Cole slowly stood and raised his hands in the air.
“Who are you?” The man with the gun said, slowly inching forward, using Root as a barrier.
“I told you-” Root tried to speak, but was swiftly jabbed in the back, cutting him off.
“Quiet,” the man said. “I asked you,” he reiterated, jabbing his hand toward Cole and Zach.
“My name’s Cole. And this is Zach. We’re with the man you have, Root.”
The man kept walking forward. “You here to sneak around back? Try and catch us off guard?”
“No, sir,” Cole said firmly. “We aren’t with security or anybody. We’re here on our own.”
The man stopped, and Root stopped with him. “What do you want?” The way he said the words made it sound like one big word.
“We just want to talk.”
“‘Bout what?”
“The machine. We want to destroy it.”
The man let his gun droop slightly, and he squinted. “Who are you?”
With his hands still in the air, Cole took a step forward. “I’m a nobody, sir. Just have lots of questions.”
The man quickly snapped his weapon back up and locked it on Cole. “Wait right there,” he said. He whistled, and three men joined him. “Keep your hands in the air.” He nodded, and the new men rushed toward Cole and Zach and tied their hands together with rough twine. They were marched forward, and now Cole could see that Root acquired some bruises and cuts on his face. “Follow me.” The man with root turned and maneuvered around the crates and boxes, as Cole and Zach were ushered alongside the others.
They were led through a somewhat-recognizable area. They had managed to transform the barracks of old into a fort of kinds, with newly-constructed walls made from old tables, doors, and whatever else they could find. They had managed to box themselves in fairly well, with a fortified door where the main entrance was. Cole caught a glimpse through a tiny window on the door and saw a row of enforcers directly outside. He tried to catch the attention of Zach or Root, but both men were staring at the floor, probably downtrodden about the whole situation. Cole hadn’t yet let himself get to that point, and kept his eyes out for areas of weakness, or something he could use later on. He only saw another, newly-formed hole in the cave wall not too far from the old lunch counter. There were men around it, trying to either conceal it, fix it, or make it bigger; he couldn’t tell.
They finally reached the interior of the dormitory, which was left mostly unchanged. Cole even caught sight of his old bed, still almost exactly as he had left it. He realized then that it hadn’t been that long, and seeing his sheets casually tossed aside and his pillow askew made the whole thing seem like a dream that he’d be waking up from at any moment. But instead of waking up, he was taken to the end of the room and pushed down on an old, rusty chair, staring at a man and a woman behind a makeshift desk. Root’s captor whispered something in the man’s ear, before turning and leaving. The other guards stayed behind Cole, and he could practically feel their breath hovering over him.
“I hear you want to destroy the machine?” The man asked. His teeth were yellow. His beard was gray. His hair, or what was left of it, was tangled. His clothes matched the woman’s next to him; tattered, torn, and hanging on for dear life. The man leaned in and revealed a scarred face. “Can I ask why you would want to do that?”
Without hesitation, Cole answered. “Because I don’t believe it does anything.”
The man backed off and exchanged a muffled conversation with the woman, hiding his mouth with his hands. Then, he turned back to Cole. “What do you do here, son?”
“Well, I was a shoveler…” He trailed off.
The man looked confused. “A shoveler?”
Cole nodded.
“I’ve never heard of a shoveler who wants to destroy the machine they’re responsible for.” He glanced at Zach and Root. “And you two? You want to destroy the machine as well?”
“Yes,” Zach said.
“I do,” Root said. “But, I’m a repairman, not a shoveler.” He looked around. “If that matters.”
“Hmm…” The man scratched his beard. “A repairman and a couple of shovelers…” His hands dropped to his hips. “Seems like an odd team.” He exchanged looks with the woman next to him. “Can I ask how… this happened?”
“How we met, or…?”
The man nodded.
“I was in jail,” Cole said. “And I met Root.” He gestured with his head. “Zach’s my friend.”
The man kept nodding, increasing his speed. He closed his eyes. “This makes sense.” He stopped and looked at Cole. “And you got out? Of jail?”
“I did, yeah. They let me out.”
The man’s expression turned quizzical again. “Hm….” He went back to rubbing his beard.
“I’m sorry,” Cole jumped in. “I loved being asked questions, but we came here for a conversation. You’re from the outside, right?” Cole wasn’t one to typically cut to the chase, but given the situation, he didn’t want to waste time and talk in circles.
“Outside is relative,” the woman said. Her voice was surprisingly gentle, not at all what Cole imagined from her exterior. “But yes, we don’t live in town.” She paused momentarily and exchanged glances with the man, who nodded encouragingly. “Anymore.” She finished.
“Any more?” Root blurted out.
“Correct.”
“As in, you used to live in town?” Zach jumped in.
“A long time ago,” the woman answered.
“That’s impossible,” Cole finally verbalized his thoughts.
The man gestured around the room. “We all used to live in town. That’s why we came back. To rescue it.”