Thundering wheels shook the entire tunnel. Zeke weakly covered his head and tried to bury himself in the gravel. The wheels seemed to reverberate for an eternity. Then, with a rush of wind, they were gone. The tunnel was empty for now. Zeke pushed himself off the ground; he felt weakly for the back of the dark-haired boy's shirt. With a groan of pain, the boy stood with Zeke in the dimly lit tunnel. Zeke eyes scanned for any signs. They needed out and fast. It took a second, but Zeke found the light on the front of the carbine. He flicked it on, and a narrow beam illuminated their surroundings. Trash, rocks, and a strange dark liquid dripping from the roof were the only things Zeke could find. They had been heading west for Glenwood Springs. Zeke glanced around the tunnel; if they headed back, they'd be closer to the city, but at least they'd be in daylight. Or. Zeke subconsciously shown the carbine's light down the train tunnel.

"Can you move?" Zeke held out his right hand toward the boy's ribs.

"Who was that?" The boy's raspy voice seemed to bounce off the heavy walls of the tunnel.

"Panic. They're terrorists..." Zeke's voice trailed off as he suddenly realized the dripping had stopped. "Or something."

A long light pierced the tunnel. Another train? This soon? Zeke checked the boy again. He was breathing heavily, but it seemed he could stand. Zeke slid his arm under the boy's arm and began to carry him along the tunnel.

"They'll be back; you might be faster running alone," the boy commented.

"They'll be back, and you don't want to be here when they do," Zeke spoke through his exertion. The waving flashlight offered a bit of a preview of the ground ahead of them. The thick metal tracks and the loose gravel beside ran in a straight line. The rocks felt loose beneath Zeke's shoes. The light behind them stopped. It wasn't a train. Zeke began to hurry the boy as their steady pace escalated into a run. Then the tunnel burst with a shriek. A howling like a man on the verge of death was louder than the train had ever been. Red lights falling like snow began to appear all around Zeke. His voice caught in his throat. This was the panic. This was the fear.

Zeke left arm felt heavy holding the carbine as he ran. He couldn't keep it steady now. Not that it would matter. A single gun against whatever was in these tunnels wouldn't save them. Despite his bleeding, the dark-haired boy had found his feet again. He began to outpace Zeke, now pulling him along. The pitch of the scream got louder and louder as more began to join in. A harmony of death filled the caves beneath Denver like water flooding a boat. Stone began to scrape as silenced shots ricocheted off the walls. Zeke swung around, firing wildly into the tunnel. His foot caught on the tracks as he tried to run backwards. Before he could slip though, the dark-haired boy caught his flailing right arm. The cacophony reached a fever pitch. It was all around them. Red lights began to blot out the flashlight.

Then the boys burst from the tunnel into the light. Four tracks ran through a narrow ditch between the highways. The road was some thirty feet up a concrete wall, but at least they were in the light. The sound wasn't so deafening now, and Zeke could see sunshine again. A single, rusted ladder ran up to the highway. Without thinking, Zeke tossed the carbine aside and boosted the dark-haired boy up the ladder, giving him a bit of a head start. Zeke's emerald eyes kept glancing at the tunnel. Though the gap in light was too much to clearly see inside, Zeke could make out the shapes of men standing just beyond the light.

"Go, go!" Zeke shouted. With one final glance, Zeke turned and began to scramble up the ladder himself. His hands gripped the old metal, pulling himself up at a rapid pace. There was a loud whistle, and a returning train shook the ladder. One of the old screws snapped, and the section of the ladder Zeke was climbing up threatened to come loose. Zeke jumped narrowly, grabbing the next set of rungs. The dark-haired boy had already crested the top, leaving only Zeke to finish the climb. The rattling train shook the whole earth as Zeke finally reached the top. The dark-haired boy hauled him over the precipice and the boys found themselves in an old parking lot.