Tunnels 02, Deeper

but filled with fragile hope.
    At Drake's suggestion, they had taken a couple of breaks on the way, but no one had spoken as they drank water and chewed on some salty sticks with a nondescript flavor that the taciturn man had produced from a pouch.
    As they had jogged along, with only Drake's faint miner's light to guide them, Elliott had prowled behind, constant yet undetectable in the dark. But she was with them now, as Drake stood by the letterbox opening, a place Will had hoped he'd never again see in his lifetime: a place of fear and dread, a portal into the deathworld.
    Drake undid the buckle and slung his belt kit to one side as Elliott handed him a mask, which he fixed over his mouth and nose. "I was given this by a dead Limiter." He smiled dryly at the boys. Then he made sure the strange lens was positioned correctly over his eye.
    "I want to help," Will declared. "I'm coming with you."
    "No, you're not."
    "Cal's my brother. He was my responsibility."
    "That has nothing to do with it. You stay with Elliott and keep watch. We've broken every rule in the book on the way over, and I don't want to get pinned down when I'm in the sugar trap." Drake gestured to Chester. "He's the stronger of you two -- he's going to help me."
    "Sure!" Chester nodded eagerly.
    Elliott tapped Will on the shoulder. She was so close to him, he was a bit taken aback. She pointed at the outcrop behind the letterbox opening. "Take that side," she whispered. "If you see anything, don't shout, just tell me. Got that?" She started to hand Will one of the small metal cylinders Drake had been carrying, but he spotted what she was doing.
    "No, Elliott, he doesn't know how to use it yet. If it comes to that, just scram and lead them away. We'll regroup at the emergency RV, OK?"
    "OK. Break a leg." She smiled under her shemagh as she snatched the cylinder back from a bewildered Will.
    "Thanks," Drake said, then jumped in the opening, with Chester close behind.
    After they'd gone, Will hunched down low against the rocks, scouring the darkness. The minutes passed.
    "Pssst!"
    It was Elliott.
    Will looked around. He couldn't see her.
    "PSSST!" It came again, louder this time.
    He was about to call out to her when she landed right behind him, as if she had dropped from the sky. Evidently she'd been on top of the outcrop.
    "Something going on over there," she whispered, pointing off into the darkness. "It's a long way away, so don't panic. Just keep your eyes peeled." She was gone before Will had a chance to ask her exactly what she'd seen. He peered in the direction she'd indicated. As far as he could tell, there was absolutely nothing there.
    After several minutes, a distant, deep, rumbling boom resounded across the plain. There was no flash, but Will was certain he felt the percussive shock on his face, a faint wash of warm air over and above the constant breezes. He stood up, and Elliott was back in an instant.
    "Thought so," she whispered into his ear. "It's the Limiters sending another Coprolite settlement sky-high."
    "But why would they do that?"
    "Drake thought perhaps you could tell us."
    Will saw her keen brown eyes flash through the parting in the shemagh.
    "No," Will replied hesitantly, "why should I know?"
    "This only started -- the hunting of our friends and any Coprolites who deal with us -- about the time you showed up. Maybe you brought it on. So what did you do to get the Styx so stirred up?"
    "I... I..." Will stammered, stunned by the suggestion that he was somehow to blame for the Styx's actions.
    "Well, whatever you did, they won't let it go. I should know." Her eyes flicked away from him. "Keep alert," she said., making a catlike leap up the sheer incline of the rock outcrop, her outsized rifle balanced in her arms.
    Will's mind was whirring. Could Elliott be right? Had he brought down the wrath of the Styx on the renegades and Coprolites? Was he in some way responsible for all of this?
    REBECCA!
    The thought of his one-time sister made him choke. Could she still be out for vengeance? Her evil influence seemed to follow Will everywhere he went, slithering after him like a poisonous snake. Was she behind what was happening? No, that would be just too outlandish.
    He thought back to the moment he and Chester had first entered the underground world, through one of the Colony's air locks and into the Quarter, setting off a chain of events over which he'd had no control. Then he began to think about how many lives had changed for the