The Immortality Game

“I’ve never fainted before,” Zoya said. “Wasn’t sure I even believed it could happen.”

“I wasn’t there to see, but the elders said you were terrified, chased by bad men,” Sveta said.

“Mother!” Zoya’s eyes filled with tears. Could I have done something for her? Truly?

“Have a sip of tea,” Sveta said, holding a steaming cup to Zoya’s lips. “It’ll give you strength.”

Zoya ignored the cup and bent her head over her lap, racked by sobs. “I…‌I should have died with her.”

“Died?” Sveta whispered. “These men…‌killed your mother?”

Zoya could only nod, her hands covering her face.

“Why did you come here?”

“They…‌they chased me. I didn’t know where to go. I thought maybe the guards at your doors would…‌would help. There were no guards.”

Sveta put an arm about Zoya’s shoulders. “The elders wouldn’t like me saying so, but we are in trouble down here. Most of the strong ones are…”

Zoya felt the young woman’s head shake, and she turned to meet her eyes. “I…‌I don’t know what to do now,” she moaned.

Sveta lowered her gaze. “I’m so sorry, but the elders said you must leave once you are able.”

“I understand,” Zoya said. “But they may be waiting for me outside. You’ll deliver me up to them?”

Sveta squeezed her shoulder. “Whoever may be watching, I can take you past them unawares. Come.”

Zoya looked at Sveta again. “Yes, I want to leave, please.”

She found her knee-high boots sitting next to her and pulled them on. Sveta helped her to stand. Zoya gasped when she saw a long line of cots down on the metro tracks, a blanket-wrapped form in most of them. Dim figures sat near some of the cots, tending to various needs. “Are they sick?”

“They…” Sveta looked around nervously. “They’re stricken. By the Web.”

“Meshers? Here? I didn’t think you had Web access down here.”

Sveta nodded. “Some of the elders felt we needed it. They installed an access point about ten years ago. It was even useful for a while…‌until people—men mostly—began staying on too long. Then they stopped coming off.”

“I’ve never understood the point,” Zoya said. “It’s not real.”

“I guess it’s real enough to them. I couldn’t imagine wanting to do it, myself, but sometimes when I see how hard life is, I wonder if perhaps they don’t have a point.”

“But they have responsibilities here,” Zoya said.

“Let’s get you out of here. Are you fine to walk?”

Zoya took a step and felt fine, though her elbow still hurt and she ached all over. “Yes, thank you.”

“Oh, this is yours. It fell from your hand when you fainted.”

Sveta held out the small slot card. Zoya wasn’t sure what she felt about seeing the cursed thing, but she took it and put it in her pocket. She laughed ruefully. “I don’t even know what it is.”

Sveta led her down a small wooden stair built into the train tunnel. From the level of the tracks, Zoya could see the bundles of cabling spread out across the gravel and running up to the slots of each addict.

“This way,” Sveta said, tugging on Zoya’s arm and leading her toward the pitch blackness of the exit tunnel.

Zoya paused and peered into the darkness. “Aren’t you afraid of the dark?”

“I’ve lived my entire life in the dark,” Sveta said, flicking on a flashlight. “You?”

“I don’t enjoy it, but I’ve spent years working in a chilly, dark room surrounded by dead people. I’ve come to think I can handle almost anything…‌or at least I did until today.”

The darkness quickly became complete but for the lone beam of light playing across the ancient tracks. Zoya wasn’t sure how long they walked before Sveta flashed the beam at a metal door in the wall.

“A maintenance tunnel,” she said, and led Zoya into a cramped, concrete corridor. An old-fashioned light-switch was on the wall, but the bulbs lining the ceiling were all either missing or burnt out. Zoya had never been very scared of darkness, but she’d never felt anything this creepy.

“How many tunnels are under here?”

“You’d be amazed,” Sveta said. “It’s like another city.”

“I thought there’d be rats all over down here.”

“There are plenty. They come and go as they please.”

They came to a large round cross-tunnel with a trickle of water running down the middle that smelled like sewage.

“North or south?” Sveta asked, indicating direction with her hand.

Zoya held a hand over her mouth and nose to block some of the stench. “Anywhere, please! I can’t take this smell for long.”

“This way then,” Sveta said, turning north.

The whole world narrowed to the quivering beam of light and the echoes of their footsteps in the round tunnel. Every so often they passed a rusty iron ladder set against the wall and leading up to a manhole cover.

“How much longer?” Zoya murmured.

“Right here,” Sveta said, stopping at one of the ladders and flashing the light up at the cover. “You’ll be safe here.”

Zoya touched the iron ladder, expecting it to feel slimy, but it was cold and dry. She turned and hugged Sveta, kissed her cheeks. “Thank you for everything.”

“Sorry about your mother.”