Archive of Our Own ^beta

“It’s in there.” Cutter gestured towards the darkly gaping mouth of the disused railway tunnel in front of them.

Claudia sighed. “Of course it is.” She turned to Ryan. “Captain?”

“We’re going to have to go in and check it out,” Ryan said unhappily. “Who knows what could be lurking in there in the dark.”

“I had a feeling you were going to say that.” Claudia sighed again and peered into the tunnel. She thought she could detect a faint glimmer of light in the distance.

“Must be the anomaly,” Cutter confirmed. “The other end of the tunnel is bricked up, so it can’t be daylight from the other side we’re seeing.”

“Right.” Ryan appeared to have come to a decision. “You lot,” he nodded at the civilian contingent, “stay here while we check out the tunnel and the anomaly. Davis and Bradshaw, stay with them, just in case.”

There were protestations from both Cutter and Connor, and Claudia smothered a smile as Ryan quite obviously fought not to roll his eyes. “It’s only for now,” he clarified. “Once we’ve secured the tunnel, you can all come and have a look. Hart, while we’re gone, check for any tracks in the immediately vicinity, just in case anything’s come through and gone for a scenic tour along the railway.”

Stephen nodded, and Ryan looked pleased that at least someone was prepared to defer to him. Then he gave Claudia a quick smile, and moved towards the tunnel, with the rest of his men spread out behind him.

While the other end was bricked up, for some reason this end of the tunnel was only blocked by a tall, spiky metal fence, similar to ones Claudia had seen around railway yards. It was forbidding enough to deter most trespassers, but even so, Claudia wondered how many vandals, homeless people and urban explorers had scrambled over it to get into the tunnel.

Happily for them, however, no one in their group would need to scramble over it, as the fence had also been furnished with a gate at one end, presumably in case any emergency checks or maintenance were needed. The gate was locked with a sturdy padlock, but that was no obstacle to Ryan and a pair of bolt cutters. Claudia offered a silent apology to Network Rail as the padlock fell to the floor, and made a mental note to send someone back with a new padlock the next day.

Gate opened, Ryan and his men flicked on the torches on their rifles as they entered the tunnel and moved into the darkness. However, even with the torches, after a minute or so, Claudia found it difficult to make them out in the penetrating gloom. She felt an abrupt twinge of foreboding as the beams of torchlight got fainter and fainter, but dismissed it with a slight shake of her head. Ryan had faced worse than a dark tunnel and come out the other side perfectly fine. Even with an anomaly, the worst they probably had to worry about was tripping over the old railway lines in the dark.

Still the minutes seem to stretch while they waited for the soldiers to come back. Stephen pronounced himself satisfied that there were no tracks that he could find, and was therefore reasonably certain that if something had come through, it hadn’t left the tunnel. That didn’t do much to settle Claudia’s nerves, however, and it was with relief that a short time later she spotted the torchlight returning, and heard the sound of footsteps crunching on the gravel between the sleepers.

“All clear,” Ryan pronounced, as he approached the other side of the fence. “Nothing to be seen but the anomaly.”

“Great, so we can go and have a look at it then,” Connor said enthusiastically.

“Yep,” replied Cutter, and after a brief pause, Ryan followed suit with a quick nod.

But Claudia could tell he still wasn’t happy, and as the civilians filed through the gate to join the soldiers, she stepped to one side and quietly asked Ryan what was wrong.

“Nothing,” said Ryan. “We didn’t spot anything,” he repeated.

“But you’re still worried,” Claudia confirmed. She laid a hand on his arm in support. “We don’t have to go and look,” she said.

Ryan shook his head, and then smiled at her. “No,” he said. “I’m probably just getting jumpy in my old age.”

“You’re not old,” Claudia admonished. She smiled back at him, and resisted the urge to kiss him on the cheek. “We’ll be careful, okay?”

“Try telling that to those two.” Ryan gestured to where Cutter and Connor were already heading off down the tunnel, Davis and Bradshaw on their heels. Stephen and Abby were hovering nearby, obviously content to wait for Ryan’s final go ahead. “And I’ll never hear the end of it if my men start thinking I’m jumping at shadows.” He sighed. “Come on, let’s go.”

* * * * *

The anomaly was almost at the other end of the tunnel. Claudia couldn’t quite see the bricked-up end, but knew they’d traversed most of the tunnel’s half mile length and that it was probably less that a hundred metres away. Flickering light danced across the tunnel walls and ceiling, and she found herself thinking once again how simultaneously beautiful and sinister the anomalies were.

“Did you go through?” Cutter was asking Ryan.

“No, Professor, we thought we’d leave that to you.”

“All right, then. Connor, we need to…”

Claudia turned her head suddenly. Had she heard something? Back the way they’d come?

“Miss Brown?” Lieutenant Davis had noticed her movement. “Is something the matter?”

“I thought…” Claudia paused, and then laughed a little. “Never mind, I’m probably just getting jumpy in my old age.”

The light from the anomaly was bright enough for her to see the half-smile that quirked Ryan’s lips, although she could also tell that his eyes were still worried. She was just about to walk over to him when a shout from Bradshaw alerted them all a bare second before something rushed passed them and disappeared through the anomaly. Claudia had the briefest impression of a hunched figure, shorter than her but undeniably moving on two legs. And had it been wearing…armour?

“What the hell was that and where did it come from?” Ryan demanded.

Silence met his words until Stephen tentatively offered,” A lot of these old railway tunnels have maintenance alcoves and other nooks and crannies in the sides. Did you see anything like that?”

“No,” Ryan said shortly. “Although we didn’t conduct an exhaustive survey of the tunnel walls,” he allowed.

On the subject of what it was, no one seemed to have an answer.

“Well, we definitely need to take a look now,” Cutter said.

“Absolutely not, Professor,” said Ryan. The appearance of an unidentified visitor, that had somehow managed to escape his notice, seemed to have solidified his stance on the situation. “We have no idea what’s waiting on the other side.”

“But we never have any idea of what’s on the other side,” Cutter argued.

Any further debate was cut short, however, by the scrambling crunch of feet on gravel, and a second creature lurched through the group. This time, though, it shoved Claudia as it dashed past, and she staggered, wheeling her arms for what felt like an endless second before toppling backwards through the anomaly.

* * * * *

“Claudia!”

Ryan appeared through the anomaly, closely followed by Cutter. Both men nearly stepped on her as they emerged, and Claudia hastily yanked her legs out of the way of Cutter’s size ten boots.

“I’m okay,” she said, from her position on the floor. “Just a bit bruised, that’s all.” She decided not to mention that it was a rear portion of her anatomy that was going to have to worst bruises, and instead held out her hand for Cutter to help her up.

“There you are, lass,” he said, as he pulled her to her feet, and Claudia smiled her thanks.

“Where did the creature go?” Ryan asked.

“I don’t know,” said Claudia. “By the time I caught my breath it had disappeared. No sign of the first one either,” she added.

“Oh my god.” Cutter’s voice was awed, and Claudia realised he was turning slowly on the spot, looking all around them.

She followed his gaze, and her mouth dropped open. The light of the anomaly, and Ryan’s rifle-mounted torch, didn’t show them much, but Claudia was nonetheless able to make out gigantic stone columns, carved with geometric shapes, rising away towards a ceiling that was obviously so far above them, they didn’t have a hope of seeing it. Only the two or three columns closest to them were in any way visible, but Claudia somehow had the sense of a vast space, with ranks of columns stretching who knew how far into the distance.

“Where are we?” Ryan asked, but in the tone of one who doesn’t really expect an answer.

“Recent-ish past?” Cutter hazarded. “Those carvings look almost Celtic, maybe even druidic.”

“But surely the druids didn’t build anything like this?” Claudia said. “Stonehenge is one thing, but this is a whole different league. And I think…I think we might be underground. In some kind of enormous cave.”

“Wherever it is, we’re not…”

Boom.

Ryan’s words were cut off by the deep, rolling noise, that simultaneously sounded far away, and yet seemed to fill the space.

“What was that?” Claudia whispered.

Boom.

“It…it sounded like a drum,” Cutter said, as the noise was repeated.

“A drum?” Ryan echoed disbelievingly.

Boom.

The third time definitely sounded louder (closer, Claudia’s mind murmured), and it vibrated uncomfortably in the air. Claudia thought she could hear something else now as well, like the noise of many feet and voices, all heading towards them. A rabble, or…an army.

“What’s that over there?” Cutter said suddenly.

The deep darkness stretching away from them was broken, an orange glow penetrating the gloom, throwing into sharp relief the shape of an enormous arched doorway at the end of the cavern, even further away than Claudia had estimated.

“It could be…fire?” she hazarded.

“So bright, so quickly?” Cutter said.

A new noise sounded above the racket of the crowd apparently heading towards them. It reverberated even more than the drumbeats, and Claudia thought it sounded like a cross between a lion growling, and the rumbling noise a crocodile made when it was annoyed. Only it was much louder than both of those.

Smoke was starting to fill the huge doorway, and Claudia decided something must be on fire. What else could it be?

“Look out!” said Ryan sharply. He was pointing his torch beam upwards, and in shaft of light, Claudia could see shapes crawling headfirst down the column nearest them.

“The anomaly’s fading!” Cutter said, at the same moment.

“Time to go,” Ryan decided. “Claudia, get through now. Cutter, straight after her.”

“What about you?” Claudia protested.

“I’ll be right behind you, but someone’s got to cover the retreat,” Ryan replied. “Go. Now!”

The leading figures had nearly reached the bottom of the column, and peering down towards the end of the hall, Claudia thought she could make out similar shapes massing in the smoke that was now pouring through the doorway.

Ryan was right, it was time to go. Turning, Claudia dashed towards the anomaly, Cutter hard on her heels. Even without any of Connor’s instruments, she could tell it was fading. She wanted to call out to Ryan, exhorting him to follow them, but she knew there wasn’t time.

For the second time in only a few minutes, Claudia found herself tumbling through an anomaly. She didn’t end up on the ground this time, but only because Stephen caught her arm as she stumbled back into the dark railway tunnel.

“Cutter, what’s going on?” he asked, as the other man emerged right behind her. “Where’s Ryan?”

But he’d barely finished speaking when Ryan appeared, backing through the anomaly with his rifle aimed in front of him.

“Get ready, lads,” he yelled, and four more rifles were immediately lifted in position, just as the anomaly gave one final flicker, and then died.

There was a moment’s silence, and then Connor asked, “Where were you? What did you see?”

Claudia, Ryan and Cutter looked at each other in the pale light of the rifle torches.

“I have no idea,” Cutter said.

“Nowhere I’d ever want to be again,” Ryan declared.

“Another world,” Claudia whispered.