We have a good one for you today. It’s called City of Darkness, and it’s a sci-fi story set in a world where people have long ago been driven underground, living in a city deep in the bowels of the Earth. A man living in this city, discovers a dirty secret that the high officials want to keep quiet, because if it is let out, it would mean the end of their society as they know it. So, the man must make a decision whether or not to blow the whistle or keep the secret forever.
We hope you enjoy the story.
Just beyond the edge of the city, there was only darkness. A man could easily be swallowed up by it and never return. The craggy stone walls stood only just out of sight, but they might as well have not been there at all. Nothing pierced the darkness, not even us.
The dark was out barrier—our cell walls—our confinement. There I stood on the border of light and dark, praying for the courage to cross over into the black of the underground labyrinth. Someone needed to. It was our only chance.
My foot wavered, hovering above the ground, ready to make that first step. It refused to make touchdown in the shadows though, and hung limply in the air, until I pulled it back into the light.
We were taught to fear the darkness even before we were able to walk. It was so ingrained in our psyches that it physically paralyzed us. No one, no matter how hard they tried, could take that step I so desperately wanted to take. Still, I couldn’t do it, even knowing there was much more to fear inside the glowing city behind me.
I swore, picking up a small stone and hurling it into the darkness, as if my attack would cause it to back away. But it didn’t budge, standing resolute like a sea of nothingness before me. The stone smacked against the cave wall and rolled down, dislodging small pebbles and sand in its way. I couldn’t actually see it, but the sound echoed through the cavern.
More echoes followed, but not from falling stones. The tap, tap, tap of hard soled boots ran toward me. Hard, ragged breaths accompanied the boots, and I knew whoever it was had been running a marathon to get here.
“Evan!” the owner of the boots yelled. Abby approached, standing by my side and gasping for breath. “I’ve been running all over, looking for you.”
“Go home and forget you found me.” I didn’t bother looking in her direction. “I’m not going back.”
Even though I couldn’t actually see her, I knew my wife’s slim jaw hung slack, leaving her mouth gaping for a moment before she could find the power to speak. Her auburn hair was probably a mess, as she ran out of our dwelling without bothering to fix it. Her tiny stature was probably at its full height as if to intimidate me into returning. She probably expected me to just say, “Okay, let’s go back and act like everything’s normal.” I was too far past that. I could no more go back to the city than I could push through the darkness.
“At least tell me what’s going on. It’s been three days now.”
I ignored the prompt. I couldn’t tell her. I’d tried—boy, had I tried. I couldn’t lay this burden upon her. It wouldn’t have been fair. Better she lived in ignorance. At least she’d live.
I reached out, touching the darkness, watching my hand all but disappear into the shadows. I held it there for a few seconds, feeling the coldness the dark brought with it—longer than my last attempt. I pulled my hand back into the light like I’d been burned by fire. My fingers flexed before my eyes as I checked to make sure they were still there. They were.
“At least eat something.” She pulled a thin, pale wafer from her pocket. “You haven’t eaten in days either. You must be starving.”
As if it were a reflex, my hand whipped around and slapped the wafer from her hand. It skittered on the ground before breaking on a small rock at the edge of the shadows.
Abby dove after it. She picked up the broken food and shoved half of it back in her pocket before quickly backing away from light’s edge. Her face was red, and when she spoke, it was in that high pitched squeal she had whenever I’ve just done something incredibly stupid. “That’s our ration! They won’t give us any more until tomorrow.” She held the half-wafer before my face.
“Keep it away from me.” I stepped back as if she held poison in her hands.
“You need to eat something.” She tried again to force the wafer on me. “Our harvest isn’t for another six weeks almost. How will we survive if you drop dead of hunger?” When she said “we,” her hand slid down over her stomach. The gesture was meant to make me see reason, but she didn’t know the things I now knew.
I grabbed her arm and pushed it into her body, moving the stale wafer away from me. “We can’t eat that.”
She looked me right in the eye and laughed. Her bellow echoed from wall to wall of the large cavern and I was sure there wasn’t an ear in the city that didn’t hear. “So, what do you expect to eat then? There isn’t anything else. Maybe I can whip up some rock soup to suit your fancy.”
I would have been angry with her, but if I were in her position, I’d have said the same thing. I couldn’t be mad at her anyway. How could I? She was only looking out for me, like she always did. It wasn’t her fault I just couldn’t stomach those nasty wafers any longer. She was also right—if I didn’t eat what was essentially our only source of food, I would die. This was the reason I’d stood here for three days, trying to push through into the blackness. It was the only means for my survival—for our survival.
“Will you talk to me?” she wailed. “What happened the other day?”
No words would escape my lips. As much as I yearned to tell her, I would take that secret to the grave. Even mentioning it could be enough to destroy everything we’d built in the last century. No—as horrible as it was, I couldn’t do that.
“Abby, honey.” I grabbed the hand that didn’t hold the wafer. “I need you to trust me. This is something I need to deal with. And if I do find a way out of here, you’ll be coming with me.”
She stepped back, her face had gone pale with the realization there would be no going back for me. “Evan,” she said weakly, almost like she had to force the words through her lips, “there’s nowhere to go. All there is out there is nothingness. And even if you made it through, the world above is barren. There’s no way to survive.”
“How do you know?” I prodded. “No one’s been up there in almost a hundred and fifty years. A lot could have changed. Think how much has changed here in that time.” So much had changed, at least for me, in just the last few days. Why couldn’t the world above be better than when we’d left it?
If we could grow crops down in the darkness, without aid of the sun, then why couldn’t we do the same aboveground?
More footsteps charged behind us. These weren’t like the hurried, frantic footsteps of Abby. These footfalls had a purpose. Even before they came into sight, I knew what they wanted. I’d been expecting it, and was surprised it had taken this long. Apparently, I would be going back to the city.
Five of them surrounded Abby and me. They wore helmets, supposedly for protection, but now I think it was so the common people couldn’t tell who they were underneath. Two of these faceless enforcers grabbed Abby and pulled her away from me. She struggled and fought against their restraining grasps, but to no avail.
I didn’t move, just stared at the two men as I said slowly and calmly, “Leave her alone. She hasn’t done anything.”
The men stopped dragging her, but maintained their grip. Abby continued fighting, but wasn’t strong enough. “Stop struggling,” I told her. “They aren’t going to hurt you. They’re here for me.”
Her eyes fixed on mine, accusing me of doing nothing. There was nothing I could do. If I struggled, they might take her too. I had to make sure that didn’t happen. Turning away from her out of both guilt and duty, I looked to one of the faceless men.
“Councilor Lucien wants to see you.” He brandished a knife in my direction. I suppose to a normal person that would seem threatening. I hardly took notice.
“Let her go.” My tone was non-combative, but held a slight hint of danger in it. “She’s innocent and she’s expecting our baby.”
The men loosened their grip, but didn’t let go until the man with the knife gave them a nod. Abby rushed back to me, holding me tightly. I returned the hug, not wanting to let her go, but knowing I had no choice. Pushing her away, I looked into her beautiful eyes. “I want you to go home, and I don’t want you to worry. No matter what happens, I want you and the baby to be safe.”
“Evan, tell me what’s going on. Please.”
“It’s better that you don’t know. Abby, you need to trust me.” I grabbed her chin and gave her a peck on the lips.
I turned and glared at the men. “Make sure she gets home. If I find out anything happened to her, I will come after you.” The threat was empty, I could no more find this man after he walked away than I could find my way through the darkness.
He nodded, took Abby by the arm, and escorted her off. She looked back over her shoulder, her eyes pleading with me one last time to tell her what was happening. I stood as the other four men bound my wrists with some wire.
As Abby disappeared, her eyes were still trying to find me. When she was gone, the others led me to the city center where Councilor Lucien would be waiting. I’d met the man several times, and would say I knew him pretty well—at least I once thought I did. But he’d allowed such horrors to happen under his watch. So, he couldn’t have been the man I’d thought he was.
We passed the generators. The life giving machines hummed like they always did. The ancient devices were growing old, but with the constant maintenance on them, they’d probably run another hundred years. The electricity they produced powered not only every home in the city, but also the sun lamps for our crops.
People were out on the streets as I was marched through the city. The way they stared and pointed, it was like they were watching a parade, and I was the finale. It was like they’d never seen a criminal before.
Many knew it would be the last time they’d see me. Most people, when brought in like this, led by an armed regiment of guards, seldom came back out.
The long walk to the city center seemed incredibly short today, as if time didn’t want me to savor my last moments of freedom. It was the largest building in the city, at four stories tall and could pretty much be seen from anywhere. The doors and windows were all darkened to hide the evils that went on inside. Most people trusted their leaders to do what was best for them, but those same leaders didn’t want to deal with the prying eyes of the public. It was only a couple of days ago that I finally understood why.
I’d never really been one for a fight, but when they wouldn’t give me an extra ration for my pregnant wife, I had to take matters to the top. I’d stood right at this very entrance, looking into the dark tinted windows, willing myself to step forward and finally pushing myself in.
As soon as I entered that day, I knew something was wrong.
That same feeling that passed over me again as the masked men ushered me through the doors. This was the last place I wanted to be, but didn’t have much choice.
The small, dimly lit room that served as the lobby was as bare as it was the other day. A few doors led off the room, and a spiral stairway led to the upper levels. The same rude secretary, who barred my entrance to see Councilor Lucien, sat behind an old lifeless-looking wooden desk. If only I hadn’t tried to sneak past her, things would be very different.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the doors I had gone through. They looked so innocent. The casual observer would see them as just another office or meeting chamber. But behind them was a set of stairs, and down those stairs, the largest grinders I had ever seen. Giant stone wheels spun, crushing anything placed between them into a pulpy, pink paste. They dumped dozens of them on the wheels, alive or dead, I couldn’t tell. It only took seconds before they were mashed and unrecognizable. I closed my eyes, hoping the darkness would be enough to clear the image from my mind—it only made it more potent.
“He’s waiting.” The secretary waved a hand in the direction of the spiraling stair. The helmeted men, without ceremony, snatched hold of my arms and guided me toward the stairs—ever closer to my awaiting doom. We passed the second floor, and the third, taking the stairs to the very top of the building, and with every one I took, the lump growing in my stomach gained another centimeter.
Waiting at the top of the stairs was another pair of men, standing to either side of an ornate door that appeared newer than half the buildings in the city. One guard opened it as we approached. I was led into the Councilor’s office. If I thought the door was elaborate, it was nothing compared to the sheer opulence of the room I now stood in. A brand new desk, and gleaming electric lights. I’d never set foot in a room as bright as this one. While it was comforting to be so far from the darkness, the light in this room set me on edge even more than the darkness ever could.
“Evan, my good man, how wonderful to see you again,” the Councilor said, “please, take a seat.” He was much too happy for my liking. A man in his position shouldn’t have been nearly as excited to see a lowly grunt like me.
The two men stepped away, allowing me to move freely to the red cushioned seat in front of the Councilor’s massive desk. Lucien took a similar looking chair on the opposite side. He then pressed his hands together, creating a steeple with his fingers.
I’m sure he was waiting for me to say something, but I wasn’t about to oblige. He had me brought here—he would be the first to speak.
But he didn’t—not at first anyway. His eyes continued their unnerving gaze over his fingers to bore into my head in search of some unfound truth—a truth I wasn’t giving up if he didn’t ask. To give it up would mean the end of me. The problem was, we both knew he knew the truth already.
He put his hands down and finally spoke. “I understand you came to see me the other day. I’m sorry I was unable to set up a meeting.”
“I’m sure you are.” Even though I was terrified, my anger at the man overrode it at that second. It was, after all, his fault I was in this situation. If he’d just seen me the other day... “Your secretary made it very clear you wouldn’t be bothered with matters like mine.”
“I’m here now. Why don’t you tell me what’s troubling you.” He leaned back casually in his seat.
Finally, I had the ear of the Councilor. I could tell him about Abby needing more rations, I could tell him about anything I thought could be improved in the city. The problem was, none of that really mattered anymore.
When I didn’t respond, Councilor Lucien pulled a pair of wafers out of his pocket. He slid one across the desk to sit in front of me, and brought the other to his mouth. He chewed the disgusting treat, seeming to savor every bit, before finally swallowing. My stomach did backflips, and if there was anything in it, I’m sure the contents would have ended up all over the floor in front of me.
“I think you should eat something,” he said. “I am told you haven’t eaten since your visit to the lower levels. You must be famished.”
And there it was—the nail in the coffin. He knew I’d found my way to the lower levels, and he knew what I’d seen there. Now he was teasing me, offering me the only food we had available, which he knew I would never eat.
I couldn’t look at him any more, embarrassed by the fact I would rather starve to death than eat a single wafer.
“Why won’t you eat?” he asked. “Have you seen something you weren’t supposed to?”
I didn’t look up. I couldn’t. My anger, which had been my last reserve of strength, had abated. My head hung limply, eyes staring at my bound wrists, as my mouth formed a single word. “Yes.”
“What did you see?”
Shaking my head, I tried to clear the image burned into my brain out. Asking me to retell it was like torture.
“Come, Evan,” the Councilor prodded, “you can tell me. Knowledge isn’t a crime after all.”
Was he trying to trick me? Was this some plot to get a confession? Nothing about his tone, his body language, anything, led me to trust this man—or his words.
“Evan, my poor, dear man, these sights are too much for one man to contain within. Better you let this burden out here, among friends, rather than out on the streets. They would never understand.” He paused as he rose and walked around the desk to stand over me. His hand fell onto my hunched back, caressing me as a mother might a child. “But I think you know that already, or you’d have spread the word to all four corners of the city. My reports say you haven’t even told your wife yet. What’s her name again?”
“Abby,” I croaked automatically, barely able to get her name through my lips. “And I haven’t told her to protect her.”
“Because she wouldn’t understand,” he concluded.
I nodded. “I guess.”
“I know what you’re going through, Evan. Six years ago, when I took this position, you wouldn’t believe what I went through when I found out.” He patted my back, then grabbed my chin and tilted my neck, so I was looking directly into his eyes. “I wouldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. I grew distant from the people I cared about. Sound familiar?”
Again, I nodded. “But we’re… What about those people?”
“Criminals. Thieves. Rapists. Psychotics. Degenerates. Our society would collapse if we allowed them to roam free.” He held up a hand to stop any objection I might have had. “Besides, we don’t have the space or resources to keep them contained. How old are you, Evan?”
The question took me off guard. It seemed to come from nowhere, though it could have been the stress had caused my focus to go awry. I was just barely able to stammer, “Ummm… Six… sixty harvests.”
His eyes closed, and I could tell he was calculating. “About twenty-seven years above ground—give or take.”
“Why does it matter?” I forced myself to ask.
“You’d be too young to remember when the food shortages began. I myself had only eight or nine harvests behind me at the time. If you think rations are strict now, imagine a time before we started making these little jewels.” He pointed to the wafer, still sitting on the desk, seemingly staring at me. I could barely bring myself to stare back.
“Just one of these has enough nutrients for one person for one day,” Lucien said. I don’t know why. It was information everyone knew. “We use our garden harvests, but there is one other ingredient—a secret ingredient.”
“You made us cannibals!” I shouted. I couldn’t tell from where in my body the outburst had come, but the Councilor was right, it felt really good letting out what I’d held inside for days.
“Yes, and that’s what I struggled with when I found out. Until one day, I asked myself, which is more important, my morals or my survival—not just my survival, the survival of my entire species.”
He scooped the wafer off the desk and held it before my face. My instinct was to bat it away, but this time I hesitated. My hand hands hovered between my lap and the wafer, waiting to strike, yet not daring.
“So, I ask you now, Evan. Will it be morals or survival?”
The wafer might as well have floated freely in the air for all the attention I paid Councilor Lucien at that moment. All that mattered was the wafer and the choice.
He was right—knowledge wasn’t a bad thing. The more you knew, the better off you were. The better you are, the more informed decisions you can make. It made sense.
On the other hand, until a couple days ago, I was perfectly happy being ignorant of the origin of those wafers. So knowledge, in that case was about the worst thing ever.
By grabbing the wafer, I would essentially be condoning what it took to create them. By chewing it, I’d be an accomplice to murder. By swallowing it, I’d be sending my very being to the depths of the darkness, and I’d never return. How could I do that?
How I wished I’d never laid eyes on that room—the workers, feeding the bodies into the grinder, the red meat oozing out the other end. How I wish I could forget the smell of flesh wafting up to my nostrils and, despite the sickening sight, making my mouth water. It would haunt me forever, and every time I gazed upon one of those wafers, it would remind me of that room.
Apparently growing impatient, the councilor spoke. You would really consider the destruction of our race than accept reality.” He pulled away, placing the wafer back onto the desk, and heaved a sigh. “Do you doubt my words?”
“If I don’t tell anyone—”
“You wouldn’t need to. Your behavior would be enough. Here’s what would happen—you won’t eat, drawing attention to yourself, growing sicker and weaker each day. People will offer you their rations, which you will, of course, refuse. This will make people question why you refuse to eat. Then you will die, as all people who starve themselves do. There would be an uproar, and the people would demand answers. I, as the ruling body, would suppress this knowledge, but some adamant idiot would find the truth. Then one of two things would happen: first, more people will starve themselves, dropping our population drastically until, within a few generations, we will simply become extinct. Or, second, the people will demand we stop using criminal corpses in our wafers, some resorting to terrorism, and the ruling body will be forced to comply, and thousands would die due to lack of food and we would become extinct in a few generations.”
Was there a third option? If so, I couldn’t think of it, and I tried with all my might. Councilor Lucien’s argument was pretty convincing.
“Now, as I’m sure you know, I cannot allow that to happen.” He sounded almost sad as he spoke, yet the grin on his face told me he was anything but. “So, I am going to give you another chance. You can either take that wafer, shove it in your mouth, chew and swallow it with a big smile, or I can have you, your wife, and unborn child, tossed into the grinder together.”
How dare he threaten my wife? I sprang to attack but a pair of hands pushed me back into the seat before I could fully stand. I hadn’t noticed one of the helmeted men had returned to stand behind me.
“Why Abby? She hasn’t done anything. She doesn’t know anything.”
“Not yet. But I’m afraid if you disappear, she’ll ask questions, and the whole cycle to our downfall would begin. As I said, I can’t allow that to happen.”
The wafer was once again plucked from the desk and held before me. As my gaze went back and forth between Lucien and the wafer, I couldn’t help but think accepting the food would be like selling my soul.
A little voice in the back of my head told me if I did sell my soul, it would be for a good reason. Abby would live. I couldn’t think of a more important, or noble reason to take the wafer.
My bound hands made it halfway from my lap to the food, but then dropped again. I shook my head. “There has to be another way.”
“Believe me, Evan,” he responded, “if there was another choice, I would take it. But I am open to suggestions.”
Nothing. I could see no other option. I couldn’t let him hurt Abby, and our child. And though important, saving my entire race took second place to that fact.
My hand shook as I pushed my arms to lift them. After struggling for what seemed like an eternity, I forced them to reach out and accept the wafer from the Councilor’s fingers. It felt like a lead weight—much heavier than it had been only a couple days ago. It could have been weakness from lack of nutrition, but I was sure the extra weight was from what the wafer represented to me now.
My hands held it before my mouth, which refused to open. I gave serious contemplation to throwing the thing in Lucien’s face and charging out of the room, but I knew I wouldn’t get far. Even if I did manage to make it to the outskirts of the city, the wall of darkness would keep me contained until they caught up with me.
“Knowledge isn’t a crime, Evan,” I heard the Councilor’s voice, as though from a great distance. “It’s what you do with it that matters.”
I hadn’t done anything wrong.
“We’re only trying to ensure our survival.”
I could save my race by simply eating this wafer.
“Eat the wafer.”
Slowly, my jaw unclenched and my lips opened. My hand slid toward my open maw.
“You’ll feel better once you’ve accepted there’s no other choice.”
The tip of the wafer barely grazed my lips.
“Eat the wafer.”
I closed my eyes and threw the food into my mouth. It tasted as grainy and mealy as it always had. Nothing felt at all different about it as I chewed and eventually swallowed. It was amazing how easily my body accepted the food. The warmth that spread through my limbs was amazing, as if it was the first time my blood had pumped through them in ages. Once I was certain the item had landed safely in my stomach, I opened my eyes again.
Looking upon me, with a very satisfied look on his face, was Councilor Lucien. “Undo his restraints. He’s free to go.”
I lifted my wrists, happy I could go home and be with my wife, as the men pulled the bindings off. I stood and went to the door, not able to look the Councilor in the eye anymore. But as I reached the door, he said, “Wait.”
I shut my eyes and sighed before turning around to look vaguely in his direction.
“I will see that your wife gets the extra rations she needs until your baby is born. However, I want you to understand, there are no second chances. We will be watching, and if I find that you aren’t eating again, I will have you brought in. Next time I promise, you won’t leave this office.” It wasn’t as much a threat as it was a warning. Still I couldn’t help but shudder inside. I’d made a deal with the devil, and I’d pay for it every day of my life.
The stairway through the door appeared shrouded in darkness. Still, I stepped through the doorway and descended. Passing the snotty secretary, I gave a curt nod and walked out the door.
I stopped in the middle of the street and gazed up at the cave roof and its long stalactites hanging high above my head. I was free, and yet I didn’t feel it. As I trudged home, to let Abby know I was okay, I couldn’t help but run through my entire conversation with the Councilor through my head.
There had to be another option. Something I hadn’t thought of before.
As I made it to our small home, it came to me. The only true option was my first option, the one I’d been contemplating for days. I’d been too scared to go through with it, mainly because it was the unknown. However, the words of Councilor Lucien echoed through my mind, “Knowledge isn’t a crime.”
And it wasn’t. Knowledge was about the greatest thing a person could have; only those who lived in ignorance were afraid. I couldn’t live in ignorance anymore, I had to know. I had to try.
I opened the door, and was surprised when Abby jumped into my arms before I was able to step foot across the threshold. “I’ve been so worried. What happened? Are you in trouble?”
“No,” I told her, embracing her. “Everything’s going to be just fine.”
“Great! Did you get the extra rations?” she asked.
I pulled away from her and nodded. The light in her eyes, telling how proud she was of me once again tied my stomach in a knot. If she only knew what I’d done for her, she’d probably feel as sick as I did. That part, I would never let her know.
“I have a surprise for you, but you have to come with me—now.”
Her eyebrow arched as she tried to settle her confused thoughts. “Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise. As a matter of fact, here, wear this.” I grabbed an old rag and tied it over her face, covering her eyes. “Wait right here, I just need to get something.”
Grabbing a canteen, filling it with water, and stuffing what seeds we hadn’t planted this rotation into my pocket, I clasped my wife’s wrist and led her out of the house.
We walked at a quick pace through the city to the outskirts, where I’d stood for too long, trying to cross over. This time I would take Abby with me. No more would I be ignorant to what lay on the other side. Even if there was nothing but desert on the land above, we would find a way to survive. We couldn’t live here anymore.
“Evan,” she pleaded, “where are you taking me?”
I checked over my shoulder several times. There were no helmeted men on the street behind us. The Counselor hadn’t made good on his threat to have me watched. It was a relief to know we’d at least have a head start.
“I can’t tell you.” I tried to sound as jovial as possible. “I’ll let you know when we get there.”
Thankfully, she accepted the answer this time.
I stood for a moment, at the edge of the darkness, realizing for the first time that it was the city itself that was shrouded in darkness. All the people were blissfully unaware of what was going on everyday around them. There would come a time when they’d all need to open their eyes. But not today—the Councilor was right about that. The knowledge would destroy them all, as it had almost done to me.
I looked back on the city one last time. Then, checking Abby’s blindfold was secure and grabbing her hand tightly, I took my first step into the dark.
The End
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