225

[mogwai_do]

Copyright Margaret Turner
23rd June 2009

There was a bridge: a rusted span of ironwork that creaked alarmingly when Whisper stepped onto it fully, but it held up nevertheless. By unspoken agreement they crossed it singly and Mike was personally hugely relieved to plant his feet firmly on the other side. The ladder Gavin had described was just visible beyond the periphery of the light and looked at least in better repair, though not by much.

The passage above felt different to Mike, the air wasn't as close and sometimes he almost thought he could taste the open air. On the other hand it could just have been wishful thinking, knowing that they were on their way out and heading for safety.

After a few minutes Mike began to hear sounds, distant and indistinct, but familiar to someone who had lived with the ambient noise of the city for as long as he had. The passage curved sharply to the right and as they cleared the bend the air lost its stifling stillness. Mike found himself taking a deep breath, rolling the scents over his tongue, so different from the old, stale scents of the underground.

Gavin switched off his maglight and Mike realised the light level had risen enough to make out the route ahead. The passage abruptly ended in a step almost as tall as Mike with rungs driven into the brick at regular intervals. Tipping his head back, Mike gazed up and was surprised to see actual daylight filtering from somewhere. It was dim and grey, but it was natural and though he was neither claustrophobic or bothered by the dark, Mike felt like a huge weight had lifted.

Whisper was nimbly scaling the rungs and Gavin followed slower. Mike watched the teen ascend and tried to ignore the almost painful slowness of Gavin's limbs and the way his scent scraped at Mike's hindbrain demanding that he step in before the youth collapsed. It was only the fact that he couldn't convince himself that Whisper didn't know Gavin's state that prevented him from doing something, the other man knew the teenager far better and Mike trusted his judgement.

He waited until Gavin reached the top before he began his own short climb and accepted Whisper's helping hand as Gavin had done because he wouldn't make the teen self-conscious about needing the help. Maybe three paces separated them from a heavy iron grate about four feet across and all that stood between them and the familiar sight of London above ground.

All three of them paused then, catching their collective breath and watching the streetlamps flicker to life across the park. Time had seemed strangely static underground, but in the rest of the world it had moved on and the strange twilight gloom of an early winter evening was spilling through the streets and open spaces like a silent grey sea. The sound of the Serpentine was very close, but it wasn't visible from the tunnel. Whisper stepped up to the grate and reached through to the heavy padlock that sealed it, needing only a moment to spring the lock and with an initial creak the grate swung open enough for them to step out.

tbc...

Comments

[lferion]

Oh, the relief of open air & unconstrained space.

Turning thought now to the final lap home, Allison's safety & the question of whether they actually achieved their aim & got the ashes (the right ashes).

[mogwai_do]

They can relax a bit now at least and patch themselves up as needed.