Chương 123: Chapter 122 – The J Line

The next street looked clear except for a bus-sized, thick-shelled bug prying open the top of a crashed car. But whatever it had found was apparently more interesting than a pack of humans and didn't bother to attack them. From there, it was a straight shot to what looked like a train terminal, and down a broken escalator to a flooded tunnel that split off in two directions. Toward the right, the tunnel deepened and the ceiling disappeared under the murky water. To the left, it extended into darkness.

Lots of snags and blind corners in a tunnel. Easy to miss something critical under NODs.

"White light," called Cole. The rest of the team raised their NODs and switched on lamps, dispelling the darkness. Therza moved to the edge of the platform and eased herself down into the water, hissing as she did.

"Damn that's chilly!" she said. The water came up to her thighs as she shuffled across to the other platform.

"Howie, Nona, with her. Clear that side." His two Kickers waded across, the water coming up almost to Nona's hips. Howie levered himself up, and surprisingly, Nona took his hand when he offered. He pulled her out of the water and up onto the platform. The two of them swept the other side of the platform." Clear, looks like offices and maintenance." Howie called over the radio. Therza waded back with a folding map printed with the city's underground rail system. She traced one of the lines.

"This is the J line. I used to take this line to certification school," she said.

"It splits off, then leads up to this station here. That's within Louixcorp territory. With any luck, they keep the underground clear." Cole huffed a laugh as he peered down the tunnel.

"Luck ain't exactly our strong suit, Ms. Therza." He moved past her, next to Roxy.

"Nice trick with the shield," he said, squeezing her shoulder.

"That's one hell of a class evolution. Saved our asses." She put her hand over his and grinned back through her exhaustion.

"Totally worth." She looked down at the water and her smile twisted into a grimace. Roxy wasn't much taller than Nona and wading through a flooded tunnel was going to be an absolute slog. Cole squeezed again.

"I wish I could give us a few minutes to catch our breath," he said.

"Pussy," she teased. But as soon as she jumped off the platform into the water she grimaced.

"Fuck that's—" She looked over at Nona who hadn't uttered a word at the water temperature and clamped her jaws together. Cole jumped down next to her, bracing against the chill. Here, underground, the water was all but frigid. He shined his gun lamp toward the tunnel.

"Let's move out."

"Why do we always end up in tunnels?" asked Howie. He'd swapped his cannon for his PDW. In the close confines, his spells wouldn't need the benefit of being condensed into munitions—and blasts could be just as deadly to them as any of their targets. Therza waded up beside him.

"The automatons don't come down here. But that doesn't mean it's safe. Even before Dark City these tunnels sometimes had monsters getting in through sea access. And there's a lot of maintenance tunnels, half-dug rail lines, and offshoots. I doubt it's gotten better since Hextant took over."

"Great," said Cole.

"Roxy, take point." Roxy pushed up, shield forward and shotgun at the ready. Therza followed with her hammer close to hand. The rest of the squad followed behind with Besson and Nutmeg bringing up the rear guard. They passed through tunnels, accompanied only by the slosh of water, the sound of drips, and a distant flowing noise. After a half hour the tunnel rose up enough that the water was only ankle-deep. Cole switched out for Therza to the point position with Roxy.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Cole was grateful to be out of the deep water, though he had to fight to keep his teeth from chattering. He swept his light beam down a side access tunnel and caught a flash of movement disappearing around a bend.

"Hold," he said, stopping the squad.

"I just saw something. Watch this tunnel behind us."

"What'd it look like?" asked Therza.

"Didn't see much," said Cole.

"Just something pale. Maybe its leg. Definitely not human." Cole kept his rifle focused down the tunnel for a moment to see if it would reappear. Many of the monsters had more animalistic behaviors than others. Not all of them were pure aggression murder machines like the assassin bugs. Maybe this one didn't like light or didn't like humans in general.

"Those side tunnels, where do they connect?" asked Cole.

"No idea," said Therza.

"I only rode this line as a commuter. They're not even marked on the map." Cole chewed his lip. He could hear something skittering, but it was muffled. Was there more than one? He burned a charge, but the thick rock walls must have been a little too much for his ability to penetrate. Nutmeg growled behind him.

"Smells something she don't like," said Besson. Last time she'd caught wind of something that put her on edge had been the apes in Babel, and the Vael demons before that. The pupper had good instincts.

"Keep moving," said Cole. Another few twists and turns and Cole spotted another offshoot tunnel. Holding a hand up to stop the squad, he crept up quietly, switching off his gun light. There was more than enough white light bouncing off the walls for him to see. As he approached the corner, he heard a clicking and the scrape of bone against rock. He angled his gun toward the corner and began to pie it off with short movements to make sure he wouldn't be taken off guard.

Distant pinpricks of light stared out from the gloom, what little light in the tunnel reflected off six eyes set into an insectile face that watched the main tunnel from behind occluding pipes and cabling. The same clicking as before echoed out as the creature rubbed its forearms together. What was worse, Cole heard an answering click from further up the tunnel on his left. Cole switched his lamp on, causing the pale creature to screech and hold up its forelegs over its eyes as it scrabbled back.

It disappeared around the bend, followed by two more of its kind. Shit.

"Howie, on me," he called. He snapped his fingers and pointed at the entrance to the side tunnel.

"Claymore here,""On it," said Howie, holding his hands a few inches apart and concentrating to form a munition from his charges.

"What's up?" asked Roxy, peering down the tunnel.

"Something— several somethings are moving parallel to us. Before it was only one. They're talking to each other, clicking like crickets." Therza paled.

"Crumb," she said.

"What'd they look like?"

"White, broad head with a narrow crest, six eyes, six limbs," said Cole.

"Fast."

"Arrowheads," she said.

"Very territorial. We might be close to a nest. That would be bad news if it overlapped the J line." Bad news if. When wasn't it? Cole waved the rest of the squad on and had Howie put another mine in the main tunnel.

"If it doesn't overlap?"

"Then as long as we don't cross their perimeter, the warriors should leave us alone." As if they were ever that lucky. Cole shook his weapon to wake it up.

"Turn back?" he said. Therza shook her head.

"If they sense weakness, they'll attack for sure. We need to keep moving, try to get out of the line before they've got the numbers to overwhelm us."

"I thought this was supposed to be robot planet, not bug planet," moaned Roxy.

"I hate bugs." Growing up in the south had given Cole an unhealthy sense of familiarity with all manner of creepy crawlies like centipedes and spiders, and some nastier neighbors like hornets and yellow jackets, as well. He'd been stung and bit as much as any boonies kid. But none of them had been four feet long or had claws that sliced through steel.

"Keep going," said Cole.

"Howie, any time we have an offshoot big enough for something Nutmeg-sized to squeeze through, mine it."

"You got it," said Howie. Cole moved over to Therza, who had the map out. She traced a finger on it for Cole.

"We're here. We're almost to the station where we would have dropped down originally to meet Louixcorp. If they don't attack us for the next quarter-hour, we should be in the clear." More clicking echoed up the tunnel, this time from behind them. Cole swung his gun back and thumbed his lamp. The tunnel was clear, but ripples in the water pushed out from the previous bend in the track.

"Don't think we have that long. Let's move. Double-time." Roxy quickened her pace, and Cole checked every corner and offshoot before having Howie rig it. Twice more he caught sight of movement. Always more movement and more clicking that came from both sides of the tunnel. So much for skirting the edge of their territory. They made it another five minutes before one of Howie's charges detonated. Cole stopped at the distant whump that echoed off the walls and shook the ceiling.

The clicking became a loud chittering that seemed to fill the entire tunnel along with the rumble of many, many skittering legs. The arrowheads were making their move.