Michael Ford - Z

“Water,” he said.

Finnegan switched on his torch’s light and shone it into the darkness. A dozen steps down, the stairs disappeared into water. “Good work, genius,” Finnegan said.

Ever since Finnegan had been assigned to a team with Josh, Charlie, and Bess, he’d been acting weird. Assuming it was because he had been separated from his brother, Josh was trying not to let Finnegan’s comments bother him. But his patience was wearing thin.

“What’s your problem?” he demanded.

Finnegan stepped back. “I don’t have a problem,” he said, sounding surprised.

Josh grinned. “I didn’t think so. So how about you go first down the stairs, then?”

Suddenly Charlie was beside him. “Ease up,” she whispered so that only he could hear.

Josh laughed. “I’m fine,” he said.

Charlie grabbed his elbow. “Josh,” she said. “I’m serious. Just cool it, okay?”

Josh closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, until he calmed down a little. “I’m fine,” he told Charlie.

“Josh, you take lead,” Bess said. “Finn, you’re rear man.”

Josh glared at Finnegan. “No problem,” Josh said.

He descended quickly, moving faster than he knew he should. The light mounted on his flamethrower cut through the blackness. When he reached the point where the water met the stairs, he kept going, never hesitating. The cold water slid over his boots and up his legs, and still Josh didn’t slow down.

When the water was up to his waist, the stairs ran out and he was on level ground. Ten feet ahead of him the opening to a huge pipe gaped like an open mouth about twelve feet across. The metal was rusted and flaking off, and the water was speckled with tiny pieces of it.

“What is this place?” Josh asked.

“One of the intake tunnels,” said Bess. “This is where the water came in to flood the main room and raise the ships to the surface. There are a dozen of them.” She shone her light at the top of the tunnel entrance, where a number was etched into the steel. “This is tunnel nine.”

“The worst one,” Finnegan mumbled.

“The hardest one,” said Charlie, correcting him.

“Why?” Josh asked.

“This one is still live,” Bess explained. “The others were turned off years ago, but this one still works. It’s connected to a line used by the city to take water from the ocean to use in the hydrogenerators that power the subway. The guys who built this place tapped into that line. They installed a valve to open and close it, but when they abandoned it, that valve was stuck halfway open. So whenever the city uses this particular line, water comes through tunnel nine too.”

“What she’s trying to say is that this place can flood at any second,” Finnegan added.

“Not any second,” Charlie countered. “You get a warning, at least if you keep your ears open.”

“Right,” said Bess. “When water moves through the main line, you can hear it. Then you know you have about three minutes to get out of the tunnel before it starts filling up.”

“What kind of noise?” Josh asked her.

“It’s hard to explain,” Bess answered. “Trust me, you’ll know it when you hear it.”

“How often do they use the line?”

“Not often,” said Charlie. “The lines are old, so they rotate between them. This one gets used maybe three times a month.”

“But never on the same day,” Finnegan added.

Josh looked at the water. “It looks like they’ve used it pretty recently,” he remarked. “Look how high it is.”

Bess shook her head. “It’s always at least this high,” she said. “Remember, the valve is stuck halfway open. When the tunnel floods, it only drains back out to the level of the valve opening.”

“Why not just fix the valve?”

“Clatter thinks it makes a great training zone,” Charlie said.

“And he’s right,” said Bess.

“Wait a minute,” Josh said. “If the tunnel goes straight in and straight out, what’s the big deal? We just go in until we find the z’s, torch them, and get out.”

Finnegan laughed but said nothing.

“It’s not that easy,” Charlie said. “The tunnel doesn’t just run straight through. It’s in five sections, with a flood chamber between each section and the next. The flood chambers have a hatch door on each side. If the tunnel starts to flood, theoretically you can release the door closest to the main line and prevent the water from coming any farther this way.”

“Theoretically?” said Josh.

“They don’t always work,” Finnegan said. “The machinery is old. Some of it is broken. Some of it sticks. You just never know.”

“Each flood chamber has a shaft that runs up to the surface,” Bess continued. “It’s a way to vent water if it builds up. There’s also a ladder in each shaft, kind of an escape route if you’re trapped in the room.”

“Not that you’re likely to make it,” said Finnegan. “More than likely the water will rise faster than you can climb.”

“There are also some smaller access tunnels,” Charlie said. “They link the twelve tunnels together. But they’re really only wide enough to crawl through.”

“Which the z’s are really good at,” said Finnegan.

Josh tried to make sense of everything he was being told. Normally it wouldn’t be a problem, but the Z was making it hard to analyze everything clearly. Hatches, he thought. Access tunnels. Flood chambers. Individually the words made sense, but when he tried to put them all together, things got a little fuzzy.

“So you’re saying that the z’s could be anywhere,” he said finally. “Got it. Let’s go torching.”

Without waiting for the others, he pushed ahead through the water. His eyes quickly adapted to the darkness, another benefit of taking the Z. He watched the shadows carefully for signs of movement but saw nothing.

After about a hundred yards they came to a wall that prevented them from going forward. A circular door about six feet across and made of thick steel was set into the center of the wall.

“This is the first hatch door,” Bess said, shining her light on the door. “See that lever on the right?”

Josh looked where her beam was pointing and saw a rectangular box about a foot high affixed to the wall beside the door. A metal rod extended from it at an angle.

“When you pull the lever, it activates the chains that raise and lower the door,” said Bess. She reached for it. “Be ready to shoot if there’s anything inside.”

Josh and the others stood back, their flamethrowers held out in front of them, as Bess pulled the rod down. There was a grinding sound as the heavy door rose straight up into the ceiling.

Josh stepped through the opening and found himself in a square chamber approximately fifteen feet on each side. From the doorway, steps led down from the tunnel to the room’s floor. On the opposite side of the room another set of steps went up to a hatch door that was partially open. The room was filled with water that left only three steps exposed.

“Doesn’t look like there are any meatbags in here,” said Josh, shining his light around. He walked down the steps and into the partially flooded chamber. When his feet touched the floor, the water was just above his waist. As he waded across the room, he noticed a ladder affixed to the wall on his left. It led to a hole in the ceiling, and he guessed it was the escape shaft Bess had mentioned.

“Where are the access tunnels you talked about?” he asked Bess. “I don’t see any other ways in or out.”

“They’re below water level right now,” Bess said. “It’s different in each room. You just have to look everywhere.”

They made their way to the other side of the chamber and ducked beneath the partially opened hatch door to reenter the tunnel. The next stretch was as empty as the first, and Josh found himself getting bored.