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Multiplicity, Book 1: Eos



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Fri Jun 08, 2018 12:34 am
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Mea says...



Welcome to the multiverse's dumping ground.



Thirty-two: The most fundamental constant currently known to man, it numbers the layers of reality itself. Thirty-two parallel worlds, once identical, lie stacked on top of each other, running slightly crooked. And those gaps leave room to fall between layers. It can happen to anyone, at anytime. And once you've fallen, your fate is sealed: there is no way back to a higher dimension. In most layers, a tiny fraction of people fall every year, and a tiny fraction of people arrive every year. Layer 32 doesn't have that luxury. Plenty of stuff falls. But it's the final layer. Rock bottom. So nothing leaves.

You see what I mean about the universe's dumping ground?

---------------------------------------------------


Meet Dameon, ex-FBI agent, now one of the fallen. But not just any fallen. He is one of the Brothers. They are anomalies: Fifteen versions of himself and his brother, Samuel, from fifteen of the thirty-two realities, have fallen down to Layer 32 over the years. Dameon is number sixteen. And once he has fallen, he finds that a duplicate of his brother rules Eos, the only sizable country in this post-apocalyptic world, with all the other Brothers forming his inner circle. An inner circle that Dameon is immediately asked to join.

Burdened by painful memories of his FBI days and distrustful of the Brothers' absolute power, Dameon refuses, instead joining the retrieval teams who search out and rescue other fallen. He chafes against the government's tight control over its citizens, but does not take action.

Until his beloved brother, Sam, left behind in his own dimension, falls through, and is kidnapped by a rebel group led by rogue duplicates of the Brothers before Dameon can reach him. Dameon will stop at nothing to see his brother again, but as he gives chase, his torn loyalties will deepen until he is face with an unresolvable question: his country, his brother, or the chance for change?

---------------------------------------------------


That just about starts to cover it, but I have so many ideas for this novel and it's really complicated and some of them are seriously underdeveloped. Plus, this is actually sort of going to be a trilogy, with the second and third books focusing on figuring out *why* people fall through the layers of reality and how all this started in the first place.

I started writing this story last NaNo. I completed that NaNo, but it was such a mess. I trashed it all and started over, but ran out of steam and got really, really busy about a third of the way through. Reading it back over, it's not nearly as bad as I thought it was, but either way I just need to push through and finish the first draft so I can get an idea of where I'm going.

I'm planning on writing a post daily here. I think I'll start with one about each major character, then figure out a bit more about the world and such. One of the main things that just isn't clicking for me at the moment is an aspect of Dameon's motivation, so that's going to get a lot of attention.

I haven't decided on a goal for LMS yet, but it might just be something like 2000 words a week. I'll declare it at some point before the thing starts, of course.

And I think that's it! Feel free to comment and let me know what you think. :D
We're all stories in the end.

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I think you, @Deanie and I are like the Three Book Nerd Musketeers of YWS.
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Fri Jun 08, 2018 12:35 am
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Mea says...



Table of Contents


To be updated.

We're all stories in the end.

I think of you as a fairy with a green dress and a flower crown and stuff.
-EternalRain

I think you, @Deanie and I are like the Three Book Nerd Musketeers of YWS.
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Fri Jun 08, 2018 7:42 am
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Panikos says...



So excited to hear you're going to be working on this! I've been wanting to read more of it ever since you posted the first chapter.
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Sat Jun 09, 2018 1:26 pm
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Mea says...



DAMEON MAXWELL (AKA D7)


(He basically looks like this in my head, but without the tattoos.)
Dameon.jpg


Age: I think 30. Maybe 31. I forgot.

House Burned Hufflepuff Primary/Gryffindor Secondary. (For these, I'm using a cool approach to the houses that's fairly close to canon but more extensive and works really well for characters. Read about it here. Broadly, this means he "values groups, communities, and the footprints they leave in the world" and approaches his problems straightforwardly and head-on.)

Background: What happened to burn Dameon? This is the central question I really haven't figured out yet. I know he was betrayed, personally. He was betrayed, and so he saw that the dedication and justice that the community was built on was really just a group of self-interested politicians serving their own ends.

I really need to work out the actual details.

Motivation/State of Mind When He Falls Through: He's angry and bitter. When he sees his other selves and his brothers in power, he has a really strong negative reaction, because They Are Not Him, and that schemer, planner, ruler, cannot be his sweet, brilliant younger brother. He utterly refuses and finds an outlet he can at least be somewhat comfortable with: the search-and-rescue team.

Motivation/State of Mind When the Story Starts: Now, he is tired, not openly angry and bitter. Just tired. He believes that the Brothers have become too much like a clique, serving their own interests over their people. He sees so many things he would change and blames their selfishness for why things are that way. But at the same time, he asks himself how there can possibly be a change. After all, back in America, it was a "free country" and corruption still sunk deep into the roots of the government. Here, it's a dictatorship, and still corrupt. Can't escape people's selfishness and greed. There are no genuine communities - eventually, they're all rotted by people using each other.

Overall arc: So, Dameon wants a community. He wants something he can believe in, something he can be part of and feel like he's doing something good for other people. Not that he explicitly knows this, though, and in fact I think I need to hide it better in the narrative. What he thinks he wants is to be left alone, and for his other selves to stop being a shadow in his life.

He's trying to fight the balance of who his "people" are. He joins the search-and-rescue team because he empathizes with the other fallen and wants to help them - they don't deserve to be left to die.

He believes that a country = a community, and as such he believes that it's the duty of country leaders to put their people first. He's also the sort of person who would say that "high and mighty ideals are all very well and good, but there are people out there and I don't see you doing a whole lot to help them." He'd make a great father if he was able to put away some of his past demons and his bitterness.
We're all stories in the end.

I think of you as a fairy with a green dress and a flower crown and stuff.
-EternalRain

I think you, @Deanie and I are like the Three Book Nerd Musketeers of YWS.
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Mon Jun 11, 2018 1:03 pm
Mea says...



Jade Rosamond



Description: Slender and freckled, with firey red chin-length hair. Prefers form-fitting but otherwise conservative clothing.

Age: 25

House: Gryffindor Primary/Slytherin Secondary. She is clever, witty, and charming, lighthearted and flirty when she’s comfortable, slippery and ready to attack when she’s not. But in the end, she makes decisions because it is right.

Background: Grew up with a single mother and her sister. Her mother was an early immigrant to Eos, but had depression and other issues, and killed herself when Jade was 18 and her sister was 11. Jade didn't have to support her sister because of how the system works, but she wishes she had been able to, because they didn't let her see her sister very often. As a result, she sees all around her people that slipped through the cracks of their "perfect" system, and is angry about the injustice of it all. She joined the Democratic Party of Eos (an underground rebellion, essentially) two years before the story begins, although she hasn't done much up until this point other than buy/sell things on a black market and attend meetings.

Occupation: Dameon's medic on his search-and-rescue team. They're good friends at the start of the novel.

Arc: She and Dameon are going to have a falling out, to say the least. She's going to chose the exiles (the group lead by a rogue version of Dameon and Sam), and at first Dameon will go along with her, but then he will change his mind and abandon her. They'll come face-to-face in the climax of the novel, at which point she will be ordered to kill her friend and colleague. Dameon will attempt to reason with her. We'll see what happens; I haven't quite decided yet. It's still all taking shape.
We're all stories in the end.

I think of you as a fairy with a green dress and a flower crown and stuff.
-EternalRain

I think you, @Deanie and I are like the Three Book Nerd Musketeers of YWS.
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Sun Jun 24, 2018 1:18 pm
BluesClues says...



They'll come face-to-face in the climax of the novel, at which point she will be ordered to kill her friend and colleague. Dameon will attempt to reason with her. We'll see what happens


*whispers* I'm a sucker for characters who go bad but choose their friends in the end.

Have you come up with any more yet? I know you have more to figure out about Dameon's backstory and presumably Jade as well - for example, why does she choose the exiles rather than uhhhh well, you know, Dameon decides that's wrong after initially going with her. So her reasons might be in your head, or maybe you still need to figure them out.

But anyway, I'm wondering how much more of the story/other characters you've come up with. OBVIOUSLY I'm basically the biggest pantser there is, especially when it comes to first drafts, but given your backstory of trying and failing repeatedly to write this particular story all the way through I think some serious planning beforehand this time around might help you out.

and also my nagging/cheerleading

Soooooo...have you got any more ideas yet?
  





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Mon Jun 25, 2018 2:47 am
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Mea says...



@BlueAfrica - I do, actually! I have tons of ideas, I've just been bad about actually updating this and I don't know if any of those ideas will work. :P I have *lots* more characters with motivations and backstories (so. many. characters), and I will now get a move on and start posting about them. :p And then I'll post the plot I have so far.

Limena *Lastname*



Description: Strategy & Communications gal. Indian, with long black, mostly straight hair. Rather tall. Dresses practically. Will wear saris on formal occasions, usually when attending the event with her parents. A good person, clever and can be fierce.

House: Ravenclaw Primary/Gryffindor secondary - She currently believes strongly in the necessity of community and civilization - she's seen the atrocities that happen otherwise. She's logical and systemizing and thinks through things to justify her beliefs rather than going with gut instinct. At the same time, she prefers to solve problems directly and bluntly. (Dameon likes this about her.)

Background: Her parents endured a lot of hardship to get to Eos. They lived in India (high-caste, wealthy, somewhat Westernized) and fled as the virus decimated the population. Eventually they made it to Europe, where they found Samuel taking fleets of refugees across the Atlantic to Eos. Limena was 5 when they first left their home, and 11 when she arrived in Eos. Especially when she was younger, she hero-worshipped Samuel for saving them. She firmly believes that they *can't* go back to anarchy, no matter what, and will never support any form of revolution. She is somewhat connected to her past, being familiar with Indian culture and is able to speak Hindi, but believes in adaptation rather than "clinging to a dead society" (her words). Plus she's pretty feminist and that creates some clashes with her more traditional parents. (Like when they wanted her to marry someone they chose, or at least marry young, and she was like nope. She does want to get married at some point and have kids, but she's too caught up in her work at the moment and hasn't found anyone yet.)

Occupation: She's a secret agent for Samuel's government. Before being assigned to work on Dameon's team, she was tracking the DPOE radical group that Jade is a part of (though she doesn't know about Jade's sympathies). She believes her work helps secure the stability of her country and takes it very seriously.

Arc: ????? I mean, she's never going to actually be on the side of the rebels. She's always going to stick to her convictions, though she will be shaken a bit when she learns some of the stuff Samuel has covered up (particularly about the split between Samuel and Soran), and I suppose that in and of itself is an arc. (She also might fall in love with Dameon. But I might ship Dameon with Jade instead, and I don't want a love triangle.) In many ways, I want her to be a bit of a foil for Dameon - she's confident, she has her place in the world and believes in it. She has what he wants.
We're all stories in the end.

I think of you as a fairy with a green dress and a flower crown and stuff.
-EternalRain

I think you, @Deanie and I are like the Three Book Nerd Musketeers of YWS.
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Mon Jun 25, 2018 3:26 am
Mea says...



Meghan Chun

(pronounced "mung-hahn", is actually named after a friend of mine)

Description: Chinese-Canadian, 18 years old. Brown eyes, small nose, straight black hair in a crew cut, quite short. She's the tech gal & introvert of the group.

House: Slytherin Primary/Ravenclaw Secondary. This means that rather than having broad principles about morality, deep down it's mostly just a few people that are "hers" with whom her loyalty lies, and she'll always put them first. In her case, she's intensely loyal to her younger twin brothers, and a few other people she has let into her "circle" or will let in over the course of the story. Her Ravenclaw Secondary basically means she solves problems in a very strategic, Ravenclaw way. She's the tech geek of the team, so she'll mainly be hacking stuff and cobbling together solutions in that way.

Background: Her family is from the Toronto/Quebec area for several generations back, and so she's ethnically Chinese but culturally mostly Canadian/Eos culture because she was born and grew up in Eos. Her family slid pretty easily through the collapse of the world as we know it, as it was in that area that the government took the longest to fall, and where Samuel's government rose to power. It wasn't smooth, but it was better than elsewhere. She grew up with a somewhat abusive single mother who basically saw her as a disappointment of a daughter because although she did alright in school, she didn't do amazing and (more importantly) was a big social recluse - her mother called her lazy and said she "never put the work in to make anything of herself." She constantly works to protect her twin half-brothers (10 years old) from the worst of her mother's abuse and is trying to win custody of them now that she's 18. (The system for custody is generally better than the US's current system, but her main problem is that because of her work she's often away which makes it impossible to take care of them and the officials know that.)

Occupation: She's the tech gal and the final member of Dameon's team. She's new and has never gone on a mission like this before.

Arc: Again, ??? She's never interested in the idea of rebellion because she just finds it slightly absurd. Once she finds out Soran's rebels have nukes (spoilers lol) she'll be pretty firmly against them, especially if persuaded that they're likely to launch them at Eos and thus pose a direct threat to her brothers. Mostly, she just wants to do her job and get home, and find a more stable job. She does like traveling and working with tech from the pre-collapse era, but her first duty is to her brothers and it's going to stay that way. Limena will be the one to take the most interest in her and act like she cares, so she will wind up becoming good friends with Limena.
We're all stories in the end.

I think of you as a fairy with a green dress and a flower crown and stuff.
-EternalRain

I think you, @Deanie and I are like the Three Book Nerd Musketeers of YWS.
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Tue Jun 26, 2018 1:30 am
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Mea says...



We interrupt your regularly scheduled character programming to bring you... a PLOT.

The Plot So Far



Part One
(This is all already written, and will probably stay mostly the same.)
Spoiler! :
Three years ago, Dameon fell from the seventh dimension to the 32nd dimension, where the story takes place. Upon being rescued by a search-and-rescue team from Eos that specifically searches for "fallen", he is taken back to Eos and his identity is confirmed. Once it is, he's brought before the governing Council, which is made up entirely of duplicates of himself and his brother Sam(uel), from other dimensions. They offer him a place in his inner circle. He utterly refuses (he doesn't trust himself or anyone with power, and the duplicates of himself and his brother "aren't him" because he would never be in power like this). Instead, he joins the search-and-rescue teams, hoping to do a little good in the world.

The story begins with Dameon and Jade heading to New York City to rescue a fallen. New York City has both been attacked with chemical weapons and had an atomic bomb dropped on it, so it's a pretty dangerous place to be. They suit up and hurry to find the fallen before she dies of radiation/falling into an acid pool/anything else, and on their way back are attacked by a large mutant dog. Dameon kills it using a gun he bought illegally on the black market, as guns are completely outlawed (they're supposed to use stun guns, but they weren't strong enough to kill the dog). But he likes guns and he wanted to defy the government, which is why he bought one illegally.

Jade sees him do it, but far from turning him in, she invites him on a "date"... to an underground rebel meeting taking place in the still-ruined half of Toronto (the part everyone lives in is called Eos). The rebel's goals are basically to overthrow the government and replace it with democracy. They also have a mysterious masked leader. Since Dameon is a bit notorious for being one of the Brothers, everyone knows who he is, and the masked leader pulls him aside and offers him a deal: help us, and we will reward you. He says he'll think about it.

Pretty soon after that, he heads to the gym after one of his shifts and goes onto the shooting range (again, stun guns, not real guns), waiting for his good friend and mentor Gregory Davidson to get there. Gregory is about as close in the Brother's inner circle as it is possible to be without being a Brother (for reasons), but he's also the only one of them that Dameon actually likes. So he gets most of his news from Gregory. But this time, Gregory has brought someone else: Dan, the head of Intelligence and one of the Brothers.

Dan asks him to be a secret agent. Why? Because Soran and Dominic, two Brothers who were once in the inner circle but went rogue, have been spotted with a growing group of insurgents down in the southern US, and Dan needs someone competent to check it out. Dameon refuses again.

...Until a few days later, when his team is returning from rescuing a fallen, only to have another alert come in. Someone has fallen through in the exact spot Dameon fell through, three years ago.

And Dameon just knows it's his real brother, Sam, who he misses more than anything in the world.

But where he has fallen has become a Code Red area because of rebel activity. Normal search-and-rescue teams can't go into the area anymore. But the clock is ticking, and every moment risks that Sam will be found by the rebels first. Dameon is given an ultimatum: become a secret agent, and rescue your brother. Don't, and it will never happen.

He agrees. His team is assembled quickly - his good friend Jade, a cold, reserved woman named Limena, and a shy tech girl called Meghan. They set off, but when they get there, they find they are only a few hours too late. Against protocol, Dameon tracks the rebels who have his brother with them, develops a plan, and attacks.

It fails. Part 1 ends with Dameon, his new team, and his brother captured, all being driven to the rebel's base to meet the rogue Brothers, where Dameon will have to decide where his loyalties really lie.


Part Two
This is where I got stuck. Here, in bullet points, is what I want to happen:

-They get there and aside from not being allowed to leave, are treated more like guests than prisoners.
-They find that the rebels are recruiting heavily and setting up their own society down in southern US/northern Mexico - they're working their way up to a pre-Collapse level of tech. (Problems with this: I'm not sure how realistic this big of a society is, particularly since it's only been 5-6 years since Soran and Dominic were exiled. Also realistically, there won't be many fighters because so many people need to farm, but I need them to have lots of possible fighters)
-Dameon immediately likes Dominic a lot more than he likes the other Brothers.
-Dameon sees the tight-knit community, fairly+efficiently run, and wishes he could be part of it
-He meets a larger-than-life old Mexican farmer named Ian, whom he respects immediately. (I'm not really sure what to do with this guy, or even if this will progress the story at all.)
-Limena and Meghan just want to escape, though Meghan thinks sitting it out might be the better option. Jade + Dameon are both sorely tempted to defect and join the exiles. Dameon wants to live in peace and help these people, and maybe as they gather strength,figure out something to do to free Eos. He's just afraid he's getting played. Jade is all for taking down Eos, but she needs persuading that doing it externally is the only option.
-They maybe try to escape? Or at least Limena does. Really don't know about this.
-The exile's base is bombed by Eos, killing many of the residents, including (probably) Ian. This is the turning point for Dameon - Eos struck first, so clearly they're just trying to secure their power, how could this little village be a threat yet?
-They flee to the exile's main and much more secret base, at which point they meet Soran (before, they'd only met Dominic). Dameon has some misgivings about Soran, but he's angry enough that he says yes when Soran demands their allegiance. All four of them swear allegiance to the rebels, though Limena and Meghan mostly do it in fear of what would happen if they didn't.
-They go on missions for the rebels (also have no idea what this looks like, probably recruiting people and salvaging technology?)
-Limena finds out that Soran is trying to get nuclear weapons and is planning to use them on Eos, even if it means destroying themselves. At first, the others don't believe her, but she convinces them.
-This is a breaking point for Dameon. He has been played, with Soran being blinded by hate and doing all of this just to build up an army to take revenge, not because he's actually trying to help people. When Limena announces she's escaping, and who's coming with me, he agrees to go.
-Jade stays behind. She won't betray them, but she won't go. She doesn't believe Limena about the nukes. She's thrown in her lot with the exiles and won't break her word.
-Sam also stays behind, because he insists he can do more good as a spy. Dameon can't persuade him to come, and would never leave him if it weren't for the fact that this happens literally in the middle of their escape, and he can't risk getting caught.
-They escape from the exiles' camp and make their way back to Eos. This is the midpoint of the book.

Now this is where the question marks start appearing.
-They get back and are immediately put to work trying to counter the exile's plan of getting nukes. This mostly means searching out locations where nukes were hidden in the pre-Collapse days and then either destroying that knowledge or getting to the nukes first and disabling them. I don't really know what this looks like other than that Gregory will join them.
-Also, previously his relationship with Limena was pretty rocky, and it'll start getting more smoothed out here.
-Part 2 ends with a bang: Sam, whom they haven't heard from yet, finally manages to get an emergency transmission sent. It tells them this: they have been wrong all along. The exiles didn't care about the nukes. It's always been a decoy, a decoy to draw troops and attention away from one of Eos' search-and-rescue bases in the Midwest. That base is going to be attacked with the goal of stealing information, weapons, and most importantly, the fleet of hovercars. The attack launches in 12 hours, and only Dameon's team is close enough to the base to stop it.

I'm going to leave it there for now. Part 3 is plotted out in terms of what the exile's plans are and mostly how Dameon will (maybe) thwart them, but I'm not at all sure of the emotional arcs and stuff. Comments/questions appreciated!
We're all stories in the end.

I think of you as a fairy with a green dress and a flower crown and stuff.
-EternalRain

I think you, @Deanie and I are like the Three Book Nerd Musketeers of YWS.
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Tue Jun 26, 2018 3:52 am
mellifera says...



I smell a strong Brotherly Bond!!! I love good sibling relationships, okay? They're my favourite thing ever (literally strong sibling bonds are above all else for me).

Okay but really, hi! I'm here, like I said I would. Haha I'm not late I don't know what you're talking about *sweat nervously*

So questions! How actually do the parallel worlds exist? Are they copies of this world (like, our world)? Do they get progressively worse as you go down (that's just what I'm imagining)? How different are all the layers to each other (I imagine they aren't all following the same path, for example like, England winning the revolutionary war. I'm sorry I don't know why that was the first comparison to come to mind)? When is this set? What is the collapse era?

And maybe this is just something that's meant to be up in the air, how do people fall to the next layer? I have this image in my head of just, the ground opening up and depositing them onto the next layer, where they fall for a while and then they just kinda land and it's like 'whoops, guess that was a thing'. But I'm sure it's much more logical than that xD
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Tue Jun 26, 2018 10:30 pm
Mea says...



@scribbleinks - ahh thank you thank you!

They are indeed copies of this world, and they diverge from ours more widely the further you go down, because more stuff has fallen to those levels and tainted things, and just because they're farther down. The levels actually are exactly the same historically up until around 2010 (for reasons ;)), though most people don't realize it. (The story takes place, in the bottom dimension, in 2059. The world collapsed over a period of 7-10 years, and Samuel has been ruling Eos since 2034, though his rule was only really stable starting in 2043) Since 2010, the worlds have diverged quite dramatically.

When someone falls down, they basically just disappear. To them, it's like everything winks out, and if they fall through multiple layers, they'll catch brief glimpses of each layer as they wink into and out of existence. They next thing they'll know, they'll be standing in the exact same geographical spot (relative to the earth, not to the universe as a whole otherwise they'd probably be in space) they were in their dimension, but of course the surroundings are often completely different.
We're all stories in the end.

I think of you as a fairy with a green dress and a flower crown and stuff.
-EternalRain

I think you, @Deanie and I are like the Three Book Nerd Musketeers of YWS.
-bluewaterlily
  





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Wed Jul 11, 2018 4:43 am
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Mea says...



So, I'm going to be posting my weekly updates here! I'm also posting what I've already written through the Publishing Center, at the rate of a chapter a week like the normal LMS folks. But what I'm actually writing for LMS will go here.

Week One - Chapter 11.1, 1115 words
(I submitted this in the LMS club's submission thread on time, but hadn't realized I was supposed to put it here instead of in the thread itself.)
Spoiler! :
The next day, late in the afternoon, Dameon had finally managed to grab a spare moment, and intended to spend it talking through the day with his brother. He wanted to hear every detail of what Sam had been doing, and spill out all the thoughts that had built up, bouncing around noisily in his brain, over the last day and a half. He had a decision he needed to make, and soon.
It didn’t take him long to find the workroom where Sam’s equipment had been moved to. The door stood ajar, and Dameon pushed it open. “Hey Sam, they finally let me—“ he began. But another figure was standing next to Sam, leaning over the table and holding something Dameon couldn’t make out. Despite the dim light, the figure was familiar…
“Meghan?” Dameon said in surprise.
She looked up so suddenly Dameon would have thought she was expecting someone to shout at her. “Oh, it’s only you,” she said.
“I didn’t know you were working with Sam.”
“I’m not really,” she said, setting the object — it looked like some sort of control panel — down.
“I asked her for help,” Sam explained. “I needed another pair of hands, you see. And an extra brain.”
He smiled at her, and Meghan flushed. When had those two gotten to know each other so well, Dameon wondered?
He had come here hoping to find Sam, but not like this. What he needed more than anything right now was to join his brother at his work, talk flowing between them like a river. But Meghan seemed to have replaced that position as easy as breathing. Dameon bit his lip, fighting back an angry outburst. This was good. This was good. He’d hardly seen Meghan all day. He shouldn’t neglect his team. Since he was here…
“Meghan, can I pull you out for just a minute?” Dameon asked.
She glanced at Sam, who shrugged.
“Okay,” she said, and left the room with Dameon. “What is it?
“I just wanted to check in,” Dameon shrugged leaning against the opposite wall of the hallway. “See how you’re settling in, hear what you think.”
“Oh,” said Meghan. She stood just outside the doorway, avoiding Dameon’s gaze and clutching her right arm with her left. She glanced back at Sam and almost smiled. “I’m fine now. Everything’s fine, or at least as fine as things can be.”
She paused. “I’m not helpless. Getting caught that night — I was scared. I’m not useless.”
“I know that,” Dameon said, surprised. “I never would have thought…”
Okay, he had decided she was useless in battle, but he saw no reason to reevaluate that analysis yet. He changed the subject. “What have you been working on?” He’d seen so little of her all day.
“Just helping Sam. They never told me it was my job, but I think it’s what they want me to do now.”
“Good. Good. I’m glad,” said Dameon, shifting his weight from one foot to the next.
Meghan could tell he was stalling. “What else did you want to ask?”
Dameon decided to cut straight to the chase. “What do you think? About all this? Everything these exiles have built?”
She closed herself off immediately. Dameon could feel it, like a flower pulling in its petals. But just by looking at her, you could never tell. Her posture, her voice, was the same as always — delicate and shy. But her eyes had changed, hardening. “What do you mean?”
“I meant what I said.” Dameon waited.
Seeing he wasn’t going to give her an easy way out, Meghan spoke. “It’s… interesting. The technology they have and what they’ve build from it is… interesting.”
“You would know more about that than I would,” Dameon said, giving her an easy smile. “But I think it’s more than interesting. It’s stunningly ambitious. Building all of this in five years…”
“Yes,” said Meghan, again cautious.
“And their mission, to gather everyone in the area and give them a new standard of living…” Dameon continued.
“What are you asking?” Meghan finally said, with feeling. “If support them? If I am a traitor? If I would rather stay here then go home? I’m helping them because I may as well. The technical problems are fascinating and giving people a better way to farm their crops won’t hurt Eos.”
She swallowed. “There’s more. Have you thought about what might happen if we refuse to help? They welcome us with open arms, but only as long as we cooperate with them. They say pretty words, but we’re still prisoners.”
No, Dameon almost snapped. That is not what’s going on here. That is not who Dominic is.
But his training intervened. She was right. He was deep in enemy territory, captured and at their mercy, regardless of his personal conflicts of loyalty, This treatment was non-standard and therefore dangerous, and Dameon would do well to remember that. Part of him rebelled against that training, because it was FBI. But it had saved his life on more occasions than he could count. A healthy bit of skepticism, in Dameon’s experience, was much more often an asset than a liability.
“You’re right,” Dameon told her. “You’re exactly right to be cautious. The question is, is what they’re selling us real?”
Meghan met his eyes. “The question is, does it matter?” she asked quietly.
Dameon didn’t have a response for that. Of course it mattered. That was the center of it, the question at the heart of everything. If Dominic was genuine, if all this was actually working, then there was a better way. A way to help all the the people Samuel was happy to leave with nothing. And Dameon could live here and work here and be part of it. He had to know. He had to be sure.
“Is it okay if I get back to work?” Meghan asked in that same soft voice, interrupting his thoughts.
“Yes,” Dameon said automatically. “Yes, of course.”
She turned to leave. Dameon closed the door behind her, staring at it for a long moment. He shook his head. How to win the girl’s trust? He didn’t know, but there was more going on with her, he was sure of it. She didn’t strike him as a patriot, at least not like Limena. The FBI part of him said he couldn’t afford a weak link, that he needed to pull this team together if he ever wanted to regain control of the situation and get out of here, and to do that, he needed to get Limena and Meghan to trust him.
The rest of him was still wondering if he wanted to leave at all.
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Mea says...



Week Two - Chapter 11.2 + some extra (1604 words total, only 1082 of which are new because I'm still filling in gaps between previously half-written scenes. I forgot how much of a mess I left this.)

Spoiler! :
Dameon set down his rusted trowel and straightened up to wipe his forehead. The sun was beginning to sink behind the buildings now, but he had been working in the gardens adjacent to the residential complex for several hours now, and sweat had long since soaked through his shirt.
“I was told I’d find you here,” a voice said. Dameon turned. A dark figure, silhouetted by the sun behind him, was approaching. Dameon squinted and saw it was none other than Dominic, whom Dameon hadn’t seen since that first bizarre morning.
“What do you want?” Dameon said, voice measured.
Dominic pulled open the gate to the garden and leaned against it, just a few feet away from where Dameon was standing between rows of beans. “Just wanted to check in with you, see how you’re doing,” he said easily.
“You’re keeping us busy. Other than that, we’re doing fine.” Dameon knelt back down and picked up his trowel again. He had been trying to uproot a particularly stubborn weed, and now he returned to his efforts.
Unfortunately, Dominic didn’t leave things at that. He stepped forward and squatted down beside Dameon. “I wasn’t just meaning to leave it at that. Look me in the eye and tell me what you’ve really been thinking. I’ve gone to a lot of work for you and your band. I’d hate to hear it’s all been wasted, but I need to know.”
Dameon threw down the trowel and looked up at Dominic, just like the man wanted. “What do you think you’re going to hear from me? That we’ve all been totally won over by your speeches? That we’re gonna walk away from our sworn duties, turn traitor because of some fancy speeches and a few impressive gestures?”
Dominic threw back his head and laughed. “You have a way of putting words to it. But I think you’re being unfair. I know you, Dameon. And I think I have a bit more to offer than a few fancy speeches. Put me in charge, and you get this.”
He spread his arms wide, indicating the whole compound — the buildings, the crops, the several thousand people living in safety. Another person might have scoffed — living here, as Dameon was discovering, was a life of hard work once made easy by technology they hadn’t yet managed to recreate. But Dameon knew Dominic was referring to more than just the prosperity of the residents here. He was referring to the ideals the Silver League was built on.
Dameon studied his duplicate and when he finally spoke, he chose his words carefully. “It seems to me like we’ve had a bad track record with allowing versions of us be in charge of anything.”
Dominic’s eyes flashed. “That’s them. Not us. Our dupes from the lower dimensions — they’re not like us, Dameon. They’re not like you and me. Different experiences, upbringings, I don’t know.”
He seized Dameon’s arm. “But us… we’re the same. I can see it.”
Dameon flinched away. So Dominic believed it too. This idea that somehow, all of the dupes were clones, accidents of circumstance the only thing that separated them from each other. Maybe it was true, but that was a matter of philosophy and God, why would anyone want it to be true? Dameon was himself. No one else, and certainly not a knocked-off copy of whatever Dameon lived in Reality 1.
“We are not the same,” Dameon pulled his arm out of Dominic’s grip, stepping away from him. He locked eyes with his dupe. “One word, and if you’ve met many of me you’ll know it: Mexico.”
That blindsided him, at least for a moment. He would know about Mexico, of course. But he’d been down here since he was fifteen. He’d never worked for the FBI. And so he couldn’t have any idea. None at all.
Dominic’s mouth moved without sound, and then he said. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not about what happened to us. It’s about what we both know is right. Look at all of this!”
Dameon didn’t respond at first.
Dominic waited. “Come on, man, I need to know. What do you say? We really could use you.”
The corner of Dameon’s mouth twitched. He couldn’t help it. The man was so eager, so driven, it was infectious. He made things happen, and out here, working from the outside, with allies like this — look what he had already done. With a word, Dameon could be a part of that.
What was his alternative? To escape and get back to Eos, go on more missions for a government he hated? Feel Gregory’s disappointment on his back every day? Stand by and watch while children like little Alice were left to die —
God, had that only been yesterday morning? Remembering was a bolt of guilt that shot through him like lightning. Her solemn eyes, her mother’s terror. Dominic would have brought her here. Done his best for her. Hell, he was braver than Dameon. If Dominic had been in Dameon’s place, working for Eos, he would have found a way to smuggle her into the city, laws be damned. Instead, Dameon had offered excuses.
Maybe this was his chance. He’d been burned before. But… damn it, maybe he could try again. “There’s a girl and her mother. A whole family, really, but the girl has asthma. I met them yesterday when bringing in a fallen. Her mother begged me to take her with them. You know the laws.” He dropped his gaze. “I left her there. She’ll die without help.”
“Say the place, and I’ll send someone there. Immediately,” Dominic said without pause.
Dameon’s breath caught in his throat. He almost said yes. Right then and there, he almost decided.
Then the other half of him spoke up. He’s just using you. It’s just an expenditure, a show of faith to get you on his side. How do you know? How do you really know he’s not just gathering an army? That this isn’t a power play?
“I can’t,” he finally said.
“You don’t know where she is?”
“No, I can tell you exactly where. But I can’t… the answer is no. Not again. I’m not getting… involved again.”
Dominic’s jaw worked wordlessly for a moment. Dameon could see his frustration burning, could tell his face was a mirror of Dameon’s own when he was angry. He waited for Dominic to retract his offer of helping the girl.
“I get it,” Dominic finally said with an effort. “You’ve been burned too many times. I’ll still send someone to help the girl.” He started to turn away, then paused.
“What would change your mind?” he said at last, perfectly blunt.
“You really want to know?” Dameon said with a wild laugh.
“What do you think?”
Okay. Okay. You asked for it. He stood and seized Dominic’s shoulders, gripping them tightly and looking his dupe straight in the eyes. “Convince me you’re in this for the people. Cause the way I see it, you and Soran are working to get yourself an army here. I don’t know what you’re planning — tech, infiltration trickery, whatever, but you’ll lead that army against Eos and kill plenty of them just so you can take the throne and run things your way.”
“And if our way is better?” Dominic countered. “Say for a second, you’re right, and that we have a hope in hell of taking down Samuel. We take over Eos, we expand. Anyone who wants can come in, as many as we can handle. We abolish the chits system, the assigned jobs, all of it. For the people.”
Dameon shook his head in disgust. Why did it always have to be about pushing forward, taking more than what you already had? “Why? You’re helping people here. You don’t have any duty to Eos. Even under Samuel’s government, practically all of them are better off than anyone here. Help the people in front of you first.”
“I swear to you, that’s what we’re doing.” Dominic waved a hand. “Eos, Samuel… all of that is years away. Right now, all we’ve got is what you see around you. And making it better — that’s where we need you.”
Dameon swallowed, his throat suddenly constricted with an emotion he didn’t understand. He didn’t have an answer to that. “I want to believe you,” he admitted slowly.
“But you need time,” said Dominic, putting a friendly hand on his shoulder. “I get it. Take your time, man. I’ll be here when you’re ready.”
Then, dropping his hand, Dominic turned away and left Dameon to his thoughts.

“Right.” Limena said, closing the door behind her and dropping her voice to a whisper. “Now that we’re finally all together, I have a plan.”
“To do what?” Dameon asked. It had been two days since Dameon had last spoken with Dominic. In that time, all four of them had seemingly settled into the new routine of working in the gardens, on infrastructure around the compound, or in Sam and Meghan’s case, their personal project of developing mechanical irrigation for the fields south of the base. But now Limena had called them all here in the free time after dinner, gathering them in the small bunkroom that she shared with Jade and Meghan.
“Escape. What else?” Limena met Dameon’s gaze with a look of steel.
She shouldn’t have made anything like a plan that without orders, or at least shouldn’t have brought them all together like this. She should have reported her thoughts to to Dameon first. But that look told Dameon that a reprimand would do nothing.
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Mon Jul 23, 2018 4:34 am
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Mea says...



Was so close to getting this scene done, and then my sister decided to talk to me about poetry, so that didn't happen. :P Still, I'm pretty happy with 1823 words!

Week Three
Spoiler! :
Dameon gave a mental sigh and prepared himself for battle. “Let’s hear it, then.”
He glanced briefly at each person in the room. All of them were here. Meghan was sitting crosslegged on the top bunk to his left, hugging her knees close to her chest and watching Limena intensely. Dameon thought she would side with Limena, but he could never be sure with her. Limena herself stood in front of the window, hands clasped behind her, staring Dameon down. Sam hovered just behind him, a mixture of curiosity and anxiety. Sam would do whatever Dameon did, and that made everything twice as hard. But Jade stood at Dominic’s side, jaw set, a source of strength as always.
“Right.” Limena said. “I’ve been working on a map of the compound.” She reached under the straw-filled mattress that must have been her bed and removed a rough scrap of canvas and a crude bit of charcoal. She eyed the materials with distaste, then unrolled the canvas and crouched down to spread it out on the floor.
Sam and Jade knelt down on the floor, leaning over the canvas to see. Dameon took a seat on the bed, looking over their heads. The map was imprecise but neat, the lines carefully intersecting at right angles to form the outlines of each of the buildings, the gardens, and the fence around the perimeter. Here and there, Limena had marked areas with a small “x” and written notes too small for Dameon to read.
“You can see the basic layout here,” Limena said. “These are the living quarters, this is the medical wing, and this is Top Secret.” That was what they and the other new recruits jokingly called the building where Dominic and the higher-ranking members of the League lived — everyone who ran operations here, or had been a member for longer than a year.
“Now, this is the perimeter fence, a ways out from the buildings,” she said, tracing it with her finger. “Chain-link, barbed wire fence, in pretty good condition. Not a problem — we find some wire cutters and cut our way out. It’s patrolled, but the intervals are long enough that if we were quick, we’d get out easy. Except it’s not that simple.”
“Because we’re in the middle of nowhere and a few thousand miles from Eos,” Jade supplied helpfully. “I think all of us want to avoid a three-month trip back.”
“Exactly,” said Limena. “We need to steal a vehicle. Our first option is those retrofitted Jeeps they were driven when they captured us. They’re solar powered and should last long enough without maintenance to get us there. But they’ll be able to chase us. Even if we outrun them or lose them somehow, I don’t know the roads to get us back to either Eos, or if there are any that are even passable. The rescue team’s southern outpost is much closer, but there’s still the problem of navigation.”
She pointed to the place on the map marked “Front Gates,” with “Garage” written on a rectangle next to it. “And as the nail in the coffin, the only way out is through the front gates, which are closed the vast majority of the time. Between the gates and the garage, there isn’t a more heavily guarded area in the compound. The Jeeps aren’t going to work. But there’s one more way home.”
She pointed at the Top Secret building. “The same way we came. Hoverjet.”
They all looked at her in silence. Even Dameon was impressed. “This had better be good. No way is the hoverjet less guarded than the Jeeps. And how on earth are we getting into Top Secret?”
“We don’t need to get into the building. We just need to get on top of the building,” Limena grinned. Because the hoverjet is only there some of the time, it’s not well-guarded. Once we’re on the roof, we’ll have a clear shot, and there’s never more than one hoverjet there are a time, so they can’t chase us. And, assuming they haven’t completely stripped its comn systems, which I doubt they’ll have done, Meghan should be able to hack it to receive signals from Eos again. We’ll be home in eight hours, with an extra hoverjet, and who knows what secrets they’ve stored in there?
“There aren’t many patrols around the area at night,” she continued. “All we need is a bit of long rope. And there you go. I thought it would be better to go over the details with all of you here.”
It wasn’t a bad plan, but Dameon wasn’t going to let it go unchallenged. “Now hold on just a minute,” he said.
Limena smirked at him as if she knew what was coming. “Yes, sir?”
Dameon didn’t rise to her bait. “We need to stop and ask ourselves if this is a smart idea. Whatever we try, it’ll be dangerous. If we’re not careful we’ll end up stranded in the wild even if we do escape, and if we don’t…” He looked over at Jade’s leg, which was still bandaged. “More of us will get hurt. Or killed.”
Limena’s eyes glinted. “So you’re admitting all this bull about us joining their little terrorist group is just meant to keep us distracted and persuade us not to try to escape. Like some sort of twisted Stockholm syndrome, and it’ll all collapse the moment we cross them.”
“I didn’t say that,” Dameon said, trying to keep his cool. “I said, if we try to leave, they’ll try to stop us. Of course they will — we know their base location, not to mention their entire entry-level command structure and current level of technology. I know we’re prisoners. That doesn’t mean they aren’t being genuine about wanting us on their side.”
“Better to make your enemies your friends than to be forced into fighting them.” Jade summed it up.
Limena snorted. “Not if you don’t have the sense to realize most of them aren’t about to change their mind. Well, they’ll be cursing their lenience soon enough. This should work, and then we’ll be out of here and flying home faster than they can say ‘oops.’ I assume you all are in?”
It was a challenge. A way to bring it out in the open, for once and for all. Who would be loyal to Eos, and who would defect?
I can’t let this happen. The thought hit Dameon like a physical blow. If they escape, they’ll head back to Eos and tell Samuel everything, and it’ll be all over for the Silver League. And no matter what I think about Dominic and Soran, I can’t let that happen to all these people.
He wasn’t ready to defect. But he wasn’t ready to watch the League get destroyed either.
“I’m in,” Meghan said softly, interrupting Dameon’s racing mind. Everyone turned to look at her.
“I’m going with Limena,” she repeated, perfectly calm.
“What’s your reasoning?” Dameon challenged. Panic rose in him. The situation was getting out of his control, and fast.
“I want to get out of here,” she said simply.
Dameon scrutinized her. He never could tell what that girl was thinking. There had to be something more — he knew she always had a dozen reasons for anything running through her head. She was a lot like Sam in that way. But good luck getting it out of her if she didn’t want to share. “Even though it’s dangerous? Even though it’s a hell of a journey back.”
“I want to go home.” The way she said it, it was a perfectly bland statement, so bland Dameon almost snorted. She seemed to realize that, because she added in a softer voice, “My brothers need me.”
“Good,” Limena said. She looked at Sam and Jade. “Well?”
Neither of them answered. Jade looked caught, and Dameon knew she, like him, wasn’t ready to make this kind of decision. Sam just looked afraid. Dameon remembered his words a few nights prior — that he would follow Dameon, whatever he chose. How far would that blind faith go?
“Don’t you think we’re moving a little bit fast?” Sam said hesitantly.
“You haven’t been to Eos,” Limena said simply. “Apart from everything else, it was always our job to get you there.”
A tender smile touched her lips. “It’s a beautiful city. Not like this. And you’ll be able to do your research. Our facilities are few, but I’m told they’re more advanced than your dimension’s technology.”
Sam looked at Dameon, his lips parted uncertainly. “Dameon…”
“It’s true,” Dameon admitted grudgingly. Gregory had told him a bit about the S duplicates who specialized in dimensional studies. “But Samuel dictates how they’re used.”
Limena shrugged at that. “But of course we’re not moving too fast — we’ve already been stuck here for weeks. If we’d been focusing on escape, like we should have from the beginning instead of leaving me to work all this out, we could be out of here already.”
“Yes, you are—“ Dameon stepped forward and caught her arm. “Even if all this works, and that’s a chance in a thousand, think about what’ll happen after. If you get home, you’ll tell them everything you know about this place.”
“Of course,” said Limena, yanking her arm away and stepping back.
“And then they’re going to bomb it straight to hell! I don’t care what you think about Dominic and Soran, you can’t stand here and tell me all these people deserve it. God, Limena, a third of them are children!”
For just a second, Limena faltered. Then her resolve was back. “I know that. I’ll tell them that, too. President Samuel is not going to authorize a bombing run just because I told him where the base is located. Not if I tell him it’s mostly civilians, and I will tell him. We’re not monsters.”
“Speak for yourself,” Jade said sharply, entering the argument for the first time. “Two words: Black Hollow. It was covered up, but why the hell do you think Dominic and Soran left? You can’t tell me it was a coincidence.”
“That was different.”
“How?” Jade laughed. “They weren’t even sworn enemies. They were civilians.”
Dominic frowned at her. Black Hollow. He had never heard the name and never seen her so bitter. But he had barely opened his mouth to ask when Limena folded her arms. “So you’re siding with him?”
Jade took half a breath. Her red curls bounced as she closed her eyes for a split second, flinching as if shaking off a fly. “It’s more complicated than that.”
“I don’t see how it is. Either you come or you go.”
Jade actually smiled, warm and personable, as if they were disagreeing on which dish was best at a restaurant, not something like this. “Of course— but it’s still complicated. Do you think I trust Dominic and Soran?"
Last edited by Mea on Sun Aug 05, 2018 9:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Sun Jul 29, 2018 3:24 am
Mea says...



I've had the minimum word count done for ages, but I kept putting off submitting it in the hopes of writing more. Then life happened, and yeah...

Week Four - Very last bit of Ch. 11.3 + start of Ch. 12.1 - 2153 words
Spoiler! :
They’re duplicates, just like all the Brothers we — no offense, Dameon — and they want power. I’d be crazy to treat them at this stage. But I’ll bet money with you if you like — if you escape tonight tell Samuel where this base is, it won’t exist by tomorrow morning. Dominic and Soran is one thing, all those children are another. So it’s not quite so simple.”
“It won’t happen. I’ll swear it. Don’t make this mistake.”
A small smile tugged at Jade’s lips. “Oh, sweetheart, I started making it a long time ago.”
She looked back at Dameon. “I’ll stay. I’m not ready to write this place off yet.”
A heady relief surged through Dameon. Jade would be by his side, as she had been since he had known her. Why had he expected anything different?
One more unknown. He turned to Sam, the question in his gaze.
“I’ll stay with you, brother,” Sam said soberly.
Silence fell in the little bunkroom.
“I see,” Limena said, voice low. “I see I didn’t know what I was getting into when General Dan assigned me to this mission. I see Gregory was wrong to trust you and Jade.”
That cut deeper than Dameon wanted to admit. “That’s not fair.”
She turned away. “It’s true.”
“If you go through with this, you’re doing it against my express orders,” Dameon growled. His last resort.
She scoffed. “Like that means anything. No one in Eos will know, and if they did, they’d agree with me.”
Dameon couldn’t deny it. “Limena, please, just listen, just think what if—“
Limena spun. “No. No, I am done listening to you. Look.” She flung the words in Dameon’s face. “I don’t care if I have to do this alone, I don’t care if it’s insubordination, I’m going. If you decide you’re just another traitor, if you decide you’re just as selfish as Dominic and Soran, if you’re happy with yourself knowing you’re helping tear down everything we’ve built, then I say you’re unfit to lead this mission, and that’s putting it lightly.”
She paused for breath. “You weren’t here. When the world was falling apart and Eos was the only country left that even had plumbing, you weren’t here. You were gallivanting around in a perfectly stable layer with all the luxuries you could ask for. Well, some of us have had to fight for all of that. Excuse us for not sitting back and letting a few malcontents destroy it all.”
She was obviously brainwashed. Or insane. “You’re twisting things all around—“ Dameon began angrily.
“Don’t you say another word to me, D7. I want all the traitors to get out of my room, and if any of you breathe a word of this to anyone else, you are aiding and abetting the enemy and you won’t be able to deny it. And if we get caught because of either of you, I will personally disembowel you both before they kill us for trying to escape. Understood?”
At that exact moment, the ground beneath them shook with the force of an explosion.

--------

The blast rocked the walls as though they were paper, a sharp boom that left their ears ringing. Dameon staggered, catching himself on one of the bedposts. Sam and Jade were shaken to the floor, and Limena stumbled forward.
“What the hell was that?” Jade cried.
A heavy weight settled on Dameon’s chest. So it had come already. He hadn’t even had to wait for Limena to escape and bring Samuel news of the compound. “A bomb,” he said grimly.
As if in response to his words, another explosion followed, not quite as close, but still loud enough for the walls to shake violently. And then another, and another, one after the other — smaller bombs peppering more precise targets.
“We have to get out of here!” Meghan shouted, swinging down from her bunk and looking around frantically.
“Team, with me,” Dameon barked. He met Limena’s eyes, already putting their current… differences behind them in the face of an equally threatening danger. Work with me, he said silently. We need each other if we’re going to get out of this. Gregory made me leader for a reason.
And this time, he would do better.
To his relief, Limena acquiesced with a nod. For now.
Jade and Limena stepped forward, forming a close circle, each of them alert and ready, not even flinching as blasts rocked the walls and splintered the ceiling.
“Arrowhead formation. Stay low and close behind me, protect your head with your hands where possible. Jade, watch Meghan. Limena, watch Sam. Make sure they don’t fall behind or get separated, and that they obey exactly what I say the moment I say it. Our goal is to find shelter underground, if possible. Failing that, they’ve got to have an evacuation plan, and we’ll find someone in charge and follow it. Understood? Then —“
A terrible whistling, and the right wall exploded. Wood and plaster sprayed across the room as they dove to the ground. A splinter sliced Dameon’s right arm, scoring a thin gash down its length that stung fiercely. The cool night air swept in like a knife.
Coughing from the dust, Dameon pushed himself up and hauled Meghan to her feet with his good hand. “Go, go, go! We’ll be right behind you! Get out before the next bomb falls!”
He pressed forward, pushing aside debris. Limena had been near the back of the room—
Jade appeared at his side, helping him push a beam out of the way.
“You go too,” Dameon managed, glancing over his shoulder, where Meghan and Sam were disappearing around the corner. “Watch them…”
“You need me,” Jade said fiercely, pushing another beam away. “Limena? Can you hear me?”
A faint moan came from under the wreckage of a bed. Dameon redoubled his efforts. There — her leg was sticking out from under one of the straw mattresses, which had been flung about in the blast. Dameon threw it aside easily and saw that Limena was pinned under one of the stout bedpost beams, looking pale.
Together, he and Jade heaved at the beam, rolling it to the side. The building shook with the force of another bomb, and Limena stirred.
“Go ahead,” Dameon told Jade. “Find Meghan and Sam. I’ll bring Limena. That’s an order,” he added as she hesitated.
Before she was even out the door, Dameon crouched down and shook Limena. Her eyes were open, but dazed and unfocused. “Can you walk?”
“Hit my head,” Limena murmured. “Everything… hurts. Not broken, I think. Bruised.”
She struggled to sit up. Dameon pulled her arm around his shoulder, speaking into her ear. “Stand on three, all right?”
With him supporting half her weight, she was able to step over the debris and make it through the door.
To their left, the hallway had caved in, dust still swirling in the air. People he couldn’t see were shouting, panicked, maybe trapped like Limena had been. He needed to go to them, needed to help —
No. He needed to get his team out of there. He didn’t have time to help them. He closed his heart to their screams and struggled down the hallway, lungs heaving in the dusty air. He smelled smoke, acrid, a sign that they had minutes before the structure was inescapable. One step after another, each one a little faster, because they had to catch up, had to find the others. Overhead, the ceiling trembled, ominous.
There — hazy forms, up ahead as Dameon rounded the corner. One glanced over her shoulder. “Dameon!”
It was Jade. She rushed back, panic in her eyes. Behind her, Sam and Meghan clutched each other, cowering in the doorway to Dameon’s left as the building shook.
“The door’s on fire, that whole end of the hallway is burning” Jade cried, and Dameon realized with a stab of fear that he could already feel the heat. “The other door’s behind the blockage in the hallway where our room was. The whole building’s about to come down. We’re trapped!”
She was hyperventilating, and in her panic a surge of panic swept over Dameon. Limena incapacitated, Jade terrified— Jade was never scared of anything— and now he had to protect all of them, not only Sam and Meghan. Darkness closed in on him. He couldn’t do it. He had never been able to protect anybody. Mexico had proved that, and why did people keep insisting on putting him in charge of things—
Then Sam and Meghan appeared, leaving the doorway to look to Dameon. Sam put his hand on Dameon’s arm, gripping it firmly. “Tell us what to do.”
That was all Dameon needed. Sam. His brother was the one person he had never let down. He could do this for Sam. He took a ragged breath. “Window. We need to find a window we can smash.”
He glanced around “Any of the rooms should have — that one, there. Follow me.”
He dove into the side room, a bunkroom slightly larger than Limena and Jade’s had been. And unlike the other one, this one had a tiny window at the far end of the room, almost at chest height.
“Limena, do you think you can—“
“I’ll manage,” Limena insisted.
Meghan hurried forward and shook the latch, unlocking the window in seconds and pulling it open. She clambered up and dove through, hardly looking back. At a gesture from Dameon, Sam followed. “Wait there, help me pull Limena through!” Dameon called.
“I’m fine,” Limena said, pulling her arm away from Dameon, but she staggered and nearly fell.
“Here,” Dameon said, and he and Jade gave Limena a leg up together.
An almighty crash sounded from the door. A wave of heat slammed into Dameon, singing the hair on the back of his neck. He didn’t speak, didn’t think. He just acted, heaving Jade up and pushing her through the window, coughing and heaving as smoke flooded the room.
Then Jade was through and reaching a hand back for Dameon, and he was clambering up onto the windowsill, so hot from the fire it scalded his skin. His broad shoulders almost jammed in the tiny opening, but with one great heave Dameon pushed and the frame cracked and fell.
He was through, tumbling into a neat somersault and landing heavily on the dusty soil. Jade pulled him to his feet, still supporting Limena, and they staggered away from the building. Behind them, the roof collapsed at last, sending showers of sparks hundreds of feet in the air, a signal plume in the night. He squinted against the light, blinking away bright afterimages.
“Now what?” Meghan asked in a high voice, wringing her hands as she looked, wide-eyed, back at the burning buildings.
But before Dameon could even begin to formulate an answer, a large figure emerged from the darkness.
“Dameon, Jade?” It was Ian, striding forward, his long hair disheveled, his booming voice carrying through the chilly air.
“We’re here,” Dameon managed. His throat felt like someone had shoved hot coals down it. “We’re all here.”
“Hoverjets.” Ian’s face was an unreadable mask. “These are hoverjets from your Eos, dropping bombs.”
“We’re not in contact with them!” Jade shouted at him. “We didn’t cause this.”
“I did not say that,” Ian said gruffly. He looked at her and without a word, strode forward and offered to carry the dazed woman. Limena shook her head, at him, pulling away from Jade and standing on her own.
“I can walk myself,” she said. “I’m not going to slow you down.” Ian just shook his head and left her be.
“Where do we go?” Dameon asked, sweeping the courtyard before them as his eyes adjusted to the night. Disquiet rose in him. It was nearly empty. Where had everyone gone? More buildings lay in rubble across the compound. A high-pitched whine pierced his ears, and a second later another bomb exploded in a blinding flash across the compound to their right.
“Out,” Ian said, waving a huge hand toward the front gates, hundreds of yards away and out of sight behind the still-standing Top Secret building.
Dameon shook his head. “The gates will be their first target! They’ll bomb it over and over, trying to catch people who run. Believe me, I know.” He felt sick to his stomach as he said it.
Ian shook his head. “The gates still stand. They are letting us escape,” he said gravely.
He took a step forward, beckoning them again, more urgently. “You are almost the last out. I come back for you. They thought you had been lost in the fire — now hurry!”
Jade and Sam looked to Dameon, who nodded. They broke into a run, stumbling over rocks and rubble in the dark, Dameon in front with Ian bringing up the rear, helping Limena along as much as she would allow.
Last edited by Mea on Sun Aug 05, 2018 9:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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