This story is fiction, written by an author over the age of 18. All names, Places, descriptions, and events are purely fictional and any relation to any real person is purely coincidental. This work contains intimate acts between youths if that scenario offends you, please discontinue reading any further. Nifty is a wonderful resource and needs to be funded to continue.  If you enjoyed the story or any other stories, please donate to nifty so that we can all enjoy more stories in the future...

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A/N: This story is a romance and as such has a storyline; there will be a sexual element to it. Grammar and spelling is not my best subject, but if you wish to contact me at Toyarcher1993@aim.com, you are welcome. Authors thrive on getting letters, so hopefully, you will enjoy this story. 

Also, I have a blog site that includes maps, profiles of characters and eventually some short stories. There is also a modified version of the story on there, where the romances differ. The blog site is: https://archersscribe.wordpress.com/

 

This chapter has taken a little longer than I expected to come out, unfortunately, life has a way of stopping you doing the things you enjoy. I've been having trouble writing, so though I hope to be back on track, it may be longer than expected between chapters as I'm almost caught up to the actual writing.

ToyArcher

 

 

Chapter Eleven

Days seemed to blend in here unless we looked at a calendar we didn't know whether it was Tuesday or a Sunday, but I marked the days since entering the mountain and today was day thirty-nine. I had declared today a lazy day and the younger ones were all playing games or watching a movie in the front room as the rest of us were enjoying hot drinks looking over the mountainside, which had a cloud of mist around it.

"What's going to happen to us?" I knew the question would come inevitably and it was from Kelly.

"I don't know, is the simple answer, we try our hardest to survive and grow up to bring the earth back,"

"Are we going to attack the aliens?" Larry asked a bit bloodthirsty.

"Do you think we have the capacity to attack them?" I returned his question.

"Maybe, one day," he replied sullenly.

"I think we need to stay under the radar," Mac told him and I agreed, "We find our supplies and the people we're supposed to be helping, but hide from the aliens,"

"I agree," Sarah added and that got them into a conversation, so I decided to do the task I wanted to get done today. I moved over to Noah, who was once again sitting on the sidelines and watching the conversation.

"Hey, I've got a job to do and I need help,"

"I'm with you," he nodded his head and followed me, I saw Mac see me leave but she merely nodded and I'm glad Tobi was watching a movie with the others. We got into the stairwell and started our way down to the lower levels. As we walked down the stairs, I discreetly checked him out. Noah was wearing his usual attire, a pair of dark jeans and a black leather biker jackets. He also wore a pair of heavy biker boys. I had noticed on an occasion he wore a spiked dog collar.

"How are you doing?" I asked, looking sideways at him.

"I'm really not sure," he answered honestly, "I barely knew anyone before we came down here and I still feel a bit of an outsider,"

"You're part of the team and you'll be one of the original team when the new people start," I told him, "When we get more people I want you lead a recon team,"

"Wow, yeah that'll be awesome," his eyes lit up and his whole face came alive.

"You should smile more often, you really are handsome," I commented and he blushed, but held the smile.

"So what's your relationship with Mac?" he asked curiously.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you dating or what?" I laughed out loud and startled the boy.

"God no, she's like a sister to me, that would be like incest," I screwed my items up pretending to vomit and heard my first genuine laugh from Noah. My own thoughts turned to the fact I was dating Tobi, is that incest then if she's a sister to me?

"Why not?" he seemed mighty curious, but this is the most I think I had ever heard him speak.

"She's pretty, but she's not my type at all," I suggested, skirting around the truth.

"Oh I see," he replied, understanding flashing across his face, "I did think she liked that big fellow,"

"Which one?" now it was my turn to be startled as I stared at him. He flushed even brighter.

"The big black one, I've noticed in the last week or two the pair seemed to be hanging around each other a lot,"

"Interesting," I contemplated what he told me. It's not surprising she would want a male friend, but I learnt more about Noah. He seemed to get important information and blend into the background when no one realised he was there. He also seemed quite observant.

 

We reached the lower levels and I grabbed up the clipboard while Noah looked around the storeroom.

"So what are we doing down here?" he asked.

"We're going to give everyone a good Christmas, but first I want to give you something," I told him and pulled out a wrapped present from my shorts, "Happy birthday,"

"I don't know what to say; I didn't think anyone knew," he knew the present from my hands and turned it over and over

"Well congratulations on turning fifteen," he slowly and carefully began unwrapping the fit until he pulled out a penknife, "I know it's not a lot but I can't go out gift shopping,"

"No, it's fantastic," he replied and his usual stoic persona dropped when he rushed over and enfolded me in his arms. I was a bit shocked at first then hugged him back. Then he stepped back and gave me an embarrassed smile.

"Let's find these decorations," I told brusquely but gave him a smile. We both looked over the list and spent the next five minutes trying to decipher the location on what Mac had told me. I grabbed a ladder and moved it into the place before scaling it. I started shifting the first box off the shelf but nearly fell off myself with the weight. Noah had to come halfway up the stairs so we could haul the box down between us and we repeated the process until we had all the boxes onto the floor.

"Now how are we going to get these all upstairs?" Noah asked looking at the boxes.

"I'm pretty sure there is a loader around here,"

"I'll go search for it," and then Noah went off in search of something to haul all the decorations up the stairs. I made my way into the armoury and pulled out two of the waterproof bags. I put some knives in each one, a first aid kit and some MRE's (Meal's ready to eat) I found in a cupboard. I locked up the armoury and loaded the two bags with clothes then put them in an obscure corner until could use them.

I was contemplating the decorations when I began to feel a presence like something or someone was watching me. I'm sure it wasn't Noah as I could hear him muttering in the other room through the open door. I did a low walk around so as to not let the person know I was on to them. As I pretended to exam the Christmas baubles I could see the reflection of the doorway, there was definitely someone just on the edge. Due to the distortion, I could not tell who was there but there was someone watching me regardless.

"I found it," Noah shouted and the mysterious person retreated. I quickly moved to the door but whoever was there had already gone. The radio crackled into life.

"Alex, this is Kelly. Mac said you had left and was down on level one, I've just come to see if you need some help,"

"Sure, you can help Noah and me," I told her as Noah hauled the loader through the door. It looked like it was semi-automated so that the long bed could be used to haul extremely heavy items across the base. Kelly entered the room less than a few minutes behind him. I looked at her, trying to calculate if she was the one who had been down here a few minutes ago but dismissed it quickly. Between Kelly, Noah and I we had the loader ready with three boxes of decorations and two large boxes marked tree.

"Do you think it's going to fit in the elevator?" Kelly asked.

"I should think so, we may have to take the trees off and put them in the corner," I noticed the little emerald studs Kelly had in her ear matched the nose stud, "So are you enjoying looking after the kids?"

"Yeah, they are really fun to be around," she gushed and moved closer to me, brushing up against my side, "But I do like the evenings when I can be a normal teen again,"

"As normal as we can get," I replied noticing Noah had taken a few steps back as he followed us to the elevator. I watched his reflection in the doors and saw his eyes were narrowed and he was glaring at Kelly. Luckily she did not seem to notice. The door dinged open and we pushed the loader inside, as I thought the trees needed to be placed on the wall for the doors to close.

"Mac, can you gather everyone up in the common area," I radioed my second and slotted my VIP access into the elevator. I pressed the top floor and the car began moving up rapidly.

"Sure thing," she answered and then after a quick ride up the doors opened and we offloaded. Noah pulled the loader and once again Kelly brushed against me and her hand wrapped around mine as we rounded the corner. I saw Tobi's reaction instantly, his face dropped and his fists clenched. Mac looked at me with a confused expression as she took in the pair of holding hands. I managed to extricate myself from her grip, just!

"So what's going on?" Larry was the first one to ask.

"Well we have a week until Christmas, so I thought we should make this place feel a little more homely," I told them and got a cheer from the younger ones. Tobi now had his arms crossed over his chest in an angry and defensive posture. Noah manoeuvred the loader into position and we offloaded the boxes.

"Tom, Larry, can you help with this?" the three of us moved the two large tree boxes and began unboxing them as the rest began to open the other Christmas decorations. I left Mac in charge of that side as Larry, Tom and I began to build up the tree, which it turns out was quite large. When we had finally got it together it stood about fifteen feet tall and reached nearly halfway to the ceiling. Another cheer drew my attention away from the tree and to the kitchen, where Simon and Luca had emerged with some trays. Simon had a couple of trays of steaming drinks, while Luca had a couple of trays of chocolate covered gingerbread men.

"What are these?" Kelly asked.

"Alex told us what he was doing yesterday so we made up these gingerbread men in the main kitchen downstairs,"

"I hope you didn't make a mess," I told him jokingly.

"No, your majesty, we cleaned up," he came over and offered me a mug. I could smell the chocolatey goodness rising with the steam and looked at the cream piled on top. I sniffed and caught the smell of something else. I looked at the boy quizzically but he just shook his head and grinned at me so blowing it for a few minutes I took a sip and instantly the sweetness erupted on my tongue as I realised the second ingredient was mint and it worked so well.

"This is like a piece of heaven," I murmured and heard that echoed around the room.

"Will Santa be able to find us?" I heard Ali, the seven-year-old friends of the twins ask innocently. She was sat with the twins, Kelly and Tommy, and George knight sorting through the baubles and the tinsel not to mention other little decorations.

"Sure sweetie, Santa can usually find everyone," Sarah reassured the girl, helping them choose the right colours. I watched them for a bit longer when I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning around I found Mac, also with a gingerbread man and mug in hand, watching me carefully.

"I've got a tearful boy in his bedroom refusing to come out," I looked around and noticed Tobi was no longer around.

"Sometimes I forget he's only twelve," I sighed.

"I think we all do to be honest, sometimes I'm sure he's more machine than human," she agreed. I squeezed her shoulder and made my way into their apartment and to his bedroom. The door was firmly closed so I knocked.

"Go away, Mac don't want to talk right now,"

"Come on Tobi, open the door,"

"No, you're worse than Mac," he shouted back.

"Come on buddy, sitting in your room and sulking," I pleaded with him, I'm pretty sure the doors did not have locks, but I'm not one to barge in.

"No, go snog your girlfriend," he snapped back.

"Tobias Stephen Adam Callaghan, you open this door this instant or so help me god, I'll whoop your behind when I get in there," I put on my best adult voice and realised I sounded like his father, the same thing has come out of his mouth many times when dealing with Tobi. There were a few minutes of silence and reluctantly I heard the door creak open, Tobi looked up at me with tear stained face. He was fiddling with his gold medallion around his neck, a clear sign he knew he was in the wrong. I pushed through and he stepped back taking a seat on the bed.

"Are you ready to talk?" I asked taking in the room around me. It had a single bed, desk, drawer and cupboard similar to how my brothers' room was laid out. He had a couple of posts up on the wall, the gold medal cyclist Chris Russell the cyclist from the 2028 summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He also had a poster of scientist Bev Summerton, the woman who had cured the cold. On his desk, neatly aligned were three books and his pens also were neatly lined up. I'm sure my brother was rubbing off on him. Tobi refused to look up at me.

"What's going on?" I asked him sitting down next to him, I heard him mumble something, and "You're going to have to speak up if you want me to hear you,"

"You were holding hands with Kelly, she was all over you," I could hear the jealousy in his voice.

"Is that what this is all about?" I couldn't help myself and laughed out loud. He looked up at me with a glare and a growl, and then I found myself on my back with him leaning over me.

"You think this is funny? I just felt this flash of hatred when I looked at her and thought you might go off with her," he all but shouted.

"Welcome to the big leagues, kid," I quoted with a chuckle, "You're jealous, but there is nothing that's going to take me from you,"

"Really," he seemed to deflate instantly. I shifted my weight and easily flipped Tobi was on the bottom, but my weight wasn't pushing down on him. I brushed my hand through his silky blond locks. I leaned down and slowly kissed him tenderly.

"As my best friend you don't have to worry about me leaving you behind, if I like someone else I will always come to talk to you first," I promised him staring into his extraordinary amber-gold eyes like burnished pools of gold.

"I love you," He said simply and I lowered my head onto his shoulder embracing him tightly.

"We had better get back or we will be missed," I told him and hauled myself off the bed and offered my hand to him. I pulled him up, but let him spin away the last moment making him go spinning into the doorway. He glared at me for a few minutes before his face broke out into a massive grin.

"I better pop into the bathroom," he told me so I followed him into the bathroom, where he washed his face.

"Are we all good now then?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry for acting like a jealous twit," he replied, a bit shamefaced.

"Welcome to puberty, it's just going to get worse from here but I'll always have your back unless you turn into a pizza-faced monster," I taunted him and he laughed at me then charged. I dodged out of his way and ran out of the apartment into the common area where the younger kids were all enjoying making up the tree.

 

All the older teens were standing watching but I noticed even Nate helping by giving out baubles and tinsel. They were decorating in silver and green.

"Whose idea was the colours?" I asked leaning back against a chair.

"That was mine; they are the colours of Slytherin!" Luca replied from his position on the floor.

"Slithering?" I looked at Mac, very confused now.

"Don't you know anything, you idiot," my brother took a pop at me.

"Obviously not," I answered snippily.

"Slytherin was one of the houses in Harry Potter," Mac explained.

"Never read them,"

"Really?" Larry gave me a surprised looked.

"A book about a boy-wizard does not appeal to me," I returned.

"I thought it would be right up your alley, your geeky enough to love that sort of thing,"

"Actually I prefer Sci-Fi or science fiction books grounded in reality, my favourite books are Ender's game, what about you farm boy?"

"I'm not that big a reader, I'm usually out on the fields or helping da with the animals when I get home from school," he responded.

"Well I love Harry Potter," Tobi spoke up.

"Yeah, but you're a geek to a massive degree, you out-geek my geekiness." I gently teased him.

"Do you want me to beat you up as I did in the apartment," he growled cutely and held his fist arm making us all laugh. Kelly opened her mouth; I think to say `Awww' but got an evil look from the boy.

"Please, I`m bigger and stronger than you," I told him and saw a glint in his eyes, but he decided not to push the envelope at that time.

 

We spent until lunch decorating and then a few more hours until dinner. Tea had finished half an hour ago as I made my way down the storage area. I quickly grabbed up the two bags that I had left there earlier and was soon entering the Biodome. At night, lights came on to illuminate the Biodome; there were a couple of spotlights either side of the lagoon and a few around the fields of food. I also noticed them in the water, making it shimmer but it did appear magical. I loved the smells of the different plants they had put in here and Ben seemed to be maintaining them well. I found a bush hiding the bags, before stripping down to my swimming shorts and diving in. The water was pleasantly warm as I began to do a few lengths, just to get a bit of exercise in.

"You need to keep up with the exercises, or you'll be getting fat," Tobi shouted walking down the beach area. Noah and Mac were with him. I was treading water and trying to give Tobi the evils.

"I noticed you tucking away a few chocolate bars last night," Mac added as the rest of our little crew joined us. Tobi stripped off his shorts and I really noticed the medallion around his neck on a leather thong. His slim body was gorgeous and I really wanted to take him in my arms, but knew I couldn't. I was distracted as some music began to play, some kind of pop princess.

"You stole my radio!" Sarah screamed. Amanda was stood by a radio, which had an MP3 connected to it. How she got the MP3 into the mountain I don't know, but we weren't supposed to have the electrical equipment.

"Did you disable the location on that?" Tobi asked quietly as I emerged from the water. The wild-haired shrugged but did not seem to be too bothered.

"What do you mean?" I asked the boy.

"Most MP3 nowadays has GPS tracking and are automatically connected to the internet," Tobi explained, "I don't know how much the Faraday cage will stop those signals but we could be found,"

"Hand the MP3 over," I told her, everyone was watching but no one was interfering. Even Tom and Larry just stood and watched the exchange. She pulled out the MP3 and gave it to me.

"I just thought we needed a bit of music down here," she answered with a whine in her voice.

"By stealing my radio," Sarah once again accused.

"Hush," I snapped handing over the MP3 device to Tobi to look at as I looked between the girls, "Sarah, how do you play music?"

"I have an MP3 device too," she answered.

"Can we take a look?"

"Sure," she answered and rummaged through the small bag that she had with.

"Kelly, can you take the kids into the water please," I suggested and some of the others got the hint. Nearly all the ones under thirteen got changed and went down to the water. I indicated for Nate to follow them as well. Only Amanda, Sarah, Tobi, Mac and I stood in a huddle. I did notice Noah on the edge watching, but the other two older boys had left us to it, which showed how much they had come on since we come in the mountain.

"Here," she handed it over and I gave it to Tobi, who had Talia by his side, watching over his shoulder.

"Ok, so the GPS and external connection were enabled. I've now disabled everything and set a password so that no one can connect to anything external with me entering that password,"

"Good, can you do the same to Sarah's?" I asked and he nodded, going to work straight away.

"What are we going to do about Amanda stealing my radio?" Sarah seemed to be watching me carefully. Out the corner of my eye, I noticed Kelly watching as she swam around with Ali.

"Sarah, at the moment there is little I can do. I can't ground her and I can't chuck her out," I answered patiently.

"She could stay in the detention centre," she suggested brightly.

"I'm sorry, I cannot put an eleven-year-old in a cell," She let out a huff of air and stormed off into the water. I waved away Mac and the others then looked at Amanda, who was trying to be as nonchalant as possible.

"I borrowed the radio and would have put it back," she spoke before I could say anything; she had an edge to her voice that seemed to grate on my nerves. I would have to watch her carefully; she was already on the suspect list and could have given our location away.

"You cannot just be borrowing things and not telling the owners, next time ask please,"

"Yes Dad," she responded sarcastically as I handed the MP3 back. She stalked off and the music once again began to play. I turned to watch everyone enjoying the water once again; Matty, Luca and Ben were playing their own little game of Tag while little Georgie was playing with Tommy building a sandcastle. Where did they find the bucket that looked suspiciously like a castle? I headed back into the water and dived under, aiming for Tobi who was chatting to Mac and Nate. I come up under his legs and pulled him under then emerged myself.

"There's a giant squid," he screamed at the top of his lungs spluttering and splashing the water around. Mac and Nate were in hysterics and I heard laughter from elsewhere too.

"Calm down will you, it's just me," I told him as he grabbed a hold of me to steady himself, "That'll teach you to call me fat,"

"You bastard, you are absolutely evil," he clung to me like a wet monkey and I can't say I wasn't enjoying it.

"Watch your language, Sparkplug," Mac admonished as he finally released me and began treading water.

"He scared me," he whined like a two-year-old to his sister.

"Grow up, you are twelve now not a little child," she answered sternly and then cracked up laughing. Then we began an epic game of tag, everyone got involved, even the smallest kids. The older ones would hoist them onto their backs and we'd swim away from whoever was `it'. Most of the time I had little Tommy on my back but occasionally little Kelly would beg to go on my back, what one twin wanted, the other twin wanted too.

 

I was thoroughly enjoying myself when my alarm went off remind me of the time so I sighed and called out.

"Right then everyone, time for showers and bedtime," I got lots of groans and calls for a further five minutes, "No, it's now time for bed,"

"Yes, Sir," Larry replied sarcastically but smiled as he said it. The others all grabbed their towels and started drying off before making their way out of the Biodome. Everyone was chattering excitedly as I found Mac and touched her arm, holding her back. She looked at me quizzically but nodded and took a seat, slightly out of view as the others left. Tobi took a look at me but left with all the others.

"So what was so important that you had to keep me back? Advice on love?" she joked and brushed the sand off her.

"Advice from you?" I laughed, "Not when you are crushing on Tom,"

"What-I-no," she spluttered, denying it.

"Really, from all accounts I've heard you seem to be crushing bad," I teased, then eased off, "Does he know you like him?"

"I'm not sure, I've hung out a few times in the mechanics bay and we seemed to get on really well," she admitted.

"That's great, you should try and see if he likes you the same," I advised her then grinned, "However, I did not keep you back to discuss your love life,"

"My love life is not exactly the most important thing right now,"

"Look, Tobi and I discovered a secret entrance out of here," I revealed to her, lowering my voice in case any of the others had lingered.

"Wow, that's erm incredible," She stared at me as though trying to figure something out, "Why haven't we left yet if we've been able to get out?"

"Because it's a lot safer in here, I've told you about the infection and we still have the aliens to deal with, I'd rather keep everyone safe in the mountain than risking everyone's life out there,"

"All right, so why are you telling me now?"

"Because eventually if something happens, I want you to know there is an escape route," I told her and rummaged around, grabbing the bags. I pulled them out and put a towel in each. I threw one at Mac, who caught it deftly and just stared at me with a questioning look. However, she didn't argue as I stepped back into the water, the bag over my shoulder. Though it watertight, it was also buoyant so I had to keep it snug to me to stop making me rise to the surface.

 

I dived in and quickly swam the length of the lagoon, angling deeper underneath the waterfall and came up gasping for air. Minutes later Mac surfaced, carrying the bag close to her body like me.

"Wow," she looked around as she trod water. I did not give her too much time to think as I swam to the ladder and climbed to the top. I began towelling myself off when Mac's head came over the top and she stared at the door, "Is it secure?"

"You mean, can anyone else get in?"

"Yeah, I'm worried especially after Amanda today that someone might be able to get in," she admitted, then a thought seemed to occur to her and she looked at me, "You don't think the saboteur got in this way do you?"

"No, the door was locked and secured when Tobi and I came up here," I explained and pulled on a plain white t-shirt. Mac had also towelled off and was getting changed, "In the next week or two, I'm going to bring some permanent clothes and equipment up here in case something happens,"

"It's a good idea," she agreed as I pulled a normal backpack out of the waterproof one. I had loaded it with some MRE's, a torch and some other stuff. I placed it close to the door as Mac laced up a pair of boots.

"Where does it lead?" She asked.

"Well, I'm about to show you that," I grabbed the bar on the door and pulled it back, making the wheel turn and the thick door unlocked and came open. I got the torch out of my pocket and flicked it on, illuminating the tunnel. She indicated for me to go first so I took the first steps into the tunnel, once again following it up rapidly.

 

Once we reached the top, Mac starred out onto the moonlit night. The lake below shimmered and dance with the moon and a cold breeze bit into our faces. Unlike last time I started to follow the train down a bit. Mac followed close behind, but we made no sound and I shielded the light so we could see where we were walking. I did not want to go too far, but we found the trail led down and met up with a popular walking trail before the walkways around the mountain were banned.

"We had better get back," I told her quietly, just as I heard a noise. I switched the light off and we quickly found a ditch to hide in. Above us an aircraft of alien origin appeared, if it wasn't for the bright full moon we would not see it as the ship was illuminated. It moved quietly and slowly, but not appear to be searching for anyone or anything. The ship just looked like it was lazily making its way across the sky. We gave it another five minutes before we rapidly made it back up the trail and into the mountain.

"Wow, that was really lucky," I locked the door back in place as I spoke then we both broke out into uncontrollable laughter.

"That was very close; do you think they were searching for someone?" Mac asked, now looking worried.

"No, I think they were just passing overhead," I returned, taking off my boots. Both of us changed quickly, with a lot on our minds.

"We better head back before they notice we are missing," Mac suggested looking at her watch. I quickly descended the ladder and made it down to the water. Mac followed me down and was soon wrapping towels around us. I led the way back up to the Fifth level to have a shower.

 

After the shower and getting changed, I headed back down to Level two and the Control room. I picked up a headset and batteries and put it on, before taking a seat at the UK computer. It was already booted up so I set it to scan frequencies.

"Is there anyone out there?" a voice said, "My husband was taken two nights ago and I have three children, I am in Newcastle,"

"This is Staff Sergeant Dennison, I am holed up in a supermarket six other people, one of them is pregnant," the frequency changed after the first woman, I hated that I could not respond or aid them in any way at the moment.

"I have just come out of a town, there is a boy who has become a warlord," someone, an older woman, warned, "Do not go near Davis town,"

"Are you listening to the dislodged again?" Maria Strange's voice came over the intercom. In the nearly two weeks we had started speaking to Kelvedon I had become good friends with Maria, who had been assigned to us.

"How did you guess?" I asked surprised.

"The same thing I've been doing every night, I listen to survivors, but there is little we can do especially so far north,"

"I just wish I could help them," I sighed.

"I know, don't we all but you'll soon be out of there and then we can rescue some people,"

"Thank you, Ma'am,"

"You make me sound so old," she chuckled, "I'm only twenty-six,"

"I'm sorry, M-Maria,"

"Don't worry about it Kid, now stop getting yourself depressed and get to bed,"