Popcorn Land (2)
Once it was a school. Now it's a nation. In that nation lives Spider-Daniel.
Previously:
Spider-Daniel
“Hey! Get back here, you slimy runt! Somebody stop him, he took the cheese! Do you know how many months it took to make that? FIVE!”
Spider-Daniel giggled as the plump twenty year-old chef ran out of breath. The quick thief slid behind some pipes in the dark and through an old, rarely used maintenance tunnel. He took a satisfied bite of his chunk of cheese and collapsed his back up against the cold concrete wall. He listened to the usual dripping of all the still-broken pipes and the strange sounds that one would expect in a dark cave. His ears peaked up when he noticed rifled murmurs. The sounds of a heated conversation occurring somewhere above him lured Spider-Daniel to the spot he could hear most clearly.
“The Slug King’s attempted coup is over. We’re still cultivating the traitors but we’ll have them all soon. In other news, it seems Sir Matthis got our message. We can expect an Oenus party to be present at the Narrow tonight.” A nervous uncracked male voice’s sentence was the first he heard.
“Thank you, Marv. Please leave us alone now. The Leaders Three must have a private discussion.”
Spider-Daniel felt a chill up and down his body. He used his long arms and legs to climb up higher to a ceiling vent where the discussion was coming out crystal clear. He took another bite of his cheese and got comfortable sitting on a slate of pipes, dangling his long legs into the darkness of the tunnel.
“I don’t like this. The Narrow is too accessible on our end. We’ll have kids escaping in the chaos, defecting straight to our greatest enemy.” The first leader, Horn’s voice was deeper than anyone in Popcorn Land.
“There won’t be any chaos.” The only female leader, Fang, responded calmly. “It’ll be a simple negotiation.”
“There’s always chaos.” Kai, the third and final leader absorbed the conversation when he started to speak. “But we’ll prepare where we can. We have twelve crossbows mounted on the cliffside with full view of the Narrow. Double that in melee fighters. And the entire campus will be on lockdown. The rules on that are and always have been clear. Civilians outside in a lockdown do not value their safety or the safety of this community. We treat them with the same respect we give our elders. A violent end.”
Spider-Daniel frowned and sighed during the awkward silence.
“Very well.” Fang finally said, giving Spider-Daniel a small boost of energy. “We’ll begin preparations. Bring Marv back in.”
In the corner of his eye, something moved in the dark and it made Spider-Daniel jump and fall onto the concrete floor.
“Ow.” He muttered and picked himself up. He had scraped his knees and elbows pretty badly. He saw the movement again and tried to crawl into the shadows. Whatever it was, he had to treat it as a threat. Maybe someone noticed him spying. Maybe the cheese chef had followed him.
He saw movement again. It was quick and low. He found himself peaking his head out, curiosity beating out his fear. He pulled out his knife. He lit one of his torches to see a young girl, crawling away on her back in fear.
“Wait, wait! I won’t hurt you. I won’t hurt you.” Spider-Daniel dropped the knife, letting it clink on the concrete and raising his hands, only holding the torch. The girl stopped moving and backed up toward the wall. “What’s your name?”
“Ro.” The girl whispered, her voice trembling. “Ro Cas—”
“Stop! Don’t say family name. Not here. Ever. You’re Ro. I’m Spider-Daniel.”
“Spider… Daniel?”
“Yes, hello. That is me and Ro is you. Would you like some cheese?”
She nodded, letting Spider-Daniel take the block out of his bag and pull her off a chunk. She ate like she hadn’t eaten in days.
“They won’t hurt you, you know.” Spider-Daniel tried to offer some comfort. “Maybe put you to work.”
“They took my parents to a room and I haven’t seen them again.”
“Oh. Yes. The older people, they do hurt.”
“Are my mom and dad dead?”
“Almost certainly, yes. I’m sorry.”
Spider-Daniel patted Ro’s back as she cried.
“Why? Why do they hurt old people?”
“Old people hurt them. How did you get here? Too young to be enrolled.”
“Family day.”
“Ah. Right. Any other family?”
“No.”
“All alone in the tunnels under the building?”
“Yes.”
“You live with us now, okay?”
“Us?”
“My friend and I have a spot. You’ll be safe. Promise.”
The girl took Spider-Daniel’s hand and he led her out of the maze of tunnels. When they got outside it was pouring rain. They ran and ran until they finally got to the sports shed. Once both inside, Spider-Daniel shut the door and bolted it.
“Oh, Lords.” The figure already there muttered in sorrow when he saw the drenched malnourished child Spider-Daniel had brought with him. The boy, around the same age as Spider-Daniel brought towels and fresh water.
“Kellen.” Spider-Daniel turned to his friend. “We need to get to the Narrow tonight. And we need to bring her with us.”
“Tonight? We need time to prepare…”
“Your dad will be there.”
“What? How do you know?”
“He’s the one they’d send, right? To negotiate? Overheard the Leaders Three. They meet tonight at the Narrow. We get out of here. Get to safety. Get kid to safety. Has to be tonight.”
“Lords,” was all Kellen Matthis could say, otherwise he was frozen. Spider-Daniel helped dry Ro and then gave his best friend some space to come to the conclusion he always would. He began planning their great escape from Popcorn Land.