Tunnels 06 - Terminal

moment.
    More and more Armagi were landing inside the cathedral but still they didn’t advance. ‘I know you’re safe from them, but I’m not. What’s going on?’ Drake asked.
    ‘Maybe it’s because of this light,’ Elliott suggested.
    Drake shrugged, glancing across to the entrance of the cathedral. ‘I bet it won’t keep us safe from Limiters. That tank is our only way out of here, but how can I possibly reach it now? I can’t shoot our way through all those,’ Drake said, scanning the motionless Armagi. All of a sudden, he sat down, as if all his energy had deserted him.
    Elliott realised what an effort it had been for him, and that he was in real trouble from the radiation sickness. She immediately went over to him.
    ‘Save yourself if you can,’ Drake pleaded with her. ‘Look at me. I’m done for anyway.’

    ‘What in God’s name is that?’ Parry shouted into the headset as his helicopter led the formation over London.
    He and everyone on board were mesmerised by what appeared to be a tornado against the morning sky. It seemed to begin as a dark spout just above the level of the rooftops before broadening out into a spinning dark cyclone reaching up towards the clouds.
    ‘Some sort of explosion?’ the pilot suggested.
    ‘That’s not any blast pattern I’ve seen before,’ Parry replied, as pieces of debris began to drop all around them. ‘Anyone got any bright ideas what’s going on?’
    ‘I can’t help you with that, but there was the mother of all energy spikes just then,’ Danforth reported, as he watched the LED display on the device he’d been using to locate the beacon signal.
    ‘Jesus!’ the pilot cried, as a large section of lead roof plummeted uncomfortably close, and he swerved the helicopter alittle after the fact. The falling debris wasn’t very dense, but a direct hit from some of the more substantial pieces of stone or timber would have been enough to bring down a helicopter.
    ‘Everyone still with us?’ Parry asked, as he turned to check the other helicopters hadn’t been damaged.
    Eddie was watching the fallout scattering the streets below, some of it striking the buildings. ‘But what could have caused this?’ he wondered out loud.
    ‘I think we’re about to find out,’ Parry replied, pointing at what still remained of the strange phenomenon ahead. ‘Isn’t it directly on our bearing, Danforth?’
    ‘You could be right,’ he replied. ‘The beacon’s been stationary for a while now, and it appears to be at the epicentre of whatever that is.’ He checked the LED display again. ‘And we’re almost over it … in a thousand metres … five hundred … and X marks the spot!’
    ‘Good Lord!’ Parry burst out, as their helicopter skimmed straight over St Paul’s cathedral and they saw the gaping hole where the dome should have been.
    ‘That’s one of our tanks on the steps,’ the pilot observed.
    ‘I saw it. And someone’s picking off Armagi using the tank’s chain gun,’ Parry said. ‘All right – whoever it is down there, they’re on our side and I’m sure they’d be grateful for some help.’ He spoke over the radio to the other helicopters. ‘I want two-man sniper teams put down on top of the buildings around here, and make it snappy.’

    ‘No! What are you doing?’ Drake cried weakly, as Elliott began to cut into her forearm.
    ‘Close your eyes and keep still,’ she said, bringing her arm up to his face. ‘I’m going to cover you in my blood. It worked for Will, so I don’t see why it won’t work for you.’
    Drake did as she’d told him, and she began to smear her blood all over him. ‘This situation is a bit different, you know – we’re going to be knee-deep in those overgrown prawns once we step outside this light ring. It’s not like we’re just avoiding a couple of them along a street,’ he said.
    ‘I know that,’ she replied.
    Drake was silent for a moment before he spoke again. ‘You’ve been a good friend. You were always there for me in the Deeps when I needed you.’
    ‘Don’t get all over-the-top with me, and let me finish wiping my blood on you,’ she chided him, laughing.
    They moved to the edge of the blue bubble, and had just got themselves ready to go when the tank engine fired up. It began to reverse towards them, smashing pews under its tracks as it came. The engine stopped again, and Jiggs opened the hatch a few inches, peering out.
    ‘Thought you could do with a lift,’ he said,