Broken Ground

Collin saw her relax, and for some reason he felt his own pulse quicken. She was listening to him. Really listening! And he wasn't even using his power on her. "You'd be surprised," Collin said with a coy smile. "A knife to the throat is like a handshake where I'm from."


He stepped toward her, his curiosity edging him forward. "I'm Collin," he said. He could tell by her stance she wasn't the type who was quick to trust. But he was willing to work for it. He felt the photograph, there in his pocket, almost like a safety net. He HAD to know who she was. "I'm from Middle Ground. But I guess you...already...knew that....Sorry." Collin shrugged weakly, laughing at himself. "I don't talk to people much. One of the many perks of being a criminal, I suppose."
 
This guys was persistent, and honestly making her a little frustrated. She could just teleport away, but she wasn't that rude. A little conversation couldn't hurt, right?


"That's fine. I'm not exactly used to talking to people, either." She tilted her head to the side. "But yes, I could tell that you're from Middle Ground by the way you're dressed. Most people don't dress so flimsily around here." she said. "My name is Eliza, but the way."
 
Eliza. Not the name he was expecting, but still nice. "Uh, I didn't know there were many people still living up here. Are you all alone?"


He knew he was being stupid. It wasn't smart for him to be talking to anyone, let alone someone above ground. What was he expecting? That they'd sit down in the middle of a disintegrated city and talk about the weather? And what about afterwards, when he had to go back home and she had to stay here? He'd never see her again. Hell, she'd probably forget about him entirely.


And yet.....Collin was so tired of being alone, that none of that seemed to matter. He coughed, his cloth mask doing less and less to protect him as time went on. He didn't have much time, but he'd made his decision. He was going to try and talk to this girl, Eliza, if only for a few minutes.
 
"There are others up here, undoubtedly," she said, "but..." She stopped, watching him cough into his cloth. It definitely wasn't a sanitary thing to do, and obviously wouldn't help him out Above Ground. She walked over to him, undoing her mask from her neck.


"Come on now, you should really be better prepared than this." she said, handing over the gas mask. "Take a few breathers from this. I was practically raised in the smog."
 
She held out her gas mask to him, and for a second he was wary to take it. But his lungs itched for fresh air, so he grabbed it from her and took three long swallow. Gas masks were getting more and more valuable now a days.


"Thanks," Collin said, handing it back to her. "That's the first time I've used one of those. The clan doesn't have many, and I-"


"OI COLLIN!"


The shout made Collin jump. He recognized the voice immediately, and instantly his heart begin to beat rapid fire. He turned back to Eliza. "You need to hide," he said. "Right now."
 
Eliza took back her gas mask with a nod. She put it back around her neck when she heard someone calling for Collin. She started turning to where the voice was coming from, but immediately stopped when she was told to hide.


She opened her mouth to protest, but something about the situation made her stop and think.


"Okay." she said, fixing her gas mask into position as well as her hood. She gave a quick nod before disappearing.
 
Jane covered her mouth, seeing the boy pulling out a knife. At first she felt her heart rate quicken, but then she felt her eyes crinkle with a smile.


He looked absolutely ridiculous. He was standing on an open floor, with the only entrance being the elevator shaft, yet he was still standing there like an idiot asking who was there.


Jane gracefully left from the looped coil, and onto the floor. She dusted herself off a bit, making herself look presentable.


"Well, I would classify myself as someone. Now, before you poke an eye out with that knife. Let me introduce myself", Jane gracefully slid to the floor, taking a seat. "My name is Jane. I have lived here for a very long period of time, and now I am leaving. Maybe it's stupid but... I'm going to try and find below ground colonies. Not mid ground. I'm actually from mid ground. I mean below ground, like broken ground. That means this place is open, and it's yours if you want it. I will say though... This was not my main floor. I won't tell you which one was, I can't be too nice", Jane gave him a wink.


She stretched, then offered him her hand, "Just try and be good to the place... It... It has saved me in more ways than one", Jane spoke, memories glinting in her eye. She gave a small smile to the boy.
 
Asagi walked inside the old building, pressing the button and climbing up the elevator shaft until she reached the second floor. Before she climbed all the way up, she heard voices and decided it best not to interrupt the conversation, with one hand she held firm to the rope supporting her weight and with her other hand she held up her scarf against her mouth, listening in to the conversation.
 
Collin didn't have time to react to Eliza's abrupt disappearance. Less than a second after she was gone, his eldest brother, Kenan, rounded the corner. As soon as he spotted Collin, a smirk crossed his face.


"There you are runt," he said,grabbing Collin by the collar of his shirt. "What are you still doing up in this cesspool?"


"Just scavenging," Collin replied, carefully scanning the ruins for Eliza. There was no sign of her anywhere. Collin relaxed. His brothers appetite for women was...unsettling.


"Hey what are you looking for?" Kenan demanded, pulling on Collins shirt so he was forced to look him in the eye.


"Nothing," Collin said, a little too quickly. Kenan raised an eyebrow.


"Is there something here?" Kenan asked, scanning the ruins. "Something you don't want to share, parasite?"


"Let's just go back to the clan," Collin said. His voice was smooth, as if it were dripping with honey. Using his power on his brothers was always dangerous, but Collin couldn't let Kenan find Eliza.


"Right......" Kenan said slowly. " let's just...." He began to turn towards Middle Ground's entrance, but just as Collin felt safe, he jumped back to attention. "Hang on," Kenan said. "You just....." His eyes flashed, and suddenly he gripped Collins collar tighter and lifted him off the ground. "You little sh*t! YOU USED YOUR DAMN POWER DIDN'T YOU?!" Collin didn't get a chance to reply. Kenan threw him against a wall. "You know, dad sent me up here to see if you were dead," Kenan's whisper held every ounce of malice in his body. "Too bad, you got killed by a ratter. Guess I'll have to bring back your body."
 
Cross hesitated for a moment before deciding to put his knife away. He took the hand that was offered to him and gently shook it. This girl was strange. she seemed to talk a lot and was surprisingly friendly.


"Name's um Cross" he said awkwardly in return. "Your home? I'm um was just spending the night here before I went underground to do some trading" he said even more awkwardly. It was his first real time talking to a girl, he had once talked with an ugly old lady while selling squirrel skins but that doesn't really count.


Cross walked over to his backpack and slipped it on now that his sleeping mood was ruined, not that it was the girls fault. He had trouble relaxing around anyone let alone sleeping when other people were around. Cross froze as he was putting has backpack on. He felt yet another change in the air pressure.


"Someone else is here" he said in a hush voice as he pulled out his rifle from the side of his backpack. He held the rifle in his hands and began focusing air into it making a low whistling sound.
 
Eli took in a deep breath with her gas mask. She lowered it to let out a sigh, which could be clearly audible from behind the older brother. She stood behind him with one hand on her hip and the other clutching the mask around her neck.


"Hey." she said, unenthusiastic. "Maybe you should let Collin go?" She extended her hand, lightly grabbing the brother's shoulder. "It would be easier on you if you did."
 
Kenan spun around, throwing Collin to the ground in the process. "What the-" he spat. His eyes widened at the sight of Eliza. "A girl? This is what you were hiding Collin?" He smirked maliciously. Collin immediately stood between the two of them.


"Don't touch her Kenan," Collin spat. He turned his head towards Eliza. "Thanks," he muttered. "But he's tougher than he looks."


"Aww, thanks twerp," Kenan said, cracking his knuckles. "But I'm not one to say no to a fight. Especially against a girl so daring." He grabbed Collin and pushed him aside like he weighed absolutely nothing. There was nothing between him and Eliza. "After you miss."
 
Eliza let out a sigh, then reached up to grab her backpack straps and shimmy it off. She tossed that and her gas mask away from her gently, sure not to break any valuables. "To be honest," she said rather innocently, lowering her hood, "I've never been in a real fight with a human before." Then, she disappeared, her voice --now serious and even a bit dark-- being heard close by, "My opponents are usually dead before they can find me."


Suddenly, Eli appears above Kenan, greeting him with a swift swing of her leg to the back of his head while she goes for something underneath her jacket again.
 
Kenan's head snapped forward,a spurt of blood coming instantly to his nose. He didn't even pause to wipe it away before turning and grabbing Eliza's arm and throwing her to the ground as hard as he could. His super human strength backed him.


Collin had gotten up, and as soon as he saw what was happening he dove at his brothers feet and pulled them out from under him. The hulking grunt fell flat on his face. Collin turned to help Eliza, but she was already up. She had her hand underneath her jacket, and action he'd seen her take before. "I hope you have a plan," he muttered. Kenana was getting back up.
 
Eliza's hands slid out from underneath her jacket, two makeshift shivs in each hand. However, they quickly disappeared from her grip, now stabbed through Kenan's hands, going right through the ground, same with his shoes.


"That probably won't hold for long." she said to herself, rushing over to the man temporarily pinned to the ground as she pulled out her combat knife. She slammed his head to the ground with her foot and knelt down, raising the knife above her head.
 
Kenan was pinned, the whites of his eyes flashing as Eliza stood over him, knife in hand. "Do it! Just try!" He spat, starting to wrestle from the shives. They were deep in the ground, and even for him it was a struggle. "Collin won't let you," he said, looking to his brother.


Collin looked at his brother, struggling. Eliza seemed to pause, as if waiting for permission. "He's right," Collin said quickly, taking a step forward. "I'm not gonna let you kill my brother." And with that, he took out his own hunting knife and handed it Eliza. "At least not without a proper knife."
 
Eliza looked at Collin, really looked at him. "If you're sure..." she said, putting away her knife and hesitantly reaching for his. She looked down at his brother, wriggling underneath her. She took in a deep breath and grabbed the hunting knife, her hand placed where Kenan's heart should be. As she exhaled, she raised the knife high above her head, moving her hand away just as she brought it down.
 
The light left Kenan's eyes immediately. Collin stared at the blood, at his brothers body, and finally at Eliza's face. He could tell she was hiding shock.


His eyes traveled back to his brother, the man who had tormented every day. The man who had helped kill every person Collin had ever called a friend. The man who had made hundreds of lives miserable. The man who had threatened Collin with death on a day to day basis. He could easily tell Eliza this, and explain why he'd let her do what she did. But he didn't. Instead, he silently stood over his dead brothers body and kicked it in the skull as hard as he could.


One. Twice. Three times. He lost count. He heard cracks and there was a puddle of blood gathered on the ground. Finally, he stopped.


"He was an ass...." He explained, stepping back, covered in a splatter of blood. He knew that that didn't justify anything. "He did a lot of terrible things....but I suppose that doesn't matter now does it?" Collin bent over and pulled the knife from his brother's broken chest and pocketed it without wiping it off.


"So I can't go home now," he said, straightening up and giving her a smile. "Kenan wasn't dad's favorite, but he was definitely higher up than me. If dad finds out what happened, I'm dead." He smirked. "And no, that's not an exaggeration. We're a very unique family. So I suppose I owe you one."
 
Eli stood silent, looking down at her bloodied hands for quite a while. Her expression remained the same as it had always been, but inside she was deeply saddened. She had just killed Collin's brother with his consent, but was it really okay? Was he okay?


Her thoughts were interrupted by the first crack. She looked up from her hands, watching as he kicked at Kenan repeatedly. That terrible sound remained in her mind long after he stopped, the only thing louder were Collin's attempts at justifying what happened.


"'Unique' is not the word I would use." she said after a bit of silence. She turned, kneeling down to pick up her backpack and gas mask. "If I even considered it a family, I would classify it as 'broken.'"
 
Collin couldn't help but chuckle. "Very true," he said with a sigh. "But have you seen the world lately? The whole thing is broken." He turned away from his brother's body.


"We should leave," he said. "Dad sent out Kenan for me, but he'll send out a whole search party for him. I don't wanna be here when they find him." He paused. He was not making a fabulous first impression. He turned towards Eliza. "Listen," he said plainly, his smile dropping but only slightly. "I understand how this looks. Psycho déjà vu boy asks you to stab his brother in the heart and then throws a hissy fit. But the world is tough, the people are tougher, and I a very sad lonley boy with daddy issues who would greatly appreciate some company in this big sad world....also I owe you one, like I said.....so..." He gave her a weak shrug. "Headed anywhere special?"
 
Eli was putting on her backpack, thinking that this would be a good time to ditch the guy with the current situation. She could easily say something along the lines of: "Are you crazy? I don't want anything to do with a kid who just asked me to kill his brother!" However...


"Special?" she asked, turning towards him. "Actually, I am." She adjusted her backpack then hung her mask back around her neck. "Have you... Have you heard of a place further beneath the surface than Middle Ground? Of the rumored civilizations of Broken Ground?"
 
"You mean like the fairy tales?" Collin asked, picking Eliza's gas mask up and handing it to her. "I've heard of them yes. Believing in them is whole different story. I do know of some cave ins that the brilliant minds of Middle Ground neglected to explore or repair. I wouldn't be surprised of one of those leads to somewhere of interest."


Collin tapped his boots on the ground, watching a small mushroom cloud of dust cascade into the air. "Honestly I cannot imagine there being a worse place than here, other than home of course. So I'd be glad to follow any fairy tale. Sounds special enough for me. I'm in, if you'll have me.." He coughed again.


"But I have a feeling we won't be traveling just the two of us..."
 
Eli sighed, handing her gas mask over to Collin. "You sound like you're disappointed that there would be more people than just you and I." she said quite blankly, other than a raised brow. She glanced up at the sky, slightly surprised. "Damn, it's dark already. We've better get going; the ratters will sniff out your brother before your clan does." she said quickly, grabbing his wrist and dragging him along towards the remains of an old skyscraper: Jane's hideout.
 
"Not 'disappointed' exactly," Collin said, following Eliza. "But it will be harder to get through middle ground the bigger our group is." He took another huff from the gas mask, and looked up to see that the two of them were headed towards a huge ruined skyscraper. He'd never seen anything so tall. He had to tilt his head back just to see the top. "Nice," he muttered. As they got closer, he began to hear voices, echoing in the tower's skeletal remains. "Friends of yours?" Collin asked, handing the mask back to Eliza.
 
Eliza took it, letting go of him once they've reached the elevator shaft inside the building. She was cautious because of the voices. "Not friends, just one acquaintance." she corrected him quietly, slowly peeking up the tall elevator shaft, instantly seeing someone she didn't recognize.


She gently pushed Collin back and quietly slid in, watching the person above before teleporting to them. She quickly grabbed the arm holding onto the rope and teleported again, sending them both to the floor she had been listening in on.
 
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