Through the Tunnels Below

Chapter 4

Eli Mayron lay awake. The house was dark, the children were asleep, and his wife lay sleeping beside him. Everything was perfectly normal, but Eli could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. He had woken up in the middle of the night, but nothing was out of the ordinary so he had tried to go back to sleep, but he couldn't. So he laid there looking up at the beams of his ceiling trying to drift off. Then his suspicions were confirmed. He heard a creek in the living room. Their only dog, Tyler, was lying right on the floor next to the bed. At the sound, Tyler perked his ears, sat up, and barred his teeth. He raised his hackles and let out a deep throaty growl. Eli crept out of bed and tiptoed over to his gun rack. 'A pistol will do.', He thought ,as he grabbed his Colt and loaded it with a clip full of hollow points. In a whisper, He told Tyler to sit, and he obeyed, but still growled. Eli crept to his doorway and he started walking through the hall, careful not to step on the parts he knew were squeaky. He cocked his pistol and walked a little bit further. Then, he saw a dark shape by one of the sofas, it was bending over something on the coffee table. Eli knew what it was. He and his wife had stayed up talking after their kids had gone to bed .They had both lay down, and his wife had fallen asleep. So,he had tenderly carried her to their bed and gotten in himself, forgetting to take the mysterious box in to his room for safe-keeping. And that was what this unwelcome human shape was looking at. As Eli watched, he forgot to watch where he was walking. A loud squeak was the consequence. The shape spun around to face him. It was a man dressed in black with a mask on. Seeing Eli, he snatched up the box and vaulted over the sofa. Eli sprinted after as the culprit bounced of a projecting book case and toppled over a lamp with a loud clang.He recovered easily and quickly, a little too quickly thought Eli as he scrambled after him.

"Stop or I'll shoot!" yelled Eli, as the man was passing through the open doorway. The man hesitated, but with a burst of courage, flew into the thick bushes right outside the door, just as the bullet skimmed his boot. Eli dove after him. The man was bustling under the bushes on his hands and knees, when a dead branch caught his hand and made the box and paper fly out of his grasp. He dove at the desired items. He snatched up the piece of paper, but hit the box in a way that made it roll out of his reach. Eli was getting too close, so, knowing he had the paper, he turned away and ran. Eli snatched the box up as he pursued, but he had lost him. After a thirty minute search, it was confirmed that he was gone. But Eli Knew who he was, what he was doing it for, and who his boss was.

Eli sat in a chair with his hand over his eyes, and in the other hand, a piece of paper. his pocket had gotten caught, and this paper had fallen out. It read:

Asarath K. Lincoln. Age 42. Employee of Prof. Abraham, archeologist of the A.A.P.

*******

Asarath sat disheveled, dirty, cut, but pride was spilling from every pore. Presently Prof. Abraham himself walked into the room.

"What a sight!" he exclaimed bitterly.

"I have it sir!" exclaimed Asarath. Prof. Abraham was just about to shoo him out of his precious leather armchair, when he stopped dead in his tracks.

"You what?"

"I have it. I have what was in the box."

"Do you have the box?"

"No sir, I was in hot pursuit." Prof. Abraham cursed loudly.

"Give it to me." he said, as he snatched the piece of paper out of Asarath's hands. "Hmmm," he said rubbing his chin. "Seems like this is it." he said, a malicious grin on his face. "Now, let's get to work."

*******

"We've got to get it before the A.A.P does!" Eli said through clenched teeth.

"Well, I'm ready now!" exclaimed Nathan, coming into the living room with two backpacks in his hands.

"I guess if we're going to get the treasure we had better start today." He looked up. "Who's coming?"

"Me!" Nathan stood beside him.

"I will, Dad." said Enoch.

"Alright, let's pack."

"I'll stay with Anna." said Abigail.

"Now." said Eli, "Where is Summersville? I've never heard of Summersville, Virginia."

"Well, there is a Summersville, West Virginia; but no Summersville, Virginia."

"Of course!" Nathan cried "West Virginia used to be just normal Virginia before the Civil War!"

"Your right!" said Enoch.

In ten minutes, they were all ready. Anna and Abigail bid them farewell, and they drove off in their Toyota Tundra.

"To West Virginia we go!"

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