above ground: chapter 1

Lilith Gray looked up at the sky for the first time in her life and realized that none of her mother’s descriptions had ever done it justice.

She moved her head from side to side, shading her eyes against the light as she examined the emptiness above her. The sky was a flat, pale blue, an endless blue that stretched out in all directions, streaked with cotton-white wisps of clouds. The sun hung directly above them, fiercely bright. Even the air was different, dry against her skin, as if someone had left the dehumidifier on all night — but up here there were no dehumidifiers. Above ground there were only monsters.

Lilith shuddered. Not even the largest of caves, in the Lower Halls where the Houses of Parliament were, could compare to the infinity of the sky. But she resisted the impulse to shuffle sideways, towards the centre of the slow-moving queue. While the other theatre-goers huddled together in fear of the unknown, Lilith dared herself to step even further away from the crowd. But just then Emma latched on to her arm and pulled her close.

“Can you believe it?” Emma’s voice was hushed, as if they were in a church. Her head was craned back, staring upwards at the sky. Emma wasn’t the only one–many in the queue were equally awed, shuffling forwards without taking their eyes off of the sky, as if it would disappear as soon as they looked away. Even those feigning nonchalance like Lilith had their heads tilted to one side, glancing out of the corners of their eyes. “I don’t know how people live out here.”

“Easy. People don’t. The infected do.”

“Lilith!” Emma admonished, smiling. “Just because there are infected up here, doesn’t mean there aren’t people, too.”

“Yeah. Infected people.” She nudged Emma with her arm. “Imagine if the injection didn’t work and we became infected, too.”

Emma shook her head. “I’d rather not. Besides, it’s got to be working; my arm still hurts.”

“Only for another eleven hours. After that, without a booster shot—”

“Can we not talk about becoming monsters? What if one of them hears us?”

“We’re not even at the theatre yet,” Lilith replied. “And it’s not like they could hear me over the noise everyone’s making.” But she dropped the subject anyway.

The theatre loomed up ahead, a large grey building, not rounded like the architecture she was used to but square and unfriendly. It looked odd, rising out of the sandy ground to stand alone in the emptiness, as if someone had found a perfectly sized rock and carved the theatre out of it. But it had been built, not carved, brick placed upon brick—or so they said.

Lilith looked around. On either side, the queue stretched out in an orderly line, from the underground border control to the theatre, where it branched into several smaller lines. When they had first stepped outside, passports and tickets in hand, surrounded by policemen, everyone had been subdued. But now, further away from the uniforms, the disbelief was wearing off. Everyone was talking, and a few people had their arms half-raised, hesitantly pointing at the sky.

Several meters ahead of them, a boy with short blond hair let out a loud whoop. He stared up at the sky for several seconds before turning to his friends, looking smug. With grins on their faces, the two other boys let out a few yells as well, startling the couple in front of them.

Lilith leaned in towards Emma. “Ha! Mark owes me a fiver. And I didn’t even have to shout. I told him the sky’s too far away to make an echo.”

“The sky’s not a wall. They taught us that in Physics last year, don’t you remember?”

Lilith sniffed. “You believe everything they teach you?”

“Someone has to.”

“Someone has to live in the Upper Halls, but you won’t find me doing it.”

“You snob!” Emma tried not to laugh. “Remind me why I’m friends with you again?”

Lilith tapped her chin thoughtfully. “I’m not quite sure. Are we friends?”

Emma just stuck out her tongue in reply. Their friendship had baffled their classmates at school: Emma was shy, reclusive; Lilith the type to attend every party in town. But they’d bonded during gym class over a mutual dislike of tennis, and four years later their friendship was still going strong. It was frightening to think that—in a few months time—they would go their separate ways, Emma to university, and Lilith to the Advanced Youth Program. Why Emma hadn’t also been accepted at the AYP was a mystery to Lilith, and a sore point between the two.

“Thanks, by the way,” Lilith said, all of a sudden sentimental. “I know you’re not a big fan of this kind of thing.”

They were nearly at the theatre by then, and Emma did look paler than usual. But she smiled and squeezed Lilith’s arm. “Don’t be silly. It’s your birthday present.”

They reached the theatre doors and walked into the cool darkness, a welcome relief from the heat outside. The foyer was sparsely decorated but clean and well-lit, old-fashioned daybulbs hanging from the ceiling. The walls were painted the rich, dark red of an expensive wine. An usher in a matching red uniform took their tickets and ripped off a corner. “Your seats are in row G, box 8,” he said, and pointed to the right. “Through those doors, keep walking until the end of the row.”

As they walked past him, Lilith heard another usher apologize to a well-dressed couple. “I’m afraid these are standing tickets. The entrance to the Bottom Ring is down that corridor.”

“Standing tickets in the Lower Ring?” The woman was outraged. “That makes absolutely no sense.”

The usher looked resigned. “Things work differently above ground, ma’am. The Bottom Ring is the one reserved for the, um, less fortunate.”

“You shall upgrade us at once, then.”

“I’m terribly sorry, but the theatre is sold out.”

The double doors swung shut behind Lilith, blocking out the woman’s reply. She followed Emma, glancing around in interest. It looked much like any other theatre she had been to, with one difference: every set of seats was enclosed by a glass dome, with a door at the side. In the Middle Ring, where they were, the number of seats per box ranged between two to six. The Top Ring boxes only had two.

The Bottom Ring, by contrast, had no box separations or even seats. Instead the whole area was enclosed in glass, one giant aquarium. People—Upper Hallers, mostly—were entering the enclosure from two doors on either side. Many headed for the front, where, despite the lack of seats, they settled down on the ground to wait.

“This is us,” Emma announced, pausing by the last box to open the door. There were only two seats inside. An ornate 8 was etched into the glass, and Lilith paused to run her fingers against its surface. Rumour had it the glass was bullet-proof, imported from the coasts.

The door swung shut behind her as Lilith took her seat. The glass didn’t obstruct their view in the slightest; it was sparklingly clear.

“Here.” Emma handed her a small booklet.

Lilith looked at the cover. It was a programme. “Where did you get it from?”

“By the door.” Emma gave her a knowing look. “You were too busy eavesdropping to notice.”

She smiled sheepishly and flipped open the programme. The front page had the words ‘The Affected Parade’ in ornate script. It took her a few moments to make the connection. Of course; the surface-dwellers weren’t likely to call themselves infected, were they? But to choose a word so similar struck her as odd. Lilith shrugged, and resumed reading. Just inside the cover, in small letters, were the words: “If at any time you should feel sick, please close your eyes and place your head between your knees.”

Emma leant over her shoulder and tapped on the programme. “If it comes to that, then you owe me, big time.” She looked at the watch on her wrist. “And it should begin soon, so you better start praying.”

“Oh come on, what could happen?”

The lights dimmed before Emma could reply. There was a faint crackling noise from the speakers on the arms of Lilith’s chair. She could now hear the soft murmurs as the last few people were seated. When all the box doors were shut, the sound faded entirely. Lilith scanned the Bottom Ring to try and spot the rich lady from before, but the area was too crowded, a mass of bodies pressed together. If the woman was in there, she wouldn’t be the least bit happy. Lilith wouldn’t blame her either.

A man stepped out in front of the curtains, and Lilith automatically joined in with the applause. She could see the other audience members clapping, then realized it couldn’t be them she was hearing. She looked at the speakers on her chair. Was it simply a recording? In any case, it was quite cleverly done.

The man waited for the applause to die down, bowing several times to the audience. His face was rugged, his skin dark. The slight paunch of his belly indicated a life of leisure, but trading with the infected had always been a lucrative business. Yet few were tempted by the promise of riches; it wasn’t worth all the gold in the Lower Hall to become infected, exiled forever from the caverns.

He threw his arms out to either side of him. “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Affected Parade.” His voice came through the speakers as if he were standing right beside them. “What you will witness here today is both magical and frightening in equal measures. The performers of tonight’s show have spent their lives living on the surface, under the unrelenting glare of the sun.” He paused and looked around the audience. Beside her, Emma shuddered.

“Tonight, you will have the pleasure and the privilege to witness firsthand the little known secrets of life above ground.” He stepped back, towards the edge of the curtains. “Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourselves. The show begins.”