“Follow me up.”
She climbed the ladder and moved through a manhole-sized opening, rising into utter blackness. She flicked on the penlight, which barely cut through, but here Maya could see more stone walls and a floor—a dry one.
“C’mon,” she said to Reno as she stepped off the ladder and onto the floor of wherever they had landed.
Reno sat down next to Maya, both of them dripping with raw sewage. She turned away from Reno and vomited.
“Sorry,” Maya said.
But before he could respond, Reno did the same. He wiped his mouth with his forearm.
“Me, too,” he said.
Maya spat, wiped her mouth with her hand, and stood up. She waved the beam around and discovered that they now sat in an open space. The walls looked to be the same as the tunnel below, but the floor was dry—they were at least fifteen feet above the rushing water below. Unlike the previous passage, this place smelled musty and old. Maya didn’t hear any rats, either, and for that she was thankful.
“Won’t be Water Moccasins up here,” she said to Reno.
He had already stood and walked into the darkness. His voice came from the void.
“A doorway,” he said. “A fork in the tunnel.”
Maya walked to Reno and then shone the light through the opening. She pulled the map out and looked at it.
“Do you know where we are?” Reno asked.
She felt as if someone had blindfolded her and spun her around. What had appeared to be detailed and specific marks on the map now confused her. With no reference point and no way of knowing where they were, the map didn’t seem at all helpful.
“No,” she said. “We’re going to have to pick one tunnel or the other.” Maya rubbed her forehead as she looked at the map. Sweat collected on her brow. “The problem is that I don’t know where we are on the map, so I don’t know which way to go.”
“Are you saying we’re lost?” Reno put his hands on the top of his head and exhaled.
“No, that’s not what I’m saying.”
“Then which way do we go?”
She was silent as she looked at the map again. Biting her lip, her hands began to shake.
“You don’t know,” Reno said.
“I’m trying to figure it out, and you’re not helping,” Maya said, her voice cracking.
“I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m trying really hard not to panic. We don’t have food or water, and now that map is useless if we don’t know what direction we’re heading. We can’t go back the way we came, right? So, now we’re basically guessing.”
“I know that. But freaking out isn’t going to help. We have to keep it together.”
Reno nodded. “I know. You’re right.”
“We’ll find a way out of here. And out of the dome.”
Reno pointed to the split in the tunnel. “Left or right?”
Maya looked at the map again, but realized that it wasn’t going to help. They were on their own, and Maya would have to go by instinct.
She stuffed the map into her pocket and stepped forward, opting to go left.
Maya stopped. She ran her hands through her hair and wiped her brow.
“Maybe we went the wrong way back there.”
“We don’t know that for sure yet. Let’s keep going this way for a little while longer. We can always retrace our steps and head back the other way if it turns into a dead end.”
Reno was right. Maya felt lost without the map, though, like she was swimming in the ocean at night. They had both become tired and hungry, and dying in this tunnel was a thought Maya had to continually push from her head.
Ahead, Reno’s boot kicked at something.
“What is it?” Maya asked, swinging the penlight down at the ground.
“A Coke can,” he said.
“So what? We’ve seen a million of those down here.”
“Yeah, but this one’s new. It’s got a logo for the 2017 NFL season on it.”
“I’m still not sure I follow.”
“How did it get here? This isn’t a sewer line. And no standing water could have carried it down into this tunnel.”
Maya was still trying to process what Reno was saying when she heard a noise. Reno had heard it, too—she could tell from the way he’d jerked sideways at the sound, which was about the only thing telling her she hadn’t imagined it. Maya flashed the light in the direction from which it had come.
We’re not alone.
“I think we should head back the other way,” Reno said. “I’ve got a bad feeling.”
“So do I. Let’s go.”
Maya turned around and Reno followed. Immediately, though, she stumbled into a pale, filthy face that had emerged from the darkness. Maya gasped and stepped back, moving the beam over several other pale faces. The strangers averted their eyes and groaned as the light struck them.
“This way!” Reno said, turning and running in the opposite direction.
More figures appeared, blocking their retreat.
Someone lit a candle then, dimly illuminating the space. Maya turned off the penlight as another candle was lit. And then another.
Within moments, Maya saw at least a dozen people surrounding them. Most had long, greasy hair tied back to reveal pale faces—even the men. Their tattered clothes hung in strips, with several articles sewed together into cloaks to cover them. Her first thought was that the homeless people had used the tunnels as a place to sleep at night, but it didn’t appear as if these people had been to the surface in a long time.
“Hello,” Maya said.
No one replied.
“We’re not a threat to you. We got lost in the tunnels and now we’re trying to find a way out. Could you perhaps point us in the right direction?”
Still, no one spoke.
“I don’t think they’re interested in helping us,” Reno said, whispering to Maya.
“Please,” Maya said. “We’ll leave you alone. Just tell us how to get out.”
A woman holding the tallest candle took two steps forward, her eyes locked on Maya’s. Her black hair extended to the middle of her back and, judging by the crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes, Maya thought she was in her forties. Her cloak hid a thin frame, and yet the others seemed to be taking their cues from her. The woman’s blue eyes sparkled in the candlelight and Maya mistook scars on both sides of her face for a smile.
“Thank you,” Maya said. “If we keep going this way, will we find our way out?”
The woman snapped her fingers, and the others grabbed Maya and Reno.
“Let us go!” Maya said, kicking her legs and trying to break their hold on her arms.
“Get your damn hands off me!” Reno said.
The woman who’d snapped her fingers lowered the light. Maya trembled as the flame got closer to the tail of her shirt. Was the woman going to light her on fire?
She reached to Maya’s waist and took the gun, holding it up in front of her face.
“Bring them inside,” the woman said.
26
“Where are you taking us? Let go of me!” Maya said again, pulling at the hands that held her.
The woman with the tall candle stopped, and so did the rest of the group. She went to Maya, held up a sock, and stuffed it into Maya’s mouth.
Maya kicked harder, her words now nothing more than mumbled gibberish. The two men holding her had already bound her hands behind her back with zip ties. Reno had been bound, as well, but hadn’t spoken, and therefore hadn’t been gagged like she had.
The people escorted Maya and Reno into another tunnel, this one ending in a cavernous room lit by candles. Cardboard boxes and garbage bags lined the walls. They had been arranged rather than tossed, giving the dank space a strangely orderly look. Cases of Coke and plastic gallons of water sat against the far wall. Although candles illuminated the room, Maya couldn’t see another way out. The tunnel appeared to dead-end here.