Down Deep

Chapter Twenty Three - Zdana

Gripping her momma's hand, she prayed to the Mother that they were not too late. The handcar and it's supply car was packed full of people to aid in the battle at the Fens. When Toren showed up and told them the news, hundreds came forward to join the fight. Zava and Zdana had jumped on the first car down.

When the handcar stopped at the Fens tunnel, they heard the battle echoing though the cave. Zdana released her momma and jumped from the bench with her pickaxe in hand. She ran with the others into the Fens and found chaos near the west tunnel. There were dozens of dead city watchmen littering the mouth of the west tunnel. As soon the guards pulled their dead aside and tried to come out, the tarren defenders rushed in and killed them.

The reinforcements ran forward to relive the few that had been wounded. Zdana pushed herself to the front of the line and her poppa grinned down at her before he shoved the pry bar he loved so much into the face of a guard.

'Aim for the faces.' He told her yanking the bar free. 'Armor is too tough.' She nodded and swung at the face of the man who took the dead one's place. His corpse was quickly replaced by yet another guard. She was not even given time to mull over the fact that she had just taken a life.

'Watch the stunners!' Someone yelled to her right. She looked in time to see a Deepsmen fall. Zdana grabbed the man and dragged him to the back of the lines before pushing herself to the front again. She spotted Grant fighting two of the guards with a shovel. Two broken pickaxes were at his feet. Moving to his side, she took out one guard just as Grant dropped the other.

'Grant here!' Zava yelled thrusting a sledgehammer into his hands. 'Be stronger than a pick.' Grant nodded and put it to use right away. A guard had aimed a stunner right at Zdana's face. She had been in the mist of lifting her axe to block it, when the head of the sledgehammer collided with the top of the man's head. His helmet sunk in and he fell jerking wildly onto the ground.

Something caught her eye to his right, and she felt the deep down burn back to life within her. The Captain of the city watch was barking orders in the cave trying to get his men out so they could fight in the open. It had been this man who had whipped the skin from her back. It had been this man who had stood on her throat to pin her down as his men broke her leg. It was this man's blood that the down deep roared for.

With a scream that startled everyone around her, she charged the west tunnel killing any city watchman that was foolish enough to get into her way. Her momma and Grant stayed at her side helping her clear a path. The Captain tried to retreat, but Zdana got to him first. She threw him back to the waiting defenders.

'That one is mine!' She ordered 'Keep him until the fight is over.' Turning back to the guard before her, she again attacked them remembering that horrible day eleven years before. She did not know if the defenders were feeding off her rage, or she was feeding off of theirs, but working together, they drove the advancing army back to the massive freight elevator that had been hidden behind the mayor's office. With the last guard dead, the elevator tried to close but could not due to the dozens of bodies blocking it. Zdana saw movement in the top corner of the lit lift. There was a camera focusing in on her. She scowled at it knowing the council was watching and listening.

'Now you have a reason to fear me.' She growled to the camera before ripping it off of the wall. 'Stupid fools should have just left us alone.' Grant nodded his agreement and the group started toward the Fens.

'Do you hear that?' Grant asked stopping by Stine's old office. She listened and heard the sound of an alert beeping. Going in, she went to the mayor's terminal and checked the systems. Her heart slammed against her chest and she shook her head as she was flooded with terror. 'What?' Grant asked worried.