Water Shaper (World Aflame)

by Messenger, Jon

  The flashlight forced the darkness to retreat and revealed a frozen escalator leading deeper into the subway system. Wilkes stepped to the edge of the stairwell and shined his light to the tunnel below.

  “See anything?” Xander asked.

  Wilkes shook his head. “No, but that doesn’t mean they’re not down there.”

  He handed Xander the flashlight and shouldered his rifle. “Stay right behind me and keep the light straight ahead.”

  The group went down the stairs cautiously, Xander sweeping the platform ahead with the light as more of it was revealed during their descent. By the time they reached the bottom of the escalator, the glow of the flashlight filled the tunnel.

  It quickly branched off with colored markings on the walls. Xander reached up and touched the gray line marking on its surface. Ahead, he could see the red line pointing in the opposite direction.

  “Which way?” Xander asked.

  Wilkes scratched his chin. A salt and pepper beard had started growing in the couple days since they’d met, making the man look far older than he had originally.

  “We take the red line. We can follow it down to the black, which will take us under the Thames and close to the flat.”

  Xander pulled out the tube map and searched for the red line. The map was helpful but was still a maze of multicolored subway lines. He remembered riding the subway once during a trip to Washington DC and recalled it being far less complex. His eyes finally fell on the red line, and he traced it to its intersection with the black and down a couple stops until it crossed the Thames.

  “London Bridge?” he asked.

  Wilkes nodded, pointing at the tube station just across the river. “Our flat is walking distance from there.”

  Xander looked up sadly toward Jessica. He knew how much she had wanted to see the sights of London and had to assume this wasn’t the way she wanted to visit the famous London Bridge.

  “Come on,” Wilkes said as he started walking toward the red line tunnel. “No time to dally.”

  The red line tunnel opened onto the platform. Wilkes took the flashlight back from Xander and shone it on the wall. He read the stops and quickly figured out which way they needed to go. The Brit walked to the edge of the platform and glanced down, scanning the rails below with both his flashlight and his rifle. Seeing nothing, he sat down on the edge and jumped nimbly down onto the center of the rails.

  Xander helped lower Jessica down before rolling over on his belly and sliding down to join the others. Sean slid down beside him and landed surprisingly lithely. The heavyset man scanned the area with a nervous glint in his eye.

  “What’s bothering you?” Wilkes asked.

  “Isn’t there like a third rail or something that electrocutes you if you touch it?”

  Wilkes took his rifle and banged the butt of it against a thicker rail set to the side. Sean flinched, both at the anticipation of the man’s electrocution and at the reverberating noise it made. When Wilkes wasn’t electrocuted, Sean relaxed.

  “No power equals no electricity,” the officer explained. “You’re in the clear. Now, if there are no other blaring concerns that we need to address, we’ve got a couple hours’ walk ahead of us.”

  The flashlight did a good job of illuminating the curved tunnel. Its wide light painted the walls and ceiling in its yellow glow, lighting the way ahead. Xander, Sean, and Jessica—who followed behind Wilkes and his flashlight—spent most of their time looking down to ensure they didn’t trip over one of the jutting support beams.

  Their walk through the red line tunnel was slightly unnerving to Xander. Despite seeing the destruction of the city above them, the fact that he was facing the potential end of the civilized world had always seemed somewhat surreal, as though it was happening to someone else. It almost felt like he was watching the story unfold from the other side of a movie screen. Walking through the abandoned tunnel, however, made the destruction around him just a little too real. He almost expected a Morlock tribe to jump out of the shadows at any moment.

  It wasn’t any less stressful when they came across tube stops every few hundred feet. Each platform required Wilkes to reconnoiter the area, ensuring Fire Warriors hadn’t made a home in the Underground station. He went so far as to check the upstairs in each, clearing aside any chance of an ambush. Once the way ahead was clear, the four would have to walk past the platform, crouching low as they walked in case someone mystically appeared between Wilkes’ sweeps of the area. Though it was only six stops to where they would catch the black line, it was hours before they were past the first four.

  Wilkes dropped back once they were past the Chancery Lane station and walked beside Xander. The officer stretched his arms out wide, stretching the stiff muscles in his back. As he settled, he looked over to the Wind Warrior as the flashlight beam bounced in rhythm with their steps.

  “I’ve given you the benefit of the doubt,” Wilkes said. “I’ve trusted you, but you still haven’t told me what’s going on.”

  “In London?” Xander asked, knowing that wasn’t what Wilkes meant.

  “With you.”

  Xander shook his head. “You’d think I’m crazy if I told you.”

  Wilkes patted Xander firmly, but affectionately on the back. “Yank, I’ve been fighting strange men who make flames magically appear in their hands. I fought a man with burning wings. I think I’ve got a pretty good grasp on the strange and inexplicable.”

  Xander smiled weakly. “All right. You know how there are four elements: wind, water, earth, and fire? Well, a long time ago, those four elements split up the responsibility among them for shaping and nurturing humanity.”

  “And you’re one of these elements?”

  “No,” Xander said. “Yes. It’s complicated.”

  “Well, thanks for clearing that up.”

  Xander sighed. “I was one of the Wind Warriors, but now I’m the last of my kind.”

  “And those blokes outside are Fire Warriors. I picked up that much. These Fire Warriors want to destroy the world then?”

  “Kind of.”

  “Nothing’s really clear with you, is it?”

  Xander chuckled. “The Fire Caste is supposed to destroy humanity so that the planet can be reborn. It’s a cycle that we’re trying to stop.”

  Wilkes stared at him as Xander concluded his story.

  “I told you it was crazy,” Xander said.

  Wilkes pointed to Sean and Jessica behind them. “Actually, crazy is those two for volunteering to step in the middle of this pile of crap. What you just told me makes more sense than anything else I’ve seen or heard lately.”

  “What about you? Want to tell me about your family?”

  Wilkes smile faltered for a second and a distant look filled his eyes. “Her name is Tamara. We met while attending university together. We fell in love and, once I realized she was far smarter than I was, I never let her go. We got married shortly after we graduated and found out we were pregnant, perhaps not quite in that order.”

  Xander smiled, and Wilkes’ smile quickly returned at the happy memory.

  “Brandon was born just after we moved to London and just after I received my commission in the army. Tamara got a great job, which is why we bought the flat. I was stationed in London for some time before being assigned to the Royal Gurkha Rifles out of Kent. That’s the abridged story of my life.”

  “We’re going to save them both,” Xander said, feeling it was the right response.

  “You bet your arse, we are.”

  Wilkes smiled and patted him hard on the back before resuming his spot in the front of the group. Xander smiled at the odd Brit. He couldn’t say he completely understood the man, but he certainly appreciated having him around.

  He heard Sean yawn behind him and reflexively he felt himself yawn as well. Though they knew they’d be moving by night to get from Selfridges to the Underground station, they all had trouble sleeping during the day. The stress of knowing that Fire Warriors were
nearby made him jerk awake at any sound, whether it was real or imagined. He had finally given up trying to sleep and instead sat up with his friends, playing board games they salvaged from the children’s toy department.

  Now his lack of sleep was catching up to him. The gloom and silence of the tube tunnel was both mildly claustrophobic and soothing. The air was cool, but not cold, and he could easily imagine himself curling up against the near wall and sleeping for a few hours.

  Daydreaming as he was, Xander almost didn’t notice Wilkes stop as they came around a corner in the tunnel. He followed the beam of light as it spilled over a stopped train car. Though they knew the power had been shut off in the subway system, Xander hadn’t really put much thought into the subway cars themselves and what had happened to them.

  “Stay here,” Wilkes whispered. “I’ll go check it out and come get you if it’s all clear.”

  Wilkes handed Xander the flashlight, though Xander knew the futility of the officer moving ahead without it. They’d already pointed the light at the back of the train car, which had previously been sitting in complete darkness. If anyone was on board, they certainly already knew they were coming.

  The Brit moved up to the back of the car with his rifle raised. He climbed up the back ladder until he could see into the narrow window on the rear car. As quickly as he had jumped up onto the back of the car, Wilkes climbed down and walked casually back to the group.

  “It’s clear,” he said. “The whole thing’s empty as far as I can tell. I’ll do a better scan once we get closer.”

  “Do you think it’s somewhere we can rest for a while?” Jessica asked. She reached down and rubbed the heel of her newly acquired boots. “I didn’t exactly get a chance to break these things in, and my feet are aching.”

  Wilkes frowned. “We need to get to the London Bridge station.”

  “You’re right,” Xander said, “but so is she. I’m sorry, Wilkes, but we’re exhausted. None of us slept well and carrying around all this tension is mind numbing. If you want us to be at our best when we go topside again, we’re going to need to get some rest. All of us, you included.”

  Wilkes’ frown deepened, but he didn’t argue. “We can camp out in the train car for a few hours, and then we’ll get going again.”

  He led the group to the rear of the car. The train filled most of the width of the tunnel, leaving very little space on either side. The left, however, had a narrow ledge that curved along with the wall. Wilkes handed Xander his rifle before climbing up on it and retrieving the weapon again. He offered his hand, pulling the others up behind him.

  They had to turn sideways to slide past the curving cars of the subway. Though Xander thought for certain they’d take their break in the rearmost car, Wilkes led them nearly halfway down the length of the train before stopping. Xander kept the light shining through the windows, constantly expecting to see a Fire Warrior staring back at him. Or even worse, a dead body. The whole situation screamed “horror movie”.

  Wilkes handed Xander his rifle again and slipped his fingers into the rubber separating the two sliding doors on the side of the subway car. Despite not having very good leverage from their narrow ledge, he easily pried the doors apart.

  “Turn off the light,” the officer said as he stepped into the car. “We won’t need them, and we don’t want to draw any unwanted attention while we’re stopped.”

  It was dark inside, but the meager batteries on board the subway car illuminated the red exit lights. It painted the interior of the car in an eerie glow, like the car itself was a gateway to something far more sinister. Even so, the group found seats along the empty subway car and sat down heavily, glad to be off their feet.

  Xander lay down across a couple of seats, letting his feet dangle into the aisle. Jessica did the same, except she chose a handicapped row of sideways facing seats that offered her more space to stretch out. Sean, however, stood near the entrance and rubbed his belly thoughtfully.

  “You got anything to eat in that giant duffel bag of yours?” Sean asked.

  Wilkes dropped the bag on the floor and unclipped the top. “I do, but I promise you’re not going to like it.”

  Sean looked down at his protruding belly before looking back at the Brit. “Clearly, you don’t understand Americans very well. We’re fat kids at heart and in practice. And right now, this fat kid’s stomach is about to eat his practically non-existent butt. So in this case, beggars can’t be choosers and I’ll take whatever you have to offer.”

  Wilkes smiled before pulling out some bags of vacuum-sealed foods. He tossed Sean a bag of beef jerky and another larger bag that had a forest scene printed on the front.

  “What is this?”

  “Meals ready to eat,” Wilkes explained. “We use them in the military, but they sell them commercially to hunters and the like.”

  Sean tried to read the label in the dim light. “Does this say ‘Beef Enchilada’?”

  “Yeah, Yank, but I’m pretty sure you’re about to be sorely disappointed.”

  Sean laughed and sat down on a seat. He pulled open the top of the bag and began removing smaller and smaller bags of pre-packaged foods. “I don’t know how long ago it was that you went to college, but you’ve clearly forgotten what it means to be a starving college student. I’ve been surviving on a staple of microwave mac and cheese, ten-cent microwave burritos, and ramen noodles. I wash all that down with the cheapest generic soda I can afford, which usually tastes like carbonated urine. This is a freaking banquet, all in my honor.”

  Wilkes laughed and pulled out a meal of his own. Xander glanced back and forth between the pair, glad to see that the situation hadn’t completely dulled Sean’s senses of humor. Even Wilkes, who had seemed so straight-laced when they first met, really seemed to be relaxing around them.

  Xander wished he could relax and join in the fun, but his thoughts kept drifting back to all his responsibilities. He had promised the Water Elemental that he would clear London of the Fire Caste, which had seemed far easier to do when he was sitting in her sunken city at the bottom of the Atlantic. Standing on the streets of London, facing even a pair of Fire Warriors seemed daunting. Wilkes had killed five, maybe six of them total. There were still thousands more that needed to be dealt with.

  On top of that, he still had an ache in his chest every time he thought of Sammy and what she could be going through. Every moment they delayed meant she could be one step closer to becoming the host to the Fire Elemental. Though it had been his idea to stop here and rest—and he knew that they needed it—he almost wanted to push on and get their mission over.

  “Penny for your thoughts?” Jessica asked.

  Xander looked up and saw her hanging over the side of his chair, her chin resting on her crossed arms. He hadn’t even heard her stand up, much less approach him.

  “It’s nothing,” he said.

  “Of course it’s something,” she said. “Tell me about it.”

  Xander sat up and looked at the others, who had turned their attention toward them. Wilkes was no longer smiling and looked much like the stern British officer they’d encountered when they first flew into the city.

  He sighed. “All these new powers and responsibilities just keep piling on top of me. I almost feel like I’m drowning in it, if you know what I mean. I just think I might have bitten off more than I can chew, so much so that I barely even feel like myself anymore.” Xander formed a ball with his hands. “I feel like I’m an onion. The real me is still there in the core, but I’m covered with all this new responsibility.”

  Jessica slowly shook her head.

  Xander furrowed his brow. “What?”

  “You’re doing your pity party crap again. We understand; you’ve drawn the short straw for a life. No one’s going to argue that you’ve had to make a lot of sacrifices. You’ve lost more than Sean or me or— ” She pointed at Wilkes but immediately dropped her hand. “Well, more than Sean or I could imagine. But you have to get over it.”
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  “Just get over it,” Xander said with a derisive laugh. “Just like that.”

  Jessica reached over the seat and put her hand over his. “No, not just like that. I don’t expect you to forget about all the pain, but I would appreciate it if you learned to channel it into something more productive than just feeling sorry for yourself. Let it be the fire that drives you forward.”

  “Anything else?” he asked.

  Sean got up from his seat and nodded his head as he approached.

  “And, dude, you suck at analogies. You’re not an onion. An onion implies you peel back your gruff exterior and you find that heart of gold—that sensitive man—underneath. That’s the onion analogy. You’d know that if you ever watched Shrek.”

  “It was a stupid movie,” Xander replied. Though he tried to be harsh about it, he knew there was a punch line brewing and felt a lighthearted humor creeping into his gruff exterior.

  “You’re stupid,” Sean retorted.

  “But?”

  “No ‘buts’. You’re stupid.”

  Xander frowned. “I meant about the onion.”

  “Oh yeah. But you’re not an onion. You’re a platypus. All the weird elemental powers you have are the duckbill on your furry body. They’re the beaver tail to go with your webbed feet. They’re the toxic barb behind your back leg. Yeah, you’re just a whole collection of crazy that’s stuck together into, well, whatever you are now.”

  Sean put his hands on his hips. “You’re a platypus.”

  Xander’s face contorted into an odd combination of frown and suppressed laugh. “Why do I even bother talking to you?”

  “Because the alternative is talking to Officer Grumpypants,” he said, pointing his thumb at Wilkes.

  The pre-packaged brick of pound cake struck Sean in the back of the head. He stumbled forward, and Xander barely managed to catch him before he fell on top of him.

  “Get some sleep, you wankers,” Wilkes said with a smile. “We’ll get started again in a couple of hours.