We continued on along the downward sloping tunnel-like passage for several minutes.

I asked the others to stop and wait for me to finish healing up the wound on my stomach.

Because I knew I could heal it up like I had the wound near my shoulder, it seemed silly not to take a minute to heal the stomach wound too.

It was much easier focusing my mind on healing the stomach wound given I already had discovered the distinct unlocking sensation inside my mind to do so.

With my stomach wound healed, we renewed our brisk walking pace down the passage, with me using my bulbed left hand to light our way.

We could have moved faster but none of us knew what lay ahead. Things had gotten very quiet in the passage with just the sound of our breathing and our footsteps filling the claustrophobic space.

It felt great being able to move without the wounds hindering me with every step I took.

I didn't like walking without anything on my feet. The passage floor was cold, hard, and had started to become a little moist too.

None of us spoke on the way through the passage. I was tempted several times to try and break the silence but an incredible thickness had built to the silence between us all. I was sure we were each trying to cope with everything we had seen and been through already.

Another reason for our combined silence was that we were waiting for the penny to drop when it came to where the passage ahead lay. It was as if we were trying to prepare ourselves to find a dead end, which would mean our only option would be to turn back.

Please don't be a dead end, I thought, over and over again, please.

At last the passage leveled out and came to an open end. We exited the passage and entered into a large room with a low ceiling. I ventured ahead of Sophie and Walter, aiming my bulbed left hand forward a little. The darkness gave way to the light, revealing a very large elevator. One big enough to contain maybe thirty or forty people.

Sophie hurried by me and brought her hands to the metal gate which prevented us from entering into the elevator. For a moment I thought I might have to break the gate open, but Sophie gave it a hard yank and pulled the gate aside. The rusted shriek of the metal stabbed at my ears.

How long has it been since someone was down here? I wondered.

Sophie cautiously stepped onto the elevator, perhaps fearing it might give way to the slightest bit of weight put on it. The floor held steady.

"No, no, no," Sophie whined in a way that made my heart sink.

"What's wrong?" I said.

"There's no power," said Sophie, "We can't take this down."

"But we hav'tae." said Walter, "There's got'tae be a way to turn it on."

"Hold on," I said, "Maybe we don't want to take this down even if we can get it working."

The other two looked at me, waiting for an explanation. It took me a moment to find the right words.

"If we get into the elevator," I said, "And we get stuck, then we'll be trapped. For all we know the Pied Piper officers have control of the elevator; they might even be waiting for us to get in so they can trap us in it."

"They'd have it powered on if they wanted to do that," said Walter, "I don' think they were countin' on us makin' it down here."

"You're probably right," I said, "I just think we should try and find another way."

Walter nodded, and then raised his right arm. After a moment golden light, identical to the one emanating from my left fist, bloomed from Walter's right hand. Again I felt a little annoyed that what I had thought to be a power unique to me on some level was so easily mirrored by someone else.

I'm going to have to get more creative with my powers to stand out, I thought. It was an absurd thought to have given the situation, but any thought that wasn't the constant dread of what lay behind us was a welcome one.

Walter moved away from the elevator, searching the rest of the room.

He gave a sudden small cry.

Sophie and I flinched.

"C'mere," said Walter, waving us over.

Sophie and I hurried over to his side.

"Look," he said, holding his golden glowing fist near the wall that was on the same side of the room as the elevator.

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There was what looked like a hole in the wall, starting from the ground. A black metal ladder was peeking out of the hole.

"Now we're talkin'," said Walter.

He squatted down and brought his fist closer to the hole. The three of us stood close together to peer down the hole in unison. The light from mine and Walter's bulbed hands revealed some of the depth of the hole.

"How far down do you think it goes?" said Sophie.

"All the way, to wherever it goes," said Walter, "I bet 'ya this is an alternative to the elevator should the power go out."

I ventured a look over my shoulder to the passage we had come from. The veil of darkness there promised all the horrors which could come after us; the cats, the Pied Piper officers, and even the Adam-George-Amalgamation. Things had gotten very quiet which I couldn't decide was a good thing or not. The shrieking we had all heard before had long since stopped.

"I say we try it," I said.

"Aye," said Walter.

"No wait," said Sophie, "Hold on, there might be some other way."

"We donnae have time," Walter said, "Let's get to it."

"Just wait," said Sophie, on the verge of shouting.

She hurried around the room, running her hand along the walls as she went. The more she searched, the more she muttered to herself.

"Sophie," said Walter.

"P-please," said Sophie, her voice quivering, "Just give me a moment."

She sounded like she was nearing the end of her rope. She stood hugging herself staring down at the floor.

Walter looked at me and I kept as stoic of a face as I could manage.

There's no other way, I thought, she knows it too.

I moved closer to Sophie and placed my right hand on her shoulder. Her hand reached up and pressed warmly down on mine.

"Sorry," I said.

"For what?" said Sophie.

"There's blood on my hand," I said.

Sophie looked at my hand at her shoulder and saw that there was a good deal of blood, my own blood, coated on it. Blood which was now on her hand and seeping into the fabric of her overalls.

"Tell me everything is going to be okay please," said Sophie in a small voice.

"I don't know if it will be," I said.

Sophie shot me a look, her fear giving way to a more casual playfulness.

"You could lie," she said.

"If we get out of here we'll get out of here together," I said, "If we don't, then we'll be stuck here together too."

"You mean it?" said Sophie.

I nodded.

"Now," I said, "If you don't mind, I don't want to spend the rest of my life down in this grim facility."

Sophie sucked in a breath, nodded several times, and tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear.

"Okay," she said, steeling her nerves, "What are we waiting for? Let's go."

We neared the hole.

"Ah crap," I said.

"What's wrong?" said Walter.

"We won't have any light going down," I said, "Don't want to burn the ladder."

"We can feel our way down," said Walter, "Take it slow."

I didn't like the sound of that, and would have grumbled a good deal more about how dangerous it was to go barefooted down a ladder to who-knows-where, but we simply didn't have time to spare.

"Okay, whatever," I said, "Let's do it."

I unbulbed my left hand and moved to the hole. I didn't like the sensation of clinging to the ladder on the way down, feeling the cold metal rungs against the soft soles of my bare feet.

"Down we go," said Walter.

"Down we go," I said back.

Once I was a good way down Sophie was next to start down the ladder. We descended, moving ever more into the darkness below us. It looked like a tight climb down before entering the shaft, but within it felt horribly claustrophobic. Worse was the feeling of knowing that, should I slip, there was a vast, unknown plummet below.

"What did I do to deserve this?" I muttered under my breath.

It was nothing short of nightmarish once Walter's bulbed hand went out, bringing us all into complete darkness. I couldn't see my hands in front of my face, nor anything else except a persistent all encompassing dark.

Sophie's rapid breathing filled the silence. It sounded like she was on the verge of having a panic attack.

"Remember guys," I said, trying my best not to sound absolutely terrified, "Just one step at a time. Nice and easy."

The metallic thumps and thrums of the ladder under our steps echoed loud in my ears. We made slow progress, but any progress at all starting out was going to have to do.

The rungs were never-ending. Minutes passed with us descending ever down into the dark depths. The trapped air took on an added moistness which raised more questions about where the wetness was coming from.

"So guys," I said, breaking the silence.

The others kept moving above me but didn't respond.

"Guys?" I said.

"Yeah?" said Sophie, meekly.

"Was up?" said Walter.

I felt as annoying as Mike all of a sudden, but given the situation I didn't care how I sounded. I desperately wanted to lighten the mood a little.

"What's the first thing you want to do when we're out of here and back to normal civilization?" I said.

The question hung in the air for a moment.

"Oh," said Walter, "I'm going t' give my cat a good ol' snuggle."

"You have a cat?" said Sophie.

"Aye," said Walter, "Little Jenny. She's a funny one."

The way Walter said this made it very easy for me to imagine him saying sweet cute nothings to his cat.

"Your cat is called 'Jenny'?" I said, with mirth in my voice.

"Aye," said Walter, "I didn't name her, my maw named her. But Jenny likes me the best."

"Oh yeah?" I said, "Why's that?"

"We have a bond," said Walter, "I don' even like cats, but she's a special one."

"Are you making this up?" I said.

Walter just laughed. His laughter echoed far down the shaft, promising a very long way down still to go.