The Underground Read online

Judd put Buck’s anonymous quotes into a boxed article next to the text from Global Weekly. He and Vicki decided Ephesians 2:8-9 was the best passage to include there. It read, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

  By midnight the paper was done. It wasn’t as professional as Judd wanted, and not as long, but it said what they all wanted to say. They printed and collated the pages as quickly as possible.

  Vicki couldn’t sleep. She had to be up in less than three hours for school. Her mind spun with fear and ideas. Might this be God’s way of getting to Shelly? Would Vicki and the others be caught before even handing out the papers? If they did get the Underground to kids, would the kids actually read it? And what would the school do?

  She put on her robe and went upstairs. Judd and Lionel were stacking the papers by the front door. Ryan was asleep in Judd’s father’s high-backed chair.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Vicki said. “This is bigger than all of us.”

  “I know,” Judd said. “We couldn’t have done this on our own.”

  The next morning in the car, Lionel pleaded with Judd. “Why can’t we give out some copies at our school? Junior highers are just as important as older kids.”

  “I know,” Judd said. “But this was written for high schoolers. If it works, we can do a version for you guys.”

  When they pulled up to Global Community Junior High, Ryan said, “Good luck. Or I mean, do it to it, or Godspeed, or whatever you’re supposed to say.”

  Judd and Vicki waited until Ryan and Lionel ran into school before they laughed. Godspeed indeed.

  FOUR

  Delivery Day

  JUDD and Vicki carried the Underground in brown grocery bags. They tried to stay calm. Judd knew they concealed something school officials considered nuclear. Though they were early, many other students were already on campus.

  “You know the plan,” Judd said. “I’ll meet you in the gym just before first period.”

  “Be careful,” Vicki said. “It only takes one person to rat on us.”

  Vicki went toward the back entrance and Judd the front. He passed the flagpole and glanced up. Under the American colors was the white flag of peace with the school’s new symbol, a dove. The words, “Nicolae Carpathia High School” flapped in the light breeze.

  Judd focused on green newspaper bins by the front door. Students were to pick up anything placed in the bins. Newspapers, school memos, and even school-approved advertisements from local businesses were first come, first served. Everything had to be preapproved by the office, but Judd wasn’t about to let anyone censor or throw out the Underground. They had worked too hard for that.

  Four younger students stood talking near the bins, so Judd walked inside to the water fountain. When he looked again, the four were gone.

  He shot back out the front doors and dropped the bag in the bin. He took a quick look around and ripped the bag open from top to bottom. The first copies of the Underground were exposed.

  Judd hurried back inside to his locker. He fumbled with the combination, looking behind him. He believed no one had seen him, but he couldn’t be sure.

  Judd slid a few coins into a soda machine and took a drink back outside. He sat near the flagpole and watched the bins fifty yards away.

  He took a sip of soda and thought about the kids in his old youth group. He had labeled them fanatics for standing around that very flagpole and praying. They had asked him to join them, and Judd just laughed. Now he knew how brave they had been to take a stand. He silently asked God for a chance to make up for the lost opportunity.

  Judd froze when he saw a student walk to the door, do a double take, and grab a copy of the Underground. The boy placed it between his books and went inside.

  A bus stopped in front of the school, and for a moment Judd couldn’t see. He moved to get a better look and saw several students take copies. He was thrilled. Everything was going as planned.

  ___

  Many kids who walked or drove to school used the rear entrance. Vicki wasn’t scared of being seen by them. She could blend in. She was concerned about the faculty parking lot. Though they were supposed to be early, some teachers arrived later than students and bolted through the rear door. They stayed in their cars to smoke or listen to the radio until the last minute. Vicki watched the entrance. A group of kids was kicking a Hacky Sack between them. In the parking lot the principal, Mrs. Laverne Jenness, and one of the school secretaries got out of their cars.

  When the kids saw Mrs. Jenness, they grabbed their books and ran inside. Perfect, Vicki thought.

  Vicki walked toward the parking lot, then doubled back and followed the women. Once they were inside, Vicki stepped to the newspaper bins and poured out the papers. She quickly folded the bag and turned to leave, nearly knocking someone over.

  “Hey, watch where you’re going,” a man said. To her horror, Vicki found herself looking into the face of Coach Handlesman.

  “Pay more attention, Red,” Handlesman said.

  Vicki hated that nickname. Usually she reprimanded anyone who called her that, young or old. But she bit her lip and forced a laugh.

  “Sorry, coach.”

  Handlesman moved past her and picked up a paper on his way in. Vicki watched over her shoulder as she casually walked away. He stopped and looked like he was holding a dead fish.

  “The Underground?” he muttered. “What in the world?”

  ___

  Judd watched another bus pull up. He guessed that about every third student had taken the Underground. It was a start.

  “God, don’t let anyone get it who shouldn’t.”

  Suddenly the front door burst open and Coach Handlesman ran out. He went directly to the green bins and grabbed the stack. He scanned the courtyard like a quarterback searching for a receiver.

  Judd tipped his soda back and drained it, hoping Handlesman would be gone when he looked again. The coach could be on top of him in seconds. He drank the last drop. Handlesman was gone. So were all the copies of the Underground.

  ___

  Vicki waited for Judd in the gym. A few kids were playing basketball. A couple at the back of the gym was making out. A group behind her passed something between them, but Vicki couldn’t see what it was. When she saw Judd, she ran to meet him.

  “Over here,” Judd said, pulling Vicki underneath the bleachers. “What happened?”

  Vicki told him. “I thought I was dead,” she said.

  “Didn’t anybody take a copy back there?”

  “Handlesman took one and then carted the whole bunch away. How about in front?”

  “I’d say at least twenty got a copy. Maybe twenty-five, tops.”

  “We’re going to have to think of some other way,” Vicki said.

  The PA system crackled in the gym.

  “May I have your attention, students,” Mrs. Jenness said. “Someone placed an unaproved newspaper in the distribution bins this morning. We believe most were confiscated, but if you picked up a copy thinking this was an approved publication, please bring it to the office immediately. It’s called the Underground, and those caught with copies are subject to expulsion. Those behind these papers can avoid expulsion by coming forward now too.”

  “I can think of worse things than expulsion,” Judd said.

  Mrs. Jenness ended with, “There is a reward for anyone with information about those behind this newspaper.”

  “Great,” Judd said. “Now there’s a bounty on us.”

  Vicki heard movement overhead. “Judd, look,” she whispered.

  Judd said, “I see only feet and legs. What?”

  Vicki pointed. “They’re reading the Underground. Listen.”

  “Must be dirty or something,” one girl said. “It’d have to be for them to make such a fuss.”

  “Shouldn’t we turn it in?” another said.

  “No. Read it. Pass it around.”

  “Wh
at kind of reward would we get?”

  The first bell rang. Vicki shook her head.

  “What’s wrong?” Judd said.

  “It was such a good idea. I just don’t understand why God let Handlesman get most of the papers.”

  “I’m not discouraged,” Judd said. “That they were confiscated is a good sign. We’re hitting a nerve.”

  “I wanted Shelly to get a copy.”

  “Maybe she did. We don’t know. This just means we have to work harder. We have to be smarter now.”

  ___

  Vicki could think of nothing but the Underground all day. How would they get their message out now? Why didn’t God let more kids see the paper?

  Through the morning Vicki watched for signs of kids who might have seen the Underground. There were none. Mrs. Waltonen was nothing but business in gym class. Vicki wanted to ask her about Sunday, but Mrs. Waltonen went straight to her office after class.

  Vicki’s English teacher, Mr. Carlson, made a joke about the newspaper as class began.

  “Anyone carrying any dangerous material today?” he said. “A copy of Huck Finn, a little Catcher in the Rye, some plutonium?”

  The class laughed.

  “Words are dangerous,” Carlson continued. “Be careful how you use them. Some of the greatest writers in history have suffered because of their words.”

  “Are you saying whoever put out that newspaper was right?” a student asked.

  “You have to take freedom of the press seriously,” Mr. Carlson said. “But I doubt whoever’s behind this paper compares to the great writers of literature.”

  Vicki wanted to say the Bible was the most censored book these days, and those who believed it were in the greatest danger. But she kept quiet.

  At lunch Vicki couldn’t find Judd. She ate alone and listened to her old friends at a nearby table. They ignored her, laughing and talking about their latest escapades. Vicki cringed. Was that what she used to be like? Did she brag about drinking and smoking and drugs? If only they knew the truth. Her life before Christ was empty. Listening to them now just made her feel sad.

  She thought the day would never end. As she walked to her final class, a teacher stopped her.

  “You need to go to the office immediately.”

  “What for?” Vicki said.

  “It’s an emergency. Something about a phone call from your mother.”

  Vicki gasped. Her mother was gone. Maybe Mrs. Jenness had discovered the truth and this was a trap.

  She walked slowly to the office and found the secretary was the same woman she had seen with Mrs. Jenness that morning.

  “Yes, you have an emergency call from your mother,” the woman said. “You can take it over there.”

  Vicki picked up the phone. “I need to see you,” a female voice whispered. “After school.”

  “OK,” Vicki said tentatively. “Why?”

  “Just get on your old school bus. Get off at your regular stop.”

  “I can’t. I mean, I have something to do.”

  “You can and you will.”

  “You have to tell me what this is about before—”

  “There were things in that paper today. You can help me—if you want to. Please.”

  The line went dead. Who would have known which bus she’d ridden? How did they connect her with the Underground? Was this a trap or an opportunity? She had to take the risk.

  Judd paced in front of his car. Lionel and Ryan would be going crazy wondering where he and Vicki were. He had so much to tell her and ask her, but he couldn’t find her. He walked into the school and past the office. No one was there except school employees.

  As he walked back to his car, John and Mark approached. They were the cousins he had noticed carrying Bibles the first day of school. Coach Handlesman had confiscated their Bibles.

  “Judd,” Mark said. “Big news on campus.”

  “What’s that?” Judd said.

  “The alternative newspaper. The Underground.”

  “I heard the announcement,” Judd said.

  “We worked on the school paper last year,” John said. “They’ve changed it to the Olive Branch now. We stopped by the editorial office today to see how they’re going to cover the Underground in tomorrow’s issue.”

  “Did they have a copy?” Judd said.

  “Not one,” John said. “And since we’re upstanding citizens, we turned ours into the office this morning.”

  Judd was concerned, then noticed the two were smiling. “You turned your copies in?”

  “That’s what they said to do,” Mark said. “So we went to the library, made a few condensed copies for friends and acquaintances, and handed the original in to the principal.”

  “We follow the rules,” John said. “And since the Olive Branch staff didn’t have a copy, we made sure one wound up on top of the editor’s desk.”

  “They probably won’t be allowed to write about the Underground, but it was worth a try,” Mark said.

  Judd leaned close. “Get in the car a second, guys. Have I got a story for you.” John and Mark climbed in and seemed to drink in Judd’s every word.

  ___

  “Incredible,” Mark said. “You guys sure know how to keep a secret.”

  “So,” John said, “did you replace the hard drive?”

  “Not yet. I need to buy one soon so we can do another edition.”

  “No need,” John said. “We have everything at the house. Hard drives. Monitors. The huge ones. Our dad was a computer salesman for the entire Midwest.”

  “How are you going to distribute another edition?” Mark said. “The school’s gonna clamp down.”

  Judd shook his head and shrugged. “I knew it was going to get dangerous. Any ideas?”

  John scratched his head. “I might have one. It’s a long shot, and we’d have to put it together tonight.”

  “We?” Mark said.

  “If Judd’ll let us help.”

  “You’re in,” Judd said. “But what? How?”

  “Believe it or not, we might be able to get Nicolae High to distribute the Underground without even knowing it.”

  Judd took one more look around the school. Vicki was nowhere in sight.

  FIVE

  Where’s Vicki?

  AT dark there was still no word from Vicki. Judd was frantic. He had taken John and Mark to get their computer gear and raced home, hoping to find her there. He found only Lionel and Ryan waiting for answers and not happy about having had to walk home.

  “Maybe the coach got her,” Ryan said.

  “I don’t even want to think about that,” Judd said.

  “She’ll be OK,” Lionel said. “She can take care of herself.”

  “I say we get Bruce to help us find her,” Ryan said.

  “Not yet,” Judd said. “I’ll give her another hour.”

  John told Judd he was ready to get started on the next issue. Mark wasn’t so sure. “What if we’re caught?” he said. “What if Coach Handlesman confronts you and asks you point-blank if you had anything to do with the Underground? Would you lie?”

  “Either God is in this or he isn’t,” Judd said. “If he wants us to do this, we gotta do it. He’ll protect us. He’ll give us the answers when we need them. We have to believe that.”

  “He either protects us or takes us to heaven,” Ryan said. “Either way we can’t lose.”

  “I’m not ready yet,” Lionel said. “I mean, I want to be. I’d love to be a martyr, especially since I knew better and should have been ready for the Rapture, but I’m scared. I’m sorry, but I am.”

  The phone rang. As soon as Judd heard Bruce’s voice he remembered their meeting.

  “It totally slipped my mind,” Judd said.

  “Judd, we’ve talked about this before. My time is valuable. Please respect me enough to call and let me know the group’s not going to be here.”

  Judd apologized again and set Thursday as their next meeting. “I promise we’ll be there,” he
said.

  Judd hung up, still worried sick about Vicki. Lionel had the floor. “In history today we talked about one of the big wars where a bunch of people were getting dragged away.”

  “World War II,” Mark said. “The Nazis.”

  “Yeah, they came for the Jews and other people they didn’t like, but some people couldn’t stand what was happening and had to get involved. They hid Jewish people in attics and basements, wherever they could. I’ll bet they lied to the Nazis. And they were right.”

  “If someone at school asks us directly,” Mark said, “what are we going to do? You guys can talk about being brave, but when a teacher or Coach Handlesman is looking down at you, it’s a different ball game.”

  “God doesn’t need us to lie,” Judd said. “But we also don’t have to hang a sign around our necks that says, ‘We’re Christians, please persecute.’ ”

  “Maybe we should do what Jesus did,” Ryan said. “Bruce said the rulers asked Jesus questions before he was killed, and he didn’t say anything.”

  “We’re each going to have to decide for ourselves,” Judd said. “We need to pray for wisdom. I don’t know what the right thing is, but I do know one thing. We have to get this message out to as many people as possible.”

  ___

  Vicki had sat at the back of the bus. The trip took nearly half an hour, and no one talked to her. She guessed it was because she looked so different. No make-up. New clothes. She had hoped to sit near Shelly, maybe talk with her. But Shelly never showed.

  The bus wound its way around apartment buildings and back streets. Finally she saw the familiar white roofs of the trailer park, and she moved to the front. She got off at her old stop with several others, then watched as they walked home. Except for empty lots where burned trailers had been moved, things looked the same.

  Vicki waited, hearing nothing but traffic and muffled stereos and televisions. Then she heard a familiar voice behind her:

  “Vick’.”

  She turned. “Shelly!”

  Vicki threw her arms around Shelly, but Shelly’s hug was halfhearted and she nearly lost her balance.