Finnegan and Seamus didn’t say anything, but Scrawl shook his head. “Nah,” he said. “We were just talking about Stash.”
“How is he?” Josh asked as he opened his locker and took his uniform out.
“Not great,” Scrawl said. “He’ll be fine, but his bite got infected and he won’t be playing for a while.”
Josh slipped into his uniform. “How does a cyber-bite get infected?” he asked.
He saw Seamus and Finnegan look at each other. Then Finnegan said, “He got dirt in it. We told him to be careful, but you know Stash.”
Josh snorted. “Yeah,” he said. When nobody responded, he added, “Not that he isn’t a good guy, or anything.”
“It’s okay,” Finnegan told him. “We all know Stash can be a jerk.”
Josh smiled. “That doesn’t mean I want him to get hurt,” he said.
“Like I said, he’ll be fine,” Scrawl said. “He’s just on temporary time out. Now let’s go kick some zombie butt.”
The others left the locker room, and Josh sat on the bench to tie his boots. Then he reached into the pocket of his jeans and took out half a tablet of Z. He put it in his mouth and swallowed hard, feeling it go down.
When he rejoined the group, they were still waiting for Freya, so everyone was just hanging out talking. Bess came up to Josh, frowning. “You cost me twenty bucks,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Charlie told me all about it,” she whispered. Then she made kissing sounds with her lips.
Josh looked over at Charlie. She was looking up at the ceiling, pretending to be interested in something.
“I’m going to get both of you,” Josh told Bess. “You just wait.”
“Ooh, I’m scared,” Bess said, wiggling her fingers and miming fear.
Josh walked over to Charlie. “I thought we weren’t telling anyone,” he said.
“I had to tell Bess,” said Charlie. “Otherwise I would have owed her twenty bucks.” She laughed.
“Hey,” Charlie said, looking around. “Did you take the Z?”
Josh nodded.
“Me too,” Charlie said. “Let’s make sure we’re on the same team for practice. We’ll kill!”
Caught up in Charlie’s excitement, Josh forgot all about Firecracker and his earlier worries. The Z was starting to work, and his thoughts were slipping away.
“Kill,” he said, grinning at Charlie. “That’s just what we’ll do.”
14
Josh looked down the stairs. Something was moving below him; there was a slight shifting of the shadows that normally he might not notice. But the Z had worked its magic on his brain, and although his thoughts were a little hazy, he was sensing things more acutely. He sniffed, smelling something dank.
“Water,” he said.
Finnegan switched on his torch’s light and shone it into the darkness. A dozen steps down, the stairs disappeared into water. “Good work, genius,” Finnegan said.
Ever since Finnegan had been assigned to a team with Josh, Charlie, and Bess, he’d been acting weird. Assuming it was because he had been separated from his brother, Josh was trying not to let Finnegan’s comments bother him. But his patience was wearing thin.
“What’s your problem?” he demanded.
Finnegan stepped back. “I don’t have a problem,” he said, sounding surprised.
Josh grinned. “I didn’t think so. So how about you go first down the stairs, then?”
Suddenly Charlie was beside him. “Ease up,” she whispered so that only he could hear.
Josh laughed. “I’m fine,” he said.
Charlie grabbed his elbow. “Josh,” she said. “I’m serious. Just cool it, okay?”
Josh closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, until he calmed down a little. “I’m fine,” he told Charlie.
“Josh, you take lead,” Bess said. “Finn, you’re rear man.”
Josh glared at Finnegan. “No problem,” Josh said.
He descended quickly, moving faster than he knew he should. The light mounted on his flamethrower cut through the blackness. When he reached the point where the water met the stairs, he kept going, never hesitating. The cold water slid over his boots and up his legs, and still Josh didn’t slow down.
When the water was up to his waist, the stairs ran out and he was on level ground. Ten feet ahead of him the opening to a huge pipe gaped like an open mouth about twelve feet across. The metal was rusted and flaking off, and the water was speckled with tiny pieces of it.
“What is this place?” Josh asked.
“One of the intake tunnels,” said Bess. “This is where the water came in to flood the main room and raise the ships to the surface. There are a dozen of them.” She shone her light at the top of the tunnel entrance, where a number was etched into the steel. “This is tunnel nine.”
“The worst one,” Finnegan mumbled.
“The hardest one,” said Charlie, correcting him.
“Why?” Josh asked.
“This one is still live,” Bess explained. “The others were turned off years ago, but this one still works. It’s connected to a line used by the city to take water from the ocean to use in the hydrogenerators that power the subway. The guys who built this place tapped into that line. They installed a valve to open and close it, but when they abandoned it, that valve was stuck halfway open. So whenever the city uses this particular line, water comes through tunnel nine too.”
“What she’s trying to say is that this place can flood at any second,” Finnegan added.
“Not any second,” Charlie countered. “You get a warning, at least if you keep your ears open.”
“Right,” said Bess. “When water moves through the main line, you can hear it. Then you know you have about three minutes to get out of the tunnel before it starts filling up.”
“What kind of noise?” Josh asked her.
“It’s hard to explain,” Bess answered. “Trust me, you’ll know it when you hear it.”
“How often do they use the line?”
“Not often,” said Charlie. “The lines are old, so they rotate between them. This one gets used maybe three times a month.”
“But never on the same day,” Finnegan added.
Josh looked at the water. “It looks like they’ve used it pretty recently,” he remarked. “Look how high it is.”
Bess shook her head. “It’s always at least this high,” she said. “Remember, the valve is stuck halfway open. When the tunnel floods, it only drains back out to the level of the valve opening.”
“Why not just fix the valve?”
“Clatter thinks it makes a great training zone,” Charlie said.
“And he’s right,” said Bess.
“Wait a minute,” Josh said. “If the tunnel goes straight in and straight out, what’s the big deal? We just go in until we find the z’s, torch them, and get out.”
Finnegan laughed but said nothing.
“It’s not that easy,” Charlie said. “The tunnel doesn’t just run straight through. It’s in five sections, with a flood chamber between each section and the next. The flood chambers have a hatch door on each side. If the tunnel starts to flood, theoretically you can release the door closest to the main line and prevent the water from coming any farther this way.”
“Theoretically?” said Josh.
“They don’t always work,” Finnegan said. “The machinery is old. Some of it is broken. Some of it sticks. You just never know.”
“Each flood chamber has a shaft that runs up to the surface,” Bess continued. “It’s a way to vent water if it builds up. There’s also a ladder in each shaft, kind of an escape route if you’re trapped in the room.”
“Not that you’re likely to make it,” said Finnegan. “More than likely the water will rise faster than you can climb.”