Tunnels 06 - Terminal

She knew this because the wails of the lizards had been piercing to her, something she found impossible to ignore, as if those young creatures had been her own children, her own babies, crying out for help.
    ‘I think I can save you,’ she said to Will. She was crying now, her breaths short.
    ‘You can what ?’ he demanded.
    ‘The Armagi are coming. They’ll get you,’ she shot back.
    ‘Me? Well, let’s get out of here,’ he shouted.
    ‘ You won’t be able to run from them,’ she gasped.
    ‘What about you? Why not you, too?’ he asked.
    ‘I don’t know. I’ll be okay.’ She felt around Will’s waist. ‘Where’s your knife? Give it to me! Quick!’
    Will reached to the scabbard on his belt and pulled it out.
    Elliott snatched it from him, then whipped her mitten off. She held the knife over her palm, then pushed it down hard, cutting her hand open.
    ‘What – why?’ Will gasped, seeing how deep the incision was. She reached for his face, wiping her blood over him, smearing it down his cheeks.
    ‘What the hell …?’ he shouted.
    ‘Keep quiet,’ she whispered urgently. ‘I can hear them.’
    And he could too. Unless it was the wind, he was sure that there was a humming sound. Something was coming.
    She continued to pump her hand to produce more blood, spreading it all over him, over his arms and down his thighs.
    ‘If I can just fool them into thinking …’ she was saying as they heard a loud thump from above. Something had landed on the roof.
    ‘Is that one?’ he asked. Without knowing what he was doing, he began to pull away from Elliott, trying to extricate himself from between her and the wall.
    ‘No, for God’s sake, just keep still,’ she said, gritting her teeth as she raked the tip of the knife across her palm again. Even more blood was flowing from it as she ran her hand all round his head, streaking his white hair with it.
    ‘Keep absolutely still,’ she hissed at him again.
    There were two crashes, the floor under their feet vibrating with each impact.
    A pair of Armagi had flown in through the windows at either end of the corridor.
    Will and Elliott hardly dared draw breath, let alone move.
    They could hear and feel each impact of the Armagi’s clawed, griffin-like feet as the fearsome creatures advanced down the corridor from both directions. And through his lens Will was able to make out more of their appearances as they came closer, their transparent feathers gleaming in the moonlight, the muscles in their limbs slipping over each other like slabs of polished ice.
    One headed straight for the wooden staircase, the other closing in on Will and Elliott. She had her back to what was going on in the corridor and couldn’t see.
    But Will could.
    The floorboards creaked under the Armagi’s weight as it came towards them, and stopped right behind Elliott. The height of a tall man, it had compound eyes like an insect, and they now rested on Will and Elliott.
    Its head was translucent, the wall of the corridor visible through it, but fluids pumped around inside its cranium, and something pulsed like a tiny black heart at the very top of its exoskeleton.
    Will could see the Armagi so clearly through his lens. It had a beak like a bird’s. But as it took another step closer to Elliott, Will could see that it wasn’t a solid beak because it had opened up into four insect-like mandibles.
    Elliott’s body stiffened against Will’s as the Armagi inclined its head and scraped the upper pair of mandibles along the top of her shoulder. All the time, it was drawing in air, sniffing.
    Then it was still for a moment, as if it had picked up a scent.
    Will couldn’t breathe – he didn’t dare.
    The Armagi swivelled away from him and Elliott, making a quarter turn. It had a small pair of transparent sticks at the nape of its neck – they were the diameter of knitting needles. Will watched as they began to beat together, faster and faster until they were moving so quickly they became a blur. They were vibrating together, but he couldn’t hear anything. He wondered if Elliott could. Then he realised that they weren’t that dissimilar from the insect legs that sprouted from the same spot on the Styx women’s spines.
    But Will couldn’t think about that now. For a moment he dared to let himself believe that he and Elliott were going to escape with their lives. Or, if Elliott thought that there was no danger to her, then he might be about to escape.
    But then the Armagi