I opened the hatch and cold air blew out.

"I wonder what's in there." Hannah said.

"Whatever it is, it must be deep", I replied. Just to prove my point I kicked a rock in and heard it hit the walls, not stopping even when I couldn't hear it anymore. I started to climb in to begin the ladder climb down.

"Wait", Hannah said, shifting into a monkey, "follow me." She wrapped her long fingers around the side of the ladder and started to slide down. I repeated her and slid down with her. The wind was racing around us as we flew down the ladder towards the bottom, however far that was. Then, as I was looking down at her, a small light appeared below her.

"Look!" I yelled over the rushing air, "The bottom!" She looked down and slowed her speed. I did the same. When we stepped foot on the bottom we shifted back to human. The walls and ground alike were all concrete, obviously holding up all the dirt and stone. The light was dim and occasionally flashing while me and Hannah walked through the hall. There were no doors visible on either side but we continued walking anyway. "Hey, Hannah, do you think we should go back? I really have a bad feeling about this place", I said.

"Wait", she stopped walking, "I hear something." I listened as well. "It sounds like animals."

"Ya", I said, "I hear it too." I continued walking with Hannah, but then, the end of the hallway appeared in sight. "Do you see that?" I asked Hannah.

"Yup, I do. It's definitely not a door, more like an opening." She replied. We kept walking, but more carefully now that the end was in sight. As we neared the edge, I heard voices of people talking. Apparently Hannah did too because she looked over at me and put her finger to her mouth. When we stood in the opening at the end of the hallway the voices were much clearer and the animals were visible. We stood shocked at the sight. All the animals were in cages and were appearing to be communicating. I backed away, not too far though, and pulled Hannah with me. The conversation was so clear now that I decided to listen.

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"Kate will be very pleased with how much your group of scientists has been working, and not to mention how many breakthroughs have been made." Said one lady.

"I am glad to here this, I will see to provide this information to the rest of the workers here." Replied a man talking to her. "Charlie, go tell them." From what I could hear, a second man, probably Charlie, walked away from the conversation. I edged closer to where they were talking, trying to get a view. When I edged close enough, I could see that the first man, whose name I still didn't know, was a lean built man. He wasn't small, but he wasn't big either. There was a dog next to him, a Rottweiler, it seemed. The lady was walking away, wearing high heels and fancy clothing, unlike the man, who was wearing an old flannel with odd colored stains on it. Charlie was no where to be seen, same with any other people. But there were other animals roaming around. Then much to my surprise, the dog the was sitting next to the man stood up, sniffed the air, then morphed into a man.

"Henry, I am afraid this chat, is no longer private." Said the man that was just a dog.

"What do you mean?" Replied Henry.

"We have visitors", then he leaned in, "Shifters.

I crawled backward to Hannah and whispered, "We have to go, now." We stood up and ran, heading back to the entrance.

Then, behind me, the man's voice said, "Where do you think your going?" I turned around and he was holding a gun, aiming it at me. Then I heard it fire, and the world went black.