Binding Foxgirls II

by Simon Archer

  “You’re probably right,” I said, setting my jaw in a firm line and staring straight ahead at the door. “It’s just really happening. We’re finally here.” Though the others around me could only hear my side of the conversation with Malthe, that was more than enough for them to understand the context.

  “Yeah,” Cindra said, reaching down and squeezing my hand. “It is, isn’t it?” I nodded.

  “No turning back now,” Clem said, flashing a shaky grin.

  “Then we might as well get on with it,” Semra added, reaching out and opening the door. As one, the drones whirred down in front of her, leading our way.

  “Can you see where we are?” I asked Malthe.

  “Sort of,” he said. “Just like before, I have a general idea, but it’s not exact. My tech reads you as still on the surface, so it’s fuzzy. The signal doesn’t stretch down that far.”

  “We take a left?” Semra clarified, looking at me.

  “Down a long corridor, yeah,” I confirmed, taking a couple of strides to walk up beside her, my hand on the hilt of my holo knife. Her hand was on the hilt of hers, as well.

  We walked in silence, trying to keep the heels of our boots from pounding too much on the pavement below us, but it was difficult given their quality. The corridor itself was dingy and rusted, just like the room Beaufort had been left in, and like I had seen when I looked inside his spirit. There was no one to be found, and the place was narrow and claustrophobic. At least it smelled better now that we were away from Beaufort’s holding cell, or whatever it was supposed to be. It smelled more like tap water than anything else, neither appealing nor bad. Kinley wasn’t pinching her nose anymore.

  “I can still see you,” Malthe informed me when the door to Beaufort’s cell was just a speck behind us. “Don’t answer, I just wanted you to know. I’ve got a map of the old tunnels up to compare. It won’t be perfect since your location isn’t perfect on my monitor, but it does say there’s a left turn up ahead in several hundred yards. It might be the same one you saw when you checked Beaufort.”

  I nodded, though I knew he couldn’t see me, just my general location. It probably helped that the drones were with us, and he had another reading on those, though I didn’t dare ask for fear of alerting anyone to our presence.

  Finally, we reached the end of the corridor. My heart was beating in my chest, so hard I could hear it in my ears and feel it thumping. The steady whir of the drones provided a backdrop to the sound, as well as a source for my anxiety. I exchanged a look with Semra and then Clem. There were two paths: one on the left and one on the right, just like I’d seen when I checked out Beaufort.

  “What do you see on the map? One of the tunnels?” I whispered as low as I could to Malthe.

  “It branches off into two,” he said.

  “Good,” I whispered back.

  “You’re sure this is the right way?” Semra asked, lower than I’d ever heard her speak before, which was good considering that her voice tended to carry.

  “Only if what I saw was right,” I said. “But I’m sure that this is what I saw.”

  “Okay,” she said, looking more comfortable with that decision than I was. “Let’s go.”

  The drones led us to the left, expertly maneuvered by Malthe. Semra and I followed close behind them while the foxgirls were right behind us. Clem filled out the rear end, watching out for us from behind.

  “Okay,” Malthe said. “Do you know where you want to go next?”

  “No idea,” I admitted, practically breathing the words instead of saying them.

  “Isn’t it weird that no one’s run into us yet?” Semra hissed.

  “We felt that way before, and then it turned out they were following us the whole time,” Clem called in a whisper from behind us. “So there’s that.”

  “Awesome,” Semra said darkly, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

  “We could also be in a weird offshoot corridor that’s not monitored very closely,” I suggested, speaking as quickly as I could. “Malthe, can you see anything about that?”

  “Yeah, I think that’s probably right,” Malthe said. “Judging by this old map, that room you found Beaufort in was basically an old storage closet in one of the stations, a smaller one. You’re headed in the direction of a bigger one now. But who knows how they changed things.”

  “Yeah, this definitely isn’t a train station right here,” I murmured under my breath. “It’s too narrow, and there are no tracks.”

  “It wouldn’t surprise me if they only left one or two of the stations intact,” Malthe said. “Because it’s not like the whole city uses them anymore. Just these guys. Either way, who the hell knows. At least it seems like they stuck to the same general structure as on the map for now.”

  I nodded again, though he couldn’t see me. Semra and Cindra each gave me a questioning look.

  “We’re still following the old map, but the inside doesn’t look like it should,” I explained. “This was supposed to be a small train station.”

  “Didn’t you see a station before?” Cindra asked. “When you and Clem were down here on the south side?”

  “Yeah, we did,” I said. “But that was different. It was wide and open, not tunnels like this. We assumed they tore out all the tunnels and replaced them with, well, nothing, I guess. Then the train itself would lead to a place where there were more tunnels. Maybe this is just that place.”

  “I guess you could be right,” she said. “But what does that mean about the concentration of their people in this area?”

  “Good question,” I said, mulling this over. “But then again, a ton of those goons attacked us, so it wasn’t as deserted as it seemed.”

  “Or they could see us coming,” Clem said darkly.

  “Or that,” I relented reluctantly. “I’m not sure, though. We just have to keep going. Malthe, where’s the next fork in the path?”

  “Not for a while,” he said in my ear. “What do you see down there, though? What’s it look like.”

  “Just like the last corridor,” I said, looking around and taking note of my surroundings. “I don’t see much of a difference. Just a narrow tunnel without much in it.”

  “Weird,” Malthe said. “You’d think there’d be other rooms or something like the one you found Beaufort in.”

  “Yeah, you would, wouldn’t you?” I said, squinting up ahead of us. But nothing came until we got to the end of the tunnel and found the next fork in the road. Or lack thereof, actually.

  “You should be at another path now,” Malthe said. “Do you want to go right or left?”

  “What do you mean?” I asked. “We can only go right.” Sure enough, there was only a turn to the right. To our left was just a wall that looked like all the others.

  “Really?” Malthe asked. “That’s weird, the map says differently.”

  “Okay…” I said, my voice trailing off as my mind raised, considering all the possibilities for why this was.

  “What’s wrong? What’s going on?” Clem asked from behind me. Everyone was staring at me anxiously, listening only to my own side of my conversation with Malthe.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Malthe’s map said there should be another fork in the road with two different paths, but we can only go right, and there’s a wall to the left.”

  “What does that mean?” Semra asked.

  “I don’t know,” I said again, a little annoyed this time. I didn’t really know more than anyone else.

  “So should we just go right?” Kira asked, looking between the wall and the right-hand pathway anxiously.

  “I guess so,” I said. “I mean yeah, we don’t have much of a choice. We might as well see what’s down this way and keep this in mind in case we need to come back.” Everyone nodded, and Malthe sent the drones out ahead of us down this corridor.

  This one was shorter than the others, and we came to a dead-end not far from where we started. There was a door like the one to Beaufort’s room, but no other t
urns or pathways except to go back the way we came. I pulled on the door, but unsurprisingly it didn’t open.

  “What do we do?” Cindra asked. “Turn back? Or try to bust through?”

  “Either way, we’re going to have to bust through something,” I said. “Malthe, what are you seeing?”

  But there was no response but some static on the other end of the line.

  “Malthe?” I repeated, my heart beating faster with each passing silent second.

  There was more static, and then some more a little bit louder this time, as if someone was trying to speak, but the words weren’t getting through?

  “Malthe?” I asked again, reaching up and fiddling with the instrument a bit. “Malthe, can you hear me?”

  But there was no one there. In a few seconds, even the static died out, the instrument rendered virtually useless.

  “Dammit,” I cursed, slamming the thing back in my ear in case the signal came back at some point. “I lost him.” Kira and Kinley exchanged a panicked look.

  “What do we do?” Kira asked. Everyone was staring at me again. I pursed my lips and stared at the door. Then, I leaned my ear against it, trying to hear something, anything. But nothing came through.

  “Let’s try to bust it open,” I said. Then, staring straight at the drone, “There. Blast it.” I pointed at the door. And while Malthe could direct the drones from afar, they were also programmed to follow my instructions, thankfully.

  One of them directed a laser beam at the door, cutting a long, rectangular opening in the door almost as large as the door itself. It didn’t make much of a sound, at least not much louder than the whirring sounds that the drones were already making.

  I caught the cut-out segment of the door before it fell to the ground, preventing it from making an even bigger, slamming sound. I gently rested it on the floor and cautiously walked inside, beaming my flashlight around the place.

  There was no one there. It was a virtual copy of Beaufort’s cell, but the bed had no sheets, just an old, gray-ish mattress on a dilapidated, rusting metal bed frame. There was no food there and nothing else to indicate the place was lived-in either. I heaved a long sigh and turned back to face the rest of my team.

  “I guess we should just go back,” I said. “Try to bust through that wall, though doing so won’t be nearly as easy. Maybe Malthe’s signal will come back when we head back that way.”

  “Won’t it, though?” Kira asked, her eyes darting around nervously. “I mean, it was there before, wasn’t it? So why wouldn’t it come back?”

  “It didn’t last time,” Clem said darkly. “Not until we were long past where it cut out in the first place, at least.”

  “Yeah, I think this tech’s more tricky and dated than what we’re used to,” I said, sighing again and walking to the front of the group. “Let’s just hope for the best and prepare for the worst, as usual.”

  “That could be our company motto, couldn’t it?” Clem asked sardonically.

  “Well, let’s fix that,” I said, and the drones jumped out ahead of us at my cue.

  Semra and I led the way again back down the corridor. I kept waiting for Malthe to drop back in my earpiece, but he didn’t.

  “Malthe?” I asked when we were back at the wall. “Malthe? Can you hear me?” But I didn’t even get static in response.

  “How much does this impact our prospects?” Kinley asked, her dark brows furrowed together in concern. “How much do we need the little dweeb?”

  “I think we’ll be okay,” I said. “We have the drones, don’t we? And I can order them around almost as well as he can. Well, I can order them around, anyway. Probably not as well as he can.”

  “And the tank thing?” Kinley asked. “That couldn’t come down with us. He has to send it if we need it. How much do we need it?”

  “Remains to be seen,” I said. “But we’ll have to make do for now.”

  “Should we go back and get it?” Cindra asked, looking around worriedly.

  “Bringing a tank down here would completely blow our cover,” I said flatly. “We’ll make do. It’ll be fine. Just follow my lead. We’ve made it this far, haven’t we?” Everyone blinked at me.

  “We’ve lost a lot of people, Nic,” Cindra reminded me.

  “And we’ve overcome a lot more,” I reminded her. “Anyway, enough talk. It’s time to actually do something. Let’s blow up this wall.” I signaled for the drones to do as I instructed, but Cindra grabbed my arm.

  “Are you sure about this, Nic?” she asked me, worry etched across her pretty face. “Absolutely sure?”

  “No,” I said honestly. “But I don’t see what other options we have. We need to get in there, and we need to get in there fast. Before they have time to regroup, make another conglomerate or whatever. We need to strike these guys while the iron’s still hot.”

  “You’re right,” Cindra relented, dropping my arm. “This is just so extreme. But you’re right. This is what we need to do to get our city back.”

  “Okay, then,” I said, looking around at the rest of the group. “Are we all in agreement, then?” They exchanged looks with one another, but no one protested.

  “I think we’re in agreement,” Kinley said after a while.

  “Okay,” I said. “Good. Let’s do this thing. Everyone step way back.”

  I backed up and motioned for the others to do the same. The drones whirred out in front of us again, then backed up so they could get a better view of the wall, and then careened their lasers right into it.

  But this time, they didn’t just cut out a segment. That wasn’t nearly enough. They blew up the whole damn thing.

  “What the fuck…?” I heard Kinley start to say behind me, but then I realized shit was about to get real.

  “Run!” I screamed. “Forward!” I grabbed hold of Cindra and Kira on either side of me and plunged forward after the drones who were on the other side of what used to be the wall by then. The tunnel above us was collapsing around us, and it was bad.

  For some reason, probably having to do with the age of the structure, and maybe part of it to do with how whoever these motherfuckers were designed the damn thing, it just catapulted down on us at the slightest urging from the drones.

  My whole group was a few steps ahead of it the whole time, however. As we ran, I braved a look back behind us just once to see what was going on. And man, did I regret it. The whole tunnel had collapsed, and the carnage was only a step behind Clem, who was still trailing the group.

  Then he slipped.

  But Semra came to the rescue. She reached out behind her and grabbed him by the jacket, pulling him along with her after the foxgirls and me right out ahead of the rubble. The foxgirls were just fine. Because of our bond, I was able to keep them out of harm’s way right along with me. As long as I was doing okay, they would, too. All the more pressure on me, I guessed.

  In addition to being, you know, terrifying, the impasse was also fucking loud. It was like an avalanche catapulting down around us, and it sounded like one, too. We just kept on running until we didn’t hear the sound anymore, which was about a hundred yards in front of where the original wall had been. Luckily, I had been right that there was another corridor on the other side.

  When the sound stopped, I braved another glance behind me. The rubble had settled, and beyond where the wall had been, the tunnel remained sturdy.

  I halted and leaned over on my hands and knees, gasping for breath. Dust from the collapse filled my lungs.

  “What the fuck just happened?” Kinley exclaimed when she had also caught her breath.

  “I… I don’t know,” I stammered, still gasping for air. “It must have been… some kind of faulty foundation… or some kind of trap…”

  “Are you guys okay?” Kira asked, looking at Semra and Clem. “I thought it was going to get you for a minute there.” I looked down and saw that there was a bloody gash on Clem’s left leg that Kira was looking at.

  “Yeah, I’m okay,” Cle
m said, extending and shaking out the leg. “I don’t know, man, it just happened so fast. And I was pretty far in the back. I think a piece of the ceiling got me. Thanks for coming back for me, by the way.” He looked up at Semra gratefully.

  “No problem,” she said gruffly, looking away from him.

  “Okay, so what do we do now?” Cindra asked, throwing her arms up in the air in disbelief. “Look at this shit. That’s not just stuff from the tunnels, that’s sewage lining and a sign from one of the nightclubs on top there.” She pointed out where she was looking, and I squinted to see it.

  She was right.

  “Shit,” Clem said. “By the time we’re through, we’ll have destroyed half the city between this shit and stuff we’ve already done. I mean, that chasm back there alone….” But I cut him off, shaking my head and holding up my hands to stop him.

  “Don’t, that’s not helpful,” I said. “It’s just not. We need to get through this right here, not worry about how we’ll get through the next thing. We’ll rebuild the city. Just like we did before. We’ll just have to rebuild it physically as well as institutionally this time. Termina’s all this world’s really got, after all.”

  “You’re not wrong,” Clem shrugged.

  “Okay, so let’s keep going,” I said. “Everyone good with that? Do you think you can make it? If not, you can turn back now, and I’ll send a drone with you.” I surveyed the group, but no one so much as flinched, even Clem with his fucked-up face and leg.

  “We’re not leaving,” Cindra said stubbornly, her hands on her hips.

  “Good,” I said. “‘Cause I don’t know what I’d do without you guys.”

  33

  We turned and made our way down the tunnel. We’d have to find another way back up to the surface, the path behind us completely obstructed. But I pushed that out of my mind. I couldn’t worry about that right now, just like I’d told the others. We had bigger fish to fry.

  And it didn’t take us long to find them. Or for them to find us, depending on your point of view. Either way, we turned another corner, and there they were. Another group of goons, standing there and obstructing our path forward. Right at the front was the same guy who had been the leader of the group that attacked Clem and me what already felt like a lifetime ago, but I knew it was just the night before last.