Greenhaus Part 1: A Storm Brews by Bryan Reckelhoff Page A

provide the power to the killer coils.
    Ella walked to the glass, where she saw piles and piles of processed materials. Stack afte r stack of glass panes created a small maze in one area. Rows of steel beams, countless piles of different sized nuts and bolts along with other assorted construction materials, tools, and debris. 
    This brought the rage flooding back. How could they have so much, yet share so little. This is not the way her camps operated. Except for warring camps, the Masked shared everything they had. Food, water, clothes, if it belonged to one of them, it belonged to the lot of them. She did not understand the Oppressors way of life, how cruel and greedy they could be while others suffered so much. Ella continued inspecting the area of isolated darkness among the glowing city. The anger was winning the internal battle over reason; Ella was now less concerned with being discovered and could no longer fight the urge to explore.
    Staying close to the perimeter, she walked east, following th e edge of the glass around its corners and bends. The eastern most point of the expansion area was not enclosed by glass as all other parts of the city were. A small opening with a sign that contained five letters hung over the opening with an arrow pointing the way inside. She was intrigued and thought of walking right in, but it seemed too easy, like a trap. A trap she would let some sucker from another camp fall into, not her. Ella couldn’t read and had no idea what the letters D-E-C-O-N meant when grouped together, so she decided not to enter.
    Instead she retraced her steps to the starting point, to get a better inventory on the supplies being held in the area. As she was making mental notes, she noticed the first of the workers returning to their duties . In a panic, she hit the dirt, laying low in the small ditch directly adjacent to Glass City. Her gray zip up coveralls were filthy, not uncommon on the Outside, and helped her blend into the surroundings. Her mask looked like a common piece of trash, of which there was plenty blowing around freely in the wasteland.
    The supplies were all secured by assorted ties and locks, which the first worker was removing. A second man arrived soon after and kicked the power on. Several interior lights flickered before brightly lighting the area. Anyone that ventured near the glass would surely see Ella, despite her camouflaged attire. The rage and invincibility quickly left her, and fear jumped in to fill the emotional void, paralyzing Ella. Her heart began to pound heavily within her chest. Ella’s eyes were all that moved and she tracked the ever growing number of bodies in the area. If she were spotted, surely they would alert the Rangers. Without her bayoneted rifle, she had no way to defend herself. Part of her wanted to get up and sprint to her lookout. But she knew that would certainly get her noticed and although she would probably get away, her lookout position would be revealed.
    Ella lay motionless, awaiting an opportunity to get away. The sky was getting bright er by the minute, closing her window to escape. More and more crew members arrived in their fluorescent orange uniforms, adding to the number of eyes that could potentially discover her. In a panic, she picked up a sizable rock or hunk of dirt and launched it toward the glass, hoping to create a diversion.
    It struck its target and shattered into a million pieces, falling back to the earth harmlessly, going unnoticed by anyone inside. Ella tried again with a slightly larger rock, but the result was the same. The glass was too thick; the double panes silenced her efforts to distract them. Her pulse quickened and her breathing became labored, broadcasting the fear loudly to her ears, adding to her panic. It was not long before her breathing turned to heavy panting. She tried several more times to get someone’s attention on the inside, with the same level of success.
    As the panic level within her rose, the