Tunnels 02, Deeper

when they needed a revenge killing because a trapper overstepped the mark and a Limiter went missing. It's different now; we're being weeded out, and I don't think the Styx are going to stop until every last one of us is dead."
    "But why would they kill Coprolites, too?" Will asked.
    "To send a signal to them not to trade with us or give us any assistance. But that's nothing new. The White Necks have periodic cullings to keep Coprolite numbers down," Drake said, rubbing his temples as if the matter deeply troubled him.
    "What are cullings? " Will asked, not understanding.
    "Wholesale slaughter," Drake replied brusquely.
    "Oh," Will mumbled.
    "There's no question that the Styx are hatching something. The Limiters are out in battalion strength, and from what we've seen, there are high-ranking White Necks arriving on the Miners' Train almost by the day." Drake frowned. "We've also got it from a reliable source that the scientists are down here trying something out on human subjects. There are stories they've set up a testing area, although I haven't located it yet."
    "This ringing any bells with you?" He paused to scrutinize Will with his striking blue eyes. "You don't know anything about any of this, do you?" he said to the boy.
    Will shook his head.
    "Well, then, I need to know everything you do know. Exactly who are you?"
    "Um... OK," Will answered, clueless where to start or how much Drake really wanted to hear. He was feeling totally fried, and every muscle in his body ached from hauling Cal, but he wanted to help Drake however he could. So he began to talk in some detail, Drake interrupting with the odd question, and his manner softening slightly and becoming almost convivial as Will went on.
    He recounted how his adoptive father, Dr. Burrows, had been observing a group of people up in Highfield who didn't quite seem to fit and had thrown himself into an investigation of them. And how this investigation had led him to excavate a tunnel, which had given him a way into the Colony. Then Will explained, swallowing as his throat tightened, how his father had voluntarily taken the Miners' Train. "And my dad's down here somewhere now. You haven't seen him, have you?" he said quickly.
    "No, not me." Drake held up a hand, reacting to the boy's evident agitation. "But -- and I don't want to get your hopes up -- I spoke to a trapper recently..." Drake seemed to hesitate.
    "And?" Will said eagerly.
    "He heard through the grapevine that there's an outsider hanging around one of the settlements. Apparently this man is neither Colonist nor Styx... He wears glasses..."
    "Yes?" Will leaned forward expectantly.
    "...and makes notes in a book."
    "That's Dad! It's got to be!" Will exploded, laughing with relief. "You have to take me to him."
    "I can't," Drake replied bluntly.
    Will's elation was immediately replaced by sheer exasperation.
    "What do you mean, you can't? You must!" Will implored him, then his frustration boiled over and he jumped to his feet. "He's my dad! You have to show me where he is!"
    "Sit down," Drake ordered in no uncertain terms.
    Will didn't move.
    "I said sit down... and calm down, so I can finish what I was saying."
    Will slowly lowered himself back onto the trunk, his chest heaving with emotion.
    "I said I didn't want to get your hopes up. The trapper didn't give me any details about where this man is, and the Deeps go on for miles. In any case, with all the activity from the White Necks, the Coprolites are moving their settlements. So it's likely he's upped and moved with them, too."
    Will was silent for a while.
    "But if it is Dad, he's OK, then?" he asked eventually, searching Drake's eyes for confirmation. "You think he's going to be all right?"
    Drake rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "As long as he doesn't get jumped by a Limiter execution squad."
    "Oh, thank goodness," Will said, closing his eyes for a moment.
    Even if Drake couldn't tell him where his father was, Will was so comforted by the information he was alive that it gave him a second wind.
    He launched into his own story; how, after Dr. Burrows had gone missing, he'd enlisted Chester's help, and how they had gotten into the Colony. He told of their subsequent capture and the grueling interrogations by the Styx. Then he spoke about the first meeting with his biological brother and father, and the revelation that he had been adopted. As he mentioned his real mother, and hat she was the only person ever to escape from the clutches of the Colony