Choke: 2 (Pillage Trilogy (Pillogy)) by Obert Skye

go back.”
    “No,” Kate insisted. “Look, that’s a stair.”
    I tried to see what she saw, but I couldn’t see any stairs. Kate pushed past me and pulled at the bush. A large, thick section parted, and I could easily see the stone stairs carved right into the mountain.
    “Nice,” I said happily.
    Kate stepped through the bush. When I followed her, the foliage seemed to bristle and scratch at my already scraped-up body.
    “Ouch.”
    “It’s just a bush,” Wyatt said as he stepped through scratch- free.
    We started hiking up the stone stairway. After five stairs they turned and switched up the other direction—five more stairs and it switched back again, climbing higher. The switchbacks were right next to the train track and hidden behind trees and stone ridges. At certain points you could see back down into the forest, but it was so dark I could hardly distinguish anything below.
    The light rain blew into our faces.
    All three of us shuffled carefully up the stairs. I was the first one to complain about how tired I was—I was also the second and third.
    “You’re the one who wanted to do this,” Wyatt reminded me, breathing hard as we stopped for a short rest.
    “Let’s go just a few more steps,” Kate suggested.
    “Right,” I agreed, and I began to slowly trudge up the next ten steps. My legs were burning, and my lungs felt like they were going to pop.
    The stairs switched back a final time and then ended at the edge of a huge wall. The wall was covered in a thick layer of wet moss. I looked around. We were about halfway up the side of the mountain now. It was sort of disappointing to find nothing but moss, but it was also kind of exhilarating to reach the end of the stairs.
    Kate and Wyatt began to feel around the moss for some sort of opening or door.
    “It’s mushy,” Kate reported. “It kinda feels like wet Styrofoam.”
    I shined the light down at the bottom of the moss wall. I could see rusty train tracks going right under the moss.
    “This has to be some sort of huge cave opening if it could fit a train,” I said. “Can you push through it?”
    Wyatt stepped back. He spit into both of his palms and then stamped at the ground like a charging bull. He leapt forward and jammed his right shoulder into the wall of moss. His body seemed to sink in ten inches.
    “I’m stuck,” he growled.
    I yanked on his left arm and pulled his shoulder out. There was a wet sucking sound as he slipped free. Once he stepped back, we could see that his impact had created a large depression in the wet growth.
    “Do it again,” I said.
    “You do it,” Wyatt complained, rubbing his right arm. “This is my throwing arm.”
    Kate pushed at the dent mark in the moss and her fingers slipped in a few inches. She wiggled them around. It sounded like someone was playing with a chunky wad of Jell-O.
    “Disgusting,” she groused as she pulled her fingers back out.
    “All right, move,” I said with authority. I handed Kate the flashlight and stepped back. I then rammed the moss wall with my left shoulder as hard as I could. My shoulder and upper body pushed all the way through the thick, slimy growth. The top half of me was now inside while my legs were still outside by Kate and Wyatt. I could feel one of them pulling on my legs. The moss around my torso broke away and I fell to the ground next to the train tracks. My kicking and falling made the moss opening big enough to walk through. Kate and Wyatt stepped over me as they came through the opening.
    As I got back onto my feet I could hear Kate oohing and
aahing at something. I stood up straight and copied her. We were standing in a huge cave. The ceiling was at least thirty feet high, and when Kate shined the light ahead we couldn’t see an end to it. I saw a big metal switch on the wall and without thinking it through I pushed it up. It sparked a little and then instantly there was a humming noise followed by dim lights along the wall popping on.
    “That’s