“The room splits off, which way do we go?” Nicole asked.

“UP. DUH. We went down 2 flights of stairs, so we go up 2 flights of stairs and we’re back up to the surface!” she insisted. They proceeded up 2 flights and when it leveled out they turned right, theoretically towards the lobby if they went far enough. Dee stopped and her eye widened.

“Nope, keep going up.” Dee whispered.

“You just said ground level, this would be ground level.” She said looking in to see why she was startled. The room was dimly lit with the same orange lights as before, minus the flickering. A strange smaller room or structure to the left made of the same brick, and to the right into the open area of the room was another hallway, a large stone table in the center, and a wall with some strange tapestry.

“The hell is this thing, like some medieval grape smasher for wine?” Dee asked, noticing the 3 distinct “stalls” separated by stone wall. Each one had some sort of device, like a press, with a lever beside it. She did what any sane person would do and pulled the lever, startling them both as the press came down partway and stopped.

“It’s still powered? It looks old as hell; it didn’t even go all the way down.”

“I don’t think it’s supposed to.” said Nicole, noticing another one in the same position.

“Then what does it do?” she asked as Nicole made her way around to the other side and stepped in.

“It closes just enough you cant quite squeeze out, or reach the lever.” She said as the one behind her activated, and came down suddenly. She shrieked, just knowing it was about to cut her legs off until she realized it was stopped the same way. Halfway down.

“Dee pull the lever again, get me out.” Nicole hollered.

“I didn’t pull it the first time it just went, can you squeeze out? It’s not going up.”

“No I can’t, that’s what I was saying. I’m stuck. It’s like the size of a telephone booth in here. Try the back side.” She said trying to stay calm and not lose her cool. The back side opened and she knocked Dee out of the way diving through. She sprinted a good 20 feet around the device and into the light before catching her breath.

“What the hell was that?” Dee asked.

“I don’t know. It has a drain in the floor and nothing else. I think it’s for holding something, like an animal.” She huffed out of breath as Dee’s eyes widened.

“There’s an animal slaughterhouse behind the walls of a college dorm’s unfinished basement? Please tell me this is an agriculture classroom.”

“I don’t think so. These cloths aren’t just hanging up here.” Nicole said moving the “tapestry” on the nearby wall. “These are viewports to the next room.

“Oh fuck this, we’re going up, if we have to jump out of a second floor window we’ll just aim for some bushes or something.” Dee explained.

“What if there are no windows?” she replied.

“Oh I hate when you point things out like that. What’s behind the cloths?”

“Just another lit room, with another stone table, and water dripping on it.”

“Oh that’s fantastic. Holding stables and a slaughtering room.”

“And we’re right above the other room with the bed and or sacrifice pad. You can see it through the grates in the floor under the table here.”

“We’re going up. Follow me.” Dee insisted

“I wanna see what’s down the hall.” Nicole said with a drone in her voice.

“Are you actually enjoying this?”

“No, I just need to know where the water is coming from.” She said noticing the tiny stream running down the hall.

“No you don’t. Neither of us do. We’re not gonna mention this to anybody, we’re just leaving and blocking it out. Nicole this is an alien moon. those could be holding cells for people. You’re a small person and you juuust barely couldn’t fit back through that thing, but you had plenty of room to stand up.”

“I’m going down the hall, you can go further up.” Nicole said without hesitation, following the water.

“Nicole damnit. I regret everything I said about bringing me along with you. I mean like if you did a fun creepy haunted hayride or something, not a real human slaughterhouse.” She said following her, mostly due to her having the only knife and flashlight since Silverback had her purse. They went onward, past another iron door and another hole in the wall just big enough to look through, or water to drain through, and right through a doorway with another wide drain grate. Dee felt water drip on her head and did a little panic dance, looking up and noticing the leaky stone cracks.

“EEEuuuaaah, Nicole there’s water dripping from the ceiling. Everything is wet and moldy and dark and there’s drains everywhere. What the hell is this?”

It’s a dead end. It’s just a room with nothing, except a staircase to the ceiling that goes nowhere.” She said crouching down.

“No…That’s stairs to nowhere that’s the top of the stairway we came in through, because you can see down into it through these holes. Nicole this is like a maze where you can watch the rats through the freaking creeper holes.” She said venturing on and stopping. “And the next room has a shower and a flat screen TV. What is this? A sex club, or a meat processing plant?”

“Maybe dual purpose.” Nicole shrugged.

“How?” She stated “How can you make it somehow worse no matter how bad this gets.”

“Listen.” Whispered Nicole.

“Oh god what now. Footsteps? Maybe it’s Mister Sunglasses. He could just be trying to help get us out, and if he’s murdery, you can stab him.” Dee said confidently.

“Not Mister Sunglasses…” Nicole said quietly “Hoofsteps.”

“Run.” Dee said, sprinting and trying to drag or carry or throw Nicole along with her as she reached stairs that only went down. Without questioning it, they jumped about every other step and rounded the corner; picking a random fork and sliding past a mossy well and another dripping ceiling directly over a vent with what looked like hand holds. They turned the next way and stopped, sliding on wet floors.

“A dead end?” Dee whispered, staring at the metal table, suspended by 4 steel cables, with another Flatscreen TV on the far wall. Nicole turned and slapped her hand over Dee’s mouth to silence her before she even said a word. The sound of heavy breathing just outside the wall. Nicole peaked down at the hole just at the floor, far too familiar with the sound of a Delmarian breathing heavily and the scrape of hooves on stone floors. This time it wasn’t so comforting. Something in her head told her to whisper the word “Vinn” through the opening but she knew better. His steps were too clunky, the smell was not right, there’s no reason it would be him anyway and if it was he would be hollering her name in panic, so why did she still feel the need to speak? Why did she want to badly to say something?

She calmed her breathing, realizing maybe it was any of a million Delmarians who could be just trying to help. She gnashed her teeth, already regretting the stupid thing she was going to do.

“Vinn?” she breathed, ever so softly. The hooves stopped. She waited with her ear to the opening for Vinn’s voice, the weird combination of mints and sawdust on his breath that she found comical. The breath that came through was just soggy air.

She listened for a reply and realized it wasn’t breath she was hearing, but the rush of incoming water that suddenly poured from the opening.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“RUN!” Nicole screamed, hitting the doorway at full speed, looking back to make sure Dee was behind her and almost running into the wall in the process. Dee struggled to follow and the gap was growing slightly, as she randomly weaved in and out of endless halls having no idea if she was getting higher or lower elevation. Suddenly Dee turned around to make sure they lost whatever it was that scared her and when she looked back the light was dimmer and Nicole was not there.

“Shit,” whispered Dee, trying to decide which dark path might have light further down. She darted in the least nonsensical path she could guess Nicole would make, having no actual clue or believing it. She saw a spot of significant light and ran for it. Her legs were moving so automatically she didn’t think to weave around the potential obstacles like the 3 large holes in the wall on her right big enough to crawl through to safety. She passed the first 2 and then suddenly felt her leg touched by a hand.

“You’re not supposed to be here!” yelled sunglasses, but she was too scared to hear him or stop, only picturing what monster touched her ankle.

Nicole ran out of steam and adrenaline just as she reached the opening of a very long series of turns with no rooms or doorways. She could feel the ground moving upwards, to higher ground. She stopped to catch her breath and realized it was an empty room with no way out except the way she came in, and another one sided wooden door with no visible handles. She dropped to her knees, looking for a gap or a vent she could fit through, realizing the water was now a foot deep and this was the highest point in a long path. The only way back was deeper. The water was rising, and she was exhausted, unable to move. She heard the faint echo of Dee’s scream when Sunglasses grabbed her ankle. Her mind assumed the worst. Someone was down here. The knife in one hand and the flashlight in the other, barely able to lift either let alone herself. She held her breath, realizing if she heard hooves there was no way out and nowhere to hide, no defensive positions and she could barely swing her arm if she wanted. The water was rising faster and the end of the long path may be submerged by now, and the longer she waited to try, the deeper it would get. Then the flashlight began to dim.

She turned it off, realizing she may need the last bit and the path was one way for a long distance.

She stood up, with some energy she didn’t know she had, her eye adjusting just enough that she thought she could blindly aim the way back. Her pupils dilated and somehow she could almost see in the pitch black. Knife out front, her other hand closed around the flashlight bumping her knuckles on the walls to orient herself, she made it further and further until she could see a hint of light. It was a crack in the bricks, leading to the outside. She could see a street lamp and hear the faint music of the festival that was apparently quite a ways away. She could probably scream through the gap but if anyone heard her they still wouldn’t know how to get in or her out. If she screamed, her position was compromised, and she couldn’t leave without Dee anyway. She stood chest deep peering through a drain flowing towards the ocean and realized as close as she was to getting out, she may as well have been a mile away.

Dee sprinted through room after room of murdery pointlessness until finding a small door a monster couldn’t fit through. She rounded the L shaped room and was back at another dead end, sort of. She could fit through the hole if she tried but it lead down into the room below, totally dark, maybe ten feet, maybe 50. The drop may have been right back into danger or right to a pair of broken legs in a room with no exit filled with water. She was safe in the little L shaped corridor, if she stayed. Back at the little opening she ducked under there was a well lit room, but the entrance was blindly out of her way and the only way to even see if it was clear would be to leave the safety tube she was in. She stood back again the wall, staring into the lit room. Just the same dirty stone, one of the many devices resembling a people smasher and a hole in the middle filled with water. Not a lot of options.

She heard steps again, backing deeper into the dark tunnel and sitting down, holding her mouth to keep from letting out any noise. And then suddenly the footsteps stopped and she realized the were boots, not hooves. A human sized figure ducked under the little doorway and clicked on a light, still unsure if this was salvation or death she closed her eyes. When she opened them, Mister Sunglasses was crouched down, holding her hand to her mouth and holding his finger to his own as if to say “Don’t scream.” As he carefully let go. He was holding a gun in his hand as he did, and he sat down beside her.

“Are you hurt?” he asked very quietly. She shook her head no. “Can you walk?” he asked. She nodded. “Then follow me and try to do it quickly.” He said leading her along with a wave, tactically lifting both light and gun to his front. He made his way deliberately through several turns and through a narrow spot, motioning her to go in front of him. He hit a switch on the wall and the opening closed. It was far better lit in this part. And he turned off his flashlight, holstering his gun and walking more casually past her.

“You can talk now.” He said normally.

“Was something else following us? Who are you?”

“Campus security.” he lied.

The hallways were wider now. Wide enough to drive a golf cart through and lit well enough to do industrial work. They walked for a good ways, nice and straight lines, no jogs or rooms, just the occasional peep-hole to the right and always to the right side into darkness.

“What is this place?”

“It’s safe.”

“Where is Nicole?” she asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Then go back and find her, I’ll stay here.”

“That’s not how this works.” He said as she grabbed his arm and stopped him.

“Nicole is still in there, and you have a gun and a flashlight.” She said with tears in her eyes. “Answer me, is someone else in there with her?”

“Nicole is alone.” He said darkly.

“Now you grow some balls Mister sunglasses and go back for her, and leave me in here. It’s safe in here, you said that, so I won’t go anywhere. I’ll stay right here and wait and you go get Nicole.” She demanded.

“I said that’s not how this works.” He repeated, yanking his arm free and taking a step with a clicking sound. He felt his side and realized she had his gun.

“Then you can stay in here where it’s safe and wait, and give me your flashlight, and I’ll go get Nicole, got it?” she said pointing the gun at him.

“Are you really going to shoot me, and then with no idea where you are go back in there with rising water? How does a gun help you then? Have you ever even held a gun? Do you know if the safety is on or off or how to use the sights?”

“You’ve been walking around in there with the safety on?” she smirked. Or did you have this thing all ready to rock if you pull the trigger? I could shoot you in the foot and then you’d definitely be here when we got back. Why do you have a loaded gun, why wont you help me find her?”

“You don’t understand, it’s not safe. Half that place is underwater. You are not supposed to be down here.” He insisted.

“Neither is Nicole.” Screamed Dee.

“Yes she is. SHE is supposed to be down here, not you. You were not supposed to get past the stairs.” He admitted.

“What?” Dee asked, looking lost confused, betrayed somehow even.

“She chose this, you didn’t. She knew what she signed up for, you just followed her. You are the mistake, give me the gun.”

We can’t leave her to die, Nicole can’t swim.”

“I don’t think it matters at this point. I have orders to get you and leave. That way is flooded weather she made it through or not. That’s all I know. You have the gun and I wouldn’t lie about that. I take orders and I follow them. My orders were to leave my post so she could get by, and then follow to make sure she goes far enough. And then I got a change of orders to find you, get you out and bring you here.”

“Where does HERE lead? “she asked.

“Everywhere. There’s miles of tunnels under the place, old mining lines and utilities from before humans were here, and a lot of it looks a lot newer. It just keeps growing. It’s like a living thing designed to get you lost. Now you can give me the gun and we can leave, or you can shoot me and go back in there, and swim in the dark through 2 floors of a maze with one breath of air. That gun isn’t gonna kill that thing to help you and you’ll die trying. I don’t want you to die. Please don’t make me do something stupid. I can carry you for a while but not injured and not all the way. It’s a long damn way out and you need to be walking it.

“Then walk.”

“No. Give me the gun.” He insisted.

“I’ll shoot you in the foot.”

“Sure you will.” He said stepping closer, hands up in a submissive manner.

“Don’t push me!” she threatened, following his foot with the gun and finally firing it. He grabbed the gun and put it to her back, her arm now twisted behind her.

“Steel toed boots, standard issue. I didn’t think you’d do it, but it’s a good thing you’re not very willing to aim higher. Now move or I’ll put you down and leave you, and just tell them you never made it out. I’m trying to help here. Stop trying to get yourself killed. Nicole is either out of that tunnel by now, or dead in it.” He said, Dee frozen with tears streaming down her face. Half shock, half given up.

She started walking. She walked for a ways, silently turning when he said, and the direction he said, eventually her arm was released and the gun in her back was moved a few inches further but never down. She shuffled till her feet were numb and what seemed like hours in the same-looking forever tunnels around the tunnels. Finally she stopped, realizing he was taking a break and checking his phone.

“You have my coordinants?” he asked.

“Who’s on the phone?” Dee asked.

“Even I don’t know that answer, lady.” He admitted. “I have the fat blonde with me, Nicole, not my problem. We’re skinned up but fine and I am done with this shit. I did my job, you can take her from here.” He said hanging up and looking relieved.

“That’s it?” she asked.

“You know why this gun doesn’t scare me?” he asked her. “Because it’s not loaded to kill.” He said pointing it at her thigh.

“Wait. I don’t understand. Please don’t. I don’t understand what I did!”

“You never will. In fact, you wont remember a damn thing about any of this, or me.” He said firing the gun. She dropped to the ground and gasped, expecting blood but seeing a small metal dart in her leg. It burned like hell but she was fine.

“Sorry. It’s just a job, you’ll sleep it off.” He said as things began to get very Fuzzy and grey. She slumped over and realized she couldn’t move, or blink. And her ears were ringing so loudly she couldn’t hear the sound of the medical cart rolling into her view and the men in gowns and masks loading her up. Suddenly something cold and metal was strapped to her head and the mumbling and muffled noises turned to a peaceful silence and everything was white.