“I know.” A lump cleared James’s throat. “I got you, man.” James nodded swiftly. “I know I messed up before, but like I said, I’m following your lead now. I need this too.”
“Let me sleep on it.”
The two men gathered their belongings and scurried toward the hatch. Their bodies hunched over as they moved, doing their best to remain undetected. James took hold of the hatch’s wheel and began to turn. A clunking noise prevented it from moving beyond a quarter turn. Thomas took hold, but it gave no more than James’s attempt. He took his rifle and lodged it in between the spokes of the wheel and cranked. The wheel started to give—the metal squealing for him to stop. A sharp crack. The momentum took Thomas forward and on top of the hatch as it finally gave. Several bangs followed as whatever had held the wheel in place fell to the ground.
“Damn.” Thomas gave a half-hearted laugh. “I guess we’re good to go.”
Thomas lifted the door. Inside was black. Absolute. The sun was past the point of helping—only an hour or so until it gave way to the moon. He took his flashlight and pistol and cleared what he could see, working his angle around the different sides of the opening. Nothing, only more unknown.
“Down the rabbit hole?” James joked.
Thomas found the first rung of the ladder, then one after the other, he continued his descent—his eyes caught between what waited below and James peering over the edge. He found the bottom and quickly cleared the maintenance room, a large supply closet, and the library office of any threats. “It’s clear!”
The office was orderly—everything in its place as if tomorrow someone would hit the light switch, plop down with a coffee, and begin doing whatever it was they did for a living. A collection of candles burying a computer desk caught his eye. He clicked his flashlight off, retrieved his Zippo, and lit a few of them. He cleared some papers and coffee mugs from a ledge and spaced the candles evenly across it.
“Setting the mood, huh?”
Thomas didn’t respond—his attention now completely affixed to what lay beyond the three large windows that separated the office and the library’s stacks. He moved past a couple of computer desks and a large conference table to get a better look. James followed. The two of them stood only inches away from the glass—just staring. James’s flashlight barely penetrated the glass as it reflected most of it back upon them.
“Cut your light, man,” Thomas said.
James slowly turned his head toward him and spoke, “Doesn’t this seem odd?”
“Come on, man.” Thomas took the flashlight from James’s hand and switched it off—James clearly lost between thought and reality.
“You’d think someone would have grabbed all this up. I mean… Why haven’t we?”
Thomas thought the same thing upon seeing the collection of books. It had become common practice to hoard them—every book had a use, even if for some it was simply burning. But with the good ones, the information was priceless. The Second Alliance had gone through great lengths to secure more and more literature throughout the region. This would be huge. This find alone might secure their promotions.
“How many of these libraries do you think still sit stacked like this?” Thomas could feel the smile stretching across his face, his imagination lumping all the pages together. He was on the verge of salivating. “Seriously, every one of the colleges on campus has its own library, and the university itself has one huge one. We’ll have to let them know about this tomorrow at the rendezvous.”
“We could use this for the Butcher’s tribute, right?”
“Probably, but I’m not looking right now. I need some damn sleep, man. I’m beat.” Thomas started pulling the seats out from the conference table. “What do you think?”
“You sleeping under there?”
“Yep.” Thomas crawled underneath the table and lay on his back. “Make sure to blow out the candles.”
James faced two chairs together, adjusting the distance for his impromptu bed. “This’ll work for me.” He went to blow out the candles, and the office fell back into darkness.
“Tommy, slow down, bud. You’re losing it.”
“I’m—I’m fine.”
“The hell if you are. Sit down. Take a drink.”
“Nothing left. I—I gave the last bit to her.”
“What! You gave her all your water?”
“Had to.”
“Look at her! She’s already fucking dead, man! Look at her!”
“No—No she’s not. She’ll make it.”
“The hell if she will. If we don’t make it, she don’t make it. Tommy, we gotta leave her, man.”
“I got her.”
“Leave her.”
“I have her, damn it!”
“Sit down! You’re a damn mess.”
“Okay, let’s figure this out. Which way do we go? James… I don’t recognize this.”
“What do you mean, ‘you don’t recognize shit’? It’s the damn desert.”
“How long do you think we’ve been walking?”
“Long enough. Focus, Tommy. We leave her here or we die.”
“I won’t leave her!”
“Give her here, Ricard!”
“No! Get the fuck off her!”
“Get over here! Now! Get over here!”
“Give her back!”
“Look that way, girl. That’s right.”
“James, no!”
“Just walk that way. Go!”
“Don’t shoot her! Run!”
“Run, little girl! Run! Run!
“No! We can still save her.”
“Shut up, Tommy! I’m getting us the fuck out of here.”
“No, please come back! Quit pointing it at her!”
“Stay here. Take my water. I’m finding us what we need to get out of here.”
“Fuck you. Now, she’s definitely dead. You can’t take that back. What the hell’s wrong with you?”
“Someday you’ll appreciate this when we’re back home. Away from Almawt. Away from all this war.
“Thomas…” James shook him. “Wake up. Someone’s here.”
“What?” Thomas pushed his hand away. “Get off me.”
James shushed him, then whispered, “Someone’s in the library.”
“What?” Thomas’s frustration rose, clearly disoriented, unable to process what was really happening.
James spoke slower, firm, but low. “There is somebody in the library with us. I don’t know who it is, but they might be here to kill us.”
The words finally sank in, and Thomas snapped to, but a feeling of dread passed through his body. Shit! His instincts took over. He rolled from under the table, withdrew his pistol from its holster, and took a position of concealment next to James. “How many did you see?”
“Don’t know. I heard some glass break and a few books fall out there, but haven’t heard anything else.” James took hold of Thomas’s arm and helped to orient him within the room. “There’s a light.”