Water Shaper (World Aflame) (20 page)

“Come on,” Wilkes said as he started walking toward the red line tunnel. “No time to dally.”

The red line tunnel opened onto the platform. Wilkes took the flashlight back from Xander and shone it on the wall. He read the stops and quickly figured out which way they needed to go. The Brit walked to the edge of the platform and glanced down, scanning the rails below with both his flashlight and his rifle. Seeing nothing, he sat down on the edge and jumped nimbly down onto the center of the rails.

Xander helped lower Jessica down before rolling over on his belly and sliding down to join the others. Sean slid down beside him and landed surprisingly lithely. The heavyset man scanned the area with a nervous glint in his eye.

“What’s bothering you?” Wilkes asked.

“Isn’t there like a third rail or something that electrocutes you if you touch it?”

Wilkes took his rifle and banged the butt of it against a thicker rail set to the side. Sean flinched, both at the anticipation of the man’s electrocution and at the reverberating noise it made. When Wilkes wasn’t electrocuted, Sean relaxed.

“No power equals no electricity,” the officer explained. “You’re in the clear. Now, if there are no other blaring concerns that we need to address, we’ve got a couple hours’ walk ahead of us.”

The flashlight did a good job of illuminating the curved tunnel. Its wide light painted the walls and ceiling in its yellow glow, lighting the way ahead. Xander, Sean, and Jessica
—who followed behind Wilkes and his flashlight—spent most of their time looking down to ensure they didn’t trip over one of the jutting support beams.

Their walk through the red line tunnel was slightly unnerving to Xander. Despite seeing the destruction of the city above them, the fact that he was facing the potential end of the civilized world had always seemed somewhat surreal, as though it was happening to someone else. It almost felt like he was watching the story unfold from the other side of a movie screen. Walking through the abandoned tunnel, however, made the destruction around him just a little too real. He almost expected a Morlock tribe to jump out of the shadows at any moment.

It wasn’t any less stressful when they came across tube stops every few hundred feet. Each platform required Wilkes to reconnoiter the area, ensuring Fire Warriors hadn’t made a home in the Underground station. He went so far as to check the upstairs in each, clearing aside any chance of an ambush. Once the way ahead was clear, the four would have to walk past the platform, crouching low as they walked in case someone mystically appeared between Wilkes’ sweeps of the area. Though it was only six stops to where they would catch the black line, it was hours before they were past the first four.

Wilkes dropped back once they were past the Chancery Lane station and walked beside Xander. The officer stretched his arms out wide, stretching the stiff muscles in his back. As he settled, he looked over to the Wind Warrior as the flashlight beam bounced in rhythm with their steps.

“I’ve given you the benefit of the doubt,” Wilkes said. “I’ve trusted you, but you still haven’t told me what’s going on.”

“In London?” Xander asked, knowing that wasn’t what Wilkes meant.

“With you.”

Xander shook his head. “You’d think I’m crazy if I told you.”

Wilkes patted Xander firmly, but affectionately on the back. “Yank, I’ve been fighting strange men who make flames magically appear in their hands. I fought a man with burning wings. I think I’ve got a pretty good grasp on the strange and inexplicable.”

Xander smiled weakly. “All right. You know how there are four elements: wind, water, earth, and fire?
Well, a long time ago, those four elements split up the responsibility among them for shaping and nurturing humanity.”

“And you’re one of these elements?”

“No,” Xander said. “Yes. It’s complicated.”

“
Well, thanks for clearing that up.”

Xander sighed. “I was one of the Wind
Warriors, but now I’m the last of my kind.”

“And those blokes outside are Fire Warriors. I picked up that much. These Fire Warriors want to destroy the world then?”

“Kind of.”

“Nothing’s really clear with you, is it?”

Xander chuckled. “The Fire Caste is supposed to destroy humanity so that the planet can be reborn. It’s a cycle that we’re trying to stop.”

Wilkes stared at him as Xander concluded his story.

“I told you it was crazy,” Xander said.

Wilkes pointed to Sean and Jessica behind them. “Actually, crazy is those two for volunteering to step in the middle of this pile of crap. What you just told me makes more sense than anything else I’ve seen or heard lately.”

“What about you? Want to tell me about your family?”

Wilkes smile faltered for a second and a distant look filled his eyes. “Her name is Tamara. We met while attending
university together. We fell in love and, once I realized she was far smarter than I was, I never let her go. We got married shortly after we graduated and found out we were pregnant, perhaps not quite in that order.”

Xander
smiled, and Wilkes’ smile quickly returned at the happy memory.

“Brandon was born just after we moved to London and just after I received my commission in the army. Tamara got a great job, which is why we bought the flat. I was stationed in London for some time before being assigned to the Royal Gurkha Rifles out of Kent. That’s the abridged story of my life.”

“We’re going to save them both,” Xander said, feeling it was the right response.

“You bet your arse, we are.”

Wilkes smiled and patted him hard on the back before resuming his spot in the front of the group. Xander smiled at the odd Brit. He couldn’t say he completely understood the man, but he certainly appreciated having him around.

He heard Sean yawn behind him and reflexively he felt himself yawn as well. Though they knew they’d be moving by night to get from Selfridges to the Underground station, they all had trouble sleeping during the day. The stress of knowing that Fire Warriors were nearby made him jerk awake at any sound, whether it was real or imagined. He had finally given up trying to sleep and instead sat up with his friends, playing board games they salvaged from the children’s toy department.

Now his lack of sleep was catching up to him. The gloom and silence of the tube tunnel was both mildly claustrophobic and soothing. The air was cool, but not cold, and he could easily imagine himself curling up against the near wall and sleeping for a few hours.

Daydreaming as he was, Xander almost didn’t notice Wilkes stop as they came around a corner in the tunnel. He followed the beam of light as it spilled over a stopped train car. Though they knew the power had been shut off in the subway system, Xander hadn’t really put much thought into the subway cars themselves and what had happened to them.

“Stay here,” Wilkes whispered. “I’ll go check it out and come get you if it’s all clear.”

Wilkes handed Xander the flashlight, though Xander knew the futility of the officer moving ahead without it. They’d already pointed the light at the back of the train car, which had previously been sitting in complete darkness. If anyone
was on board, they certainly already knew they were coming.

The Brit moved up to the back of the car with his rifle raised. He climbed up the back ladder until he could see into the narrow window on the rear car. As quickly as he had jumped up onto the back of the car, Wilkes climbed down and walked casually back to the group.

“It’s clear,” he said. “The whole thing’s empty as far as I can tell. I’ll do a better scan once we get closer.”

“Do you think it’s somewhere we can rest for a while?” Jessica asked. She reached down and rubbed the heel of her newly acquired boots. “I didn’t exactly get a chance to break these things
in, and my feet are aching.”

Wilkes frowned. “We need to get to the London Bridge station.”

“You’re right,” Xander said, “but so is she. I’m sorry, Wilkes, but we’re exhausted. None of us slept well and carrying around all this tension is mind numbing. If you want us to be at our best when we go topside again, we’re going to need to get some rest. All of us, you included.”

Wilkes’ frown
deepened, but he didn’t argue. “We can camp out in the train car for a few hours, and then we’ll get going again.”

He led the group to the rear of the car. The train filled most of the width of the tunnel, leaving very little space on either side. The left, however, had a narrow ledge that curved along with the wall. Wilkes handed Xander his rifle before climbing up on
it and retrieving the weapon again. He offered his hand, pulling the others up behind him.

They had to turn sideways to slide past the curving cars of the subway. Though Xander thought for certain they’d take their break in the rearmost car, Wilkes led them nearly halfway down the length of the train before stopping. Xander kept the light shining through the windows, constantly expecting to see a Fire Warrior staring back at him. Or even worse, a dead body. The whole situation screamed “horror movie”.

Wilkes handed Xander his rifle again and slipped his fingers into the rubber separating the two sliding doors on the side of the subway car. Despite not having very good leverage from their narrow ledge, he easily pried the doors apart.

“Turn off the light,” the officer said as he stepped into the car. “We won’t need
them, and we don’t want to draw any unwanted attention while we’re stopped.”

It was dark
inside, but the meager batteries on board the subway car illuminated the red exit lights. It painted the interior of the car in an eerie glow, like the car itself was a gateway to something far more sinister. Even so, the group found seats along the empty subway car and sat down heavily, glad to be off their feet.

Xander lay down across a couple
of seats, letting his feet dangle into the aisle. Jessica did the same, except she chose a handicapped row of sideways facing seats that offered her more space to stretch out. Sean, however, stood near the entrance and rubbed his belly thoughtfully.

“You got anything to eat in that giant duffel bag of yours?” Sean asked.

Wilkes dropped the bag on the floor and unclipped the top. “I do, but I promise you’re not going to like it.”

Sean looked down at his protruding belly before looking back at the Brit. “
Clearly, you don’t understand Americans very well. We’re fat kids at heart and in practice. And right now, this fat kid’s stomach is about to eat his practically non-existent butt. So in this case, beggars can’t be choosers and I’ll take whatever you have to offer.”

Wilkes smiled before pulling out some bags of vacuum-sealed foods. He tossed Sean a bag of beef jerky and another larger bag that had a forest scene printed on the front.

“What is this?”

“Meals ready to eat,” Wilkes explained. “We use them in the
military, but they sell them commercially to hunters and the like.”

Sean tried to read the label in the dim light. “Does this say ‘Beef Enchilada’?”

“Yeah, Yank, but I’m pretty sure you’re about to be sorely disappointed.”

Sean laughed and sat down on a seat. He pulled open the top of the bag and began removing smaller and smaller bags of pre-packaged foods. “I don’t know how long ago it was that you went to
college, but you’ve clearly forgotten what it means to be a starving college student. I’ve been surviving on a staple of microwave mac and cheese, ten-cent microwave burritos, and ramen noodles. I wash all that down with the cheapest generic soda I can afford, which usually tastes like carbonated urine. This is a freaking banquet, all in my honor.”

Wilkes laughed and pulled out a meal of his own. Xander glanced back and forth between the pair, glad to see that the situation hadn’t completely dulled Sean’s senses of humor. Even Wilkes, who had seemed so straight-laced when they first met, really seemed to be relaxing around them.

Xander wished he could relax and join in the fun, but his thoughts kept drifting back to all his responsibilities. He had promised the Water Elemental that he would clear London of the Fire Caste, which had seemed far easier to do when he was sitting in her sunken city at the bottom of the Atlantic. Standing on the streets of London, facing even a pair of Fire Warriors seemed daunting. Wilkes had killed five, maybe six of them total. There were still thousands more that needed to be dealt with.