Samantha took a deep breath. “Okay. I can do this. If I freak out, just remind me of the yoga classes I took last year; breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth.”
Sky turned to Otto. “Are you ready?”
Otto would probably find it hardest in the tunnel. Like a tall man on an aeroplane, he would be the one to find it the biggest squeeze and the most claustrophobic. But the hole had been built for men—big, hard working men—and the chance of him or any of the others actually getting stuck was slim.
The psychological fear was more of a problem.
Chapter 15
MANY YEARS AGO, when Tom was still in school, he’d learnt about a type of underground rodent called a naked mole-rat. As the name suggested, they were completely bald with wrinkly pink bodies and big pointy teeth. The animals lived underground in colonies, dug tunnels, and were basically blind. They ran along the tunnels sensing their way, climbing over the top of one another if they met and didn’t have room to pass.
The wretched animals came to mind as Tom crawled on his hands and knees through the narrow, pitch black tunnel. In fact, calling the space a ‘tunnel’ was generous. The thing they moved through was little more than a large pipe. He heard the people in front of and behind him breathing heavily as they crawled through the dark. Though all individuals, they were joined together, each dependent on the other. If one of them were to fall, to stop moving, those behind would be stuck.
Tom couldn’t even guess how long they’d been crawling for, ten minutes or an hour. All he had was the repetitive motion of putting one hand over the other and moving his now painful knees on the hard stone. There was none of the easy banter that had accompanied them earlier, nothing to relieve the tension or fear.
With Otto silent and sullen, the job of leadership had fallen to Sky. Though she clearly had an attitude, it was more ‘Trust me or don’t; see if I care’ as opposed to Otto’s, ‘Do as I say or regret it.’
“You okay, Samantha?” Tom asked in a half-whisper. His voice sounded too loud and awkward, but he wanted to break the monotonous silence.
“Hanging in there,” came the breathless reply. She sounded like she was farther away than right in front of him, something to do with the acoustics of the pipe-like tunnel he guessed. “I’m pretty tired though,” she added.
“Yeah, me too.”
Tom continued to place one hand in front of the other, dragging his knees against the cold, rough stone. He had little choice but to hang his head and his neck was starting to ache. If he tried to lift his head, he would hit the back of it against the ceiling. He twisted his neck from side to side, trying to loosen the muscles.
“Hey, Sky?” he called out, trying to make his voice as cheerful as possible so as not to piss her off. “Any idea how much further we’ve got?”
For a moment she didn’t answer.
“Sky?” he prompted. “I hope you’re still up there?”
In response, she stopped suddenly; causing each of them collided with the backside of the person up front.
“Of course I’m here,” she snapped back. “I just get a bit sick of stupid fucking questions.”
“Sorry,” he muttered. “I was only asking.”
“Yeah, well I don’t know, do I? As I said before, I’ve never been down this way.”
Samantha piped up, sounding tired and shaky. “How about an educated guess, Sky?”
Sky softened at the other woman’s voice. Not many people could be angry with Samantha.
“I’m not sure,” she said. “Another entrance from the sewer tunnels should be coming up soon, but there’s no point in going back into them. Even if the water has all flowed through by now, the nature of water is to head downwards, which is also the direction we need to head in. The chances are the entrance to the Underlife is going to be flooded, so we need to find another way in.”
“I don’t care which way we get in as long as we can get out of here as quickly as possible,” said Samantha. “I can’t stand the thought of being stuck in this tunnel for much longer. I’m starting to get seriously claustrophobic.”
Murmurs of agreement from the others filled the space and Sky sighed in both frustration and exasperation.
“We can try to get out at the next exit if that’s what everyone wants, but I can’t promise we’re not just going to have to turn around and come back again. Also, if the water hasn’t run through for some reason, it could still be electrified and we might drop right into it.”
Everyone grew silent, horrible memories of what happened to Jo still painfully close to the surface.
“We’ll do whatever you think is best,” Billy said, the first words he’d spoken in a long time.
Tom expected Otto to argue with him, but the other man stayed silent. Tom suspected that the wrong decision the other man made earlier must have left him doubting his own ability to make the right choice. He had given up responsibility by simply not making a call—right or wrong. He was leaving fate in their hands.
“Okay, okay,” Sky said, relenting. “We’ll try, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. We’ll reach the exit in ten minutes, maybe less.”
A collective sigh of relief filled the tunnel and Sky started moving again. Slowly, they all followed, each hoping this part of their journey wouldn’t last for much longer.
“If the sewer tunnel has cleared,” Billy said, “I suggest we take a break. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m knackered and starving.”
Otto spoke up. “We don’t have time. We need to keep moving.”
He sounded strained and Tom found himself feeling sorry for the other man, but he didn’t agree. They needed to rest. The past few hours had been both physically and emotionally exhausting.
“I’m with Billy,” Tom said, speaking up. “I have no idea how long it’s been since we last ate, but my stomach is telling me it’s been hours.”
In response, his stomach cramped with an empty ache.
As she’d predicted, after ten minutes or so, Sky stopped again.
“We’re here,” she called, the change in the acoustics of the chamber affecting the sound of her voice. “I’ll go down and check whether the water has passed through. I can’t hear anything, but if the water’s come to a standstill below us then I wouldn’t.”
“Be careful,” Samantha told her.
Sky said nothing, but as she was about to grab the top of the ladder to climb down, a terrifying thought speared through Tom’s head.
“Wait!” he yelled.
She froze.
“If the water hasn’t passed through and the electricity is still live, might the ladder be as well?”
Sky paused, her hand above the metal.
No one spoke as they realised what she had almost done.
“Oh, God,” Samantha breathed.
“Billy?”
Sky had only spoken his name, but the solitary word was filled with questions. Why had he not predicted this possibility? Why had he not warned her of the danger?
Billy spoke up. “We’re a long way from the source now. The chances of electricity still running through the water are pretty slim.”
Sky’s eyes widened at him and she ran a hand through her short hair. “Well, I’d rather not be the one who finds out.”
“Billy, how do we know if the ladder is electrified?” asked Tom.
“The easiest way is to find out the tunnel below is still filled with water.”
“That’s no good,” said Tom. “We can’t see without touching the metal bars of the ladder.”
“Throw something metal at the ladder,” Billy said. “If it sparks, then we’ll know.”
“Here,” Samantha said, reaching around her throat. “Use this.”
From around her neck, she unhooked a chain holding a silver crucifix and handed it to Sky. Sky took the jewellery, her hand shaking.
With bated breath, she held the necklace above the metal of the ladder and let go. The chain hit the top rung and hung for a mom
ent before sliding off and dropping into the tunnel below.
There was no sign of any sparks or any sound of the necklace hitting water.
“I think it’s all right,” Sky said with relief.
However, it was still with a tentative hand that she reached out to take hold of the top rung. The others held their breath around her, no one believing it was safe until they had seen so for themselves.
When her hand made contact and nothing happened, the atmosphere in the tunnel relaxed. Sky pulled herself over the edge, her feet found the rungs below, and she descended into the shadows.
Above her, the others waited.
“All clear,” she called up.
One by one, they climbed down into the much larger tunnel. The stone floor was still wet, but the dark torrent of water that had claimed Jo’s life had passed through, probably taking her body with it.
Tom took his turn to climb down the ladder and jumped the last couple of rungs to the ground.
With a groan of pleasure, he kinked his neck in a circle, releasing the muscles. He stretched his arms and legs, relishing the space. Comparatively, this tunnel was huge, but the temperature had dropped as though the water had chilled it like a giant freezer. Tom shivered and pulled his jacket closer around him. Images of Jo’s body being carried down through the tunnel haunted him and he knew from the silence of the others that they were having exactly the same thoughts.
“So what now?” he asked.
“Another nook should be a bit further up,” Sky said. “I can’t promise it will be dry, but at least we can sit for a while and take a break.”
Samantha bent down and scooped her necklace up from where it had fallen on the tunnel floor. She put the chain back around her neck and fumbled with the catch, almost dropping it again.
“Here, let me,” Tom offered, taking the necklace from her. He swept her long hair away from her neck and hooked the two ends together.
She placed her hand on the crucifix, pressing the symbol to her skin, just above her heart. “Thank you.”
Tom smiled. “Anytime.”
The others had already begun to move down the tunnel.
Tom followed the group with weary legs and aching muscles. He wanted to stay positive, but doing so was getting harder by the minute. The deeper beneath ground they went, the more his resolve seemed to dwindle. At a guess, he figured they were at least eight or ten stories below the city. The sound of the trains racing through the tunnels had long since disappeared and with it went the last of his connection with the outside world. All he knew was that the deeper they went, the farther it took him from David and the farther it was for them to get back out again.
After about another ten minutes of walking, the group came across another catwalk cut into the stone wall. The cubby wasn’t going to be comfortable, but at least they could stop and rest.
Weary and miserable, they hoisted themselves up into the nook.
Billy got a small camp stove going and everyone leaned in, hands held out, grateful for the extra heat. Sky pulled open her own pack and produced a can opener and opened a couple of cans of processed pork meat and beans the others had been carrying. The cans went straight on the stove and the simple but mouth-watering scent of food cooking filled the small space.
They ate in near silence. Sky sat alone, as did Billy and Otto. Used to the uncomfortable surroundings, some of them slept, getting whatever rest was available to them.
Tom stayed beside Samantha, the pair sharing Tom’s jacket to sit on, trying to keep the damp away from their skin.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She turned to him and forced a smile. “You don’t have to keep asking me if I’m okay.”
“Sorry,” he said, shaking his head, embarrassed. “I guess I’m so used to looking after someone, I don’t know how to switch off.”
“Anyway, I think I should be the one asking if you’re okay.”
“I’d be lying if I said yes, but I guess you know that already. I just can’t stop thinking about David, about whether I’m doing the right thing. Being away from him right now is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
“Everything you’re doing is for the right reason, Tom.”
“So you keep saying.”
He picked at the leftover pork from an open can. He considered putting the food in his mouth, but didn’t seem to have either the energy or the appetite.
“Why hasn’t the Shadows come after us?” he asked, dropping the meat back into the can and wiping his hands on his jeans. “Why hasn’t it tracked us down and infected and killed us?”
Sam gave a gentle shrug and shook her head. “I have no idea. Perhaps it’s not so simple.”
“But don’t you think it’s strange? Not so long ago, that black stuff was practically chasing us down the tunnels, but, since Billy went in the water, we haven’t heard or seen anything.”
“Maybe we threw the Shadows off our scent.” She sighed. “I think we need to be thankful for whatever breaks we’ve been given and try not to question them.”
“There are a lot of things I’m trying not to question. Like how all these people have ended up down here. I don’t understand how so many intelligent, normal, people are living their lives underground.”
“No one down here has a happy story, Tom,” she said. “Most people have drug or alcohol abuse problems, but they didn’t always start that way.”
Tom looked at the people around him. From the holes in their clothes and hair that clearly hadn’t seen a professional hairdresser for a long time, if ever, he could tell they were vagrants. But they were relatively clean, and more, they seemed sane and sober.
“What about Jo?” he asked, remembering the large woman with the weather-beaten, but kind face. “Why was she down here?”
Samantha bit her lower lip and sniffed the back tears that threatened. “Mental health problems. She was married, had a job—a normal life—but she lost a baby, cot death, I think, and she couldn’t handle it. She left her husband, left her life, and ended up coming down here and finding another family, one that didn’t remind her of her dead child.”
“God, poor Jo.” It broke his heart to think he had so much in common with the woman who had just lost her life. One thing Tom could empathise with was someone grieving for a child.
He glanced over at Billy who slept with his head resting on his bag.
“What about Billy?” he asked.
“He doesn’t talk about his old life much, but, from what I understand, he never stood much of a chance. His mother was an alcoholic and spent time walking the streets to get money for booze.”
“What? You mean like a prostitute?” Tom couldn’t help being shocked.
“I told you he didn’t like to talk about it—you can understand why. He spent time in and out of care and then started messing around with drugs. It’s a shame because he’s a smart guy. If he had been given a decent chance in life, he could have made something of himself.”
“But he’s clean now though?”
“Yeah, as far as I know.”
“So, why doesn’t he try to go back up? You said he has experience with technology and he is smart, so why doesn’t he try?”
“He did once, met a girl, had a proper flat and everything, but then she left him and he went back to his old ways. You see, down here they have a proper support system, however dysfunctional it might seem. They’ve each got a place and a function. They take care of each other.”
“Yeah, I guess I can see that for myself.” He paused and lowered his voice. “Do you think Otto is all right? He seems strange since Jo died.”
“He’s blatantly not okay,” Samantha said, lowering her mouth to Tom’s shoulder so she wouldn’t be heard. “I think he’s just shaken. He needs some time and some space. Try not to worry. You’ve got enough to think about.”
He smiled. “Thanks, Sam. I think I would be losing the plot right now if you weren’t here.”
She returned the smi
le and their eyes locked. Tom felt the frisson of heat race between them—an ancient instinct, as old as time itself, still alive and well hundreds of feet beneath the streets of London.
Samantha glanced away. She closed her eyes and rested the back of her head against the stone wall.
Tom studied her face for a moment, the line of her jaw, the delicate turn up of her nose, and the fullness of her mouth. Her beauty was a stark contrast to the poverty and pain of the other people around them.
He couldn’t help comparing Samantha to Abby. After many years of marriage, he couldn’t help seeing Abby differently. Even though he still appreciated how attractive his wife was, the honeymoon period of their marriage was long over. But Tom knew that was life and their relationship now was about so much more than obsessive passion. He could look at someone like Samantha and admire her, but he knew it wasn’t real. In Abby, he’d found someone he admired, but not just because she was gorgeous. After all the years they had spent together, he now admired her resilience, her ability to love and nurture their son, her generosity with her time, and how she couldn’t help but try to look after him, even when she was mad at him.
These were the reason’s he wouldn’t betray her, even though a deep, secret part of him longed to taste Samantha’s mouth.
Chapter 16
AN HOUR OR more had passed since they’d stopped and Tom was getting restless. Of course they needed to rest, but time ticked past like David’s death watch. Samantha, Sky, and Billy all slept curled up on coats and bags like people stuck in a strange airport after their flights had been cancelled. Otto had taken to walking up and down the tunnel, muttering to himself. Tom suspected he was looking for his pet rat, but he hadn’t heard any of the telltale sounds of sharp claws or squeaks.
The man’s angst made Tom uneasy.
Samantha moaned in her sleep and suddenly jerked herself awake. She blinked her eyes open and looked around in the dim light still emitted from a torch which had been left on. She noticed Tom watching and rubbed her hand across her eyes.
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