The Compound

  Driven by adrenaline, I shoved with my hands as hard as I could. I felt it loosen a tiny bit, enough for a little dirt to dribble in around the edge. I relaxed. Soil had probably accumulated over the opening. Maybe we weren’t trapped. My fingers reached through, pushing dirt out of the way, pulling some of it inside. I still couldn’t garner enough leeway to get my hand out to work away the rest of the dirt.

  Once more I strained, shoving my hand out the slim opening. The hatch didn’t move any more. I tried to pull my hand back in.

  It was stuck. Stuck in the cookie jar of the outside world.

  “No, no, no!”

  If I yelled for help, would my family hear me?

  “Crap!”

  Someone grabbed my leg. “Need a hand?”

  I didn’t even have a chance to look at my father before he started yanking me downward, out of the hatch.

  “No!!” My hand was stuck, and his violent wrenching was going to break my wrist. “Stop!” I kicked out with my legs as I tried to anchor myself up.

  Dad was almost breathless as he kept on trying to pull me out. “Did I surprise you? Because you sure as hell surprised me, figuring out the code like that.”

  Each comment was emphasized by a hard yank, each one making me want to scream out in pain.

  “How’d you do it? Memorize the numbers? There was maybe enough time, maybe enough time, but I didn’t think so, a lot of numbers to remember, the human mind can really only process seven at a time, that’s why phone numbers are seven digits long …”

  The pain in my wrist got so bad I couldn’t follow his rambling. I tried to kick out at him. “Stop! Stop it!” My cries echoed in the space as I tried to concentrate. Tried to plan. No one was going to save me. He was hurting me. There was only one way to make it stop. I looked down at him the best I could, waiting for the right moment.

  “You know how I figured it out, Dad?”

  He paused to look up at me, like he really wanted to know.

  “You taught me well.” I stood on my left leg and flailed out with my right foot as hard as I could. I felt it connect with his face, so I did it again, finding even more strength. He fell away, lost his balance, and tumbled down the first flight of stairs.

  With his muttering over, it was quiet except for my panting. I wiped the sweat out of my eyes with my good hand. At the landing, I couldn’t see him, only one of his fingers. It wasn’t moving. I was terrified it would start up again. I was terrified it wouldn’t.

  I regained my footing so I could shove my hand back up, try to stop the pressure from the hatch.

  How long would I have to stay like that? I hung my head and tried to regroup my strength and sanity.

  “Eli?”

  My head swung toward the voice. Lucas stood there in his blue outfit. He was breathing hard and looking up at me. “What happened to … him?”

  “He tried to stop me from going out. He hurt me.”

  Lucas frowned. “That was mean.”

  “Yes, yes, it was.”

  He climbed the stairs and stood beside me. “You shouldn’t have put your hand in there.”

  “I know.” I tried to remain patient, keep my tone level. “It was stupid. But I need you to help, okay?”

  He nodded.

  There wasn’t enough time to send him all the way back down to get Lexie or Terese. Not with Dad lying there. I had an idea. “Do you think you can climb up my back?”

  He looked me up and down. “I think so.”

  Although I was tethered to the hatch by my arm, I was able to bend one knee so he could get a foothold to clamber up to my shoulders.

  “Thataway. Now, go on up to my neck.”

  He seemed hesitant.

  “Lucas, you can lean right on that wall with one hand.”

  He was in place, his legs twisted around my shoulders. He hardly weighed anything. “Good job. Okay, here’s what you need to do. Try and reach through the opening where my hand is. See if you can’t push some of that away. Pull it in if you have to.”

  My face was tilted up to check his progress. I was rewarded with a clump of dirt right in my open mouth.

  I spit it out. “You’re doing great.”

  A few more minutes and he had freed my hand. I rubbed the raw wrist. Nothing broken, but it still hurt like hell. I would deal with the pain later. Both of my hands went to hold his legs. I urged him to keep moving dirt. Finally he’d moved enough for me to get my hands through the opening. I set him down so I could work. But I got to a point where I couldn’t reach any more dirt. The hatch was nowhere near open enough. At least not open enough for me.

  I looked at him. “Lucas, do you think you can squeeze through there?”

  “I think so.”

  “You might get a little more dirt on you.”

  His eyes widened. “Real dirt? Like where the worms in my book live?”

  I laughed. He hadn’t ever seen real dirt. Didn’t realize that’s what he’d been shoving aside for the last half hour. “This is real dirt.” I picked some up from the floor, sifting it through my fingers.

  He grinned.

  I lifted him up on my shoulders.

  “Here I go.” He squeezed through the opening. I felt funny watching his little legs kick, then disappear from my view. Maybe I was feeling protective.

  “Okay, Lucas. Now, can you kick all the dirt off the hatch?”

  Silence.

  “Lucas?”

  His muffled voice was loaded with wonder. “Are these real stars?”

  My hands clutched the edge of the hatch harder. I leaned my head on the wall. It was nighttime. My voice quivered. “Yeah, buddy. Those are the real thing.”

  Kicking sounds started.

  Shoving even harder, I needed to see the night for myself. I felt the hatch give way, creaking upward until it flopped over, lying flat.

  My head emerged into the summery air, fresh and heavenly. I breathed deep. The breeze blew cool against my face.

  Lucas stood there, looking up. His mouth was wide open.

  I stepped all the way out. My eyes shifted upward, seeing what he saw.

  The night sky seemed like it was there just for us. I’d forgotten how beautiful stars were. And the moon. It wasn’t much more than a sliver. I knelt beside Lucas and pointed it out. He was seeing it all for the first time. It was like the first time for me as well. I stood, and took a few steps as I smiled up at the sky.

  There were so many things I’d taken for granted. So many things I hadn’t appreciated. So many things I’d missed. Too many to even comprehend. “There’s so much for you to see. I can’t wait to show you.”

  The light from the hatch went out.

  I turned around. “Lucas?” The moon wasn’t bright enough to light the night for me. “Lucas?” I reached out, took a step toward where he had last been. My foot brushed the edge of the hatch. I knelt down to touch it.

  The hatch was closed. And I was on the outside.

  “No!” ON MY KNEES, I POUNDED THE METAL WITH BOTH fists. “Open it! You can’t do this!” I yelled and pounded until I was hoarse and could take no more of the pain shooting up my arm. I sat on the hatch, cradling my wrist.

  The night was quiet. Too quiet. Shouldn’t there be search helicopters all over this place? If Eddy and Gram …

  If.

  That was the word.

  What if …

  Eddy and Gram were really gone? What if I’d been IM’ing Dad all the time? What if this was just some twisted game, some way to get me out of the hatch? Except he took the code back and truly didn’t expect me to decipher it again. So that there was no chance of me going outside.

  Then I gasped and really looked around. Except for the night sky, which would still be there anyway, how did I know there hadn’t been a nuclear war? Dad had admitted so many things, but he could have said anything, made it up. I wrapped my arms around my knees and sunk my head into them.

  Why wouldn’t he want me in there, after trying so hard to keep me
from finding the way out? I was the only one who could match him, physically. Now that I had found my way out, was there something he had to do without me around? Something I would have stopped him from doing?

  The night was chilly, and I wasn’t dressed for it. After a while I got hungry, and I was thirsty, too. It was almost funny, in a way—longing so much to get out, then wishing to be back in.

  A whipping sound got louder as a light came toward me from the sky. A helicopter. I was on my feet in one second, jumping up and down and waving my arms. “Here! Over here!” I started to run toward the light, and then realized I might never find the hatch again. So I stayed where I was.

  The helicopter moved toward me and landed about fifty yards away. The dust whirled around me, getting in my eyes, my mouth. I covered my face with my hands, peering through my fingers.

  As I waited, the propeller gradually slowed as the whining of the engine grew quiet. The night was silent again as the searchlights stayed on. Backlit by them, a figure strode toward me.

  “Hey, over here!” I waved my arms again, even though it was obvious the person saw me.

  A flashlight shown in my face as I started spilling everything. “I’m Eli Yanakakis, my family is down in the hatch, and we—”

  “Man, you got pretty big down there.”

  The voice was familiar. I tried to shield my eyes from the flashlight.

  Finally he turned the light on himself. Hair a bit grayer. Phil. Dad’s accountant. And, evidently, erstwhile helicopter pilot.

  My hand dropped to my side. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  He shrugged. “Safety net. You know, your dad was panicked when he called me, he really didn’t expect you to figure out that code.”

  I took a step back.

  “So, I flew all the way out here to … rectify the situation.”

  I glared at Phil. “What are you going to do?”

  He ignored me and leaned over the hatch. He rapped the flashlight on it three times. The hatch flipped open. Phil reached into it and helped my father, who stepped out into the night. Phil’s jaw dropped when he saw Dad’s face, already swollen and bloodied from where my foot had connected. Phil asked him if he was okay.

  Dad nodded, even though his walk was a little unsteady as he gazed up at the starry sky, just as I had done. He took a few deep breaths and half-smiled, half-winced. “I think it’s time we moved this operation aboveground for a while.”

  Phil laughed. “Above or below, you still make more money than anyone on the planet.”

  Dad reached over and gripped Phil’s shoulder. “Good to see you.”

  Phil leaned his head toward me. “He didn’t get into too much trouble out here. Everything set in there?”

  Dad nodded. “We just need to get my family and we’ll be ready to go.”

  “Go?” I looked from Dad to Phil. “Go where?”

  Dad spit some blood into the dirt and focused on me. “I think it’s time we all got some sunshine. Remember that South Pacific island I bought when you were younger? Phil here has been building us a very nice place. Where we can be a family.”

  “I’m not going!”

  Dad scratched his neck. “So what are you going to do? Run?” He spread his arms out wide. “There’s nowhere to go.”

  I looked on either side of me, as far as I could see. Nothing. I could outrun both of them, I knew it. But it wouldn’t change the fact that no matter what I did, my mother and my brothers and my sisters down below were still in the hands of my father. If I ran, and even if I found help, I might lose my family forever.

  Phil chuckled at my distress. I realized at that moment he could have arranged for our food supply to be replenished, if only Dad had asked him. If only.

  Phil turned to Dad. “You really don’t look so good. Have any trouble with those charges?”

  Dad shook his head as, with a slightly shaky hand, he handed a small black box to Phil.

  “What charges?” I looked from Dad to Phil. “What did you do?”

  Phil held up the box. “Once we’re airborne, I simply flip the switch. There’s enough explosives down there to turn this place to dust. And then you’re off to a new compound in the South Seas.”

  My hands curled into fists. “I’m not trading this prison for a new one.”

  Phil started to climb down the hatch. “You don’t really have a choice.”

  He concentrated on the stairs, so much so that he didn’t see me coming, and I hit him broadside, knocking him down that first set. His body cushioned my fall, and the remote flew out of his hand as I got him in a choke hold.

  His body stiffened as a loud, pulsing beep sounded from the Compound.

  I let him go as my hands went over my ears.

  Phil screamed several choice words and then poked a finger in my chest. “Stupid kid! You set it off!” He scrambled to his feet and climbed back out of the hatch to where Dad was leaning over, looking down at us.

  Dad shouted over the blaring of the alarm. “How much time do we have?”

  Phil held out his hands. “The warning only sounds in the last ten minutes!” He grabbed Dad by the arm. “Let’s get out of here, Rex!”

  “No!” Dad yelled back. “I have to get them out!”

  Phil held up a hand. “I’m starting the chopper! And I leave in nine minutes, with or without—”

  Dad clutched Phil’s collar, the veins in his arm bulging with the strength of the grip. His voice was a roar, even over the alarm. “You’ll leave when I say so!”

  And then I turned and ran, as fast as I could, throwing myself down the stairs, trying to jump down whole flights as the warning signal blared raucously all around me. I had no idea how long I truly had. I hoped Dad would help, but I couldn’t wait for him.

  My first stop was the yellow room, and I slammed into the door with my shoulder. The dresser was still in place, so I could only reach through with my arm.

  “It’s me! Open the door!”

  The little ones were crying, as Terese and Lexie tried to reassure them. Lexie stood up. “What’s that sound?”

  “Help me move this!” I could barely breathe enough to speak.

  I shoved as Lexie pushed, and we got the dresser out of the way so the door could open. I was still panting. “Get out! You’ve got to go.” I pointed at Lucas until I could get more words out. “He knows the way. Lucas, take them outside, up the hatch and out. Then run as far away as you can.”

  Terese started to say something, but I shouted, “Go! This place is going to explode!” Not waiting to make sure they complied, I headed for the infirmary at a sprint.

  I turned down the hall and nearly collided with my mother as she staggered down the hallway, clutching her stomach with one hand and covering an ear with the other. There were bloodstains on her nightgown. “What’s going on?”

  “Dad wired the place to explode, we’ve got to go!”

  Her eyes widened as she yelled, “Where are the children?”

  “On their way out!” I moved to pick her up.

  She tried to shove me away. “Leave me!” She motioned toward the direction of the yellow room. “Get them out!”

  “Mom—they’re ahead of us already!” With one arm around her and the other under her legs, I lifted her, just as Dad rounded the corner.

  He stopped, trying to catch his breath. He put one hand on the wall, and looked at my mother.

  “Rex?” Mom reached out a hand to him. “What have you done?”

  He didn’t answer, but stood up straight and started to push by me.

  “Dad! I need your help to get everyone out.”

  Hesitating, he looked one more time at my mom. “I need to get my research!” And he continued down the hall.

  I paused.

  Mom yelled in my ear, “GO!”

  There was no time to waste, and as we headed for the exit I felt stupid for thinking he would actually help. Mom tried to put her arms around my neck as I jolted her along. I had no strength left as
I started up the stairs, jogging them as fast as possible, praying the others were already out.

  My pace was not one I could sustain for long, and I had to stop several times on the way up to catch my breath. Mom’s arms tightened around my neck each time I stopped, and I understood it meant we needed to hurry.

  At the hatch I had to stop and gather my strength for the last push up and out. The warning signal got faster then, and I shoved Mom out, followed her, then picked her up again and began to run in the night, away from the helicopter. If Phil wanted us, he’d have to work for it.

  My lungs felt as if they would burst, and my arms and legs burned as I just kept running. For all I knew, it wouldn’t be enough. I might be running right over the Compound. Then a series of quakes ruptured under my feet, a huge one rippling the ground beneath me, pitching us forward. Several other blasts in succession sent trembles under me. And then the ground was still.

  My mother lay a few feet away from me. I crawled to her. “Mom?”

  She moaned.

  At least she was still alive.

  I heard the whirring of the helicopter as it lifted off. It was nearly three hundred yards away and quickly disappeared from view. Was Dad on it? I was quite certain Phil didn’t have the nerve to leave without him.

  Silence.

  “Lexie!” I yelled. When I got no answer, I began to scream, “Lexie! Terese!” I screamed their names in every direction before stopping and putting my head in my hands. “Oh my God, what did I do? I should have made sure …” I started to sob.

  And then I realized maybe they were on the helicopter with Dad and Phil.

  Would that be the worst thing? I turned around the way I’d come, where an acrid smell drifted toward me. My brothers and sisters being on the helicopter, safe, would not be the worst thing.

  Mom was silent, but I felt her throat and found a strong pulse. I rolled her on her side so she could breathe easier. My sigh was loud in the night, and as my lungs filled with fresh air I wanted to just keep breathing in more and more. She moaned a bit, but didn’t wake up.

  Would it just be the two of us from now on? Or was it just a matter of time before more helicopters showed up to take us away?

  I lay down on my back beside her on the dusty ground and stared up at the sky. A satellite went slowly across. That had to be a good sign, if the satellites were still there.