SOMETHING ECHOED IN the distance.

A gurgle. Soft swishing. My ears identified percolating liquid.

“Water,” I whispered. “Not far ahead.”

Just then, the ceiling rose sharply, disappeared into inky black.

Holding the lantern before me, I led the group into a small cave. Tiny waterfalls trickled the walls. Moonlight oozed down from above. A mound of boulders and stones spilled across the floor, evidence of a long-ago rockfall.

The passage we’d been following exited through an opening at the chamber’s far end. I could see the tunnel veer sharply before continuing out of sight.

“See that?” Hi pointed skyward.

Even my enhanced vision couldn’t penetrate the murk.

“There’s a fissure!” Hi was excited. “Maybe forty feet up. That’s how the light is coming through!”

“We could climb up!” Shelton crowed. “It’s a way out!”

True. The rockfall was steep, but nothing we couldn’t handle.

“The tunnel keeps going,” I pointed out. “This isn’t the end.”

Hi rubbed his face.

Ben and Shelton just stared.

“We’ve nearly been killed,” Shelton said. “Twice.”

“But we escaped.”

“You think the way will be easier ahead?” Hi said. “As we get closer to the prize?”

Ben strode forward to examine the stones. “Move aside in case anything tumbles.”

Vaulting onto the pile, Ben clambered from boulder to boulder, moving higher with every step. In seconds he was swallowed by shadows.

Silence. Hi and Shelton avoided my eye. If Ben found a way out, I doubted they’d continue.

“There’s a metal screen covering the opening,” Ben called down.

A lot of banging and clanging followed.

“It’s bolted in place. I think this fissure opens into a sewer.”

“Ha!” Shelton elbowed Hi. “There are sewers under East Bay.”

Hi ignored him. “How big is the gap? Could we fit?”

“Probably, but it’s locked. We’d need the bolt cutters, but I left them back in the dungeon.”

“Shoot!” Shelton began pacing. “Can you see anything else?”

“The chamber overlying this one is still below ground level,” Ben answered, “but I can see something through what looks like a sewer grate.”

“What?” Hi asked.

“Yellow monkey bars.”

“Monkey bars?” Shelton stopped in his tracks. “You sure?”

Hi snapped his fingers. “The East Bay playgrounds! They’re a few blocks south of the Exchange.”

“Make noise!” Shelton urged. “Attract attention! This is our way out!”

Watch check: three fifty-eight a.m. Had we really been underground only an hour?

I barely remember my life before these freaking tunnels.

“No one will be on the streets this early,” Hi said.

“Then we can wait!” Shelton snapped. “Someone will rescue us eventually.”

Air drifted from the tunnel ahead. Curious, I stepped to the opening and peered in. The air was gusting, blowing gently, then going still. The cave’s waterfalls formed a creek that ran along one side of the passageway.

Every fiber of my being yearned to explore.

“If we quit now, they’ll split us apart.” I addressed the boys gently, no bullying this time. “All of us will move, probably far away. Permanently.” No one answered.

“We’ll call each other, and text,” I said. “Maybe chat every day. But we won’t live in the same neighborhood. We’ll never hang out at the bunker, or take Sewee to chill on Loggerhead.”

Still no responses.

“If we give up, we can’t protect each other. Can’t watch each other’s backs. We’ll never figure out what’s happened to our bodies. Each of us will be stuck dealing with the flares alone.”

They’d heard it before, but I had to try one last time.

“We either see this through, or abandon our pack forever. No more Virals.”

My hand found Shelton’s shoulder. He didn’t pull away.

“I’m going ahead. I can’t force you to follow, but I’d appreciate the company.”

Ben dropped from above. “I’m in.”

Hi’s head flopped backward, revealing dirt in the creases circling his neck.

“Blaaeeaaah,” he groaned. Then his head came up. “In.”

Shelton merely nodded.

Words of gratitude were forming when a soft whooshing floated from the tunnel behind us. Our heads whipped around. The sound was faint, but unmistakable to our enhanced ears.

Footfalls.

Someone was approaching from the direction we’d just come.

What should we do? I mouthed.

Shelton and Hi looked uncertain. Not Ben. Hurrying to the tunnel mouth, he aimed his flashlight into the gloom.

“Who’s there? Show yourself!”

All noise ceased abruptly.

But no. I could still hear something. Breathing. Just outside the range of Ben’s beam.

Ben stepped back, turned, and raised both hands in silent question.

Crack! Crack!

Bullets ripped the airspace Ben had vacated.

“Run!” he bellowed.

As one, we fired into the tunnel ahead, fleeing for our lives.