The Portum (Undergoing Rewrite)

Part Thirteen

I thought the guards were going to be stood there, but no-one was, except my mother's black range-rover. That was odd, I thought my mother was going to hand me over to the guards; that was what I had thought anyway.

My mother pushed me into the back seat, muttering at me to put my seat-belt on. Before getting into the driver's seat.

Knowing better than to argue, I pulled the seatbelt on. My mother turned the ignition and the car started, setting off. We were headed in the opposite direction from tunnel one, I frowned. Daring to speak up, I coughed to get my mother's attention. She glanced up at the rear-view mirror, "What?" She snapped, I was taken aback, my mother had been angry before but she had never snapped or yelled at me.

"I-arm, where are we going?" I spoke, feeling a little anxious, I played around with the backpack's straps while I waited for an answer. My mother sighed, "We're going to a place where you'll be safe, that's all I'm saying." I grumbled, as if that wasn't cryptic enough.

I looked out of the window, we were pulling into a street I had never seen before, and a tunnel lay further down the street. It was strange, I had no idea this tunnel existed.

The tunnel wasn't even lit, it was pitch black.

I sighed, knowing if I showed a sign of panic, my mother wouldn't be happy.

As we neared the tunnel, the car pulled to a stop. My mother got out and opened my door, I unclipped my seat-belt, sliding out.

I held the backpack straps tightly, worried my mother might take it off of me. My mother grabbed my elbow and pulled me along, walking towards the tunnel.

My mother's iron grip felt like it crushed my arm, I almost had to jog to avoid being dragged along. For a woman in heels, my mother was fast. We stopped outside the tunnel entrance. Shadows swirled around inside, as though at any moment they would reach out and drag me into the darkness. I gulped.

My mother pulled out a small torch from her pocket and flicked it on, illuminating the tunnel a little. She carried on walking, dragging me into the dark. I was almost blind, the torch provided little light.

We stopped and I was dragged to my mother's side, my shoulder felt like it was almost wrenched out of its socket. I winced, and stood beside my mother. She still looked furious even though I could barely make out her silhouette.

My mother was facing the side of the tunnel, squinting I could just about make out what looked like a door. My mother pointed the torch at the door, it had a keypad by the handle, and what I think was a retinal scanner.

My mother stepped closer, her hand never leaving my arm. She began punching in a code into the keypad, an audible click was heard. Then she bent down, staring into the scanner, it beeped as it scanned her eyes. The door swung open, a green light shone inside.

"What is this?" I mumbled, questions buzzed in my mind.

A figure appeared from the shadows, greeting my mother with a handshake, barely acknowledging me, they spoke in hushed voices, so I couldn't hear. I sighed, trying to pull away from my mother, soon her nails would make my arm bleed.

"Mum, could you loosen your grip please? My arm will break..." I muttered, the comment only got me a stern glare from my mother, who still seemed fuming.

Suddenly my mother let go, which surprised me; that feeling lasted for a few seconds before the other person grabbed my arm, dragging me. I yelped and tried to pull away, shooting my mother frantic looks, she just looked away, like she either didn't care, or she was just disappointed with me.

I was dragged into the doorway, I blinked as my eyes adjusted to the light.

I looked at the person who had stopped dragging me to close the door; they wore black clothes, which looked like a uniform. The person turned to face me, I suppressed a shiver, the person was a man, but nasty scars dissected his face into sections, I wasn't being rude, but it still scared me a little.

"W-where are you taking me?" I asked, as the person seized my arm again. I yelped, by the end of whatever this is, my arm would need a lot of ice.

I was dragged towards yet another door, it had glass see-through doors, and a keypad.

The man typed in a code and the doors opened, I was dragged inside as the doors closed behind me. I coughed as a mist fell into the room, an alarm beeped, before the mist stopped. The doors on the other side of the glass box opened, I frowned, "What just happened?" I asked the person, who blinked at me.

"We were cleansed of any possible germs, to prevent contamination." The person responded, I grumbled, the answer wasn't anything but cryptic, "Contamination of what?" I wondered.