The walls of the tunnel, which originally had been a rough texture, slowly became smoother and smoother. “Bit weird, no?” Joe nodded at the wall which was now reflecting the light as if polished. Mary shook her head in reply, shrugging. The tunnel began to level out as they turned a bend, which then exited out into a dimly lit cavern that was chock full of crates and lumpy objects covered in tarpaulin. The cavern's walls reflected the light in a similar way to the tunnel which gave the impression of being inside a giant curling stone. At the far end of the cavern was a broken machine whose head was slightly embedded in the wall, yet the wall itself was hardly blemished. The head itself was a blunt mess, clearly a result of its attempts to penetrate the smooth wall. Noticing this, Joe walked around the wall, seeing that there were no observable breaks to the cavern, a giant dome complete except for the entrance.

“Do you recognise any of these machines?” he asked Mary, his voice echoing off the concave walls. Another head shake answered him. She too was engrossed in the oddness of the situation. “Did you also see this place dad” he murmured under his breath. ‘Was it the last thing you ever saw?’ he thought morosely.

Occupied by his thoughts he found himself meandering into the middle of the cavern. The area in the middle of the room was clear of clutter, so clear in fact that there wasn’t even dust or moisture. Joe rubbed the bottom of his boot against the ground and found that his boot didn’t even leave a mark, not even a speck of dirt. Curious, he bent down and touched the floor, remarking the floor also had the same texture as the walls.

“Hello there” came a voice. Joe spun round to see a man in a suit standing at the entrance. He stood with his shoulder against the wall, picking his fingernails as he looked down. Behind him, two other men, this time in combat gear, stood straight and alert, each staring at Joe and Mary respectively. The man ran the now cleaned fingernails through his glossy black hair, sighed, looked up with his eyes only at Joe and then spoke to his companions in a disinterested fashion. “Kill them”.

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Joe looked at Mary, who had a sheen of sweat visible on her forehead then back at the greasy looking man who had casually ordered their deaths. “Wait just a minute, you cann..”

“We can and we will, what did you expect to happen when you traipsed in here where you’re clearly not allowed. The signs are not just for show you know” the man interrupted angrily. “Do you know how many of you spelunking idiots think that rules don’t apply to them?” he looked down at his nails again to recommence his cleanse. “Too many to count on these hands alone”. He nodded at the two brutes behind him. “Get on with it then, the soccer is on”. The brutes moved in on the pair, hands reaching for blades at their sides, a menacing gleam in their eyes.

“What the actual fuck” Joe exclaimed, insensed by this fatal turn of events. He ran the list of options through his mind as he slowly backed away from the incoming goon. Run? Impossible, blocked by that greasy fuck. Fight? Haha. Mary fight? He looked at Mary who had lowered into a crouch as the man approached. Hmm. He looked back at his own opponent who had taken Joe’s momentary distraction as a chance to dash in, jagged blade out and close to his chest in a boxing position. “Shit”. Joe jumped back, taking a slice in his unprotected arm for his troubles. The man licked his lips as Joe’s blood dripped from the blade to the ground and then he abruptly disappeared. Joe blinked, confused, and looked over at Mary. Her opponent was lying on the ground with a dagger sticking out of his neck, eyes wide.

“Well that’s awkward” the greasy man said, now a slight hint of surprise to his otherwise monotone. “I told them, don’t get blood anywhere. Make it clean, I said.” He removed a spherical object from the inside of his blazer, looked at it askew and then casually tossed it into the middle of the cavern. “Only a few of these left, such a shame” he muttered as he walked back down the tunnel. Joe looked from the man’s back, to the sphere that had landed before him and then at Mary. She caught his eye and smiled. Then everything went a bloody black.