Under Ground (33 page)

“Shut up!” Chi snarls. His
knuckles have turned white with pressure from his grip on his
weapon. His reaction confirms everything Stephen has said. I’m not
Chi’s first girl and he has lied to me. I don’t understand why he
did it, but it breaks my heart all the same. Chi still doesn’t look
at me, but Stephen is studying me now, staring me straight in the
eyes, his face showing nothing but malice.

“Oh, he didn’t tell you?” A sneer
appears on his face, and he laughs some more. I know I shouldn’t
let it affect me. I shouldn’t let any of this touch me, but Chi is
still wired and he’s clearly avoiding my eyes.

“He told me all about it, you
know," Stephen says. "I had to listen to him brag about how they
did it in the barn behind her house and how soft her skin was.” An
emotion that I can't quite read fills and leaves his eyes quickly.
Every word coming out of his mouth is a slicing dagger. “You need
to realize that Chi has spent his whole life living a lie. All he
knows is deception. You'll never be able to trust him.”

“Don’t listen to him, Thia! He’s a
psychopath! He’s just trying to mess with our heads. He’s getting
at me through you.”

Chi doesn’t deny anything his
brother has said though, which drives me a little crazier by the
second. But Stephen is wasting our time. We need to get rid of him
and move on. Akio has been standing still the whole time, watching
it all unfold like some excruciating train wreck.

“This is getting tedious and I
have a camp to guard," Stephen says, sighing as if truly bored with
us now. "I’ll just get along with this. Chi doesn’t seem to think
you matter enough for him to step up for you." His gaze shifts to
Chi quickly as he says it, challenging him, before coming right
back to me. "So I’ll just have to shoot you both, I guess. By the
way, Chi. Just so you know, there was no need to look for Mother.
She passed away last week. As always, little brother, it looks like
you made it just a little bit too late.” Stephen's lips rise in a
lazy smile upon throwing these last words into Chi's
face.

Profound anguish passes over Chi's
features in response, but he’s quick to recover himself. “I don’t
believe you!” He's impassive, but the doubt and pain in his voice
are plain for us to hear.

“Awh, but she did! She got
pneumonia. You know how it is these days. They didn’t really care
to cure her. I would have helped, but I’m pretty busy, you
know.”

Though Chi is still holding his
gun tightly, his hands are shaking. He’s trying to control his
emotions, but tears still rise up to his eyes before his irises
darken, his pupils as cold as ice. “I’m going to kill you, right
here, you miserable piece of shit!”

“Oh, no need for name calling,
brother,” Stephen replies with a pout.

Before Chi gets to act on his
words, gunshots echo all around us. The sirens have been turned on
and they're blasting through the speakers, deafening us. Chi
chooses that moment to grab his brother’s arm. He knocks it hard on
his knee and the gun falls out of Stephen’s hand, with a detonation
going off as the weapon hits the ground. I look around me, but no
one's hurt. Chi is holding his brother’s wrist behind his back,
squeezing and turning it around, and Stephen is screaming from the
pain.

“Thia, the gun!” Chi shouts at
me.

I’m standing here, unable to move.
Chi repeats his order, but then he pauses as something catches his
attention. I turn around to see Taylor leading a group of
prisoners. They’re all running to safety, except for one man
standing apart from the others. His resemblance to Chi is
stunning.

“Dad?”

“Chi, my son, you’ve come for
me!”

Before anyone has time to react,
Stephen head butts Chi in the nose and grabs his weapon. It takes
but a second for him to roll on the ground, position himself, and
pull the trigger. Everything happens fast. I’m frozen here,
motionless, as Chi’s father falls to his knees.

He looks Chi in the eyes and
extends his hand as another gunshot resounds. A bullet hits him in
the chest, bringing him down for good. I turn around just in time
to see Chi jump on Stephen, pinning him to the ground. The two of
them are holding rifles, but these can’t be used for such close
range shooting.

Chi is beyond himself with rage
now, his pores oozing with sweat. He's screaming as he drops his
gun and starts hitting Stephen, pummeling him with frantic despair.
I yell his name, but he doesn’t stop. He just can’t hear me.
Stephen's face fills with strange relief, and tears come streaming
down his cheeks as if he has freed himself from some invisible
burden that was bearing down on him.

Chi doesn't notice any of this
though. He's consumed by rage, and Stephen's emotions are shifting
so quickly—from relief to shock to profound sadness—that I'm not
sure I'm even reading him clearly. A strangled sob rocks his body
too, just before Chi grabs the butt of his rifle and hits him so
hard in the temple that Stephen loses consciousness.

Chi drops his weapon, but he keeps
on beating his brother up, drawing blood with his fists. I finally
wake up from the horrific daze that was mesmerizing me. I run to
Chi and pull on the back of his shirt as I call his name, but he
still can’t seem to hear me. Akio joins in and tries to shake Chi
into standing up.

And then, slowly, Chi looks up at
me. The wrath and intense grief on his face grasp my heart and tear
it into tiny pieces as terror seizes me. This is a Chi I've never
seen before; the agony in his eyes is breaking me. He doesn’t push
me back. He stands up and starts kicking Stephen hard in the
stomach as tears come pouring down his face.

Stephen is still breathing. He’s
still alive. I’m not sure if Chi is aware of that, but I can’t let
him kill his brother. That would only eat him up over time until it
destroyed him. I pull on his arm and manage to drag him away from
Stephen.

Disbelief slowly replaces the rage
behind his eyes. He pushes my hand off of him and runs to his
father. Chi rolls him on his back and listens for a heartbeat we
all know is no longer there. More shots echo through the yard all
around us while the sirens keep on blaring. This isn't safe. We
need to get out of here. Taylor is running toward us while shooting
at some guards. I pull on Chi’s shoulder, pleading with him to let
go. There’s nothing we can do for his father now.

“Chi, we need to leave. Now!”
Taylor yells in our direction.

Chi nods his head. He holds his
father’s hand to his lips and kisses it before closing his father’s
eyelids. He stands up, picks up his rifle, and runs with me toward
Taylor. He lurches a little, as if he were drunk or wavering under
the weight of his emotions.

Taylor yells for us to hurry the
hell up. We run to the tunnels and close the doors behind us once
we’ve made it inside. Taylor leads us to one of the trucks and we
climb in the back of it. He signals for Chase to start the
vehicle.

We came in with two trucks; we're
leaving with ten more, each driven by a member of the Underground.
The ride back is horrible. Some prisoners are crying in relief
while others are grieving over the people they’ve lost. No one’s
talking.

I’m holding Chi’s hand in mine,
but he doesn’t look at me once. His head is bent down, and though
he’s not crying anymore, I can feel his distress and grief as
painfully as if he were shedding tears. His silence and lack of
reaction are more unsettling than if he were having a
breakdown.

Chase goes above the speed limit
until we are safe. When the truck reaches the bridge, he slows down
and I hear a couple of shots. As planned, Akio has taken down the
officers guarding the bridge. Chase proceeds and crosses over.
After thirty minutes, we reach the parking lot previously located
by Chase. We leave all the trucks behind, hidden from view. We walk
the rest of the way until we reach the river. It's pitch dark and
everyone's exhausted.

Some members from the Underground
were supposed to stay behind to prepare for our arrival. They are
now waiting for us on shore, with multiple rafts ready to be
loaded. Several trips back and forth will be needed to take the
refugees to the submerged building. I’m not sure how many prisoners
escaped, but there seems to be hundreds of them here.

We didn’t save everyone and the
repercussions on those left behind will be terrible. Just thinking
about it makes my blood run cold. Taylor stopped somewhere along
the way to send a signal to the media. Our allies working in
journalism should be at the camps right now, shooting footage
incriminating the authorities. I cast a look around the crowd
gathered here and search for Mother, but she's nowhere to be found.
Disappointment and fear fill my heart. I don’t know if the other
leaders have managed to free the camps closer to them either, and
all this uncertainty is killing me.

Chapter 33

Slowly,
everyone rows their way
to the building.
As calculated by Kayla, there are
enough floors left untouched by the river for the refugees to share
apartments and fill up the rest of the building. When I get there
with Chi, I take his hand in mine. He hasn’t spoken one word since
we left the camp. I pull him to me and hug him so tight that a
sound finally escapes his mouth. I find his eyes, but they are
devoid of mirth and filled with misery.

We wait in the dining room for a
few minutes as more and more people walk in through the window.
It's getting so crowded here that it's hard to breathe. Kayla is
standing by the French window to welcome each refugee inside. Some
members of Underground are to lead them directly to their
apartments, with instructions to keep all lights turned off and to
refrain from leaving or getting in touch with their
families.

After waiting for fifteen more
minutes, holding onto Chi’s hand and watching him gradually
collapse, I decide it’s time to take him back to our apartment. I
lead him away, but a tap on my shoulder stops me as someone clears
their throat behind me. I turn around. Mother is standing there,
smiling. I'm so relieved I almost stumble.

I pull her into my arms and
embrace her like I never got to do before. She laughs at my
reaction. Then I turn around to see Chi carrying a strange look on
his face.
How could I be so careless and inconsiderate? Hugging
my mother right in front of him, completely ignoring the fact that
he's lost his?

I look back at her. “Mother, this
is Chi. Chi, this is my mother.”

“Good evening, Chi! So, you’re the
gentleman who started it all,” she says with a sideways
grin.

She looks tired, older somehow.
She’s chuckling though, something I've never witnessed before. Of
course, Mother has always been strong and nothing ever seems to
faze her.

“Yes ma'am, that would be me,” Chi
replies without humor, his voice still trembling from the emotions
he’s trying to repress. “I’m sorry I kidnapped your daughter,” he
adds, nodding his head in respect, gloom suddenly clouding his
face. “If you’ll excuse me.” He sends me a quick glance before
walking away and exiting the room.

I’m at a loss about what to do.
Chi hates for others to witness his weaknesses. Though it's killing
me to see him like this, I choose to leave him be—for
now.

I turn to my mother. “Are you
okay? What did they do to you in there? What about Father? What did
he say when the officers came to pick you up?”

“Yes, Thia, I’m okay. I’m actually
feeling better than I have in years. And I am so proud of you. My
very own little warrior. I can see why you chose Chi. What a
handsome young man he is!” She smiles and pulls me into another
hug. A tear rolls down my cheek. This is more than I ever hoped
for: a true compliment from my cold mother and a sign of deep
affection.

“As for your father," she resumes.
"He was furious when he found out what I did. He called me a
disgrace and told me he'd never take me back even if the officers
let me go.”

A pang of sorrow spasms through my
heart upon hearing this. My mother is now homeless, just like me.
She no longer has status in society. But she comforts me right away
and reminds me that she is finally free and actually relieved about
it.

We talk a while longer before I
tell her that I need to find Chi and make sure he’s okay. I
shouldn't leave him on his own for too long. I let her know where
our apartment is located. She should join us later. We only have
one bedroom, but maybe she can use it and we’ll sleep on the
floor.

I go straight to our apartment,
but Chi isn't there. I call for him down the hall, with fear in my
heart.
Why did I leave him alone?
That was such a stupid
thing to do. Chi isn’t well; I don’t know what he’s capable of, or
what he might do to himself. I need to find him, quickly. I look
for him all over the place until I remember that the river brings
him peace. He must be on the balcony. I head back to our bedroom,
and now that I know where to look, I finally see his shadow behind
the curtains, moving against the moonlight. Instant relief fills my
veins.

I head to the French door. He
doesn’t turn around even though I know he’s heard me. He's staring
at the horizon, and I'm just standing here. I don’t dare touch him.
I don’t know if he wants me to leave or stay and comfort
him.