got the wall of the tunnel for guidance. And when the red
light disappears, so do the monsters. They disappear because a
shadow needs a light source.
Without light, they will die. Just like
everything else.
I begin breathing harder and harder. My
chest, my lungs are heaving, my heart is beating faster, working
overtime.
I hear something behind me.
Footsteps.
Breathing that is not my own.
Something, someone has been stalking me for
real.
Not a shadow.
“Who have you talked to?” says the
Overseer.
He says this as calm as you like. He is in no
rush.
Son of a bitch is toying with me.
I keep walking. I fumble for the gun my
brother gave me. It’s the only one that is loaded.
“No one,” I answer.
“Stop lying. Everyone you talk to, everyone
you have spoken with has died. You can stop the killing.”
I don’t know if he’s telling the truth or
not.
“The Librarian,” he says. “The owner of that
bar...”
“The Mayor?” I ask.
“If he does not cooperate, he will surely die
as well.”
Overseers are supposed to help, to care, to
maintain. They’re not supposed to be cold blooded killers.
They’re not supposed to be hunters.
They’re not supposed to be assassins.
“What the hell are you doing?” I ask. “Why am
I still alive?”
“I am curious,” he says.
“About what?”
“I am curious as to how you are still
alive. No one has ever survived that much poison, for this amount
of time.”
“Why don’t you just use a knife or a bullet
like everyone else?”
“Because. I am not like everyone else.”
“No. You’re different. You’re better. Or at
least, you’re supposed to be better.”
“I am better.”
I have a hold of the gun. All I need to do is
draw and turn and shoot. He’s right behind me. I can’t miss. I won’t miss. I picture it all in my mind, the gunshot, the
flash.
And then I hear a gunshot.
And another.
“Hector! Get down.”
I hear the bullets zipping past my head, my
ears. I feel the bullets flying past.
I drop to the ground.
Someone grabs me. I can’t tell if it’s the
Overseer.
Their hands are soft. Smooth.
“Ruby?”
No. It can’t be. And it isn’t. I’m still
hallucinating. I brush the person away, pushing them over. I get to
my feet slowly. The whole world tilts on its axis. The Buried City
becomes inverted and I’m walking on a ceiling of an underground
subway system.
I shake my head. I get my bearings. I start
jogging. There is gun fire behind me. Explosions echo and
reverberate through the tunnel. Someone is packing some serious
heat, it wasn’t the Overseer. I look down at the waist of my pants.
My brother’s gun is still tucked away, so that means I’m not the
one shooting.
It takes me a long time to figure this out.
Longer than I’m proud to admit.
More gun fire.
Grenades.
Who the hell in the Buried City has
grenades?
None of this makes sense. And I realize I
could be dreaming all this up. I could be lying face down in a dark
tunnel, in a dark ditch, dying, breathing my last. The gunfire
stops, and when the echoes fade, there is silence.
My own breathing.
My racing heart.
I tell myself to run.
“Run, you dumb son of a bitch. Run!”
Chapter
10
Darkness.
I’ve been running and walking and wandering
through the dark. For what feels like an eternity. The dark is
endless. And even though I’m underground, even though I’m in a
labyrinth of subway tunnels, even though I’m somewhere in the
Buried City, it may as well be outer goddamn space. And no matter
how fast I run, no matter how fast I walk, I will never reach the
light.
I will never reach the light because there is
no light.
This must be what an interstellar trip into
outer space, to the edge of the solar system is like.
Dark.
Endless.
My mind is going around in circles. And this
is my fear, that I am lost. That I am walking in circles. I’m too
afraid to switch the torch on. I don’t want the shadows to come to
life. I don’t want them to stalk
light disappears, so do the monsters. They disappear because a
shadow needs a light source.
Without light, they will die. Just like
everything else.
I begin breathing harder and harder. My
chest, my lungs are heaving, my heart is beating faster, working
overtime.
I hear something behind me.
Footsteps.
Breathing that is not my own.
Something, someone has been stalking me for
real.
Not a shadow.
“Who have you talked to?” says the
Overseer.
He says this as calm as you like. He is in no
rush.
Son of a bitch is toying with me.
I keep walking. I fumble for the gun my
brother gave me. It’s the only one that is loaded.
“No one,” I answer.
“Stop lying. Everyone you talk to, everyone
you have spoken with has died. You can stop the killing.”
I don’t know if he’s telling the truth or
not.
“The Librarian,” he says. “The owner of that
bar...”
“The Mayor?” I ask.
“If he does not cooperate, he will surely die
as well.”
Overseers are supposed to help, to care, to
maintain. They’re not supposed to be cold blooded killers.
They’re not supposed to be hunters.
They’re not supposed to be assassins.
“What the hell are you doing?” I ask. “Why am
I still alive?”
“I am curious,” he says.
“About what?”
“I am curious as to how you are still
alive. No one has ever survived that much poison, for this amount
of time.”
“Why don’t you just use a knife or a bullet
like everyone else?”
“Because. I am not like everyone else.”
“No. You’re different. You’re better. Or at
least, you’re supposed to be better.”
“I am better.”
I have a hold of the gun. All I need to do is
draw and turn and shoot. He’s right behind me. I can’t miss. I won’t miss. I picture it all in my mind, the gunshot, the
flash.
And then I hear a gunshot.
And another.
“Hector! Get down.”
I hear the bullets zipping past my head, my
ears. I feel the bullets flying past.
I drop to the ground.
Someone grabs me. I can’t tell if it’s the
Overseer.
Their hands are soft. Smooth.
“Ruby?”
No. It can’t be. And it isn’t. I’m still
hallucinating. I brush the person away, pushing them over. I get to
my feet slowly. The whole world tilts on its axis. The Buried City
becomes inverted and I’m walking on a ceiling of an underground
subway system.
I shake my head. I get my bearings. I start
jogging. There is gun fire behind me. Explosions echo and
reverberate through the tunnel. Someone is packing some serious
heat, it wasn’t the Overseer. I look down at the waist of my pants.
My brother’s gun is still tucked away, so that means I’m not the
one shooting.
It takes me a long time to figure this out.
Longer than I’m proud to admit.
More gun fire.
Grenades.
Who the hell in the Buried City has
grenades?
None of this makes sense. And I realize I
could be dreaming all this up. I could be lying face down in a dark
tunnel, in a dark ditch, dying, breathing my last. The gunfire
stops, and when the echoes fade, there is silence.
My own breathing.
My racing heart.
I tell myself to run.
“Run, you dumb son of a bitch. Run!”
Chapter
10
Darkness.
I’ve been running and walking and wandering
through the dark. For what feels like an eternity. The dark is
endless. And even though I’m underground, even though I’m in a
labyrinth of subway tunnels, even though I’m somewhere in the
Buried City, it may as well be outer goddamn space. And no matter
how fast I run, no matter how fast I walk, I will never reach the
light.
I will never reach the light because there is
no light.
This must be what an interstellar trip into
outer space, to the edge of the solar system is like.
Dark.
Endless.
My mind is going around in circles. And this
is my fear, that I am lost. That I am walking in circles. I’m too
afraid to switch the torch on. I don’t want the shadows to come to
life. I don’t want them to stalk
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