“What’s our next step?” I ask.
Sakane keeps his voice low as he studies the map. “We’ve got another mile to go down here before we swap to the seweragain.” He glances at Cato with a smirk. “Ladder and manhole… your favorite.”
Cato scowls at Xeni as if it were his fault he had to be carried, but Xeni is too stuck in his head to engage.
We round a corner, and the tunnel opens into an abandoned subway station with tall ceilings and a wide expanse between the walls. A stream of moonlight shines down a set of stairs, casting shadows of bodies over the steps.
Ego shuts off her flashlight, and I blink as my eyes adjust to the sudden darkness. The faint moonlight provides just enough illumination to navigate, though we step carefully.
“Quiet here,” Ego whispers. “There are guards up top.”
We stick to the far wall as we skirt past the wide stairwell, moving with careful steps to avoid unnecessary noise.
An old ticket counter waits at the bottom. It’s a remnant of a world long forgotten, and beyond the shattered windowpane are a few empty liquor bottles lying on their sides. More deserted subway cars are parked here, and signs of life are littered around them. Discarded food containers crumple against the tracks, and worn blankets suggest this place has been used as a sleeping spot by someone.
My senses go on high alert, every shadow a potential threat as I scan the darkness. We’re almost past the larger open area when my toe catches something solid. A glass bottle clanks, rolling across the concrete in an arc that echoes like an alarm in the stillness.
We all freeze, the world narrowing to that single sound.
Everything erupts at once.
Shadows shift on the stairwell, and a guard jogs down the steps as we hurry to retreat into the shadows. We don't move fast enough, and he spots us in the gloom. His eyes flare wide as they sweep the group, but when they land on Xeni, a snarl twists his lips.
“It’s him!” he bellows, the words ringing off the walls. Another body moves down the stairs behind him, flashlight beam slicing through the dark.
We sprint into the next tunnel as they scream to others to follow. More voices join the chase, and a horde of footsteps pounds after us.
“How far to the exit?” Xeni’s breath comes in quick, ragged bursts as we fight not to trip over debris in the blackness.
Sakane answers with a grunt. “Too far.”
“Where can we hide?” Xeni demands.
The footsteps echo off the walls, seeming to come from every direction.
“I don’t know!” Sakane shouts, frustration cracking his words as the noise grows.
The open stretch in front of us seems to go on forever, and we all desperately search for somewhere to take shelter. Rocks crunch under our feet, and gravel kicks up, pinging off the tracks as we run. A light swivels around the corner behind us, stretching our shadows long and distorted over the old brick as we round another bend. Xeni takes my hand tighter, practically dragging me along as the soldiers keep pace.
The path splits before us, and Xeni’s head whips back and forth as we approach the fork. “Which way?”
“Uh, left…left!” Sakane shouts.
We twist down the next tunnel. More debris clutters the railway here. Concrete barriers are strewn about, and an old subway car rests on its side against the wall. Pieces of it are charred, the metal coated in black soot while more hateful phrases decorate the walls. It brings with it a sense of dread that settles heavy in my gut.
“It’s not far now,” Sakane yells from ahead, his voice strained as we fight to keep this momentum. “Two more turns, and—”
His words are cut off as a door flies open. Harsh fluorescent light pours into the dark corridor like spilled bleach, flooding the space and illuminating the bodies that swarm into our path. Soldiers in decorated uniforms form a barrier, weapons raised and faces determined.
Shoes scrape against the concrete as we skid to a stop, then spin to retreat, but the guards who’ve been chasing us from behind catch up. They cut off our escape with another wall of force.
My eyes roam the shadows, searching for another place to hide, another corridor, a vent,anything, but I come up blank. The walls close in as I realize there’s no escape.
“Did you think I wouldn’t find you?”
The voice is hauntingly familiar and chillingly unmistakable, filled with authority that demands obedience.
One figure steps away from the others. Shadows obstruct his face, but there’s no mistaking the curved horns that sit like a crown atop the silhouette of his head.
