After the End (3 page)

"I'm perfectly capable of walking for ten minutes or ten hours if need be, young man, and you may refer to me as Mrs. Scheider rather than 'the lady with the white hair'." The woman's dry voice made Lila smile.

"All right. Let's move out. Hold hands with the person in front of and behind you." Once more GI Joe grabbed Lila's hand, scaring the crap out of her. Why did she always seem to be standing right next to him?

But Omar Everett wasn't done speaking his piece. "You all do whatever you want, but I'm staying here."

"Your choice," the soldier said, shortly. "Just don't go up until we're long gone. I don't want you giving away our location. Girl with the lighter, want to hand it over?"

"Deb," she said, and moved past Lila to surrender her lighter to the leader before linking hands with Lila. Her fingers were strong and warm. The soldier's hand was even stronger. It tugged insistently on Lila's, pulling her forward.

"Everyone holding onto someone else?"

A ragged chorus of affirmatives came from the group. Even the little girl had stopped sobbing, only an occasional hiccup coming from her.

Lila felt bad leaving Mr. Everett behind, alone in the dark. It didn't seem right. But no one else, including Ann Hanson, seemed inclined to leave the group to stay with him.

Walking forward, Lila instinctively kept her head ducked low. This was like one of those trust games intended to teach you to put your faith in other people, but which usually backfired when you stubbed a toe or barked your shin. She held tight to the soldier's hand and kept herself close behind his broad back. If anyone ran into something it would be him, not her—and wasn't that a selfish thought for someone who considered herself a kind, even spiritual person? When it came down to it, survivalist nature beat out pacifist ideals.

Deb's hand grew sweaty in hers as the group shuffled along holding hands like a chain of elementary schoolchildren on a field trip. Or a barrel of monkeys. Lila smiled at the silly image of red plastic monkeys linked together, and the smile nearly burst into uncontrollable giggles. She was on the edge of losing control and getting hysterical.

"What's your name anyway?" she asked the soldier in an attempt to distract herself from the surrealistic circumstances.

"Ari Brenner."

"What do you think happened? A terrorist attack?" She already knew it was more than an accident. The train hadn't just stopped. Someone had boarded it.
Or some
thing, her inner voice repeated.

"I don't know. No weapons fire so that doesn't seem likely. I wouldn't want to guess right now." He still sounded as calm as if this kind of thing happened every day of the week. Was that part of army training or was he simply the kind of person who kept cool in a crisis?

"A virus, I'm telling you," Mr. Mets Cap called out from behind them. "A flesh eating virus like in the movies. Something like that was killing those people. Could be airborne. We're better off down here."

As if to prove him wrong, the sickly sweet smell of death drifted from the tunnel ahead of them. Lila tensed, terrified of stepping into an animal corpse in the dark. Dead rat? Pigeon? Raccoon? Images of every bloated, fly-ridden creature she'd ever seen by the side of the road filled her mind and she automatically slowed.

Ari squeezed her hand and pulled. "Come on. The faster we get past whatever it is, the sooner we can breathe."

He was right. Without her hands free, Lila couldn't cover her mouth and nose. All she could do was hold her breath, which would ultimately force her to draw in a deeper lungful of the sickly odor if they didn't get past it fast.

"Shine the light. See what it is." Ann Hanson's voice was panicked, as on edge as Lila felt.

"Do you really want to know?" The tall, older man's voice sounded distant and Lila guessed he was at the end of the line.

Ari paused and flicked on the lighter. Its tiny glow was as bright as a flaming torch in the darkness. Lila blinked as her eyes adjusted, then focused on the dirty, damp cement floor. There was a little pile of something furry decomposing only a few yards away. A disgusted shiver rippled through her. Luckily it wasn't directly in front of them so they wouldn't have to navigate around it.

"Keep going," she told Ari.

He let go of her hand to wipe his on the side of his pants, flipped the lighter closed and moved forward. She grabbed hold of his shirt and nudged him in the back. Her fist clenched, bunching up the shirt and she pressed her nose into her arm to shield it from the stench of death.

Ari walked faster. No one complained as he kept up a steady pace until they'd left the eye-watering smell behind.

"Shouldn't we be getting close to the station by now?" Deb asked.

Ari didn't answer. Lila guessed he was as clueless as anyone else about how far they were from the nearest platform—or whether this passage ran parallel with the subway tunnel above. The idea took hold of her that they might not come to another manhole cover, that maybe Everett was right and they should've stayed close to the spot they entered. Her heart beat faster as she imagined being trapped down here forever. A mental image of layers of concrete and dirt between them and the open air made her breathing grow short. She was going to give herself a panic attack if she didn't calm down. In. Out. She breathed, slow and easy.
Let it flow. Deal with whatever happens.

"Hey, Captain!" The teen yelled. "My sister needs a break. Can we stop for a minute?"

Ari stopped and Lila bumped into him. Deb, in turn, ran into her. She imagined the lot of them tumbling one into another like the Stooges and again crazy laughter threatened to burst from her lips. Lila put both hands to her mouth and leaned against the grimy wall.

"Okay, roll call," their leader commanded. "Say your name so we know everyone's still together."

"Deb Reeves here. Anyone mind if I have a cigarette? I need one bad."

"Patricia Scheider. I'd prefer you didn't. The air down here is foul enough as it is," the white-haired woman's crisp tone allowed for no argument.

Lila pulled her hands away from her face. "Lila Teske still here."

"Derrick and Ronnie Bronson," The boy said.

"I can say my own name! I'm eight. I'm not a baby." The high voice was indignant and petulant. Lila wondered how much longer Ronnie could go before she broke down and threw an all out tantrum. She thought she might join the kid in crying, screaming and kicking her legs. That sounded pretty good right about now.

"Hector Ramirez."

"Ann Hanson."

"Joe Morgenstern."

The names floated through the darkness.

"Do you think we should turn back?" Ann's voice came closer, marking her progress toward the front of the line. "What if we can't find another way out? Or what if we walk right past it in the dark? We should've listened to Mr. Everett and waited for someone to come help us. Wandering around like this is a big mistake." Again her voice sounded as if she was barely holding it together and might fly apart at any second. Ann didn't seem like the kind of person a person wanted to depend on in a crisis.

"Second guessing never accomplishes anything," Mrs. Scheider said briskly. "We're here now. We must move forward."

"I agree." Joe's voice also sounded nearer. Everyone was clustering into a group. "There's bound to be more than one exit and it makes sense there'd be access near a station."

"God knows what we're gonna find up there. Everybody dead or dying," Hector moaned.

"Mr. Ramirez, there's a child here. Mind what you say." Mrs. Scheider reminded him.

"Dude's right though," Derrick chimed in. "Something's going on. The way those people were screaming, maybe it was like nerve gas or something. Or maybe--"

"Shh. Stop it," Lila interrupted. "Let's not conjecture. It's not going to help anything. We'll find out soon enough what happened."

"Jesus, I need a cigarette. Gimme back my lighter."

Ari didn't hand Deb the lighter but did flick it on again. The glow illuminated the faces of the little group making them into eerie yellow masks. "Lila's right. Last thing we need is to start panicking or making up crazy stories. We should think about arming ourselves though. Does anyone have a pocket knife or anything that could be used in self defense?"

"Pepper spray on my key ring," Lila volunteered, then remembered, "which is in my backpack on the train."

Just then a scream echoed through the tunnel from far behind them. Everyone stopped talking and froze. Lila glanced at Ari. His eyes reflected the fire glow and she saw fear in them before he flipped the lighter closed. "Shit!"

She had no doubt Omar Everett had been discovered and attacked. Whatever was up there was now down here, and might have a clue there were more people.

"Gimme the little girl. I'll carry her. We've got to move!" Ari's voice was harsh.

No one argued. Lila seized the hand closest to hers--slender, fine-boned, she thought it might be Ann's—and grabbed the back of Ari's shirt again. Ronnie's leg was around his hip as he carried her. Her knee bumped against Lila's hand.

The group moved forward fast now, marching in silence. And from far away Lila could swear she heard echoing footsteps coming after them.

* * * * *

Chapter Three

The little girl was heavier than Ari had expected, but no more so than the packs they'd had to run with on the obstacle course at boot camp. He wished he'd put her on his back instead of holding her slung around his waist which was an awkward way to carry anything. He also wished to hell he had a weapon. Any weapon. A piece of pipe or a baseball bat would be great, but he'd be happier with an assault rifle. Of course, even an AK-47 wouldn't do much against a flesh-eating virus or nerve gas. He didn't know what had happened on that train, but agreed with the others it was something out of the ordinary.

He listened hard, trying to hear beyond the stumbling feet and harsh breathing of the little group of travelers. The concrete tunnel echoed so it was difficult to tell what he heard, but he thought there were footsteps coming from behind them.

The girl whimpered and gripped his shoulders, her little fingers digging in. She smelled like strawberry gum and sweat. Maybe he was supposed to give her some kind of encouragement or tell her not to worry, but he saved his breath for trotting faster.

"Slow down." The voice sounded like Ann, that woman who'd wanted to stay behind. He wished she had if she was going to hobble the group. He ignored her plea and continued to stride quickly. His palm swept along the wall, keeping them on course and feeling for ladder rungs. He kept his gaze focused toward the ceiling, searching for a break in the blackness, a sign of light to indicate an opening from what felt like an endless coffin. Perhaps he'd been wrong to lead these people down here. Maybe they should've stayed on the track like everyone else and taken their chances that way. Now they were trapped in this tunnel below the tunnel. At least there seemed to be only one possible route. It'd be much worse if there was a maze of choices.

At that moment, as if fate was amused by the idea, the wall vanished from beneath Ari's hand. They'd reached an opening. He turned on the lighter and saw they were at a crossroads. They could continue straight or angle left. Instinct told him to keep going forward, but self-doubt whispered he could be making a big mistake and leading everyone farther away from the station.

He thought about how the train had pulled away from the platform and clicked down the track. Hadn't they veered right? The subway wasn't laid out in a perfect grid. There were twists and turns.

"I think something's coming. We should get moving." Lila's voice behind him was low and tense.

"There's another tunnel. I'm trying to decide which way to go," he whispered back.

People were talking, asking about the hold up, calling out whatever came into their minds.

"Shut up!" he snapped, wishing he could gag every one of them. "All of you shut the hell up." His heart pounded. He shifted the heavy kid in his arms. She tightened her legs around his waist and pressed her head against his chest. Jesus, this kid was depending on him to get them out of here. All of them were depending on him, and he didn't have a clue which way to go.

Lila pressed her hand against his back, her palm warm and reassuring splayed across his spine. "Breathe," she said. "Slow your heart rate, clear your mind, and listen."

Easier said than done, but he obeyed, closing his eyes, which ached from trying to search for any glimmer of light the entire time they'd been hiking through this limbo. He breathed in the dank, oxygen-deprived air and slowly released it. Breathed again and smelled the rotten scent of garbage. Garbage meant people. People meant an access to the tunnel. And wasn't that the faintest whiff of slightly less stale air on his left cheek?

Ari opened his eyes and looked down the branching tunnel. He thought he could see a faint glow. At the same time, he heard footsteps, definite footsteps echoing from far away.

"Move out," he said just loud enough so the group could hear him then plunged into the left hand passage, heading toward the gray light.

The resounding footsteps from behind pattered faster and sounded louder. Whatever was on their trail was trotting now. Ari wrapped his arm around Ronnie and broke into a run, barely touching the wall now to keep his course straight. The dim light became clearer and he headed for it. He stopped when he reached a grate overhead, and the group piled into him. There were no ladder on the wall beneath the grate, no ladder to safety, only the faint light coming through slats half covered by a drift of something, probably litter.

Ari cursed, "God
damn
it!" He peeled Ronnie off him and set her down then moved along the wall, feeling blindly for rungs. There had to be some exit nearby, perhaps a manhole cover he couldn't see because it fit so tightly. If the footsteps behind them weren't growing louder, he wouldn't be panicking, but as it was his heart pounded so hard his chest hurt. They had to find a way out, now.

His knuckles rapped hard against iron. He seized hold of a metal bar and searched for the bottom rung with his foot. Locating it, he climbed quickly to the top of the ladder, reached above his head and felt rough concrete and cool metal. He traced his finger along the lip of a circle before pushing up against it. He held his breath, terrified the cover would be locked from above, but the heavy plate shifted. He grunted as he lifted and shoved it aside.