I try to imagine what it must have been like for the passengers, stuck down here, not sure what was happening above, waiting, hot, suffocating. Maybe some people chose to leave and walk along the tracks to the nearest station, but most stayed, confident that someone would come to sort things out, as they always did. Then the undead forced their way in. The killing commenced. Nowhere to hide. Nowhere to run.
“It was the same up top,” I whisper to the skeletons. “Most of you would have died even if you’d got out. At least this way you have a ready-made tomb. The people up above simply lie rotting on the streets.”
There are more rats in the carriages, though they don’t linger when they catch sight of the babies. They take off as if the place is on fire. A few of the babies dart after them and bite the heads off any that they catch, but most hold their position beneath me.
The rats set me thinking. I bet they’re not the only animals at large. The tunnels have long been home to rodents, but I’m sure they’ve been joined by others since zombies took over. Dogs, cats, foxes… The smarter animals would have headed for far-flung, deep-buried holes like this, where they could rest unseen from their brain-hungry predators.
Many of the furry survivors who sought shelter here probably still emerge in the daytime to hunt for food. But there are surely others who will have made the darkness their full-time home. Maybe they’ll breed blind puppies, kittens and cubs, better equipped for hunting underground. This could be the start of a new evolutionary chapter, the era of the sightless.
I pass the time thinking about that, picturing myself as a modern Darwin, charting the changing face of the animal kingdom. It keeps me amused as we follow the tunnel through Cannon Street Station, Monument, Tower Hill.
I recall the undead Beefeater who wrestled me to the ground and demanded a ticket before letting me enter the Tower of London. Is he still at his post? Surely not, after all this time. Then again, he seemed like a determined sort. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’d stuck to his guns. I try asking the babies to swing by that way, so I can check, but they press on without pause, ignoring my pleas to make a short detour.
The line branches after Tower Hill. One set of tracks curves off to the north, but we follow those that lead east, towards what used to be my home turf. I wonder if that’s where the babies plan to take me, back to my old flat. Maybe that’s why Mr. Dowling said they were taking me home.
We ease through Aldgate East Station. Lots of Pakistani zombies here. Dad would have hated it. I smile sadly. He was a wife-beating racist, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss him. He had his moments. There were sides to him that I loved and was proud of. Not enough to blind me to his faults though. I won’t stand up for who he was and what he did. But still, he was my dad. He risked his life to help me. I’ll happily call him a bigot and a bully, but if anyone else does, and I hear about it, they’d better watch out!
We’re getting close to Whitechapel when the babies suddenly veer left. For a moment I think they’ve moved to avoid an oncoming train. But of course no trains run on these tracks now, and it’s unlikely they ever will again.
There are scuffling noises. I can’t see, but I think the babies are moving a panel aside. It takes a minute. Then the sounds stop and we start forward. The babies pause again when we pass through the opening into a new tunnel, to allow some of the pack to seal the entrance behind us.
“Intriguing,” I mutter. “A hidden tunnel. I think we’re getting close to our destination…”
As it turns out, I spoke too soon. By the occasional overhead light–they must be for the mutants–I see that we’re in a network of low, narrow, roughly carved tunnels. I get the impression that these have been recently created, probably by the mutants or people who were working for them. It’s even more of a maze than the sewers were. The tunnels branch off regularly, twist back on themselves, split up into sub-tunnels. I try keeping track of our route, but I’m lost after a couple of minutes. I actually get dizzy trying to keep up, and in the end I turn on my side and tune out.
Eventually, after maybe half an hour, we come to a green door. Eyeballs have been nailed or stuck to it, so that it seems as if the door is a multi-eyed creature casting its gaze over us. It blocks the tunnel completely, illuminated by an overhead lamp. One of the babies knocks on the door three times with a hammer that is lying nearby. It strikes one of the eyes on its second blow and the globe of liquid explodes in a sticky, messy geyser.
There’s a short delay. The babies wait patiently. Then a voice crackles over an intercom unit that I can’t see. “Hit us with the password, sweet things.”
“open sesame,” the babies dutifully chant.
“And in whose name do you request entrance?” the guard asks.
“the crimson clown’s,” the babies respond.
“Cool as ice cream,” the guard cackles.
Locks are turned. The door swings open. And a bowing mutant waves us in as we move forward, leaving the tunnels behind, to wend our way into the rancid bowels of Mr. Dowling’s demonic domain.
ALSO BY
DARREN SHAN
THE THIN EXECUTIONER
ZOM-B SERIES
ZOM-B
ZOM-B UNDERGROUND
ZOM-B CITY
ZOM-B ANGELS
ZOM-B BABY
ZOM-B GLADIATOR
ZOM-B MISSION
ZOM-B CLANS
ZOM-B CIRCUS—A ZOM-B ENOVELLA
THE SAGA OF LARTEN CREPSLEY
BIRTH OF A KILLER
OCEAN OF BLOOD
PALACE OF THE DAMNED
BROTHERS TO THE DEATH
THE DEMONATA SERIES
LORD LOSS
DEMON THIEF
SLAWTER
BEC
BLOOD BEAST
DEMON APOCALYPSE
DEATH’S SHADOW
WOLF ISLAND
DARK CALLING
HELL’S HEROES
THE CIRQUE DU FREAK SERIES
A LIVING NIGHTMARE
THE VAMPIRE’S ASSISTANT
TUNNELS OF BLOOD
VAMPIRE MOUNTAIN
TRIALS OF DEATH
THE VAMPIRE PRINCE
HUNTERS OF THE DUSK
ALLIES OF THE NIGHT
KILLERS OF THE DAWN
LORD OF THE SHADOWS
SONS OF DESTINY
Contents
COVER
TITLE PAGE
WELCOME
DEDICATION
THEN…
CHAPTER ONE: NOW…
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
A SNEAK PEEK OF ZOM-B BRIDE
ALSO BY DARREN SHAN
COPYRIGHT
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by HOME OF THE DAMNED LIMITED
Illustrations © 2014 by Warren Pleece
Excerpt of Zom-B Bride copyright © 2014 by HOME OF THE DAMNED LIMITED
Illustration from excerpt of Zom-B Bride © 2014 by Warren Pleece
Cover art by Cliff Nielsen
Cover © 2014 Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of an
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First ebook edition: October 2014
First published in Great Britain by Simon and Schuster in 2014
ISBN 978-0-316-21432-2
E3