Down Deep

Chapter Nineteen - Zdana

She should have been happy. All the answers they had been seeking had been found in the council's vault. The problem, the answers were far worse than they thought. One book had been so bad, it had made her vomit and she could not finish. She looked to Stine, Olson, Vallidro, and Xavier as they looked around the library in awe. Zdana knew their joy would be short lived.

'Come on.' Orick barked. He was sitting at the biggest table in the front of the library with her momma and Grady. Grant looked as chest fallen as she felt. 'I am hungry! Let's get this over with!'

'You always be hungry.' Vallidro said with amusement in his golden colored eyes. The group all gathered at the table taking seats. 'All right pup.' The four foot tall Deepsman said to her. 'This place be pretty, but why be bringing us all here?' She sighed, but it was Grant that started.

'Two months ago,' He said sitting at the table. 'Zdana and I started digging through the history left behind in this place.'

'Aye ya.' Grady said. 'They be kill'n themselves look'n for answers.' Grant sighed.

'We found what we were looking for last month.' He told them. 'The Capital City Councilman's secret vault. The true history of Capital City. Zdana and I have made a timeline.' He looked to her and she nodded.

'Year zero. Evacuation from the surface of Tarra to the underground. The first lie we found was they did not just bring down those immune to dragon flu.'

'They brought down hundreds of people who were infected.' Grant said softly. 'The general public knew nothing about them. They were locked away into secret labs and experimented on.' She felt sick remembering the logs they had found. It made what the city watch had done to her seem tame. 'Before evacuation, Tarra's government discovered unusual abilities in some of those affected with the flu. The experiments were meant to find and harness those abilities. They failed. All they did was exposed the whole underground to the dragon flu. The experiments were ended and disposed of in year one.'

Those sitting around the table looked shocked and a little sick. Stine was shaking his head caught between a look of stunned disbelief and outrage. As the leader of the Fens, he had always put their people first and did everything to protect him. Her poppa had not been the only one who had seen the mayor fighting to get to her as she had been beaten.

'Year zero, to year thirty.' She continued. 'Not all children born in the city are immune to the flu. Another lie is exposed here. The founders needed to blame someone for the flu getting into the underground. They blamed it on a few people calling them carriers. They have the flu, but do not suffer the systems. These people were labeled and most murdered in their sleep by citizens. It was decided to put them to work in the mines that had been established one mile below the city.'

'The Fens?' Stine asked surprised. At her nod Vallidro shook his head.

'The Deeps be older than the Fens.' He said.

'That is another lie that we exposed.' Grant said looking sad. 'The mines had not been named yet. At the same time, every child born with the flu was taken into isolation as the same labs with the experiments. Those that survived had become part of a new set of experiments.' She gained a hard smile. 'These survivors, were much more than they could handle. They were strong and fast. The council could not contain them.'

'Two broke loose and killed seven of the city watch.' Grant said pleased to the group. The miners had reported a deep crevice that ran far under the mines. Between the pressure and cold, any machines sent down there was destroyed. The council decided to drop the kids down there. Either they live and mine for the city, or they don't. They just wanted them out of sight to help the people forget.' Zava swore outraged and slammed her fist into the table braking a big chunk out of it. Orick put a big arm around her drawing her in close and holding her. He was shaking in rage.