Freed

by Holly Hook

  Garrett takes a step closer. He's shaking. “Your axe and that claw won't do you any good now,” he says. “I needed you in a place where I could make a...clean ending to all of this.”

  I tense. The Flamestone pool behind me spits and bubbles.

  I get where this is going.

  He wanted a good place to dispose of us.

  “Where's your friend?” Garrett asks. “Where is she?” The gun shakes in his hand. He doesn't want to shoot us. Not really. The whole thing is fighting him. It might give us a chance.

  “I don't know,” I say. “She got lost in the caves. Go try to find her.”

  Garrett faces all the openings to the room. I try not to let my gaze go to the one we came out of. The Flamestone vein still curves and runs down along its ceiling. It's so far away. We could run. I read somewhere that someone trying to shoot you usually won't succeed if you're moving. But this place is closed. He might hit one of us and then there won't be any medical help. Garrett would like that. He'd like it if I bled out slowly and suffered here. He could walk away and forget about me.

  Talia faces the ground. She breathes heavily. She won't stand. Garrett made her lie here next to the Flamestone. He grabbed her from whatever mine she was working on and made her lie out here just to lure us down. It must have been so horrible for her, not knowing why.

  “Elaine, I'm sorry,” she manages. She's hoarse. The heat's getting to her after all.

  “What's this going to do to my mother?” I ask.

  Garrett flinches. “This?”

  “Me dying. That would kill her. You really want to do that?” I ask.

  Behind him, all the Dwellers skitter as if they're sensing the tension inside him. His nerves. I doubt Garrett has ever done any dirty work himself. He's just bossed around the people who do. He's the leader. He doesn't have to get his hands dirty.

  “I'm sorry, Elaine,” he says. “You're too dangerous. It's either you die, or the Society dies. The Dwellers know you're my stepdaughter. You would... never mind.” He raises the gun. “It doesn't matter. Back up. You're jumping into the lake.”

  I glance behind me. He doesn't want to shoot. He wants something else to take care of this for him.

  “I said, now! It will kill you quickly.”

  My heart pounds. Pit gets in front of me and growls. Garrett will shoot Pit. His eyes narrow at him. Pit's just an animal, after all. Footfalls pound somewhere. Someone's running. Which way, I don't know. Shawn and Travis don't move. Travis has his hands up.

  “Now, Elaine!” His finger curls around the trigger. I can't move. He'll kill me.

  But I do.

  I take the axe and swing.

  Garrett backs away, arms flailing, into the stone. He shoots. Sparks fly and the air next to me whizzes. His eyes open wide and he slumps against the wall. The arms of his suit crumple back. Shawn shouts something. Travis moves in and grabs his arm. His sleeve falls away to reveal his flame tattoo. It's more alive than ever, almost pulsing in the light. This is the same stuff sloshing around in the lake. It's under his skin and I hope it's burning him.

  “No!” Garrett shouts. He keeps the gun in his grip as Travis tries to pry it away. Talia rises beside me. She screams. I advance closer to him with the axe. Garrett's eyes are huge. I wonder if there's still blood on the blade from the crazy woman. He might see it.

  This is the moment.

  The moment I have to finish what my father started.

  “You can't do this, Elaine,” Garrett says. “You're more reasonable than this. You'll never really stop the Society. Ever.”

  “Then why did you say I would?” I ask. I step closer. The axe is heavy. My arms tremble.

  He swallows and eyes the room around him for an escape, any escape.

  “Society?” Talia asks. She backs towards the water, hair ragged. “You know, I never liked your stepfather.”

  “I thought I did,” I tell her. We're all together again. Facing down our biggest enemy. Down in this hell, but together again. “Then I found out some things.” Travis keeps Garrett's armed hand held against the wall. He shoots again and I flinch, but the bullet bounces off the wall higher up in the chamber and misses Travis.

  Travis jumps but doesn't let go. Garrett swings his free arm but misses him. “Kill him, Elaine!” he shouts. “Do it now!”

  Shawn grabs my arm. “Let me do it. Please. Don't burden yourself with this.” He eyes my axe. The axe my father would swing if he were here. I breathe out. There will be blood. Garrett's eyes will glaze over. His breath will rattle like that woman's. Why am I too weak to do it? Why am I still too scared to give in? Is a little bit of Melissa still there after all, calling me Killer Klaver?

  I can't do it. Oh, god. I can't do it. I came all this way and he's here and trapped and I just can't swing. Maybe if I close my eyes...

  “Garrett,” I say. I'm stalling. I'm being such an idiot. “How do think I'm going to destroy the Society, anyway? By lighting this heart of Flamestone on fire and destroying the Dwellers' food source? Is that it?”

  His eyes grow large. “You don't understand what you would do.”

  I eye the lake. I need to know I'm doing the right thing. I won't act without thinking first. The waterfall falls onto its island of Deadstone, then flows into the channel and into darkness.

  "What if I block off this cave? Fill this place with water?"

  Garrett sucks in a breath. The Dwellers skitter around in terror. They know. They know what I plan on doing and that it could doom them. They deserve it for forcing people to work to death for them. They deserve it for taking so many young lives away. For ruining Jaden. They're evil and they have no business existing.

  If we manage to fill this place up with water—the Flamestone will all burn under it. It's sparking as it hits the walls of the lake. It'll manage to ignite. The Flamestone under it will burn away from the air. The fire will spread up through these veins as the water rises, turning it all to Deadstone. Then it'll go up through solid stone, where there's no oxygen. Up past the mines. Almost all the Flamestone will burn away.

  The workers will go free.

  “Shawn,” I say, eyeing the dynamite. “Come on. We're ending this!”

  “No!” Garrett shouts. He tries to pull his hand away from the wall, but he's no use against the captain of the football team. Garrett's world is desks and money and phones. Travis's is tackling and sports and physical prowess. Garrett stands no chance.

  “I'll hold him here!” Travis says. “Obviously.”

  “What are we doing?” Talia asks. "You have dynamite?"

  I rush for the river. “We'll all need to run as soon as we do this, because it's going to flood in here.”

  “What?” Talia asks. She eyes the waterfall, and then the sticks of dynamite sticking out of Shawn's pack. “You're going to--”

  “Grab me a stick.” The lantern's on the floor. I seize it. The flame still goes, bright as ever. It's what's keeping the Dwellers back. We have to blow up the tunnel the water's draining into. Create a dam. Run up through the caves before this cavern floods. And it will. Most of the caves are much higher than this. There will be some outlet eventually and we can escape to air. We might not make it but this is our only chance.

  Shawn tosses me a stick of dynamite. I catch it. The Dwellers all squeal again. They know they're in trouble. “You like this?” I ask. Pit growls at them, too. “You like this, huh?” I'm almost laughing. I'm crazed. This is it. I take the lantern and light the fuse.

  “Throw it!” Shawn says.

  I stand there. The fuse burns down. Sparks fly in my face. The Dwellers all retreat and Pit snaps at them, hungry. He won't get out of the way.

  Hungry.

  Pit.

  Pit!

  If I destroy all the Flamestone and starve the Dwellers, he goes hungry, too. He dies.

  And the Disgraced all starve to death, too.

  “Crap,” I say, turning.

  “Elaine, what are you doing?” Shawn asks. His
eyes are huge and he stands on the edge of the lake. “Throw that!”

  I can't kill Pit. He saved my life. I saved his.

  “Back off!” I yell, throwing the dynamite over the Flamestone lake. This could be a horrible mistake. We could die. The stick flies over the sparkling orange liquid and lands on the other side, right on the trail. It lies there on the stone for a second, then rolls towards the orange stuff. It sparks like the stuff hitting the sides of the lake, blending in for one horrible moment.

  And then it rolls in.

  Shawn grabs me. “Duck!”

  Garrett screams. Talia crashes into us and we all crash into the wall together. Travis and Garrett struggle next to us. What have I done? What have I almost done? Pit growls and snaps at the Dwellers again. I almost doomed him to a slow, agonizing death.

  I can't do that.

  But what now?

  The explosion's muffled under the Flamestone. Not as loud as the others. Orange liquid flies everywhere, landing back in the lake and splattering the wall next to us. A searing burn screams on my knee and I glance down to find a glob of Flamestone hugging the fabric, burning on my pant leg and solidifying into rock. I flick it off, seething. Talia screams with pain. There’s another glob on her arm. Shawn brushes it off and waves his hand. The solid Flamestone falls to the ground, joining other splatters and sparking and smoking.

  I can't destroy the Heart of Flamestone.

  “What did you do that for?” Shawn asks. “You could have blocked off the tunnel!” Behind him, the lake sloshes with energy. The dynamite’s gotten it excited.

  Light fades.

  The lantern's going out. It's rolling into the river of water. Falling in.

  They all squeal. This time, it's with victory. I can still see, but the light from the lake’s not enough to hold back the Dwellers.

  I curse. “We have to go.”

  Travis slugs Garrett in the side of the head. He’s panicking. My stepfather slumps to the ground and Travis breaks free.

  “Go!” he shouts.

  “I agree.” Talia claws at the sleeve of my sweater. She runs beside us as we bolt back up towards the cave. We can't stay. The Dwellers all skitter. There’s splashes. I jump over a large lump of solidifying Flamestone. The Dwellers will have their slaves pick this up and load it. They'll continue to do so forever. I'm running away from what I need to do, but we have no choice. One glance at those green eyes, and we’re done. We can't come back down here until we get a torch lit. Until we can hold off the Dwellers. Garrett will have no problem killing me if they make me pass out.

  Maybe he’s right. I came here to fail.

  “We need a torch,” I say, slowing. The splashing gets louder. The Dwellers are running after us, free. I'm not leaving. I have to destroy Garrett. I'm not giving up. “Garrett's still alive.” It's the only way.

  Shawn fumbles with his pack, where they're all stored. We'll have to stop. Light one. The Dwellers are on our heels. Don't look back, I think. One glimpse of all those green eyes, and we're done. They have us.

  He manages to pull a torch out. “Got one!”

  “It's not lit!” I shout. The moss bounces on the torch as he runs. We'll have to stop. Get out the chisel and hammer, but the Dwellers will swarm us before we do. Below us, the Flamestone lake seethes and sparks against the edges. The dynamite's made it more active for a while. Flames erupt at the edge and die as soon as they came. The waterfall continues to fall like it will for the rest of time.

  “Then hand it to me!” I shout.

  Something runs across my foot. The Dwellers are here. They've got us. We feet above the lake now. We're not that high up.

  Shawn tosses me the torch. “What are you doing?”

  “You'll see.” We’ve circled around. Garrett's right below us now.

  “Come on!” Talia shouts. “We need to get out of here!”

  I stop. The Dwellers crawl over my feet but I don't dare look. I catch a glimpse of red and yellow points and a tinier flash of green, but I can only watch the ledge below me. Where Garrett lies, face-down.

  I crouch and jump down.

  “Elaine!” Shawn yells.

  And then he groans. The Dwellers have gotten him. Talia groans, too. My friends are all passing out right above me.

  I land on the ledge, next to Garrett's still form. Travis lands beside me. It's just me and him now. Are the Dwellers taking my friends? I have to stop them before they do.

  “I've got your back,” Travis says. “Whatever you need to do.”

  Next to me, the Flamestone seethes. Heat blasts against my face. We could toss Garrett in, but the Dwellers are coming back down after us. We have to deal with them first. There must be hundreds of them. Maybe thousands just feet away. The skittering noise comes from everywhere. More skittering echoes up the river. I don’t dare face it. They're coming to the aid of the Flamestone leader. They might take him away, too. Take him to safety as soon as they’ve got us. We have to finish this before it happens.

  I kneel down. The heat's unbearable. How can anyone have survived working down here?

  I extend the torch towards the lake. It laps over the rock and towards my shoes. Flames erupt. The moss around the torch smokes.

  And comes to life.

  “Yes!” I shout, holding up the torch. I blow on it. Beyond it, hundreds of little shapes rush towards us. They've left Shawn and Talia up above. We're the ones they need to deal with. I can't make out their eyes with the light in front of me.

  They all stop and squeal in pain. Pit jumps down in front of me from the ledge above. He lunges and snaps. Gets one, and chews. Some of them scatter. Several plunge into the Flamestone lake and fire goes up at the impact. The Dwellers sink, forming little indents in the orange liquid.

  We've got them.

  “Get out of here!” I shout. I can’t see their eyes beyond the flame of the torch. I focus on that. These guys are stopped. They won't come closer. I stand over Garrett. There’s more skittering, coming from everywhere like more Dwellers are about to pile out of the caves. We're about to get flooded and not with water. They're all coming. All the Dwellers in the mines are coming here and we're going to get overwhelmed no matter how many torches we get going.

  “Now what?” Travis asks.

  I swallow. “We kill Garrett. That might stop them.”

  “It won't!”

  Garrett seizes my legs. I stumble and drop the torch. I drop my axe. It falls to the ground and slides right into the Flamestone lake. Fire erupts as the liquid swallows it forever. It's gone. My weapon is gone. I can't do what I need to do after all.

  “Up!” Garrett orders. He grabs the back of my shirt and yanks me up. I flail, keeping my eyes mostly shut.

  “Let go of her!” Travis shouts. He pulls at Garrett. Garrett growls and I can't breathe. He's choking me. The Dwellers surge forward, pushing against the shrinking bubble of light. We're outnumbered. Travis drops the lantern in the struggle and it rolls away, making our bubble of light smaller. I'm going to die here. I came all this way and I won't finish what my father started after all.

  “I...” I manage. I raise my foot and bring it down on Garrett's shoe, but he growls again and refuses to budge. He's lost his sanity.

  “What will your father think when you never come home?” Garrett says. “I'll tell him what happened to you. I'll tell him you burned alive in this lake.” He turns, taking me with him, and the giant lake comes into view. I claw at his pants. He's not letting go. The Dwellers surge forward and Travis groans. He's seen them. I'm on my own. He's passing out.

  “You...” I manage.

  “In!” He shouts. He shoves me closer to the lake. “In!”

  “No!” I can barely get it out. My shirt cuts into my throat. The world's getting darker. Hotter. Little feet skitter around and more tiny forms fall into the lake. They're pushing each other off. There must be thousands of them in here now, all stampeding over each other to watch this. They're all going to see me die down here.r />
  Another man roars with fury and Garrett lurches.

  I fall back with him and my stepfather's grasp loosens. I suck in air and stand up. The world snaps back into place. I catch a glimpse of a new river of red and green and orange surging down the walkways towards us. Nausea washes over me. It's all Dwellers down here now. They're all coming. Coming to save the Flamestone leader. They run over the forms of Shawn and Talia on the walkway above, ignoring them. Shawn manages to lift an arm. He's not completely out. But I'm not getting out of here.

  I avert my gaze from their eyes as sickness explodes in me. I face the ceiling. Little claws and feet run over my shoes. Garrett struggles just outside the light against the hulking figure of a huge man in a white fur with red and black stripes. I catch a glimpse of a fang necklace swinging on the edge of the lantern light. Is that Ned? How did he get down here?

  And Baxter's there, blindfold over his eyes and holding a crude spear. He stands there as the Dwellers seethe and rush over his feet, immune from their gazes. Garrett's arms flail as he tries to punch Ned in the face. Ned pulls him against the wall and holds him out in front of him like a human shield. He's getting my stepfather in place so Baxter can deliver the killing blow.

  I suck in another breath. The world stabilizes. Yes. He's here. Baxter ran from the elevator after all. Then they came down through the caves. Found us, or followed our trail. Who led them?

  “Elaine, we need to go!”

  It's Jaden.

  He stands next to me and grabs my arm, immune to the Dwellers. He squints against the faint torch light and heat blasts against the back of my legs. I'm too close to the Flamestone lake. Pit's there, too, biting my jeans and pulling me up towards where we came. I don't understand how he got here. How Ned and Baxter found us.

  “My friends!” I shout. Travis slumps against the wall, shaking his head. Garrett shouts something. There's no time to get caught up. If Baxter wants to kill Garrett he can go ahead. I won't have to do it. Garrett shouts obscenities at them. At me. His face curls into hate. The Dwellers surge around Ned, trying to force him to let go. Ned keeps his eyes mostly shut. He's been hit by Dweller sickness and knows what to do. Baxter still readies the spear, but with the blindfold he's not going to hit the right guy. Ned shouts something at him, but it's lost over the stampede of thousands of feet. I don't dare face the floor. If I do, I'm going down. I might or might not ever wake up again.