Code of Honor

“We’ll have to lie low for a few days.”

“For they know we all died in the building, they had every entrance blocked.”

“I’d rather not chance it.

Beneath me the world was rocking in a familiar rhythm. But my mind was so dredged with sleep I wasn’t sure what was going on. I wasn’t lying on the ground anymore that was for sure. I could feel only two supports underneath me. One behind my shoulders the other behind my knees.

“There were enough supplies there to last us a few days.” It was defiantly my father’s voice. From extremely close by. His voice held authority. “We can lie low, I agree. I think it’s safer. When everything has died down for sure. We’ll go stock up on supplies.”

“Where are we even going to go to find any?”

“We’ll find something, we always do…we’ll catch up with a trader if we have to.”

“There are a few drug stores we still haven’t checked out,” Jamison pitched in. His voice standing out in the haze of sleep.

“I know of a trader to,” Michael said. “Used to drop by the army base. But as far as I know supplied everyone.”

“How much in the way of supplies were actually left there Cameron?”

“Maybe a couple of days’ worth, did you do a headcount?”

“14,” He replied sadly.

That was a great loss to us. We’d lost a lot of friends tonight. Slowly the nights events started to fight through the sleep. Fire, pain, running and hiding. I opened my eyes slowly trying to figure out what was happening now. Were we safe. The first thing I was met with was my father’s dirty red shirt and his comforting musk. I looked up, he was carrying me in his arms as they walked.

“Hello there,” he grinned as I woke.

“Where are we?” I mumbled, unable to find my bearings.

“East side, going to the new hideout.”

“Oh, did I fall asleep?” I questioned. I didn’t remember slipping under.

He chuckled. “Yes, you did. Didn’t want to wake up either.”

“Is it safe?”

“What…oh right. It’s safe, it was empty. We’ll be there soon.”

I turned my head. A long street spread out before me. Small windowed shops lined the street, the street itself was clear of rubble and cars. I assumed it was an army patrol route. Nowhere was this clean. But this didn’t seem to worry anyone else. Without warning my father followed Michael into a small alleyway between two shops and we found where a lot of the rubble had been moved to. My father maneuvered his way across it without putting me down even though I told him to. The other side mirrored the first, only with a bit more mess. Still compared to most streets it was clear. Again we crossed the street and slipped into another small alley-way.

Only this one had a cross section in the middle. Without hesitation Michael took a hard right and then went for the first door in the short section. It looked like any normal back door, white wood with the paint peeling back. The tempered glass mounted in it was still in-tact. My father followed Michael inside before setting me carefully on my feet. They ached under my weight. Too tired to hold me up. I did my best to ignore them. Everyone walked in behind us looking as tired as I felt. Some worse than others. Jamison had his arm around Penny helping her walk who, with all things considering, was still on her feet. I had to give her credit for that.

At first we seemed to be in some form of storage room. Empty shelves lined both walls, boxes took up the middle of the floor. Curious, I pushed one of their lids across slightly and peeked inside. Empty. I should have guessed. While everyone else was ushered inside I took a quick look around. There was nothing much of interest here, so I carefully pushed the only other door open a crack and peeked inside.

On the other side I could make out an old style bar setting. I could tell that people had been through here at some point but everyone still looked to be in decent shape. Only a few tables across the center on the room had been over-turned. To my right a bar dominated the back wall and then cornered across the far wall. Glass shelving lined the walls behind it, again there was nothing there worth having. Most of the floor space was taken up by tables and chairs, while the far left of the room occupied two torn pool tables and a small stage. Behind those, a staircase marked staff only.

“Over here.”

I turned around to follow Michael’s voice. He was knelled on the floor in the far right corner of the room. At his feet I could only just make out square cut into the dark wood floor. Almost invisible to the naked eye. And well hidden amongst the shelves. Carefully, and with assumed skill, He lifted the square out of the floor. Leaving a decent sized hole in the floor, a staircase leading down into ground.

“Whoa.” Dimitri’s voice traveled over to me from across the room.

“Why would someone as wealthy and elite as Alexander Boskovic have this hidden in a place like this?” Jamison asked, slight suspicion and confusion in his voice.

“He owned it,” Michael replied turning to face him “That was my first question when he hired me to design it. Apparently it was on old family business but I assume it was more for his illegal dealings. He was good at that.”

“And we’re safe here?” Penny asked. Her voice sounded rough.

Michael nodded. Dad replied. “Doesn’t look like anyone’s been here for a very long time.”

“Can we go down?” Dimitri asked coming to stand beside me atop the stairs. He sounded like such a kid. I didn’t blame him, I wanted to go check it out to.

Michael laughed and waved us down with his hand. “Go for it.”

As fast as we could without falling down the steep set, we descended the stairs. It was dark at first while my eyes fought to adjust. I used my hands to keep myself from walking into walls. We were in a narrow corridor. Made of concrete walls and a deep chill. Not too far in, we found a large steel door. It opened on the first attempt. The second section was a lot bigger, brighter and slightly warmer. Again the walls were made of a thick ominous concrete. The right, and larger, side of the room was directly in front of us. It was an open space. With an obvious storage area in the far corner and what seemed to be a fire pit in the center.

The concrete raised a foot off the ground in a perfect circle. I could only assume since it was there, it was safe to have a fire in here without choking to death on the smoke. The ventilation shafts above my head strengthened that theory. The left side of the room was separated into several small rooms by thin walls, again concrete. I walked over, my footsteps echoing around me, and had a look. They were all the same size. Narrow but long. Some were empty but a few still held slight remains of bedding and comfort. The only difference came in the room in the far left corner. It was slightly bigger, but in the back corner a bulky Grey and white computer monitor sat. The screen was black and had a fine covering of dust. The computer itself seemed to be built into the desk beneath the monitor.

“Do you think it works?” I asked Dimitri as we stepped in behind me.

He shrugged. “Maybe, if this place has power. This has to be the coolest hide-out ever.”

“I know,” I breathed. “We’re real outlaws now.”

He snorted a laugh and walked away. “We’ll call it the bat-cave.”

I followed him out of the room with a chuckle. This was defiantly the best place we’d ever found. There were no holes in the walls. No broken windows nor was it obvious to the outside. It was a little messy but that was to be expected. No one had been here in a long time. It looked like there had been some form of rush or struggle. But we were well hidden in here. By the time we made it back into the main area everyone was inside and the door was closed behind us.

“Does this place have power?” I asked noting the dull lights spread around the top of the walls.

“It does have a small generator, but I can’t get it working,” Michael replied. Then motioned to the lights I was looking at. “Those run on batteries but for how much longer I have no idea.”

“Alright everyone,” Dad interrupted and everyone settled immediately. “We’re going to lie low for a couple of days,” He said. “There are enough supplies here for us to do so if we’re careful about it. I’d rather not risk having the army on our backs on the off chance they knew we escaped. For now, I’d think we’d all be best to just get some rest and call it a day.”

Everyone mumbled in agreement and went about finding somewhere to sleep. Not sure where to go I followed Billy and Dimitri to one of the sectioned rooms and claimed it as our own. We didn’t have much else bar a few pillows and a blanket between us but it was better than nothing. Which was exactly what we were facing a few hours ago.

“You kids alright?” I heard my father ask just as we’d settled into the most comfortable position we could manage. Practically sleeping atop one another for warmth.

“Yeah,” We all mumbled in unison. Sleep taking over quickly.

“Just make sure to see Jamison if you start to feel off alright.”

I think I replied to him but I wasn’t sure. My mind and body were in the process of collapsing back into the deep sleep I’d been pulled from before. I felt too safe and comfortable with the boys beside me to fight it.