Waking up was an unpleasant experience for Syn. Her muscles and joints were stiff and painful from the heavy use they’d received over the last few days. Worse still were her hands. Each fingertip seemed to burn with every touch. Only by forcing herself to get moving again could she alleviate the pain and yet she knew that everything would hurt even more the next day. She longed to rest, to truly rest, and give her body time to heal. Unfortunately, time was something she didn’t have a lot of to fritter away.

“You up?” Syn asked.

There was no reply so Syn patted Pierce on the shin until he started to move.

“S’mornin’ a’ready?” he mumbled as he began to stir.

“Not sure if it’s morning,” Syn replied, “but it’s time to get going again.”

Once she was certain that Pierce was awake and not likely to fall back asleep she began eating her breakfast. The stale food wasn’t that different from fruit leather in consistency. As she ate, Syn heard Pierce unwrapping his own meal.

“You ever imagine you’re eating something else?” Pierce asked her.

“No, why?”

“Make it go down easier.”

“I just don’t think about what I’m eating if I can avoid it.”

“I like to imagine I’m eating pizza,” Pierce said.

Pizza was something Syn hadn’t thought about in a long time but immediately she was flooded by memories of eating in restaurants, or late nights with friends, the phantom smell of pizza in her nostrils.

“When was the last time you had pizza?” Syn asked.

“I don’t know,” Pierce replied. “A few years, at least. What about you?”

“Same.”

“Yeah, I guess nobody back there’s had pizza in a while.”

“We should get moving now,” Syn said.

She didn’t like it when their conversation strayed back to where they’d come from, or to the people they’d left behind. The work of digging wasn’t just effective at muting her physical pains but her mental ones as well. The less she dwelt on her time back there, the better.

Before long, the familiar sounds of scrapping resumed and dirt began to be tossed back towards her. They made good progress and soon Syn’s aches and pains began to dull. As she scooped up the dirt to pack it behind herself, she noted the change in its quality. For the past couple days, it had been heavy with clay but now it was becoming sandier with small pieces of organic material mixed in. The most exciting bits were the roots since that meant they were nearing the spot where they could safely break up into the surface. There were no plants where they were coming from.

“Hey, Syn?” Pierce called back to her after they’d been digging for a few hours.

“What is it?” Syn asked, hoping he wasn’t going to start complaining. She’d really been enjoying this change of pace.

“I think I can see some light.”

“What? We shouldn’t be that close to the surface yet!”

“I know, but that’s the weird part, the light’s in front of me, not above.”

“Can you see anything out there?” Syn asked. “Are there plants?

She heard Pierce scraping a bit more at the dirt and suddenly she too became away of the light. Even though it must have been incredibly dim, after spending days in complete dark it seemed to illuminate everything around her. She could see Pierce’s outline in front of her, as well as the walls of their tunnel with the tell-tale signs of having been dug by hand with the regularly spaced grooves where Pierce’s fingers had clawed away at the soil.

“I think it’s nighttime outside,” Pierce finally said before adding, rather excitedly, “I can see a tree!”

“Perfect,” Syn replied. “Hurry up and we can get out of here!”

The next few minutes were filled with a frantic sort of energy as they both scrambled to work as quickly as possible. Soon, fresh air began to filter back to Syn and the cool of the night air was a welcomed relief from the hot and smelly tunnel.

At once, Pierce scrambled out of view and Syn followed quickly behind him. Looking back to where they’d come out from, she saw that their tunnel had come out on the side of a rather steep hill, explaining why Pierce had seen light in front of him rather than above. Cool, damp grass met her as she laid herself out beneath the night sky. Stars shone so brightly that she thought it was a trick at first. The moon was full as well, adding its light to the land around them and revealing the outlines of several trees.

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen stars like this,” Pierce whispered, lying on the ground beside Syn.

He began to cry softly to himself. Syn felt as though she could cry as well. The weight of her captivity, like the labor of digging the tunnel, had had a numbing effect on her but now that she was out she could finally feel the impact that the captivity had had on her. She wanted to lie there forever and just drink in the sights, the sounds, the sensations that she had been denied all those years, but she knew it was too dangerous for them to stay there for very long.

“We need to get moving,” Syn told Pierce after giving him some time to finish crying.

“Okay,” Pierce sniffed and together they got up to their feet.

Both of them wobbled a little and needed to take a few moments to steady themselves after having spent the last few days lying down in their tunnel. It didn’t take too long, thankfully, and soon they were moving off along the sloping ground towards the trees. Syn wasn’t completely certain what they’d find out there but knew it would be better than what they had left behind. With luck, they’d find a forest or some other adequate cover where they could shelter while they rested. She wasn’t sure how regular the patrols would be, or even if they were still ongoing, but didn’t want to be caught out in the open. At least in the trees there would be places to hide and the terrain would be difficult for the patrols to traverse. It would also be easier to find food and fresh water in a forest, both of which they would need soon since their own provisions wouldn’t last much longer.