VAGUE

CHAPTER 13 (PART 2)

CHAPTER 13

-PART TWO-

The tunnel curled away coldly into infinite dark, the light that showed the rough walls dwindling as it snaked away. My skin shuddered and I could feel my brain starting to defocus, searching for a way how can we reach them immediately.

Where should we start?

It had been a drug den and homeless shelter for decades. It's once beautiful arched brick walls were covered in graffiti. The floor was littered with hypodermic needles, broken bottles and sewage. It was populated by the most desperate low-lives, locked in their own dog-eat-dog existence back there. As we stood before it, almost knocked out by the stench, our flashlights shining feebly into the entrance we glanced at one another, pale but resolute.

"Now or never" I whispered

"Do or die" Gray mocked between his breathes

Everything rested on us. The only hint of the abandoned tunnel as was a slight rise in the ground, a hillock if you will, but one that was long like an almighty worm had burrowed under the tussock grass. Smelled of the earth but the floor crunched beneath each footfall and echoed. Lights flicker, casting an ominous glow throughout the tunnel, causing shivers to ripple across my body. Dragging my right hand across the wall and the left was holding a gun, picking up dust and grime. Wind streams through the tunnel, clutching the scattered pieces of ragged papers, twirling them in the air, only to drop them off into the void. All sign of life has vanished from the tunnels that were once so full of warmth.

"Are you sure they're here?" Gray asked me

"Really?! You're the one who track them not me idiot!" I hissed with an irritated tone

"Their trackers stated and pointing this place so I guess they're literally here hiding or something!" he said

"Jesus Christ! You're unbelievable!" I stated

It was like a snake skin turned inside out, slinking into the abyss of the hillside. Whoever built it tunneled for the softest soil, not giving a damn about how straight the line was. In just meters there was no sun from behind, the dark tiles absorbing every ray. So long had passed since they used it its existence was in danger of passing from legend to myth. It lay unused under the city, not a footstep having echoed within the tiled walls for generations. The ends had become closed off by years of leaves piling up in the autumn winds, now decomposed to a rich soil and supporting much flora.

I peer as I stare at the silver chip beneath my feet. Rebounding off the crumpling walls, and crumple to the ground in sorrow.

"G-Gray!" I mumbled

"H-Hey! What happened... what was that?" he kept on asking as he slowly walks on my direction

I grab the microchip and handed it to my brother.

"Is this?—"

"The tracker" Just like the tunnel my soul was like too abandoned and all fades to black that was left in eternal darkness.

"who did this?" Gray mocked again

A whooshing sound echoed on our direction.

I stand up and follow a leaping figure, half-dreading that moment when I would pass through the arch into the claustrophobic dank, river-smelling darkness and would hear, unnaturally loud, the suck of the canal against the paving stones and the slow drip of water from the low roof.

"Price, what happened to you?... what are we doing here? This is the end of the tunnel... why'd you run?" he confusedly asked

"Someone was here!" I whimpered