Through the Tunnels Below

Chapter 7

The box was about a foot tall and wide. Enoch slid it out and held it in his hands. It was so heavy that he had to heft it onto his shoulder, and he then ran down the passage to tell his brother. He burst out into the cavern with the box on his shoulder.

"Nathan?" Silence. "Nathan!" Smash! Something slammed into him from behind. He fell to the ground and the box rolled out of his grasp. The thing jumped over him, snatched up the box and sprinted toward the end of the cavern. Enoch grabbed his gun. The walls of the cavern echoed with the explosion. Enoch discharged again, a piece of the wall beside the thing burst apart, sending bits of rock in every direction. He fired again, the thing jolted and faltered a step, stumbled, and fell. It raised its head and Enoch finally had his suspicions confirmed that it was a man. The man got up once more and resumed his run, though limping badly. Enoch shot again but missed him by inches, and the man disappeared into the tunnel. Enoch ran after him, gun at the ready. Enoch popped out into the first tunnel, and ran after the foot prints, showing that the man had gone past where he and Nathan had gone. Enoch turned a sharp corner and came into a big cavern with many tunnels going out of it.

"Oh, hello." said a voice behind him. He wheeled around saw a man slightly smaller than his Dad standing with the box in his arms. The one who had stolen it from him was in a heap at the man's feet.

"Give it back, now." commanded Enoch pointing his gun at the man. Smack! The gun flew from his grasp and landed on the dirt floor. Enoch spun around and faced a man with a hand balled, and aimed at his face.

"I'm Professor Abraham of the A.A.P." the man said with the box. Enoch turned his head to the professor, then back to the man. "And this is Spike." he said gesturing to a big burly man that materialized out of the shadows to Enoch's left. "Asarath, get up!" he said with disgust and kicked the man lying in the dust at his feet. The answer was a groan. "I suppose that you are wondering where your family is. Spike, bring them." The man named Spike disappeared and a moment later reemerged with one of Eli and one of Nathan's arms in each of his hands, dragging their limp unconscious bodies towards the professor. Enoch lunged forward and snatched his gun up from the ground, but was knocked back over by the same man, pinning him to the ground with his gun just out of reach. In a desperate attempt, he unsheathed his Bowie and stabbed at the man on top of him. His knife made contact and the man howled and got off of him, clutching his side where blood already gushed. The man gasped and crumpled to the ground, Enoch rolled to his feet. Thwack! Enoch suddenly lay on his back with the air knocked out of his lungs and his Bowie still spinning in the air. It landed with a ping to the sandy floor just out of his reach, and only then did he realize that the man named Spike had come up from behind. He hurled Enoch to the floor and was now standing over him.

"Show the boy not to mess with Professor Abraham." said the professor. Spike drove his heel hard into Enoch's stomach. He kicked Enoch so hard, he tumbled across the floor for a few feet. The man grabbed him and lifted him up. Spike grinned as he punched Enoch and then sent him back onto the floor. As he bent down, Enoch landed a kick to his face, catching him by surprise. Spike, however, countered it with a punch to his nose.

"Alright Spike, that's enough." said Professor Abraham from the end of the cavern. "Spike, look at the contains of this box." said Abraham his eyes aglow with greed. Spike signaled to one of his men and he tied Enoch up. Spike took one look at the gold and wonder mingled with greed spread over his face.

"Spike, go get our things and then shoot the three interferers." said Prof. Abraham, his eyes still glued to the gold in the box. Spike walked over to his bags and picked them up. It was obvious he had inner turmoil.

"Now Spike, we need to go and dispose of Asarath. I know he's not dead but he will be of no use to us." He said kicking the heap at his feet. "Then we need to-"

"-Professor Abraham, the gold is mine." The professor looked up to see Spike a few feet away with a gun pointed straight at his head.

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