Tunnels 06 - Terminal

to ride toward the secret station under the reservoir.

    ‘It’s so quiet,’ Will said, as they remained hidden in the overgrown border at the front of the house. ‘This is London. Normally there’d be cars, voices …’
    More from shock than anything else, he’d been talking in an attempt to fill the silence, but trailed off as he realised he didn’t have anything to add. He began to rub Elliott’s blood from his face with his sleeve.
    It had been a while since she’d spoken, but now Elliott cleared her throat. ‘Don’t do that,’ she said.
    He looked at her through his lens, but didn’t ask her why.
    ‘You wouldn’t have believed what was in that room,’ she said tonelessly. ‘Styx lizards like the one in the warehouse that bit Chester’s father. Grubs … in bodies, and the bodies were mostly the old people from down the road. That’s where they’d been taken. And these large pod things. There were Armagi in them, waiting to hatch.’ She shuddered. ‘But the bodies were just terrible – so many and half-eaten … just terrible.’
    Will nodded.
    She adjusted the handkerchief dressing he’d put on her injured palm. ‘And the weird thing is that I sort of knew whatI was walking into. I had a feeling what I’d find in that house … up in that room …’
    ‘You did? Will said. ‘But I don’t understand. Why did we go anywhere near it, then?’
    ‘I had to. It was as if they were calling out to me,’ she tried to explain, barely finishing the sentence before she gushed, ‘Oh, Will, you should be with Stephanie, not me. I’m not like you. I’m something else. I’m this monster, and it’s not good that you’re with me … I’m dangerous.’
    Will swallowed uncomfortably. ‘Stephanie … what ?’ he managed to get out.
    Elliott was shaking her head slowly. ‘I could tell you liked her,’ she said, then lowered her voice. ‘And I know that you two spent time together when we were trapped in the Complex.’
    Hit by this bombshell, Will was speechless for a moment, then gabbled, ‘No, I didn’t … I think she wanted … but nothing …’
    Elliott leant against him, her shoulder touching his arm. ‘It’s okay.’
    ‘No, it’s not okay,’ Will said.
    ‘It is. Really it’s okay. Because I can’t tell you how long we’ve got together. And you shouldn’t be alone,’ Elliott said, her voice barely audible.
    ‘I don’t believe this!’ Will objected, becoming very upset.
    ‘Not so loud,’ she warned him. She looked up at the rooftop of the Gothic house, which was just visible down the road. ‘The Armagi are still there, and we don’t want them to come looking.’ She rose to her feet. ‘I should never have brought you with me,’ she declared. ‘If I could take you back, I would.’
    Will spluttered with indignation. ‘Wh … what do you mean – you’re talking like you’re in charge of me or something!’
    Putting her head back, Elliott looked at the night sky. ‘I am,’ she said simply. ‘All of you. Because I can put an end to all this.’ She lowered her gaze to Will. ‘And I know now that I can protect you from the Armagi. I can do that.’ She held out her injured hand as if considering it. ‘But I can’t do anything about Limiters, not for either of us. So we have to take it slowly and be very bloody careful as we go, and only move at night. And we need somewhere safe before dawn’s here.’

    There was a muffled phut sound as the lock blew on the iron door. In fact, the sound of the door swinging open on its hinges and hitting the wall beside it was louder and more noticeable.
    ‘Nicely done,’ Jiggs said, then he and Drake quickly made their way back to where the small plastic explosive charge had gone off. They both stopped to peer down the crumbling concrete steps in the gap in the embankment around the reservoir, where the now open door was waiting for them.
    ‘We’re in,’ Drake said, and they descended the damp steps. After several flights they walked out into the train station. As they shone their lights along the platform, on which large drums of cable, rotting sandbags and rusted metal parts had been left, there was the train they’d ridden for their previous journey to BT Tower.
    ‘Feels odd being here again without Elliott and Will and the rest of the team,’ Drake said. ‘And no sign of that guy from the Old Guard who looks after the place. Parry said he effectively lives down here.’
    ‘Maybe we caught him on his tea