Tunnels 04, Closer

them reflecting the last light of Dr. Burrows' dying match. "Exquisite," he whispered, but as he moved further along the wall, the flame spluttered and went out.
    "Blast! I've got to see more!" he said, fumbling for another.
    As they were plunged back into darkness again, Will woke up to their current situation. "Dad, this is crazy. We just don't have time for this. There are Limiters out there, and they'll be trying to work out where we've gone. They won't just stop . They'll try everything to get at us inside here. And Elliott's all by herself too. We've got to reach her somehow." Will's voice became muffled as he turned to peer into the gloom behind him. "I have to find my Sten gun. It's our only weapon."
    "Spare me the lecture, Will," Dr. Burrows replied. "I've got a whole box of matches, and it won't hurt to have another quick peek at these scenes. Then we'll try to find another way out. Okay?"
    Will didn't say anything as his father attempted to strike yet another match. Dr. Burrows couldn't get it lit on the first or second attempts. "Oh, come on," he said.
    But as he finally managed it, the chamber was suddenly filled with more light than could have come from a single match.
    Will and Dr. Burrows were encircled by burning torches. And behind these torches were what, at first glance, could have been trees, covered in rough bark.
    That was until Will noticed that they had limbs -- arms and legs -- which approximated to the human form. And although completely covered by the woody, flaking bark, faces were discernable beneath it. Will could make out their mouths, and their small eyes with brown pupils, which glinted in the torchlight.
    With a rustling, the figures closed in on Will and Dr. Burrows.
    "E-E-E-Elliott's trees," Will stuttered, terrified out of his wits.

    * * * * *

    Several patrols of Limiters had taken up position along the four sides of the plateau a the very top of the pyramid, while the Rebecca twins strolled behind them, surveying the activity down at ground level. As the Limiter General climbed up onto the plateau, he conferred briefly with one of his men, who passed something to him, and then he came straight over to the girls.
    As he reached them, he held out a small black box. "First off, this is the radio emitter that was registering on the weather radar system. It was hidden over there, lodged in a crevice," he said, glancing behind the twins.
    Rebecca Two took it from him, and examined the length of wire dangling from it.
    "We haven't opened it to assess the technology, because we didn't want to disrupt the signal," the Limiter General told them.
    "Yes, leave it running," Rebecca One agreed. "Odds-on Drake's behind this device -- he'll have sourced it from one of his techie mates."
    "And what else?" Rebecca Two urged the Limiter General.
    "We've carried out an evaluation of the tracks left in the vicinity. There are four sets in total: three human, one of which is adult and the other two younger, and they're sometimes accompanied by an animal, which is likely to be the Hunter," he replied.
    "That figures... so it just Dr. Buckwheat, Will and Elliott we're dealing with here," Rebecca Two concluded.
    The Limiter General nodded, then resumed. "Stalkers are finding multiple scent trails on all points of the compass," he said with a wave of his hand at the surrounding jungle. "We located the targets' camp in a nearby tree at the edge of the clearing." He made a quarter turn to show the Rebecca twins where he meant. "It's down on the south side."
    "Anything there?" Rebecca Two inquired.
    "Food, water, spare clothes and a limited amount of ammunition, but we haven't finished searching it yet. There was an improvised device with a tripwire rigged across the main approach, which we made safe. The explosive utilized in the device was C4 -- the powerful Topsoil explosive."
    "Follows. Also provided by Drake, no doubt," Rebecca One surmised.
    "And it tells us that Elliott is still up to her old tricks," her sister added. "How predictable."
    The Limiter General continued his report. "There are numerous items -- bones, coins, pieces of pottery and glass -- that don't appear to have been out of the ground for long."
    "Dr. Buckwheat," Rebecca One snorted. "Some things never change."
    "And we've also found some human skulls, three of which look fairly recent. They appear to have been impaled on stakes, and one shows damage to the temple consistent with a gunshot wound, possibly inflicted at close range."