Tunnels 02, Deeper

advancing Styx each strode up to a Coprolite in the opposing line.
    The boys watched as the Styx soldiers lunged at the Coprolites, who simply dropped to the ground like felled trees before them.
    The other Coprolites stood in their higgledy-piggledy line, facing in all directions. They made no move to help their fallen brothers and, what was even more astounding, they didn't seem to react to their deaths at all. It was as if, right in the middle of a herd, cattle had been killed, and the rest of them had just accepted it like dumb animals might.
    The gruff voice spoke again. "Enough of this. You can feel our knives. We will use them if you don't do exactly as you are told. Is that understood?"
    Both boys mumbled a "yes," feeling the blades press harder into their skin.
    "Put your arms behind your backs," the quieter voice ordered.
    The boys' wrists were bound tightly, then their heads were lifted roughly by their hair and blindfolds tied around them.
    As hands grabbed their ankles, they were mercilessly dragged on their fronts, back down the steep slope behind them. Not able to resist, they tried to arch their heads and keep their faces away from the ground racing beneath them.
    Then, with equal roughness, they were manhandled up onto their feet, and both felt something being attached to the bindings around their wrists. They were yanked on by these, each boy hearing the stumbling steps of the other, and led at breakneck speed down the remainder of the slope, leaning back lest they fall. Will guessed that they'd been tethered together, like two beasts off to the slaughterhouse.
    At the bottom of the slope, Chester lost his footing and rumbled over, pulling Will with him.
    "Get up, you slop bags!" the man hissed. "Or we'll finish both of you, here and now."
    Using each other for support, the boys heaved themselves to their feet again.
    "Move," the other one snarled, striking Will so hard on his wounded shoulder that he let loose a wail of pain. He heard his captor take a step back in surprise.
    Will's hurt and fear, coming on top of the intense feelings of loss for Cal, suddenly made something flip in his head. He stood his ground and spoke in a low, threatening voice.
    "Do that again, and I'll..."
    "What?" the voice said. It was gentler than it had been before, and Will noticed for the first time that it had a youthful and feminine edge to it. "What will you do?" it asked again.
    "You're a girl, aren't you?" Will said, rather incredulously. Without waiting for a response, he clenched his bound hands together and squared up to her -- which was difficult considering he had no idea where she was actually standing.
    "I'll call in our backup," he said fiercely, remembering the line from one of his mother's favorite television series.
    " Backup? What's that?" she asked hesitantly.
    "A handpicked team of men are monitoring your every move," he added, with as much conviction as he could muster. "All I have to do is give the signal. You'll be taken out."
    "He's bluffing," came the man's voice. It, too, had lost some of its sternness, and there was even a hint of amusement in it. "They're alone. We didn't see anyone with them, did we, Elliott?" He spoke directly to Will. "If you don't cooperate, I'll run your friend through with my knife."
    This had the desired effect on Will, bringing him quickly back to earth.
    "All right, all right, I'll come quietly, but you'd better watch it. Don't mess with us, or..." Will trailed off. He figured he'd pushed his luck as far as he could and began to move forward again, bumping into Chester, who had been listening to his friend with total bewilderment.

     

21

    "And it is written in the Book of Catastrophes that the people shall return to their rightful place from the Ark of the Earth, at such time that the unholy deluge has withdrawn. And the people will once again plow the unplowed fields, rebuild the leveled cities, and fill the wasted lands with their pure seed. So it is said, and so shall it be," the Styx preacher boomed.
    In the confines of the small stone room in the Garrison building, he towered above her kneeling form, his clawlike hands raking the air around him, his burning eyes and his black cloak making him look like some terrible visitation.
    His cape flapped open from his thin body as he stepped closer to Sarah, his right hand spearing to the ceiling and his left pointing downward to the floor. "As it is in the firmaments, so it is in the earth below," he crackled in his