Chapter 71 END OF THE LINE
The train "Inferno" was plunging deep into the tunnel at terrifying speed, despite being in reverse.
The metal hull of the carriage was riddled with holes from the bullets raining down from above. The inside was filled with wind and smoke.
"Are we being followed?" Dorian shouted, shielding Atlas and Lyra in a protected corner.
Valeria was looking out the rear window (which was now the front). "Not yet! But Marcus will electrify the main line. If we stay on the tracks, they'll fry us!"
"Lukas!" Dorian said. "Get us off the main line!"
Lukas was wrestling with the panel, sweating. "No map! The map of these tunnels has been erased! I don't know where we're turning!"
"Turn right!" Dorian said. "Just turn right! We need to go deep. Close to the magma veins. They can't put sensors there."
(BURNING BRIDGES)
Lukas pulled a manual lever, diverting the train onto a side track, an old mine route known as "Sector Zero."
The train took the curve so sharply that sparks from the wheels illuminated the tunnel.
"Kael!" Dorian said. "We need to seal the tunnel behind us. So they can't follow."
Kael looked at the last packs of C4 in his hand. "Only two left, boss. Not enough to collapse this tunnel."
"We won't collapse the tunnel," Serra said, standing up. She handed Lyra to Dorian. "We're going to burst the magma pipe."
Serra opened the carriage door. Wind whipped her face. On the tunnel wall, running parallel to the train, was a thick, orange pipeline.
"Are you crazy?" Kael shouted. "We'll all burn!"
"Drive fast, Lukas!" Serra said.
And she threw the icy chain (the Whip) at the pipe.
The chain wrapped around the pipe. Serra pulled. The pipe tore open.
WHOOSH.
Pressurized liquid magma sprayed from the pipe. As the train passed at full speed, the tunnel behind them turned into a river of lava within seconds.
For Marcus's soldiers or drones likely chasing them, the road ended there. A wall of fire had been built.
(THE STATION IN THE DARK)
Thirty minutes later, the train slowed and stopped. It was out of fuel.
This wasn't a station. It was a dusty, massive underground depot abandoned hundreds of years ago. "Sector Zero." The foundations where Volcan was first established, before the modern city was built on top.
They got off the train. The silence was deafening.
"We're safe here," Dorian said, inspecting the surroundings. "Marcus doesn't know this place. This is a place even my father forgot."
Valeria turned on her tablet. "I caught the news," she said, her face turning pale. "Dorian... you need to see this."
On the tablet screen was Marcus's "Address to the Nation."
Marcus looked at the camera with a sorrowful expression.
"My dear people of Volcan. Today is a dark day. Our King Dorian and his wife Serra have been poisoned by forbidden magic from the North. They have lost their minds. They opened fire on their own soldiers and fled. And worst of all... they are using those innocent babies, Atlas and Lyra, as biological weapons."
Montaged images appeared on the screen: Dorian surrounded by flames, Serra looking wild... All distorted.
"Dorian Volcan is no longer your King," Marcus said. "He is a threat to the Pack. Orders have been given to kill on sight."
(THE NEW KINGDOM: THE UNDERCITY)
Dorian grabbed the tablet and threw it to the ground. He smashed it.
He punched the wall in anger. "He declared me a monster! He made me an enemy to my own people!"
"You are not a monster," Serra said, going to him. "You are a father."
"How will we fight, Serra?" Dorian asked desperately. "I have no army. No money. No palace. Are we going to live in this cave with two babies?"
Just then, sounds began to come from the darkness.
Footsteps.
Kael and Valeria reached for their weapons.
But those approaching weren't soldiers.
Emerging from the darkness were people covered in dirt and soot, holding makeshift tools. Hundreds of them.
These were Volcan's "invisibles." Sewage workers, miners, those cast out from society because they were born "Unmarked" (powerless).
An old miner at the front shone his lantern on Dorian's face.
"We heard the news," the man said. "Marcus says you're crazy."
Dorian tensed.
The man smiled. He was missing teeth. "But while Marcus cut our wages to gold-plate his palace, you secretly sent us coal aid last winter. We like crazy, son."
The old man knelt.
Hundreds of dirty, tired people behind him knelt one by one.
"The palace may not be yours," the miner said. "But the foundations of the Golden City are ours. And the foundations stand with the King."
Dorian looked at this scene. His army was above, uniformed and in betrayal.
But his real army was here. Below, in the dark, and loyal.
Dorian looked at Serra. Serra was smiling.
"I think you have an army," Serra said.
Dorian placed his hand on the miner's shoulder and lifted him up.
"Is your coal ready?" Dorian asked.
"Always," the miner said.
"Good," Dorian said, his eyes gleaming. "Because we are going to burn the city above."