“Come on,” he told the others. “No more joking. I’m expecting trouble.” He started down the tunnel after Simon. “Lots of trouble.”
16.
Max rubbed Edgar’s cheek and the baby cooed within his arms.
Nat kept her distance. She knew the baby meant her no harm, after all, it was only a baby. It wasn’t his fault the way he’d been born. Her opinion of Herman had begun to change, away from the horror at the monster she initially saw, to a kind of pity. The man was disabled and trapped in the sewers; he didn’t live this way out of choice.
Nat closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Amazed at how quickly she had come to terms with all this, she tried to picture Alcazar, the final brother. Various hideous forms popped into her head: things mangled and twisted, covered in thick black hair or scales or even feathers. He was called the bird man after all.
But Max isn’t deformed, she thought. He might be like Max.
She opened her eyes and looked across the chamber.
Max placed the baby back inside the confines of the pram. He rested a hand on Herman’s shoulder.
Nat expected the older brother to scream in agony. The skin appeared raw and sensitive. Herman merely looked up.
“You going to be okay?” asked Max.
Herman huffed. “Sometimes I think you forget who the oldest one is. How many times have you all left me here to baby-sit while you go on your adventures to the surface? Of course I’ll be okay. Nothing’s happened so far, has it?”
“Maybe it’s just this atmosphere,” said Max. He removed his hand and wiped it on his pants. Nat noticed the slight yellow smear it left, like a small urine stain. “I don’t like this. Things have changed.”
“For better, now we move,” said Jacob. The giant figure stepped out of the tunnel and into the chamber. He needed to duck so his bald head wouldn’t scrape the ceiling. “They change things. Not us.”
“Still doesn’t mean I have to like it,” said Max. “Any sign of Whistler?”
Jacob shook his head.
“I’ll tell him you’ve gone when he arrives,” said Herman. “Of course, he’ll be disappointed not to see his brother…”
“Like I said, hopefully we’ll bring Alcazar back with us.”
“Damn,” said Herman. “I thought you’d forgotten about that part.”
“Edgar has been fed,” said Max, ignoring him, “so he should be quiet for the rest of the night. He will require something in the morning and there’s plenty left over. We should be back by then anyway.”
Herman nodded and stayed quiet.
“Are you ready, Nat?” Max asked. “It’s quite a journey. Are you sure you feel up to it?”
The baby, its tentacles dangling over the sides of the pram, gurgled and laughed.
“Nat?”
“Yes,” she said and stood up. “I’m coming.”
“I’ll try to get us back before sun up.”
17.
Kev leaned back against the wall and looked back and forth along the tunnel.
“We’re lost,” he panted. “It fucking stinks and we’re lost.”
“Calm down, tubs,” said Johan. He squinted, trying to see to the end of the passageway. “It’s a tunnel. It goes two ways, so we have a fifty-fifty chance of going the right way.” He grinned.
“That logic is so fucked up, I don’t know where to start,” said Spence. He sucked in a long breath through his nose and coughed. “I think I’m going to be sick if we stay down here much longer.”
“No one’s going to be sick,” said Johan, struggling with his own lunch, thinking of the dirt…the germs…. “We’ll stay down here another half an hour, tops. And to put fatty’s worries to rest, I’ve got our route memorised, so we can get back out. Happy?”
Kev nodded, staring at the floor.
Johan took a few steps away from the group. “We’ve come this far. None of you want to turn back now, do you? Simon?”
He’d crouched on the floor, catching his breath. The frantic pace of his run through the maze of tunnels had taken its toll. He looked up, twin trails ran from his eyes and down his cheeks.
“Simon? Do you want to go back?”
He shook his head.
“I didn’t think so,” said Johan. He looked from face to face. Spence appeared weary, his eyes dulled behind his lenses. He constantly rubbed his hands from nerves or the numbing cold. Kev, having the most trouble in their hike through the sewers, stayed leaning back against the wall. His wide chest rose and fell. It emitted a low wheezing sound with every exhalation. Richie, in contrast to the rest of group, still seemed keen and full of energy.
Good, thought Johan, at least someone’s ready. We’re close now. I can almost smell the bastards.
But if she has been taken by another gang…
“We need weapons,” he said. “Weapons. Now.”
“Weapons?”
He turned to Richie.
“You think they are going to just give up peacefully and hand Simon’s girl over? I think they’re going to be fucked off with being discovered, and that means things will turn nasty. We might be able to get the jump on them, but I don’t like to gamble. I like a certainty.” He glanced around the floor. “Find something, anything. There has to be something down here.”
Apart from Simon, who remained crouched and swaying slightly, everyone searched the tunnel. Spence returned with a couple of bricks, which he held tightly in each hand. Both contained a sharp edge. He hit them together and neither crumbled. Kev found a plank riddled with mould. The end had decomposed into a sharp point. He held the wood like a sword.
“Simon? You not going to arm yourself? God knows what we’re going to find in there,” said Johan.
“I know what we’ll find,” Simon replied. He stared at the wall, the weak light giving his face a sickly white pallor. “We’ll find her dead, mangled, raped…”
Johan marched over and shoved him.
Simon toppled over and lay sprawled in the filth on the floor. He looked up at Johan in silence.
“We don’t need any of this,” he said. “Where has your fire gone, soft fuck? Jesus.” He turned to the rest of the group. “And you lot. Does no one care? Am I the only one that gives a shit what happens to this girl?”
“Shut up,” said Simon.
“Make me,” said Johan. “Seems like you’re all mouth until it comes down to the crunch. Look at you, lying in the shit, feeling sorry for yourself. Nat’s probably better off down here.”
“Shut up!” Simon jumped to his feet and crossed the tunnel in a second. He grabbed Johan by the jacket and pushed him.
Johan hit the wall, his head flying back. It struck the wall, not quite hard enough to hurt.
“There we go,” said Johan. “I knew you still had it in you.”
“Son of a bitch!” Simon brought his arm back, the fist poised before Johan’s face.
Richie stepped forwards.
“Wait,” said Johan. He met Simon’s blazing eyes. “Why waste your energy?” He swallowed. “Who would you rather hurt? Me? Or them?”
Simon licked his lips before they peeled back from his gritted teeth.
“Think about it, mate,” said Johan, his voice low and soothing. “Make them suffer.”
Simon released him and spun around. He barged his way through the gathered group and headed down the tunnel.
Johan stepped away from the wall and straightened his jacket. “After you, boys.”
Richie flashed him a smile and swept the hair out of his eyes. Kev groaned and faced the head of the tunnel. As one, they marched forwards and paused at the next junction. Another tunnel, appearing almost identical to the one they had just been in, ran from left to right.
“Look at this,” said Spence. “How the hell are we going to find our way out of here? It’s like a goddamn labyrinth.”
“Johan,” said Richie, and bent down against the wall. He picked something up from the floor, which clattered with a clang. It echoed in the
tunnel. “Here. Catch.”
Johan raised his hands in time to catch a slick length of metal. He shivered from touching its grimy surface.
“God knows what they’re from,” said Richie. He too held a long bar. “Looks like they were part of a ladder or something.”
Johan’s bar was just short of three feet long with a comforting weight. He gave it a few testing swipes through the air. The momentum pleased him. He released the bar with one hand and examined his skin. Thick, brown rust was smeared across his palm. He wiped his hand on the back of his jeans.
“Let’s keep moving,” he suggested. “The longer we stay down here, the more likely I am to forget how to get out again.”
The boys nodded.
Simon stood further on down the tunnel, staring into the darkness.
“Simon?” asked Richie. “What’s up, man?”
Ignoring them, Simon stepped away and vanished into the shadows gathered at the end of the tunnel.
“Move it,” said Johan. He kept his voice low. “We can’t let him go running around here on his own. If he gives us away…” He led them up the tunnel and held an arm out in front of him as he entered the darkness, afraid of colliding with Simon. The metal bar hung at his side.
“Christ,” he heard Kev moan. “I can’t see a thing.”
“There’s light up ahead,” said Johan. “Just keep moving forwards.”
“Natalie!”
They stopped at the cry from ahead. It seemed to spiral down the tunnel.
“Was that Simon?” Spence whispered.
“Natalie!”
Without waiting for the others, Johan burst into a run, his shoes splashing through the shallow water, which carpeted the tunnel.
Idiot! Johan thought. What the hell does he think he’s doing?
Frantic footfalls echoed behind him. The boys were keeping pace.
This is it. We found them.
He tightened his grip on the bar, eager to find some deserving target.
They reached the segment of tunnel where the dim light shone through. The wall opened into a circular area, and the glow highlighted the rough edges of the hole. Simon had already stepped within and stood just inside the room. Johan carefully raised a leg and stepped through the wide hole. His foot splashed in the water on the other side. He joined Simon’s side and looked around.
“What the hell?”
Shabby furniture lined the walls with an assortment of rotting drawers and tables piled high with junk. Several chairs, wooden or plastic and all worse for wear, lay scattered around the chamber. Even an old, rusted pram stood in the corner, its hood pulled up. What drew his eye was the entire right side of the room. A portion had been sealed off with roughly cut, thin strips of wood. He stared at the door at the centre of this random network. A dulled lock hung from its frame.
“Jesus Christ,” Johan said and ventured deeper into the room. Peering through the gaps, he saw a pile of rags in one corner. A rat sat in the middle of this makeshift bed and cleaned itself, paws sweeping its furry head. “It looks like some kind of cell. A goddamn cell!”
“Natalie!”
Johan winced at Simon’s cry and sharply turned towards him.
“Shut up!” he hissed. “Look around. She’s not here so quit the shouting. You want them to come running?”
“But—”
“But nothing. She’s not here. She probably was at some point, but she’s not now. We have to take a look around and see what we can find, and we have to do that quickly and quietly.”
Johan grabbed the hand of a floundering Kev and helped his bulk through the wall and into the chamber. Spence and Richie quickly followed.
“This is incredible,” said Richie. “Someone could have been living down here for years!”
“What are we dealing with here?” asked Spence. “Tramps? You think there’s a gang of bums living down here?”
Johan walked over to one of the drawers and opened it. A quick rummage inside revealed some torn and dirty clothing and empty cans. “Looks like it. No normal person could live in this…this squalor.”
“Kicking a few tramps will be easy,” said Spence, smiling for the first time since they’d entered the sewers. “They’re probably too drunk to put up much of a fight anyway. And I’m glad we picked up the weapons, means we don’t have to touch them, know what I mean?”
“Amen to that,” said Kev. He jabbed the sharp plank around in the air.
“Will you guys shut up?” said Johan. “This isn’t a joke. We have a problem. They’re not here. If they suddenly show up and we’re still poking around, we could get taken by surprise.”
“Then let them come,” said Simon. He stared at the cell. Johan noticed two burning patches of red had developed on Simon’s pale cheeks. “I’ll kill every one of them with my bare hands if I have to.”
Johan looked to the other side of the room. The furniture, although mostly pushed against the wall, was piled up in places. This, combined with the weak light from over the entrance, created pits of deep shadow. He had the queer sensation of being watched, like eyes waited in the darkness, surveying him in silence.
That’s crap, he thought. If anyone lurked in here, they’d have sounded the alarm by now.
“What was that?” asked Spence sharply.
“What was what?”
“I heard something. A squeak.”
“Probably a rat,” said Richie. “There’s enough of the little bastards down here.”
Spence shook his head. “No, it wasn’t like that. It was…metallic.”
From within the shadows on the far side, the noise came again. This time they all fell silent.
“That,” said Spence. “I heard that.”
The ground trembled, and Johan wobbled. He spread his feet a little wider apart for balance. It felt like a heavy truck was approaching.
“What the hell’s happening?” said Kev.
“Nat!”
Johan’s anger rose up in a flash. He shot towards Simon and gave him a firm two-handed push in the centre of his chest. Simon staggered backwards and after colliding with a warped table, fell to the floor and landed on his back.
“If you don’t shut up, we’ll leave you down here. Then you can shout all you want!” Johan choked out, attempting to be quiet and jabbing a finger.
Beneath his feet, the ground continued to shake.
“Johan?” asked Spence.
“What?” he spat, still staring down. Simon looked back with equal intensity.
“The water. It’s rising.”
Johan blinked, snapping him out of his sudden rage. “Rising? What’re you talking about?”
He noticed the few inches of water around Simon had started to climb his body. His hands were all but submerged and a wave swallowed them within the murk and slid up his arms and his body. Simon remained on the floor with his eyes locked on Johan’s. His fast breaths flared his nostrils, emitting small puffs of steam in the chilly room. For a second, it gave Johan the image of an angry cartoon bull.
“Shit, you’re right.” Johan swallowed and extended his hand. “Come on, man.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Simon grabbed him and allowed himself to be pulled onto his feet. The foul water dripped from his jacket and jeans.
“We gotta get out of here,” said Kev. His voice had risen, high and panicked. “We could drown in here if we don’t get out quick enough.” He shook his head and looked around at the dark and swirling waters. The rate had increased, and already the water had reached their knees. A few of the lighter pieces of furniture caught in the currents and floated in short, lazy dances. “I knew we shouldn’t have come down here. My mum always warned me when I was a kid —”
“Fuck you, and fuck your mum,” said Johan. “Use your head. The water can’t rise much higher. Look at the hole we came in through. It can’t rise above that, it’s too wide. We aren’t going to drown.”
“But why?” said Richie. “Why is it rising now? It’s like som
eone knows we’re here.”
Again, Johan looked to the shadows, feeling scrutinised.
The water climbed further up and reached halfway along their thighs. Johan braced himself for the awful moment the icy water would slip over his groin. He squeezed his lips together and held his breath.
“Christ,” said Spence. “It’s stopping.”
Kev frowned. “Stopping?”
“The floor’s not shaking anymore.”
Johan realised Spence was right. The floor felt solid again and sure enough, the water had ceased its climb. He blew out his trapped breath.
The metal squeak, like nails down a blackboard, echoed from the shadows once more.
“That noise again,” said Spence. “What the hell is it?”
A jet of water sprayed up at the centre of the room.
The boys all cried out and backed away towards the wall.
18.
“Go a little further down the tunnel,” said Max. “It’s quite safe.”
Nat turned towards the black mouth of the tunnel that led away from her. The dusky, warbled light from the chamber ended a few feet beyond. She heard scratching, probably Jenkins, and something else, a deep pulsing. She placed her hand against the wall to the tunnel and felt a faint throb travel through her fingers.
“What’s down there?”
“Machines,” replied Jacob and smiled. “Fun machines.”
She looked to Max.
“You’ll see,” he said. “It isn’t just pipes and water down here, you know.”
Nat rose to standing and walked a short distance down the tunnel, leaving the light behind. With each small step the noise intensified. Again, she touched the wall and the steady vibrations had grown stronger. She even felt it through the soles of her wet feet.
It sounds like drums, she thought, drums in the dark.
A noise like a wet slap made her turn back. Max had climbed into the tunnel and stood at the entrance, his outline silhouetted against the dull glow. He shook himself and water dripped from his patched clothes and thick beard.
“F-F-Freezing!” he said, and rubbed his arms. “The machines will dry us off in no time.”
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