‘So, this is your game.’ Axel found his voice finally. ‘Now you want to be in charge, is that it?’
Liam beckoned with his hand. ‘Gimme it.’
Axel thought about refusing. He could beat Liam with one hand tied behind his back. But what would be the use? Liam knew the truth. He was a coward. He’d cried. Now he would tell everyone about that. He fumbled inside his pocket, took it out. Thought for a second about throwing it away, maybe it would disappear down a hole, just like –
He caught his breath even thinking about that. It sent a chill, like a tongue of ice, down his back. Angie, somewhere, maybe stuck like him?
He handed Liam the inhaler. It didn’t matter now. Nothing mattered now.
‘I’m staying here,’ he said. ‘I’m not going on. Send somebody back for me if you want, I don’t care. I’m not moving.’
Liam took the inhaler and looked at it. ‘We’ve got to go back for them, Axel.’
Axel’s eyes went wide with alarm. ‘Are you kidding! No!’
‘The water, Axel. The water’s rising. It’s gonny flood the caves. We’ve got to bring them here. Or they’ll all drown.’
Axel thought about it. The ice-cold water rising, Zesh and Fiona and Marks, all trapped. Didn’t make any difference. ‘I’m not going back.’
‘I need you to help, Axel, help with the teacher.’
Axel would have cried but he stopped himself. ‘No. I canny go back through there. Liam, don’t ask me. Please, Liam.’
He was begging him. Begging Liam? It seemed to Axel that he’d never noticed how tall Liam was. ‘You go back. Give Zesh his inhaler. Then he’ll be able to help you.’ Axel turned his face to the wall. ‘Don’t ask me to go back there.’
‘I think that’s working, Zeshie old boy!’ Fiona patted him on the back. ‘Here, maybe I should become a nurse. No, scrap that. A doctor. Dr Fiona Duncan.’ She was off in her own little world again. ‘I watch that ER all the time. I could probably amputate somebody’s leg with my eyes shut.’
And Zesh laughed. He actually laughed. The first time he’d been able to do anything but try to breathe for so long.
‘Maybe if you keep getting better you could move on. Not me, of course. I’m waiting for Angie, but you could move.’
‘Worried about me?’ Zesh smiled.
‘No. I want rid of you.’ But she smiled too.
‘Thanks, Fiona,’ he said.
Fiona pretended to faint. ‘First an apology, and now a thanks! There must be two moons in the sky.’ She took a long breath. ‘I would do anything to see the moon again, Zesh. What would you like to see?’
Zesh thought about that. The sun, the flowers, but there was only one thing, one person he wanted to see.
‘My mum,’ he said. He thought about how often he’d ignored her, always listening to his dad – never taking her advice, unless it was his dad’s advice too. Didn’t care if she turned up at parents’ nights, just as long as his dad was there.
Now, he wanted to see her smiling at him again, wanted to feel her cool fingers stroke his face, wanted so much to hear her voice.
‘I wonder what my mum’s doing now?’ Fiona thought aloud. ‘She’ll either be at the bingo, or she has booked up a cheap holiday in Benidorm with her galpals while I’m away. You know, when I’m old and decrepit, I want to be like my mother.’
Zesh laughed again. ‘She’d kill you if she heard you say that.’
There was a sudden noise in the cave, a beam of light channelling towards them. Fiona leaped to her feet. ‘Angie!’ she shouted. ‘I knew she’d come back.’
But it wasn’t Angie. It was Liam.
Liam had heard them talking, even heard Zesh laughing. That had really surprised him. He’d expected, as he pushed his way back to them, that he would find Zesh as unconscious as Mr Marks, and Fiona still crying or off in search of Angie.
Instead, they were laughing.
‘How come you’re back?’ Fiona asked. ‘Axel go on without you?’
Liam stayed silent. He had it all in his power now. Zesh’s inhaler in his pocket. Axel’s secret locked inside him. It was all he’d ever wanted – to be the one in control – and now here it all was, his for the taking.
‘Where is Axel?’ Zesh’s voice was still weak, his breath still came in gasps. But he was still breathing.
Liam made his decision. Maybe he had never doubted for a moment what that decision would be.
‘Axel’s waiting for us. We found a big cave. A dry cave. It’s got to lead to the sea.’
‘Axel’s waiting?’ Fiona sounded as if she could not believe that. ‘Sure he’s not just run off and left you?’
‘Come on, the water’s rising. This cave will be filled up soon. It happens fast. We’ve got to go.’
Zesh shook his head. ‘I can’t.’
Liam bent down to him and placed the inhaler in his hands. ‘Yes you can, Zesh. Here.’
‘How did you get that from Axel?’
Liam shrugged his shoulders. ‘I got it. OK?’
Fiona pushed at his shoulder. ‘And what about Angie? I’m not just going to go off and leave her.’
Liam wanted to shout at her, but he didn’t. His voice was calm. ‘You’ve got no choice now!’ he said. She wasn’t ever coming back, but he couldn’t bear to think that either. ‘This cave is flooding. We’ll find Angie somewhere else. We’ll send people back for her. But the sooner we get out of here, the quicker we can do that.’
‘He’s right,’ Zesh said, gripping the inhaler as if it was a winning lottery ticket, or pure gold. Then he lifted it to his mouth, and breathed in.
Chapter 27
Axel wasn’t afraid. Not of being alone in the dark. It was strange, that. One beam of light from his helmet was all that split the darkness. Yet he didn’t fear anything, on either side of him, or above him, or behind him. He feared nothing. He had faced his worst fear. A fear he didn’t even realise he had, and now, nothing else mattered.
He wondered idly if Liam would come back for him, and realised that didn’t matter now either. If he had to stay here, he would. He didn’t care. He pulled his rucksack towards him and opened it. He hadn’t taken water, though the teacher had told them to. He had ignored that and had taken Coke instead. He unscrewed the top and slugged it down. When it was done, he’d drink water. There would be plenty of water soon, if Liam was right.
Liam.
Was he even now telling Zesh and Fiona how Axel had cried? How he’d been like a stuck pig? Was that the sound he could hear now trickling through the caves?
Were they all laughing, laughing at him?
The Coke was making him feel better, stronger – and angrier.
The likes of Liam laughing at him? He’d get him for that.
Of course, he couldn’t get him if Liam never came back. Maybe they’d never be found. Maybe they’d become a part of the legend that surrounded these caves. Like the cannibal family, like the Nazis. Like the Worm.
Did any of them frighten him now? If he met a cannibal family he’d eat them. That’s how hungry he was. And the Nazis. They’d be long dead.
But the Worm?
Axel listened again. What strange sounds in these caves. How could people climb down here and actually enjoy it? Then he remembered weirdo Marks. He enjoyed it. This was his world, he had once told them. And Axel remembered now how sinister it had sounded to him then.
Well, they were in another world now.
And he was alone.
* * *
Zesh couldn’t believe how much better he felt. Exhausted, yes, and his back still ached with the pressure of trying to breathe, but here he was pulling, lifting Mr Marks along with Fiona and Liam. How could he explain to anyone how happy he felt?
Even Fiona’s moaning was making him feel happy.
‘I should never have left there. I’m too easily led, that’s my problem. Liam just has to say, “Move, Fiona, we’re goin’ to drown, if we stay here” and I just say, “OK, Liam, you’re the boss.
”’
Liam, struggling with the teacher, shook his head. ‘You, easily led? Come on, Fiona. Anyway, you know we had to move. You can see the water’s rising.’
He was right. The water was running down the cave walls, running in channels along the cave floor. The sounds of it were everywhere. Zesh felt as if a river of water was ready to burst into the cavern.
Yet, it was puzzling. Liam, and right. Two words that just didn’t seem to go together. Liam, telling them what to do. Liam, in charge. Zesh had been sure he would have another argument on his hands when he insisted on taking Mr Marks with him. Instead, Liam had almost suggested it before Zesh had.
‘If you’re feeling OK now, Zesh, you can help us with the teacher.’
And Fiona had moaned. ‘I’ve got to help? Me? A weak wee female? Carry a big lump like him?’
That had made both him and Liam laugh. Fiona, a weak wee female!
She carried Mr Marks along with them, though it was always a struggle. She was surprising Zesh. No. He was surprising himself. Because he found that he liked her. He liked the way she was determined to stay and wait for Angie. He liked the way she didn’t panic. And he liked, especially, the way she’d helped him.
They were following the marks that Axel had made against the rock. ‘Are we nearly there, Liam?’ Zesh asked.
Liam stopped, breathing hard. He laid down the teacher. ‘Let’s rest for a minute,’ he said, then he answered. ‘We’re close.’
‘You’re sure? All these tunnels look the same.’ Fiona said. ‘Are these the only ones you marked?’
‘This is the only one you can stand upright in. Axel and I tried them all. Honest. This is the way we came. I promise.’ Liam said it with assurance, and took his whistle and blew into it. The sound seemed to carry through the black tunnels. They all waited for the answering whistle, but no sound came back to them.
‘So where’s Axel?’
And Liam didn’t know how to answer her.
Zesh sat back, glad of the rest. ‘Why didn’t Axel come back with you?’
Liam didn’t look at him, and he took a long time in answering. As if he was considering his answer. ‘He’s back there, waiting for us.’
Zesh felt sure he was lying. He was protecting Axel. Typical Liam. And yet, here he needn’t be afraid of Axel. So, was there another reason he was lying? With Liam you just couldn’t be sure.
Zesh lay against the rock and closed his eyes. You didn’t recover from an asthma attack in a moment. It would take a long while. He prayed it was over. That his breath was slowly coming back to normal. All he wanted to do now, was sleep.
Axel slept too. Dreams of long dark tunnels and strange noises and people laughing. He was sure he could hear people laughing. Their laughter mocking him from cave to cave to cave. Someone was calling him. He could hear them through his dream.
‘Axel,’ they called. ‘Axel, we need you.’
But even in his dream, he thought, no one needs me. No one needs Axel O’Rourke.
So he didn’t listen.
But the voice kept calling him through his dream. ‘Axel. Axel. Help us, Axel.’
Still, he wouldn’t listen. It was a dream, and he didn’t want to wake up from it.
‘I told you he’d just up and leave whenever he got the chance!’ Fiona said. ‘He’d never wait for us.’
They were at the crack in the rock where Liam and Axel had pushed their way through. They could hear water gushing close by. Liam was sure they had better get into that other chamber as soon as possible. But where was Axel?
Liam shouted for him again. He blew his whistle.
‘You’re sure you’re at the right place?’ Zesh asked him. ‘It looks so much like a dead end.’
Liam flashed his light against the narrow opening. Fiona shook her head in disbelief as she had when she’d first seen it. ‘You’re not trying to tell me that Axel, big Axel, got through that!’ She got to her knees and peered through. ‘I’d like to have seen that.’
No, you wouldn’t, Fiona, Liam thought. He went cold even remembering it. Axel stuck in that tight narrow passage, crying, scared. And he’d been as scared as Axel. Not knowing what to do to help him, and yet, he had helped him, he’d got him through.
‘Axel!’ he yelled again.
They were all still for a second, listening. But there was no answering whistle. No shout. ‘We don’t need him,’ Zesh said. ‘We can get through without him. We can get Mr Marks through.’
‘Can we?’ Fiona looked from the teacher’s still bulk to the narrow passage and let out a cry. ‘I don’t think so!’
‘At least he’s relaxed. He said you’ve got to be relaxed to get through crawlspaces like this,’ Liam said.
Fiona let out a laugh. ‘Well, you don’t get much more relaxed than him.’
‘You’ve remembered everything Mr Marks told us, Liam.’ Zesh sounded so surprised it angered Liam.
‘You think I’m too stupid to remember anything!’
Zesh began to apologise. ‘No. I didn’t mean it like that.’
‘Och, shut up about who remembers what! Get moving.’
Liam crouched down, and lowered himself into the opening. ‘I’ll go through first. Gimme the rucksacks, then I can help pull through Mr Marks.’
He began to crawl through to the other side, pulling the rucksacks behind him. Once he was through he flung the bags on the flat ground, then he bent back under the hole and called to Zesh, ‘Pass him through head first.’
‘Right, Liam.’
It amazed him that the likes of Zesh was doing as he asked. He gripped the teacher’s shoulders and tried to pull. This was going to be tight. Almost as tight as it had been with Axel. But he had managed to clear some loose rock, so surely it should be easier this time?
‘Clear some more of the rock back there,’ Liam called to Zesh, doing the same on his side. He winced with pain as the raw wounds on his hands opened up again. The teacher could have been dead he was so still. If he opened his eyes now, he would see only rock. He wouldn’t be able to turn his head. What if he reacted the way Axel had?
Don’t think of that, Liam told himself. Once we get Mr Marks clear we can all get into the big chamber, safe from the rising water, on our way home. Surely they must find a way out from there.
Zesh’s voice dashed his hopes. ‘It’s no use, Liam.’ There was still a breathlessness in his voice. He hadn’t the strength. Liam gripped the teacher’s shoulders tighter, but he was skinny. A runt. He had even less strength than Zesh.
They needed Axel. Axel was strong.
‘Axel!!!!!’ He screamed out his name. This time he had to come.
Chapter 28
It wasn’t a dream. Axel realised that now. It was Liam’s voice calling him. He sat up, shone his light around the cave, and couldn’t see him.
‘Where are you?’ He knew the answer almost as soon as he asked the question. He was … in there. In that tight, dark tunnel.
‘You have to come and help us.’ Liam’s voice gasped with exhaustion.
Axel jumped to his feet, and stepped back, almost as if some unseen fist had reached out to grab him. He was shaking his head. Back, in there? No chance.
‘Are you stuck?’
‘Not me, Axel.’ His voice had that eerie echoing quality. Ghostly. Was this really Liam? he thought. Or was it his ghost, luring him back into his worst nightmare? Like … like … he tried to remember the name of the women who used their ghostly voices to lure sailors on to rocks.
Sirens. They were called sirens.
‘Axel!’ Liam shouted. ‘It’s Mr Marks. I can’t pull him through by myself. You’ve got to help.’
Without a second’s hesitation Axel shouted back, ‘Leave him.’
‘I can’t leave him, Axel. And anyway, Zesh and Fiona are on the other side They’ve got to get through as well.’
Zesh and Fiona. What did he care about them? ‘Leave him,’ he said again. ‘He’s caused us nothing but trouble.’
&
nbsp; ‘Axel …’ Liam called again.
I wish I could see him, Axel thought. It’s scary knowing he’s there, calling out to me and I can’t see him.
‘Please, Axel, hurry, the water’s rising on the other side.’
Why should he help anybody? None of them liked him, and as for Marks, why should he do anything to help him? This was all his fault.
‘Axel! Are you there?’
Axel could hear him, but he couldn’t answer him. He even switched off his lamp. If Liam thought he wasn’t there, that he’d moved on ahead, he would stop calling to him. Maybe.
No one could expect him to go back into that tunnel. The death dream picture of that rock wall suffocating him made him catch his breath, as if he was still there. Still trapped. No. Nothing would make him go back down into that hole that only worms should inhabit.
‘Don’t ask me to go back,’ he heard himself say. ‘Cannae do it.’
‘Please,’ Liam called to him.
Was that a scream he could hear in the distance? A yell that could only come from Fiona. Screaming at him to come. No use. He wasn’t going. The terror of that memory hung about him, whispering in his ear that if he went back down there, it would never let him out this time. He would be trapped down there for ever, merging into rock, becoming stone. He felt once again the stone wrapping itself around him. Felt it touching his face, so he couldn’t move his head in any direction. Not ever again.
Marks was in there now. Trapped like him. Axel’s bones turned to ice.
No. No one could expect him to go back there.
Liam waited for an age. Finally, he gave up. There was no point wasting energy by shouting again. Axel wasn’t coming. ‘We’ll just have to keep trying to get him out by ourselves.’
Fiona screamed. ‘That’s what we’ve been trying to do, stupid. Axel was right. We should have left him.’
Liam thought that even Mr Marks would have said the same thing. They should have left him behind.
‘Now me and Zesh are stuck back here … and the water’s coming in here fast.’
Fiona’s voice trembled. She’d never admit to being frightened, but she sounded scared.
Underworld Page 14