The Forsaken

and rooms throughout it at all different levels, and buttressed them with steel. There’s practically a city in there.”
    The group starts slowing down. I’m still scrutinizing the sandstone for any signs of life. Dr. Vargas-Ruiz notices. “Closer to your left.”
    She gestures again. I squint against the brightness.
    Finally, I see an almost invisible indentation in the base of the rock. It looks like it’s been eroded into the side of the sandstone by the wind, but it’s more than that. It’s small and square, like there’s something hidden behind it.
    A secret doorway.
    “That’s the entrance to our labyrinth,” she tells me and Liam as the group heads toward it, trailing through the sand, dragging the pods. I glance back and see others rolling the rest of the pods out of the aircraft. A light wind kicks up, blowing sand into my eyes. “We’ll have the entire plane disassembled by nighttime.”
    We keep trudging toward the rock wall. Liam has his arm around me. I’m so glad I’m with him that in some ways, nothing else matters.
    “How are you holding up?” he whispers.
    “Good.”
    He laughs softly and hugs me tight. “You’re a trouper.”
    Dr. Elliott finally reaches the sandstone indentation, and the rest of the men put down the pods. Some of them spit on their blistered hands to cool them off, because the exteriors of the pods are being superheated by the sun.
    Dr. Elliott takes out an old-fashioned key from his back pocket, nearly the length of a screwdriver. He drives it into the rock, slotting it into a hidden lock with an audible click. Chunks of crusted sand fall away. I catch a glimpse of chrome beneath the sandstone.
    Then I hear a grinding sound. Instinctively, I startle. A huge section of the rock face slowly and methodically starts opening outward. I see a series of large metal pistons pushing it, and realize that this entire twenty-foot portion of the sandstone wall is fake—hollow and plastic. But it’s very convincing.
    As it opens, it reveals a huge industrial elevator, large enough for a truck to drive onto. It’s definitely large enough to carry all of us, and some of the pods as well.
    “How did you build all of this in here?” Liam asks Dr. Vargas-Ruiz.
    “Remember, most of us are scientists and thinkers. We like to design and build things. It’s our passion. Still, it took several years. We constructed drills and cutters to bore through the sandstone, and to excavate all the tunnels and ventilation shafts. Then the real work began. Building generators and making it livable inside.”
    Adults flow past us, rolling the pods again. Dr. Vargas-Ruiz leads us toward the elevator opening and onto the metal floor.
    “Where’d you get your materials?” I ask.
    “Mostly scrap metal. It’s amazing what you can find. Most of what the UNA and other nations consider trash can be recycled and reused. We’ve also recycled metal from some of the pods and planes we’ve brought here. We just melt it down.”
    I notice a small keypad in one corner of the elevator, and flashing lights on its electronic display screen. Dr. Elliott taps in a code, and we rapidly start our ascent, up into the mysterious interior of the rock.
    I look up through the metal grate above us and just see darkness. By the time I look back down, the light from outside has narrowed to a two-foot band as the false wall closes. Then just a slit.
    And then there’s nothing but the dim light of the elevator’s digital display, as the dune seals with a clattering crash.
    The elevator continues moving upward. Is it really over? I can’t come to terms with that idea. I feel more tired than I’ve ever felt before.
    “How high does it go?” Liam asks. He sounds exhausted now, just like me. Neither of us expected that a place like this would exist at the end of our journey.
    “Eight levels,” Dr. Elliott says.
    “And tunnels branch off at each one,” another man with a long beard adds. “Don’t worry. There are plenty of safe rooms inside here. The rock won’t collapse on you.”
    We keep ascending. I’m still hot and sweaty, but I feel a chill pass over me. The makeshift elevator clangs and groans as it bears us upward. “We need to rescue our friends,” I say. “We have to go back to the wheel.”
    “We can talk about that later,” Dr. Vargas-Ruiz replies. “First you need water, food, and rest—in that order. Then you’ll be briefed on the Destiny Station and our mission here. You’ll meet