Stormbreacher - Book 1 of Titanomachy Series

Chapter 20: Fox Hunt

Blindly groping at the walls, I followed them through the abandoned tunnels and chambers. The rooms were dimly lit with flickering holograms, their original images diffused into incomprehensible colors and shapes. It was almost enough to see by, but the details of these rooms were still lost on me.

The map said nothing about the route I was taking. I suspected these were maintenance or mechanical rooms for the water mains. It could mean that they were locked off from the outside, but they wouldn't be locked inside as per building code, so I'd be able to make it out fine. But where the hell would they spit me out?

And what about Zeno?

My heart pounded a little harder, just thinking about him and his enormous gun. I had paradoxical information about him—he was willing to let me go at the abandoned buildings, but would shoot me without a second thought down here. He was a quiet, nervous wreck around that Kenbrand character, but was precise, cutthroat, and ruthless trying to kill me.

Who was this wizard? I had nothing on him but a name, and not even a full name.

I shouldered another hatch open and discovered a concrete tunnel, roughly ten feet in diameter. Stepping inside, the floor swallowed my foot in thick, swampy water. There was no light at all save for a flickering lamp on the far end, magnifying the putrid sulfur smell in the darkness.

"Awwh...fuck!" I hissed, blindly sinking my feet down, down, down. It grossly oozed through my pants and nipped goosebumps out of my flesh. "Ew, ew, ew!!"

Eventually, I found solid ground beneath more than a foot of water. I dropped my other foot in and trudged towards the light at the end of the tunnel. Beyond it, flowing past a row of thick bars, water flowed between vast silhouettes of columnar, geometrical structures in the darkness.

Is that the residential areas? I thought. Holy cats! I'm almost out, then!

That gave me the burst of hope I needed. I sludged quicker through the thick water, into the light and towards the end of the tunnel. But each bar, caging me from freedom, was separated by a slim six inches. Six. Fucking. Inches.

Sinking horror washed through my ribs. I was so close. I was six fucking inches away from freedom. That close. Even when I managed to squeeze my backpack through and slim my profile, it wasn't enough. I still couldn't squeeze through.

Desperately, I grabbed the bars and pulled. They didn't budge. Think, Athena, think! What can I do...what do I have...

There was slick water beneath me. I could...I could lubricate my skin, for a start. Ew...

I sighed and reluctantly crouched into the water. Having already splashed around some, I was pretty wet, but the sludge gathered on my pores and gave a slickness to them. My entire body was now covered in gunk—and in desperate need of a shower.

But even that wasn't enough. When I pressed myself to the bars, their rusty teeth still bit and clung to me. I couldn't slip through.

"...Faaaaauuck!" I cursed, slapping my palm against my forehead. Come on. What else. Think, think, think.

The bars were rusty. They were eroded...the water was eroding them.

Beneath the surface of the water, I touched the bars with my sneakers. They thinned sharply at the bottom, where water had been rushing past for decades. I pressed the brunt of my back against the lower end and pushed. It spun a little bit, but it didn't give way.

I was still frantically thinking up of ideas. What else can I do?! Maybe those holographic displays have alkaline batteries? Alkaline metals explode in water, what if I—!...no, that sounds like a really bad idea...