Shadow's Chosen (Dark World Mates Book 3) Read online

  "Hold on." Elise caught at his arm and immediately let go as he looked at her. "Ah, maybe we should rethink this?"

  Nezka tilted his head. He looked back at the tunnel then back at her. "You're afraid?"

  "I didn't say that." Elise glanced at the tunnel. A breeze came up to meet them, bringing with it a musty, foul smell.

  "You think it too dangerous then? If so, there is still the gate, but it will take more time to find a way through, and the likelihood of running into the Red Blades who now guard it..."

  "I get that." Elise eyed the sign and the tunnel beyond.

  "We face something either way. Maybe in there"—he gestured to the tunnel—"we can avoid whatever that something is."

  "You sound very sure," Elise said.

  "I'm not entirely. But the options are before us and we have little time."

  At that, the roar of a loud engine could be heard close by. The drogin were approaching in their vehicle. Nezka didn't move, only looked to her for a decision. Elise knew she could tell him right then that they should try for the gate and he wouldn't hesitate. But he was right, the chance of them having to go against men that had weapons and had the advantage of higher, more secure ground was a problem. It likely meant another whole day of planning just to find a way through—something she couldn't afford. Whatever lay in the dark, she had to hope they could get past without issue.

  And who knows, maybe it was harmless, right?

  The sound of the car was growing louder. Nezka waited.

  "All right." Elise stepped away and turned for the tunnel. "All right, let's go for it."

  Nezka started again for the entrance, and Elise reluctantly followed. The breeze picked up, flinging strands of hair in her face. Elise brushed it away then readjusted her hair into a ponytail to keep it out of her eyes. The smell was unpleasant to say the least, like something that had badly spoiled. As they took the stairs down, the air began to warm up, not cool down like she expected. As the light from above faded, Elise turned on the lights on her suit and unholstered her gun. Nezka took up his gun as well, using the light on his scope to see.

  The station was a mess, not that that was any surprise. The walls and floors were corroding, garbage and pieces of roofing scattered all over. Water trickled from broken vents above, pooling on the ground, turning piles of whatever debris had fallen into sludge. It really looked no different than some of the abandoned subway systems she'd seen back home. The only difference was the graffiti. Unlike the kind found back on Earth's cities, the tags or 'art' along the walls of this station glowed in the dark, as if backlit by some unseen light. It reminded her of those buildings where raves were held, where everything glowed in neon colors, the black lights giving them their shine.

  There were no lights here though, so she was curious how they glowed so brightly on their own. The glow of them even lit up the station to a degree. Enough for them to see the railway and the two tunnels going off in separate directions.

  Nezka checked the map. "The left goes toward the gate, and from there, a connected route passes below to the other side. We could take the trail as far as possible till we can't go any farther, bypassing several miles without being seen."

  "I'm not so sure I want to be down here that long," Elise said, observing the many miles of tunnels before them.

  "We'll go as far as we can. We can make some distance, at least, before sundown."

  Elise agreed to that, and Nezka closed out the map. He stepped over to the platform and jumped down with ease. Elise did the same, though with not as much grace. She was noisier than him, her boots scraping against the ground, kicking into random junk while he didn't seem to make a sound as he made his way cautiously down the railway tunnel.

  Guess I need to work on that, Elise thought and tried her best to step over rocks and garbage like he did while still trying to keep up.

  The farther in they went, the less graffiti they saw and the less garbage they found. Some sections were crumbling away while others were slick with putrid water from rusted pipes. Elise saw what looked like the city's equivalent to rats skirting around her boots. Only they had longer tails and ears. There was no sign of anything else lurking, but she continued to keep her gun at the ready. The breeze seemed to warm up the deeper in they went, and the smell strengthened. This didn't slow the hunter, though Elise couldn't help feeling concerned about what might be waiting ahead.

  At one point, they found a service tunnel, a slight short-cut to a connecting railway. From there, they began to hear voices and knew they were approaching the under part of the gate. The closer they got, the clearer the voices became.

  "Boda, for fuck's sake, it's dead already. Just let it be."

  A dull bang rang out, like something hitting the ground. "Hate when they come out of the dark like that, gives me the creeps."

  "Just be glad it was one of the kids." Someone laughed.

  Nezka paused at the end of the passage to look out. Elise couldn't see much with his back in the way, but she did make out the flicker of a light and a pair of shadows moving along the far wall of the tunnel.

  "I'm sick of this shit, for real. There's no point being down here, Kodi. No one's gonna walk this."

  "Lady Moth said to be on the lookout for those that might try coming along."

  "Then why is it just the two of us patrolling? Rio, that ass, should have sent more of us down."

  "You think we can't handle a couple of soldiers? Assuming any of them actually made it out when the gate got seized and the tunnel broke."

  "I heard some got out. You never know."

  Nezka put up his hand for her to wait. Then, slowly, he clicked off the light on his gun and snuck out of the passage, disappearing into the dark corners of the railway tunnel. Elise looked out from the end of the passage and saw, not far down the way, two drogin men wearing the same gear as those who had attacked them at the first gate, the large X's across their chests glowed red. Funny, despite their namesake, they didn't wield blades or knives of any sort. They instead had their guns drawn, not bothering to keep a close watch of their surroundings; talking with their backs turned as they stood on the edge of a platform.

  "I think we should just go," one said. "Nothing is gonna come this way. And if they do, Moki will probably be awake. I don't wanna stick around if he is."

  Nezka snuck onto the platform with a blade now in hand and was on them before they could even so much as shout or aim their guns. With lightning quick movement, he cut them down. One from the back then the other in the same fashion. They went down before their faces could even portray shock. Nezka didn't hesitate. He kicked the guns onto the tracks and began rifling through their pockets.

  Elise, feeling it was probably safe for her to approach, did so. As she came to the platform, she eyed the guns at her feet. They were too big, unfortunately, to fit in their bags, and carrying them would be a pain as they required both hands to hold them properly. She picked one up and found them to be rather heavy as well. When she held one up and aimed, she found the trigger was locked.

  "They won't work for us. They've been programmed to be only of use to those to which they were assigned. A security measure. I've seen it before," Nezka explained.

  "Great." Elise dropped the gun back on the ground. "Find anything useful?"

  "No." He stood straight but continued to eye them curiously. Then he placed his bag down and started pulling out a few scraps of clothing and flinging them to the side. "Actually, these masks could be useful."

  By masks he meant the ventilators she'd seen the men wearing at the attack to keep smoke and ash out of their lungs. Probably used when they set off smoke bombs and the like. They were large and covered the whole lower half of their faces. Nezka stuffed the pair into his bag then threw it back over his shoulder. As he dropped down, Elise started forward to join him when she felt something squishy under her foot. She looked down and saw a tentacle. As her eyes followed it, she found it attached to a squid-like creature with several eyes
. She cursed and jumped back, but the creature didn't move. It was clearly dead.

  "Gross," she said, shaking the slime off her boot. Nezka came over and studied it, moving the creature with his foot. "What is it?" Elise asked, as if he would know.

  Nezka didn't speak, only stared down at it. He closed his eyes and rubbed a hand along his forehead then looked back at her. "Let's keeping moving."

  Confused, Elise gave the creature one last glance-over before following Nezka into the next tunnelway.

  They passed the gate now, at least. But what little excitement she felt in that was overpowered by the growing sense of urgency to get out of the tunnels. Though she found it hard to know what Nezka was truly thinking or feeling, something in his walk and the way he stopped every so often to look around or to perhaps listen put her on edge. She found herself looking over her shoulder more than once and pointing her gun at everything that made the smallest bit of noise.

  Despite her tension, nothing met them in the darkness, and after nearly a mile and a half of walking, she started to ease up, thinking maybe they wouldn't see anything after all, that they would pass through undetected.

  But the smell didn't fade, and soon they were seeing signs of animal markings, or at least Nezka identified them as such. Slick black marks along the walls and cracks in the roof were clearly made by something Elise had no desire to meet. A really big something. But she knew they were too far deep now to turn back. She could only hope the hunter would steer them away.

  Eventually, they came to their first dead end—a caved-in tunnel—and Elise could see the hunter was debating what to do.

  "We could turn back and just find another route," Elise said after a moment. "I'm sure one would take us close, in the direction we need to go." Nezka pulled up the map. Elise drew up beside him to look over his arm. "Ah, see there,"—Elise pointed to another tunnel close by, only a little out of their way— "we take the service tunnel from there and head toward the central hub."

  Nezka didn't say anything as he closed out the map. He turned and moved out of the now blocked tunnel, walking back the way they came. "We head south," he said.

  Elise stopped. "South?" She hurried to catch up with him. "But that's way out of our path."

  "It will be better."

  "How?"

  "Trust me."

  Glaring at his back, she kept quiet, telling herself it was better not to argue, that he knew something she didn't, though she would've liked to have been in the know also. They picked up speed to gain back the time they had lost, but once they traveled down the service tunnel and came to a fork, Nezka stopped, and Elise thought she heard him murmur something low in his own tongue. Before she could even ask, she heard the voices and saw lights flickering around the curve of the south tunnel.

  "Looks like they found their buddies," Elise said. "Guess we're headed to the central hub after all." She started for the north tunnel but Nezka didn't move. "Are you coming or not?"

  Nezka looked back at her, the fires of his eyes bright against the dark. He started down the tunnel leading to the hub, and Elise followed him.

  The musty smell strengthened, and murky water began to rise around their boots. An inky black that absorbed the shine of their lights.

  "Hold." Nezka stopped. His eyes flickered down to study the water when the shouts of men grew closer, lights aiming in their direction. A few stray bullets flew by, bouncing off the walls.

  "We need to go!" Elise nearly shouted as the noise rang down the tunnel. Nezka tugged on her arm once, pulling her to move faster.

  They ran until the tunnel curved around slightly and opened into a long, vast chamber. As they paused by the edge of the tunnel, Elise could see that the central hub was made up of several railways with platforms between them and tunnels along opposite ends going in different directions. The tracks they currently ran on traveled across the second level of the hub with a platform to one side and stairs leading down to the other railways. From below, the trams sat at their platforms, now abandoned, and the tracks on the first level were completely flooded. Elise could see all this by the light that spilled from above, seeping through the holes and cracks in the ceiling. It made the place look ominous.

  "When I say, make for the other side and don't stop," said Nezka.

  Elise looked at him, confused. "What about you?"

  The sounds of the men behind them were drawing closer. Nezka turned back toward the tunnel. "I'll be right behind you."

  Not in the least convinced, Elise tried to make him look at her, but his focus was on the tunnel. Shaking her head and cursing under her breath, she readied her gun and looked down the tracks to the other end. One part was crumbling away, but besides that, it was a straight shot to the other side.

  The lights were nearing, and the hollering of men grew louder. "Go," Nezka ordered. He looked back at her when she didn't move. "Now."

  Elise, this time, didn't hesitate. Quickly glancing down at the level below, she rushed down the tracks with gun tight in hand. The first set of shots went off, and Elise couldn't help turning her head back to see. Behind her, the hunter was shooting into the tunnel, toward the men coming at him. Flashes of light burst from the tunnelway, bullets ricocheting off his armor. Elise made it to the other side then slowed and stopped. Nezka shot back at the group of men while receding slowly down the tracks toward her. The men began to spill from the tunnel, and as they did, Elise caught the glint of Nezka's blade as it appeared in his hand. He shot the last of his bullets, making two men drop cold on the tracks, then threw the gun down into the abyss below. The water began to move under them, frothing and bubbling. Elise aimed her gun, ready to fire at the group, when a massive tentacle shot out and grabbed onto the tracks.

  A creature much like a squid with several eyes rose up out of the inky black and started climbing onto the railway. The men screamed, and Elise lost sight of Nezka in the flurry of tentacled arms flailing everywhere. She knew she should be running away, but she couldn't seem to make herself leave. Instead, she fired at the beast, aiming for its head and eyes.

  Her focus was so sharp on the monster, Elise didn't see the second squid, much smaller than the first, come up and reach out for her. It went for her feet, and Elise only noticed in time to jump back out of its reach but not before another of its tentacles swept her off her feet. She kept hold of her gun but fell back, her legs tossing above her. She rolled away as another limb came down then crawled closer to the tunnel, shooting at its head where she could see it rising onto the tracks. Just as the creature retreated back, Elise spotted Nezka in the fray of tentacles, dodging then slicing them in half. She got to her feet and started forward when one of the last men standing outside the tunnel shot a round of firebombs across the tracks. They went off in a blaze of red flames and hot white mist. Elise was thrown back as the tracks blew apart in several small sections and the monster reared up with a loud groan as fire seared its many arms. She covered her head and twisted her back as spray hit her, making her armor sizzle. The mist dissolved, and she peered back, only to see the smaller squid coming up for her again. She skidded to her feet as she fired, slowing it only momentarily as she forced her legs to move, pushing herself into a sprint down the opposite tunnelway. She didn't stop, knowing the creature was still behind her, chasing her as it slithered and squeezed its way through the tunnel for her. She didn't know how long she ran, but when she finally came to another small station, she let out a small cry of relief. She forced herself up the platform and pushed herself up the stairs until she saw the dim light of day. When she made it out onto a road, she fell to her knees, her breath like fire in her lungs.

  She was so dazed at first she didn't register that it was raining lightly. She also hadn't noticed the pack of aliens standing close by. She lifted her head and, when she finally saw them, lifted her gun, only for it to be knocked out of her hand. She lunged for it but one of the aliens—a very large lizard—kicked it out of her reach and pointed a knife at her face.


  "You look lost," it hissed in drogin. It gave her a grotesque, venom-dripping smile. "What a pity."

  Ten

  Elise sat curled up against the back of the car, hands and feet tied together with a metal coil. The vehicle jerked and shook along as it sped down the road, engine roaring loud in her ears. Above the noise, music blasted, similar to techno, and the aliens spoke and laughed, though she couldn't hear what they said. Four of them together, one driving, two sitting up front, and another clinging to the back. Two were drogin, one was that cat species—lygin—and the other was the lizard who was similar to another one of the hunters in Nezka's group. Elise assumed they all came from Xolis and had somehow found their way here of all places. They were a grody, rough-looking group, with dirty, padded clothes and makeshift armor. Even the drogin pair were different from the more docile looking kind seen above. If the drogin of the high city were like the fancier looking dog breeds, the drogin of the under city were the mutts and the wolves. They were bigger, meaner looking, like some deranged werewolf with hair unclean and wild, teeth crooked or chipped. They smiled at her with their wolfish grins, one now sporting her gun, the other rifling through her pack, throwing items onto the road. Elise would have spit at them if not for the gag in her mouth.