The Immortality Game

The light ahead stopped swinging and Tavik began to draw closer. Soon he discovered what had slowed Bunny—the tunnel was partially blocked by rubble from a collapsed section of the ceiling. Without a light of his own, Tavik kept striking his feet painfully on rocks and other debris. He cursed loudly and colorfully until he reached clear tunnel once more.

The lamplight wasn’t so far away now. “Bunny!” he yelled again.

The light vanished. Must have gone round a bend in the tunnel. Tavik drew in a deep breath and sprinted harder, panic welling up inside as he flung himself forward in pitch blackness. He tripped over something in his path and barely managed to keep his feet.

Light suddenly blazed forth and a series of disjointed images stitched themselves across Tavik’s eyeballs—Bunny’s huge form barring the way; Bunny’s meaty hand lifting a hood on the lamp; Bunny grinning maniacally, his big square teeth nearly glowing in the lamplight. With no time to think, no time to halt his forward momentum, Tavik crashed into Bunny and bounced off as if he’d run full speed into a brick wall. The air was knocked from his stomach, and Tavik tried desperately to breathe again, while Bunny’s laughter echoed from the tunnel walls. Then Bunny was off and running again.

At last Tavik was able to draw in air again and he pushed himself to his knees. Pain flared in his chest even worse than that in his head, and he wondered if he had cracked some ribs. He was reminding himself of the need to ignore the pain and follow the light, when he noticed another bobbing light coming up the tunnel from behind. Are the Trogs following us? The presence of the second light made Tavik feel better; should he lose Bunny he might not be condemned to wander in utter blackness after all.

Tavik reached into his coat and gave a comforting stroke to the handle of his shard pistol. He grinned and winced as the pain in his ribs flashed again. I’m gonna take great pleasure in blowing your fucking head off, Bunny! he thought, and resumed the chase.

Zoya growled in frustration. The last few times she had glanced back there had been nothing but darkness, and she had dared hope that they might have lost her pursuers for good, but now there was once again a dim glow from behind.

“Up here,” Leonid said, climbing some wooden steps up to a platform. They had entered another station, though this one had no sign of Trogs in it, just a vast dark emptiness. The sounds of their feet running over marble and their panting breaths echoed through the murk. Leonid ran up a set of stairs and into a connection tunnel.

“Where are we going?” Zoya gasped.

Leonid held the lamp higher. “You wanted to cross the river near The Pyramid. This is the closest way, through Borovitskaya.”

Soon they entered another station platform and jumped down into the track well. Zoya prayed that Tavik would lose her during the change between stations. On they ran for what felt like ages. She caught her second wind and the stitch in her side faded.

“How much farther?” she asked, but Leonid didn’t respond.

She heard a splash from ahead and her foot came down in icy cold water up to her ankle.

“Don’t worry,” Leonid said. “It’s not deep.”

The light from the lamp rippled from dark water covering the floor of the tunnel for as far as she could see.

“What is this?” she hissed, fearing to raise her voice in case the mobsters might hear her.

Leonid thrust his chin forward as if to say, You’ll see, and waded ahead. Zoya’s boots squelched in the shallow water, every step sending a shiver of pain through her bruised knee. Their feet splashing through the water sounded loud to her ears, and the tunnel filled with a dank and earthy smell.

Zoya felt drained of energy. As she sloshed forward, she pulled small chunks of bread and cheese from her pocket and chewed them.

“We’re going under the river now,” Leonid whispered.

There was another tunnel collapse ahead, this one nearly blocking the entire passage. Water dripped from overhead and in some places small torrents pattered down the wall.

“It’s going to fall in on us!” she said.

Leonid shook his head. “It’s been like this for years.”

“What are you going to do when it gives out and the river comes down?”

He shrugged and headed for the left side of the tunnel, where there was just enough room to squeeze through the blockage.

Zoya looked back again and gave an involuntary squeak when she saw how close the bobbing light now appeared. “They’re getting too close!”

Leonid shrugged again. “Once we pass this collapse, it’s not much farther. Watch the pipe.”