Life in the Underground United States really freakin’ sucks.
No freedom, no sunlight, and the whole place smells like armpit.
That‘s what life has been like for Sam and his little sister Ella for the past eight years, ever since the Draft took their parents. So pretty much hell. But at least they had each other.
Until they didn’t.
As if Underground life couldn’t get any worse, Ella mysteriously goes missing without a trace. Sam must now embark on a dangerous journey through the unknowns of the Underground to find her.
But will he find her before it’s too late?
Will a brother’s love be enough to save her?
Life in the Underground United States really freakin’ sucks.
No freedom, no sunlight, and the whole place smells like armpit.
That‘s what life has been like for Sam and his little sister Ella for the past eight years, ever since the Draft took their parents. So pretty much hell. But at least they had each other.
Until they didn’t.
As if Underground life couldn’t get any worse, Ella mysteriously goes missing without a trace. Sam must now embark on a dangerous journey through the unknowns of the Underground to find her.
But will he find her before it’s too late?
Will a brother’s love be enough to save her?
My father is pacing back and forth in the kitchen. There is a bulging duffel bag sitting by the back door. His eyebrows are creased worriedly. He keeps checking his watch. What is he waiting for? Mom is pretending to cook dinner in the kitchen to cover up the fact that she is crying. She keeps one hand on her protruding belly protectively, lovingly stroking the growing life inside. She’s due in a couple months. Girl.
The TV in the living room is on low volume, but I can make out pieces of what the reporter is saying. “Los Angeles . . . Orlando . . . New York City. . .” Images flash of what were once giant cities, now reduced to piles of rubble and ashes. What were once golden with life are now gray with destruction. It scares me to watch, but I can’t tear my eyes away. A pit grows in my stomach as I imagine what my house would look like under all those ashes.
“Executive Order 153 will continue to be enforced. Phoenix was just announced as the next region to be—” My dad switches off the TV with the remote, cutting off the reporter’s words.
No one will tell me what’s going on. Everything has been different ever since they took me out of school. My best friend Frankie down the street doesn’t know a thing either, but he says his family is moving back to Denver soon. He says things are getting weird at his house too.
All I know is they’ve been keeping something from me for months, something big. At night, when they think I’ve gone to bed, I can hear them talking at the kitchen table. I hear whispers of “they can’t do this” and “the children...” but not enough bits and pieces to understand. No one will tell me anything; they think I’m just a kid, but I’m almost nine. I’m big enough to handle it.
Dad stops pacing and comes over to the kitchen table where I’m sitting. He gets on one knee so his eyes are level with mine and looks at me severely.
“Listen to me very closely, Samuel.”
I lower my eyes so he can’t see how scared I am. I’m ashamed of the knot forming in my throat. I try to gulp it down. He puts his hand on my shoulder and forces me to look into his eyes. “I don’t have much time,” he whispers.
“Are you leaving us?” My voice sounds small and afraid, no matter how much I wish it sounded big and brave. My eyes well up with tears, stinging around the edges, but I bite the inside of my lip until I taste blood so they don’t fall. I am surprised to see my dad’s dark eyes brim with tears too, sliding down this face like melting snowflakes. I’ve never seen my father cry before.
I wish someone would just tell me what’s going on.
“Sam, you have to understand...I have no choice,” he says, his voice cracking. “I have a new job now, we all do. Bad things have been happening and we have to stop it. You have to promise me you’ll take care of your mother and sister while I’m gone. That you’ll keep your sister safe. You have to be the man of the house now; do you understand?”
I can’t fight back the tears any longer. I splutter out my insistence in between sobs, begging him stay, begging him to at least just tell me why.
There are cars approaching, tires screeching, doors slamming, boots on gravel. I sniff, wiping my tears with the back of my hand.
“Sam, please, promise me. Promise me you’ll take care of them.” Dad’s voice raises with a new urgency as he hears the group approach the house. It feels like my chest is caving in, my throat so tight that words can’t escape.
I jump at the loud knock, knock, knock at the front door.
“Henry James Carmichael, open up! We are an escort team from the United States Federal Pursuance Agency. We’re here to take you to headquarters under Executive Order 153.”
My dad stands slowly and gives my mom a bereaved look. She pulls me in close behind her as four large uniformed men enter our kitchen. They surround my dad quickly on all sides, trapping him inside the circle of burly soldiers. My eyes widen upon noticing the black assault rifles they have strapped onto their backs and the rows of ammo on their belts.
“Dad? Who are these people?”
The biggest uniformed man shakes hands with my dad. “I’ll give you exactly one minute to say your goodbyes,” he says gruffly.
The circle around my dad opens, allowing him to approach us one last time.
He goes to my mom first, with tears in his eyes. She clings to him desperately, her arms tight around his neck. They share a long kiss. My throat tightens.
Dad whispers, “I love you to the moon, Annie.”
“And back a thousand times,” my mom replies. Her voice is no louder than a breath, her syllables choppy. Dad kneels down and kisses her belly, a wordless goodbye to his only daughter.
He turns to me, but I look away, trying to hide the fresh, hot tears.
I want to scream at him, “How can you just leave us like this? How can you say you love us and then leave?”
But all I can manage to say is, “Please don’t go.”
He smiles a sad smile. “I’ll be back before you know it, Sammy.”
But something about his expression betrays the doubt behind that promise. He pulls me in close. I can feel his beard tickling my neck, his breath against my cheek. I don’t want to let go. If I do, he’ll be gone. No more water fights in the blazing summer sun. No more batting practice after sunset. No more wrestling before bed—he always lets me win.
“Time’s up, Carmichael,” the uniformed man says. I wish in this moment I was bigger so I could reach the man’s eyes and tear them out. I hate him with a burning passion. Why is he doing this to us? Why is he ruining our family?
“I love you, buddy.” My dad squeezes one last time before letting go. “Remember the promise I asked you to make?”
“Carmichael, we’re on a tight schedule, I’m not going to tell you again.”
The men surround my dad again suddenly and one grabs his arm, ushering him firmly out the door and toward their big, black SUV.
“Wait, please,” Dad begs. “I’ll come with you… just, please, one more minute…”
When Dad tries to shake free from the firm hold, his hands are bound tightly behind his back. His boots scrape across the gravel, rocks spraying in all directions as he struggles. Despite his efforts to break their grasp, they remain in stoic control. They are too strong. They’ve won.
I look up at Mom with a voiceless plea. “Do something,” I beg her silently. She looks down at me with a silent, defeated reply, a look that tells me we have lost.
I start to run over to him, but Mom holds me back. I try desperately to shake free from her grasp. Just one more hug, just one more minute.
“You can’t do this!” My screams sound childish, broken, drowned out by the brisk autumn winds. Mom puts a firm hand over my mouth, shushing into my ear gently but holding me tightly.
They shove him into the car, the doors locking him in from the outside. I can hear Dad banging on the doors, his yells muffled by the thick, dark windows. I fall down onto my knees, crying out for him. Mom pulls me into her chest, her quiet sobs mix with her soothing coos. “It’s okay, baby, we’ll be okay.”
Another man approaches us. “Mrs. Carmichael —”
“Doctor, sir. Dr. Carmichael,” my mom interrupts coolly.
His eyes flash impatiently. “Doctor Carmichael,” he corrects, waving to her belly. “You have exactly seven days after the baby’s born to self-report to Phoenix HQ, or we’ll be back.”
My mom’s body tenses. “Sir, my last C-section took five weeks to recover from. I could barely walk. From a medical standpoint, I—”
“I don’t make the rules.”
He spins around on his heel without further comment and piles into the SUV with the others.
I remain curled up in my mother’s arms, the gravel digging into my legs like little knives, as we grieve the present and fear the future. Her grip has tightened on my shoulders protectively. As if on cue, my unborn sister gives a feeble kick against my ribs from inside my mother’s bulging belly, prompting me to remember my father’s last words to me. It is here on my knees, on the sharp rocks of our driveway, in the arms of my mother, that I make a silent vow.
I promise, Dad. I’ll take care of them.
Buried by Kennedy Plumb is a dystopian young adult novel, set in the underground of the United States. Sam and Ella have been living on their own since their parents were taken away, and so they rely on each other to survive. When Ella goes missing, Sam needs to find her. His journey to find her leads him through difficult and dangerous locations. The question is: will it be worth it? And can he find her?
I really enjoyed Buried. It's a decent start to a series, and it follows a really interesting premise that I want to see get expanded upon in future books. I especially love the fact that it follows siblings dealing with a dystopian reality. The world building is also really good, but I definitely want to see more as we move forward with the story. It's a hefty length, and also contains random snippets from journal entries, which allow us to learn more about the characters that we are following. I definitely appreciated the work that went into the story, as it helps to keep us engaged in the arc of the adventure that Sam goes on in order to save his sister.
I definitely want to see more from Kennedy Plumb, not just with this world that we engage in in Buried, but also in future novels. Her writing is decent, and she tells an engaging character driven story, which at the same time allows us to see the world building up close and personal. Every decision that Sam makes in order to find his sister is going to affect him in different ways both throughout Buried but also in future installments for this series.
I can't think of anything that could have been done differently or done better for Buried. I think that everyone who reads it will take away something from it, even if you aren't totally sure how you feel about it by the end.