I checked out the DVDs. A lot were new movies. ‘Maybe the government will stay down here if there’s a war. When they aren’t working they’d come here to relax.’
‘We shouldn’t be in here,’ Adam said. ‘We’re trespassing.’
I shrugged, ‘The door’s open.’
‘We could get into trouble.’
‘Scared?’ Pitt grinned. ‘Let me take your mind off going to jail. Da-dah!’ He swung open a fridge door. Packed with chocolate! Every shelf had neat stacks of chocolate in bright blue wrappers. Right at the front of the confectionary was a single bottle of tomato ketchup, with a dried dribble of sauce stuck to the label. He opened another door to reveal frozen chickens. ‘People could live for months down here.’
Adam followed us in a daze. ‘But that door upstairs? Something clawed at it. Then bust it open. What happens if it comes back?’
Only we were too excited exploring to listen to his warning. But we should have done. We really should. Because what happened next was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever experienced.
Five
We’d discovered that the big TV had a games feature. Jenny and Pitt were figuring out how to get the two silver androids onscreen to shoot down the helicopter gunship when...
‘Hey guys.’ Adam’s eyes bulged in fear. ‘Did anyone hear that?’
Pitt studied the onscreen Game Help. ‘Hear what?’
‘Bad news, guys. Someone’s coming down the stairs!’
This time we froze.
‘What if we’re caught down here?’ I whispered. ‘It might be the police.’
‘Or soldiers?’
Adam shuddered. ‘Or the thing that smashed open the door.’
That complex of subterranean rooms had been brightly lit. But somehow the light seemed to fade. The bright greens and oranges of the furniture became dull. That big glassy TV screen seemed to resemble a huge alien eye. One that stared with hatred. Or so it seemed to me. A cold, cold sensation crept through my veins. For some reason a pain flared above my right eye. It must be THAT SOUND. I’d heard nothing like it before. Something was coming down the stairs we’d used just ten minutes ago.
Jenny whispered, ‘It doesn’t sound like ordinary footsteps.’
A soft clump, clump. Shivers ran along my arms.
Pitt turned to face the stairway door. It was closed. Even so, he heard all too clearly. ‘A voice... but can anyone hear what it’s saying?’
‘That’s no human voice.’ I heard a low snarling. Also, I made out words but not in a language I understood. ‘Neefer-ratt-saaar.’
‘It’s getting closer.’
The door began to creak open. ‘Neefer-ratt-saaar.’
‘Run!’
‘But where,’ cried Adam. ‘That’s the only way out!’
Six
Panic! We searched for somewhere to hide. Jenny pointed to another door. ‘Through there!’
A sign on it read DANGER. NO ENTRY. But this was no time to pause. Behind us the stairway door creaked. That strange, menacing voice grew louder: ‘Neefer-ratt-saaar.’ After that, an excited snorting as if a hungry beast had smelt food. Beyond the door Jenny had pointed out were more steps - only these went down, deep underground. The stairwell was a gloomy pit, descending into a forbidden, dangerous place. Here were yet more signs. CAUTION. NO ENTRY. DANGER OF DEATH!
Seven
The four of us dashed downstairs. Upstairs, whatever had entered the bunker must be in the lounge. Does it know we’re here? Will it follow?
‘Sheesh,’ Pitt gasped. ‘What is this place?’
Jenny raced into a maze of tunnels. ‘Keep moving. We don’t know if that thing’s going to come after us.’
‘What we gotta do,’ panted Adam, ‘is find a way out. Fast!’
These tunnels were gloomy places. Shadows lurked at every corner. I guessed the tunnels were broad enough to accommodate three buses side-by-side, they were certainly high enough, too, but the length? They stretched faraway into the distance. And did I mention the cold? Breath misted out all white. In the tunnels were huge, hulking forms covered with plastic sheets. Adam was so frightened he hurried forward without pausing to look. Pitt hauled up the sheets.
‘Hey, a Jeep. And check this out... wow! A tank. Look at the size of that gun.’
Jenny whistled. ‘This is where the army must keep spare equipment, just in case the other stuff gets wiped out in an attack.’
Pitt’s eyes shone. ‘I wonder if there are any rockets.’
Jenny started to say, ‘You can forget taking - ’
BANG!
Adam shouted, ‘That’s the door to the stairs - something just bashed it open.’
By now the entrance we’d come through was way off in the distance. Just a speck. But we could make out another speck. This one moved.
Fast!
‘It’s found us!’
We ran like crazy. By tanks, vans, troop carriers, all covered with sheets of plastic. They formed sinister mounds. They hinted at deathly things.
In the gloom, the confusion, the speed at which everything happened, it was inevitable. I turned off into another tunnel. A minute later I stopped to get my breath back. Then I saw the others weren’t with me.
‘Pitt, Jenny, Adam. Where are you?’There was no reply. A deadly silence filled the tunnel. My friends? No sign. Only the unnerving shapes of vehicles under grey shrouds. At any second that demon-thing might prowl round the corner. Here I was, alone.
All alone.
Eight
Listen. When you’re alone, your head fills with thoughts, doesn’t it? If you’re walking by yourself through a forest you start to imagine you’re being followed. If you’re alone at night, then open the blind to look out, you’re convinced a stranger’s face will look back at you through the glass. Being alone can make your imagination turn bad.
There in the tunnel, deep underground, I waited. I could hear my own breathing. I saw warnings: CAUTION. HAZARD ZONE. At any moment I expected that monstrous thing to come roaring at me. But what was it? There was a sense of menace and strength about it, but I’d not seen it clearly. It had only been a speck at the far end of the tunnel. Just what could live down here that could break out through a thick bunker door?
Shivering, I continued walking in the hope I’d find another exit to the surface. Then a sight met my eyes that didn’t give me any hope. One of the plastic sheets had been ripped to pieces. Shreds of grey covered the floor. A container on a truck had been broken open. Soldiers’ helmets had tumbled out. I picked one up. There were four holes in it, big enough to wiggle my fingers through. Bite holes.
‘They sure have big mice round here.’ I tried to laugh at my own joke but the echo made me flinch. ‘Time to get out of here, Naz,’ I told myself. ‘Otherwise you’re going to end up as dinner.’
Nine
I went through the tunnel. Silence oppressed me. That quietness felt like a towel pressed over my face. At times, that alone, seemed as if it would stop me breathing. When I paused to catch my breath the silence got even worse. All I could hear was the scratchy rasp... rasp as I breathed in and out. The air from my lungs blew in white blasts in the harsh light. Got to find the others, I told myself. Then gotta get out. Get away from here.
Because I knew the truth - down here we were not alone. Some thing hunted us. As I rested for a moment I looked back the way I’d come. I stared until my eyes watered. All those vehicles covered in grey plastic sheeting. They waited for war. Above me, on the tunnel roof, clung a big black object with spider legs. My eyes locked onto it. A gurgle sounded in my throat as my heart raced - bang, bang, bang. Then I took a deep breath. The spider object was some kind of mechanical hoist bolted to the ceiling. That’s all. The black legs were a steel grab. Probably the soldiers used it to load equipment onto these
trucks that lined the tunnel like slumbering beasts.
I rubbed my eyes then checked the tunnel again. Nothing there... yet. I continued walking. My footsteps echoed from the walls.
‘Pitt, Jenny, Adam.’ The call came as a whisper rather than a shout. A sense of danger filled me. I didn’t dare shout the names of my friends, just in case it heard. I shuddered. Were they still safe? Or had they been caught? Dread oozed inside of me. What if I never saw the three again? What would I say to their parents? If the worst happened, who would tell the police? Imagine having to identify the bodies? I pictured figures lying under sheets on the ground. There’d be police dressed in those white forensic suits with the tight little hoods. One would start to pull back the sheet. ‘Okay, son. This isn’t going to be nice. Brace yourself for a shock. But take a good long look at what’s left of the face... and tell me the name of the person you see lying there.’
Suddenly, a whispering startled me. I’d been so preoccupied with imagining the gruesome scene with the police that I nearly leapt out of my skin. A grey shape began to swell outwards across the tunnel. I couldn’t run back because I might bump into whatever followed me. Now I couldn’t go forward because a grey, lumpy mass blocked my way.
‘Idiot,’ I panted. ‘It’s only the plastic sheeting.’ I took a closer look. The relief! I even tingled with embarrassment when I realised what had happened. A ventilation duct at the other side of the truck blew air under the wheels, causing the plastic sheet that covered the vehicle to inflate in the draught.
I pushed on. With luck I’d find my friends soon.
But life isn’t always so kind. A moment later I found scratch marks on a wall. On the floor were the remains of a poster. From what I could make out it had been a picture of a man and a women with children. Their faces had been clawed away as if some creature hated the sight of humans.
A huge shiver crawled up my spine. So: whatever lurked down here didn’t like people. That’s a fact. What’s more, its claws were so powerful they’d etched deep lines in the concrete wall when it destroyed the poster. I found myself touching my face. What would those claws feel like when they hooked into your skin?
‘Keep moving,’ I murmured, ‘whatever happens, just keep moving. You don’t want to be standing here when it comes round that corner.’
Ten
Leading off from this section of tunnel were rooms. Although deep underground they were dry. They didn’t smell bad. Objects lay on tables beneath more plastic covers. Those stretched out forms made me uneasy. Bodies under sheets? Well, that’s what they looked like. I made myself check them, otherwise my imagination would riot. I’d find myself picturing zombies rising from their tables of death. When I poked back the covers with a mop I found in a corner I saw that the ‘zombie’ shapes were only blankets packed in cellophane.
In every room hunched objects in the shadows suggested demon shapes. Elsewhere, were skeletons of mechanical equipment. Computer screens stared - all blank and hollow. Pipes gurgled softly, mocking me. Lights flickered. They seemed to be enjoying the fact I was scared. When they dimmed they seemed to be saying, Hey, Naz. At any moment we can switch ourselves off. How are you going to get out of here in the dark, Naz? Where will you go? When it’s all black and you’re scrambling to get out, and your hands touch a face covered in bristly hair, what you gonna do, then?
I was edgy. Sweat made my back sticky. Nerves filled my stomach with butterflies. When I came across a door bearing the words: Gun Store I was ready to steal a rifle to protect myself. I groaned in disappointment: the gun room was padlocked shut.
With the silence weighing heavy, I rejoined the tunnel. Echoing footsteps - my own. Where were my friends? Were they okay? I passed ten trucks parked nose to tail. Plastic sheets rustled. It was the air-conditioning units that caused the draughts. They made a sinister whispering. The air blew into my back. Those electric fans are strong, I thought. Plastic covers rippled. A loose end flew up to catch my ear. This isn’t right. How could fans be that strong?
Like white rats running across the floor, pieces of torn poster scurried. Lights flickered. The breeze got stronger. Plastic flapped with a snapping sound. I tried to ignore the blast of air in my back. Only the fans... nothing to worry about...
Unless...
I stopped dead. I knew I must look back.
Only I daren’t.
Because I knew what I’d see. This breeze? It was like being in a subway station when a train rushes through its tunnel to the platform.
The truth struck hard as a punch: Something’s coming this way. Something big. Something fast!
Eleven
Run? But fleeing will do no good. You can’t outrun this.
The breeze became a hurricane. Plastic sheets went crazy. Flapping, snapping, pieces ripped off. They shot down the tunnel like speeding phantoms. Lights dipped. Winked out. Darkness.
Utter darkness.
By touch alone I found one of the trucks. The cover whipped my face. Torrents of ice cold air roared. A charge of menace filled the place. There was the sense of something approaching.
You can’t out-run it, I told myself. Gotta hide!
The light flickered on in this section of tunnel. To my left and right, the tunnel was drowned in blackness. I couldn’t see a thing there. But I knew the monster charged toward me. Yes! I screamed the word inside my mind: monster! It couldn’t be anything else but a monster. I’d seen the gouge marks in the steel door. Then those helmets with holes bitten into them. Now - down in this maze of tunnels a monster ran as fast as a train. It was fierce and crazy - and hungry. A blazing hunger for human flesh. Instinct told me the brutal truth.
In three seconds flat I ducked under the plastic, opened the door to the truck’s cab, then hauled myself inside. There I sat behind the huge black ring of the steering wheel. I saw nothing much through the windows, only plastic rippling against glass.
Once again, the light went out. Dark. So dark I couldn’t see my own hands. No way would I be crazy enough to switch on the cab light, even if the battery still worked. A light, a movement, just a tiny, little sound from me would tell the monster where I hid. What followed then... good grief, I didn’t even want to think about it.
But what did happen then was so strange. For a moment I wondered if I imagined it... so weird... disturbing... unpleasant...
As I sat there in the cab of the truck I tried not to move. All of sudden it went quiet. The blast of air stopped. All those plastic sheets stopped their flapping. I could see nothing... way too dark for that. But from the soft, rustling noise I could picture the truck covers settling back down to hang limp... just like shrouds that cover the deceased. My heart beat with a dull rhythm. Time seemed to stand still. A pain started in my head. A thin, sharp one. A bit like an ice-cream headache. Brain freeze.
Strange.
I tried to rub my head but could hardly lift my arms. Why had I gone so weak? A dizziness made my head droop. All of a sudden I felt half-asleep. My head tilted again. Kinda woozy. My arms were peculiar. Floppy. All strength gone.
At that moment the light returned. Only much dimmer than before. A grey radiance seeped through the plastic. I gazed down almost dreamily at my hands; they sagged limp as dead birds on my legs. The headache got worse. It should have made me wake up, only I became even more drowsy. This was like being in bed and hovering in that floaty borderland between being awake and sleep. I gazed at the dashboard with its big speedometer and rev counter staring back like round eyes.
Then… a sound...
With a huge effort I turned my head. I looked out through the door window at the plastic sheet. This time I realised that it was semi-transparent. Through the milky grey material I saw a shape.
A shape that hadn’t been there before.
One that moved slowly... very slowly. I couldn’t say how big it was. But it must have bee
n far bigger than a man. Colours were impossible to distinguish. All I could make out were patches of light and dark. It moved slowly. Yet an altogether different aspect of the massive body troubled me more than words could say. And it was this. When the thing stopped moving there was something on its back that continued to move. My heart thumped. My blood became ice. Because it was this strange effect that disturbed me most. Objects were in motion at the top of the shape. I couldn’t see what they were because the plastic wasn’t properly transparent. All I could make out were blurred patches. They moved fast. A kind of scrambling motion. Then came a growling voice: ‘Neefer-ratt-saaar.’
At that time I could barely move. Dizziness gripped me. A pain still shot through my head.
‘You’re doing this to me,’ I murmured. ‘You’re affecting my brain. You’re causing the pain in my head.’ Drowsily, I continued to stare.
In that weird state of mind I didn’t worry about being found. At any moment, I expected the plastic to be ripped aside. I’d be face-to-face with this creature. This monster of the labyrinth.
Twelve
But as I sat in the truck, waiting for the monster to lunge through the plastic then drag me, howling, out of the cab, something else happened. Something unexpected. And somehow so worrying that at times I thought the shock would make my heart stop dead.
The pain in my head, the dizziness, the strange attack of exhaustion - I knew the monster did this to me. A sixth-sense inside of me warned that it had the power of mind control. That it could induce paralysis along with the headache and tiredness. Then came something extra. A weird sensation crept into my brain. It arrived in invisible waves from that figure, with the squirming back shapes, at the other side of the plastic cover.