Tunnels 06 - Terminal

on his belt.
    Danforth looked from the dull steel of the blade to the leafless branches of the trees dotted along the road, then to the sky.
    So was this where it would end for him? In a rather ordinary road, in an ordinary town in England. It was ironic considering the places he’d been in his life.
    Both Danforth and the Limiter turned to the end of the road as the other Limiter finally appeared, pushing Captain Franz before him.
    ‘On your feet,’ the Limiter with the scythe growled at Danforth.
    Danforth knew that when the young New Germanian arrived, they’d both be executed just as the Old Styx had instructed.
    ‘What is going on?’ Captain Franz demanded, trying to straighten his chauffeur’s hat as the Limiter prodded him in the back again. ‘Where is my Rebecca?’
    Captain Franz stopped in front of Danforth.
    ‘She’s not going to be able to help you now,’ Danforth told him.
    The New Germanian had that slightly befuddled expression that came of too many Darklighting sessions.
    ‘Fetch Rebecca! Right now!’ Captain Franz ordered the Limiters. ‘This is all a mistake.’
    Danforth took a deep breath before he spoke. ‘Save it. You won’t get anywhere,’ he said to the New Germanian. ‘These two pathetic excuses for troops can’t think for themselves.’ He smiled sourly at the Limiter nearest him, who had the scythe ready at his side. ‘You’re nothing more than robots. I’ve known many professional soldiers in my time, and you don’t come close.’
    Danforth was silent for a beat, trying to gauge what effect his jibes were having, but the Limiter was impossible to read. The sunken eyes in the scarred face were simply watching him. ‘What’s the matter? Need your bug lady to tell you what to do next?’
    The Limiter with the scythe struck him across the face. Danforth dropped to the pavement, and although his glasses had been broken and there were flashes of light in his eyes, he couldn’t believe his luck. The Limiter hadn’t used his scythe.
    Not yet, anyway.
    ‘You broke my tooth,’ Danforth said, adopting a whining voice but cheering inside. He reached into his mouth and detached the false molar, palming it.
    ‘On your feet,’ the Limiter with the scythe rumbled.
    Although it was slippery with his blood and saliva, Danforth had just managed to press his thumbnail into the radio to activate it when the Limiter lashed out at him again.
    The radio went flying.
    Blast it! Danforth thought.
    The Limiter pointed at him with the blade. ‘Little man,you’ve earned the right to die first.’
    The Styx soldier took hold of Danforth’s lapels and hoisted him to his feet with the one hand, the scythe poised in the other.
    Captain Franz was mumbling something incomprehensible in German. It may have been a prayer.
    The Limiter plunged his knife hand towards Danforth.
    It happened so fast it was as though the Limiter had simply disappeared.
    Danforth tottered on his feet and, squinting through his bloodied eyes, met Captain Franz’s even more befuddled gaze. ‘Where’d he go?’ he mumbled.
    Then they both saw the Limiter.
    He was stretched out on the far side of the road, without his head, his body mangled.
    Despite Danforth’s taunts to the contrary, Limiters were consummate professionals, and the other soldier wasn’t fazed by the death of his comrade. He wasn’t going to wait around for any explanations before he reacted. Moving on pure instinct, he swooped at Danforth and seized hold of him.
    He may have been of thinking of using Danforth as a shield instead of killing him right away, but the Bright still struck, biting off a good part of the Limiter’s face and neck. His head lolled to one side, a fountain of red spurting from his severed jugular. Then he simply folded to the ground at Danforth’s feet.
    ‘ Was war das ?’ Captain Franz cried, gaping up at the sky, although the Bright was now nowhere to be seen.
    ‘I have absolutely no idea,’ Danforth said, retrieving his glasses. One lens was missing, but the other was still held in the frame, despite it being cracked. ‘And I’m not about to stick around to find out.’
    There was a yelp from the corner. ‘Johan! What are you doing here?’ Rebecca Two had come sprinting down the main road, but now slid to a halt as she spotted her beloved New Germanian.
    ‘Oh, Rebecca,’ the New Germanian replied, looking shell-shocked as he held a limp hand out to her.
    ‘I thought something was wrong … I sensed it,’