Once we leave the prison cell wing, me and Adam begin walking towards a gate. The gate is a wide, chain link fence that opens up to a flight of stairs. There are bright lights along the walls near the stairs, illuminating them.
Adam opens the gate, then gestures for me head down the stairs. I walk past the gate, then start descending down the stairs. After my fourth step, I turn and see Adam closing the gate. He is wearing a tactical belt, which contains a flashlight and even a pistol.
Adam notices me staring at his pistol, then he smirks.
"Yeah, Mason gave me a gun," he says, tapping the pistol."Even though he never went into the tunnels, he figured that it's pretty dangerous since the other Inspectors were killed there. So he let me have this fully loaded pistol."
Instead of speaking to him, I sigh and continue walking down the stairs. Adam walks beside me, not even seeming afraid that we will be in the underground passages where the other Inspectors were somehow killed.
After heading down multiple, long flights of stairs, we reach the last staircase. We descend down the staircase, then spot a door up ahead. That must be the entrance to the underground tunnels.
"What's through the door?" I ask Adam. I stare at the metallic door, wondering what the tunnels will look like.
"The tunnels," he answers. He moves over to the door, then opens it. The door opens up to a long hallway. It's brick walls are painted brown, and the floor is tiled."Obviously, that's the first tunnel among many."
I follow Adam into the tunnel. I don't notice anything strange about this tunnel, so maybe things will become creepy as we advance. The two of us round the corner, then enter a lavish room. There are luxurious sofas placed around the room, and comfortable looking beds pushed to one side of the room.
There's a doorway located near the beds, but no door to go with it. Past the doorway, I can see a brown hallway that is dimly lit. The mystery of these tunnels is what frightens me. Why are there random couches and beds set up here? There's a possibility that this room was meant to be another sleeping quarters.
"How did the other Inspectors die?" I ask Adam as we begin heading towards the doorway with no door. I might be able to avoid death if I make sure to stay away from whatever caused the last Inspectors' deaths. Adam stops walking, then turns to face me.
"We were running through the deepest parts of this place," he begins, then sighs as if he doesn't want to be recalling the memory."The five of us were in this narrow tunnel. It was so tight that we had to run in a single file-line. I was in the lead when a sword came spinning towards me from a wall up ahead. I ducked as more swords came spinning towards us. The other four Inspectors were killed by the swords, which saddened me greatly. I brought each of their bodies back to the main part of the building, then we cremated them and keep their ashes in the cafeteria."
"That sounds awful," I say, feeling sorry for the deceased Inspectors."No wonder why you hate this job. The deep parts of these tunnels must be filled with traps."
"Honestly, I stopped exploring the parts of this place I haven't been to before," Adam admits."I usually lounge around on these beds. I've stopped trying to look for a exit from the Network."
Anger and shock wells up inside of me. He stopped searching for a way to escape the Network. Mason, Ricky, and the others possibly don't know about this. I should tell Mason the first time I get a chance to.
"So what's the population of this place, anyway?" I ask, wanting to change the subject. I want him to believe that I don't care that he ceased his search for a escape out of the Network. Additionally, I am genuinely curious as to how many people live here and what ages they are.
"Now that you're here, there are ninety-nine boys here. All of us are teenagers, from thirteen to seventeen years old. Mason is the oldest, and he's also the only one who is seventeen. He's our leader, because he was the first boy to arrive. He arrived three years ago, and ever since then we've all been trying to find a way out," Adam explains.
"Are we really going to head deeper into these tunnels?" I ask him. He shakes his head, then plops down on one of the sofas. I'm starting to feel more comfortable around him, despite our earlier conflict. He doesn't seem like a bad person anymore, but a potential friend.
After thirty minutes of chatting, me and Adam decide to leave the tunnels. We exit the underground passageways, then ascend the flights of stairs. When we pass through the gate, I leave Adam and feel my stomach growl.
Now will be a great time to visit the cafeteria.
YOU ARE READING
The Network Inspector
Science FictionA teenage boy wakes up in a building unfamiliar to him. His memory is gone, and he finds himself trapped with ninety-eight other teenage boys. None of them know their way out of the prison-like building known as the Network, but all of that will cha...
