Freed (#3 Flamestone Trilogy)

by Holly Hook

  This place isn't a mine after all.

  It's a series of worm tunnels.

  A hole opens up inside of me and my heart threatens to hammer out of my chest. Shawn's out there. Travis is out there. Talia and Antoine are out there, working to death. If the work hasn't gotten to them yet, the worm might. I imagine an earthworm inching towards us, taking up the entire tunnel.

  “Is there anything that can kill this worm?” I ask.

  The man shakes his head. He's shaking. He's scared. “That gun isn't going to do jack. Neither is that axe.” He lets his head fall to the door. He's sure not going to head out there now. “If you heard the groans, we had better stay in here, even if we make the Dwellers angry. Better to deal with them than...that. I'd rather do a twenty-four hour shift than be out there when it's crawling around. At least it'll go away for a few days after it eats."

  “There's nothing that can kill it?” Weslie exclaims. “I have people I care about out there! Tell us how to get to them.”

  “There's no point,” the man says. He paces around the room and there's another round of skittering outside the door. “There's no point making friends down here. It's not a smart thing to do. They might be gone tomorrow. Or maybe the person you're looking for is dead already.”

  I advance on the man. We have nothing to lose. “Tell us and you might just get out of here, too. We have a friend who lowered the elevator for us. He's going to bring us up as soon as it detects our weight. To make a long story short, the Flamestone Society is not going to reach the processing office for a while.”

  The man's jaw falls. “You're joking.”

  “We're not. Tell us where to go!”

  The man shifts leg to leg and looks to the side, then back at me. “To get to the far tunnels, make a left out of here. Go straight and you'll come to a large room. When you do, turn right. At the very end of that room, there's another tunnel that goes straight. Go through. After that, you're in the far tunnels. I can't tell you exactly where your friends are beyond that. And the worm could be anywhere right now. You might not make it.” And he lunges for Weslie's lantern. “Give me that!”

  Pit growls and stands. Gets in front of us.

  She backs away and waves the gun. “You wait here,” she says. “After we find our friends, we'll come back for you. We'll take you to the elevator. It hasn't gone back up yet. Deal?”

  The man's face turns into a scowl. “Give me the lantern!”

  “We can leave you a torch,” I say. “That way you can pass the Dwellers. The elevator's—”

  “I know where the elevator shaft is!” he shouts.

  He's crazed. He's so desperate for escape that he doesn't care that she's pointing a gun at him. Weslie looks at me. The man steps closer. Pit's hair stands on end. I don't want to hurt this man. He just wants to live. To survive. To see the sun again, just like everyone else here. I've created a monster. He's not going to give up until we hand it over.

  “We need it,” I tell him. I feel sick. I don't want this to end in blood. “I told you. I can give you a torch, but you have to calm down.”

  “You're lying,” he says. He's not going to listen. The torches are in Weslie's pack. The chisel to light them, in mine. If we sift through our packs, this man might do more than steal the lantern. He might take our weapons, too, leaving us without a defense down here. He might even kill us.

  I nod at Weslie and Pit.

  And I rush for the door.

  Weslie follows. We need the lantern to pass the Dwellers. Even Pit won't be enough to keep them away from us.

  I open the door, keeping my gaze on the wall in front of us. Light falls on it and orange stone sparkles. The red even lights and for a moment, I think I'm seeing bloody lines in the stone. The Dwellers all squeal in response to the lantern. Or maybe it's Pit. Either way, they're moving. The ground below my feet is clear.

  I make a left.

  “You bitches!” the man shouts. The Dwellers squeal again as Pit chomps down on one with a crunch. “Get back here! You can't leave me down here like this!”

  I have to run. I have to get away so his words aren't true. We're dooming the man by leaving him like this. I make a left and bolt down the corridor. No, the worm burrow. Pit catches up and he brushes against my leg. I jump over the rail of a mine cart track. They're everywhere down here. I stay behind Weslie. She keeps the lantern raised.

  “Keep going,” she says. “That guy won't be able to follow in the dark.”

  The man screams as there's a fresh round of skittering and the thunder of little feet.

  The Dwellers are pouncing on him. He shouts again, and then there's silence. They've knocked him out with those eyes of theirs. He's not going to bother us again.

  The man only wanted freedom.

  Like us.

  But he was going to steal our lantern and leave us down here. He might have even hurt us. All he had to do was hunker down and wait for us to come back.

  If we come back.

  I run in the lead. Pit chews on the Dweller as he runs. I'm glad to hear the sound. Darkness stretches ahead, with only the occasional blue mushroom ahead to assure us that we're not about to run into a wall. The rest is black. Heat. Exhaustion and terror. The giant worm could be down here anywhere. We could run into it for all we know.

  There's only the sound of our feet hitting stone ahead. We pass more intersections. More burrows going off in each direction. The man told us to keep going straight. At least we have only one more turn to make. As long as we can find this tunnel again, we can find our way back to the elevator.

  “I have to slow down,” I say, gasping. My sides feel ready to split. We've been running for a few minutes now. How far? The stone around us stays as lined as ever and I lean against a couple of bright blue splotches of sparkling ore. Weslie stops next to me. The lantern still blazes.

  “Should we keep going?” she says. “That guy might have lied to us.”

  “I know.” What if we have to go miles down here? I lean back and glance at the ceiling.

  Uh, oh.

  There's slime on the ceiling. It's almost clear.

  “Weslie,” I whisper. “I think something's been through here not long ago.” I point.

  Weslie grimaces and looks down. “It's on the floor, too. This worm—it must be as big as this tunnel.”

  Pit whimpers.

  I really, really hate that sound.

  And he pushes against my legs. Keep going, it means.

  “We have to go,” I say, picking up speed again.

  And then I hear something I like even less.

  Another groan and a long, drawn-out scraping sound like something huge and wet is dragging against the stone. It's much closer now. It's coming from one of the branch burrows that we passed.

  I don't need to stay anything. Weslie raises her gun and pushes into me, breathing heavy. We're both in full panic mode as we bolt down the tunnel. Pit whimpers and runs up behind us. The worm must be behind us, maybe even feet behind us now. It's following. We're detected.

  At least it's not where we're going. That's a plus. A tiny plus.

  “Where's this big room?” Weslie asks, holding the lantern as far in front of her as she can.

  I run, sucking down the hot air. Sweat rolls down my face. We might die. We might run into a dead end and then we're cornered. Does it hurt to be eaten by a giant worm or is it more like suffocating as its mouth closes around you? The thought of that keeps me going. My sides split but I don't slow.

  “Go. Go go go go go.” Weslie manages. “Faster, Elaine.” She sounds very small. Very timid and very scared.

  The wet brushing sound continues. It comes in waves now. The monster's on the move.

  I keep my axe close, trying not to trip and impale myself. We bolt past more branches. Another low rumble sounds from behind us. It's a bit farther away this time, but not far enough. I wonder if the worm is slow or if it's fast like the Dwellers and the Megapede. This is worse than the Megapede. Oh, g
od. I can't do something like this again. I have no fire to hold back any worms. We have nothing to start one with. There's going to be no blocking this tunnel off.

  The air gets cooler. Draftier. “The room!” Weslie shouts.

  The world opens up and Weslie, Pit and I emerge into a ballroom of darkness.

  Or have we?

  Weslie holds up the lantern. We're in a large, long room with more tunnels branching off from it. This is jagged. Blasted out. This room's human made, not worm made. There are more mushrooms propped against the walls, leaving everything visible. The lamp still blazes. We're still in breathable air. Things are quiet here. What did that man say? A right. We're supposed to make a right.

  I tug on Weslie's sleeve. “This way!” The room extends far. We run. We can't linger. My pulse races. Where's the worm at?

  There's another sound like a low rumble. It's behind us for sure. Coming from the tunnel we left.

  I glance back. A huge shape squirms out of the tunnel we left. I make out slimy segments on a huge brown body, a body that's still squeezing out of the tunnel. My fears about its size are confirmed in one moment of terror. This worm is as big as the burrows themselves. It could be as long as a house for all I know.

  A glowing mushroom falls to be crushed under the huge form.

  I scream. I can't help it. I slap Weslie's back and our footfalls echo against the stone.

  Pit whimpers and I force myself to run again. My sides scream in agony. I suck in breaths of pain. Weslie's lantern swings. Another pair of burrows branch off to the left. And another. There's digging sounds coming out of one and more skittering, but the Dwellers don't come out after us. They must fear the worm.

  “Keep running,” Weslie says. “Do not stay behind, Elaine. I'm not going to lose anyone else!”

  “I won't.” The world rumbles again. Louder. It echoes down the corridor at us. The worm's locked on and it's not going to give up until it has us.

  Pit bounds in front of us. He's losing it. I wonder if he's going to run off and hide. I won't blame him. He doesn't have to die. Not like us.

  “I think I see the tunnel,” Weslie says, jumping over more mine cart rails. She's right. This room ends in a giant wall and a burrow goes forth into darkness. There are two blue mushrooms marking the entrance. This must go to the far tunnels like the man said.

  I glance back. The blue light's very dim, but it's enough. The worm's curved now, facing us. I can make out its front. No eyes. It's just a pursed mouth, waiting to open. It could swallow a small car. The monster inches forward. The digging sounds have stopped. So has the thunder of Dweller feet. Everyone must know it's in the area.

  And it's only a hundred feet away.

  I wonder if the worm will turn and go after someone else. Someone I might know.

  We reach the tunnel. Pit's already running through.

  “Maybe we can get in and block this with something,” I say.

  “In!” Weslie says.

  “What if it's a dead end?”

  “We can't go back now.”

  There's another groan, one low and menacing, like the entire mine is about to collapse on top of us. The worm's closing the distance.

  Weslie and I bolt into the tunnel. It goes on forever, but no end comes into sight. If one does...we might have to shoot ourselves before the worm reaches us.

  The air gets cooler and draftier again and we emerge into a second large chamber. The man was right. More mushrooms give off a blue glow. Mine cart tracks head into dim light. There's a mine cart down the tunnel some way and a man next to it. A mass of striped, pointy heads seethes around his ankles, on guard. Dwellers. Pit runs for them and they scatter, vanishing into the surrounding burrows. But Pit's not after them. He stops by the man and hunches low, waiting for us to catch up.

  “Who's there?” a guy asks.

  I recognize the voice.

  “Travis!” I shout, running for him.

  “Travis?” Weslie asks. She follows, bringing the circle of light with her.

  The light falls on him and a few stray Dwellers run away. He leans against a mine cart full of Flamestone and it rolls a bit on its tracks as he straightens up, taking me in. His bright eyes are huge as he sees me. “Elaine?” he manages.

  “I'm here.” I reach the cart and slap him on the arm. “I'm here. We've got to do something. We're being chased.”

  Travis lets go of the cart. “Elaine. I can't believe it. We didn't know if you got away or--”

  “Now!” Weslie shouts. She faces me. “I still hear it coming.”

  “It?” Travis asks.

  “The worm!” We shout at the same time.

  Pit whimpers. Travis glances at him and then us, confused.

  Weslie seizes my arm and I hear it.

  The wet scraping.

  We all face the tunnel we just came through.

  Travis curses. “I don't like the sounds of that,” he says.

  “Is there a safe room?” I ask. “Anything?”

  Travis's eyes are huge in the dim light. “Just a little storage room,” he says. “The safe room is back through that tunnel you girls just came through. We'd have to go through whatever's coming at us in order to get to it.”

  Now it's my turn to curse. “Any other exit out of this section?”

  “What do we do?” Weslie asks.

  Then I see it.

  The brown, slimy membrane. The pursed mouth pushing out of the tunnel, taking up every inch. The first segments, shiny with slime. It emerges into the blue glow, only a couple hundred feet from us. It's a huge shape moving in the darkness. A smell like rotting garbage hits me as it groans again. The Dwellers were smart to flee.

  Weslie screams. She's lost it. She's living her brother's death again and nothing is going to get her out of her panic now.

  Pit whimpers. Bites at my pant leg and pulls me behind Weslie. She stands there, frozen as she stares down the nightmare that's coming at us. Travis is frozen. His jaw falls open.

  “Is there a way out?” I ask again.

  Travis grabs my arm. “No!”

  That's what I thought. I wonder if we can roll this mine cart at it to slow it down. We can run. But then the worm will find us. It must smell us or something. Pit tugs at me again. He's desperate. Terrified. Weslie keeps screaming. She won't move. Why won't she try to get away from this thing?

  The dynamite still sticks out of her pack. The worm's about fifty feet away now, lit by blue. It lurches towards us. The garbage smell gets even worse.

  I seize a stick. “Weslie—your lantern!”

  She stops screaming. I can't believe what I'm about to do. Travis lets go of me. Weslie stops screaming and drops the lantern. She backs away. I take the stick and light the fuse with the flame. The fuse sparks to life and counts down.

  “What?” Travis asks. “Are you serious?”

  I stick the dynamite into the cart with the Flamestone. This is going to be ugly. This might kill us all but it's better than dying to that worm.

  Weslie gets beside me. She takes a breath and her face contorts into something scary. Something angry. Something furious. “Push!” she shouts.

  The worm's closing in. Its mouth stretches open. Brown tentacles expand out and bloom like a disgusting flower. I gag on the smell.

  And we push.

  The cart doesn't want to move at first, but then it goes. It squeaks on the tracks as it carries its deadly cargo towards the giant worm. Weslie screams again, this time with rage. The cart gains momentum and we let go. It barrels towards the worm, sparking with the fuse inside.

  Tentacles wrap around metal and Flamestone and one grabs the dynamite as if it's some long lost treasure. The worm lifts it towards its mouth.

  “GO!” Travis yells.

  Weslie's broken from her spell. I turn. Join her, and run as fast as we can. Pit bounds beside us. We're heading deeper into this deadly mine and we might die from this.

  We follow Travis to the side of the room. There's a steel
door. He opens it. “Get in!”

  We duck inside just as the earth shatters.

  Chapter Four

  Cave In

  I collapse into a small room filled with boxes and cans and bowls and canteens.

  A shock wave rolls through the floor and I grab onto Pit. He's shaking. He might have just peed. There's a puddle on the floor. Or maybe it's from a toppled canteen. I don't know. Weslie screams again and holds her hands over her ears. Travis curses and holds the door shut.

  The world roars and silence falls. Cans topple to the floor. Pit dodges out of the way and presses against the wall. Travis sighs and leans against the closed door.

  Weslie still has her hands over her ears. She's sobbing. Sinking against the wall, between two metal shelves of cans. I don't blame her. This is her second experience with a real monster and she never wanted to repeat this.

  “Weslie,” I say, tripping over some cans. “We're safe now.”

  “No, we're not.”

  “Yes, we are. You can stand up. I'm pretty sure that worm out there is dead. Really dead.”

  “I'm sure it is, too,” Travis says. “You know what? I think I can believe the other workers that we're not on Earth anymore. I mean, I thought those squid things patrolling around were weird, but now we're in some cut scene from Tremors? Are you kidding? I'm never going to watch that movie again.”

  “Neither am I.” I leave Weslie curled up in the corner, catching her breath. She needs a break for a second. “Travis—thanks. We did it. I think.”

  And we hug. Travis takes his fist and hits me on the back. “Score one for us,” he says. “You're lucky you're not a dude in a football game. You know, sometimes in the pro leagues, they slap each other on the butt.”

  “No thanks,” I said. “I don't think Shawn would like that.”

  Shawn.

  He's still out there in the mines somewhere.

  “I saw him about an hour ago,” Travis says. “He was headed into one of the tunnels with an empty cart. It was one of the ones farther down in this area, so I know he wasn't in the way of that explosion. He's here somewhere, Elaine.” We separate. “Who's your friend?”