Blood on the Marina

Fall into the Abyss

The floor gave way beneath us with a loud, tearing crash.

Gravity pulled me down into the open pit before I could grab the edge of the shattered marble. Dust and flying glass filled the air, blocking out the neon lights of the Marina Pavilion. I fell through the dark, my arms windmilling as the wind roared past my ears.

Amina caught my jacket mid-air, her grip tight and sudden. She swung her glowing spear into the crumbling concrete wall of the descending shaft, using the bright tip to slow our downward slide in a shower of orange sparks.

We hit the lower sub-level hard, rolling across a damp metal grid floor.

I pushed myself up, coughing as the thick dust cleared from my eyes. Tari landed a few feet away, his black blade already flashing in the dim light of the emergency backup lamps. Zara dropped down right behind him, landing on her boots without making a single sound, her heavy leather coat sweeping the floor.

"Everyone alive?" Zara asked, her voice calm and steady despite the falling rubble above.

"I am fine," Tari said, standing up and wiping soot off his shoulder. "Though I prefer my floors without giant holes in the middle."

I looked around. We were no longer in the luxury pavilion. The walls here were made of thick, rusted iron plates covered in old warning signs and dried rust. A damp, salty wind blew through the open tunnel ahead, carrying the heavy scent of the Lagos lagoon.

"Where are we?" I asked, looking at Zara.

"The old drainage and transport lines," Zara replied, pulling a small map device from her coat and tapping the screen. "Built twenty years ago before the Council sealed off the deep underground sectors. This is where they kept the original holding cells."

Footsteps echoed from the dark tunnel behind us.

We spun around. A bright beam of white light cut through the smoke, followed by the sound of heavy boots hitting the metal floor.

"They found the drop point," Amina warned, raising her glowing spear and pointing it down the tunnel.

"We cannot go back up," Zara said, her dark eyes scanning the narrow passage. "The entire upper pavilion is locked down by council enforcers. Our only way out is deeper into the old sector."

"Lead the way," I said, feeling the dark ink stir beneath my skin again, ready for whatever was waiting for us in the dark.

We ran down the rusted metal corridor, our boots splashing through shallow puddles of water. The air grew colder with every step, and the distant sound of rushing water echoed against the iron walls.

After a few minutes of fast running, the tunnel opened up into a massive underground chamber.

In the center of the room sat an old, heavy rail car, covered in dust and vines. A rusted control panel stood beside the tracks, its red indicator lights flickering weakly.

Tari walked up to the rail car and kicked the rusted side with his boot. "Do you think this antique still works?"

"It has to," Zara said, rushing over to the control panel and pulling off the metal cover. She stared at the exposed wires inside for a second, then reached out and twisted two cables together.

Sparks flew in the dark, and with a loud, mechanical groan, the interior lights of the rail car flickered on.

"Get in!" Zara ordered.

Amina climbed into the car first, holding her glowing spear ready. Tari jumped in right behind her. I turned to follow them, but a sudden flash of light at the entrance of the chamber stopped me.

Figures stepped out from the shadows of the tunnel.

They were not council enforcers in black suits. These men wore heavy, dark armor covered in strange blue runes, and they held massive energy rifles pointed straight at us.

And walking right in front of them, stepping out of the dark without her executive jacket, was Yetunde.

Her face was completely expressionless. She did not look like the friend who had shared meals with me, and she did not look like the scared girl in the basement. She looked like a true commander.

"You cannot outrun the board, Kelechi," Yetunde said, her voice echoing coldly across the empty chamber. "The vessel belongs to the Council. Get out of the rail car now."

I stood by the open door of the rail car, my hands clenched into fists. The black ink flared up my arms, burning hot and fierce.

"You lied to me about everything," I said, taking a slow step toward her. "Was any of it real, Yetunde? Or was I just a project you had to watch?"

Yetunde's eyes flickered with a brief flash of emotion before her face hardened again. "I kept you alive. That was my job. And now my job is to bring you in."

She raised her hand, and the armored enforcers stepped forward, their rifles glowing with deadly blue light.

Zara leaned out of the rail car door, holding a heavy detonator in her hand. "Kelechi! Get in the car right now, or we all die here!"

I looked at Yetunde one last time. All the pain, all the confusion, and all the betrayal turned into a cold, hard resolve in my chest.

I turned around and leaped into the rail car.

"Move!" I shouted.

Zara slammed her hand down on the red ignition button on the console.

The rail car roared to life with a deafening screech of gears, shooting forward down the dark tracks just as a storm of blue energy fire blasted against the iron walls where we had stood a second before.

We sped down the deep underground tunnel, leaving Yetunde and the enforcers behind in the dark.

I gripped the metal side of the car, watching the dark walls blur past us. We had escaped the upper board, but the rail car was picking up dangerous speed, heading straight down into the lowest, unmapped depths of the Lagos underground.

Zara stared ahead through the front windshield of the car, her face turning pale as the headlights illuminated a massive iron gate blocking the end of the tracks.

"Hold on!" Zara yelled over the roaring engine. "The tracks end here!"