Page 78 of No Man's Land

Smiling against his shoulder, Josef said, “You know, my friends call me Joe.”

Alex shifted, and Josef felt his cold fingers touch his cheek, his jaw. He lifted his head.

“Joe,” Alex murmured and touched his lips to Josef’s. “My friend.”

Josef kissed him back, urgently, hungrily and all too aware of time running out. And then they were just hugging, squeezing tight until the squall of emotion passed and they stood, breathing hard, in each other’s arms.

“All right then,” Alex said at last, pulling away. He looked sombre in the fading torch light. “I think we need to conserve the batteries. Besides, we don’t want to advertise our presence.”

Josef stared. “Are you…? Turn off the torch?” It felt like a lifeline, that narrow beam of light. “We’ll be blind.”

“Our eyes will adapt. There might be more light down here than we realise.”

“Under the fucking Thames?”

Alex gave half a smile. “We’re not under the river yet. Let’s save the torch for our escape.”

He was right, of course. Whatever happened next, they’d never get out of here if the torch failed. There was no faulting Alex’s logic, no matter how much the thought of losing the light terrified Josef.

He let out a breath, aware of its wobble. “All right,” he said, pressing the button on the head of the torch.

Darkness consumed them, total and absolute. A thick, claustrophobic blanket of nothing.

But notquitenothing. Alex was still there, one arm tight around Josef. The wool of his coat brushed Josef’s cheek where he pressed his face against Alex’s shoulder. The only thing left in the world.

“We need to give it a few minutes,” Alex said softly, “for our eyes to adapt.”

Josef doubted any amount of time would allow his eyes to adapt to this utter blackness, but he nodded gamely. Then he remembered Alex couldn’t see him, so he said, “Yes, all right.” An unhappy thought struck him, and he added, more softly, “I assume the ghoul can see very well in the dark?”

“Much better than we can,” Alex agreed. “You’ve seen their eyes?”

The sepulchral blue? As if he could forget. “They’re still men, though, aren’t they? I mean, their…bodies?”

“Perhaps. By that point... I don’t know. They’re something other. That’s why—” His voice cracked, and he cleared his throat. “That’s why you need to end this before I’m too far gone. You understand? I want to die a man.”

Josef closed his eyes, as if even in the pitch dark it could keep the thought away. “I know,” he said, trying to sound brave. “I understand. I won’t let that happen to you.”

Whatever it costs me.

Pulling Josef closer, Alex hugged him tightly, and Josef did the same. Astonishing the comfort of holding and being held, even in the foulest of places. Alex’s breath felt warm against Josef’s neck as he ducked his head against his shoulder, and Josef let his fingers brush the hair at the nape of Alex’s neck. As he ran his fingers through the soft strands, he felt Alex contort, a strange unstructured movement of jerks and jolts as the breath left his body in a hiss.

Josef froze. “Are you all right? What was that?”

After a long silence, Alex said, “I don’t know. A…pain.”

“Where?”

“Everywhere. It’s gone now.” He pulled out of Josef’s arms. “Mostly.” Chill fingers touched Josef’s face, tracing his jaw. “See? I told you there’d be some light down here. I’m starting to see your face.”

Josef blinked into the unremitting black, his heart racing. “Are you?”

“Just the outline.” Then he said, “Look, along the tunnel there. Maybe 200 feet? I think it’s the outline of a door.”

The only way Josef knew which way to even look was by feeling for the brick wall behind them. Peering into the darkness, he thought maybe the blackness had some contours. If not light, a paling of the dark. “Yes,” he said, hesitantly. “I think I see it.”

“It must lead into one of the other tunnels. An access passage for maintenance perhaps? That would be why they blocked the tunnel here.” Releasing Josef, he said, “Let’s go that way—”

Suddenly alone in the dark, Josef hissed, “Wait!”

---