Tunnels 03, Freefall

had dug the hole, and Will was quite prepared for the discovery of a half-chewed rodent or something equally disgusting a the bottom.
    He'd reached half a meter down and was leaning into the hole when he spotted what looked like a small, light-colored beads in the earth. At first he assumed they were insect eggs or seeds, but as he looked at them more closely, he found they were, in fact, pills. He carefully picked them out of the soil, identifying three distinct kinds. Two of the types of pills were white, but different in size, and the third type was pink. Each of the three types had different letters pressed into them, although they didn't spell out full words.
    Then, as he went down a little deeper, he heard something rattle.
    "What have we here?" he said to Bartleby as he came across three glass bottles. They were each four or so centimeters long, as their tops, screw-on metal caps, had been removed, but he also found these in the soil at the very bottom of the hole. He emptied one of the bottle of dirt and, locating the right cap for it, replaced it. It reminded him of the sort of bottle his parents kept in the bathroom cabinet -- prescription drugs that nobody ever bothered to throw away.
    Making snuffling noises, Bartleby was sticking his nose into the hole, as Will tried to read the printed label on the bottle. He saw there was a long word on the label, with several letters that weren't in the English alphabet. Despite the fact that Will couldn't understand what it said, he had the strongest sense that the bottle had originated from the surface.
    Then he noticed a date at the bottom of the label.
    "Two years old!" he gasped, and immediately checked the other labels. He found that they had approximately the same dates on them, give or take a few months.
    He sat back on the ground, dumbfounded, as several thoughts ricocheted through his head at the same time. He felt a surge of hope, because the very existence of these bottles demonstrated that even down here there were medicines to be had (and modern ones at that), which might help Elliott overcome the fever.
    But he was also deeply disturbed by the discovery. If Martha had known about these medicines, why hadn't she said anything to him about them? Worse still, why had she been skulking around behind his back and hiding them from him? He couldn't begin to comprehend why she would do that.
    He gathered together more of the loose pills and put them in the other bottles, then screwed on their tops. Deep in thought, he tucked all three bottles into his trouser pocket.
    "C'mon boy, time to get back," he said to Bartleby. To avoid getting into further conversation with Rebecca, he marched quickly past her.
    "Find anything?" she called out.
    "Nah, nothing," he grunted, keeping his eyes firmly on the path in front of him.

    * * * * *

    "You're just in time for supper. I made us some broth," Martha said as Will entered the shack. She had her back to the room as she stirred a pot on the hearth, while Chester was seated at the table and already tucking into his food.
    "Did that Styx snake tell you anything else?" he inquired, not looking at Will as he drained his spoon of broth.
    "Yes, she did," Will answered. "Something very weird." He didn't sit down but began to take the bottles from his pocket, placing them in a row on the table.
    "She a lying little scumbag, just like the rest of them," Chester said scornfully, lifting his spoon to his mouth but not quite reaching it as his eyes fell on the bottles.
    "She's not the only one who's a lying scumbag," Will said in a low voice.
    Martha had been halfway to the table with a bowl of broth for Will. There was a crash as she simply dropped it, splashing the broth all over the floor.
    Except for the odd crackle of the fire, there was absolute silence in the room.
    Chester looked from Will to Martha, who was holding mouse still, her head down. "What the bloody hell's going on?" He pointed at the bottles with his spoon. "And what are those, Will?" he asked.
    "Medicine, I reckon. Look at the date," Will said, rolling one of the bottles across the table to Chester.
    Chester picked it up and studied the label. "Two years old," he said. "And the label's in Russian."
    "Russian," Will said. "Really?"
    "Sure. My granny was from the Ukraine. She taught me a few words," Chester said, his expression one of complete bewilderment. "But what's going on? Where did you get these?"
    Will snatched up another of the bottles and shook it so it