Read Online Charged - Book One by L.M. Moore - Free Book Online Page A

presidents bomb shelter,” I said, laughing.
    Aaron then grabbed our bags, threw them inside and
climbed down and looked up me with sheer excitement glistening in
eyes. Like a kid on Christmas day. And he knew damn well I wasn’t
going to let him go down there alone. But it took a few moments for
me to reconsider. Hesitantly and with considerable pain in my knee,
I lowered myself into the tube.
    When we were both inside, we stood there for a
moment, waiting for the hatch to close, but it didn’t. The cylinder
didn’t move.
    Aaron then smiled as if he’d just realized something
and motioned me with one finger to wait as he climbed back up and
out of the tube. This made me uncomfortable. I didn’t want this
thing to start moving without him in it. After a short moment, he
climbed back into the cylinder, he showed me the box and the lid
started to close.
    “Do you think we’ll regret this?”
    “It’s possible,” he said.
    When the lid was shut all the way, it was completely
black. I could hear a series of locks closing at the top of the
tube we were in. Then it was silent and the ceiling and the floor
lit up with a cascading, soft, blue stream of light, which was just
enough for us to see.
    “Maybe this isn’t a good idea,” I muttered, looking
at him.
    “It’s almost what I imagined.”
    I frowned at him a little and I started to wonder
what he had imagined. I was alarmed, but even more so when the tube
started to drop at an incredible speed. The force was so great that
we started to lift off of the floor slightly and we both grabbed
the steel bars on the side of the tube.
    “How fast do you think we’re going?” I said, over the
humming noise.
    “I don’t know, pretty fast!”
    I had this overwhelming feeling that when this thing
stopped, it was going to open up into a room filled with very angry
military people. Then a fear swept across my mind that we would get
stuck in the tube. I didn’t see any seams or anything that looked
like a door that would suggest it opened at all. I wondered how
long it had been since the tube had been used. And as much as I
wanted to believe there would be a way back up, I didn’t know if
there would be. I wondered if Aaron had considered this
possibility.
    After the second longest minute of my life, the
cylinder started to slow and came to a halt. Our feet lowered to
the ground and I held onto the rails to make sure I landed on my
good leg this time. The ceiling lights dimmed a little as we
listened to the door unlocking.

CHAPTER 17
     
    THERE WERE TWO DOORS, about thirty-six inches wide
that slid back making the cylinder turn into a half-circle. I had a
few ideas of what we were about to walk into, but I wasn’t
expecting this.
    This was beautiful. This was Eden.
    We stood in the cylinder just looking at an abundant
amount of plant life, trees and flowers. It was what Earth must
have looked like before we covered it in concrete and condos. We
took a few steps out into what looked like a garden and although
beautiful, it was obvious the trees weren’t really trees and the
flowers weren’t really flowers. The dim blue lights had deceived us
and my stomach soured.
    Aaron picked up the bags and he stepped out further
into the dimly-lit garden. I hesitated; I stood there for a moment,
closed my eyes, opened them again, but nothing changed. After
another moment, I slowly limped out. It was possible that the tube
could send me straight back up and Aaron would be alone. When I was
completely out of the tube, the doors closed and I could hear it
ascending to the top of the canyon. And I couldn’t help but notice
that there wasn’t any place to plug the key in from this side.
    We started moving forward on what looked like a
cobblestone path. With every step we took, the floor would radiate
under our feet. It lit up with the same blue light as in the
elevator. At first it was dim, then it grew brighter, then it would
die out after a second or two until the next step was taken.