If it weren't for the others – specifically Virgil, sticking close to his side so that their flashlight beams mixed and they kept brushing shoulders – then Scott swore he could have drowned in the darkness.
Disorientating was an understatement. The tunnel had swallowed all light and a fluttery sense of panic kept threatening to steal his breath. It felt too much like being trapped. The angle of the beams thrown off the curved brickwork made it look as though the walls were closing in. He had never been claustrophobic but something about the place threw his instincts onto red alert.
Time seemed warped. Virgil's watch promised that they had only been walking for just over an hour yet Scott swore it had been far longer. He took to counting minutes, drumming his hand to keep track of the seconds. Virgil's watchful gaze was shadowed by worry but he didn't say anything, just reached out to bump his knuckles against Scott's elbow when a rat shot across their path and nearly got shot as a consequence.
"Jumpy," Kayo teased, although her tone was a little too strained for the humour to ring through.
She was notably on edge too - her fierce grip on her gun and flashlight was proof of that. She watched the rat vanish into a gap beneath the rail.
"Could've been worse. Could've been a mouse."
Penelope shot her a poisonous glare. "Do not suggest that."
Kayo's chuckle echoed around the tunnel. "It was just a thought."
"Wait." Scott turned to Penelope, genuinely baffled by the implication. "You're not scared of rats, but mice are a problem? Pen, they're sweet."
"Absolutely not."
"They've got cute faces."
"Scott, are you insane?"
"Probably, but not for this reason."
The brief instance of good cheer was shattered by Virgil's startled yelp. Scott caught him before he could hit the track and give himself a concussion, gripping his shoulders tightly as both of their dropped flashlights rolled out of sight beneath the rails. The darkness closed in immediately; they were saved by Penelope's quick reflexes as she swept her own flashlight onto them.
Kayo's voice was sharp as she retraced her steps to join them. "What happened?"
Virgil took an unsteady breath, supporting himself against Scott's arm as he tugged his boot free of the gap between the rails that it had become wedged in. He looked ghostly in the flashlight beam, pupils blown wide with his adrenaline spike.
"Nothing," he replied, unable to repress a shiver. "I just slipped, that's all. Keep an eye on where you're stepping, it would be really easy to twist your ankle on these rails."
"Noted," Penelope murmured, crouching to tug her laces tighter.
She fished their fallen flashlights out of the shadows. One of the bulbs was cracked beyond repair but the other still worked. She held it out to them and Scott handed it to Virgil with a warning look when his brother went to protest.
"You okay?" he asked quietly as they started walking again.
Virgil's grip on the flashlight was still shaky. "Fine."
"Want to try that again?"
A wet scuffle had them both whirling around. Scott shot out a hand instinctively to shield Virgil. He took a step into the darkness, straining his ears for another sound. It was difficult to hear anything past the roar of blood in his ears. He cast a final uneasy glance around the tunnel, then returned to Virgil's side. It had probably just been another rat but the what if unnerved him.
"I keep thinking about those horror stories," Virgil spoke up after a minute or two. "Those people who get lost in cave systems and never find their way out again. They found nail marks on the wall of a tunnel once where a guy had become so desperate that he tried to claw his way out."
"It's the London Underground, Virg. Worst case scenario is that we end up in the wrong station, but we're not stuck down here forever."
"I know that," Virgil snapped. He rolled his shoulders self-consciously. "But it feels…" He fumbled for the correct adjective. "…oppressive."
"Yeah." Scott swiped a cobweb away from his face. "I'll grant you that one."
A low rumble ran through the walls. He stopped in his tracks. Vibrations skittered through the bricks when he placed a hand on them. The air seemed to tremble. In the glow of Virgil's flashlight, the dust shivered. A gust of air rushed through the tunnel, creating an unholy echo akin to a wail.
"What the hell was that?" Scott hissed.
Penelope reached for Kayo's wrist. "I'm not sure."
They listened in silence for a moment.
Kayo lowered her knife. "Whatever it was, it's gone now."
No one moved.
"Come on," Scott said after another tense minute. "We can't stay here forever."
Time remained elusive. Hours slipped away. They stumbled upon a station but the sign was coated in too much grime to be legible. The distinctive damp squelches of rotten flesh echoed from within the dark depths, so they pushed onwards into the next tunnel.
The darkness held a manipulative quality, twisting thoughts into unrecognisable feelings. Paranoia ran rife; were the flashlights truly dimming or was it just a trick of the imagination? A trail of blood glistened over the rail; fresh or kept damp by the drip of water through the vent above? Every sound was magnified; had that scratch been another rat or were they being stalked by rotters?
The uneasiness grew as they ventured deeper. Where commuters had once complained of heat had become bitterly cold. It was a dangerous combination. Morale dropped even lower than the temperature, made worse by Penelope's tiny confession that they were lost. They should have stumbled upon a station thirty minutes earlier.
"Should we go back?" Virgil questioned, leaning heavily against the wall. There was a sharp edge of anxiety in his voice. "We hit that track division, remember? Maybe we should have gone left."
They'd supposedly headed east although that was beginning to look doubtful. Scott wasn't sure how the Underground worked but he was seriously questioning whether they'd somehow stumbled onto the wrong tube line. Perhaps they were heading in the wrong direction altogether.
He was very aware that they had limited supplies; if they didn't figure out where they were soon then they were going to be in big trouble. Finding more food and water was going to be near impossible; the city had been picked clean by early survivors.
Kayo's frown lit up green by the radio. She stretched her arm, lifting the radio as high as she could, but it remained obstinately blank.
"Still no signal. We're too deep underground."
"Great," Scott muttered, turning sharply to the darkness at his back.
Something wet and heavy shuffled within the gloom. He gestured for Virgil to hand him a flashlight. A chilling noise slid out of the tunnel, a mix between a raspy breath and a low growl. Uneven footfall stumbled over the tracks out of sight; the damp dragging of distended flesh funnelled towards them.
He raised his gun, unable to aim when he couldn't see a target. Something drew his hand a little further to the right; some strange sixth sense that he couldn't explain. He inhaled deeply until the taste of rot threatened to make him gag, then took the shot.
The infected slumped to the ground at the very edge of the flashlight beam. Scott stared at it, unable to comprehend that he had not only hit it but that he'd taken it down with a perfect headshot. The weight of eyes bored into his back. He turned to the others, plastering a smile on his face.
"Does that finally qualify me for the role of family sharpshooter or what?"
Kayo gave a low whistle. "Nice shooting."
He tucked the gun back into its holster.
"I don't think going back is the right move. We've come this far, it would be a waste of energy. We've got to be near a station by now. We'll check it out, figure out where we are, and if there aren't too many rotters then we'll surface there."
Virgil checked his watch. "There are only a couple of hours until dawn."
Penelope folded the map into a rough square and tucked it into her interior pocket.
"Sounds like a plan."
Scott cast a final glance back at the dead rotter. It wore a tattered navy suit with a white shirt smeared with so much grime that it appeared black. One of its cufflinks had been torn away but the other still clung on, a bright spark of gold in his flashlight beam. He found himself jolted into the memory of the fateful day he'd left for New York; in the hangar; his casual dismissal of the zombie video; Alan's easy fix of the cufflinks to his suit; isn't that how business works?
"Scott," Virgil prompted gently. "Are you coming?"
"What?" Scott physically shook himself out of the trance. "Shit. Sorry, yes."
Déjà vu made everything so much worse. He couldn't stop drawing comparisons between their current situation and the hours they had spent lost in the tunnel network back in Minnesota. His mind kept playing tricks on him, overlapping memories with sensory input. He was only another hour of sleep deprivation away from a full-on hallucination.
He tried to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other but his focus kept slipping. It wasn't helped by the pain throbbing in both his knee and his hand. Virgil had cleaned it with some of their precious water rations but Scott had refused to let him waste too much and as such there was probably still some dirt left in the wound.
His brother kept shooting him worried looks for good reason. The memory of Virgil's injury after Lake Superior was a stark reminder that at this point in the apocalypse infections were more likely to kill you than rotters were.
His steps slowed subconsciously. He didn't recognise that he'd come to a halt until Virgil was gripping his shoulders, voice low and urgent as he drew Scott back into the moment. His flashlight swung precariously from one hand, sweeping across the tracks.
Scott blinked, toeing what appeared to be popcorn at first glance only to realise in a rush of horror that it was a pile of human molars. He jolted away on reflex, smacking into Virgil and accidentally knocking the flashlight out of his hand.
"Shit, shit, shit."
"Where'd it go?"
"I don't know."
"Don't- No, Virgil, don't."
"Oh my god. Oh my god. Is that…? Oh fuck, that's-"
Scott steeled himself and plunged his hand into the heap before he could talk himself out of it. He fumbled for the flashlight with growing dread until his fingers finally closed around hard plastic. He smacked it against his thigh and the bulb flickered back into life.
Virgil had a fist pressed against his mouth, trying not to gag.
The teeth were scattered across the tracks, tiny bits of flesh and blood still clinging to them. There were enough to have come from several adults but some were so small that they could only have been plucked from a child's skull. Either the parasite had chosen not to consume them for whatever reason or they had been dumped there by scavengers.
"Virg? You've gotta breathe."
"I am."
"Okay." Scott softened his voice, tucking the flashlight under his arm as he reached for his brother. He bit back a comment when he felt just how badly Virgil was shaking. "Okay, sure. But how about you humour me and count down from ten anyway."
Yeah.
So, things weren't going so well.
Scott tried to keep talking, partly to prevent Virgil from spiralling but also to keep himself from drifting away. The darkness was crushing and he didn't think it would take much to forget what sunlight looked like.
Exhaustion made everything worse. Even blinking stung. He checked his own pulse, aware that he was dehydrated but also very conscious that their water rations were running low. They hadn't planned to be in the city for so long.
"I'd feel a lot better if we had Finch with us," he mused, stealing a glance at Virgil as he tried to gauge his brother's anxiety levels. "Or even a canary."
Virgil gave a non-committal hum.
"Hey, when we get back, we should totally-"
Scott cut himself off as Kayo held up a hand for silence. They had stumbled upon another crossroads where the track divided into two tunnels. One veered sharply right but the other continued straight.
Penelope's flashlight glinted off metal; the tunnel that led directly ahead was blocked by a train. It was entirely silent. A red handprint smeared the rear window.
Scott took a cautious step closer, exchanging a look with Kayo. She held a knife at the ready, watching his back as he ventured into the tiny space between the wall and the train.
It was too dark to make out any details. A crack spiderwebbed across one of the windows. He swallowed, intuition urging him to back away. But the map suggested that this was the tunnel they should take, so he needed to find a way through.
He rose onto his toes, peering through the glass.
Nothing moved.
He raised the flashlight.
A rotter slammed into the glass. Its eyes bulged, snarling and snapping, nails screeching over the surface. Scott jolted away, smacking into the wall. Pain radiated across the back of his head.
The infected flung itself at the window, smashing its face into the barrier over and over until blood ran in rivulets down the glass. It was joined by too many to count. The entire carriage was crammed full of them.
"Scott!"
Kayo's voice rose over Virgil's. "Get out of there!"
The weight of so many rotters on one side rocked the carriage off balance. Scott tore himself out of the shock as the train listed precariously towards him. Metal screeched. The infected howled. Glass shattered. Sharp bone skimmed across his back as he bolted just in time.
He burst free into the main tunnel, slamming into Virgil's arms just as the train smashed into the wall. The deafening crash left his ears ringing. He was still gasping for breath, Virgil's hold fierce as if he didn't dare to let go yet.
"Scott!" Penelope's hand ghosted across the tears in the back of his jacket. If he'd reacted even a second slower, those fingerbones would have ripped open his skin. "Are you alright?"
Scott sucked in a breath. "Y-yeah."
"Are you?" Virgil murmured, adjusting his grip to pull him into a proper hug. "Really?"
"I am so sick of jump scares." He let his forehead fall against Virgil's shoulder for a moment. "But yeah, I'm good."
"Guys." Kayo's voice was terse, sharpened by warning. Her boots crunched on broken glass as she took a step away from the train. "We're about to have company. A lot of company."
The window that had shattered was blocked by the wall, leaving only a small gap through which a rotter squeezed itself. Jagged glass tore open its distended stomach; slippery organs gushed down the side of the train; a reel of intestine pooled on the tracks.
More infected crowded behind it, crushing it in the tiny space. Those which were smarter advanced towards the rear of the train, smashing against the window and door to escape. Bone crunched. Skin squelched. Glass gave way with an audible crack and the creatures tumbled free.
Penelope lashed out, plunging her knife into the closest temple. A thin spray of dark blood coated her jacket. She wiped it away from her face with her elbow, already swinging for the next rotter. Scott grabbed her arm and hauled her out of range as another infected flung itself from the train.
Kayo's gunshot left them all momentarily deafened. Scott shoved Virgil behind him, bringing up the gun just in time to prevent another rotter from ploughing into them. Wild flashlight beams made it impossible to keep track of the damn things. He took another shot, partly blinded by the reflections off Penelope's blades as she slashed the throat of a nearby infected.
He threw up a hand on instinct as movement stirred the air to his right; his palm connected with the malleable chest of a rotter, bones soft beneath the skin and sticky with its own blood. It froze but didn't bite. He shoved it aside before it could change its mind. Why it hadn't attacked him was a question for later when they were no longer at risk of being torn apart. He had priorities, dammit.
But seriously, that was… what, the second freaky encounter he'd had with a rotter? The third?
Kayo's blade carved through the air dangerously close to his ear. "Run!"
More rotters were pouring out of the train. A congealed pool of stripped flesh gathered around the broken window. The doorframe had buckled, beaten wider by heavy bones. Some no longer had the muscles to stay on their feet and so dragged themselves along with clumsy hands. Their eyes bulged, mouths gaping to reveal swollen tongues, howls hungry and desperate.
"Go," Scott called, voice rising to a shout. "Go!"
There was no telling what might lurk within the next tunnel. It could have been a trap: another rotter lair filled with bared teeth and bones protruding from fingertips like claws.
Kayo recognised the potential for threats, shot Scott a warning look, then bolted into the tunnel to take the lead. Penelope dashed after her without hesitation.
Scott hung back with the intention of buying them some time, only Virgil seized his wrist and yanked him into a sprint. The horde hurtled after them.
"Where now?" Virgil yelled.
Kayo's voice held a distinct note of panic. "Just keep running!"
"They're gaining on us," Penelope warned, pushing past the ache in her muscles to achieve a new burst of speed. "We can't outrun them forever!"
"We don't have to," Scott shouted, shoving Virgil into a faster run. "Just until we reach a station."
Except the next station was an unknown distance away and sprints were unsustainable. Long distance running was only achievable if they paced themselves but if they dropped their speed at all the rotters would be upon them in seconds.
Dread twisted panic into more adrenaline. Scott gritted his teeth and forced himself to keep sprinting despite the fire stabbing through his knee. The infected were so close that he could feel the cold air from their snarls on his back.
Fingers hooked the frayed fabric of his jacket. He slammed his elbow into the creature's skull and let Virgil pull him out of range. Penelope slowed to drive one of her knives into the rotter's eye socket, grabbing Scott's hand as he yanked her back into a top-speed sprint.
A bullet whizzed past and cut through three infected.
Scott veered right to avoid being hit. "Watch it, Kayo!"
"That wasn't me!"
"What?"
"I'm out of ammo, it wasn't my shot."
Penelope ducked as another bullet skimmed too close for comfort. "Who's shooting?"
Kayo's shout was lost in the deafening echo of gunfire. Scott couldn't hear anything above the high-pitched ringing and roars of the infected. It was growing difficult to breathe; the air was too thick with dust.
He nearly tripped over the rail, recovering in time to save himself from a sprained ankle. The error in judgement slowed him a fraction. Virgil grabbed the gun from him and swung the entire thing into the jawbone of a lunging rotter. It split away from the creature's skull, tongue flapping as teeth rattled down its front, tumbling backwards into the mouths of other infected.
"In here!"
An unmarked metal door in the wall flew open. A masked figure yanked their night-vision goggles down to reveal hazel eyes, wide with urgency.
"This way, quickly!"
Scott physically pushed Penelope and Virgil through the door, knowing fully well that they were both going to glare at him for acting as a human shield again. Kayo had been a short way ahead and had to backtrack. He grabbed her arm as soon as she was within range and tackled her to safety, twisting so that he took the impact when they crashed into the wall. Their saviour slammed the door shut and the entire thing trembled with the force of so many rotters trying to claw their way through.
Scott relinquished his tight grip on Kayo's shoulders as she wriggled free. He tipped his head back against the wall, gulping down lungfuls of dusty air which threatened to make him cough. His pulse elevated to a thunderclap in his ears. He scrubbed a hand down his face and pushed himself upright.
Their saviour appeared to be a grey-haired woman in her mid-fifties. A grimy line marked where her googles usually sat and her mask ended. Her clothes were covered in filth but looked warm; lots of layers accompanied by workman's boots and a hammer tucked through one of her beltloops. She doublechecked that the door was locked before turning to them, pulling down her mask to greet them with a warm smile.
"That was a close call. Are you all alright?" Her voice dipped into a stern warning. "Any bites?"
"No," Scott confirmed, assessing the others for hidden injuries.
Virgil had an arm curled around his ribs but that was a subconscious, fearful reaction. Both Penelope and Kayo had caught their breath, eyeing the woman with twin distrustful stares. Kayo's hand hovered above her jacket pocket where she had a hidden taser. Neither of them seemed any worse for wear after their experience.
"Thank God for that." The woman stuck out a hand. "I'm Paula. The sharpshooter up in the vents is Kitsy. They'll be down in a minute to say hello - it's been such a long time since we saw any new faces, so you'll have to forgive them if they're a little energetic."
Scott casually knocked his shoulder against Kayo's as he stepped forward to shake Paula's hand.
Kayo still bristled but relaxed her stance, accepting his unofficial request for her to stand down. Her distrust of strangers wasn't a new development but Penelope's defensive posture implied that they had more reasons to be wary nowadays. But Paula didn't seem like a scavenger and had risked her own safety to save them, so Scott took her hand.
"I'm Scott. This is Virgil, Penelope and Kayo. Thanks for the save."
Paula waved him off. "Don't worry about it. Where are you headed?"
"Uh, out of the city. Preferably in a south-eastern direction."
"Well, you don't want to go above ground here. You can rest at our survival camp and then take the ventilation shaft to the next station. There are fewer infected there and it'll put you south of the Thames. I can't spare you any food unfortunately, but we can give you some water."
His mouth felt as dry as a tinderbox. Hunger was a dull ache but he'd gotten used to going without food for extended lengths of time; water was a much higher priority. Even if Paula turned out to be a scavenger or some sort of serial killer, the temptation of a drink was too great.
He glanced over his shoulder at Kayo just in case. Her nod confirmed his theory that Paula was trustworthy, so he followed the woman into the depths of the dark space.
"Where are we?"
Paula nudged her mask higher with one knuckle.
"Maintenance tunnels." She glimpsed his questioning look at her mask. "There's a lot of dust down here; you don't want to be breathing in too much of it for long. 'Specially not if you're running."
They were down to just two flashlights. Paula produced a camping lantern and held it aloft, illuminating the narrow tunnel in an alien blue. Scott felt a strange longing for Virgil's old IR glowsticks as the shadows continued to stalk them.
The déjà vu from the Minnesota tunnels was stronger than ever and just as disconcerting. He tried to focus on something else; the glint of Kayo's flashlight off the bundle of keys swinging from Paula's green carabiner; a low whistle of air through the enclosed space; increasing warmth as they ventured deeper; the throbbing pain in his knee.
"So," Paula began conversationally. "What's the world like nowadays?"
Penelope looked up, taken aback. "You haven't been up there?"
"Not in a long while."
Paula scuffed a hand through her cobwebbed hair.
"A few of us go outside to find new supplies – mostly Sonny's two lads although my Kitsy tagged along too last time – but that's only occasionally and I'm never one of them. It's safer down here. I've got my friends and my kid and that's good enough for me. Besides, they need me to stay safe. I'm the only one who knows my way around a first aid kit. So? What's it like?"
Penelope faltered. Her gaze travelled to Kayo, who stuffed her hands into her pockets and trudged onwards without a word. Her boots left bloodied prints along the tunnel floor. Scott glanced down and recognised that he was doing the same; he entertained a bizarre urge to apologise for the mess.
"Quiet," Virgil replied after a moment of consideration. "There's destruction on a global scale, but I guess the next most notable thing is the silence. That background hum of electricity and infrastructure is just… gone. It can get overwhelming after a while."
"Sounds peaceful," Paula noted.
"Not exactly." Virgil tugged absently at the zip of his jacket. "I'd say lonely is a more apt description."
"Are there many survivors on the surface?"
"More than you'd think," Scott admitted, swallowing a wave of pain that threatened to make his voice shake. He didn't say anything when Virgil moved closer so that he could lean against him and take some of the weight off his knee.
"Kayo and I run a safe zone together." Penelope tried to glimpse Paula's expression in the dim light. "Your group would be welcome to join us."
Paula gave a good-natured chuckle.
"You're very sweet but we're happy down here thanks. We've got each other and we're used to our way of living now. Sometimes we're even happy. Life goes on, doesn't it? You survive and you adapt and then one morning you wake up and realise you're close to being okay."
Distant footsteps clamoured for attention.
"That'll be Kitsy," Paula explained as Kayo automatically reached for a weapon.
Sure enough, a new figure bounded into range of their flashlights; average height; lithe build with lean muscles; roughly cropped hair that fanned around their face like a lion's mane; eyes that appeared more gold than hazel and an infectious grin. They had more guns strapped to their person than Scott could count, a sight which seemed ill-fitting with their smile.
They had to be in their early twenties, maybe nineteen, certainly no more than twenty-two. He thought back to his own twenty-first birthday and imagined spending it underground, hiding from zombies.
Sometimes the unfairness of the apocalypse hit him like a sledgehammer and he had to pause for breath before grief overwhelmed him.
"What's up?" Kitsy tucked their flashlight under their arm and patted Paula's shoulder. "Hey Mum, did you see that headshot? Am I good or am I great? Trick question, the answer is that I'm the best. Three down with a single bullet! That's got to be a new record."
The record is four, Scott thought smugly, recalling Marisa's incredible shot that had saved his ass on the road to the Sanctuary. He shook himself out of the memory and returned his focus to Kitsy.
An orange paisley bandana dangled from their neck which they scooped up and used to secure their hair. Clean circles surrounded their eyes where they'd been wearing the same night-vision goggles as Paula, swiftly ruined by the grime on their knuckles when they swiped a hand across their face.
"Wait. Wait. Are you…? Oh my god, Mum, we rescued Penelope Creighton-Ward. This is the best day of my life. And yes, I'm including pre-Z-Day in that. Sorry, am I making it weird? It's just that you did that speech on humanitarian rights a few years ago which was incredible and I quoted it in my A-Level philosophy paper and your fashion was literally my dream wardrobe."
"Kitsy," Paula chided.
"I'm speaking too much, aren't I? Sorry."
Penelope's astonished laughter rang around the tunnel.
"Not at all. It's lovely to meet you, Kitsy."
Her smile faded as she lifted a hand to her face, reaching to tug her hair loose to hide her scar.
Kitsy noticed the gesture, as observant as a hawk, voice softening as they declared,
"Why hide it? You look like a total badass. Also, unrelated, but are the pre-apocalypse rumours true? Are you really dating Gordon Tracy? Because I genuinely don't know who I'm more jealous of."
"I…"
"And I'm just now realising who you guys are. Sorry. I think you're both very cool too. Especially you, Virgil, because you have the best Thunderbird." They turned to Kayo. "I don't know you are but you seem awesome."
"Thanks," Kayo said dryly.
Kitsy beamed at her. "You're welcome! Anyway, follow me. It's this way to camp and believe me, you don't want to accidentally get lost in the wrong tunnel."
The maintenance tunnel continued for another dark and dusty ten minutes after which Kitsy led the way through an unnoticeable side door into a tiny space that could have been considered a stairwell only the steps were steep enough to be defined as a ladder.
Scott glanced up and spied a scattering of stars through the grate at the very top. It was a new moon and the sky was dark enough to glimpse the milky way. He wondered how long it had been since so many stars had last been visible from the streets of London.
The sight was soon left behind as they broke away from the stairs through another door into a much smaller tunnel. Paula knocked twice against a brass bell which hung in the entrance, then rang it another final time to signal that she was a friend and not a scavenger or zombie.
The ceiling was low enough that Virgil had to duck his head, Kayo had to be careful not to stand up too straight either and Scott resigned himself to a permanent neckache for the foreseeable future.
Penelope didn't have to worry, leisurely rolling her shoulders as she followed Kitsy towards the little circle of fire up ahead. The flashlight revealed her smirk, accompanied by a quick jab of her elbow into Kayo's ribs. Kayo batted her away with a good-natured huff, grinning as Penny laughed.
"This sucks," Scott complained under his breath, palming the back of his neck as he had to stoop again to avoid giving himself a concussion on a low pipe.
Virgil shot him a sympathetic look. "This is one of the only times in my life that I've been happy to be shorter than you."
"Seriously, who did they design this place for? Hobbits?"
Kayo's eyes gleamed with mischief. "Gordon would fit right in."
Virgil's laugh echoed around the tunnel. "I'm telling him you said that."
"Play nice, children," Penelope teased.
The survival camp consisted of ten people, including Kitsy and Paula. The ventilation tunnel widened, splitting into two separate shafts which led in opposite directions. A fire had been set up in one, contained within a tiny camping stove, smoke funnelled away to escape to the streets above.
Supplies were neatly stored along one wall. Someone had painted a sunset mural on the ceiling. A rainbow flag dangled from a vent and a dreamcatcher twirled lazily in rising heat from the fire.
Individual blankets marked beds in the other tunnel, illuminated by glowsticks. A large tabby cat that had grown fat off rats nestled on one of the quilts, purring so loudly that the tunnel seemed to fill with thunder.
Scott could practically sense Virgil's delight at the sight.
"Want me to ask if you can pet it?"
"Shut up."
"I'm just saying."
Kitsy overheard their hushed conversation. "Hey, wanna meet Ken?"
Scott stared at them for a long minute. "Sorry, the cat's name is… Ken?"
"Short for Kent. He's very friendly."
Virgil was practically trembling with excitement.
"I'm just gonna… yeah." He slid down the wall to sit beside the cat. "Hey there, sweetie."
He looked up at Scott with saucer-wide eyes as the cat clambered into his lap and proceeded to purr even louder.
"Oh my god. He's so soft."
"Huh." Kitsy tilted their head. "I may have been overstating the friendly part. He doesn't normally curl up on people like that. He must like you."
"Scott," Virgil whispered gleefully, "The cat likes me!"
"Remind me how old you are again, Virg?"
"So, you don't want to pet him?"
"Hey, hey, hey, I didn't say that."
They took Paula up on the offer of getting some rest. Scott estimated that they'd been awake for roughly twenty-eight hours and while that was nothing new to him, it wasn't ideal when his reflexes and situational awareness had to be on top form. Worry pounded a constant drumbeat at the back of his mind – they'd been out of radio contact for far longer than planned – but exhaustion knocked him into a dreamless sleep for the next few hours regardless.
It was always disorientating waking up in the dark; impossible to tell how much time had passed; too few hours or too many; unable to pin down his surroundings for the first few seconds whilst his brain rebooted. He lifted his head from where he'd been leaning against Virgil, who was steadily snoring into his shoulder. Unsurprisingly, Kayo was awake, but Penelope was fast asleep still, her head pillowed in Kayo's lap.
Kayo was combing Penny's hair into tiny braids, an action which served to calm them both as well as being affectionate. She looked up, sensing eyes on her, and sent a water bottle skidding across to Scott. He cracked the neck and took a long drink. A movement against his side reminded him of Kent's presence; the cat seemed to be in competition with Virgil for who could rumble the loudest.
"Any luck with the radio?"
Kayo shook her head. "Nothing yet. Still too deep, I guess. I'll try again once we reach the surface."
"Did you sleep at all?"
"I slept enough."
"Your version of enough or my version of enough?"
She stretched out her legs to prod his knee with her boot. "Does it matter? We're both terrible."
"Fair point."
Her voice softened slightly. "I'm okay, Scooter."
Scott went to speak again only for the thought to be chased out of his brain as the cat heaved itself upright. It plodded around to stare at him with vividly green eyes, then scrambled onto his knees. Paws kneaded his calves as the cat made itself comfortable. He rubbed a finger under its chin, earning a pleased purr. It turned around a couple more times, then flopped down.
Kayo sniggered. "Aw, you've got an admirer. Should I warn Mari that she's got competition?"
"Kayo, I swear to God…"
"Relax, I was kidding."
She eased Penelope onto the makeshift pillow she'd created out of her jacket and pushed herself to her feet, remembering to duck at the last minute.
"I'm going to ask Paula about the tunnel map. I'll be back in a few minutes. Don't do anything dumb while I'm gone."
Scott levelled her with an unimpressed stare. "I'm being held captive by a cat and Virgil. What am I going to do? I can't move."
"Well, you could move, just not without waking them."
"…Like I was saying, I can't move."
"Sucker."
"Get outta here."
He shook his head fondly as Kayo slipped out of the tunnel with a final snigger as her parting remark.
She hadn't been gone long when Virgil finally stirred. He dragged himself back to the waking world slowly, scrubbing the grit from his eyes with his knuckles and hiding a yawn in his overly long sleeves in a move that was painfully reminiscent of his childhood self. Scott tugged him closer, struck by an impulsive wave of protective affection. Virgil didn't protest, just sank against him with another yawn.
"What-" He cut himself off with a final yawn. "-time is it?"
Scott couldn't quite keep the amusement out of his voice. "You're the one with a watch."
"Wha'? Oh. Yeah. I forgot 'bout that." Virgil dropped his head back onto Scott's shoulder, giving a pleased hum when he spotted Kent's proximity. "Aw. He likes you."
"He's an overgrown furball."
"No!"
"Yep." Scott smoothed the fur along the cat's spine. "Look at him. Useless lil guy."
"Scott, no!"
Fun fact: newly awaken Virgil was hopelessly easy to tease. It took him a while to properly wake up – made worse by the lack of coffee these days – and was very gullible in those ten-to-twenty minutes which Scott found it endlessly entertaining.
He let his brother scoop Kent into his arms, cradling the cat beneath his chin. Kent's tail lashed, a total contradiction to that fierce purr. Whatever. Scott had never understood cats. He especially never understood why they always seemed to take a liking to him specifically.
Kayo took longer to return than expected, prompting them to fall into casual conversation. Sure, there were everyday terrors to contend with but life also had to go on with all of its everyday mundanities. Scott found the normality of the conversation somewhat comforting, right up until Virgil turned it around to a subject that he'd been doing a fantastic job of avoiding.
"So," Virgil began in a faux-casual tone that was always the precursor to one of his schemes. People thought Gordon was the plotter of the family, but he had nothing on Virgil in matchmaking mode.
"So," Scott echoed, wondering if he could get away with acting the fool for a while longer.
"Why haven't you asked out Marisa yet?"
"Oh, for God's sake."
"Scott." Virgil dropped the teasing tone. Genuine curiosity coloured his voice as he sat up straighter to offer his full attention, still petting the cat. "Come on. You like her. She likes you."
"Uh huh."
"Are you going to elaborate?"
"No, I feel like uh huh is a pretty good summary."
Scott tipped his head back against the wall with a sigh.
"God, I don't know. I guess… It's not ideal timing, is it? There's so much going on. It's the literal apocalypse. We're trying to save the world. I don't have time for a relationship. I should stay focussed on task."
"No."
He blinked. "No?"
"No," Virgil repeated.
The silence dragged on for a beat.
"Are you going to specify or…?"
"No to the part where you're trying to sabotage your chance at happiness in the name of the greater good. It's bullshit and I won't stand by and watch it happen."
"I'm not sabotaging anything."
"There's always going to be something. Before, it was Tracy Industries and International Rescue. Now it's survival and zombies. In the future, it'll be another excuse. You can't keep putting your life on hold because the world has dropped another responsibility on your shoulders. Marisa's good for you. This is your chance to choose your own happiness and I want you to take it."
Scott dipped his gaze to Kent's fur, tracing tabby markings with his index finger.
"As for timing," Virgil continued gently, "Yes, it's the apocalypse, but isn't that more of a reason to make the most of what time we have left?"
The words weighed down the otherwise peaceful moment. Kent's purring rumbled around them, accompanied by the indistinct murmur of voices and campfire crackles. Scott stretched his legs across the tunnel, taking care not to accidentally knock Penelope. It seemed cosy and safe enough to drop his guard and be honest for once.
"I don't want to screw it up."
"What makes you think you would?"
"Oh, come on. My track record of relationships isn't exactly great."
Virgil hesitated, absently petting the cat as he ventured, "But Mari's different. You don't have to hide parts of your life from her. She's already seen you at your lowest and it didn't scare her away."
"I know."
"Then what's the real reason?"
Scott rested his hand on Kent's back and focussed on that steady purr for a few moments. He didn't dare look at Virgil as he confessed, "I'm still, uh… uncomfortable with the idea of good things happening to me."
"You're allowed to be happy."
"I know that."
"Do you?"
"In theory, sure."
"But it scares you."
"Exactly."
"Then be scared and do it anyway. When have you ever let fear stop you in the past?"
"I'll think about it," Scott conceded.
"Good."
Virgil's smile was audible in his voice.
"You deserve to have something good happen to you, no matter what your mind tells you to the contrary."
Their time with the survival group had been brief but Scott was eager to get back on the road – to find a radio signal so they could inform the others that they didn't need to worry – and Kayo shared a similar sense of urgency.
The survivors were a friendly crowd and wished them luck. Penelope offered them another invitation to join the Creighton Ward safe zone, but the group were perfectly content where they were.
Scott couldn't comprehend how anyone could be happy living underground but he didn't question it; if his dream to save the world came to fruition then they wouldn't have to live in the dark for much longer anyway.
The ventilation tunnel eventually spat them out in an unfamiliar station.
The place seemed deserted but something about it put Scott on edge. It was too quiet. He nearly slammed a knife into an empty plastic bag that billowed across the floor. Kayo shot him a warning look. He forced himself to take a breath.
They made the climb up an impossibly tall escalator. Kayo took the lead while Scott watched their backs and tried not to curse as every step aggravated his knee. He'd taken the final dose of painkillers back at camp but they were taking a while to kick in.
Virgil hung back to check on him. "Okay?"
"You need to take a look at this when we get home."
"Shit, Scott. It must be bad if you're actually asking for medical attention for once in your life."
"Oh, shut up."
"Seriously, are you good? Because we've got a long walk ahead of us."
Scott gave him a push to start climbing again. There were only a few more steps left before the top of the escalator and Penelope and Kayo had already scaled them. Penelope's hair was swept up into a bun, gleaming gold in the sunlight, and Kayo was plucking cobwebs from it with a teasing grin. The sight loosened the knot of anxiety in his chest; at least there were no rotters hanging around to necessitate another mad dash.
"I don't exactly have another option, Virg," he pointed out dryly. "What are you gonna do? Carry me?" Virgil looked to be genuinely considering it. "No. No way in hell. Not happening."
"I have before."
"I was unconscious. Doesn't count."
"Partly unconscious."
"You're not carrying me. C'mon, I agreed to let you take a look back at the manor. Just take that win, Vee. You said yourself that it's rare for me to ask for medical advice."
Virgil didn't look convinced but let the matter go with a final sigh. He stuck close to Scott's side as they made the climb up the final few steps, hands flexing as if he had to keep himself from reaching for his brother. Scott side-eyed him, irritated by the smothering but warmed by fondness too.
They joined Kayo and Penny at the top, took stock of their remaining weapons, then hopped the ticket barriers to venture into the ruined streets once more. It took a while to gather their bearings. They became lost, traipsing around in circles for half an hour until Kayo finally shoved her rucksack into Virgil's arms with a frustrated growl and scaled an old bus shelter to get a better view. She slithered back down and led the way through the maze of traffic pileups and discarded debris.
It took another five hours by Scott's best estimations for them to reach the innermost suburbs. Rotter activity had been minimal so far but that only made more uneasy. His distrust of lucky breaks had only grown worse since Z-Day.
Paranoia injected tension into his shoulders, already stiff from hunching in the ventilation tunnels. By the time they stumbled upon a higher patch of ground where Penelope picked up a radio signal, his head was pounding. His vision seemed to sort of fizz, usually a warning that he was going to be struck down by a migraine within the next twenty-four hours.
Virgil noticed because of course he did. He caught Scott's shoulders and coaxed him into taking a seat on the battered hood of an abandoned Chevy.
Penelope's voice drifted back to them as she spoke into the radio, perched on the side of a capsized bus while Kayo stood guard. No direct contact had been made with the manor, but there was still a chance that John would pick up the transmission even if he couldn't respond for whatever reason.
"Drink this."
Scott blinked, tearing his gaze away from Penelope as he registered smooth plastic in his hands. The bottle was half full but he couldn't be sure how much longer they'd have to ration water, so he was reluctant to take more than a sip.
The sharp stab of pain behind his left eye had him sucking in a hiss through gritted teeth. Virgil's grip on his shoulders tightened in warning. He couldn't be bothered to fight – and there was no winning against Virgil in Medic Mode – so gave in and drank. The water didn't ease the tension but at least it revived his senses a little.
Penelope slid down from the bus. Kayo steadied her as she landed on the tarmac, stowing the radio in the rucksack again. Her face creased in a worried frown, eyeing the gathering clouds along the horizon with a healthy dose of trepidation.
"Any luck?" Virgil called, squeezing Scott's shoulder in a silent command for him to stay seated.
Penelope shook her head. "Nothing. A lot of static though."
"Too much static," Kayo cut in, arms crossed to drum her fingers against her biceps. "It's almost as if something's blocking our transmissions."
Scott noted Penelope's flinch. "You think…?"
Scavengers went unsaid.
"I don't know," Kayo admitted. She shouldered her rucksack, metal clanging as the parts shifted within. "But I don't want to hang around here to find out if anyone else was listening in."
A gust of wind swept up a collection of empty soda cans, rolling them along the street in a loud clatter. Somewhere, a crow screeched. Shadows flirted with light at the edge of storefronts. Threats seemed to lurk in everywhere all of a sudden.
Scott pushed himself off the car. "Yeah, I'm with you on that one. Let's get out of here."
It took another fifteen minutes for danger to close in. He registered Kayo's and Penny's sudden hyperawareness of the shadows around them before his own senses picked up on the threat.
Movement flickered in his peripheral vision, gone again before he could pin it down. Glass crunched in an empty alleyway. A dark silhouette darted out of sight on a rooftop. Deeply rooted, primal whispers urged him to find cover; the age-old instincts of a prey creature being hunted.
"Two people on the roof," Virgil reported under his breath.
Kayo didn't turn to look at him. "I see them."
"Kayo." Penelope's voice was taut with tension. She weighed her knife in her hands, drawing an unsteady breath. Her posture betrayed nothing but her eyes were wide with fear. "They're-"
"I know."
"Should we…?"
"Keep walking."
Something darted out of sight, tall with tattered clothes, masked and armed. Scott whirled around but the figure had vanished. Cold unease scuttled down his spine. The familiar rush of adrenaline had already begun to prickle under his skin. More movements flitted from view.
"Kayo," he muttered, turning in a wide circle to confirm his suspicions. "We're surrounded."
"And seriously outnumbered." Virgil stepped closer to complete their huddle. "We need a plan."
Kayo's attention was mostly fixed on the street around them, but she briefly broke her focus to turn to Penelope. Penny's grip on her knife threatened to leave welts across her palms, painfully tight as she tried to channel her fear into useable energy. Each new movement had her flinching.
Scott edged sideways to block her from view of the rooftops. Scavengers had put their hands on her once already and he was damned if he was going to let it happen again.
He was dangerously low on weapons but he had two blades left and Kitsy had gifted him a handful of precious ammo for the handgun. Worst case scenario, he knew how to use his fists well enough to buy Penelope and Virgil time to make a break for it – not that he believed they'd leave him and Kayo behind but hey, a guy could hope. He exchanged a knowing glance with Kayo and read the same conviction in her stony stare.
"This isn't like last time." Kayo caught Penelope's wrist, thumb resting above her pulse as she tried to surreptitiously check just how panicked Penny truly was. "Penelope, I swear they won't lay a hand on you. I won't let them."
Penelope gave a sharp little nod. "Right."
There was no sound as such, more of a sense, a disturbance in the airflow. Sickening certainty swept over Scott. He didn't need to check each building to know that they were entirely surrounded. Intuition hissed that the scavengers were closing in. He was viscerally reminded of a pack of lions closing in on a gazelle and God knew Gordon had made him watch enough nature documentaries over the years to know how that scenario ended.
The same voice in his head which had saved him from certain death over the years grew louder, becoming an urgent whisper for him to run. He instinctively grabbed a fistful of Virgil's jacket and dragged his brother to the side of the street. Gunfire cracked the screen of an old car less than a heartbeat later. The glass shattered.
Scott stood momentarily frozen, unable to believe just how close the bullet had come to Virgil's head. Later, he'd panic about what if – if he'd been a second longer with reacting; if Virgil hadn't automatically trusted him; if they'd both been distracted – but his current adrenaline rush was too strong to make overthinking a possibility.
Kayo slammed a hand into his back, knocking him into a sprint. Virgil grabbed Penelope's hand and pulled her along. Scott was struck by a hysterical urge to laugh because come on, this was the second time in under twenty-four hours that they'd run for their lives with a horde on their asses. It just so happened that this horde was formed of humans. In a way, that was far more terrifying.
Scavengers swarmed the road. They flooded out of buildings, slid down from higher vantage points, emerged from seemingly empty vehicles. Every available space seemed to bleed hunters. You knew the situation was dire when Kayo opted for flight over fight and she was running as if the hounds of hell were on her heels.
Scott pushed through the wall of breathless pain to hit a second wind, vaulting the hood of a car to follow Kayo through the tiny gap between a crashed bus and a corner shop. They emerged into a tiny alleyway cloaked in darkness and old blood. He accidentally knocked a mangled ball into the wall; it rolled over to reveal eye sockets and a haunted grin. A collection of human vertebrae crunched underfoot. The alley was a goddamn graveyard.
Ambush, he realised in a rush.
Virgil hauled Kayo to his chest and slammed against the wall just in time to escape a torrent of bullets from above. Penelope ducked. Scott looped an arm around her waist and tucked her beneath his chin to bodily shield her from any stray bullets. The gunfire paused as the scavengers reloaded. He scrambled to his feet and yanked Penelope upright, hurtling after Kayo and Virgil.
They broke free into a residential road. It was choked with abandoned cars. Kayo wove in-and-out of the rusting metal, dropping low so that she vanished from view. Virgil followed close behind, Penelope hot on his heels.
Scott flung himself behind the closest wreck as more gunfire erupted where he'd been standing. He scrambled forwards on his hands and knees, unable to see where the others had gone. A pebble rolled under the car to his left and collided with his ankle. He glanced across to glimpse Kayo signalling him from the other side.
He pushed himself into a crouch then broke into a sprint around the vehicle. Kayo met him halfway, closing her hand around his wrist as she led him to a car that looked as if it had been dragged straight out of a horror movie. It was covered in blood. It was impossible to see inside. The decomposing body of something that looked horrifically human had been pinned to the roof by a metal pipe - a scavenger crime scene.
No sane person would go near it.
Which made it the perfect hiding place.
Kayo eased the driver's door open and slithered inside. Scott crept into the back, closing the door as silently as possible. The blood-soaked windows didn't let in any light and it took a moment for his vision to adjust.
He found Virgil's horrified gaze amid the darkness. His brother was squashed into the footwell of the front passenger seat as best he could, jacket hauled over his head to make it seem as if the car was just full of clothes and bags from the initial evacuation attempts.
Footsteps crunched somewhere to the left, probably only a couple of cars away. Scott laid flat across the length of the backseats beside Penelope. She pressed close to his side. He could practically sense her panic. She flinched as more glass shattered nearby; he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close.
Indistinct voices barked commands. They had to be only a few metres away at most. Heavy breathing sounded from somewhere behind the car. A shadow passed across the rear window.
Scott held himself perfectly still. Penelope's chin was digging into his collarbone as she hid her face in his neck, trying to keep quiet as she drew rapid, shallow breaths. Her arms looped tightly around his waist as she clung to him. He could feel her heart hammering through his shirt. He splayed his fingers across her back, trying to silently offer more comfort. Her breathing hitched.
A gunshot rang out so close that the car seemed to shiver. Red laser sights pierced through the glaze of blood over the windows, raking the interior for any sign of life. It skimmed close to Kayo's shoulder; she shrank deeper into the footwell, tucked beneath the steering wheel.
Scott tightened his hold. A frightened, tiny whimper escaped Penelope's gritted teeth. The laser sight paused. He clamped a hand across her mouth. Her wide eyes fixed on his, swimming with unshed tears.
The scar on her face served as a reminder that her terror of scavengers was more than justifiable. Her fingers coiled in his shirt, nails digging into his ribs slightly. The laser sight brushed the seat cushion to her left. Scott cupped the nape of her neck, mouthing get down.
Something heavy slammed into the side of the car. The entire vehicle jolted sideways. He pressed his hand tighter against her mouth, stifling her cry. Kayo's hands clenched around the edge of the driver's seat as she forced herself to keep from reaching for Penny.
Another crash came from the left. Penelope flattened herself against his chest, head resting above his heart so that she could hear just how scared he secretly was. The body on the roof was proof of just how violent these people were. If they were discovered, Scott didn't know what to do.
A distant hum jolted him out of racing thoughts. At first, he thought he'd imagined it because it was too familiar to be possible. He stared at the looming figures outside the bloodied windows. They'd paused, distracted by the sound too. Kayo drew a sharp breath, proof that she'd recognised it also.
Electrical discharge had a distinctive snap as it bit the air and chewed up any equipment left within range. Furious shouts blended with the roar of an aircraft swooping so low that it shouldn't have been possible to recover from the dive. Gunshots rang out. VTOLs screamed. Another explosion of electricity sent several scavengers running for cover.
The chaos made it safe to speak.
Kayo crawled out from the footwell. "Who the hell is flying my Thunderbird?"
"Who's a sufficiently skilled pilot to fly her like that?" Virgil gasped out, ashen and shaky as he tossed his jacket aside and dared to raise his head above the seat.
A scavenger had wiped some of the blood from the window. Scott risked a glance through the smeared glass. Thunderbird Shadow swooped low from the clouds; an avenging angel; dark and deadly; stunning her prey with waves of electricity and chasing them off with warning shots; looping out of range of returned gunfire in a series of impressive loops.
John and Gordon could hold their own in the sky but not like this. It was a level of flying that took instinctual skill as well as training. While no one else in the family was a trained fighter pilot, Scott did know someone capable of weaving a rocket through an asteroid belt, a display of precision that was no mean feat.
Alan.
An armoured truck smashed through the cars, careering along the road at breakneck speed. A scavenger raised a rifle but bullets bounced off the hull. A smaller vehicle followed closely behind; military, Scott identified, complete with armed officers.
Thunderbird Shadow banked left as torrents of gunfire erupted from the rooftops. Kayo reached through the seats and shoved Scott down. Stray shells shattered the window where he'd been looking.
Penelope protected his face from the glass shards with her arm. They rolled into the footwell as more gunfire tore across the backseat; Scott on his back with the hilt of his spare knife digging painfully into his lower spine; Penelope crowded close to him, bracketing him with her arms as she shielded him from more glass which skidded harmlessly off her leather jacket.
"We've gotta go," Kayo was shouting, screaming, launching herself across the seats to slam the passenger door open with her boots. It crashed into the scavenger crouched behind it. Virgil flung himself free of the vehicle and scrambled underneath as gunfire rained down from above.
Scott struggled to sit up, scrabbling for the door handle. "Virgil!"
"Scott, wait." Penelope's yell rang in his ears. "You'll get yourself killed."
"So will he!"
Shadow's engines were deafeningly loud.
Scott reached for the handle. "Penny, are you with me?"
"Apparently so."
The GDF armoured truck had cleared a path for a series of smaller vehicles. They were taking heavy fire as scavengers tried to stand their ground – or maybe had grand ideas of swarming the officers and claiming all that equipment for themselves – but Shadow's air support made the difference between rescue and loss.
Scott ducked low, Penelope at his side. Kayo had vanished, but so had Virgil. One of the trucks skidded to a halt and a vaguely familiar face from the manor threw open a door. His yell for them to get in was drowned out by another roar of Shadow's engines as Alan swept low to defend the stopped truck from the line of scavengers approaching from the alley.
Scott wrapped an arm around Penelope to serve as a shield as they dashed for the truck. The guy grabbed her hand and pulled her up the step, tumbling into the relative safety of the vehicle.
Scott hung back. "Go!"
"Are you crazy, man?"
"He's insane and doesn't get a vote," Gordon's voice rose above the chaos as he hurtled from the crashed cars and slammed into Scott's back. "Get in the damn truck, Scott."
"Virgil and Kayo-"
"John's got 'em, now get in."
"John's here?"
Gordon grabbed a fistful of Scott's jacket and physically hauled him into the truck. The driver accelerated before they'd even reached a seat and they hit the deck in a collision of tangled limbs and spat curses. Gordon slid a hand beneath Scott's head on instinct to save him from a concussion.
Scott scrambled upright, fumbling for the empty seat behind him. Gordon was thrown backwards as the truck jolted. Penelope grabbed his biceps and pulled him into the space beside her. They sat in silence, staring at one another with wide, disbelieving eyes while the truck carried them to safety.
"We heard your transmission," Gordon explained after he'd caught his breath. There was a disconcerting smear of blood across the bridge of his nose. "Apparently those fuckers did too."
Scott braced himself against his knees, light-headed as the adrenaline began to ebb from his system.
"How'd you…?" He gestured vaguely to the truck around them. "You know."
Gordon cracked a grin.
"Johnny called in a few favours." His smile faded. "You went radio silent. We hadn't heard from you in nearly thirty hours. Alan and I were going to take Shadow ourselves to look for you but John talked us into waiting for backup. Good job we did, 'cos that was a close call."
Penelope pressed her scraped knuckles to her mouth. Her eyes were still glassy, haunted, hands trembling as she shivered. She was treading a dangerous tightrope between emotional exhaustion and genuine medical shock.
Gordon stole a water bottle from the family pack rolling around the floor, tugged off the t-shirt that he was wearing over a long-sleeved thermal, and dampened the fabric.
"Here."
He went to press it into her hands but when she didn't reach for it he hesitantly dabbed it against the grime smeared across her cheek.
His touch was so gentle that Penelope looked ready to burst into tears. She reached up; gingerly brushed her fingertips against his wrist; took a second to assess his reaction; covered his hand with her own as he cupped her face. Then, without a word, she tilted sideways to lean her head on his shoulder. Gordon faltered, then raised his arm to hold her close.
"Thank you," she murmured after a minute.
He rested his cheek on top of her head with a soft hum. "Anytime."
Everything faded into a hazy blur after their impromptu rescue; muted by adrenaline crashes and the renewed pain of forgotten scrapes; memories lulled into something forgettable at the hands of relief.
The sight of the Creighton Ward estate filled Scott with the same sense of safety that he had used to experience upon returning to Tracy Island after rescues gone wrong. The rock and rumble of the truck had coaxed him into a version of rest too light to be called sleep; he only truly relaxed once he saw for himself that Kayo and Virgil were both safe.
Thunderbird Shadow touched down lightly in her usual place. Isaiah didn't wait for the engines to finish cooling before he had already rushed forwards to reattach wires to bring the manor's emergency power back online.
Alan threw himself from the cockpit with such haste that he hit the gravel with an audible thud in an unintentional superhero landing. He barrelled into Scott at top speed, swiftly checking for injuries before pulling him into a fierce hug.
"Are you okay?"
The words were mumbled into Scott's shoulder. Alan buried his face in the crook of his neck, fingers curled to fists in the tattered jacket. There was a surprising amount of strength in those skinny arms; his grip was tight but carefully avoided pressing on any bruises.
"Yeah," Scott assured him, voice rough with a sudden wave of emotion.
He blinked away the burn behind his eyes, trying to remember how to breathe. Everything suddenly seemed to weigh so much more as if gravity had been dialled up to the nines. He lifted a hand to cup Alan's head, threading his fingers through blond hair to reassure himself that his kid was safe – that this was real – and was rewarded by another squeeze around his middle before Alan reluctantly released him.
"I told you they'd be fine," Gordon called, feigning nonchalance as he stepped away from the truck to join them.
Alan shook his head with a tiny smile. "Shut up. You were just as worried. You were gonna help me steal Shadow, remember?"
"Maybe don't tell Kayo about that." Gordon socked Scott's bicep. "Don't freak us out like that again, dumbass. We thought you got eaten. Or worse."
There was a distinct undercurrent of taut terror in his voice despite the forced joviality.
"Sorry." Scott draped an arm around Gordon's shoulders. "It wasn't intentional radio silence, if that helps?"
"It does not," Gordon informed him cheerfully. "But you're safe now, so I guess you're forgiven." He wriggled free as a second truck pulled into the driveway. "Oh, hey. John, Virgil and Kayo are here."
Alan hung back, falling into step at Scott's side while Gordon bounded on ahead. He stole a glance up at Scott, wringing his hands as he deliberated speaking.
"Are you actually okay?"
Scott turned to watch Virgil drag Gordon into a bear hug, hiding his fond smile from Alan's view.
"Yes," he promised. "It was touch-and-go for a second there, but you found us in time." He reached over to squeeze Alan's shoulder. "You've still got a lot of International Rescue in you after all, huh?"
Alan shrugged self-consciously. "I mean, I guess?"
"Thanks for the save."
"Anytime."
Scott caught his eye with a grin. "That was some pretty decent flying."
"Oh really?"
"Not too shabby."
Alan swatted him with a loud laugh. "It was fantastic flying and you know it."
"I've definitely seen worse, I'll give you that."
"Scott!"
Scott dropped the joking act and let genuine pride warm his voice. "You did good, rocket-kid. Really. Those were some impressive moves."
"Well, I did learn from the best, so…"
"That's sweet, Al."
"Who said I was talking about you? Maybe I meant Kayo."
Scott made a mad grab for him and he danced out of range with another laugh.
"Get back here, kid!"
"Gotta catch me first!"
