We were completely self reliant, depending on the elements like the snow covered mountains I was staring at the moment. The man made trench led the water downward toward a reservoir we had in the main communal cavern. It took us a few years to collect enough material and create a water turbine, but we did it and life became better and better for us.
“Inés, what are you doing out here?” a familiar voice called out.
I looked over my shoulder to find Beau, one of the younger men who had recently been recruited into part of the resistance fighter groups.
“Just clearing my mind.”
He looked at me with interest. It made my skin crawl with unease. Men as young as sixteen started pursuing women of their choosing in our community. Our cultural mindset was one that encouraged the repopulation of the human race out of the necessity of survival.
But at thirty six, I couldn’t find any attraction to such a young man, one that was barely cresting into seventeen.
“You know I’m good at lending an ear, Inés, if you need one.”
“I know, Beau. Thank you. But I’m okay now,” I replied softly with a smile before turning and walking past him, back to the exit hatch just behind the hillside.
He followed closely behind me but I paid him no mind. Once we made it back to the hatch, I turned and slowly descended down the metal rung ladder, letting him be the one to close the door after he made it inside behind me.
The climb down took endurance. A straight vertical tunnel shrouded in darkness for at least five minutes. The closer we got to the bottom, the more soft illumination peeked beneath the placement of our feet.
My arm and thigh muscles burned every time I took this path, but the peace of mind that followed was always worth it.
“Inés? What are you doing over here?” Blanca’s voice was shaky after being startled by our presence. She had a basket in her hand full of freshly picked vegetables. Some dirt could still be seen on the roots of a few.
“Hey, Blanca. Um, just gathering some seeds and herbs topside.” I knew my lie was weak.
She tilted her head with curiosity but kept her smile. “Oh, okay. Were the ones down here not to your liking?”
Beau scoffed under his breath as he walked past us both, tipping his head in greeting in Blanca’s direction. Her eyes followed him. She was a few years younger than me and more than happy to continue to populate the world with children from multiple fathers.
I couldn’t judge her for it. She was living the life we were given to the fullest.
I was also grateful that it took her focus away from me.
“He’s grown up to be such a fine young man,” she whispered.
“Yeah…”
She turned to look back at me with a sparkle in her eyes and leaned in conspiratorially. “Let’s see if he can resist me when he catches me bathing the next time.”
She winked, laughed and went on her with a sashay of her hips.
Shaking my head at her nonsense, I took the opposite direction that led me to the main storage tunnels. The walls were jagged despite our best efforts to smooth down the sharpest edges in case the children found their way this far. Over the years, the ground had worn down enough to become level like the dirt roadways above ground.
A few of the workers currently resupplying our stores waved when they saw me. I waved back, my mind still on our future.
I was one of the few who hadn’t taken a spouse. Rumors of spinsterhood were whispered around the women, many of them looking at me with judgment in their eyes as if I sided with the vampires over the simple fact that I haven’t popped out children to their liking.
After about thirty minutes and a few caverns later, I swore I could hear someone calling out my name. Turning, I looked everywhere for the origin of the voice.
“—Inés!” it came again from the left of me. I snapped my head in the direction to see a young girl running in my direction.
Not just any young girl, my niece.
“Aunty Inés!Mi Papa!” she cried out and my heart sped up.
I ran toward her as she jumped into my arms, face wet with tears. I fell to my knees and rocked her slowly, rubbing her back as she buried her grief stricken face into my shoulder and sobbed.
My heart cracked and my soul felt like it was crying out with her despite me gritting my teeth down.
