Dangerous Days of Daniel X

Chapter 67

I DON’T KNOW how long it was that I ran, then jogged, then stumbled through the totally unfamiliar semidarkness. Unfortunately my stomach wound was bleeding again.

I found some kind of monorail track thing and followed it for at least a couple of hours. You wouldn’t think that a city could be so big, but Bryn Spi seemed to go on forever.

I think I actually fell asleep walking at one point.

The next thing I knew, I was waking up as I heard somebody, or some thing, breathing in the darkness above me.

“Hey!” a kid’s voice came as I reached up and grabbed a head of longish hair.

A flashlight came on next.

“Lay off! Let me go!” a dirty-faced kid yelled, waving his flashlight. He was emaciated, dressed in filthy rags, and furious with me.

“And what do you think you’re doing, hovering over me like that?” I asked him.

“I practically tripped over you lying like a rotty corpse in the middle of the tunnel, you idiot. Leggo my hair now!”

I released my grip.

“Smart move, sucker,” the kid said, frowning and rubbing his scalp. “Nobody messes with Bem. Even the Outer Ones better watch their step with me.”

“Oh, I’m sure they do, Bem. They would never mess with the likes of you.”

I stood for a moment just gazing at the boy. I couldn’t believe I’d finally come into contact with one of my people!

“Quit staring,” he said. “You’re creeping me out.”

Okay, then, I thought. I guess all of us aren’t telepathic.

“Is your mom or dad around?” I asked the boy.

“Died on FirstStrike. It’s just me and Kulay now. Kulay’s my sister.”

“Where do you live?”

“In Undertown, of course. Where else? Where you been?”

“Will you show me?”

The feisty kid squinted at me and put up his fists. “Why should I?”

I concentrated and levitated Bem a foot or so off the ground.

“Okay, that’s a good reason,” he said, and started to walk. “Keep up!”

The tunnel we traveled through gradually began to widen. More tunnels branched to the right and left until finally we stepped into a massive chamber. One, I noticed, that was crowded with people.

My people.

Maybe I could find someone who knew my parents! I thought as I approached the crowd. Imagine if I had a family? Real aunts and uncles and cousins?

It didn’t take long for my hope to wither. Undertown wasn’t doing so hot. Every inch of the chamber was covered with crude wooden and cardboard shanties.

“Numbdown, git sum, git sum!” called a tough-looking kid around Bem’s age. He was waving dirty vials in my face as I passed. Numbdown must have been Alpar Nok’s answer to crack.

I smacked the drugs away from my face onto the concrete floor and crushed them under my sneaker.

“Common sense!” I said to the kid. “Git sum, git sum.”