Tunnels 04, Closer

staggered to his feet. "Chester," he shouted. He saw the locked door and rushed over.
    As he swung the bar up and wrenched the door open, he took in Mrs. Burrows, and the Second Officer and Chester's delighted faces.
    Only then did he glance at his watch. "No time for pleasantries," he said. "We've got about a minute to get clear."
    Without a moment's hesitation, the Second Officer grabbed Mrs. Burrows and threw her over his shoulder.
    Drake gave him a nod. He hadn't known what to expect when he first saw the Colonist, but at least the man wasn't going to be a problem. Drake spotted Chester's Bergen and rifles on the floor. "Take your kit... and don't forget your gas mask!" he barked at the boy.
    Then they dashed along the corridor, down the stairs and out into the open. As they came to the guard's cabin and the Second Officer saw his friend sprawled on the ground, Drake spoke to him. "I'll take Celia from here," he said. "You deal with him. He's too heavy for me to move."
    The Second Officer did as he was told, and they'd crossed the road and were just moving down the nearest street when the first of the charges detonated. They didn't go off simultaneously, but in a ripple like a series of fireworks on Bonfire Night. The sound of the explosions echoed all around them as the sudden onrush of air made them totter forward. As the last boom reverberated throughout the cavern, they stopped to watch the building sink into a cloud of dust.
    The Second Officer had put his friend down, and now stepped in front of Drake, squaring up to him. "If I was doing my duty, I should rightfully arrest you."
    Chester had been prepared for this moment, the dart gun ready behind his back.
    "But if letting you two Topsoilers go means Celia's safe, then so be it," the Second Officer continued.
    "Why don't you come with us?" Mrs. Burrows asked him. "There's nothing down her for you."
    "There's my mother and sister," he shrugged. "I couldn't leave them." He glanced up at the smoke rising from the remains of the Laboratories building. "I'll just have to think up something convincing to tell the Styx, and cover myself."
    Drake scanned the streets around them, a worried expression on his face. "We've got to scram," he said. "We should've been long gone before the charges went off. The Styx will be out looking for us now."
    "Oh, Christ," Chester mumbled.
    But Mrs. Burrows didn't seem to be overly concerned. "Thank you for saving me," she said to the Second Officer, and leant forward to kiss him. "You're a good man, a truly good man."
    He held one of his hands to his cheek where she'd planted the kiss, and Chester could have sworn that he was blushing.
    As Drake and Mrs. Burrows began to move away, Chester held back for an instant. "Yeah, maybe you're not so bad... for a total meathead," he told the Colonist.
    "Be off with you, Topsoiler," the Second Officer said, pretending to cuff the boy and smiling. "Now where's that damned Hunter got to? I just hope she wasn't hurt in the explosion," he added, his smile vanishing as he began to look for her.

    * * * * *

    Refusing any help, Mrs. Burrows was having no trouble in keeping up as the three of them dashed through the streets in the direction of the Fan Stations.
    Despite Drake's fears about the Styx, there weren't many yet in evidence, and those that were already patrolling the streets could easily be avoided as Mrs. Burrows used her sense to full effect.
    "Not that way," she said. "With all this gas around the place, I'm not as accurate as I should be, but I think there's some Styx down there."
    Drake peeked around the corner and quickly withdrew. He nodded at Chester. "How are you doing this?" he asked Mrs. Burrows, as the three of them immediately reversed back down the street.
    "The Dark Lights did something to me -- I think they rewired my brain," she told him, then laughed. "I might be blind and never be able to watch TV again, but I wasn't intending to anyway."
    There was no time for more conversation as they entered a road full of rather sleepy people milling around like confused cattle. Chester almost found it funny -- with the men in their ludicrous night caps and shirts, and the women in flowery dressing gowns, it was like some slumber party that had gone wrong. They'd obviously been woken by the multiple explosions -- it would have been impossible not to hear them within the limits of the giant cavern.
    Drake and Chester didn't once have to use their tranquilizer guns. The Colonists