Signal Failure

It’s four in the morning and Emily is heading home on a London Underground train. But the Night Tube is running slow tonight – delays caused by a signal failure, as usual.

The train stops again, stuck in a tunnel between Tube stations. And then the lights go off. The motors cut out. Silence from the driver.

All the doors slide open at the same time, exposing the passengers to the tunnel.

To let them out?

Or to let something in?



Signal Failure is a 12,000-word short story set in the London Underground. It is a standalone story and also a prelude to the novel Under.

Cover image: copyright © tubesnaps 2016. Reproduced with kind permission.