Down Deep

Chapter Twenty Five - Zdana

Watching her momma spread her poppa's ashes onto the soul stone had been too much for her. Stine adding the clear layer of resin to seal the ashes into place forever, just added to the pain ripping through her chest. There had been others lost in the last air shift. People she had known her entire life. They had known from the start it would happen, but she had not been prepared.

Grant held her tight as she was hit with an uncontrollable round of sobs. Zava joined the embrace and the two mourned the loss. A few people spoke to them words of condolences and sadness, but Zdana heard none of it. All she knew was yesterday her world had ended.

Reese had told her it had been a massive aneurism. It should have killed him instantly and the doctor had no idea how he had managed to hang on long enough to talk to them. She knew. Her poppa had a stubborn streak so powerful, it even defied the laws of nature.

'We should have seen this one coming.' Stine said and she looked up to the man. He was looking to the soul stone eyes full of mourning. 'The Mother always calls her favorites home sooner than we are ready to let them go.' He smiled to her with tears in his eyes. 'Your poppa and I did not always see eye to eye, but he was one of my closest friends.' He looked up to the light shining from the top of the library's tower. 'He saved my life when we were children. Did you know that?' She shook her head. 'We were not friends then. Did not even really know each other. My friend and I were running through an old mine shaft and it collapsed. Farris was killed instantly, but I was trapped and your poppa who had heard the collapse came running. He lifted the slab crushing me off, then carried me to the Fens. We were friends that day on.'

She had not known the story. Her poppa had touched many lives in the deep, but he never spoke of his great deeds. It was just the kind of man he had been.

'Come pup.' Zava said standing and wiping her eyes. 'There be work to be do'n. No point to be cry'n when there be work.' Zdana did not feel like working. She felt completely empty, but stood with Grant's help and the three turned their backs on the other families placing their loved one's ashes onto the stone.

Zava's idea of working off the grief was unloading the warehouse. Gateway had been designed to house and hold five thousand. It was just too big for the mere two thousand survivors of the mines. Everyone had filled the homes between the power plant and the library. The walk to the warehouse was far too long for some of them with the fluctuating gravs messing with their bodies.

For hours, the three worked to load hard carts to transport crate by crate to the new store house that had been set up. More and more tarrens joined them as they worked and soon they had a massive chain of volunteers. As her momma promised, the work helped dull the pain. By the time night came and they called a halt to the work, she was too tired to hurt and fell into bed with little thought of anything.

The next few days were more of the same. They worked to move everything they would need for the next two years out of the warehouse, it became clear that the original manifest was not entirely accurate. There was far more than what had been listed. It was two children playing off to the side as their parents worked that uncovered the biggest secret they had found since the city had been sealed.

'An armory.' Grant said stunned as he looked over her shoulder. The terminal had slid out of the wall when one of the children had bumped it. 'By the Mother. Armor, weapons, and everything we would need to defend this city to the last man against the Capital.'

'We cannot use the weapons.' Zdana told him looking over the list. 'None of these can be used down here. They were designed for the surface.'

'What do you mean?' Xavier asked pushing her on accident as he tried to look to the monitor as well. 'Sorry.' She nodded and pointed to the side of each weapons names.