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“Still haven’t seen one. ” Rector clutched his side, where he felt a sharp, stinging stitch from all the exertion. “I only seen or heard one thing, and Huey tells me it wasn’t a rotter. ”
“Come to think of it”—Zeke scratched at the spot where his mask strap wrapped behind his head—“I haven’t seen too many of them myself—not lately. But we’re underground a lot,” he considered, “and we go out of our way to avoid ’em. Come on up, Wreck. We’re almost high enough to dodge ’em. ”
Rector took Zeke’s outstretched hand and let himself be hauled atop a carefully placed stack of debris. At the pinnacle, Houjin rummaged under an old fire escape and turned up a hook on a rope. He threw this hook up into the air—once, twice, a third time, before it caught—and it snagged a metal rung. As Houjin coiled the rope around his arm, the rung slid down and brought a rigged set of painted iron stairs with it.
“It’s on a spring,” he explained. “Hold it down, would you, Zeke?”
“Got it. Rector, you go on ahead. We’re right behind you. Hold the rail if you feel the need. Ain’t no shame in it, ’cause these things are slippery sometimes. ”
Rector cringed, but stepped up onto the bottom stair and gripped the skinny metal rail. Under his bare hands, it felt coated in slime. “Wish I had some gloves. ”
“Aw, shit. I didn’t notice,” Zeke said, climbing onto the structure and following Rector. “We’ll get you some back in the Vaults, or maybe we can beg some off Yaozu if we ask real nice. You can’t run around like that—the air will burn you if you let it go too long. There’s a lot to learn about living down here. Not everybody’s up to it. ”
“I’m up to living here, or anywhere else,” Rector boasted, but the squeak of exhaustion in his voice undid his claim.
“Ten minutes ago, you weren’t up to stairs,” Houjin pointed out.
Rector grumbled, “Hush up. ” But he kept climbing, clinging to the rail and hauling himself forward, upward, and onto a platform big enough to hold all three of them.
They stood there shivering as Houjin flipped another latch on a door that looked no hardier than wet paper. “Inside, and we’re safe,” he promised. “I’ll pull the stairs up behind us. ”
Again, Rector went first.
He let himself inside through a doorframe that was actually a large window frame. The darkness within this new space reminded him of the orphan’s home, except that most of the windows were broken. This was a dingy place occupied by dust, trash, and leftover scraps of nothing useful.
Rector leaned forward, resting his hands on the tops of his legs and hanging his head down low. He desperately wanted to shut his eyes. More desperately than that he wanted to lie down, and more desperately still, he wanted to sleep for another four days.
“We have to keep moving, Wreck,” Zeke nudged him. “Yaozu’s men will have the message back to him by now, saying you’re coming. ”
Rector snapped, “Give me a minute,” without raising his head.
Houjin shook his head. “You’re not used to breathing in these masks. It’s hard at first, but you’ll learn. ”
“It’s not the mask. I hurt all over. It’s been a rough week. ” But now that he’d denied it, he realized Huey might be right. In addition to the aches radiating from the bruises on his back, arms, and legs, he felt a cramping tightness in his chest with every breath he drew. “How much farther, anyway? And will there be more stairs?”
Houjin speculated, “Maybe half a mile. But from here on out, all the stairs go down. ”
“Half a mile, I don’t like. All downstairs, I can live with. ”
“Then keep moving,” Zeke said.
“Stop being so goddamn pushy. ”
“I’m trying to help. ”
“Well, don’t. ” Rector straightened himself up and prayed for a nice soft feather bed, but told God he’d settle for enough energy to make it to this crazy train station. “Let’s go, if we’re going. ”
Houjin crouched and used his hand to push down a loose floorboard. A trapdoor lid came aside, and under it were lanterns. “All right, but take one of these. You probably won’t need one, but you never know. ”
Zeke agreed. “Always better to have one, just in case. ”
“You two carry them. I can barely carry myself. ”
“Have it your way,” Houjin said, missing a measure of his usual levity. “I don’t know how long you plan to survive down here. We do look after our own, but like Miss Lucy says, the Lord helps those who help themselves. ”
Rector sniffed. “I’ll help myself just as soon as I can breathe without hurting and walk without fainting, thank you very much. Four days,” he reminded them both. “I spent four days down on my back. Give me half that to get myself back up. ”
Zeke said, “That sounds fair. ”
