Tunnels 04, Closer Read Free Page B

where they were based. Carried by the wind, Chester could hear the sound of their laughter and their raised voices.
    "We could ask them for help," he suggested.
    "No," Martha replied.
    He didn't bother to argue with her, but when they were further away from the Portakabin, Martha suddenly seized hold of him.
    "We do NOT go to the Heathen for help! Never!" she raved, shaking him. "Topsoilers are evil!"
    "Okay... yes... yes," he gasped, completely taken aback by the ferocity of her reaction. Then just as abruptly, her fury seemed to evaporate and a fawning smile dropped back into place on her chubby face. Chester wasn't sure which he preferred most. But he was going to be a damned sight more careful about what he said after that.

    * * * * *

    With the full weight of her sister on her back, Rebecca Two was grateful for the low gravity as she marched doggedly up the inclined tunnel. Although the injured girl had lost consciousness again, Rebecca Two was maintaining a one-way conversation with her.
    "We'll figure something out -- you see. You're going to be just fine," she said. In truth, she was frantically worried about her sister's condition. The makeshift dressing seemed to have done the trick and slowed the bleeding, but Rebecca One had already lost far too much blood. It didn't look good.
    However, Rebecca Two wasn't about to give up hope yet, lugging her human burden for kilometer after kilometer as she trod the dust between the corroded rails of the train track. Although she was passing the mouths of other passages, she kept to the track in the main tunnel, believing that it would eventually take her out of the mine.
    And she was encouraged when she came across pieces of old machinery, further evidence of the civilization that had been responsible for this underground working. She didn't stop to examine the equipment, which appeared to be pumps and generators. Although somewhat dated in their design, she assumed they were variations on Topsoil technology utilized in deep mining. From time to time she also spotted pickaxes, shovels and hard hats discarded along the way.
    Her overriding priority was to get back into the open, not least because she herself was beginning to feel dizzy from lack of food and water. But she also wanted to replace her sister's temporary dressing with something more effective as soon as she could. Rebecca Two swore as she remembered the battle dressings in the jacket that she'd been forced to leave behind when Will and Elliott had ambushed them.
    After several more kilometers with only the steady crunch of her boots to keep her company, she began to become aware to another noise.
    "Do you hear that?" she asked, not expecting an answer from her sister. She stopped to listen. Although it was intermittent, it seemed to be a distant whining noise. She set off again and, as the railway track gradually took her around a corner, she felt a gust on her face. It was fresh air. Filled with hope, she picked up the pace.
    The howling grew louder and the breeze stronger until she spotted a glow coming from up ahead.
    "Daylight... I think this could be it," she said. Then, as she followed the tracks up an even steeper section of tunnel, the source of illumination came into view.
    The tracks continued, but along one side of the tunnel, where there should have been hewn rock, there was a blinding light. As far as she could tell it wasn't artificial. But after so many hours in the darkness with only the green hue cast by her luminescent orb, it was difficult for her to look directly at it.
    "I'm going to leave you here for a second," she said, and carefully put her sister down.
    Then, protecting her eyes with her arm, she advanced toward the light. The gusts of wind blew with such intensity that they pushed her back.
    She told herself to be patient until her vision could cope with the glare, and, after a while, she was able to remove her arm. Through the jagged opening she could see white sky. Combined with the