Oceania: The Underwater City Eliza Taye (classic books for 12 year olds .TXT) 📖

stomach. She thought she had won, but she hadn’t. Not yet. I was still up for a fight.

Once again, Devon was there for us. Fists and feet went flying so fast I once again could barely see his moves. He certainly earned his nickname, but eight guards were too much for anyone. I chipped in by throwing my first ever right-hook on the square jaw of the guard to my left. My hand hurt so much that I cradled it in my left as I kicked the same guard hard in the shins. As he grabbed his leg, I used the moment to kick him over onto the ground. Turning around, I saw another guard trying to grab me, ducked and kicked him in the butt to make him go forward.

One of the guards came at me with the same electrical device they had used on Samantha, but Dylan was too fast. He wrenched it out of his hands and used it on the guard instead. The man immediately collapsed to the ground in convulsions and then went still.

One by one, Dylan, Devon, and I knocked Mayor Aldridge’s eight guards unconscious. Eventually, the only one standing was Mayor Aldridge.

“You can’t beat us, Mayor Aldridge. We’re returning to the outside world and you cannot stop us. You think you can wave around your authority and everyone will do what you wish simply because you’re the mayor. Well, not anymore. We are done. The younger generation is speaking up. We’re taking a stand for what is right. We’re going to expose Oceania’s existence to the outside world.”

Devon’s face of surprise whipped back and forth between Dylan and me, but we ignored him to keep eye contact with our enemy instead.

Mayor Aldridge’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak.

“Before you attack Allie, know that this was my idea. This notion is coming from one of your citizens…not an outsider. It’s over, Mayor Aldridge. Your deception and the deception of the mayors before you are done. You’ve lost.” Dylan stood directly in front of her as he spoke, not backing down one bit.

The mayor’s lip quivered as if she was trying to speak, but kept changing her words before they exited her mouth.

Dr. Wilcox appeared at the top of the stairs. “I’ll keep her here for you. You guys go on. I’m sure you’ll get a head start before they notice that she’s missing.”

Mayor Aldridge spun her gaze from us to Dr. Wilcox so fast I thought her neck would snap. She was so shocked that she tried to speak, but only little sputters came out of her mouth. Dr. Wilcox took her by the arm and forced her down to his workshop.

“Come on, we need to go. I’m sure that she’s blocked off the docking bay. We’re going to have to fight our way in.”

Dylan was right. The docking bay was swarmed with guards allowing no one anywhere near it. An uproar ensued, as the guards continually didn’t allow anyone inside. A few students were grumbling because it was hampering their field trip, but others were upset they were barred from it due to the mayor’s orders.

Like before, we started a distraction by pulling a fire alarm, which moved most of the people and guards out of the way. Only three guards stood between the docking bay and us. One turned around at a noise to his left and when he turned back to his right, he got a mighty kick in the face by Devon. The guard stumbled into the other two guards next to him, knocking all three of them to the ground.

“Go, I’ll hold them off. Good luck, you two!” Devon waved at us, his bright smile lighting up his face as he prepared to fight off the guards who were just now scrambling to their feet.

Dylan and I didn’t waste any time. We hurried over to the elevator and took it down to the docking bay. Once in the long hallway, we dashed to the main door.

Typing in his code three times, it was denied each time.

“UGH!” yelled Dylan, kicking the door. “She must have locked out my pass code.”

“Is there another one you could use? Maybe someone else’s?”

Light flickered in Dylan’s eyes and he held up a finger. “Yes, there is.” Tentatively, as if he wasn’t sure of the numbers, he punched them in slowly and the door clicked open. “All right. Thank you, Dad,” stated Dylan to himself.

Without pause, we made a beeline for the nearest seamobile and climbed in. Dylan hit the buttons to cause the protective, waterproof shield to engage and the oxygen to start flowing. Next, he pressed another button to open the docking bay gates. Water rushed in and the place began filling with water.

“All right, we’re off.” Dylan pivoted the seamobile, making it face the open gates. Turning on the engine, we rode swiftly out of the gate into the black void of the deep sea. Dylan revved the engine up to full power and we jettisoned into the blackness faster than I knew the seamobile could go. I watched the depth gauge decrease so fast that I could barely read the number before a new one appeared.

Dylan glanced at the depth gauge himself. “Soon, we’ll be on land.”

As soon as we dragged the seamobile onto the beach, I knew something was wrong. It just didn’t feel right. All of the tide pool organisms and other species I was used to seeing were hidden away. Hardly a marine organism was in sight.

“Dylan, something’s wrong.” I looked at him with worried eyes.

Immediately, he understood what I’d noticed and began looking around the rocks as well. “Animals only do this when humans are around or something bad is about to happen to their environment.”

Our answer came quickly as a helicopter soared over us and hovered above.