[table= //////= EXIT'S POST DESIGN v5 =\\\\\\][row][sub][h1][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][img=/// TOPIMAGE \\\]https://i.imgur.com/hOFGYmY.png[/img][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][sub][color=#e7b9a7][sub][sub][color=2e2c2c][sub]...[/sub][/color][sup][b]▇▇▇[/b][/sup][/sub][/sub][color=2e2c2c]_[/color][sub][color=coral] Z I O T E A[/color][/sub][sub][sub][color=2e2c2c]__[/color][sup][b]▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇[/b][/sup][/sub][/sub][/color][/sub]
[color=2e2c2c]________[/color][sup][sub][sup][sub][color=555555][color=888888]The Underground[/color][/color][/sub][/sup][/sub][/sup][/h1][/sub][/row][row][cell][justify][color=white][sup][color=2e2c2c]__________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/color][/sup]
Ziotea looked around the large room. Most of the hundred-odd people there did not look ready to cross a desert. The short woman had been outside the walls before -- she knew to wear loose clothes and a head covering, and bring the largest canteen she owned. Some of these people looked like fancies from the Upper Ring, but fine clothes wouldn't protect a person from the heat, or the cold. Some looked like the poorer people from the Lower Ring, such as herself. They had packs and bags, probably all their possessions in the whole world. Those bags would slow them down. Ziotea herself carried weapons -- a spear and a pistol. She knew how to use both to defend herself from the more aggressive wildlife -- and from people, if she needed to.

Given that she was a bender now, she just might need to.

Three days ago the disaster at the SynEn plant shook the city. It shook Ziotea too, when a careless gesture left sparks in its wake. Fortunately she'd been alone at the time, but the memory haunted her when, the following day, there was news of a camp just outside the walls attacked and destroyed. Benders, the media said. Dangerous, evil, and fortunately eliminated.

But that wasn't the end of it. She'd been through something like this before, as a young girl, and the patrols in the streets and the vanishing neighbors brought back unhappy memories. A scan was all it would take -- and they sometimes scanned folk coming back inside from the desert.

She hadn't told Ryo what she was doing. She'd prepped like she was going out on a scrap run, but instead made her way to the only person she knew who might be willing to help her. Hunang was a bender. Involvement with Hunang had gotten her parents killed, all those years ago, but maybe the woman could provide Ziotea with an out, a destination across the desert where the RSF couldn't get her.

And here Hunang was now. Her voice echoed across the room as she spoke. It was time to move, quickly and quietly. They were to stick together. People were coming. Pursuers -- danger.

A young woman about Ziotea's age with a child barely more than a toddler holding her hand and two lean dogs in tow led the way. The child looked miserable. Tired. Scared. Her face spoke to the general temperament of most everyone in the room.

Ziotea found herself near the front of a long procession that headed into a veritable maze of tunnels. The woman with the child, who seemed to be one of the ones in charge, said not to wander off or they would never be found again. Ziotea knew better -- there were ways of marking confusing pathways to keep from getting lost. A bit of chalk or small signs made of stone and scrap could easily signal the way. But that would waste precious time -- and possibly provide a trail for their pursuers to follow.

Almost running through the dim tunnels, with just a few flashlights and lanterns to illuminate the way, Ziotea felt her heart cramp. This was it, then. She was really doing this. Abandoning her life in the city -- abandoning Ryo. The atmosphere was one of fearful tension. Behind her, muffled [i]thumping[/i], like a distant explosion, made the walls vibrate ever so slightly. A fight? The woman in the lead scooped up the child with her and picked up the pace. Ziotea and the others behind her followed suit.
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