Untitled: Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11: "My nineteenth birthday was yesterday, and I've been alone since I was eleven. I'm sure most of you don't know that feeling—the feeling of having no one to protect you, no one there by your side in your time of need.

"I'm sure that not many, if any of you at all, like me, but I can assure you that I am not a bad person. My mother knew of the Underground and she is the reason I am here today. A few days ago I was rescued from some of the Superiors' soldiers. I don't know how yet, but I will help you all win our battle against the Superiors. All I need from you is your acceptance and your support."

The crowd was silent for nearly a minute, but one by one each and every dog came and stood next to Hinge at my feet. I was more worried more about human support, though. Men and women and children of all ages can be more useful than animals in a war like this. I would take any assistance, but dogs can only do so much, no matter how helpful.

One man stood up, apart from the others. He looked to be in his mid-thirties and had smooth, dark skin. When he spoke, his voice was surprisingly deep, "Your father… You are the child of Mem?"

My answer was short and sweet, "Yes."

"Mem was a good man. If I have your word that my enemies are your enemies, then I am with you in your fight."

"Thank you, sir."

The big man kindly answered, "Please, call me Tendo."

When Tendo voiced his support, others began to flock to my side as well. I had gained the support of a little over half of the human population when arguments began breaking out among those remaining undecided. I'd started something I didn't want. I couldn't tell what the arguments were about, but they appeared to be between families. Some family members wanted to side with me, but some didn't yet trust me.

One man wanted to help me, but the woman I assumed to be his wife wouldn't budge, and wouldn't let her husband go either. Another young woman tried to come to my side of the room, but a man who looked like her father held her back. When she didn't give in to his demands he smacked the girl across her face. It was a loud sound that brought everyone's attention to those two individuals. The girl had slumped to the ground and was silently crying while her father meekly looked around, already trying to wordlessly apologize to everyone in the room. Suddenly the room erupted into brawls even louder than the first ones. Everyone was converging on the man who'd slapped his daughter. The Underground doesn't take kindly to violence, especially when it's toward one's own flesh and blood.

I didn't want to be the cause of families being torn apart and people being hurt so I tried my best to bring the fights to an end. "Please, tell me what I can do to gain a little of your trust," I begged. "I don't want to tear this clan apart. I really don't. I know we all have one common goal here, and that is to dethrone the Superiors. To do this we need as many allies as possible to band together and fight for our cause.

"I know you don't trust me. Hell, I wouldn't trust myself if I were any of you. In this world strangers are unwelcome and I understand that better than most of you think. But sometimes you have got to take some chances. I know you're all probably perfectly content living here in the Underground, safe from the Superiors and their minions. But do you really want to live in secrecy for your whole life? Do you really want to never see the light of day again?

"We can change the world if we unite. A split society leaves a split world, and look how that turned out!"

Tendo and Hinge came and stood by me, and they both took turns speaking to those who were still unsure of their decisions while I began introducing myself and learning everyone's names. Men, women, and children alike looked up to me and begged me to save the Earth. They thanked me for my assistance and promised to do whatever I considered necessary for the war. Most were shy and didn't want to stand apart from the others, but some, like Tendo, were willing to stand up and speak to me as an equal.

Tank and Brick, one of the Underground's few sets of twins were the first to do so. They were large, very masculine men whose brute strength would be a great advantage for us. Brick appeared to be slightly dull minded, but it wasn't anything that would cause any damage to us. Their language skills were pretty minute, but they were still fairly young so this could still be attributed the lack of any real education. Tank, although large and a little dumb in appearance like his brother, seemed to be quite the opposite of Brick. He lacked education, but Tank was actually very bright minded. They were both serious men, who like nearly everyone else, showed knowledge of the severity of the situation we were in. Yet even with their serious demeanors, both were able to retain a sense of humor and joviality. They were easy to like, and I immediately knew they were good people.

The next to step up was Match. She was young, and yet she looked old. She was standing with two people that could easily be her parents, as they both resembled her angelic appearance and were much older than her. They were clearly trying to hold her back, but she bravely stepped up anyway. At first glance, her cherub-like face gave off a look of sweet, childish innocence, but her air gave off a feeling of hatred toward the Superiors. She looked to be no older than ten or eleven, but she made it quite clear that she was willing to do anything for the Underground, whatever it may be.

Pill, a boy of around seven, stepped up after Match. It struck me a little odd that the majority of people who stood up so quickly were so young. Like me, none of them had ever experienced the world before the Superiors, so I saw no reason for them to trust me so quickly and step up to bring the world back to its prior beauty. Pill was small but he looked ready to fight. Already he seemed to be straining at the invisible ropes holding him back from every possible fight. I knew as soon as I saw him that I would have to explain to him that he probably wouldn't be involve in any physical fighting due to his tiny stature. But I had an idea for him and Match nonetheless.

A few more stepped up, including a black dog with graying areas around his muzzle, ears, and eyes. He spoke in a manner that reminded me of Hinge, but less calm and peaceful and a little more stressed and overwhelmed. "Juilliard. What a name worthy of honor. I am Arcee. I will be of any assistance to you. Please, let me know if you ever need anything."

It truly amazed me how much some of the Underground actually trusted me. Those individuals who didn't step up by themselves slowly began to warm up to me over time and I became more fluent with everyone's names. Many were still shy and didn't like being near me by themselves, but there were also those who, joined by the similar hatred of the Superiors, warmed up to me pretty quickly and got a little more than excited about the idea of a revolution actually happening. Those people wanted everything to do with me and were nearly in my face trying to get me to listen to their ideas.

I'm not used to being surrounded by people and I was getting overheated. "OK! Everyone, back away from me, please. I know you're all ecstatic to finally have a chance to rebel against the enemy, but when everyone is throwing their thoughts in my face at the same time we will never get anything done! So we're going to break it up here and meet again tomorrow. Think about your ideas, perfect them, write them down, whatever you need to do and then we'll have a neat and orderly meeting tomorrow where we can talk about it together and create our final plan. So go, we're done for today."

I took a deep breath and sighed in relief as people began to trickle away from the dining hall. Hinge and Tendo both looked at me with pride in their eyes and I felt like I'd finally done something right. Even though I'd basically just met both of them, I felt like I had some kind of connection with them. Hinge was an animal, yes, but his character was simply easy to look at as a child would look at its father. I had grown up without a father and Hinge had suddenly filled that void. Tendo was also a father figure to me somehow. Granted he was even newer to me than Hinge, but he also had that father figure character that I really looked up to. I knew we would grow much closer over the next few months.