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"Now!" Balthazar yelled.
The small group sprinted down the street, Marlena following close behind. She was not as fast as the humans, and her short legs barely kept up with the group. The feral wolves streaked toward her.
She turned and took several shots at the wolves, striking the first animal in the head and another in the shoulder.
Balthazar shouted. "Keep moving. We’ll cover you."
Marlena turned back and ran toward the group. She heard shots from the others shooting at the creatures. A wolf was about to attack her, but the creature was hit by a bullet and fell away. She made it to the open area. The group kept shooting at the wolves behind her.
Marlena's magic started to focus in her mind. She was thinking of a spell. Even though she was strong in water magic, she could also use the other elements. She wondered what Alpha Mage Cindy would do. Her magical water powers were stronger than hers.
She finally made it to the group. They stood in an open area with the wolves closing in on them from all sides. They were soon surrounded.
"Don, Greg,” Balthazar barked, “help me shift this manhole cover."
One of the men jammed their rifle into the hole of the cover.
Marlena didn't understand all this. Her magic was still gathering within her. It was not enough to cast the spell she wanted to use. She pointed her gun at the nearest wolf and shot. Another creature took its place. The wolves were moving toward them at a slow, steady pace. Their glowing scarlet eyes looked hungry and angry. Marlena heard a loud scraping noise and smelled something like wet stone and something else.
Balthazar shouted at them. "Get down."
A few of them started to descend, and Balthazar grabbed her.
"Grab the rungs and move down."
Marlena took one more shot and stopped firing. She went to the hole and started climbing downwards. Another creature came toward her. The wolf was shot down by Balthazar. Before she entered what was almost complete darkness, she saw one of the men struck down by another creature.
She was used to climbing these types of stairs. It was like being inside her father's ship. The air felt colder, and she heard people speaking. She reached the bottom and her boots sunk into the ground. Mud, or something worse, stuck to her shoes. It was very dark in the chamber, but she could see in the dark, because her father was part dwarf and she was an elf. She moved to the side. Somebody was climbing down the rungs.
It was Balthazar. "The wolves will not climb down here. They don't like it."
"Where will we go?" Marlena asked.
A shadow loomed over the top of the hole as a wolf's head poked downwards. A person stood next to Marlena was about to shoot, but Balthazar said, "Don't waste your ammo."
"I cannot see down here," said another woman.
"Wait for a few minutes. Your eyes will adjust. My men have scouted all around the sewers. I think I know where we are"
"I can see in partial darkness,” Marlena said. “I can help."
"Good," Balthazar said. "I know a safe place. Okayay, everybody, let’s hold hands. I will lead. Marlena, stay behind me."
***
THEY TRAVELED THROUGH the sewers for an hour.
No light filtered through from above. Several times they had to turn around because of debris and trash blocking their way. Marlena didn't like the smells that emanated from the tunnels, and at one point she stepped on something that screeched and she saw a small creature running away into the darkness. She almost shot at it, but it didn't come back and attack.
She held hands with Balthazar and a woman. Hearing their breathing in the darkness made her want to run and climb back up into the broken and ruined city.
Balthazar stopped moving. "We are close. Marlena, you have to lead. There is a tunnel at the next junction on the right."
She moved forward. Balthazar stayed behind her. Marlena felt the ground become less spongy and muddy. It was finally clear of debris. She stopped at an area with several tunnels connecting to it.
Balthazar said, "Marlena, look for a tunnel that’s wider and smells less like a sewer. It should be somewhere on the right."
It was darker in the junction than the tunnel they came through and she noticed the tunnel options all looked the same. She moved everybody closer to the middle.
She said, "Stay right here. I need to check out each cave."
Marlena wished she were as powerful as the Alphas. They could create magical glowing spheres. She could not. She could create power offensive spells if she was at full-strength, but not helpful spells, such as light.
Marlena moved to the tunnel on the right, but a trickle of water flowed into the hole and the smell of sewage pervaded the entire area. She squinted and looked at the other cave on her left, but it also had awful scents flowing from it. One by one she tried the other tunnels, and all of them were the same.
Marlena was about to turn back to Balthazar, when she spotted one final tunnel, almost lost in the darkness. The opening was twice as large, and no disgusting smells of sewage or rotting dead things came from it.
"Balthazar, I found it," she said.
"I can’t see you. Come back to me," he said.
Marlena had moved further away from the group than she thought, and it took a while to get back to them. For a few tense seconds, she almost couldn't see them.
"Balthazar, I'm here," she said.
Marlena grabbed his hand and led the group to the opening. It was getting so dark, she could barely see. She almost slipped on a small rock, but she somehow kept her footing. They entered the tunnel and started forward.
"Are we inside the tunnel?" Balthazar said.
"Yes," she answered.
"After a few feet, the tunnel will stop at a wall. Tell me when you feel it," Balthazar said.
Marlena held her hand out in front. It was as dark as space. She had never been claustrophobic before, and was used to living in the confines and tight spaces on a ship, but now she felt as if she was being buried beneath a destroyed city in an alien world. Her father used to call her, when she was younger, a space brat. He would always allow her to read the mission reports, after he was finished, to learn how to be a Captain, to understand what it meant to be in command of hundreds of lives.
She stopped. Marlena sensed something different. Her eyes were either adjusting to the darkness, or a light source had suddenly flared green.
"Do you see that?" she asked.
"Good, the electricity still works in this area," Balthazar said. "Let me move ahead."
Balthazar stepped in front of her and he bent lower, as if trying to find something. The green light was coming from the top of a small enclosure. Marlena looked at the group behind her. Their expressions were scared, but remained strong-willed. Marlena knew these people were fighters, every one of them.
"Aha, there it is," Balthazar said.
She heard a clicking noise as bright light flooded the tunnel.
