Tunnels 06 - Terminal

London.
    With numerous stops along the way to allow Drake to recuperate, they had walked the length of the train tunnel, allthe way from Essex to central London. When they finally arrived at the platform below BT Tower, they had immediately taken the stairs up to the same floor in the tower from which they had observed the results of the Styx’s first efforts to stir things up in the capital. But that had been several months ago, and it was immeasurably worse now.
    ‘No power anywhere. So the whole grid must be down,’ Drake said. ‘I was hoping we might be able to fire up one of the tower’s dishes and get a signal through to Parry.’
    ‘See, over there on that office block,’ Jiggs suddenly said, squinting through the darkness as night began to set in. ‘It’s easy to miss them in this light, but can you make out what’s on the roof?’
    ‘Jesus,’ Drake replied, as he saw the many crystalline forms of the Armagi teeming on the rooftop. ‘How many are there?’
    ‘Actually the whole place is crawling with them. They’re everywhere,’ Jiggs added, as he spotted more on other roofs.
    ‘It’s gone too far,’ Drake said, as he slumped down on the floor. ‘How do we ever pull ourselves out of this?’
    Jiggs checked the tracker before answering. ‘The beacon has definitely shifted since we went underground.’ When Drake simply lay there, Jiggs was concerned. ‘I know that hike through the tunnel must have felt like several marathons to you. How are you holding up, old man?’
    ‘Cream crackered, sick as a dog, everything hurts … shall I go on?’ Drake mumbled. ‘And, worst of all, this leg feels like it’s on bloody fire,’ he added, touching it just above his knee and grimacing.
    ‘Let me take a dekko,’ Jiggs said, crawling over to him. Starting by his ankle, he rolled up Drake’s combat trousers until he could see the dressing on his lower thigh, which hethen peeled slowly back. He recoiled slightly. ‘I’m afraid the burn here is badly infected.’
    Drake nodded stoically. ‘I wondered what the smell was.’
    Jiggs patted his Bergen where he kept his medical kit. ‘Let’s get away from the windows and I’ll change all your dressings.’
    ‘Okay, but I want to check something first,’ Drake said, pulling his trouser leg down, then hauling himself along on his belly across the old carpet tiles until he’d reached a section of window further around on the tower. ‘Remember that army checkpoint in Charlotte Street?’ he said to Jiggs. Then, grunting with the effort, he raised himself up so he could see the view below.
    ‘You’re hoping that they left a radio,’ Jiggs guessed. ‘You know that it was more than just a checkpoint there. I had a mosey round last time, and didn’t notice any comms equipment, but there were some heavy-duty munitions in that resupply truck,’ he said, indicating the solid-looking lorry beside the khaki awning.
    Despite his discomfort, Drake was grinning. ‘You managed to snoop around in there, right under their noses?’
    Jiggs nodded. ‘Piece of cake. We could really do with an ammo restock if they left anything behind when they ran for the hills.’
    Drake was frowning as he continued to study the scene below. ‘Um … yes, that would be great … but … shouldn’t we be setting our sights a little higher?’
    Jiggs was intrigued. ‘Why, what have you got in mind?’ he asked.
    Drake pointed beside the truck that Jiggs had been referring to. ‘If I’m not mistaken, that’s a brand spanking new Challenger 2 parked down there, ripe for the picking.’
    Jiggs nodded as he contemplated the latest model British Army tank. ‘Now that would be a stylish way to get around town,’ he chuckled.
    ‘Wouldn’t it just?’ Drake said.

    Some of the buildings were shops, so badly damaged by fire that it was impossible to tell what they’d been selling.
    And in other buildings, curtains flapped in the upper windows as the wind sucked down the street, and when it blew at its hardest the paper and rubbish strewn across the pavements and road began to dance and swirl.
    ‘This place hasn’t changed much,’ Will said as they crept along, Elliott protecting him every inch of the way.
    ‘Careful!’ she suddenly whispered, and froze.
    From the door of a pub one of the young Styx lizards scuttled out. It looked at them.
    There was the sound of slithering and the clicks of opening and closing jaws.
    Before they knew it, other lizards were out in the