The Dawn: Omnibus edition (box set books 1-5)

by Michelle Muckley

  “You made me believe in myself,” he said as he let his fingers linger on her cheek.

  “And that’s why you have to go,” she whispered. “Because you made me believe in you, too.”

  He kissed her once more before he turned to follow Serena. As soon as he did, Duke ran through the door, confident now that Zack was on his tail. Zack ran across the floor, the contents of the bag heavy and loose across his shoulder. Just before he stepped through the door he glanced back to see Emily running towards what he assumed was another exit. He captured the last image of her long hair, a reminder that life was once free and that it would be sometime again. If he had waited another two seconds before turning away he would have seen Emily take a final glance at the man who had given her hope. Hope that one day he might come back. Hope that one day this could be over. Hope that one day she might be free.

  Chapter Forty Two

  “Follow me,” Duke whispered.

  Duke was beckoning them along the edge of a dimly lit corridor. There was another staircase coming into view, but it was different, angular, almost as if it didn't really belong here. Everything in Omega tower was highly polished and finished to an executive standard. The staircase in front of him was black and made of wrought iron, the triangular steps spiralling upwards. Duke arrived at the foot of the staircase and turned to look at Serena and Zack, his eyes flicking from one person to the next. He leaned in close.

  “Steady footing, okay.”

  Duke set forth on the first step, his boots causing the metallic structure to creak under his weight. Serena followed. Zack took one look back before following their lead. They continued round and round, spiralling skyward until the air became cooler. After seeing Duke slug his fist into the jaws of the Guardians, it seemed impossible to Zack that they would not have been followed. But as he glanced down the staircase, the end of which he could no longer identify with any certainty, he found nothing but dark empty space, as if they had climbed from a deep abyss. There was no sound of boots clanking up behind them, nor the smell of old tobacco from the Guardians. They were on their own in the bowels of Omega Tower and not a single person besides Emily knew where they were.

  They arrived in a room no bigger than two metres in any direction. There was a small light that hung low from the centre of the ceiling but remained redundant, starved of electricity. There was a door on the far wall with a bar across it which had a sign stuck to the handle: PUSH TO OPEN. Without hesitation Duke pushed against the bar and sure enough the door opened outward without putting up any resistance. What hit Zack should have been expected, but instead it was another surprise pulled from the black hat of Omega Tower. The smell of an old city, a cold breeze. The vision of what he once called home in the shape of an old brick tunnel, the ceiling of which was arched and ornate in a way that only the Victorians could have built. The brickwork was a sandy brown colour that was mottled with a distinctive coat of soft moss and London dirt.

  Zack followed Duke and Serena as they ran up the tunnel, the walls hugging them, keeping them in the shadows. There were the smells of petrol and of smoke all ground into the brickwork. Somewhere amongst them he could smell sweat, perhaps even urine. He ran his fingers along the wall and when he pulled his fingertips away they were coated with the same dirt that he could see spreading over the brickwork like the thick grey cloud cover of a winter sky. He brought it up to his nose and breathed in the smell of city life. This dirt had been here for many years, perhaps even longer then he had been alive. He found himself stopping to look back on more than three occasions, as if he could sense somebody breathing behind him, the weight of their shadow falling on his shoulders. But there was nothing there. Nothing except the freedom of being here without a remit, without an instruction. It was freedom that he could feel, and the heart of the old city that he had once called home beginning to beat again.

  While it was dark in the tunnel to the point that it was almost impossible to focus on anything without your eyes becoming blurred, Zack could see that there was a suggestion of a light at the end coming into view. They ran past huge dustbins, dumpsters full and unattended for years. At one point he thought he heard the squeak of a rat, but when he turned around, his gaze following the sound, there was nothing to be seen.

  They stumbled into the road at the end of the tunnel, each one of them panting for breath. Zack stood with his hands on his thighs sucking in air as fast as his lungs permitted. They were surrounded by a cage of mangled lamp posts reminiscent of those along the riverside on Zack's first day outside. That day came flooding back to him; the wind on his skin, the bird at his feet, the rain pounding him until he was wet through to the flesh on his bones. Back then he still thought that Omega Tower would be better. He thought he had left something worse behind. Then Neilson had gone and shot the Drifter and everything had changed, in less time even than when the bombs came.

  Limp off-white rags hung from horizontal spikes which protruded from the wall of the buildings. On one of them it was still possible to read the word ART, and the straggly ends of the material flickered like a candle in the breeze. The building itself looked as if it had been decapitated, almost perfectly preserved from the neck down. The top section had been removed with precision, but the complete absence of an intact pane of glass, combined with the chewed-off corners, reminded Zack that the damage had been swift and intentional.

  Duke began running along the edge of the building. The sun had fallen in the sky, as if nature knew what they were up to and was there to fight their corner, masking them in the elongated shadows of dusk. The sight of the old city, the bit almost untouched by New Omega, the bit that still looked like a version of the place he once knew, came at Zack like déjà vu. He might or might not have ever been to this place. He was disorientated and couldn't remember. But it didn't matter. What he saw before him was familiarity, and it tasted of his past. The world was broken, battered, gasping for its dying breath. But it was still there, and its heart was still beating. It was the first time that he had stepped out from the world controlled by Omega in over ten years, and it felt good.

  He jumped over debris on the floor; piles of irregular-shaped bricks and old signs. There was greenery where there shouldn't be greenery, flowers that might once have been called weeds sprouting up through the middle of the road like a one-fingered salute to the man-made world. Paint had been stripped back from the buildings, scorched away in the waves of fire that raged across the ground. There were no intact street nameplates. Now they looked like Braille, letters in relief, tacked onto walls or mangled posts, some hanging on by a thread after the bricks that supported them had been ripped away.

  Duke stopped at what appeared to be little more than another pile of rubbish. The mound of bricks was decorated by metal poles and scraps unevenly cut and sticking out in myriad directions like candles on a crushed birthday cake. There were two street lamps bent over double, whispering secrets of the past. Zack walked forwards but he stumbled, his foot getting caught on a metal shape. It was bent out of design but unmistakably at some point it had been an S. He looked around and could see that there were other shapes, like oversized alphabet magnets scattered about the floor. He crouched to investigate, but as he picked up the letter B, he heard Serena calling to him.

  “Zack, come on.” From the urgency in her voice he knew he was wasting time. As he stood up Omega Tower rose above him, electricity fully restored and glowing like a giant flame. He hot-stepped it across the sea of alphabet letters and bricks to where he could see Serena standing, Duke right behind her, using all of his power to shift a metal panel that might once have been a door. By the time Zack arrived Duke had revealed an entrance to an old underground station.

  It was a time capsule. The environment was almost untouched, but had been blanketed by a layer of dust that crept through the entrance. Even the ceiling gave up its surface particles like a fine drizzle rain. On his right hand side there was a vending machine, and as Zack walked over to it and wiped his ha
nd over the glass he saw faded packets of crisps in red and green wrappers, chocolate bars left untouched. He hurried to the facing wall where there was a stand filled with leaflets, all still in their intended positions for tourists fresh from the trains. Images of old monuments; St. Pauls, The London Eye, Big Ben, The Shard - only one of which was still standing as was intended. On his left there was a colourful advertisement for The Lion King, showing at Lyceum Theatre. The feeling of the lump in his throat pushed him against the leaflet stand, the tears swelling in his eyes. He brought one hand up to his face, his palm clutching his lips and nudging the first tear from his eye, rolling across his cheek and onto his knuckles. He hadn't realised that Serena had arrived at his side. On the floor he saw the remains of a flower, perfectly dried and cast in dust like a body in the ruins of Pompeii.

  “We have to go this way,” Serena encouraged. “We can't do this now.” She pulled on his arm, and as Zack looked up he saw Duke waiting, his bottom lip caught in the grip of his teeth. Duke took several giant strides in Zack's direction before slapping him on the back, tucking himself in close to Zack's hip. He draped his arm across Zack’s shoulder. It was a side of Duke he had never seen before.

  “I'm sorry. It's just that.....” Zack began, but Duke didn't let him finish.

  “Don't apologise. I get it. But not now, okay? You can fall apart when we get there if you like, but right now they will be looking for us. Let's put some distance between us and them.”

  Zack nodded and swallowed the saliva that had pooled in his mouth, dragging the back of his wrist against his cheek to wipe away the residue of a tear. With it, he brushed aside the memories of travelling the Underground with Samantha, and the thoughts of the things Emily had never experienced, and told himself to focus.

  You made me believe in you, too.

  Duke led them through the tunnels. They each pulled torches from their satchels to light the way, the beams of light brushing against posters for sightseeing, green painted witches, and humans dressed as cats. The things that London used to be. They ran past a sign for MacDonald's, and just the idea of it made Zack salivate. Duke hopped over the turnstile with his torch in his teeth. Serena edged herself over the other side cautiously, conscious of her stomach. Zack followed Duke's path, high-jumping the turnstile in time to guide Serena back to safe ground.

  The deeper into the tunnels they went, the more the underground system resembled the old world, as if stepping through the gates acted like a time machine. All that was missing was the noise of people, the smell of fried food, and the whistle of the wind as it rocketed up the tunnels as the trains screeched into the station. The unnatural silence reminded Zack of an old horror film he had watched where the abandoned tunnels of the London Underground were filled by mutant creatures with a taste for blood. He stepped up the pace to catch up with Duke, and he didn’t let go of Serena’s hand.

  Duke stopped to flash the torch left and right, indicating the requirement for silence with a finger to his lips. When he was certain that they hadn't been followed he pulled off his bag and set it down on the floor, palming the sweat from his brow. He unclipped the satchel cover and pulled open the drawstring holding everything in place. He pulled out a battered canister, dimpled like the casing of a grenade, and took a long glug of tepid water. Serena and Zack followed suit. The tepid water did little to quench Zack’s thirst, but he knew that now was not the time to be picky.

  Duke crouched down to secure his water canister back in the satchel, and Zack helped by casting the beam of his torch in Duke’s direction. He watched as Duke nestled the canister alongside a rainproof jacket and what looked to Zack like dehydrated food sachets and several magazines of bullets. Zack confirmed the presence of a handgun holstered at Duke’s hip. It sifted a memory of Gamma Tower to the surface and Zack felt a sharp pain in his side which could have been a stitch, but felt more like a reminder of the bullet that he had planted in the Gamma resident's torso. How easily Zack had floored that man who was doing exactly what he was trying to do now. With the gun that Duke had given him. And now Duke was here helping them to escape? Suddenly something didn't make sense, and within no longer than it took him to take a breath he stopped feeling like they had been saved, and instead began to consider that maybe they were being led into some unknown trap.

  “Duke, these tunnels run right underneath Omega. Are you sure they are not being patrolled?” He angled the light on Duke's face, his eyes squinted, pupils pin-prick tight. Swathes of dust motes floated between them. Zack tried to read him, looking out for the micro-movements that would give him away. A twitch of the nose, a flicker of the eye. Nothing. Duke stood up, his solid jaw jutting out as Zack followed him with the beam of light. Duke swung his satchel over his shoulder, and Zack could hear Serena following his lead. To her nothing had changed, because she knew nothing about what had happened at Gamma Tower.

  “Of course they are being patrolled, but not by them. By us.” He took a step away in the direction of a tunnel signposted MORDEN. Serena began to follow, just coming into view in the beam of the torch.

  “Who exactly are us?” Zack asked. Serena looked back in wide-eyed surprise at Zack as if to question his sanity for challenging their only hope out of here. “Where are you taking us? Why are these tunnels so clean? They have been maintained, Duke.” He said this as if he had just delivered the crux of his argument for which there was no retort. Duke held his torch up to Zack’s face. Serena stood in silence, her teeth nibbling at her bottom lip as she clung onto the strap of the satchel.

  “What do you think is going on here, Zack? There were many people in the tunnels when the bombs fell. Beyond expectations,” he paused to correct himself, “or rather beyond the wishes of the Conservators, many survived. You think we are the only ones left? You've seen the Drifters. Who do you think those people are?” Duke slackened his stance, and Zack put some effort into trying to do the same, letting his hand drop and his elbow slacken. On one hand he wanted to believe in Duke, and believe that creeping through the abandoned tunnels of old London would result in some sort of freedom. But there were facts that he couldn't discredit, like Duke being involved in the chaos outside Gamma Tower, or that they were now underneath Omega in a well maintained environment. Duke gave me the gun, Zack thought to himself when he recalled the day outside Gamma Tower. Duke had laughed and smiled along with Pederson and Nielsen when they shot the Drifter on his first day outside. He could almost hear the Guardians charging towards them, cornering them down a dead end, and see Duke standing aside while Zack and Serena were taken. The idea of Duke smiling at Zack’s Denunciation Ceremony refused to budge.

  “Zack, what are you doing?” Serena asked.

  “Serena, we don't know where he is taking us. This could all just be a trap.”

  “You're right,” said Duke. “You have no idea about me. This is just a trap.” Zack and Serena exchanged a moment of disbelief, her mouth dropping slack, Zack's tight as skin on flesh. “But it'll only be a trap if you stay here.” Duke pulled his own torch up and flashed it between Zack and Serena. “And don’t forget, I don't know anything about you either. Oh, I don’t know, except for the fact that you are happy to build a wall to keep the Drifters out, and that you are not too bad a shot with a gun.” He flicked the light to Serena and she brought her hand up to shade her eyes. Zack thought about the horror film again, wondering if this was the point when they would meet their demise. “And as for you, fornicating with a Guardian from another tower, isn't it? Pregnant by one of them. I've never heard of you before this little adventure of ours. How do I know that you are not some kind of informant?”

  Serena tipped her head to the side as if she was guilty of whatever charge it was that Duke had landed her with. But she was also looking up at Zack, wondering if she had misjudged him now that she had heard the story about how he was a handy shot with a gun. By an almost indistinguishable amount, she inched away.

  “You gave me the gun,” Zack challenged in a voice too s
oft to sound convincing. “It's you that is part of their plan. You set fire to Gamma.”

  “Just like you are part of the plan, Delta. We are all part of the plan. Only some of us make our own plans, which is what I'm doing, and which is what I thought you were doing until you started questioning me about my intentions. Where are you going to go if you don't come with me?”

  Duke bent down and picked up Zack's satchel. He pulled the drawstring tight and helped Zack slide it over his shoulders without any resistance.

  “We maintain these tunnels, Zack. The bombs didn't destroy everything. There are huge parts of the Underground still passable. We move around down here when we need to. When we need to get people out. You think you are the first person who couldn't tolerate their bullshit?” Duke asked, pointing at what Zack believed to be Omega Tower above ground. “You're just the first person that managed to fuck up an exit, causing me to have to knock out two Guardians. I can't go back now, either.” Zack looked down at his white pumps speckled in dirt from running through the deserted streets. “And as for Emily, I don’t know what they might do to her.”

  “Don’t say that,” Zack begged. “Please don’t say that.”

  “Who is we?” asked Serena, trying to guide the subject away from anybody’s guilt.

  “The people who still believe in something better,” Duke replied. “Not prettier. Not easier. Just real. We cling to it, and we cling to each other, and pull out whoever needs pulling before they go crazy.” He hoisted his satchel higher and pulled the strap tighter. “Just like you guys. There'll be time for your questions, but let's get the hell out of here. We have a good twenty minute walk through this tunnel and it's dark in there. Watch your footing, especially you,” Duke said as he motioned towards Serena, his light beam trained on her abdomen. “Once we get to where we are going I'll tell you anything you want to know.”