In the Panther's Wake

Chapter 11

Markus holds onto my shoulder and we move forwards like that, blind in the dark. I keep my arms out ahead of myself as we take one step at a time. It feels like the black will never end but at least we don't hear a sound, no sign of any more soldiers. After what feels like forever the darkness begins to fade. All of a sudden my hands hit a wall, and I feel around, but it's a dead end in front of me. I look left and reach out, touching cold rust. It's a ladder rung. I wrap my finger around the metal and look up. I can see a faint circle of thin light above, a way to the surface.

"It's either up, or back the way we came," I say.

"Then up we go," Markus whispers, "I don't want to risk going back. If there's one soldier down here there could be many."

"There's probably even more if we go up."

"Let's take our chances. With some luck we're right by the twin chimneys by now."

"Ok," I say, and start to climb.

I hear Markus just below me, his feet scraping on the rusty metal. To my relief the ladder goes all the way to the top, and there I stop and listen; not a sound.

I keep one hand tightly on the ladder and use my other hand, along with my head, to force the drain cover open a crack. It's heavy and it hurts my neck. I struggle to stop the metal clinking on the stone. I peer out at a wall ahead of me but can see nothing else. It's even darker than I expect it to be.

"I think we're inside a building. Maybe an old factory basement."

"Is it clear?"

"I can't see much, but I can't hear anything."

"Let's wait a few minutes, see if anything happens."

I let the drain cover down again and we wait, listen intently. After a few minutes of silence I lift the cover again, peer out, then as quietly as possible I slide it out of the way. It's heavy and I can barely move it on my own, but slowly I manage to move it across enough for me to squeeze out and climb to the surface.

I'm in a large room, in the far corner. There are huge grey tanks all around me and the ceiling is at least thirty metres high. Markus climbs out and squats beside me. It's very dark, the room windowless. A little light comes in through a large hole about ten metres off the ground on the wall beside us. There's also a small window on a wooden door to our left. A faint light flickers on the other side, like fireight.

"Which way do we go?" Markus asks.

"This wall faces east. We have to find a way around."

I glance across the room. The only other exit is a large steel door on the far side, but it leads west, backwards, only above ground this time and surely towards trouble.

"Through there," I point to the wooden door on our left.

Markus stares at me, looking very uncertain.

"I'll take a look," I whisper, as I begin crawling towards the door.

Markus slides the sewer cover shut again but there's a loud crash. I look at him; he's staring at the large steel door on the other side. The crash wasn't him. Someone's coming.

The sound of several footsteps approaches, growing louder.

I look at Markus, frozen.

"Go!" he says.

I push myself up onto my feet and move quickly to the wooden door. I peer through the small window. Before I have a chance to see anything Markus crashes into me from behind and we fall through it.