Intentional Killer - Book 2 In The Jessie Series

Chapter 31: The Underneath

They walked quickly for a few minutes. It was pitch black except for our three little beams of light.

"So...Who is Jorge to you?" Thomas finally asked. His voice was loud in the dead silence .

"He's my uncle. And I've always done what he's asked me to do, no matter how stupid."

"So you don't think the Right Arm is real?" I asked.

"I think...hope is a dangerous thing. Hope has killed more of my friends than the Flare and the Scorch combined." She paused. And stopped walking for a second. "Just thought uncle Jorge was smarter than that."

There was another scream that echoed down the halls towards them. Brenda took off at a sprint.

"Dammit!" I cursed. Thomas took off after her, and I followed. "Another panicking design maker. Great. I'm stuck with both of them."

Brenda took three more turns; I had no idea how she could know where she was going. She said she had never been down here and I was just about to ask when she stopped, putting a hand to Thomas's chest to hold him back.

"You hear anything?" she said through huffs.

I listened, but all I heard was our own breathing. Everything else was silence and darkness.

"No," Thomas told her, and removed her hand, "Where are we?"

"A bunch of tunnels and secret passages connect the buildings on this side of town, maybe across the whole city- we haven't explored that far yet. They call it the Underneath."

I couldn't see her face, but I knew she was pressed close to Thomas. My protective instincts flared and I wanted to send my fist into her face. She had him backed into the wall and she was pressed close.

"The Underneath?" he repeated, looking up and down the tunnel, oblivious to what Brenda was doing. "Sounds stupid."

"Well, I didn't name it." Brenda giggled.

"Really? It's a stupid name and it has you written all over it." I snarled.

Brenda twisted her head to look at me, her face twisted into a snarl. I folded my arms and raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to try me. She was pushing my buttons. And she needed to get her dirty hands off Thomas. When she didn't move I moved her. I grabbed her backpack and pulled her away.

"How much of it have you explored?" Thomas asked, still oblivious to what Brenda was trying to do.

"Not much. We usually run into Cranks. The really bad ones. Way past Gone." She shrugged like it was no big deal.

"Well down here they won't be chained up like your fucken pets, Princess. So we better move before they find us." I pushed her down the hall away from Thomas.

I didn't like the idea of running around down there without knowing what was ahead, but I really didn't have much choice.

We walked silent for a while. There wasn't much brain power involved. Follow the tunnel, as it turned and twisted.

I was aware of Brenda sliding up to Thomas again. It irked me, rubbed me the wrong way, that she kept trying to flirt with him.

"I want you to promise me something." She said softly to Thomas, in barely more than a whisper.

In the small beam of light I saw him shiver. "Um ... what?"

She didn't pull back, she slid even closer to him, and was now leaning in, whispering into his ear. "No matter what happens, even if we have to go alone, you'll take me all the way back."