Underworld (20 page)

No one stopped him. Everyone was too tired. Too scared.

Mr Marks stirred once again. His eyelids flickered for a moment, as they had so many times before, but there was no other response.

‘So, what do we do now?' Fiona asked. No one answered her. No one knew. ‘We're done for this time, ain't we?' She could have cried, but what was the point? ‘Done for,' she said again.

‘What was that noise?' Fiona was alert. ‘I heard a noise there.'

Axel barked at her. ‘That's all we do in this place, hear noises.'

But they were all silent, listening.

Then they all heard it, somewhere winding through the caves, reaching them eerily. No mistaking.

‘Was that a whistle?' Fiona jumped to her feet, peering into the darkness. ‘That was a whistle,' she decided.

They were all on their feet. ‘They've found us!' They cried out. ‘We're here! Help us!'

‘Where's it coming from?'

But it was hard to tell here in the underground.

‘Whistle back!' Zesh said, and with that he blew his whistle as loudly as his breath allowed.

The whistle came back in answer, faintly, but moving towards them. Then they all blew, frantically, blowing and shouting and yelling, ‘We're here!'

They were jumping and hugging each other, and laughing. ‘We're saved!'

One minute, despair, all hope gone. The next, joy. They were saved.

‘I knew search parties would be out looking for us,' Zesh said, his confidence returning. ‘We probably weren't in any real danger of never being found.'

‘Your brain's missing, pal, if you think that.' Fiona sounded angry. ‘Angie was certainly in danger, wasn't she?'

‘I'm sorry,' Zesh said at once, realising what a stupid thing he had just said.

Fiona laughed then, a relieved laugh, because she was saved. ‘Are you listening to this, boys!' she called to Axel and Liam. ‘Zesh actually apologised to me, and it's
not for the first time.'

She took a deep breath and blew her whistle again.

Louder now, the answering whistle came. ‘There!' Liam said, pointing to the wall of rock. ‘It's coming from there.'

They all moved closer to the sound. Axel shone his light up and down, he felt all around it. A wall of rock.

‘I can still hear that whistle,' Fiona called out. ‘Here!'

Suddenly, illuminated by the light from their lamps, a face appeared through the rock. White, ghostly, unreal. And this time when Fiona screamed, it was in terror.

The face was Angie's.

Angie? It couldn't be. Axel stepped back, almost as frightened as he'd been when he'd been stuck fast in the tunnel. Angie was dead. She even looked dead, her face as white as a ghost, her eyes just black pinpoints caught in their lamplights. For a shocked moment no one said a word. Angie looked around them from one to the other.

‘Why are you all looking at me like that? It's Angie. Don't you recognise me?'

She began clambering out of the rock. Why hadn't they seen this opening before? That bothered Axel too. They'd searched all around here and found nothing, and suddenly Angie appears, from solid rock, from a cave that hadn't been there before.

‘We thought you were dead,' Fiona stuttered the words out. ‘I tried to find you. Honest.'

Angie beamed a smile. ‘I know you did. I heard you. I tried to let you know where I was, but I had no
breath to use my whistle.'

Fiona took her by the shoulders and shook her. ‘So why didn't you shout? I was screaming. You could at least have yelled back.'

‘I tried, Fiona. You couldn't hear me. I was so scared.'

‘We waited for you. I kept listening.' Fiona sounded angry. Anger verging on tears. Relieved Angie was back, just not sure she was actually alive.

‘I was trying to come back, but the water started rising. I couldn't find the right way. I had to move on.'

‘But where did you go?' Zesh asked her.

Angie smiled at him. ‘You got your inhaler back.' She turned to Axel. ‘I knew you'd give it to him.'

Axel waited for someone – Liam – to tell her different. But no one did.

‘I didn't know where I was going. I was so afraid. But,' she touched Fiona's arm, ‘then I remembered what you told me. Remember?'

I told her she was an ugly fat bird, was all Fiona could remember … that helped her?

‘You said, no use moaning, you play the cards you're dealt with. So I thought, right, I'm on my own. That's the cards I've been dealt with, so get on with it. You helped me so much.'

Fiona looked at her in disbelief.

‘Anyway, I've found the way out. And we have to go now!'

‘You!' Liam was shocked. So was Axel. Fat Angie, the one who screamed her way out of the bat cave, the first one to die … (But of course, she hadn't died, had she?) She was the one who was going to lead them to safety?

‘I found signs. Someone must have marked the way a long time ago. One of those legends we heard about, must have been true, I suppose.'

‘But how did you find us?'

‘Sounds carry in these caves. Have you noticed that? You can actually imagine them winding their way through all the chambers looking for someone to hear them.'

‘Angie's back right enough,' Fiona said. ‘Doing her zonking creative writing.'

‘Sorry,' Angie said softly.

‘So you'll be able to find the way back?'

‘Sure I will.' No hesitation. ‘I've laid signs too. Maybe in years to come, decades, someone will find my signs too.'

Fiona turned to them. ‘We forgot, she's a Girl Guide. She's probably got a badge for “Finding your way out of caves”.'

Angie smiled. ‘I have now,' she said. Then she sighed. ‘I missed you guys.'

Axel winced. She missed us guys! That girl would never change.

‘Well, are you ready to go? I really think we should hurry.'

‘Why?' Fiona asked her.

Angie didn't answer for a moment. She looked around the cave, thinking of an answer, Fiona was sure of it. ‘Just believe me. We have to hurry.'

Liam whispered to Axel. ‘We're following a dead girl out of a cave. Or is she leading us to our death as well?'

Axel tugged at his sleeve. ‘You don't really think she's dead, do you?' He looked at Angie, white-faced, smiling, and he wasn't sure.

* * *

We will die of hunger in here. Have other people died of hunger in these black holes? Nothing to eat, nothing can grow. Life needs light. No wonder Hell is in the underworld. And this is Hell.

Yet, it seems different now. There is a heat here. It saps my strength, feels even more claustrophobic. This cave oozes with moisture, and there is so little air that my breath is coming in gasps.

‘Surely we must have come the wrong way, sir? Surely we should have found something by now?'

The Captain is looking all around as if he is puzzled too. I see the hesitation in his eyes.

Oh, please, God, let him want to go back. Give him some common sense. I have a feeling of doom in this black hole of Hell.

‘Maybe … we have taken a wrong turning.' He turns to me. ‘We will go back.'

I promise myself that when I see my first sign I will run, leave him if I have to. I will go no further. I am almost crying with relief as he stumbles towards me, making me throw my hands against the wall to stop myself from falling too.

And the wall is wet.

And the wall is soft.

I hold out my hands as the sticky liquid clings to it.

The wall is soft.

But rock is not soft.

Rock is never soft.

‘What is it, boy!' the Captain demands, and I hold out my hands to him

‘The wall is soft,' I say.

He looks at me, and then he touches the wall too. I hear his low moan.

The wall is soft.

Rock is not soft. So this cannot be rock. It cannot be wall.

When did the nightmare realisation dawn on me? In what instant?

I do not know.

I looked all around the cave and I screamed.

‘We are inside the Worm!'

* * *

Mr Marks stirred uneasily as they lifted him. They stopped and watched him for a moment. Was he going to wake up this time? Angie came towards him and felt his brow.

‘I've been giving him water,' Fiona told her. Her tone surprised Zesh. It was as if she wanted to please Angie, to assure her she had taken over her job.

Angie smiled again. ‘I knew you would,' she said. Then she turned to them all. ‘This way,' and she stepped forwards and disappeared into the black hole.

‘I can't believe she's back, Zesh,' Fiona whispered. ‘Can you?'

It seemed that none of them could. No wonder they all seemed scared of her. She had gone, disappeared, and now, she had reappeared just like magic. It gave Zesh a chill feeling in his stomach. ‘But she knows the
way out,' he said. ‘What choice do we have but to follow her?'

Liam said softly. ‘Well, I'm telling you this. I'm keeping my eye on her. I don't trust her.'

Axel tried to make a joke of it. ‘Liam thinks she's the evil ghost of Angie, come back to lead us to our deaths.' No one laughed.

Liam didn't even dispute it. ‘I'm gonny watch her anyway.'

They moved into the tunnel, and it seemed to Zesh that they were going the wrong way, going back, going down. He glanced at Axel. Axel whose sense of direction was always good. And saw concern on his face too. Axel felt him watching him. ‘Where is she taking us?'

Angie caught the whispered words. ‘It leads to the sea. Honest.' Her eyes went wide. ‘Look. There's one of my signs.'

Her sign was a pile of rocks built into a pyramid. ‘This is the way I came.'

Axel and Zesh stared at each other. What choice did they have indeed, but to follow her?

As they struggled deeper the water began to run down the cave walls and the smell grew musty.
None of them liked it.

‘I don't think this is right!' Liam yelled.

Angie's voice was calm when she answered him. ‘Wait till you see the signs.'

‘What signs!' Liam yelled again. ‘What are you talking about?'

‘Signs, numbers. I found them, like a countdown to the sea. 10, 9, 8. Come on.' She seemed to glance behind her, and her smile wavered.

They all felt it. Something ominous in the dark.

‘Please. Hurry,' Angie said.

‘Do you think there's going to be another collapse?' Liam asked Zesh.

But a collapse was the last thing on Zesh's mind.

Not one of them felt easy about following Angie, but at least they were moving. And if Zesh thought the caves were growing darker, he refused to be afraid. If this was the way that would lead them out, that was all that mattered.

But what if it didn't?

Liam had put it into their heads that Angie might be … no, that was stupid. He was letting his imagination take over. It was the dark. In the dark anything was possible.

* * *

My scream and his send tremors that disturb it. I feel it move under my feet.

We are inside the Worm!

No wonder the stench, the oppressive heat.

We are in the belly of the Worm.

We begin to run. In front of me I can see the open mouth of the cave.

No. Not the cave, I see that now. The mouth of the Worm.

Wide and open.

Our only escape, that way.

We are both running for our lives. Screaming in terror. I slip on the slime beneath my feet, and the Captain runs past me.

‘Captain!' I try to stand but I keep slipping. ‘Captain, do not leave me!'

I must not be left in here, to be digested slowly by the Worm.

He does not stop. He will leave me and save himself.

That terror alone gets me up and steady and I begin running again.

And as I run I realise that the mouth is closing slowly. Closing, trapping us inside.

No!

Like an athlete I run. Like an Olympic athlete I run. No one should die this way.

I am beside the Captain now. He is struggling, his face strained with terror.

I pass him. The mouth is closing. I must get out. I must throw myself the last few feet. Hurl myself forwards and outside of the mouth.

I am free. Free.

I turn and urge the Captain on. And still that mouth is closing … closing.

He is screaming so loud my ears bleed with the pain.

RUN!

But he will not make it. He knows it. He screams to me. ‘Don't leave me here!'

But what am I to do?

Nothing.

Nothing but watch as the mouth closes on his terrified face.

* * *

Axel was afraid too. Afraid of Angie. Why was he following her, listening to her? Especially after what Liam had put into his head. But he wanted desperately to be out of here. To wide open space. He wanted to see the sky. Breathe air. He breathed in and the smell was
putrid. There was a sound, like someone, something, letting its breath out. Behind him.

He began to hurry.

* * *

I cannot rest. For I see the thing begin to move, sliding towards me. It is as if the whole cave is moving. It is coming after me.

No!

* * *

I'm off my chump, Fiona was thinking. I'm shaking like a leaf and I'm beginning to run as if there was something after me. Or maybe the something's here. She looked ahead at Angie, half hidden in the gloom. Angie turned right at that instant and smiled at her. Fiona shivered. Why was she so afraid? More afraid than she'd been since they had come down here? The caves seemed to be whispering to her. Zonks! She was beginning to sound like Angie.