Tunnels 02, Deeper by Roderick Gordon, Brian Williams Read Free Book Online Page A

pulled a light orb from his pocket and began to look for any sign of the others.
    After a while he heard a loud groaning coming from farther up the track. As he watched, Chester emerged from the smoke-ridden darkness, crawling on all fours. He raised his head like an ill-tempered tortoise and, spying Will, sped up.
    "All right?" Will shouted at him.
    "Oh, just brilliant!" Chester shouted as he plunked himself next to Will.
    Will shrugged, rubbing the leg that had taken all the impact of his fall.
    "Cal?" Chester asked.
    "Dunno. Better wait for him here." Will couldn't tell if Chester had heard him, but his friend didn't seem inclined to go and look for the boy, anyway.
    Some minutes later, as the train continued its relentless passage past them, Will's brother emerged through the smoky gloom with a rucksack on each shoulder, strolling jauntily, as if he didn't have a care in the world. He squatted next to Will.
    "I got the bags. You all in one piece?" he yelled. There was a large scrape on his forehead, and little droplets of blood were collecting and running down the bridge of his nose.
    Will nodded and looked past Cal. "Get down! The guard's car!" he warned, pulling his brother close to him.
    Tucked into the tunnel wall, they watched the light looming toward them. It was streaming from the windows of the guard's train car, forming broad rectangles on the walls as it went. It shot past them, blasting them with a split second of illumination. As the train sped into the tunnel ahead and the light receded, growing smaller and smaller until there was nothing of it still visible, Will had an overpowering sense of finality.
    In the unaccustomed silence, he got up and stretched his legs. He'd grown so used to the rocking of the train that it was a novelty to be back on terra firma again.
    Will sniffed and was just about to say something to the other two boys when the train whistle blew in the distance.
    "What does that mean?" he said eventually.
    "It's coming up to the station," Cal answered, his eyes still on the darkness where they had last seen the train.
    "How do you know that?" Chester asked him.
    "My... our uncle told me."
    "Your uncle? Can he help us? Where is he?" Chester fired the questions at Cal in rapid succession, his face filled with anticipation at the thought that there might be someone who could come to their rescue.
    "No," Cal snapped, frowning at Chester.
    "Why not? I don't understand--"
    "No, Chester," Will interjected, shaking his head urgently. His friend could tell he needed to keep his mouth buttoned.
    Will turned to his brother. "So what happens now? They'll find out Chester's gone when they unload the train. What then?"
    "Then nothing." Cal shrugged. "Job done. They'll just think he's bailed out. They know he won't survive for long on his own... After all, he's only a Topsoiler." He laughed humorlessly and kept on talking, as if Chester weren't there. "They won't send a search party or anything."
    "How can you be so sure about that?" Will quizzed his brother. "Wouldn't they assume he'd head straight back to the Colony again?"
    "Nice idea, and even if he did happen to make it all the way -- on foot -- the Blackheads would just pick him off as soon as he showed up," Cal said.
    "Blackheads?" Chester asked.
    "Styx -- that's one of the names the Colonists call them behind their backs," Will explained.
    "Oh, right," Chester said. "Well, anyway, I'm never going back to that foul place again. Not on your life!" he added firmly to Cal.
    Cal didn't respond, instead putting on his backpack as Will picked up the other one by its straps, testing its weight. It was heavy, stuffed to the brim with their equipment and the extra food and light orbs. He lifted it onto his back, wincing as the strap dug into his injured shoulder. The poultice Imago had applied to the wound had done wonders, but any pressure was still incredibly painful. Will tried to adjust the rucksack so that most of the weight was on his good shoulder, and