Forget the Forgotten

Chapter Eleven

Something smooth and greasy whizzed down her cheek.

A rat!

Amelia felt tiny claws crawl out her arm. And her stomach.

*They're all over me!* it shot through her head in horror.

Amelia writhed and lashing out, trying to get rid of the rats. The putrid water was in her nose and mouth.

She forced herself not to go crazy. *First you have to get out of the water and then you can take care of the rats,* she said to herself.

But where was up?

*Don't panic,* she said to herself. *It can't be that deep. You won't drown!*

A hand grabbed her arm. Then another.

Her head poked through the water and she looked up at Nick, who pulled her out.

Amelia grabbed a rat that was squatting on her shoulder and threw it back into the water. "Are there any more of them?" she cried. "Take them away!"

"They're gone," Nick assured her.

She choked and spat. The rotten water tasted foul!

"You really are having a bad day today," Nick remarked with a grin.

"Oh, you don't say," she muttered and wrung out the cuff of her sweatshirt, which didn't help much, though. Her clothes were completely soaked. However, she decided to take the sweatshirt off and throw it away, as it was torn anyway. She wore a black long-sleeved shirt underneath her uniform, so she didn't freeze completely.

Her ankle was throbbing and her elbows and knees were burning.

"If we stay down here long enough, you might get dry again," Nick said.

Amelia gave him a frowning look. "Very funny," she murmured.

"Here." Nick took off his army jacket and held it out to her. "Put this on. At least you won't freeze."

Amelia gratefully slipped into the jacket and pulled it tight. It was way too big for her, but still warm from Nick's body.

"Thank you," said Amelia, wringing a smile from herself. "That helps a little."

"Hey!" cried Veronica in a shrill voice. "What shall we do now?"

"Come over," Nick replied. "But don't step on any rats and fall in the water."

Amelia watched the others balance over the ledge. Tom did it in thirty seconds. Jacob was a little slower, but he moved without hesitation. Veronica crept over, pressed tightly against the wall.

*That's not fair,"*Amelia thought. *Why am I the only one who has gone swimming?*

"So," Nick said. "We made it. We've got to find a way out of here. Can you do that, Am?"

She sighed and shrugged. "What choice do I have? It can't get any worse."

They walked in silence for a while.

*We should have found another exit by now,* Amelia thought. *What's taking so long?*

She had her hands buried deep in the pockets of Nick's jacket. With one hand she felt the switchblade, with the other hand she felt wadded up paper.

Somewhere in the depths of this jacket there had to be the container with the lighter fuel. The lighter itself was obviously in Nick's pocket.

*I can't believe I'm wearing Nick Robinson's jacket,* she thought. *The jacket of a boy I never wanted anything to do with until now. A guy I wouldn't have been seen with.*

Amelia sighed.

*I'll probably get to know him pretty well,"*she thought. *From the looks of things, I'll be spending quite a bit more time with him if we don't get out of here.*

But then she quickly put that thought out of her mind. In the next moment she almost collided with Jacob, because Nick, who was walking in front, had suddenly stopped.

"Look at this," he said.

Apart from soot-blackened walls and thick cobwebs, nothing else caught Amelia's eye.

"What is it?" Jacob also asked.

"Can't you see it?"

"Would I ask then?" Jacob replied snappily.

"There," said Nick, pointing his torch at something.

Now Amelia saw it, too. Until now, all the walls had been cinder blocks or concrete, but the two-meter-wide area that Nick was pointing at was made of old, partially crumbled bricks. It reached from floor to ceiling.

"This looks like... wrong," Amelia said hesitantly.

"That's right. It looks like it doesn't belong here," Nick agreed with her.

He handed his torch to Veronica and began to torment the crumbly mortar that surrounded one of the bricks.

"What are you doing?" Jacob asked.

"Just checking something out," Nick said.

He scraped the mortar from the joint and tried to pull the brick out of the wall.

At that moment, the brick jerked back a little, as if someone on the other side of the wall was pulling on it.

Nick tore his hand away in horror.

"Was that you, Nick?" Tom asked.

"No," he answered in a husky voice and cleared his throat.

Amelia felt a thick lump in her throat. The fear literally took her breath away. Had she imagined that? Someone - or something - must have moved the stone.

"That's funny," whispered Veronica.

Amelia clawed her fingers into the lapels of Nick's jacket. Couldn't they have just left that stupid wall alone and move on? They didn't have to explore everything, did they?

"Nicholas..." she started, but he had his hand on the stone again.

But before he could touch it, it shot a couple of inches out of the wall.

"Uh-oh," muttered Nick.

*That's strange,* Amelia thought. *Fucking weird.*

Nick pushed the brick back into place.

"There we go. It looks the same as before," he said happily.

As if in response, a soft rumble sounded behind the wall. It grew louder and louder, increasing as fast as Amelia's fear.

*Run!* it shot through her head.

It's too late.

The rumble turned into a loud roar.

And then the wall exploded.

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897 words

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