Part III: Tunnel Dwellers
The first half a mile of their walk was spent in the darkness. Everyone was watching out for each other, using the walls to steady themselves. Marlena was unfortunate enough to run into Hud three times, the last time she was sure wasn't on accident. Rob's shins were kicked every other time by Jason, who's long strides were severely cramped behind his brother's conservative gait. After awhile, the group stopped in what felt like the center of the tracks.
Jason took a minute to regard the insufficient light above them; They managed to get this far by following them, but keeping their eyes trained on the track lights wasn't helping their sense of direction at all. "I can't see," Lily mumbled. Thank you captain obvious, Marlena thought moving away from the wall. Hud laughed at her commentary. "It's kinda freaking me out, you know?" He chuckled. Suddenly the crunching of gravel became prominent, Jason searched through the darkness for Rob. "Oh, I think there's a light on the camera," Rob said quickly, brushing past Jason. "Let me see…"
"There is?" Lily breathed, relieved. Rob grunted in response, reaching one hand out he felt around the general area of whom he believed to be Hud until he felt the edge of the camera's nose. His fingers fumbled around the surface of the camera he finally located the central control panel and pressed the button nearest to the edge. The tunnel was illuminated by the light of camera, Hud pulled the camera upward, blinding his friends as he scanned the area.
Jason came out from behind his brother, releasing Lily's hand. "Well, that's much better," He commented brightly. Lily nodded in agreement, wiping her sweaty hand on her baby doll dress. "So, do I stay in the back or lead?" Hud inquired, gesturing to the camera. Everyone shared a look then proceeded forward into the darkness. Hud sighed. "Okay, I'm in the back..." He mumbled, following them.
Upon resuming their walk, everyone remained silent. As much Hud wanted to break the monotony of their silence, he doubted anyone was in the mood to talk about anything, given their situation. So he remained quiet and documented. Jason walked ahead of everyone, except his brother who managed to match his pace, not really wanting to hang in the back anymore. Lily and Marlena walked behind them, while Hud maintained the rear. Aside their own breathing, the creaks and odd noises inside the tunnel were an odd sort of company.
There were times when Jason believed a subway train was active, but it only turned out to be something behind in the distance -- something metallic falling down somewhere most likely. "…Hey," Lily's voice echoed. Jason turned in response, shielding his eyes from the light of the camera. His squint faded upon noticing she was smiling. "Do you remember that time when -- you and Rob first came here and were looking for an apartment?" She asked. Jason shot a look at Rob who was grinning, he looked back to Lily with a nod. "Yeah, you didn't think I was "Hawk", because I cut my hair and shaved," Jason grumbled, scratching the back of his head.
Marlena turned to Hud with a curious expression, Hud shrugged; He was on summer vacation when Jason and Rob came to New York, soon after Rob graduated high school. "How could you not tell that it was him?" She asked, incredulous. Lily turned to Marlena with a sarcastic sort of grin on her face. "Have you seen him, without long hair and a beard?" Lily inquired, reaching for Jason's back pocket. Marlena shrugged her shoulders, he couldn't look any different than he did now. Jason caught her hand just inches from his behind. "Babe, I don't keep pictures of myself in my wallet," He laughed. "You do if I'm in them," She said, matter-of-factly, pulling her hand out of his grasp.
Jason stopped walking long enough to let Lily pull his wallet out of his back pocket, then he moved to catch up with Rob while Marlena and Lily huddled next to each other. Flipping through his credit cards, Lily finally found the photo she was picturing in her mind. She pointed to the fresh faced young man who stood between Lily and Rob, eyes focused elsewhere and not on the camera.
Marlena's eyebrows raised in surprise, the picture was at least eight years old -- like Rob, Jason looked a little different than he did now. "Okay. Yeah, I could see the mistake being made, he looks really different." She paused, regarding his face. "He's kinda cute in this picture," Marlena mused. Lily giggled. "What?" Hud blurted, shocked. Rob stifled a laugh while Jason groaned, embarrassed. Reaching behind himself, he wiggled his fingers in the general vicinity of his wallet, Lily handed it back to him. Leaning over to Marlena she whispered, "He hates it when people say that," Marlena rolled her eyes.
A half hour later, everyone was beginning to feel the fatigue of their journey. Without a subway train to ride on, the trip to Lexington and Central Park South felt like an eternity. Their pace slowed considerably, Jason could hear his own feet dragging sometimes whenever his head drooped and his eyes would close. The cool spring air circulating through the tunnel chilled their exposed skin and made fighting their drowsiness harder. Hud tripped over his untied shoe laces a few times.
At this point, a conversation was needed to keep them aware, or they would never get to Columbus Circle. "Hey guys, where do you think that thing came from?" Hud asked. There were several shrugs from Lily and Marlena, neither of which were too keen on talking about the creature that nearly killed them. Jason and Rob on the other hand, weren't so quick to shy away from the subject Hud presented to them. "I haven't the slightest idea," Was Jason's answer. "I -- I never seen animal like that." Jason empathized on his point by turning and shrugging his shoulders as well.
"Well, maybe it came from the ocean?" Hud suggested. Rob cast a wary glance over his shoulder. "The ocean, Hud?" He repeated. The idea wasn't too far fetched, but anything was better than what most would suggest. Outer space. "Well, why not? The ocean is big, dude! All I'm saying is, that they found a fish in Madagascar that they thought had been dead for centuries," Hud insisted, using what little information he remembered from a newspaper article he glanced at once upon a time.
"So, what? Its been down there this whole time and nobody noticed?" Rob said, disbelief still harbored his tone. Hud nodded his head quickly. "Sure! Maybe it erupted from an ocean trench, you know? Or a Crevasse!" Hud said, excitedly. Marlena shot him an inquiring look, Hud didn't pick up on his error until she was facing the other direction again. "..Crevice. Its just a theory. I mean -- for all we know, its from another planet and it flew here," Hud added. Jason rolled his eyes; Of all the places the freak of nature could've came from, he highly doubted it came from space. That was way too unbelievable. "I think you've been reading too many comic books, Hud," Jason replied, rubbing his eyes. Hud frowned.
"You mean like Superman?" Marlena inquired, deciding to humor the young man, if only for her own entertainment. Hud on the other hand, was too glad to hear that someone was actually agreeing with his theoretical conversation, and ignored the sarcasm in Marlena's voice. "Yeah! Exactly like…" A beat of silence. "…wait, you know who Superman is?" He said, astonished. Marlena didn't look like the kind of person who read comic books. Marlena turned to him, brown eyes wide with mock-surprise.
"Oh, my God. You know who Superman is?!" Marlena said mockingly, placing a hand on her chest. The sarcasm was so heavy in her tone that even Hud realized that she making fun of him.
"Okay, I'm not…" He started. "That's not fun--"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I'm like feeling something here!" Marlena interrupted, jumping forward. "Are you aware of Garfield?" Hud stood in one place, trying to formulate some sort of witty response to Marlena's teasing . A minute later he found himself standing alone, Marlena was jogging to catch up with the others who were nearly enshrouded by the darkness.
"Hud, come on!" Jason snapped, irritably. Hud snapped out of his stupor. "Hey, guys, wait up!" He cried, running after the others.
(Jason):
Somehow Marlena's sarcastic "Superman" remarks livened up our group; Marlena was engaged in somewhat of a healthy conversation Hud, who jabbered on excitedly about various comic book titles he was supposedly helping get developed. Even Lily was speaking again --to me mainly, reminiscing on times before we actually became a couple. Some of the things she brought up were a far too embarrassing to remember (particularly my nervousness around her the first few years we lived in the apartment), so I pretended that I didn't.
The only person who refused to join in on the marginally pepper atmosphere was Rob. He maintained his silence, leading us through the tunnel. Maybe he was even listening to our laughing and each other's company, rubbing it in his guilty conscience like salt to a wound. Beth was the only thing running through his head, I was sure of it. The way his teeth were sunk into his bottom lip and the deep wrinkle in his brow was usually a sign of anxiety in my brother. I, myself wasn't doing much talking, I was content with listening to Lily talk about anything that distracted her.
"So, what you are saying? That Martian Manhunter isn't from Mars?" Marlena's voice drifted out from the background. "No, I'm just saying that a lot of people think he's from a planet he's not actually from," Hud replied, honestly. Their conversation didn't surprise as much as Marlena's knowledge of comic book characters did. Fashionista usually didn't equal Geek as well, at least from my standpoint.
"I just can't stop thinking about how the last thing I said to her was "good luck tonight Travis"," Rob mused. Hud and Marlena stopped talking, turning their attention to Rob. Lord, he made it sound like she was dead already. I slowly moved my way up to the front, passing through the space between my brother and girlfriend. In the corner of my eye I caught Lily turn her head towards the sulking Rob. "She knows you didn't mean that," Lily assured him. "When I think of some of the things I say to Jason…," Lily trailed off. I turned to glance at my girl, both Lily and Rob returned the look seconds before I turned away.
It was no big secret that Lily and I weren't, as Jamie liked to say, "the perfect couple". The fact that everyone made us out to be one, or vice versa, always bothered me. Maybe it was the fact that we were openly affectionate towards each other that gave people that impression, so it was all the more exciting when we fought. We disagreed on many things, particularly over the fact why I can never hold down a job for long, but it wasn't the defining aspect of our relationship. We agreed more than we disagreed and I think that we reached a point in our relationship that we could get angry and forgive each other just easily. Sometimes. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Lily, knowing she wanted to do the same only solidified my feelings for her. Scratching the back of my head, I picked up my pace a little.
"No, that's different," Rob said.
"Why?" Lily asked. I was curious myself.
"…Jason knows you love him," Was his answer.
No one said anything after that. Rob's sour mood seemed to resurrect the dreary atmosphere that we escaped just half an hour ago. We continued our journey in silence, I continued to examine our surroundings through sleepy eyes, rubbing my arms whenever I got a chill. Lily offered me my brother's jacket, but I declined. "You sure?" Lily double checked. I reframed from laughing when I gave her my answer, she backed off and wrapped the jacket tighter around herself. As if to add to her warmth, I snaked my arm around her shoulders.
"Hey, do you guys remember a couple years ago, when that guy was lighting homeless people on fire in the subways?" Hud's question came straight out of the blue, surprising the likes of myself and the others. "Jesus, Hud," Rob mused, giving his friend a look. With the exception of Marlena, who continued to walk, Lily actually stopped us (she and myself) to shoot Hud a simmering glare, akin to the one she gave him earlier during her testimonial. Hud, shadowed by the light of the camera, shrugged, oblivious to his insensitivity. "What?" He inquired innocently. "Not exactly the best topic for conversation, down here," Rob answered shortly, turning back around.
"Oh. Sorry," Hud mumbled. We resumed our walk in silence. I actually bothered to remember all those reports on the nut who got his jollies off by burning the homeless subway lurkers. It was all over the news for months. Some sadistic part of me found it amusing now, but I kept it to myself. When they finally found the guy, he hung himself in the bathroom of his upper Manhattan apartment. Turns out he was a pretty "civil" guy, with a decent office job and a family that loved him.
I probably couldn't imagine their surprise when they found out what he was doing in his spare time. Pushing the subject into the farthest regions of mind, I started counting how many hours we had been down in this subway, when Hud spoke up again. "I just can't stop thinking how scary it would be a flaming homeless guy came running out of the dark right now!" Hud's voice raised in volume the second the five of us turned to glare at him, biting out "Hud! Come On! Seriously!" with exasperation at his persistence to continue the subject. "Okay! Sorry!" He apologized hastily.
We didn't even get half an inch across the tracks when a rattling behind us caused all of us to halt in our steps. I unwrapped my arm from around Lily, surveying the general area for the origin of the noise. Lowering my gaze from the ceiling, I proceeded to stare into the darkness behind us. Lily, Marlena, and Rob searched the ceilings before following my line of sight. The sound went off again, this time sounding more like something had been knocked or shoved over. It echoed through the tunnel, the sound becoming weaker when it reached us.
My heart clutched up and my breathing increased. That thing could not have followed us down here; That was damn impossible! "Whoa -- what was that?" Marlena said slowly, raising a hand to point. "I dunno. Look, let's just keep moving," Rob said, nervously. "Yeah, good idea," I stammered, nodding my head shakily in agreement. Before I could offer my hand, Lily grabbed it hand pulled me along after Rob. Marlena and Hud followed after us. Our haste was renewed and I would be all too relieved when we got the hell out of here.
With the renewed force of fear hastening their steps, the journey to Central Park South didn't seem so far away now. Jason made sure none of them panicked (prematurely), and kept them calm, focused on their destination. However, it did not rid him of the deepening pit of foreboding that continued gnaw at his mind. The sounds he dismissed earlier were clearly something else, now he was wishing that he'd expressed those anxieties to the others. The atmosphere around them started to calm considerably, when -- "Holy Shit!" Hud, Rob, Lily, and Jason came to a halt, turning to regard Marlena. She wore an expression of pure disgust and uneasiness.
"Oh, God, this is nasty!" Jason glanced down at the ground in question, a small army of rodents were scrambling across the tracks, climbing over his boots and themselves in a frenzy. One attempted to climb up his pant leg, but Jason bent down quickly and removed it. It squirmed frantically in his hand, squealing before he dropped it. The rodent scurried off with others. "Its just a bunch of rats," Jason said, shrugging. Marlena threw him a dirty look, Jason simply shrugged. It was obvious the rats weren't after the them, in fact, aside from having to climb over their feet, he doubted the critters even knew they there. "They're all running in the same direction," Hud mused as the rats spilled through the space between his feet.
"Its like their running away from something," Rob said, fingering the back of his hand. "Yeah, but from what?" Lily asked, turning to look back into the darkness of the tunnel behind them. The amount of rats emerging from the dark was mind boggling, it was like entirely colony of Manhattan converged in this one place and were attempting to flee from the chaos above ground, much like the human denizens.
They leapt from off and onto all the edges of the wall, climbing over each other. Faintly, the same metallic creek echoed in the distance. That was last straw for Jason. "Alright, guys, we have to go," He said, gesturing towards himself as he started jog. "We have to go now." Rob watched his brother with confusion, but his mind soon reminded him of why they were stuck in the subway tunnels to begin with. Beth. "Jason, wait, calm down, alright?" Lily said as she waddled over to him. Damn heels.
Jason nodded shakily, taking a hold of her hand he started hastily down the path again. Marlena and Hud shared a look of concern, what had him so on edge? "If I didn't know any better, Jason hated rates," Marlena joked dryly. Hud shook his head. "Jason's scared of iguanas, I think," Hud replied, grinning. Marlena did a double take, her eyes shifted from Jason to Hud, stifling a laugh in the process.
"Hey! How much further?" Hud asked, short of breath. He hoped they were closer to their destination. The more frantic-than usual squeals of their rodent companions, cut abruptly short, somewhere in the tunnel, made the group far more eager to leave the subway tunnels. Whatever was following them was getting closer and taking out a few rats along the way. A second later, Rob spoke. "I dunno. Look, let's just off on the next station," He said. They all nodded in agreement, focusing their attention on staying calm. Suddenly, from behind them a screech emerged from the darkness.
Marlena felt a tremor run up her spine at the very sound of it. The group came to a stop, turning once more to stare down the tunnel. "Ooh, did you guys hear that?!" She exclaimed, pointing. They fell silent, listening out for the sound. It reminded Lily of crickets. "What is that?" Lily whispered.
"Shh! Just listen," Marlena hushed. Small clicking sounds, resembling something a lone cicada would make, echoed quietly around them. Jason searched the darkness for the origin of the sound but could see nothing but the track lights. "What is it?" Hud whispered. Marlena shushed him. The cricking sound was closer now, deliberately quieter and definitely above them. "Oh man, this is the worst…"
"Will you be quiet for five seconds!" Marlena snapped at Hud. The armature cameraman fell silent, the cricking noises stopped altogether, yet the presence of something else in the tunnel remained. "Guys, I really think, we need--" Jason started to say, however, he was bumped by Rob as he hurried over to Hud. "Oh, turn on the night vision!" Rob said, skidding to a halt in front of Hud.
"What?" Hud blurted. Rob did not bother to repeat himself, reaching over the front of the camera he pawed at the buttons, using memory alone to locate the night vision mechanic. "Its right here, hang on a second. One sec," He repeated hastily. Hud steadied the camera while Rob's fingers felt across the surface. Finally, Rob appeared in the view screen, blurred by his proximity and the green light.
A hiss from behind Rob caught his attention, Hud glanced upward and felt his blood run cold. The creatures he saw attack the army (and that one guy) before on the news were hanging right above their heads, stalking slowly over toward them like a pack of wolves. Only problem was, that they looked like giant spiders, a crab even. "Is it on?" Rob inquired, staring into the camera. Hud couldn't answer, his throat dried out when the strange hissing/cricking emitted from the creatures again. "Oh.. Shit…," He murmured. Rob stepped back from the camera, "What? Hud, what?!" Rob panicked. Hud shook his head frantically. The creatures let out a shriek that alerted Jason, Marlena, and Lily to their presence just seconds before they broke way from the wall and landed on the ground.
"Okay, run! Run!" Hud blurted, turning around. "Hud, what is it?!" Rob dared to question again. Jason grabbed him by the arm and propelled him forward, Rob started running along aside the girls without question. "Hey, let's start running! Just start running now! Run, run, run! Run! Just Run!" The pure fear radiating from Hud's voice was enough to get them running, the scattering of dirt and wild hissing behind them, however, was the better motivator. Jason was gaining speed over the others when one of the parasites leapt and tackled Lily to the ground.
She went down with the loudest scream he'd ever heard from her. "Lily!" Marlena screamed. Rob, Marlena, and himself stumbled a halt. "Help! Jason! Help! Help me!" Lily cried, twisting wildly under the creature that pinned her down. As Marlena and Rob fell to their knees, the beast snapped and clawed at them whenever they got near. Jason ran up and kicked the parasite with every bit strength he could muster. The creature flew across the ground and hit the wall, it let out a cry of pain that seemed to alert the other two.
A warble-like cry sounded, Jason turned at the last second. He barely caught a glimpse of its underbelly before he was tackled down the ground. The world tilled upward, he fell to the ground. The sheer weight of the creature alone was keeping him pinned down, he couldn't believe how heavy this thing was. It's jaws snapped hungrily at him, he kept it away from his face with his hands alone, while the rest of his body was left defenseless against the sharp end of its legs. Amidst the unintelligible screaming, his own included, and hissing, another body fell across from him.
Rob was occupied with fending off the third parasite when Hud was attacked by the other and knocked down in the same fashion as Jason. Hud struggled to escape, but the third abandoned its pursuit of the others and leapt over their friend. Through the haze of darkness, Rob watched as Hud was dragged across the ground, away from the group. "Oh, my God! Guys, help!" He screamed. Behind him he heard a pipe being dragged across the ground and quicker than he could react, Marlena bolted from behind him. "Marlena!" He cried. Marlena ignored him, raising her pipe she started to wail on the creature attempting to neuter Hudson.
She hit it straight on its nose, stunning it. Hud pulled his legs out of its reach, struggling to climb to his feet. Marlena continued to attack, watching as it started to fall over. However, without warning Marlena was tackled from behind. She screamed in pain as the parasite's teeth sank down into her shoulder, drawing blood. Hud fell back down in surprise when her blood splattered across his face, onto the camera lense. "Oh, God, Marlena! Marlena!" He shouted. Marlena continued to cry out in pain as the parasite attempted to rip her shoulder to shreds. Hud was trying his damndest to loosen the thing's death grip on her when Rob came running up. With one swift kick, he knocked the creature off Marlena. It went rolling over the discarded pip with a screech. "Come on!" Rob panted, pulling Marlena to her feet.
"Guys, let's go, let's go, let's go!" Lily screamed, waving them over to a door above the tracks. Rob, Marlena, and Hud made a run for the transit authority office door. Rob helped Marlena up onto the platform, Lily grabbed her by her uninjured arm and rushed inside, Rob entered next. Below them, the crab-spiders were scrambled past them. Hud started to enter when a bloody hand appeared on the rusty railing next to him.
Hud nearly died of a heart attack; Jason was glaring at them through the strands of his bloody hair, and struggling to climb up the short ladder. "Get inside, Hud!" He snapped, wheezing. Hud rolled inside, catching a glimpse of an oncoming parasite. "Oh, God! Jason, hurry up!" He screamed. Jason propelled himself up onto the platform, as he started to fall Rob grabbed a hold of his arms and pulled him inside. The parasite stuck its nose into the door, Lily threw herself against it smashing its snout against the doorway.
Jason and Rob rushed to her aid, throwing their weight against the door as well. The creature's shrieked and protested against the weight, trying to claw their way inside the room. Pulling himself off the ground, Hud dropped the camera and threw himself against the door, it slammed shut. Lily shakily reached for the door knob and twisted the lock mechanism. The scratching and shrieking was continued outside, they did their best to ignore it as they moved away from the door. Jason stumbled across the room until he reached a wall close enough to collapse against.
Looking down, he regarded his pale arms riddled with deep scratches, reaching down he pulled his shirt up. Compared to the scratches on his arms, the bleeding slashes across his stomach looked worse. Particularly the one his left side. Groaning he lowered his shirt and closed his eyes, wincing at the touch of the wall against his throbbing head. Lily sat on the couch, checking over her own scratches, bright red with blood already drying. "How are you doing over there, Marlena?" Rob breathed, regarding his torn sleeves.
Marlena just shook her head, biting the inside of her mouth -- silently riding out of her pain, she looked up briefly to regard an approaching Hud. "Jason?" Rob turned his attention toward his brother, Jason looked up from the ground, blearily-eyed. Giving his head a shake he nodded. "I'm -- I'm okay," He spoke barely above a whisper. Rob knew that clearly meant the opposite, shifting his gaze to Lily he pointed to his brother before resuming his search for a crowbar.
Wincing, Lily stood up and approached her boyfriend. He stood slumped against the wall, one hand clutching his side, the other hanging idly at his side. "Jason, come sit down," She said, grabbing his forearm lightly. "Come on." Jason obliged wincing a little as her fingers pressed against his cuts. She lead him to the couch without incident, he slumped down onto the cushion with a groan. Reaching over, she curled her fingers around his wrist to remove the hand clutching his side.
At first he protested, his fingers pressing so hard against his skin that he was afraid to move them. "Jason, you have to let me see -- please let go," Lily's voice faltered for a second. Turning to face her he released his hold on his side, Lily smiled appreciatively placing his hand on his lap. Rising from the couch she moved to his left side and kneeled down to check his wound. Blood soaked half of the lower part of his Slusho! T-Shirt and the rim of his jeans.
Biting back an exclamation she slowly lifted the shirt. A gasp from Lily caused a hitch in Jason's breathing, pain rippled through his abdomen. "Its not bad is it?" He inquired, wincing. "Ah! Careful, Lily." Lily moved her hands away from the cut, this was bad. Rising from the her kneeling position, she moved toward the table. She grabbed up a couple of napkins as Rob finally pried open the Dasani water vending machine.
He emerged from behind the door with two bottles of water, unscrewing one bottle he sat it down on the table and handed Lily the other. "Are you okay, Hud? Did it get you, did it bite you man?" Rob asked, wetting a napkin. Hud shook his head. "No.. it didn't get me," He replied quietly. Marlena took the napkin from Rob. Raising her hand slowly toward her wound Marlena braced herself for the worst.
Rob looked away the moment she pressed the napkin against her skin, his stomach was turning at the smell of blood in the air. "Okay, this might hurt a little," Lily's voice drew Rob's gaze toward the couch. She was kneeling below Jason who remained sitting on the couch, leaning slightly to the right. Rob never considered his brother a "superman", but it was strange to see him in such discomfort, pale and withdrawn into himself.
Lily glanced up at her boyfriend for a second before pressing the napkin against the cut. Jason bit down on his hand to reframe from yelling, the water spread across his cut like an irritant, it was even worse when Lily started to wipe. She repeated process of wiping his wound until the skin around it was clean. Jason maintained his silence, his face wet with tears. "I know it hurts, I'm almost done," Lily coaxed, discarding the ruined napkin. Rob kneeled down next to her with a piece of his sleeve.
"How ya doing man?" Rob inquired.
"Alright, I guess," Jason answered quietly, wiping his face. "What were those.. those things?"
Rob shook his head, his body shuddered at the very thought of them. "I have no idea, man. They came out nowhere," He breathed, wincing when his brother cried out. Lily apologized quietly, fastening the piece of Rob's sleeve around Jason's waist. "Do you think they might've --?" Jason bit down on his hand again, he pushed himself off the edge of the couch and stood. His legs wobbled, the blood rushing to his head disoriented him. Rob nodded his head, moving to allow Lily passage. "Yeah, they probably followed that other thing," Rob replied, watching him. "Maybe you should sit back down…"
"I'm fine, I'm okay," Jason interrupted firmly.
(TBC)