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he should be,” Dama said. “He did not make it to the safety of this chamber. He was lost with the others in the belly of the bunker.”

A cold sweat fell over my body. If Maksim was anything, he was a survivor. Sure, Legion might have gotten down there somewhere, but I wasn’t going to bet on that.

“I’ll believe it when I see a body,” John said, reading my thoughts. We looked at each other in consternation. Somehow I felt that we would be seeing Maksim again, and soon.

“Anything else you’re waiting to tell us unless we ask?” Stacy asked Dama, practically towering over her. “This is life and death now. Any information you have. We need to know now, right now, before we trek through a nightmare maze toward the power armor.”

“There is nothing else,” Dama said, shaking her head. “I’m sorry this has brought you such anger. It was not my intention.”

“We’re in,” Sulk said from the front where he worked. Two other Rung moved a section of the metal grate that led to a narrow hall. “Are we still going?”

I exchanged looks with Stacy.

“Any more lies, or half-truths, or waiting for us to ask the right question, and we’re done here,” Stacy said, jamming the helmet on her head. “If we don’t have trust, we have nothing to talk about and cannot possibly work as a team.”

“Understood,” Dama said, making her way to the front. “I will lead.”

As Dama moved to the front, the tension of the moment dissipated a bit. I hadn’t noticed it until now, but the Rung warriors had surrounded us, ready to make a move if their commander ordered. Now that Dama was making her way to the narrow hall, they fell back and lowered their weapons.

“Let’s get this over with,” I said, joining Dama in front of the line.

“The Rung staying behind with the children will lock the grate behind us,” Dama said. “There’s no going back.” She eyed us to gauge our reactions to this news.

“I don’t have plans for tomorrow,” John said, hefting a heavy Rung blaster to his chest. “Let’s go.”

13

Dama and I were the first into the narrow hall. There was barely enough room for the two of us to move side by side. Pipes, wires, and vents lined the walls and ceilings of the hall. We had to dodge and duck in order to avoid the obstructions.

An eerie stillness fell over me as I searched the darkness in front of us with the aid of my helmet’s HUD.

The hall in front of us was visible for the next few feet, then all turned black.

“The lights to the rest of the bunker were shut off,” Dama whispered as we moved forward. “Your Dragon’s Breath has a light at the end of the barrel just here.”

I looked down to see where she pointed. She clicked a button, and true to her word, a narrow beam of light shot out to bring much too little light to the hall. It was a little better than nothing in penetrating the inky blackness.

“Lights on,” Sulk said from behind me, where he and Stacy came next.

Rung, humans, and the Remboshi in our party all obeyed. Soon, twenty-six lights shot forward, illuminating the darkness.

We moved forward slowly, quietly. We all understood that if a single infected saw us coming, it was over. The shared consciousness Legion controlled them with would know exactly where we were.

The sounds of the vent being screwed in place behind us made me cringe. It wasn’t loud, but any noise at the moment made me jump. The halls were so narrow, if we were found out now, it would be a massacre. The darkness wouldn’t help matters either, particularly if there was a panic to get away from the infected.

Dama used a screen on the back of her right vambrace to navigate our path. My breath inside my helmet felt hot and too rapid. I told myself it was the anticipation of this ordeal finally being over, not fear, that was making me hyperventilate a little. Okay, maybe a little fear. I needed a pep talk for myself.

Easy, Dean, I told myself. Control your breathing.

To say I was out of my element would be an understatement. On the edge of the universe in a nightmare situation against an intelligent virus, all I could do was put one foot in front of another.

The narrow hall came to a T intersection in front of us.

I glanced down at the map on Dama’s right hand. It showed a hall going to the right, then a larger room to the left.

“Lights,” Dama breathed.

Everyone turned off their lights together. The sudden darkness was overwhelming and didn’t help my anticipation level much.

“Sulk?” Dama asked.

I had to put my back against the wall as Dama did the same on her side to make enough room for Sulk to squeeze through. Three more hardened Rung came behind him. I noticed they sheathed their blasters and drew bladed weapons, ranging from knives to swords.

Sulk took the left, followed by one of the Rung. The other two warriors went right.

We waited in silence and darkness.

I looked over to Stacy. She shook her head, and I knew she hated this as much as I did. It was in neither of our natures to stand by and wait for others to do the work we knew had to be done.

Minutes stretched by endlessly as I felt my body become restless from staying in the same spot for so long.

After what felt like half an hour but in reality couldn’t have been more than five to ten minutes, Sulk popped his helmeted head around the corner, startling me, and I think Dama jumped a hair as well.

“Clear,” he said.

We turned on our lights again. It was only then that I noticed Sulk’s blade dripping with dark blood, which appeared to be consistent with infected black blood.

We moved out of the hall to the room on the right. It was