“Where do you think we are?” Rebecca asked.
“I think we’re here,” Michael said, pointing to a dark line leading to a square with the symbols for the two doors.
Cracks forked across the ceiling. The stones were a darker color than in the previous room and the inscriptions carved into them ran vertically. Their shoes kicked up dust as they stepped around the room, trying to decipher the illegible text. A row of pictures, like Egyptian hieroglyphics, connected the door on the left and the right. Standing alone in the corner, a stone cylinder with a bowl-shaped top anchored itself against the wall as if it had previously held some precious, ancient object.
Rebecca approached the wall to her left. She ran her fingers across the inscriptions like a blind person reading braille.
Michael stepped over to Joey. “Thank you.”
Joey squished his eyebrows together and formed a goofy grin. “For what?”
“You saved my life,” Michael said.
“Well, I wasn’t just going to let you die, man.”
“Why not? You wanted to kill me yesterday.”
Joey chuckled. “Yeah, I was kind of pissed then. But after I saw that old man die earlier, I realized I’ve seen enough death. Let’s just get what we came for and get out.”
Michael glanced down at the map in his hands. “I’m sorry I put your lives in danger.”
Rebecca peeked her face around the front of Joey’s. “Let’s stay together next time, okay?”
Michael nodded.
“At least you got what you wanted,” Joey said.
Michael lit up the map again and focused on a large rectangle centered in the bottom area where Finn had suggested they look for their family members. A smaller square above that Finn had identified as the temple. The tunnels twisted and turned and, by following the lines, they led back to the large rectangle, although there was no way to know for sure if they were accurate. The tunnels could go on for miles. Maybe humans didn’t create all of them. Maybe the monsters living below the town created some of them or all of them. Not all the tunnels were on the map; that was clear, so how could they be sure of anything?
In the map’s corner, one small square split off into two lines. One line led across and around the map to the large main room.
Michael aimed his flashlight at the door on the left.
“Which one should we take?” Rebecca asked.
“That one,” Michael said. “I think it goes straight there.”
Michael put away the map again, and they went through the left door and down the corridor, certain at any moment they would either discover their loved ones or run into more monsters.
A low rumbling reverberated around them, and the floor shifted like it did during a small earthquake. They shot their flashlights up and down the tunnel, expecting something to crash through the wall and attack them. Could the creatures alone be the cause of the tremors? Maybe an enormous section of tunnel had collapsed. He’d lived through plenty of earthquakes in California, and this was different.
“What the hell is that?” Joey asked.
“We should hurry,” Rebecca said.
The stench of the black liquid and corpses followed them like a dark cloud as they raced forward. Joey swung around his machete like a blind man tapping a stick out in front of him as he walked. It clanked on the stone floor and walls.
“Joey, don’t do that,” Rebecca said.
“Do what?” Joey clanged his machete louder.
“Your machete,” she said, “it might attract attention.”
The ground trembled again.
Michael lost his balance and stumbled. “That can’t be an earthquake.”
“Why not?” Joey asked.
“Doesn’t feel like one.”
“What is it then?”
He imagined a massive giant slamming his fist against the ground or a legion of those bessies slamming their bodies against a massive wall in a coordinated attempt to break through to the surface of the Earth. Maybe Pastor John’s explanation of demons from hell wasn’t so far from the truth.
Dust whirled around them and clouded the air. They coughed and covered their mouths as their visibility dropped to near zero. Michael led them forward as the dust settled, and Rebecca tugged at his shirt as she walked behind him with Joey at her side.
“How are we going to get them out of here once we find them?” Joey asked.
“I’m sure Grandpa will know a way out,” Michael said.
“I mean it’s not like we can leave from the same place we got in,” Joey said. “We can’t go back up that awesome slide we came down to get in here. I’d rather live down here for the rest of my life than climb through that corpse depository again.”
They approached a pile of rubble, and Michael’s eyes widened. Dead end. The collapsed stones and dirt extended up to the ceiling. There had to be a way through that pile. How deep could it be?
He set his backpack down and scoured the surrounding debris for something they could use to dig their way through.
“Are we trapped?” Rebecca asked.
“No,” he lied.
“Aw, hell,” Joey said. “Stand back.” He scrambled up near the top of the pile and clawed away at the blockage near the ceiling. The rocks and sand sizzled as it cascaded to the floor. He then sat at the top and ground his shoes into the pile as he slid down moving the dirt like a bulldozer.
“What’s that light?” Rebecca asked Michael. Her eyes locked onto his backpack.
25
“What light?” Michael replied.
A faint red glow seeped through an unzipped section along the top of his backpack.
Joey stepped out of the rubble and walked over near them.
“Oh wow,” Rebecca said, “is that your cellphone?”
“I didn’t bring my cellphone.”
Michael unzipped his backpack. The residual goop from his canteen had smeared over his supplies. He hoisted out the canteen and pushed aside the snacks. The source of the red glow blinded him for a moment as his eyes adjusted to the light.
“It’s the medallion,” he said.
He dug it out and directed the light away using his palm. The area lit up as if he held out a powerful lantern. Michael switched off his flashlight.
“Wow,” Joey said. “Why didn’t you turn that on before?”
“I didn’t turn it on.”
“How is it glowing?” Rebecca asked.
Michael turned it over in his hand, searching for a power switch. Some of the black liquid from the canteen had smeared across the silver casing holding the stone.
“Weird,” he said.
“Keep it out while I dig,” Joey said, turning off his flashlight.
The ground shook again, and Rebecca held her hand out toward the wall. The smaller chunks of stone tumbled down the rock pile.
Michael held the medallion out, and the surrounding chamber lit up in soft crimson. He returned the canteen to his bag as the rumbling increased. He wobbled as if a jumbo jet had passed overhead and, once again, the dirt and dust rose into the air like mist on a foggy morning. A hunk of rubble broke off the ceiling and rolled down the pile of stones blocking their exit. It crashed across the floor like a bowling ball. And just as fast as the rumbling started, it stopped.
“The earthquakes are getting stronger,” Michael said.
Rebecca coughed, waving her hand in front of her face. “I can’t breathe.”
“We’ll be out of here in a minute.” Joey climbed up the pile and continued kicking down the debris. He yanked at a basketball size stone near the top of the pile, growling as it broke free. It rolled to the floor and collided with the other rubble.
“I’ll need a shovel,” he said.
“I wish we’d brought one,” Rebecca replied.
Michael joined Joey near the top of the pile and hammered away at the larger chunks with the heel of his shoe. The pieces crackled as they slid down and spread onto the floor. Rebecca scooped with both hands at
the dirt near the middle. Michael stepped up higher in the pile and dug a hole at the top. As the rubble collapsed away, he thrust his arm into the hole up to his elbow. The debris at the end of his arm pushed away, and his fingers poked out the other side.
“We’re through,” he said.
The dirt collapsed further until a void the size of a baseball emerged. They ripped away at the edges until it was large enough to see through. They gathered near the top and Michael focused the medallion’s light through the opening. The corridor continued at least another twenty feet.
“Okay,” Michael said, “who wants to be first?”
Without a pause Rebecca slipped off her backpack and jammed it through the hole. She held her arms out in front of her as if about to dive into a pool and guided her body through the opening. The stones scraped against her clothing as she wiggled and twisted to the other side.
Michael motioned to Joey. “You go next.”
Joey pushed his own backpack through and then squirmed in up to his waist. He backed out again and clawed away more gravel.
“Me and my big belly.” He took in a deep breath and held it as he crammed himself in again. Michael pushed against his legs until he was through.
Michael slid down the pile to retrieve his backpack. A booming thud echoed from the hallway behind him. He glanced back into the darkness, holding up the red light. His heart quickened. He was alone. The machete handle stuck out from his unzipped backpack. Who would watch his back as he went through the hole?
Michael raced up the rock pile and shoved his backpack through the opening. Rebecca snatched it from the other side. Joey was drinking water when he glanced at them.
“Did you guys hear that?” Michael asked.
“Hear what?” Rebecca said.
“Never mind.” Michael handed Rebecca the medallion, and the darkness closed in around him. He extended his arms and crawled through. Jagged rocks dug into his stomach while Rebecca pulled his arm. His feet scraped across the stones, and one of his shoes caught on the top of the hole. It slipped off his foot and lodged itself between stones as he slid forward, facedown, the other side enveloped by the red light from the medallion.
“My shoe,” Michael said.
“I got you, man,” Joey said, stepping up the pile of stones. They crumbled down in a wave as he retrieved the shoe.
Joey froze staring back into the hole. “Guys, I think we should get going.”
Michael stood at the bottom of the pile with one foot up off the ground doing a balancing act as if getting his sock dirty mattered at all.
“What did you see?” Rebecca asked.
“It’s back there.” Joey turned and slid back down the rubble pile, his eyes wide open. He scrambled with Michael’s shoe in his hand and jammed his foot on a rock as he slid down, throwing him forward until he caught his balance again. He delivered Michael’s shoe and charged past him toward Rebecca.
“It can’t be. It couldn’t have gotten through that door. That thing was solid.” Michael emptied dirt from his shoe and slipped it back on.
A rapid burst of clicks came from the other side of the hole as if the creature was lurking near the edge. Joey and Rebecca dug out their machetes and shot their flashlights at the hole.
The medallion’s red glow flared brighter. Shadows veered in and out of sight along the hole’s edge. With an explosion of air, an ebony beak plunged forward and jammed its jaws between the stones. It cracked the top and bottom halves of its talon-like beak together, snapping wildly as if screaming to be fed. Its flesh convulsed within the red light, then shot back out of the hole again. It cowered beyond the edge as if waiting for the light to fade.
“Why isn’t it attacking us?” Rebecca asked.
“Maybe it can’t fit through there,” Joey said.
Michael stood in front of them with the machete out in one hand and the medallion in the other. “Maybe it’s trapping us.”
They hurried farther down the tunnel, and at the edge of the medallion’s light, the familiar black tentacles finally inched out of the hole. Michael stopped. The demon shrank back and hissed, but not in the same terrifying way it had earlier. Now the hissing didn’t hurt his ears. Michael stepped toward the creature, and it backed further into the hole, hissing louder as it retreated.
“What are you doing?” Joey asked.
“It’s staying out of the medallion’s light,” Michael said. “Do you see any rocks, huge rocks, we can use to jam in that hole?”
“None that are big enough,” Joey said.
“How did it get through the door?” Rebecca asked.
“Maybe it knows a way around it. The map showed that the tunnels are all interconnected.”
Joey grabbed a fist-sized stone from the corner and hurled it like a baseball pitcher at the hole. The stone sailed through the opening and cracked against the floor on the other side. “Bullseye!”
“Joey, that’s just going to make it mad,” Rebecca said.
“Let it get mad,” he said. He picked up another larger stone and pitched it. That stone landed without a sound until the demon’s cracking beak broke the silence.
Michael backed away, watching for any signs of it coming through.
“We should keep moving,” Rebecca said, leading them further down the corridor. The red glow faded, and their flashlights scoured every corner of the tunnel ahead of them as they prepared for an ambush. Darkness approached on both sides ahead as the corridor branched off to the left and the right.
“The map shows we should go to the left,” Michael said, “but the tunnel also goes to the right.” Michael walked over to the stone archway on the right, bathing the corridor in red light.
Rebecca walked over to the left entrance, shining a flashlight down the tunnel that had been carved through the stone. “If the map said to go left, then we should go left. We should stick to the map.”
“But maybe this is a shortcut,” Michael said, “and that way is the opposite direction of the temple. Maybe the map’s wrong?”
The faint echo of a scream caught Michael’s ear. “Did you hear that?”
“No,” said Joey. Rebecca shook her head.
Michael held his breath. Their eyes darted across the walls. Another scream echoed from the tunnel on the right.
“I heard that,” Rebecca said. Her eyes stretched wide and darted toward the tunnel on the right. “Someone’s down there.”
They hurried through the passageway toward where they had heard the scream. Michael’s medallion faded until it no longer provided light, so he slipped it into the pocket of his jacket and used his flashlight instead.
The passageway ended at a descending staircase. The stone stairs were broken apart and eroded. Rocks from the walls had crumbled across the stairs, filling in the gaps between the steps.
A woman’s scream filled their ears. It was louder now and came from the bottom of the stairs. Michael scrambled down the steps with one hand against the wall to keep from stumbling over the loose rubble. Rebecca nearly tripped over him to get to the bottom first. At the bottom of the steps, they skidded through a thick layer of dirt, and a woman’s scream echoed again.
“Mom?” Rebecca said in a high-pitched voice.
“Are you sure?” Joey asked.
Rebecca paused. “I’m not sure, but it’s coming from up there.” She pointed to the upper part of the wall. “There’s somebody on the other side of the wall.”
26
Pastor John approached the Black House looking forward to Michael and Rebecca’s pleas for mercy to be set free. They’d never be released. He had a plan for them. God had a plan for them to retrieve more of the Dunamis from deep within the tunnels. He doubted they’d survive long down there, just as the others hadn’t survived more than a day, much less brought back even a single drop of the substance, but they would be useful in distracting the phantoms long enough for his own men to push into the unmapped areas. Their fate was death; it made no difference. If they brought back Duna
mis, they would never see the light of day. He’d send them down into the tunnels again and again to retrieve more until the phantoms killed them. The problem would solve itself.
He took out his keys to unlock the deadbolt, but it wasn’t locked. Brother Brian had not followed protocol. Heat flushed across his face, and he stuffed the keys back in his pocket. Brother Brian would pay a price for his failure.
The door squeaked open as he entered.
“Brother Brian.” Pastor John eyed the guard’s empty chair.
The overhead light in the outer room revealed the hollow, barred window covering the door to the cell. He stomped over and peered into the darkness, searching for Michael and Rebecca’s forms. The cell was empty.
“Brother Brian!” Pastor John slipped out his pistol from its holster and fired it at the guard’s chair.
A few moments later, Brother Brian and another guard from outside ran into the Black House with their pistols drawn. Brother Brian rushed into the cell and spun around.
“Where did they go?” he yelled. “Where’s Joey?”
“They escaped,” Pastor John said. “You failed me.”
He stormed past them and went into the church through the back door and down to the basement where Brother David’s office door was open. The rapid clicking of a computer keyboard stopped when Pastor John approached.
“Brother David,” he growled in a low voice as he entered the office.
Brother David formed an insincere smile and broke his focus from the computer screen. Pastor John tapped his pistol against the keys in his pocket. Brother David’s smile dropped.
“Brother David,” he said again with a wide grin, “are you aware that Michael and Rebecca are no longer in the Black House?”
“I am not,” he said.
Pastor John’s grin grew wider and his eyes narrowed. “Why not?”
Brother David was silent.
“Satan has given us another challenge,” Pastor John said. “God is testing our faith.”
Brother David nodded and looked at the pistol again. Pastor John’s eyelid spasmed every few seconds.
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