped it would take the droid longer to contact the Takers than it would for her to find a place to hide. The resounding sound of sirens and the return of the digital feminine voice squashed the thought.

“Alert, alert, Enforcers report to sector A immediately.”

How could she escape or even hide from the Takers now if they knew where to look?

She ran until she reached the hall, branching out from the central corridor. Large white letters and an arrow signified she was at the right place, sector A09. She quickly rounded the corner and searched for the incinerator room. Though unaware of the exact location of the room, a higher urgency and determination fueled her search. The further she descended into the bowels of the sector, the colder the tunnels became. The draft grew stronger, indicating she was headed in the right direction. The incinerator required ventilation. Wherever the incinerator was, there was also the ventilation shaft system leading out of the mountain, just as Abrash had mentioned.

Then, the memory struck her as lightning. When she first arrived, a pillar of smoke billowed from the side of the mountain. At that time, her sorrows of being captured overwhelmed her, and the pillar of smoke stood as a condescending figure before her, evidence of her dark and bleak future. And now, instead, the pillar of smoke stood as a guiding beacon of light. The smoke had been coming from the ventilation shaft.

She passed room after room, filled with replacement parts, broken machinery, and cargo containers overflowing with ash. She was nearing the end of the tunnel when, finally, a gust of wind sprayed soot out from the doorway of the second to last room in the hall. There it is! She thought.

Upon reaching the room, she found it more petite than she imagined. Giant heat emitters lined the stone walls. The most important findings were the two wide square tunnels leading diagonally from each corner of the room. They traveled upward, leading to, hopefully, freedom. Gusts of ice-cold wind flowed out of both ducts. In a two-course ventilation system, one duct allowed the inflow of air while the other allowed the outflow of smoke during the incineration process. Why would the machines have created such an easy passageway out of the mountain? She figured humans, upon finding out about them, would definitely use them to escape.

She looked around the room. Inches of thick white and gray ash lined the hard and cold floor, pocked with multiple clawlike footsteps. Then, it struck her. This was why no one used the tunnels for escape. They were usually heavily guarded. The walls carried black stains from the years of extreme heat. The dichotomy of the room did not fall short on her, even in her panicked state. Multiple times a week, the room went from the coldest place within the facility to temperatures likely resembling the sun's surface.

Focusing her attention, she tried to get her bearings. One tunnel had to lead to the mountainside along the east face, and the other led to an unknown location. One was definite freedom, and the other could be her demise. The Takers would soon be upon her. Jane had to decide which tunnel to take. Suddenly, thundering footsteps rapidly approached the corridor outside the room. Without thinking, she ran to the far-right corner and lifted herself into the ascending shaft. With her arms stretched to the side and her backpack pressed against the roof, she quickly proceeded upward into the dark abyss of the tunnel.

Just as she was within the confines of the tunnel, a band of metal footsteps entered the incinerator room.

They were there.

She strained and continued lurching forward, sweat dripping from her brow. Her heart pounded, threatening to escape her chest. Looking back, she could see a red glow ascend the shaft. She was sure they could see her now.

“Here!” a fuzzy voice called out.

An all-too-familiar whirring began to resound below—the winding up of the accelerator within the gauntlet. The same sound echoed in her memories of the day the machines took her family. This time, though, there was no gunshot to take down the terrors pursuing her, no Judge Jenkins to save her. Though she continued to scurry, she knew it was useless. The heat would soon overtake her and end this escapade. A different digital voice suddenly interrupted.

“Wait, Vic! The Alpha needs her alive!”

The mechanical winding of the accelerator shut down, and an exasperated relief reverberated within Jane.

“Well, I won’t fit in here! Enzo, crawl up there and get her out!” The other voice demanded.

Suddenly, the sound of metal claws clambering at the mouth of the shaft reverberated—thud after thud. Looking back, the other machine, who had at least stopped the first from vanquishing her, attempted to enter the shaft to pursue her. Though, curiously, the sound grew distant as she continued to ascend. Glancing back, she could see the Taker, with its eyes glowing red in the distance, trying to enter the shaft, but luckily, it was too large to fit as well.

“Heat it up! We’ll smoke her out,” the first digital voice yelled.

Jane continued climbing, but there was still no evidence of an opening ahead—no apparent light at the end of the tunnel. Her arms ached fiercely, and her knees trembled under the strain. She began to worry her body would not hold much longer. Only blackness loomed ahead of her. The accelerators started winding up again, followed by a distant red glow. Peeking back, she could see the machine using its energy palms to melt the edge of the metal shaft to fit its bulky shoulders through.

Molten metal and rock dripped from its palms, and the machine slowly began to widen the tunnel to ascend after her. The machine could not suffer from exhaustion, whereas hers started to set in more abundantly. The metal against her hands began to warm with the heating of it by the Taker. Her lower back ached with the child's weight in her abdomen and the awkward heft of the backpack. It was difficult for her to take deep breaths in the hunched position, as the occupied space within her torso was limiting the expansion of her lungs. Her pace slowed as the agony of the climb weighed down on her. The machine slowly began to gain on her as it reshaped the tunnel to fit its body. The glow from below revealed the path ahead through her shadows. Metal bars now glimmered ahead, indicating a blockage. Of course, she thought. They wouldn’t just have a direct path out of the facility. Prison bars blocked her ascent. Tears welled up in her overwhelmed eyes. This was the end.

The metal continued to rise in temperature, becoming extremely uncomfortable for the bare skin of her hands and neck. She pulled her sleeves over her hands, and the heat burned beneath her clothing. Her boots began to stick to the metal below them as the rubber slowly began to soften. The panic within her erupted.

Just as she was about to let go, about to give up hope, the most peculiar and horrifying sound erupted around her. It started as a deep reverberation within the mountain. Distant within the surrounding stone. The tunnel beneath her hands began to rumble quietly like a wave descended upon her. Suddenly, the rumbling grew more robust, and then, as though a precise earthquake struck the tunnel, the mountain rock lamented below her. A sudden crash boomed, and the weakened, melting metal of the tunnel collapsed under the weight of the stone it had been holding in place. Without thought, she lunged forward to escape the falling tunnel and squeezed her eyes shut, preparing for the end—for her destruction underneath the weight of a mountain.

§

She held her breath, embracing her entire body.

The rumbling slowly subsided.

She took a deep breath and felt all around her. She was intact. The mountain had not crushed her.

Suddenly, she began to slide back down the tunnel. Fearing she would fall back into the hands of the Taker pursuing her, she scrambled to steady herself. Even in her failed attempt to stop her descent, she continued to slide until her feet bumped against something hard. Confused, she glanced below and visualized a Godsend. A large collapsed section of the tunnel blocked her way, stopping her trajectory into the hands of the Taker. No sign or sound of the Taker was evident. The stone blocked her from its pursuit. The section of the tunnel currently encasing her still held its weight, remaining intact.

Collecting herself, Jane quickly regained her composure and, taking the opportunity provided, she began to shimmy up the tunnel again. She sighed an exasperated breath. What had happened? Surely, her end had come. The faint sounds of the machine scraping at the rock below reverberated in a muffled tone. There was no time to waste. Whatever had just happened had allowed her the moment she needed to escape. She would need to find a way to get through the metal bars ahead. Maybe she could use some of the explosives she had been making to loosen it?

She began to ascend again up the shaft toward the fresh air abounding in the tunnel now. Though she had an opening, she still had little time to escape. The machines likely knew the location of the externalization of the shaft and would be sending reinforcements to intercept her.

With renewed strength, she approached the metal bars. She reached up to assess their integrity and found them twisted and bent. Her mind reeled. The earthquake somehow had broken the bars. She grabbed one of the metal bars and pulled with all her might, moving it slightly, creating enough room to squeeze around. Confused by the series of events but in no place to contemplate them, she hurriedly began pushing her body through the opening. The feat was made more difficult by her protuberant belly. Once across the barrier, she momentarily looked back. The machine was still nowhere in sight, and the bars behind her renewed her hope. She in no way would have escaped before. It was as if a divine hand had provided her a way.

She wearily ascended the tunnel further. Suddenly, after following a bend in the shaft, light began to fill the tunnel. She dug deep within herself, and though aching and on the verge of complete exhaustion, she approached the exit, ever determined. Bright white light blinded her vision, and the slow burn and eye-watering transition of her retinas adjusted to the new scene before her. The progression from a muggy tunnel below her into a vast cold wind nearly took her breath away. The orifice of the ventilation shaft opened directly onto the mountain's rocky face. The mountainside descended at an acute angle, and she stumbled onto her back, catching her breath and giving her limbs a much-needed break. Arms stretched out wide. She sighed a great breath of relief and took in the expanse of a great blue sky before her. Tears welled at the corners of her eyes. She had longed to see the sky for years, and now there it was. She took in one last breath and then returned her thoughts to the matter at hand. Though her escape had been rigorous, she knew she had not reached her goal yet. Quickly rolling onto her chest, she eased herself onto her knees. With her eyesight still adjusting, she squinted, looking about.

The grey rock around her jutted into the sky, exposing a profoundly clouded white blanket rippling through the atmosphere. The mountain range spanned north and south, leading into an open valley for miles until it met another mountain range. The machines likely expected her to descend the rock face and head for the wilderness below. Another idea came to mind instead: the machines would never expect a pregnant human to traverse up the steep ridge to the opposite side of the mountain. Taking no further time to ponder, she chose her course and quickly but painstakingly began her ascent. The gravel gave way below her feet as she grabbed onto a nearby boulder. Hurriedly making her way up the steep slope, she checked behind her every few steps. The machines would be upon her if she didn’t reach the peak.

Exhausted but bolstered by the lack of appearance on the machines’ part, she reached the apex. Rapidly traversing over the ridge, she descended the opposite face of the mountain. The eastern face was slightly steeper, and she immediately transitioned from a safe and steady descent into a rapid sliding. Suddenly losing her footing, she began to surf the loose rocks down the steep slope, with gravel scraping her legs and sheering her elbows in the process. She cringed at the pain, but the moment was evident, and there was no stopping. Thankfully, the ridge began to level out as she approached the trees and bushes below, slowing her descent. She painfully came to a halt directly before a large conifer. Her shins and elbows burned from the ensuing gashes, but grateful they were the only injuries she sustained, she quickly scrambled to her feet and rushed into the forest, hiding in the depths of the foliage.

Without looking back, she ran with all of her might. Up and down, slope after slope, the burning in her thighs threatened to expedite her into labor. Her abdomen ached, and she could feel contractions interspersed between the pain. Her hands felt raw from clinging to the rough bark of trees as she traversed downward. The sound of machines in the distance encouraged her efforts. They were finally back in pursuit of her. Determined to move forward, she rarely looked back, remaining hidden within the forest.

After what seemed hours but was undoubtedly much less, she found herself face to face with a break in the woods, replaced with a short valley spread before her. The openness of the valley was refreshing to her eyes. She had succeeded in descending the entire mountain face, but the openness also instilled a sense of dread. There was no foliage to cover her from being seen from the sky. The distant sirens of the Watcher and its Takers echoed behind her. She would not risk the machines seeing her in the open air. Looking out across the valley, she could see the forest restart on the other side, but the distance was too great to travel without being seen. She needed to hide—to rest her weary body.

Looking around, she scanned the face of the mountain she had just descended. Suddenly, something came to her view, partially hidden by a grove of pine and oak trees—an outcropping of rock. She quickly jogged over to the stone structure and leaned in. A small alcove of sorts appeared hidden with the brush surrounding the boulder. A sense of hesitant relief eased her broken mind and body. She felt her abdomen. The baby kicked repeatedly, likely worked up from the constant flow of adrenaline.

“We need to rest, my love. We’ll hide out there for now.” With this, she scrambled through the thicket into her temporary refuge.