| Martha | |
|---|---|
|
Species |
Human |
|
Gender |
Female |
|
Hair Color |
Red |
|
Status |
Alive |
|
Family |
Nathaniel (son) An ex-husband |
Martha is a character in the Tunnels series. She first appears in Freefall and continues on in Closer. She also appears in Terminal.
Biography[]
Freefall[]
Martha first appears when she rescues Will, Chester, and Elliott from a monkey-spider attack. Seeing that the girl was wounded, she brings them to her hidden shack. There, Martha takes care of the girl as the boys enjoy the place and discover interesting histories about the deep part where they are located. Martha tells them how she was pushed with her son Nathaniel down the pore by her husband and how they survived together until Nathaniel died from a mysterious fever after a trip to a sunken "metal ship" that he found stranded in one of the Pores. As Elliott 's condition seems to worsen, one of the Rebecca twins shows up at the shack, claiming that she was forced to do all of the bad deeds she commited by her sister. Will has doubts about this story but saves her life after both Chester and Martha tried to kill her. For prevention, they held her captive in a shed. One day, on one of Will's daily visits to the shed Rebecca talks to him trying to get him to believe her and in this act gives him what appears to be the Dominion virus and it's antidote, while Will is speachless to this act Rebecca reveals that Martha is hiding something from Will and Chester and guides Will into finding buried medicines in the dirt. Will confronts Martha about the medicines and she reveals that she was willing to sacrifice Elliott to ensure Will and Chester's survival. Will forces her to take him to the metal ship that Nathaniel found, believing that the cure for Elliott might be there. While packing their necessities Rebecca appears at the front door asking if they need any help. Will of course is surprised to see that she escaped her restraints and realized she could've gotten free any time she wanted. He decides that perhaps she was telling the truth and allows her to join them in their travel. They travel to the ship, which turns out to be a Russian nuclear submarine. Inside, they find more medicines. They begin giving them to Elliott and she starts to recover. In that time, Martha stands guard for the Brights(a species that they had encountered on their travel to the submarine, it like the Spider Monkeys seeks out the weak and wounded and because of the decreased gravity in the pore they move blindingly fast through the air, faster than they can shoot it) and goes hunting for food. One day, the other Rebecca shows up with two limiters and Dr. Burrows, and demands Will to give back the Dominion virus and it's antidote which the other twin gave him to gain his trust, Will then hears a growl behind him only to find the previously captive Rebecca twin speaking in her Styx language apparently giving commands to Bartleby who no longer seems to be himself. Will now sees that this Rebecca twin had been putting on an act and he'd instantly regretted not shooting her when he had the chance. Seeing no other option he accepts the deal, but before they could finish the deal a Bright appears and swoops in faster than the first limiter can attack it and in a flash he is gone, now many Brights appear and everything goes wrong as the first Rebecca tries to attack Will and in this moment Elliott, who no one had noticed was sitting up during this chaotic scene threw some explosives and the group separates in the explosion: Will and his father end at one side, Elliott, Chester, Martha and Bartleby in another, the Rebeccas and the remaining limiter take refugee in the submarine, which falls down the seventh pore. Martha guides them to the Wolf Cave where they expect to regroup with Will. After spending several days there, Will encounters them after a trip to the Topsoil where he met with Drake overjoyed that he was alive and his mother Mrs. Burrows, during this Dr. Burrows is refusing to listen to the truth that Will tells him of the Styx and how they're a threat. Even with the help of Drake Dr. Burrows still won't believe it yet his wife takes far less persuading. On their short trip topsoil Drake helps them by testing the vials of Dominion and the antidote (and sadly he reports that they're frauds), restocking Will with artillery, and repairing Will's headset. Finally when they approach the entrance back to the Pore Drake gives him one last thing to help him find his way back, a tracker and several beacons. When they arrive back down in the Pore Will decides they should find Chester, Elliot, and Martha, it takes a few days but they finally regroup but their reunion is short lived as Dr. Burrows jumps down the seventh pore(now named Smoking Jean by Will) expecting to find the inner world that he uncoverd with his research. He is followed by Will, Elliott and Bartleby while Chester stays with Martha and they decide to go to Topsoil. During this time, Martha grows fond of Chester and begins treating him like her son, which Chester believes to be unsettling as the longer they remain alone the more she shows signs of the toll she endured while living in solitude down in the Pore as well as losing her nineteen year old son Nathaniel.
Closer[]
Martha as depicted in Closer.
After returning to Topsoil, Martha becomes very protective of Chester and doesn't allow him to contact anyone, believing all Topsoilers are evil. They travel on foot through the camp and Chester begins planning an escape from Martha. Things worsen when Martha holds Chester after she hears what she thought was a Bright. However, Chester falls sick from the strange meat that Martha has been giving to him. They find refugee in a small house which was apparently inhabitated. There, Chester tries to contact his parents only to have Martha knock him out and hold him prisoner in a small closet under the staircase. She says that she won't let him go back home as she was his new family. After spending weeks locked up, Chester manages to send a signal to a device that he found in the underground port. The signal is catched by Drake and Eddie(a retired limiter and Elliot's father), who were in the port looking for Chester. Following the signal, they find the house and they're attacked by Martha, who damages Drake's headset with her crossbow. Drake tries to reason with her but Eddie scares her away by shooting her in the shoulder. It's revelaed that she killed the house inhabitants and a mailmen, which she fed to Chester who unknowingly believed the meat belonged to birds. They free Chester and they spot quite a distance aways through a scope wandering around wounded near the beach, being chased by an actual Bright. The men offer to end her misery but Chester wants her to suffer and die slowly for what she has done to him.
Terminal[]
Martha appears in Terminal during an Armagi attack on Parry's cabin, caused by Chester becoming extremely angry after learning Danforth was at fault for his parents' deaths. He steals Old Wilkies' shotgun, and fires it into the air, attracting a pair of armagi. He only manages to clip the armagi's wing, and as death seems certain, Martha appears and fires a crossbow bolt into the Armagi, knocking it out. The second one prepares to attack, but is quickly torn apart by a swarm of brights. Martha reveals that after her fight with a bright, she tamed it, and when its young were born, those as well, giving her an entourage of 7 brights. Martha refers to them as faries. Chester abandoneds the cottage and leaves with Martha. Stephanie eventually catches up with them. After staying at a sheep farm and living off mutton and stored food, Chester gets bored and retrieves a 4x4 and multiple cans of diesel, and they head off to london, in search of Danforth. After some internal struggles along the way, they reach the now Armagi overrun london, complete with the roof of the eternal city blown open, which destroyed major parts of the city, along with draining the Thames. They finally reach Danforth after being guided by the brights, who were led to him by a Purger in Chester's bag with Danforth's scent on it. Danforth, along with New Germanian Captain Franz, is saved from execution by Martha's brights. As Chester prepares to execute Danforth himself, Martha fires her crossbow into his back, killing him. Martha is then carried away into the sky, being lifted by her brights. As she leaves, Stephanie calls her "Martha Poppins," a reference to "Mary Poppins."
Other Things[]
Martha is a cannibal, feeding Chester human flesh when they were Topsoil in Closer