by William Wood
Calvin walked down to check on Astra. She was lying in bed, staring at a handheld scanner. When she saw him, she motioned for him to come in.
“How are you doing?” he asked quietly.
“I feel a lot better,” she said.
“Do you feel like eating something?”
She said yes. He went and got her some food and water.
While she was eating, Calvin explained everything that had been going on.
“Wow, that’s a lot of bad news,” she said when he finished. “At least we have something to defend ourselves with, but I wonder how much good it will do.”
“I wish I could tell you,” Calvin said. “I’m not sure, but the tanks and robots have a lot of firepower.”
“That’s true, but for some reason I don’t feel safer.”
“I know. My big concern is how to get back to the Frost and find out what happened. We have to repair it and continue our mission.”
“I’m glad you’re so optimistic,” Astra said. “I’m sorry. I’m just not feeling very good about things right now.”
“Everything is going to be OK,” Calvin said soothingly. “I bet Ion is up there right now, repairing the ship. We just have to wait for him to come and get us.”
Astra tried to smile. “I hope you’re right.”
“Me, too,” Calvin said.
“I found something you might find interesting.”
“What’s that?”
Astra held up the scanner. The screen displayed a map of the castle. There was a small flashing green dot under the castle.
“Is that what I think it is?”
“Yes. It’s the fourth segment,” Astra answered. “It’s located four miles beneath the surface.” Calvin stared at the screen in disbelief. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” He said. “You know what’s down there?”
“Yes, I know.”
Calvin stared at the ceiling, his mind working at a thousand miles per hour.
“We’re going to have to go get it,” she said.
“I know,” Calvin admitted. Then he turned to her and said, “Dev and I can handle it.”
The truth was, Calvin didn’t want Astra going down there. She was still not doing well, and they might have to run for their lives. “It would be better for you to stay here, and keep an eye on us. You can guide us, keep us away from monsters.”
“I can do that,” she said. “I could send some robots down with you to protect you.”
“Maybe,” Calvin said. “I’m not sure that would be a good idea. I want to sneak down there, as quietly as possible. Get in and out without the monsters even knowing we were there. The robots make a lot of noise. We might as well just tell the monsters we are coming, and where we’ll be.”
“I understand,” Astra said. She felt rejected. The one way she could help, and Calvin didn’t want it. But she really did understand. In her opinion, having a few extra guns outweighed the risk of making too much noise. She believed she could find a way of making the robots move quietly. Anyway, she’d been working with robots her entire life. Despite what he said, Astra would find a way to protect him.
Before they went to bed, Calvin got them both some food. They each ate a package of rations and had a bottle of water. They listened to the storm outside, talked, and ate. After eating, Calvin went back to his room. It took him a long time to fall asleep. The thunder and the rain pounding against the window had become very loud. The noise wasn’t the only problem. Calvin’s mind would not shut off. Just knowing there were thousands of monsters below them, with only a handful of robots for protection, kept sleep from him. He wasn’t looking forward to going underground. In the morning, he and Dev would have to descend into the heart of monster territory. The thought scared him—terrified him to his core. Calvin had a restless, dreamless night’s sleep.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:
DESCENT
Calvin woke up five hours later. He sat up in bed and stared at the room. It took him a minute to realize where he was. Outside the storm raged. The wind was loud as it pounded against the tower. It was still dark, so he lay down again and tried to go back to sleep. He tried for a long time without success. Their impending descent into the dark underground where Terrors were hiding weighed heavily on his mind. But there was no way to avoid it. They had to retrieve the fourth segment. Part of him questioned the need. Why bother going after the next piece when the first three were lost? What were they going to do when they got the fourth segment? Take it to the top of the tower and hope the Terrors left them alone until Ion rescued them? He had to have hope. They just had to find a way to get back up to the Frost, even if that meant looking through the debris to recover the other pieces. Astra would be able to repair them if they were damaged, right? He shook his head and tried to focus on what was next: just go down there, find the segment, and get out. Hopefully they wouldn’t run into any Terrors. The clock was ticking. The longer they waited, the more dangerous it would be. After a while, he gave up trying to sleep and got up.
He walked upstairs to the computer level and found Dev sitting at the robot control station.
“Couldn’t sleep?” Calvin asked.
“No,” Dev answered. “I’m glad you’re awake. I think we should go now. I want to get it over with.”
“I’m good with that. There’s no reason to put it off.” They ate some food and then went to their rooms to get ready. They decided to go light; weapons, ammo, lights, radio, scanner, and a portable shield generator each.
Calvin hated to do it, but he wanted Astra to know they were leaving. He softly knocked on the door and was surprised when she cracked the door open.
“What’s wrong?” she said in a shaky voice.
“Dev and I are going now to get the fourth segment. Do you want to watch us on the scanner?”
“Yes!” she said, sounding a little irritated. “You should have told me earlier.”
“I wanted to let you sleep.”
“I couldn’t sleep. Don’t go yet. I’ll be out in a minute.” The door closed. Calvin and Dev walked back upstairs to make sure they had everything they needed. Calvin was glad they did, because they forgot to pack water. They each attached a bottle of water to their belts.
A few minutes later, Astra walked into the room. She didn’t look very happy. Calvin thought it was because she was still trying to wake up. She sat down at the robot control console and looked at the scanner.
“At least the Terrors haven’t moved,” she said. “I hope it stays that way.”
“Yeah, well, we decided to go find the segment before they wake up.”
“That’s probably a good idea.” She still didn’t look happy. Her expression softened, “Please be careful. I’ll try to help you as much as I can.”
“We’ll be careful,” Calvin said. “Don’t worry.” He said that, but he knew she would. He was worried, but mostly scared.
Astra walked with them to the door and opened the barrier. She reached out her hand; Calvin took it. She started to stay something, but stopped. He wanted to say something to her, too, but was afraid to. They smiled at each other, and it seemed they both understood without saying anything. Reluctantly, Calvin turned and walked down the stairs. Dev followed him. The heavy metal door closed behind them and shut with a clang that echoed loudly. They walked quietly past the robot that was standing guard. It turned and looked at them as they passed. Calvin could hear the soft hum coming from its scanner. He could feel it staring at him. He knew, or thought he knew, that it wouldn’t react, and was relieved that all it did was watch them.
Calvin felt as if a hand were crushing him. All the way down to the basement he felt it. It was sapping the life out of him. There was no getting out of this. They had to find the fourth segment. He knew that if they didn’t do this, they might as well just go home and quit. When they reached the door, they stopped and stared at it.
The door looked like it was welded shut, but it wasn’t. With a touch of a button, two iron beams slid apa
rt, and the door swung open. A blast of cold, rancid-smelling air hit them, as if the levels below had been pressurized.
Both had their weapons ready. Calvin fully expected to see Terrors at the door waiting to get out. He was relieved that nothing was there. But the steep narrow stairs that led down into darkness caused his fear to rise.
Calvin stared through the open door. Before stepping forward he checked his weapon again to make sure it was loaded and ready. He also made sure his backup pistol was ready, and he could get to it quickly. Dev didn’t move. They shared a look, but Dev still didn’t move, so Calvin went first.
They quietly stepped down the dark concrete stairwell. Their flashlights cut through the darkness, giving him a tiny hint of safety, but not enough to overcome the tide of his rising emotions. The stairs led down into a narrow hallway. Thick black glass covered the walls on both sides. Calvin shone his light into the glass but couldn’t see what was on the other side. They passed through an open door at the end of the hallway and into a large waiting room. Benches lined the walls; a security station blocked their way. They stepped through a tunnel of electronic scanners. They cautiously passed through the center of the room, shining their lights on everything. It was a mess. There was trash, fragments of metal, and pieces of robots all over the floor. The walls were cracked and had holes peppered in them everywhere. The door on the far side was blocked with a mountain of broken furniture.
“It looks like there was a fight in here,” Dev said. “And they barricaded the door.”
Calvin said what they were both thinking. “To keep the Terrors down there.”
“And now you want to remove the barricade and go down there.”
“No.” Calvin corrected him. “I don’t want to.” He shone his light around the room. “What’s that?” He pointed to two wide elevator doors.
“I suppose it’s too much to ask that they work.” Dev followed him. Their shoes crunched on broken glass. When they reached the doors, they found the control panels smashed to pieces. Dev played with it for a second but didn’t waste much time. “No chance,” he said. The disappointment was clear in his voice.
“I’m afraid we’re going to have to move all that junk.”
It didn’t take long. They grabbed pieces of furniture and threw them into a corner. Several of the pieces were large and required both of them to move. The whole time Calvin’s mind screamed at him to stop. Once the furniture was removed, they found three heavy iron beams, a stack of stone blocks, and a large metal plate. Calvin wanted to stop to catch his breath but was so anxious to get the segment and get out of there that he didn’t even give Dev an option. He pulled the door open, and gaped down another set of concrete stairs that descended into the darkness. Calvin had to force himself to take the next step. It was a long nerve-racking descent down. He couldn’t stop thinking; the deeper they went, the more steps they would have to climb back up. What if they were being chased by Terrors? There was no way he was going to be able to run all the way up. That was his worst fear: running up all those stairs. They would be no match against the monsters, and they would be torn to pieces. Several times on their way down, Calvin thought he heard something behind them, but he never saw anything. He kept his gun out, with his finger on the trigger.
It was a long, slow, terrifying descent. Calvin felt suffocated by the confined space. The stale, nasty-smelling air was starting to make him feel sick. He fought to control his breathing, and his heart pounded in his chest. It felt as if it took forever to reach the bottom. Once there, he didn’t find relief. Instead, the realization of impending doom threatened to drown him in terror. He knew they were about to enter an area with fourteen thousand monsters, and if Dev hadn’t been with him, he might not have been able to keep going. They passed through another doorway, with a thick metal door that was pushed all the way open. They stepped onto a balcony overlooking a small dark city. Hundreds of identical square buildings lined dozens of parallel streets. The city was lit by a strange dim, pale light that radiated from the entire ceiling above. The air was heavy and smelled worse than before. It was bad, but there was something else. He didn’t know what it was, but it was disgusting, and it was giving him a bad headache. A staircase took them to street level.
Calvin checked the scanner.
“The segment hasn’t moved,” Calvin whispered. They hadn’t talked on the way down. Calvin was afraid of making noise. His voice sounded very loud in the dead silence. “There are Terrors all around us.” Calvin held up the screen so Dev could see. The scanner showed red dots everywhere. There were so many the machine couldn’t lock onto one of them. It just kept bouncing back and forth, trying to analyze them all at once.
Calvin led the way down the first street. They walked slowly and cautiously. Calvin felt very uneasy. Monsters were close all around, but not seeing them was almost worse than seeing them—knowing they were there, yet hiding in the shadows. It was an eerie feeling, but one he should have been getting used to, walking through a deserted city, in darkness and deafening silence. They walked for ten minutes, and Calvin spotted an odd shape in the middle of the road, right in front of them. He shone his light on it, but it was too far away to see what it was. It cast a long shadow down the street. As they got closer, Calvin thought it was a person standing in the road. It only took a second to realize what it really was. Dev obviously did, too. He hissed something and ran to the side of the road. Calvin panicked and ran the other way. He pressed himself up against the side of a building and dropped to his knees. The ground was cold and hard. He turned around, thinking Dev was behind him, but he wasn’t there. Calvin looked around rapidly, and saw him on the other side of the road. He waved at Dev until he got his attention. They stared at each other for several moments without moving.
“Now what?” Calvin mouthed. Dev looked at him. He looked scared. Calvin glanced back down the street the way they’d come and saw something even more alarming; two more dark shapes in the street. They weren’t far away, and Calvin knew what they were.
The Terrors had them boxed in! Calvin stood. His heart pounded in his chest. Slowly he inched his way forward. He held his gun tightly, ready to open fire. He thought about blowing the monster to pieces now, but he was afraid to. Every monster in the area would hear it and converge on them. He looked back over his shoulder nervously. Did the monsters see him? He took several steps forward and stopped, carefully watching the monster ahead. Dev watched him and moved forward a little, too.
Calvin desperately wanted to get out of there. Something was telling him to get moving—maybe it was his brain—but his fear wanted him to ignore it and stay still. They couldn’t sit there forever. He knew that much. So he got up and walked forward. He looked back at Dev, whose eyes were wide open, clearly shocked at what Calvin was doing. He mouthed some words and shook his head. Calvin ignored him.
As he got closer, all doubt was removed; it was a Terror. Its mouth was open, rows of razor-sharp teeth clearly visible. The monster’s chest was moving slightly, and he could hear a soft metallic breathing sound. He looked at its eyes. It had a dark face, covered with black leathery skin. Its eyes looked closed. Calvin turned and motioned to Dev to follow him. At first Dev didn’t move, but slowly got up the courage to stand and move in Calvin’s direction. The two of them walked forward slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible.
Calvin held his breath as he passed in front of the monster. He didn’t pause or wait for Dev, who followed close behind him. When they had gone half a block away from the Terror, they turned and looked back. None of the monsters had moved, but Calvin couldn’t relax yet. He knew they were going to have to go back the way they came.
The scanner guided them to a distant corner of the underground city. The screen clearly showed that the street continued ahead of them, but it was blocked with a tall spike-covered barricade. It was a dead end. Calvin looked up and let out a breath. Then he looked at the scanner again.
“It’s that way,” he said, pointin
g.
“There’s no way we’re getting through this,” Dev said. “Or over it. Look at those spikes. Is there anyway around it?”
Calvin examined the scanner and changed the settings.
“No, here’s the problem. It’s still below us. There it is. You’ve got to be kidding me. It’s still a about a mile down. We need to find the stairs.”
“Stairs? How about an elevator?”
“Whichever comes first,” Calvin said. “Do you want to split up and look for it?”
“No way,” Calvin said quickly. “That’s a very bad idea. We’re better off together.”
“All right,” Dev agreed. “Which way then?” They looked around.
“Let’s follow the wall along that way,” Calvin said, pointing off to their right. “If we keep to the edges, maybe we’ll attract less attention.”
“And what if it’s in the middle?” Dev asked.
“I hope not,” Calvin added. “Let’s take it one step at a time.”
Calvin started to move and looked back. Dev was standing still.
“Are you OK?”
“Yeah,” Dev said and slowly started to follow. Calvin looked at him. He could see the fear in Dev’s face very clearly.
“And you wanted to split up?”
“Not really. I just want to get out of here.”
“I do, too,” Calvin said. “But those monsters take a lot of fire to take down. I don’t think either of us can do it alone.”
“You’re right. Forget I said it.”
The light in the massive room was very strange and seemed to come out of the ceiling in a thousand different places. It was a dimyellow, unnatural light that cast their shadows in all directions. Each of them had four shadows.
They followed the dark gray wall for a long time. Calvin jumped at every sound, every shadow that seemed out of place. It was nerveracking. When they reached a corner on the far side, they stopped.
