Lana stood over the thirteenth brick from alley’s entrance; both her good leg and bad leg anxiously tapping the rough stone pavement, for simply being back in the city again made stomach turned.

After managing to muster the courage, Lana stepped away from the very spot she was assigned to stand guard and took a quick peek outside the alley; it was deserted, with no one to be seen, though not to Lana’s relived, as the airily silent of the uniformed street from the authority district made her nervous and anxious.

Lana quickly returned to her spot, tense and sweating. She reminded herself that she had a duty that must be kept if she wished for this crucial mission to be succeeded.

‘Today is the picking day.’ Lana remembered, her mind drifted to her big brother, Ren, who though was meek and were not always protective of her, was kind and caring. He was to be picked along with many others recruits that day, so Lana gave a silent prayer to him, asking that even if he did not come back to the free cavern with her, for god to at least give him the career he wanted.

As she stood there, Lana’s thoughts shifted from one of her siblings to another, and she found herself thinking of Sophia once again. Lana wondered what her sister doing right now, did she holding up in their house, still grieving for her, or did she came to watch Ren’s picking. For a short moment, Lana had an urge to run back to her old home or to the gathering plaza in an attempt to search for her dear sister who had always been there for her, but the other, wiser part go against it. It would be a vain attempt; Soph may not even be there, and not to mention Lana was given the duty of staying right here, so the best she could do was hoping that Sophia had caught wind of Robin’s plan and would be a part of it.

That was when she heard a distant sound of boots smacking on the stone floor, for a moment, she froze, but then remembered why she was here. Despite her being in the authority district, she was not scared when a man in a guard uniform turned to enter the alley, for she knew that the man was truly Wall, recognizing his battered white armor. Following him was a small group of people, all had an anxious look on their face.

Seeing that, Lana tried to put on a smile as the mean to calm them down, but her forced grin did not seem to make any positive effect.

“Thirteenth brick” Wall reminded her.

“Yes” She spoke back “Is the young leader’s plan…working?”

“For now,” He told her, gazing into the distance “She is expecting at least three hundred people, so it will be only a matter of time before the supreme leader found on us.”

Lana nodded grimly, noticing a sense of dread in his voice. She remembered seeing him speaking to Robin about it a few days before as well when the operation was announced.

“With these other plans in broad daylight you are meaning to launch, we will be permanently losing 6 passages at the very least if you are still going forward with them.” Wall had told their new leader.

“And we will still have 5 more, so what’s your point?” Robin had spoken back with defiant, even though Wall was twice her age and bigger in size “I know that you had been doing it for many years, but we have to take some risk from time to time.”

“When I slip into the city, I always need to be careful. Caution is what kept us alive.”

“Caution is what kept us insignificant.” Robin had argued, “And I mean to change that.”

Lana tried to snap back to the present when she saw Wall leaving the alley “I will be getting a new batch.” He told her.

“Good luck” Lana told as he strided away, then turned to meet the people he left behind. Two of them were a middle-age couple, along with who seem to be their children, a working-age woman and a boy the same age as her brother, while the other group was a pair of girls of that same age, with one of them had a nine years old boy clutching to her skirt.

Lana tried to remember her line, like the one she said to the several groups before this “Do…do all of you have the coin?”

The three of the same age reached into their pocket and produced one, while the rest nervously shook their head. Seeing that, Lana brought out a pounce and dumped some of its content into her palm, the metal coins clanked together as she did. It was the same circular object that she was given the day she arrived at the freedom mount. Lana handed them to the people that did not have one yet “Welcome to the free cavern.” She told them.

“Is it true that we will have a better life there?” The little boy asked.

Lana nodded as a reassurance, hoping that it was true. Kneeling down onto the ground, she pulled open the secret passage through its fake series of bricks. After a moment of difficulty, Lana managed to reveal the entrance to the dark tunnel for the people behind her.

After giving a gesture, Lana grabbed onto the uneven stone bricks and descended down the short path into the dim passageway, illuminated only by the morning sun peeking through the hole in the wall. She landed incorrectly on her bad leg, sending a flash pain through her body, but still held on. The recovery of her leg had been going well; she was now able to walk normally without issue, though she still could not run without hurting herself.

Lana turned to assist the others on their descend; helping them balanced their weight and made their landing softer than hers. When every one of this group entered the tunnel, Lana scrambled around in near darkness, if not for the blinking tiny lights lined on the top of the tunnel, searching through a pile of something hidden in the corner, picked up one and gave it a snap. The plastic stick started to glow a dim light, illuminating the dark tunnel with the color of dark red. Robin had ordered Wall to steal them from the guard’s storage a day before, and Wall had agreed to do as commanded, though grudgingly.

Lana handed the glowing stick to the eldest of the group, “Straight ahead” She told them all, her voice nervous and still course “There will be…a person waiting on the midway point…another at the exit.”

The group nodded in appreciation and all walked deeper into the dark pathway, the red light of the stick became dimmer and dimmer as they walked away through the tunnel. And after a while, the darkness swallowed hold yet once again, the things on the tunnel’s ceiling still persistently blinked its tiny lights.

Seeing the event unfold before her made Lana thought of her own trek through the tunnel. The ground back then was damp and smelly, which still was, and Lana had a hard time walking with her clutch, so she had to abandon it near the entrance and needed Wall to help carried her, the only light source they had was his solar gun’s flashlight. It was a hard experience, but as they went farther and farther away from the city, she felt a strange sense of happiness, as the prospect of a better life half excited but also half terrified her. Lana hoped that the people who took the same path as her felt the same.

When all was said and done, Lana climbed back to the city’s surface and pushed the block of bricks back into its place. When it all became seamless and seem like there was no secret tunnel, she stood back over it, anxiously waiting for the next group, seeking for their own freedom.

Many more new batch came and went, some but a single family, some more than ten, led by the men and women disguised as a guard, assigned by their new leader to pick up the people who were secretly given the coin and the whereabouts of the cavern. Lana gave them all the extra items and led them into the tunnel, as she had been ordered to do. When She caught wind of the plan, Lana had mustered her courage and went to ask to be a part of it, in slight hope that she could meet Sophia again. But regardless, the little girl with a half-healed leg could only be trusted with a simple task of guarding the entrance, and a command to reveal nothing if got captured.

Robin was the one arranging the entire operation, though some of the caverners said the person who behind it all was in fact, Marah, the pale face man that Lana had learned only a few days ago to have a strange skin disease that prevented him from being in a direct sunlight. Nontheless, it was their leader who led the mission on this day, leaving, if the talk was true, her boyfriend back at the cavern to support from the background.

‘The next group should be the last’ Lana thought, after a long while ‘And then we can leave.’ Being in the city made her more and more nervous by every moment, and she would love to return and huddle back in her tiny room deep inside the cavern.

As she made that thought, they finally came. Wall led the group, and beside them was Robin, their young leader who took it upon herself to work on this part of the operation, also disguised in guard uniform, her curly brown hair dangled down through the visored helmet. Following the two were a few more caverners in the same armor and after them a large amount of city populant, at least fifty people after Lana’s quick count.

Wall and Robin seemed to be arguing “If we take this much people, the guards will soon be on our tail.”

“That is the plan,” Robin told him back, her voice had a commanding tone to it “Like I said, I want to reveal ourselves to those drenched nobles and the evil supreme leader.”

Wall frowned “And why would you want to do that?”

“A change must be made, Wally, a revolution is needed.”

“You are going to get us all kill.”

Robin smirked “Only if we lose. Beside, at least for today, nothing has gone wrong.”

“Yet” Wall insisted.

Robin waved him away, as a means of dismissing. Wall muttered to himself for a moment and went to help Lana pulled open the tunnel. When the entrance had been accessible, one of the caverners went down and helped the city populant on their climb, while Lana handed out the iron coin to everyone, hopping into the dark passageway in turn.

“Did…you…see the supreme leader?” Lana asked when the curiosity overwhelmed her, the man had ascended to his rank the same day as her execution, and ever since then, Lana had a weird and unreasonable urge to know more about him.

It was Robin that answered “I caught a glimpse of him by the gathering plaza. Admittedly handsome, but had a really punch-able face. He was making his big evil speech, if I remember correctly, though I didn’t pay any attention to it. He also weirdly hangs around this blond young girl, so I don’t know what that about.”

As Lana processed it all in, Wall ignored their young leader and waved everyone to go down faster. When nearly three fourth of the people had entered the tunnel, he turned to the two of them “You two go down with them, I will be taking the rear.”

“No” Robin refused; one of her hand reached into her bag “I have something to do first.”

She swept away and stride for the nearby wall, to the dismay of Wall. On one of her hand was a roll of leather, in the other a bottle of black dye. Robin unrolled the sheet and plastered it over the wall, the leather itself already cut into a strange pattern, with holes here and there all over it in the shape of something. By then a small number of people who mean to join their rank had stopped entering the tunnel and stood behind the young leader, curious to see what she meant to do, one of those was Lana herself. In front of her was a pair of brown hair twin, one of them had a rusty tool attached on his belt, while the other a strange batch on his shirt. Lana asked them meekly to part slightly so she could see better, and they happily did as obliged.

Robin’s hand was dipped into the bottle of dye, and then she used the black liquid to plaster it all on the leather sheet, her white glove, dirtied by the color of black. Her palm and fingers swept through the hole of hiding, covering each and every hole, and after a few minutes passed, she ripped the sheet off the wall and dumped it on the ground, leaving…a symbol.

Upon the wall was now the image of a small but enlarged bird, soaring through the sky with its wing held high and shined a blinding light, on its background was a circular coin and a crossing solar guns readied to fire and fight. Under all the symbol was a beautiful text slogan, ‘Freedom and Liberty’.

“Bloody hell, she might as well put her face on that symbol.” Wall muttered behind Lana, which she didn’t quite understand, the bird was pretty.

“Let’s the fire of revolution swept through this evil city.” Robin proudly announced, bringing a cheer from all the people watching “Now we can go.”

Robin led the way for the remaining people, climbing down into the dark tunnel, flashing her solar gun forward to illuminate the secret pathway, and waving for the once-a-populant of the city with her flashing solar gun to follow her and made their way to the cavern.

Wall stood by the entrance, guarding as they all went down one by one. Lana was next to him, for she was unsure whether to go along with the other or to wait back along with the man who saved her life not so long ago.

After a moment, Wall suddenly sighed “The color on that glove is not coming off.”

“You…didn’t seem…to like her.” Lana struggled to say, she always was bad on starting a conversation.

“She is too rash and too full of herself.” Wall told her, there was no hint of hatred in his voice, but simply dismay “But I suppose I do not have any say on the matter, she is, after all the rightfully elected leader of our colony.”

“She…is,” Lana said back, unsure what to respond with, still remembering that faithful day. Though Lana cared little for freedom and more inclined toward simply have a better life, Robin’s speech do was heart moving.

“But if there is one good thing this sham of a plan manages to accomplish…” Wall continued to say after another sigh “It is making you breaking through your shell, at the very least.”

Lana quickly turned to meet Wall; she did not expect for the conversation to shift to her “It…did?”

“I suppose” Wall told her and raised his visor; he had a faint smile hidden beneath his helmet “You are taking initiative, asking for a role in this rash plan. You are certainly getting better.”

For the first time in a while, Lana smiled, the way her lips shifted truly felt genuine. When Wall saw it, he came and nuzzled her hair with a faint laughter. The mess that was her lock of straw had grown so bad that Lana was too afraid to touch it herself, but his hand went around it with no hesitation.

A tear went out from her eyes, though not of fear, but of joy. Wall had been more than just a friend to Lana this passed many weeks, he was the friend who saved her life, the friend who took care of her, the friend who tried to speak with her as much as possible, just so she could be able to fit in her new home. Not counting Soph, the sister with whom she grew up with, Wall was the best friend she could ever have.

Then there was a gunfire, and one of the new caverner fell onto the ground, a puddle of blood formed onto the ground.

There was a mass panic around them, the word ‘guard’ was on everyone's lips, and the sound of many sets of boots smashing on the stone was getting louder and louder. Wall was the first to gain composure and tried to rally everyone into the tunnel, waving them in as fast as possible to avoid capture and execution for treasonous movement.

As for Lana, a strange and unusual calmness caught onto her, she reached into her pocket and ran toward the man who got shot. Kneeling next to the man, she hovered her hand over his nose, he was no longer breathing.

“Lana! What are you doing!?” She could hear Wall shouting for her, most of them had gone down the tunnel by now. Lana knew she needed to freak out or at least hurry, but Lana simply pressed a coin into the dead man’s chest, and gave him a silent prayer.

‘He is one of us, at the very least.’ Lana thought as she ran back to Wall as fast as possible, climbing back down into the narrow as the sound of guard’s march coming in close. After the last person came through, Wall loaded his solar gun and fired at the wall above the entrance, sending it crumbling down and closed the hole on the wall with layered of brick. The tunnel turned into complete darkness, if not for his gun’s flashlight, the glowing stick, and the flickering tiny lights on the tunnel ceiling.

“Let’s get moving, that will not hold the guard for long.” Wall told the others, and he spoke true. It was not long into their run that they heard the bricks being shot at and kicked apart. The guards were forcing themselves through.

Lana tried to keep up with the others as they ram for their life through the dark and damp tunnel beneath the city, with no light or goal in sight. Her bad leg was throbbing with pain every time she put weight on it, and her breathing grew rougher and rougher as time goes on. Halfway through the tunnel, the hurt became so terrible than she couldn’t continue running.

“Lana, you alright?” Wall stopped to ask; many other caverners went passed them as he did “Do you need my help carrying you?”

Lana managed to shake her head, still grasping for breath “I can…still…”

A solar gun’s blast hit Wall, and he fell to his knee.

“WALL!” Lana shouted in a panic, the blast had piece through his thigh, leaving a hole in its pass. Blood started to stain his body armor, slowly turning it dark red from inside out “Your leg…”

“I’m fine” Wall tried to reassure her, clutching to his wound, but Lana knew he himself did not even believe that lie. He made an attempt to get up, but couldn’t “Go with the other, I will catch up.”

For a moment, she was tempted, the guards were closing in, and she could save herself and live. But for the first time since she remembered, her resolve harden. “No” Lana told him, sliding his arm over her neck, determination flashed on her face “We will go together”

“What are you doing?” Wall asked as Lana struggled to raise his larger body up from the damp ground and moved him forward.

“In that execution pit…you saved my life.” Lana started to say, already out of breath, but still filled with the will to save him “Please…lets me repay you.”

With great difficulty, Lana stood up with Wall besides her, her other hand gripping to his armor so he did not fall; pain ran though both her legs from bearing all the weight. Wall tried to help by hoping his still good leg along with her, and after they found a rhythm, they were able to proceeded with their journey back to their home.

“You are going to be alright, Wall.” Lana told Wall, reassuring herself as much as reassuring him. Despite all her effort, the speed of their going was barely faster than a crawl. As the sound of guards marching came closer and closer, she could hear them loading their gun, preparing for another fire. More and more people went passed them, running for their life, none stopped to help.

‘They want to live as well.’ Lana thought, though bitterness already crept in her heart. She moved another step, and nearly stumbled, her body shaken with pain.

“Lana, let’s me go.” Wall told her as they went forward another foot “Save yourself.”

She shook her head in defiant as her muscle contracted to take another step, her body shaken from the effort “No…we can make it…”

A gloved hand grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her away.

Lana screamed, Wall was sliding off her shoulder as the guard tried to take both her arms into his hand. “I got two!” Lana heard him shouting behind to his fellow comrades, who were getting closer as well.

“No…” Lana tried to say as the guard searched through his belt for a handcuff so he could arrest her, in the process pulling her away from Wall, who was trying to get back up and helped her, but couldn’t. The sight of the execution pit flashed before her eyes once again, as she knew what fate awaited her now.

‘Please’ Lana gave out a silent prayer, closing her eyes so tightly ‘At least lets Wall live…’

But then there was a sound of a smash, and the clutching arms of the guard released her. Lana frail body slipped by and dropped onto the ground.

Lana mustered her courage and opened her eyes. The guard helmet was smashed into, its visor broke and shattered, its owner laid unconscious on the ground. Standing over the armored man was one of the brown hair twins, a rusty wench in hand.

“You guys alright?” The other twin asked, as the one with the tool wrestled the solar gun off the guard’s arm and shoots it into the dark distance. The blast likely did not hit anything, but it might manage to slow them down.

Lana nodded her head in response and tried to pull Wall back up, his face had turned pale from the blood he was losing through his wound, and for a moment Lana’s heart skipped a beat. She tried to wrap Wall’s arm around her neck, struggling due to him being twice her size.

“Mark, you keep off the guards, I will help the girl carried him.” One of the twins told the other and positioned himself opposite to Lana, and together they lifted Wall up from the damp floor and stride forward.

“We are going to make it.” She told Wall, more confident than before, as Lana, him, and the brown hair boy but 3 years her elder found a rhythm in their walking. “We have to.”

“You stop for us…for me.” Wall said to the twin with the wench and gun, watching their back and tried to scare off the following guards “Why?”

“It is the right thing to do.” He responded, “Back in the city, what does that girl said is your belief again?”

For a moment, Lana saw Wall nearly laughed “’ Everyone, is worth saving’”

Hurried along the four went, balancing Wall along through the tunnel, with the glowing stick and the flickering lights being their only their company. All were hopeful, Lana knew, the exit was near, and they were catching up to the other running caverners.

But then the guards started to fire their gun, for real.

The blasts that was fired before were but simple warning and stray shot, Lana had then realized, for now, a column and column of concentrated energy blast had been launched, trying to take down as many people as possible, with no regard of life. The four had no choice but to sped up their pace, with exit nearly in sight, and salvation so so close.

“They must have received a new order,” Wall muttered, he was growing worse and worse by the moment, becoming delirious as the wound on his leg started to fester.

“We can still make it…” Lana tried to say, but then one of the shots hit the twin that helped her carried Wall, piercing through his left shoulder and sending the three all down onto the ground.

Seeing so, the other twin dropped everything and went to help his brother. He checked on his wound, becoming relieved as it was not fatal and helped the other get back up. All the while Lana frantically tried to pull Wall back on his feet.

“Wait, we have to help them…” The wounded twin said as his brother started to go on without Lana and Wall. The blast had taken him on his shoulder; his wound was gaping out blood as he spoke.

The other twin shook his head “Sorry Mat, but we must save ourselves first.” And with that, they ran off, leaving them behind.

Lana wanted to scream, Lana wanted to cry. When God had given her hope, it was torn away just almost instantly. A big part of her wanted to curl down into a ball and sobbed on the hopelessness of it all, but after she gazed at Wall, the man who had saved her life, kneeling powerless beside her, she knew she must still try.

“Soph, give me strength,” Lana muttered and pulled Wall forward.

“Lana” Wall tried to tell her. The sound of guards was coming closer and closer, and a sudden realization hit her that they were on the very back of the escaping line “You don’t have to do this. Run and join the other, I will hold them off here.”

“NO!” Lana shouted defiantly at the top of her lung, her eyes filled with tears. Despite her body was screaming with pain and exhaustion, she forced herself to take another step “I…will not leave you.”

But as the light of the outside world was in sight, another shot pierces into the side of Wall’s stomach, and he coughed out blood all over her shoulder, losing a balance and started to fall.

“Wall, no…” Lana told him, and he only coughed in response. Lana gathered her determination and shifted Wall on her back instead.

“Please, Wall” Lana said as an attempt to keep hold of him as she carried him closer and closer to the exit, she could hear another shot piercing through his right arm, then another through his foot “You’re my only friend, you cannot die on me…”

The escape was so close now, all of the caverners had reached it and were now cheering her and Wall on, though none came to help. In the center, she saw Robin argued with a hooded man, a strange device in her hand.

“Do it, Robin!” Lana could somehow hear the man said despite the distance, the voice belongs to Marah “Do it, or you will doom us all.”

Robin bit her lips and pressed the device. To Lana‘s great dismay, she heard an explosion from far away, then a chain of it coming closer and closer to them.

Her mind shifted to the blinking lights on the ceiling of the tunnel, then the stack of something she saw at the weaponry “That damn bitch decides to collapse the tunnel.” Wall managed to say, his voice rough and crooked from the blood and injury.

“We can still make it, Wall…” Lana tried to tell him, she was dragging him by the floor now, pulling his wrist with her. The guards had stopped firing and were franticly searching for a way out, but the explosion was coming to them fast, and there were still fifty more feet to go before they safely went passed the last device on the ceiling.

“No…” Wall said and pushed her away and stood back on both his legs, his body trembled from the pain as blood seeped through his armor. Wall suddenly took hold of Lana, and then she realized what he was going to do. She started to cry.

“You…can still make it…” Wall told Lana and threw her toward the other caverners, her body spun through the air, landed and rolled onto the ground, sobbing all the way for her uselessness and her weakness and her loss. When she got back on her feet, Lana tried to run back to Wall, in a slight but vain hope that she might be able to still save him, but the other caverner around her had grabbed hold of her arms and legs, dragging her screaming and kicking self back away from the tunnel, in an attempt to stop her from throwing her life away.

The last she saw of Wall was him falling onto his knees as the tunnel collapse around him, a name she could not hear on his dying lips.