“Yeah, this tunnel.”
“What about it?”
“That’s just the problem. I can’t figure it out.”
“Walk me through it. Maybe I can help.”
I rotated my torso so that I faced away from the tunnel mouth. My beam penetrated for about fifty yards before giving way to the darkness. “I don’t know. It’s probably nothing. Let’s keep moving. I’ll walk up the left side of the tunnel. You take the right. If you see something out of the ordinary, don’t keep it to yourself.”
I slipped to the left of the tracks and cautiously began walking through the tunnel. Despite my nagging concern, I couldn’t help but feel astonished by it. The Sand Demons must’ve slaved away for weeks, quietly carving it out of the bedrock.
As we traveled farther across the chewed-up landscape, I started to move my light a little more frequently. I couldn’t escape the feeling that there was something off about the tunnel. Something wrong.
Something that could kill us.
Beverly cleared her throat. “Take a look at that.”
I pointed my light through the tunnel and sucked in a mouthful of air. A wall loomed in front of us. “Well, how about that? It looks like another dead-end.”
“What’s that stuff on it?”
I squinted. “Whatever it is, it’s bright. There must be a reflective surface mounted on the bedrock.”
“But why?”
“Don’t know.”
Beverly resumed walking but I stood still. The nagging feeling returned. It was much louder now, practically screaming at me to slow down, to watch my step. Reluctantly, I shifted my flashlight from left to right and then from down to up.
I’m imagining things. Why would anyone…?
My beam caught a strange glint of light originating from the ceiling. Tilting my head, I noticed a couple of old wires strung along the bedrock. I followed them with my eyes as they veered to the sides of the tunnel and then plunged to the floor.
There weren’t any light fixtures in the vicinity. There wasn’t even anything remotely electrical for that matter. So, what purpose did the wires serve?
The ceiling rumbled.
“It’s a trap,” I shouted. “Run.”
My gaze shot to the right and I saw Beverly stumble.
With a thunderous explosion, rock blasted into the air.
I veered to the side and crossed the tracks. Yanking Beverly to her feet, I shoved her with all my might.
A large weight crushed me.
Terrible pain shot through my body.
And then, all was quiet.
Chapter 46
I inhaled a mouthful of dirty water and choked. My oxygen-starved brain panicked. My lungs worked, trying to suck in air. But instead, I choked on more water. I tried to move but something heavy held me down.
“Cy, where are you?”
Who’s that? And where the hell am I?
My brain felt sluggish and dull. My head felt like it had been repeatedly dunked in a swimming pool. I just wanted to drift off to sleep. But something told me that if I slipped into unconsciousness, I’d never return.
I felt the weight on my back. It pressed my body firmly into bedrock and wet wood. Maneuvering my arms, I placed my palms on the ground and pushed upward, thrusting my chest an inch off the ground.
Fresh air poured into my burning lungs. My mind crystallized. I was in the makeshift tunnel. I was searching for the Omega. I was…
“If you hear me, make some noise.”
It was Beverly and her tone sounded desperate. I heard frantic movement as if she were scooping away rocks and debris.
I opened my mouth to respond but my voice box refused to listen to my brain. Before I could take charge of it, my strength gave out and I plunged back into the icy, muddy liquid.
My nose slammed into rock. Blood from my face oozed into the water. I tried to shout but merely swallowed more of the nasty sludge. Opening my eyes, I realized that my face was positioned over a water-filled crevice. I attempted to twist my head to the side but my mouth still failed to clear the water.
I noticed a thin shaft of light. It passed over me and quickly vanished. As darkness returned, I realized that I was no longer holding my flashlight. And since I couldn’t see a second beam, I assumed it was no longer working.
I propped myself on my hands for a second time. Then I pushed up, lifting my haunches a few inches off the ground. This time, I slid my legs forward and curled them up underneath me.
I couldn’t quite reach the air. My brain felt foggy and my mind seemed to be floating away.
Desperately, I tried to lift my head out of the water. But the heavy weight on my back cut me off.
I steeled myself.
Then I burst upward.
Air entered my lungs and I gasped. The heavy weight on my back shifted. With one final twist, I managed to shake it off of me.
A heavy rock crashed onto the ground next to me with a loud booming noise. A bright beam poked at my eyes. Lifting my hands, I shielded my face. “You can put that away now. I’m here.”
The light shifted and Beverly’s face materialized out of the darkness. She smiled. “Nice of you to finally show up.”
Slowly, I extracted my legs from under a few chunks of bedrock. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
“I’ll try harder next time. By the way, thanks.”
“For what?”
“For saving my life.”
“No prob—”
“Then again, if you’d seen the explosives in the first place, you wouldn’t have had to save my life.”
I feigned shock. “Wait, you’re blaming this on me?”
She laughed. “Well, I’m certainly not going to blame myself.”
Before I could respond, she pointed at something beyond me. “Whoever set those explosives meant business.”
“What do…?” My sentence trailed off as I twisted around. A mountain of crushed rock reached almost to the ceiling, separating us from the Lexington Avenue Line.
“Lucky break,” I said. “Hell, I’m amazed the whole street didn’t cave in on us.”
“Luck had nothing to do with it.”
“Oh?”
“I know about explosives. And whoever planted the ones in here knew their stuff. They were designed to cause a small, controlled cave-in with no impact on the surface above.”
I nodded. Then I glanced at her leg. “It looks like you’ve got a nasty cut.”
“It was just fine until some jerk came along and shoved me onto the ground.”
“You’re just grumpy because you owe me one.”
I checked my body for injuries. While I saw plenty of cuts and bruises, none of them seemed overly serious.
After brushing myself off, I reached down and felt along the ground. My fingers bumped into my flashlight. Carefully, I withdrew it from the pile and tried to turn it on. To my surprise, it lit up, casting a dim glow upon the bedrock.
I clambered off the rock pile, ignoring my protesting muscles. I was tempted to call for a brief rest but all that changed when my beam fell upon the wall at the end of the tunnel.
It twinkled brightly, casting additional beams in hundreds of different directions. As my eyes grew accustomed to the light, I realized that the wall wasn’t the end of the tunnel.
It was part of an entirely separate tunnel.
A perpendicular tube connected to the one in which we stood, forming a T-intersection. Keeping an eye out for explosives, I strode forward and stopped at the point where the two tunnels intersected each other.
I shone my light about the new tube in both directions, marveling at the spectacle before me. It wasn’t gigantic, maybe two feet taller and five feet wider than the current one. But it was unlike any tunnel I’d ever seen. There were no signs of crumbling concrete or ugly metallic beams. In fact, the entire passageway looked like it belonged in an art museum.