Tremble

Chapter 9: Destanation

Even though it was practically pitch black outside when Mrs. Kimbley left, my eyes could barley adjust to the dark forest atmosphere. The girl ahead of me started to finally lose some speed and seemed to be looking for something.

"Hey!" I said, "No one is crazy enough to follow us this far into the woods, where are we even going anyway?"

The girl proceeded to ignore me.

"Look for a small notch in the ground it would be about five inches long, and three inches wide." She said while gesturing the size with her fingers.

This was absurd, I'm being followed by creeps with flashlights, and I'm following some crazy chick who has seemed to lose her mind in the middle of the wilderness, but my options were limited, so I sided with the crazy wilderness chick. I bent down and rubbed my hand across the moss looking for a divot. Moments passed and still no luck.

"So how exactly will this notch in the ground help us, may I ask?" I said frustrated.

She looked at me her eyes determined, But worried.

"Listen the people following you have no good intentions, and they can definitely track us, this notch we are looking for is a handle for a small wooden door, this is where I've been instructed to take you." She paused. "Just stay quiet and look."

So I did I wanted to ask about three hundred different questions, but she sounded so series, so I took her seriously.

"Can I ask one thing?" I asked.

"What" She grumbled while digging through a big patch of moss.

"What is your name?" I said in a surprisingly calm, polite tone.

She stood to address me.

"Margret."

I nodded and dug through the moss as well. After what seemed like eons Margret spoke up.

"Found it!" Her tone relieved.

She set two fingers within the space of the divot and pulled upwards. A creaky wooden door, roughly the size of a SUV side door rose from the shrubbery and a soft glow spilled out from inside.

"Come, quickly!" Margret urged.

She lowered herself down, and I did the same. A room with old wooden walls opened up, full of people talking, laughing, all sitting at tables, as if they were in a restaurant. No one glanced at us as Margret slammed the door loudly. She stalked by the groups of people until we had reached the end of the hall. There stood a fair young man, maybe in his early twenties, with dark brown hair, and glasses. Margret regarded him.

"Jonathan where's Kart, I need to speak with her, urgently!"

Jonathan turned his demeanor menacing, and tense.

"I said I preferred to be called John!" He growled his fists clenched.

Margret leaned to my ear and whispered:

"Jonathan here has major anger issues."

After half a minute he finally calmed down.

"Kart is in the back room, working as usual." John said calm, but frustrated.

Margret gave him a cheeky smile and went her merry way.

"Who are these people, and who's Kart?" I asked.

"You will see soon enough, now don't draw attention to yourself, just lay low."

The hall was lit by dangling light bulbs hanging from electrical wires that seemed frayed and strained. The floor creaked with every step, and the air smelled musky and moldy.

"Well this is pleasant." I said feeling no safer than I did outside in the dark woods.

"Give us a break, we did our best with an abandoned half collapsed mine shaft." Margret said

"Abandoned mine shaft?" I inquired.

" Yup, place used to be a coal mine back in the forties, was in really bad shape until we fixed it up."

It didn't look very "Fixed up" to me, but she sounded proud of it so I didn't rain on her parade.  A door came into view and my curiosity grew. Margret moved forward and gestured me to follow. Inside the room was a rectangular table surrounded by chairs. All the chairs were empty except the one at the farthermost end. There sat a women with a tight stature, she looked to be older, and she appeared to be wearing a uniform, much like one a marine would wear.

"Mrs. Kart." Margret said with politeness and respect.

Mrs. Kart stood .

"I see you've completed your assignment, please discuss the details, but be concise." She said her voice steady and strong.

Margret and I sat at the other end of the table and she recited everything as if she had been through the ordeal seven times before. I fidgeted in my chair and stayed quiet, I didn't want to upset this women, she seemed kind, but only if she wants to be. Kinda like a cat.

"Hmmmm" Her face was thoughtful.

"Squirt!" She yelled.

A pudgy kid came running into the room. It was the guy from the stream.

Finally an answer!

"Yes ma'am." He said his voice weak.

"It looks like Margret here has achieved the job you failed at," Kart said, then her tone became very menacing. "I would like to speak with you here in a moment."

Margret looked at him as if he were a piglet at the doors of a slaughter house. Kart spoke up again, this time with a much lighter tone.

Man this woman had a crazy range of emotions.

"But first Margret and Elizabeth here seem very tired, I suggest they retire for the night." She turned directly to Margret, "I trust you will show her the way"

Margret nodded and slowly pulled me out of the room. The questions spilled out of my mouth.

"How,Where, When,...What?"

"Hey listen we ran through roughly two miles of wilderness, I suggest you get some sleep." Margret said kindly.

I had no clue what to do, I was in some weird underground facility, full of strange people, but I was tired, and I didn't think going back home was a good idea.

"Okay"

I followed Margret down more halls until we came across a small chamber. Here there was a bed, nightstand, light, dresser, and a door to a restroom.

"Please make yourself comfortable, and don't leave this room." She said as she turned and closed the door. The lock clicked and I knew I was stuck.

I gave up and collapsed on the bed, before I could even think I was fast asleep.