Tunnels 04, Closer

ripped off the entire top of the tank, which was propelled high into the sky, and she was thrown to the ground. She felt the searing heat on the back of her neck, but kept crawling. Two other adjoining tanks were set alight, both exploding almost simultaneously and sending a sheet of fire over the lorry and the building.
    By the time she reached her sister in the entrance to the mine, the lorry and the building were engulfed in a mass of flames, and smoke was beginning to issue into the sky. A dense black smoke, which would set it apart from the jungle fires.
    Rebecca One had been roused by the sound of the explosions.
    "What's that?" she asked, trying to focus on the blaze.
    "Reinforcements," Rebecca Two replied.
    "Huh?" her sister mumbled.
    "Our people know we're here, and they've sent us help," Rebecca Two told her, laughing. "We've got Limiters!"

    * * * * *

    The Limiters who had climbed the tall jungle trees to act as spotters saw the smoke emanating from the distant mountain ridge. Like a dark bruise on the sky, it rose on the far horizon, and it was impossible for them to miss it with their high-powered binoculars. The three spotters didn't shout down to their comrades, but zeroed in on the source of the smoke, watching for several seconds to make sure. Although the range was too great to make out who was responsible for the fire, the volume of smoke seemed to be increasing, as if the blaze had only just been started.
    The spotters signaled to each other and quickly slid down to the ground, where the rest of their squad were waiting. Not a word was spoken as Stalker attack dogs were untied from the trees at the edge of the clearing, and then the fifty-strong company of Limiters set off across the grasslands in the direction of the mountain.
    Up to this point they'd had nothing to go on. They hadn't been able to locate the Rebecca twins' scent trail anywhere in the jungle. But now they'd seen the countersignal, they would keep going until they had reached the mountain and the source of the smoke. And beyond it, if it proved necessary.
    Now nothing would deter them.
    If anyone had been there to see them, they might have mistaken the men and dogs running at great speed across the grasslands for a thick shadow cast upon the ground.
    The shadow of a very angry storm cloud.

4

    "Where's that damn city gone to?" she grumbled.
    Knowing she couldn't just hang on until help turned up, Rebecca Two had decided to head down the mountain. She estimated she'd gone at least five kilometers along the dirt track, which lay in the very bottom of a sheer-sided gulley. Its sides had long since obscured her view of the jungle and, more importantly, prevented her from seeing how far she had yet to descend, or how close she was to the city. And the combination of the unrelenting heat and the weight of her sister in her arms was beginning to sap the last of her strength.
    She was just thinking how badly they needed water when she saw that the track before her leveled out and, if anything, was beginning to rise.
    "Oh, give me a break!" she yelled.
    This seemed to strike a chord with Rebecca One, who was drifting in and out of consciousness. "Will," she croaked. "Gonna break his neck. Gonna kill him."
    "That's good -- hang on to those positive thoughts," Rebecca Two encouraged her. While the makeshift dressings had helped to slow the worst of her sister's bleeding, they hadn't stopped it altogether. "Not far now. You're doing just great," Rebecca Two lied to her, aware of the sticky dampness permeating her own shirt.
    As the track swung through a series of hairpin bends, Rebecca Two was relieved beyond words that it had begun to descend again. Then, after a few minutes, it finally emerged from the gulley, allowing her a full view of the surrounding area.
    She came to a sudden halt, blinking sweat from her eyes. "Look at that!"
    She'd made it down from the mountain, but this alone hadn't lifted her spirits.
    Before her was a road -- a real road. It ran beside an unfeasibly tall wall, on top of which was a tangle of barbed wire. And Rebecca Two had glimpsed something far more significant even than this. On the other side of the wall was a row of huge industrial chimneys, very square and regular. They stretched for some way into the distance. "You've got to see this," she urged her sister. "We're on the home straight!"
    Groaning, Rebecca One lifted her head from her sister's chest and tried her hardest to focus. "Civilization," she