The Kimota Anthology Read Online Free PDF

small vegetable garden, all in unexpected places on otherwise featureless slopes.
    Kelly said, “The tunnels are all underneath us. They go for miles.”
    “They’re supposed to have been filled in,” Sam objected.
    “They’re not,” Kelly said. “There’s all sorts down there. There’s a town.”
    “You liar.”
    “It’s for the politicians if there’s another war,” she said. “It’s got streets and shops and everything, but it’s completely deserted. They used the miners to dig it all out and then they sacked them all to keep it secret.” Dylan said, “Is that true?”
    She turned to him. “You can see it, if you find the right place to go in,” she said. “They’ve got hidden doors. I can show you one.”
    A few minutes later, they were climbing the next hill toward one of the shaft heads. Like the others, it was no more than a dozen metres square and contained by a wooden rail fence with barbed wire strung along the top and between the rails. Inside the square Dylan could see tall grasses and young, stunted saplings. As they were making their way up toward it, Kelly was whispering something to each of the others in turn.
    It looked secure, but one of the fenceposts had been splintered at its base. It went over when Jason pushed, and the wire went with it. It didn’t go all the way to the ground, but it was low enough for them all to be able to pick their way over. Michael got one of his socks caught on a barb, and squalled until Kelly pulled him free.
    Dylan was scared and excited, both at once. Scared at being caught somewhere that he wasn’t supposed to be. Excited for exactly the same reason. There didn’t seem to be much else to get worked up about. The shaft had been capped with concrete pillars like railway sleepers, and the cap filled over with several feet of dirt. What had happened here was that two of the pillars had crumbled and dropped, and the dirt had collapsed downward through the opening. The result was a depression in the middle of the square, and it was deep enough for the five of them to descend into. At the bottom of the depression was the way in.
    “It’s not like a trapdoor,” Dylan said. “That’s just a hole.”
    “It’s a hole where the trapdoor used to be,” Kelly said. “There are stairs inside.”
    “It’s dark.”
    “There’s a light you can switch on. Don’t you want to see it?”
    Dylan looked around. He realised that only he and Kelly had descended to the opening. The others were all back up at the top. Suddenly selfconscious, he said, “No, thanks.”
    “You’re the only one here who’s not seen it,” Kelly said. “Don’t be such a baby.”
    He could feel himself starting to blush. “I’m not,” he said. “I’m just not that interested.”
    “I’ll come in with you,” she said. “Go on.”
    He had to duck to get under the rusty wires that were sticking out from the fallen concrete sections. He’d go in as far as the daylight reached, and no farther. Kelly was close behind him. She was still talking about how there were stairs and a light switch somewhere inside. It didn’t look likely. The space beyond the hole formed a dark chamber. It looked as if the gypsies had used it to dump stuff. There was a car wheel with a bald tyre on it, and some bags of refuse that were split and seeping.
    “Feel for the switch,” Kelly said from behind him. “It’s on that wall.”
    “There isn’t a wall.” There was only rubble.
    “You’re not looking properly. When we get down there, you can just walk into any of the shops and play with all the things in them. It’s great. There’s no-one around who can stop you.”
    Enticing as the prospect was, he still couldn’t quite bring himself to believe it. Steadying himself on the uncertain footing, he started to turn. Let her find the switch herself, if she was so certain it was there. He was certain now that she’d only brought him down here to make fun of his readiness to