Dirge Danorum

Chapter 11

I wasn't sure what to think, but there was no question about what I was seeing. This was no illusion; I took off my glove and felt the cool water. I rose and turned a full circle, panning my light around. Then I shone it down on the ground. The footprints led off into the dark. I knew we weren't going to get a real trail out of this – it looked like the feet had come from the water, and gone off that way.

Well, I didn't like it, but there was no helping it. I motioned for everyone to come on down. Five minutes and we're gone? Not this time. We were in for the long haul.

In truth, this was more mysterious than frightening. The kid, if he or she had functioning eyes, couldn't have failed to notice us. They hadn't chosen to initiate contact, and maybe they'd even made an effort not to be seen. I could picture it; our lights coming down from above – it would have attracted attention, and seeing a group of stalkers might scare a small child off. But the story still didn't really work.

Where had this kid had come from in the first place? The only civilians still inside the cordon were a few stubborn souls out to the west. Pripyat was clear, and so was the south. I wasn't sure about the north. That had been a satellite black zone all along; nobody knew what was going on up there except the people up there, if there were any.

There wasn't supposed to be much going on this side of the channel – nothing, really – but it was still well within the cordon. Nobody was going to start a family here just because it wasn't quite in the thick of things.

The others were making their way down, Ever moving the fastest. Grigor wasn't a young man, and he was injured, so he didn't climb very quickly. Venge didn't seem to have much experience, and Velvet was moving very gingerly. We weren't in any condition to do this, but you can't just have children running around alone in the Zone – much less under it. There hadn't been any discussion; this was an understanding.

Venge was panting from the climb. "Thunderdome," he said.

"What?"

"Everything's going great – then kids show up."

"Yeah." I took out Lunch Box to check it, then put it away – what was I thinking? I was down here to help, not to destroy. At least that was the idea. I stared at my hand.

"You all right?"

"I'm fine," I lied, then turned to Velvet. "Are you all right?" She opened her mouth, but I gave her a hard look.

"I can travel," she said, giving in.

That was probably true. And I'd rather have her with me and uncomfortable than waiting somewhere by herself. If there was a kid down here, we couldn't ignore logic – there was probably someone else. Leaving a woman alone where there might be unknown hostiles – not an option. And leaving her with Grigor wouldn't sit well with me either. As much as I hated to admit it, Ever and I made a passable team – but it was better to stick together regardless.

"Stick together team," Venge said. I resisted the urge to hit him.

The only upshot to this was that there were five of us. That was a good-sized group. You rarely see that many stalkers together because the payout from most jobs doesn't split well five ways, so five is a pretty solid force. Now, if only we'd been properly armed and not exhausted.

"This way," I called over the echoing water. Ever paused beside me, his eyes ahead.

"Something is profoundly wrong here," he said in English.

"I know."

"Dig the nostalgia," Venge said to the German.

"Yes, I've often remembered our first meeting."

"Really?"

"No."

Actually, I didn't mind these caves so much. There was something quite impressive about the vast chambers whose size we couldn't even begin to determine. It might have seemed sinister if not for the noise of all the water. If I hadn't known better, I might've actually liked it. It was like we were walking in outer space – the black was absolute except for our lights, and without knowing just how high up the ceiling was, my imagination was going all sorts of places.

Of course we lost the footprints. Your feet don't stay wet forever when you're walking on a dry surface.

"Keep on?"

Velvet nodded tiredly, and I threw back another glow stick. Presumably we'd be coming back this way, and navigation was all but impossible in the sea of black. Only clear markers could give us a chance of finding our way back to the collapsed tunnel.

Of course knowing our way back could only do us so much good. Without a trail to follow, it was unclear where to go next. We couldn't call out to the kid – our voices wouldn't carry far over the noise from the water, and this wasn't a corridor. We could go in pretty much any direction – but we got lucky. There was a good-sized stream crossing our path, and the footprints resumed on the other side, indicating we were on the right track.

"This child can't be more than four or five years old," Ever said, kneeling by the tracks. "At the most."

"Then they're not alone." I just didn't see how they could be. Did that mean we weren't necessary?

"Hey, hey, hey," Venge said, and I already didn't like where this was going. "What if it's like that, uh – you know, that thing."

"What?"

"That thing. The little cave village with the kids. Little – little…"

I actually knew what he was talking about. "Little Flashlight?"

"No, that's not it." He rubbed at his chin.

"Boys," Velvet said.

"Anyway, uh – I don't think that's what's going on here," I said.

"You're probably right."

"Grigor?" I asked him because he'd been around longer than anyone, but he looked as lost as the rest of us.

The truth is, nobody has a clue what's going on underground, and that's all there is to it. That's why the underground intrigues us, and that's why it terrifies us. Bottom line. The topside changes, but there are still rules. Down here, all bets are off.

We didn't get far before we hit another body of water, this one much larger. Down here all the water was crystal clear, and our lights could pierce through straight to the bottom – at least as far out as they'd go. It looked to me like there was a steep dropoff, so there was really no telling how deep it was. Not really a comforting thought.

We thought we'd have to find a way around, but there was an amazing rock formation that made a sort of narrow bridge.

"That's just tempting fate," Ever said. "Let's find another way." Everyone agreed, and I felt like we'd just broken a cardinal rule. Like someone in a slasher film thinking of going off by themselves – then suddenly thinking better of it. So we'd broken a rule in a good way.

Only the lake just kept going and going. And there was no sign of the footprints. We were all thinking it – the kid must have crossed. So we went back, but nobody seemed to be in a hurry to step out onto the stone walkway.

It's not as bad as it sounds. It was probably a meter across, and not especially slippery. And it wasn't like it was acid down there, just icy water. Ever volunteered to go first, and I didn't see any reason to get competitive on this one.

It goes without saying that we were careful about crossing. It felt like it took a long time, and I guess it did. The lake was big. I concentrated on following Ever and staying relaxed – tense people do twitchy things, like getting startled and falling off narrow walkways.

"There's something in the water," Ever reported, and I paused long enough to point my light down and take a look. It was about ten feet down to the surface. I didn't see anything. The water looked dark, which meant it was seriously deep.

"There would be," Velvet sighed.

"What'd she say?" Venge asked.

"She said it's time for you to learn a little Russian."

"I know a little."

"Well learn some more."

"How can I if you don't tell me what she said?"

"Boys!"

She said that in English.

Ever stopped in his tracks, and I almost bumped into him. A couple of moments went by before I managed to look over his shoulder and see where his light was pointed. Now I understood why he'd stopped.

We'd reached the end of the bridge. No one had fallen in, but now I wasn't thinking about that. The hooded figure standing at the edge of the water was dark despite being illuminated by Ever's flashlight. It wasn't a kid.