A/N: Horray for EXPLOSIONS!! Bwahahahah!
The Riddlyr
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The detonator pad snapped easily into place, a little yellow light blinking rapidly to show it was locked and loaded. Rail smiled grimly and unrolled the coil of wire from the little box, carefully stepping backwards to the far side of the tunnel where a third of their new army was waiting. Several of them eyed the box cautiously as Rail strapped it firmly to his hip and unlatched the two-way radio from his belt.
"Hey, Angel…are you ready or what?"
The radio cracked and fizzled but no voice was distinguishable.
Rail sighed, tilting his head back to glare at the ceiling in frustration. The original idea had been to stay as a large group, setting each bomb up one at a time to be sure everyone stayed together. It was Angel who had suggested splitting into three parties…she had insisted they would finish quicker.
"Angel! Pick up the damn radio!"
Angel's splintered voice finally filtered through the white-noise, "Hang on a sec, we just found the hatch and we're still setting up. Call Mary…she's a little wet behind the ears when it comes to high-powered explosives."
Rail waited for Angel's fuzzy transmission to end before switching the radio to the different channel. He noticed the young soldiers shifting wearily behind him, their eyes still glazed over from lack of sleep. He rolled his eyes and secretly swore that he would never recruit children in a battle ever again.
"Mary can you read? How's things going?"
It took several seconds before Mary's voice finally came, the fuzz on her channel was worse than Angels. "We're good to go," she sputtered, half of her words lost in the noise, "how are you and Angel coming along?"
"Wait for the signal," Rail ordered, not bothering to answer.
He switched it back to Angel's station, wearily slumping against the wall and running a hand through his frizzled hair. This whole war had taken at least ten years off of his life…Christ he was going to die young for this.
"We're ready!" Angel snapped, clearly aggravated that her first two attempts at sending the message had failed. Rail nodded to himself and turned to face the children, "Okay, listen up everyone. This is going to be very loud, very bright…and very…explosive. I don't want anyone getting hurt so step back…way back."
The children shuffled nervously farther down the tunnel until the lanterns in their hands were simple pinpricks in the dark. All of them were pressed uncomfortably close to the wall to avoid the rushing water just inches from their sneakers. Several had already fallen in and bore the marks of wet pant legs to prove it.
Rail chewed on his lip and continued rolling out the wire until the length ran dry. He fumbled the radio and the detonator box in his hands, pressing the speaker awkwardly to his ear and pushing the button with his shoulder.
"Ready for this?"
There was only fuzz.
Rail rolled his eyes in frustration and took the chance that Angel and Mary had received his fuzz-message and took it as a respectable signal. He glanced over his shoulder at the nervous kids, "Everyone ready? Okay…three…two…"
Nero rubbed a dirt-streaked hand over his face, desperate to scrub away the prickly feeling beneath his scalp. It felt as if his entire body were burning with a low fire, making his skin itch and sweat…the bottom line; it was downright miserable.
"You okay?" Memo panted, running up from where Angel had stored the supplies and handing Nero a plastic container of bottled water. Nero shook his head, still too worn out to speak, and let the cooling water run down his throat.
Memo frowned, crouching next to him, "If you drink that any faster you're going to drown," he mused. Nero lowered the bottle from his lips, sucking in sharp breaths in an attempt to refill his lungs. Memo snickered wolfishly and flopped down on the once-occupied mat, his hands folded neatly behind his head in a perfect picture of ease.
"What happened?" Nero shuddered, a line of goosebumps spreading down his spine. Memo shrugged half-heartedly, "You got shot…or something. I don't know I wasn't really paying attention. Plus I have the attention span of a folded napkin."
Nero snorted, taking another long drink, "That's not funny."
Memo shrugged, pulling himself into a cross-legged position, "Okay then…after you were shot Rail brought you back here. Mary fixed you up…and then Max came back. She wasn't very happy and started rambling on about…I dunno…she quit, or something. Than Rail had some kind of revolution…" Memo trailed off, examining his nails, "…and now they went to go kill of Itex!"
Nero almost choked on the water he'd been swallowing, "What? They already left?" He hauled himself to his feet, letting the bottled water drop to the floor and trying his best to ignore the way the world was spinning. He stumbled dizzily across the mats, pressing the palm of his hand tightly against his forehead and squeezing his eyes shut.
"Hey!" Memo snapped, jumping to his feet and chasing after him, "where the hell do you think you're going? Rail told me to keep you here! He'll kill me if he actually succeeds in destroying Itex only to find out that I let you drown in the tunnels. HEY!"
Nero ignored him, shuffling awkwardly to where Angel kept the supplies and dropping to his knees. He fished out two flashlights from the piles and after much digging…a pair of short daggers badly in need of a sharpening. Memo stood over him with a wolfish frown.
"What are you doing?"
Nero shoved the flashlight and knife into Memo's arms, "We have to go help."
Memo instantly dropped both items, folding his arms stubbornly across his chest, "No. Nuh-uh. No way. There is not a chance this is going to work. For starters…there's only two of us! I'm only a Pup! And you've got a freaking hole in your chest! Not to mention…you're human now, dunce! No more neat-o muscles, no more jumping ten feet and fighting with the fury of an animal."
Nero paused, missing the weight of the wings on his back. His eyes slid down to the blackened marking on his wrist, the only evidence of his life as a fledgling. He shook his head, turning to face Memo and waving his wrist in front of his face.
"This says otherwise. I was a fledgling, Memo. That means if the virus gets loose…I die too. Now…you're either with me, or your not."
Memo pressed his furry fist against his chin, his eyes narrowing. Several moments of tense silence passed…then Memo shrugged, "Yeah, okay. What's a day without bringing an evil corporation to its knees, right?"
Nero grinned, pressing the blade back into Memo's palm and hefting the flashlight in his hand. "Now…which way did Rail go?"
Memo opened his mouth…and paused.
"Memo?"
He flapped a clawed hand, "Hang on a seconds…I'm thinking."
Nero's jaw dropped in disbelief, "You don't know where they went?"
Memo grinned sheepishly, "Well…I'm pretty sure they told me…but, you know…folded napkin, remember?" He waved his hands for silence before Nero had a chance to open his mouth, "Look, we can figure this out! They're trying to kill Itex right? So what better place to start than the head? I say we go straight to Itex."
Nero ran a hand through his hair, resting all his weight on one leg and frowning in frustration. It did make sense to go straight to Itex…but how would they get in? The waterways were always an option. They would crawl right under Itex and come up through…well, there was bound to be a hatch somewhere.
"Okay," Nero said after several minutes of self-debate, "Itex it is."
Memo punched his furry fist into the air, "Whoo! Let's go! Let's go!"
Nero suppressed the feeling of dread in his stomach as he followed Memo into the tunnels, the flashlight gripped tightly in his fist. There was something wrong about this…something that wasn't fitting in. A little nagging kept tugging at the back of his mind…something about water?
Back in the new base, a five-year-old Eraser Pup who had been too young to scout out the latches woke to the sound of receding footsteps. She rubbed her eyes blearily and glanced around the almost empty tunnel, fear rising in her throat. Only eleven little children remained.
Where had everyone gone?
With a faint sound like a dying mouse, the Pup curled her knees to her chest and buried her head into her knees. Her little sobs carried easily through the empty tunnels.
Where had everyone disappeared too?
Rail pressed the button next to the rapidly blinking light with a shaking finger, squeezing his eyes shut and stumbling back a few more steps.
"One!"
The walls crumbled with a deafening eruption of sound and dust. The once immoveable structure of the heavy concrete floodgate that had been suspended just inches above the water moments before…collapsed into the tunnel. Brown spray showered the wall, followed closely by a gusting wind laced with debris.
Rail plastered himself against the wall, raising a hand to his face to block out the rushing dirt and pebbles that had been blown airborne. In the sudden hurricane of rocks and water…a flash of black darted through the explosion.
The piercing scream of a young fledgling brought Rail crashing back to earth. He spun around, his foot sliding into the water and sticking in the scum that layered the bottom. A disgruntled cry tore from his lips as he twisted around, popping the ankle out of place as the still-settling dust blurred his vision.
A familiar searing pain tore across his shoulders.
Hot breath spread across the back of his neck.
Lamp-yellow eyes floated just inches from his face in the darkness.
The Dealers had found them…
