The tunnel crossover was full of debris. Harzl could see that the old wooden rails had been stacked off to the left side in piles. He stopped and cast his light around. Water dripped from the ceiling ahead. Some of the ceiling tiles were in a suspiciously neat pile, as though someone was sorting them. The last time he’d been down here, they were scattered. And was that blood he smelled? It was hard to tell when both he and the kid had blood on their clothes.
“I wasn’t torturing them; they would bite me when I slept,” the kid said, possibly thinking Harzl was silent because he disapproved.
Harzl spoke quietly, “I was not judging you. I am suspicious of what’s ahead. Stay close and be prepared for me to pick you up in case we—”
“There we go, and here you are, tarry not, you won’t get far.” A singsong voice with the inflection of a madman echoed down the tunnel. It seemed to come from farther ahead.
Something moved ahead, and then something else dragged.
Harzl crouched down and shut off the flashlight. Only the ambient light of the tunnel on the other side of the crossover helped them to see.
“What is happening?” Alazavier whispered. “Who’s down there?”
“Tunnel ghoul,” Harzl replied. “He is like a vampire, but not a vampire.”
“What should we do?” the kid whispered.
“We wait.”
Alazavier got closer to Harzl, and Harzl put his arm around him. “Courage.”
“You cannot leave, you are now mine, be my lovely Valentine,” the tunnel ghoul sang from farther ahead.
“Stop... please,” said a very faint female voice.
It had to be the shifter. She sounded hurt. But where was Snori?
Harzl started to move ahead, but the kid held him back. “Shouldn’t we go back?”
“No, he has someone, and Snori might be hurt. You can take the flashlight and go back.”
“No, I won’t leave you... alone,” the kid said. Harzl was sure he was too afraid to go back by himself.
“You are brave, Alazavier. You helped your friends escape, and now you are helping me.”
Harzl couldn’t see the kid’s face, but he was sure he would try to live up to the compliment. They both started creeping forward, the kid holding tightly onto the strap on Harzl’s knapsack. It was tricky picking steps around the debris without the light. The kid stubbed his toe and almost cried out.
Harzl got an idea. He stopped and opened his knapsack, then took out his apartment keys and took off a small keychain light. “Here, take this, it doesn’t give off much light, but you’ll be able to see where you’re stepping.”
The kid took it and turned it on; it was an oval disc of neon green and the button had to be pressed constantly to work. “Thanks,” he said as he shined it at the ground, making a one-foot circle of weak light.
They picked their way over the tiles and bricks until they came to the newer tunnel. Harzl held Alazavier back and handed him the flashlight. “This can be used like a bat; it has a flashing setting to alert incoming trains, but can be used to shine in the ghoul’s eyes if he comes near you.”
The kid took it silently and gave Harzl the smaller flashlight.Harzl put it in his pocket and peeked around the corner to the north. Snori was lying on the tracks.
“I shall hang you with the twine, sweet and pretty, wolfen mine,” the ghoul sang again.
It was coming from the crossover near where Snori lay. It sounded closer because that crossover used to be a turnaround when this was the end of the line. It formed a circle with an old office in the middle where winter supplies used to be kept.
“Alazavier, Snori is ahead, I don’t know if... I don’t know how he is. Take my knapsack. There is a water bottle and his favorite snack inside. I must go to the next crossover and see what can be done. You stay with Snori if he’s alive and keep the Northern train from hitting him by flashing the light when you hear it coming. If I don’t come back, or the ghoul comes for you, you run to the station and wait for the Northern Line, tell him what has happened.”
The kid nodded and they moved out into the tunnel. The light was dim along the active tunnels, but it was better than the light in the crossover.
Harzl bent down and examined Snori. It looked as though the barghest was unconscious. His front leg was most likely broken. Snori moved a bit and sputtered out his soft snore. Harzl was never happier to hear his goofy buddy make his doggy sounds.
Alazavier shined the light on him and looked him over. “I think he’s out cold; I’ll try to wake him and get him out of here.”
Harzl wasn’t sure Snori could walk, but he didn’t want to argue since he might not come back from facing the ghoul, and then the kid would have to leave Snori behind. He thought for a moment; he should just pick up Snori and take him back to the station himself, then come back for the shifter. It was stupid to go in without a plan and a weapon. He could try to at least get him off the tracks, back to the other tunnel.
