Where Darkness Dwells

by Glen Krisch

  Cooper stepped in front of Jane. They circled the pit as the bounty hunter stalked them with deliberate slowness.

  Having heard the old man's screams for assistance, a kind soul tossed a thick rope down into the pit. Immediately, the two women began shoving each other to gain an advantage in reaching the rope first. They were soon scratching and clawing each other over who would first receive a lift to freedom. It was a catty thing, more bluster than anger, until a fingernail of the shorter of the two dug a furrow in the cheek of the other. This ended any possibility for a civil ending. Fists were thrown and landed with meaty thuds, hair was pulled and came loose at the bloody roots. The two ignored the saving rope, scourging one another during the time it would take to hoist both to safety one after the other.

  After staring at the fight for a moment, the old man looped the rope around his waist, and with the help of those above, he crabbed walked up the wall. As his spindly legs disappeared from view, a sound with the sudden ferocity of a dozen locomotives nearly deafened Cooper.

  He covered his ears instinctively, but his eardrums popped as the tunnel's air pressure abruptly changed. Jane cried out, and though she stood just behind him, the sound came as a whisper through a paper cone.

  The bounty hunter was ten feet away when the uproarious sound ripped through the tunnel. After briefly hesitating, he quickened his advance.

  There was no place to go. No hiding place. This is the last second of my life, Cooper thought morbidly. The machete glinted through an upward arc, leaving Cooper with only enough time to meet the blade with an upraised forearm. He waited the inevitable bite.

  It didn't come.

  What did come was water. A raging flood as mighty as Neptune's thrown fist, it hurtled down from the tunnel above, pouring into the pit, catching the bounty hunter squarely in the chest. The force bent him in half backwards, and if not for the water's beast-like roar, Cooper would hear a dozen bones snapping. The man disappeared in a flume of white water that crashed into the far wall. The curve of the pit redirected the water's energy, swirling it around to scour the edges, flooding higher.

  The water had lost some of its punch, but it still upended Cooper when it reached him. He lost contact with Jane, and as he struggled to keep his head above water, she went under, her face falling forward as if she had simply fallen asleep. The water lapped over her, still higher, rising to fill the pit. If Cooper didn't find her within seconds, she would never survive this.

  16.

  Jimmy carried his dead son wrapped in the soiled rag. He heard their voices--bewildered and frightened and escalating in volume--long before he came upon them.

  So Louise had risen.

  He had hoped to reach them before it happened, if for no other reason than to prepare his brother and Ellie. But he was too late. Too late to save his son (his son… his son, would the boy ever have a name?), too late to shield Jacob and Ellie from the awful sight of Louise rising from the dead. His mother, she was down here too, and she'd been screaming in pain. Would he be too late to save her as well?

  "Jimmy?" Louise's voice was stronger now than during her life's final moments.

  There was a hesitation, but then Jacob said, "He's… he's not here. He left."

  "Where? Where's Jimmy? I need him. Our boy, he was taken… taken by Banyon." Louise spoke the words Jimmy was hoping to never hear again, words he hoped Ellie would never have to hear.

  "No, not Daddy. He would never. No! NO!"

  Jimmy sprinted into the tunnel, the trio awash in meager light. All at once their gazes fell on him. Pinning him in place. Those stares seeking knowledge, truth, coherency. And then, as one, their eyes fell to the bundle in his arms.

  "Jimmy!" Louise shouted and ran to him. He held her against his chest, the dead thing held between them.

  She felt the bundle between them, understanding what it was. "Jimmy! You found him!"

  "No. No, babe, I was too late. He's gone."

  Ellie stepped toward them. "It's a lie, Jimmy. Why would she say something like that? Daddy would never do something so…" her own choked sob cut her off. Because she knew. No matter how hard the man had tried to live the straight and narrow, the gravid pull of darkness had an even stronger magnetism. Simple enough: she alone was not enough to keep him good.

  Louise was still trying to pull away, stunned by knowing what he held in his arms. But he didn't let go. If anything, he held her more vehemently. He didn't want Ellie to see any more. Didn't want to let go of his first and only love. He wanted to never leave her side, he realized. He would never let her go.

  "Ellie, please, don't." Jacob took hold of her arm.

  She regained her voice. She trembled and stepped closer to him, "Say it, Jimmy. Say he didn't do it!" she screamed through streaming tears. Her wounded voice quaked. She was daring him to lie to her. As if lying to protect her feelings would confirm that her father was an evil man more so than the outward truth. She was challenging him, waiting his answer.

  Jimmy didn't have a chance to speak. The explosion hammered through the tunnel, sending everyone sprawling.

  Jacob fell atop Ellie and covered both their heads. Jimmy held fast to the unmoving bundle, Louise also still in his grasp. He didn't know what was happening, but if this was a final judgment sent down by some higher power, he didn't want to lose contact with his family. Jimmy leaned over--rocks peppering down in a violent hail--and pressed his lips against Louise's. She kissed him back, and her lips were still death-cold, leaching the warmth from him. A trail of blood had dried across her mouth, and he tasted the coppery tang, but he didn't care.

  The explosion grumbled and growled, losing its strength. A nearby wall had partially collapsed, but for the most part, the area was clear of debris. Dust billowed from one far end of the tunnel, sweeping across them in a cool wash. It passed by and continued on, as if compelled to escape some further calamity.

  "Is everyone okay?" Jimmy called out.

  Jacob answered, walking from the settling dust toward Jimmy's voice. He had his arm around Ellie. Their faces were powdery white, like actors painted as ghosts for a stage play.

  A thundering noise shook the walls; it was the violent rush of water, undoubtedly, as loud as Jimmy imagined it would sound going over Niagara Falls. Jimmy had always considered it the most daring feat to attempt, and he'd often dreamed about surviving the foolhardy plunge, but now with the sound so close, the idea seemed absurd.

  He handed the baby to Louise, who held it close to her bosom. The walls themselves were shaking. He touched the rough surface, and he could feel the water rushing just on the other side of a thin rock wall, pounding, gouging, seeking further avenues to drown and scourge.

  "This wall is gonna come in. Get moving!" Everyone followed him down a tunnel he knew would take them to higher ground. The wall wouldn't last long assaulted by the force of that water.

  He reached out, held Louise's hand. "I thought I lost you."

  "Never. Everyone said you ran away. That's what everyone was trying to tell me. That you went off to the army. But I didn't believe it."

  "I'd never leave. Just wanted one last adventure. I'm sorry I was so stupid. I've ruined everything."

  Every ten seconds or so Jacob looked back to make sure their group was intact. The way his little brother was handling things, Jimmy knew he could lead their family once aboveground. He was growing up. Maturing into a man. Much faster and less reluctantly than he had managed. It was a small comfort.

  Jimmy nodded to him, urging him on. Jacob kept his arm around Ellie. She was holding up as good as could be imagined. Her family was gone now, too. And she'd just learned her father was a killer. Whatever came of this, he'd never let her know he'd also killed him, despite Benjamin's best effort to thwart his attack. Some things were better left unsaid.

  He was damned to stay in this hell forever. But Louise, he still had Louise--

  With distance, the roaring water diminished, but now the sound was intensifying again, increasing r
apidly. It was so loud Jimmy didn't realize Louise was trying to speak to him. She yanked on his arm to get his attention.

  He leaned over so she could yell into his ear. Even at such close proximity, it was hard to make out her words.

  "What!"

  "The baby's moving!"

  No, no, I can't let this happen. To me yes, if it has to be anyone, let it be me, and Louise, if that's the only way I can be with her, let it be so. But not the baby. Not my boy!

  His mind was jumbled with conflicting thoughts. He had to sort through the clutter, figure out how to handle this. All of this. It was nearly too much to take in at once.

  The tunnel was splitting ahead. Jimmy knew where they were. There was a way to the surface in either direction.

  Frightened by the coming violent wave, the group pulled tighter. "What's happened?" Jacob asked.

  "The wall is gone, the tunnels are flooding."

  "Oh no," Ellie said in a deflated voice.

  Jimmy shouted to be heard, "You have to go. I couldn't live with myself if you didn't make it out of here."

  "What do you mean? You're coming with, right?"

  "Not yet. I want you two safe, but I still need to get Mom, not to mention Harold and Edwina. You get Ellie to the surface, get help, whoever will listen. Let them know what's happened."

  Jacob looked like a child who was just told Santa didn't exist. His lip trembled. "But…"

  Jimmy shook his head. Louise cried out at his side, and Jacob looked at the writhing bundle in her arms.

  He understood immediately, even if he didn't comprehend the nature of the Underground. "Okay, Jimmy, but you better be right behind us," he said nervously, trying to be brave.

  "We'll catch up to you."

  "We can't leave you," Ellie said.

  "We'll be fine. I know these tunnels and what paths to take to be safe. All you two have to do is stay left, stay left and keep climbing through to higher tunnels. You'll reach the surface in no time. Now go. I'll see you topside."

  Before Jacob could be dismissed, he hugged Jimmy. He said something into his ear, but the rushing water was too loud for him to understand.

  Long after Jacob and Ellie had turned away and were swallowed by the shadows, Jimmy wondered what those final words had been.

  17.

  Jacob labored climbing the tunnel's steep incline, and while rosy-cheeked and panting for breath, Ellie seemed to be holding up fine. Looking at her, you'd never think someone so young and frail-looking would be so resilient.

  But she was pushing him to keep up with her. Surging water roared behind them, still gaining ground with the passing seconds. The prospects for escaping seemed so remote; if Ellie weren't here with him, he might have given up by now.

  Remembering Jimmy's advice, they stayed on a leftward path, even when the direction seemed misguided. They reached an alcove that contained a pond lapping at a steep stone shore. Jacob searched the room, but could find no other way out. The raging water was once again nearly deafening.

  He expected to see fear or possibly resignation in Ellie's eyes. Instead, the girl left his side, making her way to the water's edge.

  "Ellie, what are you doing?"

  "This is the way," she said, stepping into the water. Her face bunched up at the cold, but she took another step. She was thigh deep, and not turning back.

  "There has to be another way."

  "This is the direction Jimmy told us. Besides, those waves in the pond have to be coming from somewhere. They come right from that wall. There's a hole there, and since the waves are coming from inside it, it must be a tunnel. A way out." She kicked into a fluid swimming motion, not waiting for his response. In a few quick strokes, she was halfway to the tunnel.

  He was unsure what to do. He wasn't the best swimmer, and they weren't certain that this was the right way to the surface. The sound of the approaching water made it hard to think.

  "Will you look at what I've found," a voice said from behind him as a hand gripped his shoulder. Jacob didn't recognize the beady-eyed pudgy man. While the man smiled innocently enough, an axe handle swayed in his hand, while his grip tightened on his arm. He was no friend. "I thought I was the only one making a run for it."

  The stranger raised the weapon and smashed it across Jacob's chest before he could react. The wind left him, and he curled up on his side on the floor. Ellie disappeared into the tunnel, unaware of the attack. If he had the breath to shout a warning to her, she probably wouldn't hear him over the raging water.

  The water.

  It was coming, finally flooding the lower tunnels (Oh, Jimmy, Mom, please, be okay), rising higher, ready to sweep them into its roiling slurry. He had to act. Now.

  Fear chased away the clenching pain in his chest. If he didn't get away from this maniacal stranger, the water would certainly kill him. He had to move.

  He stumbled from his stomach to his hands and knees, scuttling along as fast as he could toward the water.

  Behind him, the man laughed. A couple strides and he lunged for Jacob, easily grasping his foot.

  Jacob fell flat on his face. The man wrenched his ankle as if they were wrestlers performing at a carnival. Pain twisted him until he flipped to his back. Blood flowed down Jacob's lips, and his nose throbbed, possibly broken. He didn't feel it.

  He looked up, seeing the man reel back with his axe handle.

  Who is this guy? Doesn't he know the water'll snap him in two?

  He obviously didn't, because he flung the axe handle down with full force, connecting with the meat of Jacob's thigh.

  He screamed, screamed so hard and forcefully that he was instantly hoarse, but he subdued his reaction as best he could. He had to. The man was wheeling back for another blow.

  With his arms at their highpoint, he was also at his most defenseless. Jacob struck, ignoring the shooting pain in his thigh. He managed a side kick that landed against the man's kneecap, crumpling him to the ground.

  It wasn't much of a kick. He couldn't gather much leverage from his position on the floor and the pain in his leg seemed to be getting worse. The kick only stoked the man's rage. He retrieved his dropped weapon, and then crawled toward Jacob, wincing at his damaged knee.

  Jacob didn't think twice. Despite the pain in his thigh, he stood, then half-ran, half-stumbled his way to the water's edge. Losing his balance, in the process of falling once again on his face, he pushed off the best he could, transforming the fall into a dive for the water. He splashed awkwardly on the flat of his stomach. His chest hurt where the axe handle connected, but adrenaline was coating everything in a thrumming numbness. He barely felt the pain as he started swimming.

  "God damn you, boy! I'm gonna hurt you for that. Gonna hurt you real bad." Jacob glanced back to see the man at the shore, gingerly stepping into the water.

  Jacob reached the tunnel's mouth just as the stranger let out a startled, blood-curdling cry. A tremendous splash disrupted the water near the man's kicking legs, then he was pulled underwater.

  What the hell?

  Jacob had never seen anything like it. At first he didn't know what he was seeing, but then the man surfaced--just his flailing arm, one shoulder, half his face--before getting pulled under again. Something wide and translucent curled above the water, then a massive fishtail slapped the water's surface. The stranger surfaced just once more, but the fish's mouth, with its sharp, bladelike teeth, its snaking white whiskers flapping--had clamped onto his torso. The jaws closed off all remaining sound from the man. The fish went under, taking its prey with it.

  White Bane? Jacob thought. The beast from Greta's stories? No one believed that story. Even the youngest children understood that the myth was intended to tingle the spine and caution against the perilous nature of the unknown.

  But it was real. White Bane. Real.

  It was gone. He never caught sight of the crazed man, nor the giant fish. Not a single white scale. The flooding waters reached the tiny alcove, a rioting wall of white water, and Ja
cob turned away for the tunnel, futilely trying to escape the inevitable. The water crashed into him less than a second later.

  18.

  "What are we gonna do, Jimmy?" Louise asked.

  He had to look away; she would see the answer in his eyes.

  They could stay down here with the baby, and God knows what would happen when the boy fully wakened. Or, they could reach the surface, leave this place behind, get their boy as far away from the Underground's cursed touch as possible.

  "You know what would happen if we went to the surface?"

  "I… I think so. It doesn't matter. We need to get him out of here."

  She gave the answer he felt in his heart was the only path for them to take. They would take their son with them, escape the flooding water.

  They would bury him. Give him a resting place that would never become unsettled.

  The flood water was close, dangerously so. They would have to hurry.

  "Let's go."

  They held hands, winding their way through a narrow tunnel, heading to higher ground.

  19.

  Arlen thought he'd be dead by now. That would've been okay with him. He'd done his job by setting free the underground lake. The waves would purify the blighted depths. His mom would be proud of him. She was proud of him. He could feel it.

  After lighting the timing wick, he'd aimlessly ambled away. Sometimes veering up inclines, sometimes descending, sometimes following curving spines in the tunnel that seemed to wrap around themselves. All the while he traveled in darkness, letting his mind wander, his only thoughts centering on his contentment.

  Mom is so proud of me!

  But as he walked--in the back of his mind awaiting the explosion--the air became cooler, downright cold. He soon entered a small chamber with a single candle burning low; though dim, the stark contrast to the previous impenetrable darkness stung his eyes. He blinked away the pain as his vision expanded to fill the room.