Tunnels 04, Closer

easy," Elliott said, forcing herself to move more slowly as the howls of the stalkers came from all over. She didn't want to blunder into one of the attack dogs or be ambushed by a Limiter patrol. Too much was depending on her. She hadn't gone straight to the pyramid as there were a couple of things she'd needed to do first, to prepare herself. But now, as she headed toward it, she heard a short burst of automatic gunfire.
    She halted on the spot. "Sten... Will's Sten?" she asked herself out loud, wondering if it had actually originated from his weapon, or whether the Limiters were using similar light machine guns, which would have been most unusual. But it made no sense for it to have been Will -- if he and Dr. Burrows had already been captured, why was there an exchange going on now? She had to get closer so she could find out precisely what the situation was. But how was she going to do that, with so many Styx soldiers in the area? It was at that point that she happened to glance at the branches above her.
    "The trees! Use the trees!" she said to herself. She chose a trunk and began to haul herself up.
    After a while she stopped climbing and instead began to move parallel to the ground by hopping from branch to branch, always in the direction of the pyramid. Her idea was working; she knew it was highly unlikely a stalker, even with its ultra-sensitive sense of smell, would detect her up here.
    As she landed on the gnarled branch of one of the mightier trees, she began to climb again, further and further up, until the odd finger of sunlight percolated through the foliage above her. And as she rose higher, she was amazed to find butterflies as large as paperbacks flapping their brightly colored wings, and caterpillars the size of pencil cases gorging themselves on the bountiful fruit.
    At one point, as she was heaving herself up onto a branch, she found herself face to face with something covered in shaggy brown fur. Three eyes blinked simultaneously at her as the animal, just as surprised as she was by the encounter, gaped its mouth slowly open. Dr. Burrows would have identified it as a type of sloth from the hook-like claws it was now using to maneuver itself ponderously away from her.
    Although Elliott didn't have time to marvel at the incredible wildlife she was finding, she realized that at ground level she'd only been seeing a small part of the ecosystem. A whole other world existed above it.
    After another twenty minutes of climbing, she was at such a great height that she could see over the remaining jungle. Bracing herself against a bough, she sighted her rifle on the top of the pyramid.
    She didn't like what she saw.

    * * * * *

    Will came to. He raised his hand to his head to find he was being supported on his feet by a pair of Limiters.
    "Hello, l-o-o-o-o-ser," Rebecca One mocked him, swinging her hips as she stepped in front of him.
    "Dad?" he said groggily.
    "Daddy's over there," the Styx girl indicated with a flick of her head. Will tried to focus on his father -- the Limiters had brought them to the very top of the pyramid, and he could just about see a group of figures on the far side of the plateau. His head hurt from where he'd been struck, and he also realized that he could feel the heat of the sun keenly on his arms and shoulders. He looked down at himself.
    "Yes, I thought you might want to soak up a few ray," Rebecca One smirked. "I had your shirt taken off. Pale and interesting is so last year's look."
    Will could feel his skin beginning to burn -- the Styx girl knew very well he had no natural protection against the ultraviolet.
    "You little bitch," he growled.
    "Definitely," she agreed. "But I reckon I'll have graduated to Big Bitch by the time you and I are finished. When you put that bullet in me, I can't tell you how much it hurt." The way Rebecca One was talking about it made Will's blood chill. He of all people knew how vindictive she was. She had something horrible lined up for him. Nevertheless, he wasn't going to let her see how incredibly frightened he was.
    "Boring, boring, boring," he replied, through an exaggerated yawn.
    She ignored his taunt. "Will, as you may have gathered by now, the way we Styx go about things is very Old Testament ." She bent her knees in a near perfect demi-plie , then straightened up again -- it reminded Will of the hours of ballet practice she'd do at their house in Highfield, using the garden because there wasn't the space inside. "We believe in an