“And she didn’t betray us,” he continues, interrupting me, “or at least, not on purpose. I believe her when she says she kept her mouth shut. She’s nervous, though. Hell, she’s almost rattling, it’s hard to believe that no-one in town noticed her acting like that.”
Looking past him, I watch as Carly heads back toward the tree-line.
“Now what?” I ask, turning back to Deckard. “Do you have any idea what Harold is planning? Is it possible he just wants the whole town to die off from the disease?”
He shakes his head. “You heard what Ben said when he was talking to the mainland. He thinks Harold’s some kind of psychopath, and I have no doubt that he’s right. The sickness is just a way for him to weaken Steadfall so that he can do whatever he wants. It almost sounds like he’s waiting for something, though, as if—”
Before he can finish, we both hear voices shouting in the distance. We turn just in time to see a figure racing this way from the trees.
“Help!” Carly screams. “They’ve got—”
A shot rings out and a flash of light slams into her back, sending her tumbling forward until she hits the ground face-first.
“Guns?” I stammer, as I spot Ben and Leanne heading over to Carly’s prone form. “Where the hell did they get—”
There’s another shot, and a flash lights up from Ben’s gun as he shoots Carly in the back of the head. For a moment, all I can do is stare in shock. I haven’t seen a gun fired since the war, but I think I’m starting to remember my time on the battlefield. In the moonlight, the blood leaking from Carly’s shattered skull looks as black as oil.
I’ve seen something like this before.
“Get down!” Deckard shouts, pulling me back into the cave just as more shots are fired, this time straight toward us. Several energy bursts hit the cave’s entrance, blasting sections of rock away.
“Where the hell did they get guns?” I hiss, trying not to panic.
“The same place they got that communication device,” he replies, as we hear footsteps heading this way. “I’m sure they have plenty of other surprises up their sleeves, too. Come on, this way.” Turning, he starts hurrying into the depths of the cave.
“We should fight!” I call after him. “Running won’t—”
“Just trust me!”
Figuring that I can’t afford to hesitate, I turn and scramble after him, and to my surprise I find that the back of the cave gives way to a steady drop that seems to lead deeper and deeper underground. I can hear Deckard making his way down, so I take a leap of faith and go after him. The incline is steep and I can’t see a anything up ahead, but I quickly reach a cold, damp rocky shelf.
Suddenly two more shots ring out, and I look up just in time to see energy blasts hitting the wall a little further up.
“Move!” Deckard shouts, grabbing my arm and pulling me through the darkness.
“Where are we?” I ask, trying not to panic.
“There’s another way out,” he tells me. “Why do you think I wanted to face them here, if we had to face them at all? I knew it was too good to be true, there was no way they wouldn’t realize Carly was up to something. I hoped she’d manage to cover her tracks better, but I knew that was a long-shot.”
“But if—”
“This way!” Still holding my arm, he leads me through the darkness. I bump into the wall a couple of times, and after a moment I realize that we’re definitely heading downward, deeper underground.
“Are you sure there’s a way out of here?” I ask.
“I’m certain,” he replies. “I know these caves, I’ve checked them out several times. I just have to find the right route. We just have to make sure we don’t get lost in the dark.”
He stops ahead of me, and I can hear him scrambling across loose rocks.
“Just give me a moment,” he continues. “I can find it, I know I can.”
Hearing the sound of more energy blasts in the distance, I turn and see a faint flash of light a little higher up, momentarily illuminating the narrow, rocky route we took to get here. I can hear footsteps coming this way, and I can’t shake a hint of panic at the thought of Ben and Leanne reaching us. They must know that we’re no match for them when they’re this heavily armed, and I don’t like the sensation of being hunted. For a moment, I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve been in a situation like this before, back during my days in the army, and slowly the fog in my mind seems to be lifting.
Mads.
I was with Mads in a battle and—
Suddenly several energy bolts blast out of the darkness, striking the rocks right next to me. I hear Deckard cry out as I step back around the corner, and a moment later he slumps against me as more blasts hit the wall just a few feet away.
“Are you okay?” I whisper.
I wait, but there’s no reply. I can hear him breathing heavily, though, and after a few seconds he lets out a gasp of pain.
“Deckard!” I hiss. “Can you hear me?”
“I’m fine,” he stammers, although it’s clear that he was hit. “I know which way to go, it’s straight ahead but if they’ve got night-vision, they’ll get a good shot at us.”
Reaching out, I start steadying myself against the wall, but after a moment I feel some kind of wide metal pipe running through the rock-face.
“Deckard,” I whisper cautiously, “what the hell is going on down here? There are pipes!”
“I know,” he mutters, clearly in pain. “I’ve been checking them out for months now. They seem to run deep into the mountain.”
Before I can ask any more questions, I realize I can hear footsteps coming closer, although after a moment they stop.
“What are they waiting for?” I whisper. “Do they think we’re dead?”
“We have to make a break for it,” Deckard replies. “Ready? One, two—”
“Wait!” I hiss, as I hear a couple of low, rumbling sounds heading this way. “What’s that?”
I wait a moment longer, before realizing that I’ve heard the same sound before. I don’t know when exactly, probably during the war, but…
A fraction of a second later I hear a faint, almost imperceptible clicking sound coming closer, and in a flash I remember what it means.
“Grenades!” I shout. “We have to—”
Grabbing Deckard’s arm, I pull him forward through the darkness. More energy blasts hit the rocks all around us, but we manage to get to the other side and clamber up over a pile of rocks. I slip and almost fall back, but at the last moment I’m able to grab a section of rock and pull myself forward, before reaching back and hauling Deckard up after me.
“No!” he hisses, pulling me in a different direction. “This way!”
I still can’t see anything, but I know I just have to follow him and hope that he was right about there being another way out of here.
Suddenly there’s a massive blast from behind us as the two grenades explode. A huge flash of light bursts through the darkness and the force of the detonation sends me crashing forward against the rock as the ceiling starts to collapse. Unable to see anything, I let out a cry of pain as more rocks come down, burying me in darkness.
Chapter Thirty-six
Stumbling and almost tripping, I manage to stay upright as I make my way closer to Steadfall. I can see the town up ahead now, although part of me thinks it might just be a mirage. I thought I was further away, that it’d take me weeks to get back, but now I’m starting to realize that my travels had taken a meandering path, that I was much closer. In the haze of madness, I’d begun to—
Suddenly there’s a loud boom in the distance, as if something exploded. I freeze for a moment, but silence quickly returns to the island although I soon realize I can hear panicked voices up ahead, as if the sound caused a wave of panic among the residents of Steadfall.