Beneath the Shadowlanders

Chapter Thirty-Six: Abigail

We awake early in the morning, as all the troops are called together to be assigned their missions. We gather in the center of the camp in a wide open space with a platform in the center. The soldiers press together around the platform, crowding shoulder to shoulder as each person tries to get close enough to see.

The commander steps up onto the platform, carrying a microphone. "Ladies and Gentlemen," he begins. "It is time for humanity to take a stand against the tyranny of the shadow regime! No more will we cower underground, starving and overcrowded, fighting for resources. No more will we let these inferior beings" – he spits the words – "take control of the land that is rightfully ours. Today, we fight!" A battle cry rises from the crowd of soldiers, and I fear our plan may fail after all.

Once the crowd has hushed, the commander speaks again. "Alright. You will each be given your orders sequentially by assigned tent. Please return to them until an officer comes to fetch you. Dismissed!"

The crowd begins to disperse and head back for the rows of tents to await their fates. I'm about to follow when Terrance takes my elbow and pulls me aside.

"Let's go to the gates. We can watch for others to arrive. I'll prove to you that this plan will work." He starts tugging me in the direction of the entrance to Underland.

"I don't know, Terrance. Don't you think we should stay to help? Maybe there's something else we can do..." I trail off, backing toward our comrades, already on their way to tent 221.

"No, I'm sure this will work," he insists. "Come on."

Begrudgingly, I follow him, as we rush through the camp and find ourselves at its edge. We quickly find our cart and start it. Terrance whips us out of its parking space and drives us back to the gate as fast as the cart will carry us. When we're only a few blocks away, he ducks the cart into an alley, parking it there out of sight.

We walk the rest of the way to the entrance, ducking inside a house right next to it. We quickly – and quietly – search the house for shadows. Finding none, we make this our base of operations. We settle ourselves into a front window and wait for people to arrive.

Nothing happens for a long while. No one appears. We sit in the window expectantly watching grass grow on the lawn of our temporary abode.

After an hour or so, Terrance is visibly disappointed, but refuses to admit it openly. "They'll come," he insists. "I'm sure of it."

I refrain from commenting, instead reassuring him, "I'm sure someone will have listened. It's only a matter of time."

"Right," he declares. "Just wait, you'll see."

I do wait. But, alas, there remains nothing to be seen.

"Terrance," I start, breaking the silence after another wasted half hour of waiting.

"No," he interrupts. "They're coming."

"No," I correct him, gently. "They're not, Terrance. They're following orders. And every minute we sit here and wait for nobody to show up is another minute wasted not helping or looking for another solution."

He's crestfallen, but remains determined. "I'm staying."

"Well, I'm not," I respond decidedly. "I'm going back to the camp to see if there's anything I can do. And you should too, if you're so determined to end this war. There's nothing we can do here." I stand up to leave, but he catches my sleeve at the last second.

"Wait."

"No, Terrance, I'm tired of sitting here waiting for nothing to happen. We have to do something," I tug at my sleeve, but he clings tightly.

"No, wait," he insists, tugging harder.

I exhale heavily and turn around. "Terr-" I start, but I'm cut off mid-word. Outside our dirty window is a line of soldiers. And they're walking toward the gates. "Is that..."

"Yes, it is," he declares proudly. "They came."

We jump up and burst out the door of the house to see hundreds of soldiers making their way down the road, rucksacks in hand and determination on their faces. We watch as they march up to the gates of Underland.

The guard stationed there looks at them in confusion. "I'm sorry, is there something I can do?" he asks nervously.

"We're going back," declares the frontrunner. It's Verrick.

"I'm sorry, sir?" The guard is visibly distressed.

"We're not gonna die for a war that can't be won," he insists, to the tune of hundreds of voices rising up behind him in solidarity. "Now, let us in!"

"I- I'm sorry, I can't do that, sir." The guard reaches for his radio, but one of the mutineers reaches it first. "Hey, give that back!"

He sounds like a bullied schoolchild, I can't help but think. Then I feel bad for thinking it, because he really sort of is being bullied.

"It's working!" Terrance whispers to me excitedly as we watch from the sidelines.

Verrick gets right up into the guard's face, pulling him in with a fistful of his shirt. "We're going to need you to open that gate before the entire world of shadows comes down on our shoulders. Understand?"

"But sir –"

"No," he breathes. "No buts. Open the damn gates." He shoves him back toward the gate controls, eyeing him dangerously.

"Y-yes, sir." He complies reluctantly, inserting his key into the panel to the side of the gate and pressing the necessary buttons. Soldiers begin flooding through the second the gates open wide enough. The guard from the opposite side tries to force his way out to find out what's going on, but is unable to get past the stream of fleeing men and women.

We watch as hundreds upon hundreds of deserters flood back through the gates and into the Underland. When they've reduced to a trickle, an awestruck Terrance turns to me, mouth agape. "Did you see that?!" he exclaims excitedly. "I mean, it certainly wasn't the entire army, but it was enough, right? It was enough to make a difference! I did that! We did that!" He laughs and embraces me, lifting me into the air and spinning me around.

I feel a laugh escape me as well. I can't help it, his excitement is too adorable. We spin around there, in the middle of an alleyway, laughing like crazy people, as soldiers continue to trickle past us.

"We did it," I agree, and even though we know there will still be lives lost, it feels enough like a victory to celebrate.

As the parade of soldiers dwindles to almost nothing, we decide to head back to camp and see what's left. We find the cart where we parked it in the alley, and speed off toward the field, in hopes of bringing an end to this war.