Tunnels 04, Closer

descended a flight of stone steps to find the place was crammed with packing crates filled with mildewed school textbooks.
    Eddie squeezed between these to reach the wall at the end of the cellar, where he located a rusty hook at head height and tugged on it. Drake was inspecting an ancient ale bottle from the top of one of the crates as, by Eddie's feet, a panel around a meter square swung open in the lower half of the wall.
    As he saw the size of the opening, Drake laughed to himself. "And I doesn't even say 'DRINK ME' on the label," he muttered, and tossed the bottle back into the crate.
    Eddie threw him a quizzical glance. "Sorry?"
    "No, nothing," Drake answered. "I was just thinking how unsophisticated this portal is. All expenses spared -- no bells or whistles."
    Eddie nodded in agreement. "At the time this was dug in the early nineteen hundreds, we were a bit thin on the ground -- the events in Russia were our main priority."
    They crawled into the opening and, once on the other side, Drake was able to stand again. He found they were in a white-washed passage several meters across, which led to another flight of steps constructed of crumbling red brick.
    Drake was going down these steps when he realized Eddie wasn't with him. The Styx was waiting at the top, showing no sign that he was prepared to go any further.
    In the light cast by Eddie's luminescent orb, beads of moisture sparkled like diamonds on an elaborate spider's web spun between the wall and a crumbling wooden joist. Noticing the web just above his head, Drake blew gently on it. A rather obscene spider with a bloated abdomen emerged from a crack in the wall, creeping between the exoskeletons of long-dead flies stuck in the web.
    "I take it we're not going any further?" he inquired, as he watched the spider, disappointed there was no new victim for it to suck dry, return to its hiding place.
    "There isn't much point -- now we know we can access this route. And this is how it goes for the rest of the way," Eddie answered. "Just more steps and passages."
    "Fine, as long as it gets us down to the EternalCity with a couple of fully loaded Bergens," Drake replied.
    Eddie nodded again. "Then we're done here," he said.

    * * * * *

    As Will and Elliott walked beside the river, the waterfall came into sight. They continued for a short distance along the bank until Will came to a halt. "Well, I guess this is it," he announced, with an air of finality.
    He gazed at the crystal-clear water, and the exotic dragonflies darting over its surface. "It's very special here, isn't it?" he said, raising his eyes to the lower branches of the huge trees, where a flock of emerald-green birds chattered away. "And this is probably the last time we'll ever see it," he added.
    Will swiveled around and glanced at the waterfall. Although it was hidden in the shadows, the passage was waiting there for them. The passage that would, they hoped, take them to the outer crust.
    Stooping to pluck a blade of grass, Will twirled it between his fingers. "You know, I never told Dad that there was a tunnel here," he said disconsolately.
    Elliott nudged a stone with her boot until it fell into the river, but remained silent.
    "Do you think if I had told him, things might be different now? If he'd jumped at the opportunity to go back to the surface... he would still be alive," Will posed, his forehead creasing with guilt and regret.
    "No, not the Doc. Not him," Elliott answered, without hesitation. "He wasn't about to go anywhere, not until he'd finished his work. You know that."
    Will smiled wanly at her. "Yes, that's true." He took a deep breath. "Okay, Little Miss Vaccine, we need to get you to a Topsoil hospital so the doctors can bottle your blood." He slipped off his Bergen and took out his night-vision device, easing the band around his forehead and making sure the lens was positioned correctly, ready to flip down over his eye. "And as you're so super-duper important now, I'm on point. So if anything tries to eat me, at least you'll be safe."
    Elliott raised her eyebrows, her face mock serious. "Sounds like a plan to me," she said, not able to stop herself from laughing.
    "Wait -- I forgot about Bartleby!" Will exclaimed. They both regarded the Hunter. He'd remained further down the stream where he was trying to catch one of the small silvery fish with a paw as it swam past. "On second thoughts, we should let bozo go first," Will chuckled.

    * * * * *

    "It's weird being here,"