Tunnels 06 - Terminal

looking at everyone else. Then Werner spread his arms like an opera singer about to burst into song and gulped down a large breath of air. He held it in for several seconds as if savouring it, then exhaled slowly and dramatically through his nose. For so many weeks all that the New Germanians and the bushman had known was the highly filtered atmosphere of the quarantine ward, but now they were free to go where they wanted in the city.
    ‘Well, so far so good. I can’t feel any symptoms yet,’ Werner finally announced, then began to laugh. ‘I’m kidding. The tests showed the vaccine is effective. We’re going to be okay!’
    Jürgen was laughing too and hugging his son – only Woody remained unmoved, angling his face to catch the sun’s rays on his new skin.
    Jürgen turned to Will and Elliott. ‘Without you, we might never have seen this day. It was only a matter of time before the reserve power ran out, and we’d have been exposed.’
    ‘No problem,’ Will answered, enjoying the moment with them. ‘And now I’m going to raid that sweet shop. Anyone interested?’
    On hearing this, Karl’s eyes lit up.
    Later that evening they had returned to the quarantine ward laden with several carrier bags of food that they’d scavenged. They didn’t have to worry about sterilising any of it now theyall had immunity. Jürgen had prepared a meal to celebrate their newfound freedom, and they were all sitting around the table feeling very contented when, without any warning, Woody started to jabber away ten to the dozen in Styx, as if it had finally sunk in that he was safe from the plague.
    ‘I can’t get it all,’ Elliott said, doing her best to understand what Woody was saying. ‘But I think it’s about his people … he believes they could be still alive in … I don’t recognise the word, but he may mean the pyramids. Far down inside them.’
    ‘Is that possible? After all this time?’ Jürgen asked his brother.
    ‘Anything’s possible,’ Werner replied. ‘You said that they lived in the pyramids for months on end. Maybe they knew something was wrong as the jungle fauna began to die, and they confined themselves in good time.’ He looked across at Woody, who was still babbling away. ‘It all depends on the air circulation inside the pyramids. I think it’s highly unlikely but …’ he tailed off.
    Jürgen pondered this for a moment. ‘We can’t just ignore what he’s telling us. If we can save more of the indigenous people, we have to act, and act quickly.’
    Will and Karl had been enjoying the Kriesel lollies that they’d plundered earlier that day when Will caught Elliott’s eye. It seemed that their simple way of life back at the pyramid wasn’t going to be restored to them quite yet.
    And now here they were in the half-track, embarking on a mission to rescue more bushmen when they had no idea if any of them had survived for this long.
    ‘This is where the main trail ends. We’re on foot from here,’ Jürgen shouted, as he brought the half-track to a stop ina clearing that obviously served as a turning circle. As he turned off the engine and jumped from the vehicle, he glanced briefly in the direction they’d just driven from.
    ‘So what do we do now? Wait for Werner and Karl to catch up with us?’ Elliott asked.
    ‘No, we go on without them,’ Jürgen replied, as he went round to the rear of the half-track and undid the tailgate. ‘They won’t be here for a while yet, and they’ll radio me when they’re close. In the meantime, we can make a start on shifting some of the equipment over to the pyramid,’ he said.
    Jürgen, Will and Elliott each took one of the sizeable crates from the rear of the vehicle, the low gravity enabling them to lift far more than they could have managed on the surface. They balanced these crates on the tops of their heads as Woody led them in a procession into the dense undergrowth. Nobody really expected him to carry anything, but at least he used his knowledge of the jungle to steer them onto an animal track so they weren’t forced to cut themselves a path using their machetes.
    They had quite a distance to cover, and Woody seemed so determined to reach the pyramid that he kept increasing his pace. Each time Jürgen urged him to slow down. Finally they stepped from the treeline, and there was the pyramid. Still damp from the recent deluge, the droplets of water on it were catching the sun and sparkling like thousands of tiny