Tunnels 02, Deeper

into focus. He was holding a blade -- it shone in the light. Then Will saw the stake. On it was a body. He thought he recognized the jacket. Drake!
    Will couldn't bear to look too closely, and he was assisted in this by the distance and the remaining clouds from the Black Wind. Just as he was getting a grip, he noticed that there was a darkness sprayed around Drake, all over the ground. Through the scope it was not red, but darker, and it reflected the light, like molten bronze. Will broke out in a cold sweat.
    This is not real. I am not here.
    "Did I get him?" Elliott pressed Will.
    Will angled the rifle up so he could see only Drake's head.
    "I can't tell..."
    Will couldn't see Drake's face; his head was bent forward.
    Distant reports of shots echoed toward Will and Elliott. The Limiters were returning fire.
    "Will, concentrate -- they're homing in on us," Elliott hissed at him. "I need to know if I did it."
    Will tried to hold the scope steady on Drake's head. Clouds swirled in his field of view.
    "Can't see..."
    "You must!" Elliott snapped, her voice distorted with desperation.
    Then Drake's head moved.
    "Oh God!" Will exhaled with horror. "Looks like he's still alive." Try not to think .
    "Put another round in him... quickly," Elliott begged.
    "No way!" Will spat.
    "Do it! Put him out of his misery."
    Will shook his head. I am not here. This is not me. This is not happening.
    "No way," he gasped again, feeling as though he was going to cry. "I can't do that!"
    "Just do it. We don't have time. They'll be coming."
    Will raised the rifle and took in a shuddering breath.
    "Don't jerk the trigger... squeeze it off... smoothly..." Elliott said.
    He shifted the crosshairs from Drake's head, resting them squarely on the man's chest. Will told himself he would be less likely to miss him there. But this was all crazy, haywire. Will didn't have it in him to actually kill anyone.
    "I can't do this."
    "You must," Elliott pleaded. "He'd do it for us. You have to..."
    Will tried to silence his mind. This is not real. I am watching a movie. These are not my actions.
    "Help him," she said. "Now!"
    Will's whole body tensed, rebelling at what it knew he must do. The intersection of the crosshairs moved unsteadily, but it was roughly on the right place, aiming at the heart of the man he admired so much, now horribly mutilated. Do it, do it, do it! Increasing the pressure on the trigger, he shut his eyes. The rifle went off. He cried out as it bucked in his hands, the telescopic sight ramming his brow as it recoiled. He'd never shot a rifle before. Breathing rapidly, he lowered the weapon.
    The sharp tang of cordite from the shot filled Will's nostrils. The smell, so reminiscent of fireworks, would mean something completely different to him from that moment on. More than that, it was as if Will was now marked, as if things would never again be the same. I will carry this with me until the day I die. I might have killed a man!
    Elliott leaned against Will, passing her arms through his, their faces touching as she worked the bolt of the rifle. The intimacy meant nothing in that instant. The spent cartridge spun into the darkness as she rammed a new round into the chamber. Will tried to pass the weapon to her, but she pushed back, wrenching up the muzzle of the rifle. "No! Make sure!" she ordered in a hissed shout.
    Will reluctantly put his eye to the scope again, trying to locate the stake and Drake's body. He couldn't. The view zoomed this way and that, a blur. Then he found it, but his supporting arm slipped. He tried again. And saw...
    Rebecca.
    She was standing between two tall Limiters, somewhere to the left of Drake.
    She was looking in his direction. Straight at him.
    He felt like he was falling.
    "Did you get him?" Elliott asked, her voice a croak.
    But Will was locked on Rebecca. Her hair was drawn back tightly, and she was dressed in one of the Limiters' long coats with the blocklike patches of camouflage.
    It was her.
    He saw her face.
    She was smiling.
    She waved.
    More gunshots rang out, spits of lead reaming through what was left of the misty clouds. As the Limiters zeroed in, shots landed nearer to him and Elliott, one so close that shards of rock pelted them.
    "Did you?"
    "I think so," he said to Elliott.
    "Make sure," she pleaded.
    He scanned quickly over Drake's body and the stake, but Rebecca was again in his sight, large as life. She seemed to have taken off her coat in the short time since he had first spotted