The Hidden City

PART FIVE
The wind howled and raged along the mountains. The snow falling from the clouds barely had time to settle on the ground between gusts before it was blown away again. Over the rocks near the base of one of the mountains clambered four people carrying bags: one woman and three men. They halted on a small ridge overlooking a valley at the end of which was a large cave.

  “There it is.” said the woman.

“Did you just find it?” said the man with the gun and no head covering.

“Yes. There's a whole city inside.” she moved as if to go but he held her back.

“If there is a city people will know about it and they'll find us and kill us, or do something even worse.”

“The people don't know about this place, neither do the controllers, so we're safe.”

The man looked skeptical,

“Saul, there's no one in the city.”

“What? How do you know?”

“We searched it. The only people there were dead. Oh yes, except one little boy.”

“Did you kill him?”

“No. why would I do something like that? I'm going to keep him.”

“Well I just thought maybe you would because of what you did to your daughter." Saul muttered, "But what about his parents?”

“His parents were dead. They must have died a few hours before we got there.”

“Aha.”

“We should go and check it out, shouldn't we, Chrystal?” said the second man,

“I think that's a good idea, Geoffrey.”

“I don't like it. Why would there be a city underground full of dead people for no apparent reason? They must have died of something.”

“Hunger, Saul. They died of hunger.”

The group made their way down the slope toward the cave.

“What sensible person would come to the cold forest without a gun to get food sir?”
Said Saul,

“We're not talking about sensible people, Saul, these were fanatics.” Geoffrey answered.

“Fanatics? In the cold forest?”

They entered the cave.

“Look, Saul.” Said Geoffrey, pointing at a tall and ornate arch on which were the words:

“You are now entering IVAN.” To one side was a touchscreen on a stand which lit up as the others passed under the arch. None of them took any notice of the horrible sight of a skeleton underneath it. Saul stood looking up at the words.

“The Hidden City. You can't use this place!”

“Oh can't I? I'm going to name the little boy after it.” Said Chrystal, turning and fixing on him a glance which would have silenced him at any other time, but not now.

“This city is sacred to the marchers! You can't just walk in and make it the home of thieves!”

“We are not thieves! The controllers are after us because they are cruel tyrants, we have a group of fighters to find shelter for and winter will soon be here. Do you have a better idea? Or are you going to turn traitor and join the controllers!”

“People on the long march will come here and find us. The Secret Architects who built this city didn't mean for people like us to move in.”

“Here we have a chance to become greater than we would anywhere else. If anyone comes in we pretend we were on the long march too and get them to join us. Think how many people will die if we just leave this place alone. We'll spread out and rally others to our cause. Anyone found within our territory, any likely followers, we capture and make them join us.”

“And what if they won't?”

“Oh then we kill them. When we have amassed a large enough force we will take over the world!”

“You said we would just overthrow the controllers, not-”

“That's just the first stage in my plan. If we do this properly no one will ever know where we are.”

“Chrystal! Saul! Are you frozen to the ground? Come on!”

“It's alright, Geoffrey, we were just discussing something.”

Chrystal began to make her way towards the other two, but Saul remained where he was.

“You are a power hungry maniac!” he shouted after her, “I will never be part of your plot! Neither will my children or my grandchildren!”

The gunshot echoed through the whole of the cave. It was followed by a cry and two more shots.

“Chrystal!”

“I'm alright. The traitor!” She shook her fist at the crumpled figure of Saul who had been shot twice in different places. A bullet had just grazed Chrystal's leg. Geoffrey rushed over and helped her to her feet.

“Should I finish him off, Chrystal?”

“No. We'll leave him to die here.”

They began walking further into the cave and were soon lost to sight. In a short while complete silence reigned.