Revelations (The Elysium Chronicles) (26 page)

I don’t want to be here. What I really want to do is grab Evie in a football hold and run straight back to the submarine. But Evie is nothing if not stubborn, and with Asher feeding her stubbornness, there’s no way I would win. So it’s on to plan B. Which … I haven’t quite figured out yet. Being here makes it almost impossible to think.

The dark is playing tricks on my mind. There are times that I’m positive something is right next to me, so close it could breathe on me, but when I flash the light, there’s nothing there. And then there’s the horrible creaking sounds. It reminds me of when I used to climb around the old wrecked warships as a kid. The sound was unnerving when I heard it then; it’s even more terrifying now. It’s making me jumpy, and my nerves are so tight I’m afraid they’re going to snap at any minute.

We turn down another corridor and I pause, trying to remember which way to go to get to the elevators. I focus on bringing up the map I have in my head from when I was here last, and I’m concentrating so hard I don’t see what I’m walking into until my foot catches on something and I land with my nose just inches from something that smells incredibly disgusting. Evie tugs on me to help me up, asking if I’m okay. I quickly shove to my feet, thinking the worst of what I almost landed in. A body.
Part
of a body? Something worse? I don’t want to look at whatever it is but I know I don’t have a choice.

I expect to see blood and body parts, like last time. But what I see when I shine the light down totally confuses me. It’s definitely a puddle of something, but it’s a greenish color instead of red.

“What’s wrong?” Evie asks.

“I almost fell in something weird.” I squat down to examine it and she does the same, placing a hand on my thigh when she teeters a bit. She reaches out, but I grab her wrist. “Don’t,” I say. “Who knows what this stuff is.”

Asher peers over her shoulder. “Yeah, it could be acid or something. We wouldn’t want you to lose a finger.”

She yanks her hand away and I peer at him over my shoulder. “Really, Asher? Really? Do you just say every little thing that pops into your head?”

“Not everything.”

Even though I can’t really see him in the dark, the smirk in his voice is obvious and it sets my teeth on edge.

“Well, the next time you want to open your mouth, use that tiny thing in your head that passes for a brain, will ya?”

“I think you’re confusing my brain with your—”

“Enough!” Evie says, and the heat of her gaze burns my face. “Can you two just pretend to get along until we get back to the Surface?
Please
.”

We both mumble “Sorry,” but I’m sure we both know she’s asking for too much.

“What do you think this is?” I can feel her watching me again, so I’m pretty sure she’s talking to me.

“I don’t know. I don’t want to touch it.”

“Does it really matter, guys? I mean, it’s green goo. So what? Let’s just keep going so we can get somewhere there’s light,” Asher says.

“What’s the matter? Afraid of the dark?” I say, smiling.

“Gavin,” Evie warns. “Asher’s right. Let’s keep moving.” She places her hand on my thigh again to push herself up.

I stand and hop over the puddle, before turning to shine the light on it so Evie can see her way around. As soon as she’s over, I turn around and start walking away, keeping her hand in mine.

“Hey!” Asher says. “What about me? I don’t want to step in that stuff.”

I pretend not to hear him and keep going. A few seconds later I smile when I hear, “Ugh! Gross!” Music to my ears.

But then, Asher says, “Uh. Guys? I’m stuck.”

I laugh as I turn back around to see him pulling on the leg that’s supposedly stuck in the puddle. “Seriously, Asher? Now’s not the time to pull that shit. Stop kidding around.”

He looks up at me and I don’t see the glint of amusement in his eyes, I see anxiousness. “I’m not joking. It’s really stuck.”

“Really?” I stare closer at his arms pulling on his legs. He’s definitely straining to yank his foot out.

Releasing Evie, I bend down and start tugging too, but it’s really stuck. No matter how hard I pull, it doesn’t even budge. Then I realize something that sends chills down my spine. The muck is actually creeping up his shoe.

“Take your shoe off. Take it off now,” I shout, yanking at his laces now instead of his leg.

He starts pulling at them, too, and for a minute we’re battling each other for the laces until we finally get them loose enough for him to wrench his foot from the shoe. The three of us share a glance, but can only stare in horror as his entire shoe is consumed.

“What. The. Hell?” Asher says, still staring at the spot his shoe was.

“I have no flippin’ clue,” I say, more shaken than I want to admit.

“Those were my favorite shoes.” Asher rips off the other shoe and throws it at the crap. It floats on the surface for a minute before it too sinks. “Damn it.”

Evie grabs my hand and tugs on it. “We should get away from here.” Her voice is soft, but I can hear the nerves underneath and her hand is sweating. She’s never shown her nerves this much. She really must be scared. If she can keep going, as scared as she is, so can I.

I nod and start forward again.

We continue walking, every so often running into more puddles. We’re careful to avoid them, each of us working with the others to make sure everyone makes it over them, especially the larger ones. And especially Asher. It’s bad enough he has to walk around barefoot; we don’t need him to lose them, too. The puddles are strange, though. It’s too dark, even with the flashlight, to see them completely, but I’ve never seen liquid pool in the shapes that these are collecting in. There’s no sign of a source, so we ignore them as much as possible and keep going.

It’s entirely too quiet again, the only sounds the scrape of our shoes against the concrete, that odd groaning sound, and Asher’s occasional mutterings about me purposely getting us lost. And while it’s definitely not purposeful, I have to admit we probably are. Lost, that is. I’d only traveled this way once, and we’d gotten a little distracted running for our lives from the insane cannibals. It’s a wee bit hard to remember where to turn.

Eventually, with more luck than anything else, when we turn yet another corner—I’m
sure
we didn’t turn this much last time—I see a tiny bit of light peeking around a corner.

I rush forward, reaching behind me to grab Evie’s hand and tug so she’ll follow me. As unrealistic as I know this is, my mind begs for the light because light equals safety. Her feet drag a little until she sees why I’m rushing. She speeds up a bit and I don’t feel so much like I’m dragging her behind me.

“Hey! Wait up!” Asher calls from behind us, but we ignore him. I stop only when I get into the light. The hallway looks just like I remember it. Long, and empty. Concrete walls with the occasional door. Every so often down the hall there are more piles of gunk, and their shapes are starting to click in my head. They almost look like bodies, or parts of bodies, but I’m almost positive my memories of this damned place are making me imagine it, like when you see shapes in the clouds. This makes me especially grateful for the light.

I follow down the corridors with the lights working until
finally
I see a set of elevator banks. I rush to the button and press it, then press it again a few seconds later. Then again. Over and over again, until Evie places her hand on mine, stopping me.

Come on. Come on. Come on.

Inside the shafts the car clangs and bangs as it gets pulled up. My mind flashes on those monsters from the last time. I shudder as I remember how the whole hallway had been filled with blood. Sprays of it on the walls, dripping from the ceiling. And a carpet of bodies strewn across the floor. It dawns on me that I should be more careful. Just because, so far, we haven’t seen hide nor hair of them, doesn’t mean they aren’t waiting. An elevator would be just the place to hide.

I usher Evie and Asher back to wait behind a corner, where I watch for the elevator to arrive while they both stare at me like I’ve lost my mind. Maybe I have. I’ve never been more terrified in my life.

Asher shoves past me. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go.”

I grab him and yank him back. “Stay still,” I hiss. “Those things could be in there.”

Evie and Asher exchange a look and he wrinkles his nose. “You’ve lost it, dude. We haven’t seen anyone in the entire time we’ve been here. There’s no one here.”

He steps forward again, and I snatch him back, shoving him to the wall so hard his head smashes against it. He yelps.

“Gavin!” Evie says, tugging on my arm.

I ignore her, shoving Asher into the wall again. “Damn it, Asher. Just flippin’ listen to me for once. You’re going to get us killed.”

He scowls at me and rubs his head, but doesn’t say anything. When the doors finally slide open and no one steps out, I palm the plasma gun and double-check to make sure it’s loaded before stepping out into the hall.

It’s a relief to see there’s nothing in there. Not even any of the green goo. I signal for the others to come, and while Asher glowers at me when he gets to me, he gets into the elevator without saying a word. I ignore the concerned looks Evie keeps shooting me and press the button for the bottom floor. I’m pretty sure that’s where the Tube station is anyway. I can’t really remember where we’d started from when we were here before. I just know it was a relatively long elevator ride. But it’s not like we can’t start at the bottom and work our way up until we find the right floor if I’m wrong.

Snakes roll around in my stomach as my nerves act up. I
really
don’t want to go back to the other side of Elysium. It makes the most sense to go there, but I don’t know how we’re going to get past the turrets and cameras. Even if we’re not shot, the cameras will catch our every move. Evie might have been able to delete us from the targeting systems last time, but it seems unlikely Mother hasn’t had her little trick undone by now. And there’s no way Evie can get us back in the system now. Not without her memories.

We’ll just have to use those maintenance tunnels again and hope we don’t set off any of the turrets as we run from the Tube to the tunnel. Of course, the problem with that is, Evie has no memory of how to break the security on the doors. Maybe it’ll come to her. Maybe just being in the area will spark some of her memories.

The way she’s looking around like she’s never seen an elevator before, I don’t hold out much hope for that.

When we’re finally about to hit the bottom level, I step in front of Evie and hold the plasma gun out in front of me. This is where our luck runs out. I’m sure of it. Evie makes a frustrated noise, but doesn’t argue. Behind me Asher cocks the Reising, and steps up next to me.

I lift an eyebrow at him.

He shrugs. “You’re not the only one who can protect her.”

Evie makes that sound again. “I don’t need protecting,” she says, but her voice wavers. There’s no doubt in my mind that if she was herself right now, this wouldn’t even be up for discussion. She’d be in front of both of us, strapped to the teeth and ready to take no prisoners.

I grunt in response, but turn my attention back to the doors as they slide open. I’m not sure what I expect, but it isn’t what I get: freezing cold water flooding into the car. It gushes in so fast the only thing I can do is inhale a single breath before it closes over my head.

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY-THREE

EVACUATION GATHERING LOCATION! PLEASE PLACE SAMPLES INSIDE NEXT TO PALM READER!

—
S
IGN ON STORAGE ROOM DOOR

Evie

As the water closes over my head, the memory of something similar flashes in my mind, but I shove it away. There’s no time and it’s not like it’ll help. I force my eyes open, then wish I hadn’t when the seawater sears my eyes, but I have to be able to tell which way is up.

Something tugs on my hand, pulling me out of the car, and I almost scream, but manage to clamp my lips together to keep from letting loose and losing the much needed oxygen. The familiar roughness of the hand tells me it’s Gavin and while I try to look around for Asher, it’s a lost cause. It’s too dark and I can’t see anything.

My lungs burning, I kick as hard as I can, letting Gavin pull me. Just when I can’t hold my breath any longer, we burst through the surface, our heads hitting the ceiling. Seconds later, as Gavin is practically begging me to tell him I’m okay, Asher surfaces next to us, gasping for breath. He frantically looks around and when he sees me, I can see him relax. He swims closer, panting a little.

“You okay?”

Coughing, I nod and ignore the pain in my chest. “Just in a little bit of shock.”

He turns to Gavin. “What the hell, dude? Are you trying to kill us?”

Gavin only gives him a look. “If I’d known that was going to happen, I wouldn’t have brought us down here. It wasn’t like this before. I don’t know what’s going on, but we have to get out of here,” he says.

We all turn around in circles, but I can’t see anything. None of this looks familiar to me, though I’m starting to get small flashes. Gavin running, me slung over his shoulder. Shooting some kind of blue light at people running behind us. Clouds of ash where the people stood.

Something brushes my leg and I scream as my imagination forms the image of one of those blood- and gore-covered brutes, wrenching me under the water. Then, because I still haven’t caught my breath, I break into harsh coughing.

“What?” Gavin pulls me behind him and looks around frantically.

“Something … brushed my leg. I don’t know what it was.” I accidentally inhale a mouthful of water in my panic and nearly choke.

Gavin shoves a wall of water at Asher. “Come on. Stop playin’ around.”

Asher holds up his hands before slamming them back into the water to paddle. “Don’t look at me. I didn’t do it.”

“What the hell was it then?” Gavin’s eyes are taking on that frenzied look again, but it doesn’t take long to find out his answer. An obviously dead body floats by just under the surface, its eyes wide and unseeing. We all watch as it continues its meandering path past us. And I’m pretty sure the reason it’s moving is because wherever the leak is, the water is still coming in.