Tunnels 06 - Terminal

kicked it from his grip but, in the blink of an eye, he’d drawn out his scythe. In any case, at such close quarters a bladed weapon would always be the preference.
    Without the element of surprise to help him, Jiggs had known that despatching the second Limiter wasn’t going to be easy. The first had been caught completely unawares as the perfectly placed strike with a combat knife severed his jugular. The Limiter had died with a frown on his face, still asking himself how the thin, bearded man had been able to appear from nowhere.
    And now Jiggs was pitted against the second Styx soldier as they performed the macabre acrobatic display. Their deadly intent bound them together like shackles because neitherwould release the knife hand of the other, as that would spell instant death. So the contest went on, both adversaries knowing there was to be no intervention from a comrade, no relief from the topography, because it was just them and the rushing air.
    Physically they were pretty evenly matched: both had that strength of sinew and honed muscle that years of service had brought, Jiggs in the jungles of the world where he had been sent in for solo recon missions, and the Limiter from his lengthy tours in the Deeps.
    But, little by little, the Limiter was beginning to gain the upper hand. He seemed to have reserves of energy that went beyond those of any human. As they grappled with each other, turning slow spirals through the air, he’d managed to clamp Jiggs’ legs together with his own in a scissor move. And now that Jiggs was caught in this inflexible lock, the Limiter was pushing with all his might, applying pressure to his opponent’s back. Jiggs could feel his spine beginning to strain – he didn’t know much more of this it could take.
    And the vicious curved scythe was moving closer and closer to his neck.
    The sun was growing ever more remote and the shadows beginning to merge as Jiggs caught a rush of colour in the corner of his eye. Because the void was cone-shaped, the chances of hitting the sides were increasing the further they fell, and Jiggs had seen precisely that – he’d glimpsed the forty-five-degree gradient coated with a dark brown residue which several months earlier Dr Burrows had said was some kind of naturally occurring bitumen.
    Jiggs knew that a collision with the side could be his salvation – as things stood, he was losing and needed to buyhimself some breathing space. And quick.
    Then they crashed into the slope, rolling over each other as they tumbled chaotically down it, quickly becoming pasted in the sticky bitumen. Due to the marked reduction in gravity at that depth in the void, they weren’t so much falling down the slope as bouncing down it, in a manner similar to the motion of a pebble carried along the bed of a river.
    ‘Yes!’ Jiggs thought to himself, as the Limiter lost his grip on his legs.
    Then they entered a stretch of the slope covered with the stunted trees, branches whipping their faces as they tumbled through them, and the struggle growing even more confused as they strove to hold each other at bay.
    Rolling off a small escarpment, they found themselves thrown into mid-air again.
    Jiggs’ defence seemed to waver, as though his arms were giving out. The Limiter seized the opportunity. Twisting his upper body, he drove his scythe at Jiggs’ neck in one almighty effort.
    Although Jiggs managed to deflect it, the tip of the scythe caught him along the collarbone. As it ripped through the material of his combat jacket, he was fortunate that the shoulder strap of his Bergen prevented it from doing much harm to the flesh beneath.
    But the Limiter had drawn first blood. Believing the battle had turned in his favour, he immediately went for a second strike at his opponent’s neck.
    Exactly what Jiggs had been hoping for.
    He’d allowed the Limiter his small victory because he had seen what was fast approaching.
    And just as Jiggs had intended, the Limiter had been sodistracted that he hadn’t spotted the massive outcrop of rock they were about to cannon into as they gravitated towards the side again.
    At the last moment, Jiggs arched his body, controlling their flight. Then they hit the rock.
    With a resounding crack, the Limiter’s skull took the impact full on. His body went slack – given a few seconds he might have recovered, but Jiggs wasn’t about to allow that to happen.
    He rammed his combat knife into the Styx’s chest, just below the