Wallace

I took each step carefully, trying to let my weight down gently as I descended the concrete steps, axe at the ready.

Though the sun still shone, it had dropped low enough for downtown buildings to block any direct sunlight. Without slowing or taking my gaze from the bottom of the stairs, I reached up to my left shoulder and slightly adjusted the setting on Val's torch. Duct taping it to my shoulder was not the most elegant solution, but it kept my hands free, and that was enough.

The torch did a poor job of piercing the inky cloud that hung in the tunnel. I could see maybe ten paces ahead, but I had few alternatives. I needed to be able to move freely. I didn't have the time to bother with a flashlight, no matter how bright.

Which is not to say I was blind. I still wore the bracelet I'd made and could still see the blue outlines that marked people and not-people.

I reached the bottom of the stairs and glanced back. Up the stairwell was a patch of darkening sky that seemed very far away indeed.

I turned back towards the tunnel, and the light from my torch reflected off a pool of stagnant water that sat against one wall. The scent of mildew hung in the air, beneath it the faint waft of ammonia and rotting garbage.

So other than the power being out, not a lot out of the ordinary so far.

Hell, the zombies could have stood in for patrons. I'd certainly shared subway cars with people who had worse standards of hygiene. But then, there weren't any zombies down here.

I walked in a half-crouch with my knees bent and my back rounded over. Bad enough they'd made the tunnel so tiny, but for the ceiling to be so grimy? I mean, come on, guys, it's the ceiling. How do you get it dirty in the first place? The last thing I wanted was for my shoulder, or god forbid, my hair, to brush against that.

A correction, my spell detected no zombies down here. I was well aware that wasn't the same as there being none. But when I looked up through the grimy tiles of the tunnel roof, I could see the blue shapes swarming in Lady Death's tower.

I gave a start and had to stop myself from jumping, and thereby bumping my head on the ceiling when I heard a splash.

Instead, I shuffled to the side and looked down to where I'd heard it.

It was another pool of water. I'd stumbled into it while my eyes and thoughts had been on other matters. It made me grateful for my hiking shoes. When I first had them made, I imagined they'd come in handy during the winter, being more comfortable and more breathable than the enormous boots my stature required. What I hadn't imagined was all the abuse I'd put them through since arriving. Thankfully they'd stood up to it, which was good. God, did I ever hate shoe shopping.

But even if my shoes would keep the weird subway water from soaking my socks, it wouldn't do to make too much noise.

I didn't care if my bracelet said the tunnel was clear. It was probably worse than if there had been a couple of stragglers down here. Then at least I could have trusted it.

A couple of zombies here and there was no big deal, especially if I could see them coming. Tearing through them had almost become passé at this point.

I stepped out of the pedestrian tunnel and out onto the subway platform. Barely visible at the edge of the torch's throw was a kiosk, and the broken glass that hung from its windows and collected on the ground sparkled in the metallic torchlight.

To either side, where I knew in a rational sense were the tracks, I saw only a sheer drop into a dark void.

My target was on the left side of the street, so I chose the left side of the station. My footfalls- despite my best efforts -echoed through the space as I approached the tracks. A space that seemed all the more vast for the darkness.

I stopped just before the strip of yellow plastic bumps that marked the edge of the platform and peered down, twisting, so my left shoulder was forward to throw a little more light.

The concrete below the rails was dark and oil-stained, but the tops of each rail, polished to a shine by the passage of a thousand rail cars every day, threw the light right back into my eyes. Two dead-straight lines of blue-white steel streaked off into the darkness, and just above them was the fainter line of the less-polished third rail.

I dropped down carefully, first sitting on the yellow plastic to swing my legs over the side before standing up next to the tracks, well away from the third rail.

Even with the power out in the city, it was foolish to take the risk.

Just one more thing to get my heart hammering as I ventured down the tunnel with only the echo of my footsteps to keep me company.

I knew they couldn't be that loud. I wasn't moving that quickly, and I was doing my damndest to keep from making too much noise, but that didn't stop each one from sounding like a drumbeat.

Soon even my breathing sounded loud to my ears, and every dozen paces or so I'd whip around to check my rear.

At least the train tunnel was tall enough for me to stand up straight. At about twenty feet wide, I'd even have room to swing my axe, though every step made the necessity of that seem less and less likely.

When I wasn't checking my rear or peering ineffectually into the darkness in front of me, I had my head tilted back, considering my target.

Visible as plain as day, it was my solitary landmark, as the subway station had long since receded into the darkness behind me. If I'd been smart, I would have been counting my steps or would have left some other mark to show my path back.

But I was stomping through subway tunnels in a city abandoned by everyone except the dead, so I couldn't have been that smart.

The others hadn't just thought I was a little dense; they thought I was fucking crazy.

I hooked my thumbs under the straps on my backpack, adjusting it to hang more comfortable.

They'd helped, of course. They wanted Lady Death dead as much as I did. A small fitness centre served the apartments in his tower, and Agamemnon had some of his people strip the weights for the lead inside. And when we'd come up with less than we'd expected since most of them used less toxic materials, he had them dig through car batteries and strip cables to get me more. But that's where their assistance had ended-

Well, Brock had found me the duct tape.

To be fair, I wasn't sure they could do much. With the exception of Martin, they weren't set up for a brawl. Agamemnon had his guys, but they had a job of their own. As for Martin, neither his dino-buddies nor himself would be much good down here. Could he fit? Well, sure. But in the same way, a person might be able to fit down an air duct. Not really the place to pick a fight, now is it?

Who I really wanted accompanying me was Val. But she was safe now. Twisting to look south, there they were, their outlines beginning to blur as they drew away. Regina and Val headed out of the city and around the rim of the crater.

Whatever came next, Valentine would be okay.

Already barely visible in the poor light, the tunnel roof seemed to disappear above my head, as did the wall to my right.

I paused and glanced up to note my relative position to the target before turning to check my right side. I was very close now and had to look almost straight up. It appeared as I'd hoped. The tunnel would pass right beside the foundations of Death's tower.

The circular tunnel gave way to a square-walled chamber, and as I continued to my right, passing between and through a maze of pillars and utility pipes, I stepped out onto the tracks that had been on the far side of the station.

It gave me a fair guess as to where I was, and I turned back, walking across the tracks towards the tower. I kept my eyes on the ground before my feet, expecting to come across- There it was. This cavern housed a set of points where rail cars could cross from one track to another.

I picked my way over the steel spaghetti that made up the points and to the part of the wall that stood just below the tower. I leaned against the concrete and looked straight up. I was below and just to the side of the blue cloud. Another few steps, and I'd be under the building proper.

I unshouldered my pack and set it on the ground against the wall. Kneeling, I began to take the pieces of lead out to set against the concrete.

I heard a rattle, like a porch swing bumping up against its frame, and froze. I strained my eyes, looking to the side, and moved my head the tiniest amount to bring the tunnel into view.

I heard the noise again, not wood on wood, but-

Oh, for fucks sake.

I took a deep breath, which I let out as quietly as possible. My bracelet was showing me bodies. Complete bodies. I hadn't noticed because Death's tower was a mess over overlapping shapes, but it occurred to me that I'd never seen a skeleton in outline. Only complete bodies, whether they be living or dead.

I took another deep breath and closed my eyes. I set the last piece of lead against the wall, and at the same time, turned off my torch with my other hand. It was possible they'd already seen me, but I had to take the chance.

This wasn't a spell I'd be casting. It was an enchantment, which meant I needed time to focus.

Not much time. This was pretty simple as enchantments went. The concrete would provide the Earth mana, and the lead would provide the Weaken mana.

I had this big idea for a self-replicating enchantment, one that would spread like a virus through whatever material I dictated, and while that sounded cool, I didn't have the time to figure it out.

Besides, setting loose a concrete eating spell on a modern city was probably not a great idea.

But I could get a similar effect, if not on the same scale. I'd enchant the foundation itself, or as much of it as I could hold in my mind. The enchantment would be directed to weaken anything within range, so to speak, and do it as quickly as possible. Once it had exhausted its nearby targets, it would begin to weaken itself.

Would my trick destroy the entire foundation? Probably not, but it would turn most of it to mush. Brock would be able to do the rest from there.

I was dimly aware of the wood-like noise drawing nearer, but I remained focused. Though my heart was racing, something in the rhythm of the movements suggested they weren't in a hurry, and the low buzz of adrenaline served to fuel the enchantment instead of distracting me.

I continued to listen with half an ear as I finished setting pieces of the enchantment in place and felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise as I noticed the sound shift slightly. No longer did it carry down a long tube. Now it echoed throughout the cavern.

I drew back slightly, ready to leap back in if the enchantment were to falter, but it held.

And I know it held because a sudden groan reverberated through the cavern as the concrete began to sag slightly.

I held still for a moment, holding out hope I might escape the skeleton's notice. They'd heard something, how were they to know what-

The rattling, briefly silent, began again in earnest. Not like a creaky porch swing swaying in the wind, but more like a screen door in a hurricane.

With only an instant to act, I reached for my axe instead of the light. I tore it from my shoulder, hesitated for a fraction of a section, and then swung.

The axe juddered as it hit something, and I heard the sound of kindling dropped onto a stone floor.

My hand flashed up to my shoulder, and the sudden light was almost blinding.

Spread across the ground was most of a human skeleton.

I turned and ran. I didn't stop to pick up my pack. I didn't stop for anything. I just ran as fast as my feet could carry me. Lady Death must have felt the foundations shift, and if she had sensed the skeleton's destruction-

There, a door in the wall on my right appeared suddenly out of the darkness, and I heard something in the hall behind. It gave me only a moment's warning, but that was enough. I slowed slightly, so when the door burst open, those inside did not catch me just as I passed. Instead, I hit the door just as a pair of skeletons was coming through.

The impact slammed the door closed, and bits of the skeletons ended up on both sides of the door.

But it wasn't the only access hatch. Points need maintenance and people to do it. The cavern was suddenly filled with the sound of access hatches and utility doors being thrown open. I ignored it all and continued to pump my legs. I could not get caught here. Pinned against the wall and surrounded, I'd be dead. If I couldn't outrun them, I at least had to make it to the tunnel. No guarantee Lady Death wouldn't send some around to hit me from behind, but at least I'd be able to keep this group from flanking me.

I moved a little faster with every step. My size meant getting up to speed was a pain, often in a very literal sense. But my enormous stride length also meant that once I did get up to speed, I was moving pretty damn fast.

But skeletons didn't care about biomechanics, they were skeletons, so I had no idea how quickly they could move. Had they been people, I wouldn't have worried too much, but physics begins to break down when a god starts getting directly involved.

I made it out of the cavern and into the train tunnel without feeling the bony claws of my pursuers in my back. I ran with my axe in both hands, ready to bring it around in a wide-sweeping strike, but I did not look back. It would only slow me down, and it's not as if they tiptoed.

And it was because I was too busy paying attention to my ears while my eyes were focused uselessly on the darkness ahead that I made a mistake.

I felt a sudden tug as the toe of my shoe caught on one of the brackets that held the rail to the concrete, and I went down hard. I had time to put my arms out in front of myself to save my face from getting bounced off the concrete, but the point of my elbow came down on the rail, and a white line of pain traced up my arm and into my shoulder as the nerve caught fire.

I had no time to moan about it. I could hear the fuckers coming. I let go of the axe and rolled onto my back between the rails, and spread my arms to rest a hand on each.

Three skeletons, packed in so close I couldn't tell where one ended and the next began, emerged into the light and leapt, with hands and feet both set like claws to rip through my flesh.

The rail under my right hand dissolved, and a sudden intense pain blossomed behind my eyes. I'd never drawn so much mana into myself at once, and Val had warned against it specifically. But the pain was hardly that much worse than that in my elbow, and I kept my focus as the segment of rail under my left hand tore free from its brackets and scythed through the air.

It caught the trio of skeletons in the chest and struck them with such force that they exploded into a shower of chalky powder and bone fragments.

I scrambled backwards, managing to set a hand on my axe as I did, and found the next segment in the rail bent upwards. It had been welded to the one that had just gone flying, and the force of its departure had torn this one partially free as well.

I helped it on its way, and just as a collection of vague shapes began to form at the edge of my light, the steel beam slammed into them and carried on to strike the tunnel wall with enough force to throw up sparks and set the bar to humming.

These skeletons were nothing more than bone. Not even sinew held them together, which meant they didn't have eyes either. Could they see anyways through the same mystic force that animated them, or did they rely on other senses? None of it made any sense. It wasn't as if they had eardrums.

To hell with it. I had the energy fighting to burst out of my skull, may as well use it.

I turned and began ripping sections of track out of the ground as I ran. I flicked my hand to the right, and a piece of rail embedded itself in the wall at ankle height. I flicked it to the left, and a piece slammed into the wall at neck height. With every step, I tore another rail from the ground, filling the tunnel with steel, until the pressure finally faded. I finally stopped when the last piece of rail I tried to move came free of its brackets, only to ping uselessly off the tiles.

My ears rang with the force of each impact, but as I continued to run and my hearing began to clear, I noticed that while I could still hear the skeletons fighting through the tunnel, the sounds were distant. Distant enough that without the tunnel's acoustics, they likely would have been inaudible.

Another twenty paces brought me into the station, and with one high step, I got a foot up onto the platform and thrust myself up into the station. I hardly slowed as I ran for the stairs, and I hit them going so quickly I almost ploughed right through them. But I caught myself on my hands and half-crawled the first few steps before rising to my feet again,

I was right to be in a hurry, and I came out onto the street just as Lady Death's slower minions reached the top of the stairs. I dodged to the side, not around the zombies in my path, but into the sparsest concentration.

This time I did plough right through the obstacle in my way and kept on running for the mall further down the street.

I saw a flurry of motion in the windows as they passed a signal, and a staccato of gunfire went up as they began to cover my retreat.