SNAFU: Hunters

We headed back and circled our way around, eventually making it back to the flooded chamber from the other side. The ghoul’s blood still spattered the ground, but didn’t lead us far before ending at another submerged hallway with no way around.

After nine laborious hours, we returned to the surface, tired, bruised, and frustrated.

17, July 2009

“We’ll get them tonight,” Nick promised as we started down the manhole on our third night. “I promise.”

“You said that last night,” I said.

“But tonight they’ll get aggressive. Their trap didn’t work, so they’ll make their move. We just have to beat them to it.”

“If you’re wrong,” Colin said, his voice echoing up from below. “You owe me a drink.”

Metal and concrete grinded above as Nick slid the manhole cover into place. It thudded, pinching off the light from above. “Deal.”

The ladder ended in a circular brick chamber. Shards of broken bottles gleamed from a mound piled along one side. Three arched doorways led from the room. Above one, stenciled in metallic paint, read Dante’s immortal line, Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate, the words framed with winged skulls.

“All right, Doctor,” Nick said as he reached the bottom. “Which way?”

I nodded to Dante’s door, “Abandon all hope, you who enter here,” and we headed through. We followed the passage past several antechambers, each decorated in its own style. In one, a support pillar had been carved into that of a long-haired maiden, a rotted green blanket wrapped over her shoulders like a cape, and a hundred empty tea light cups laid out on the floor before her. I took comfort that none of those candles were burning.

The passage continued on, shrinking lower and lower until we had to crawl. Nick cracked another glow stick and hurled it ahead. It skittered and fell into a room at the far side. “Is there another way around?”

I shook my head. “No. Not unless we doubled back three kilometers. That should empty into the hall we want.”

He shined his light onto the ceiling, revealing a wide crack running the length. One good bump might easily bury us forever.

“Stay low,” he said, and continued forward.

Something moved past the light ahead, casting a shadow. Icy fear shot down my spine. There was no way to draw our weapons and fight in this tiny space, and whoever crawled into that room would be open to attack, helpless.

Scratching came from ahead, like fingernails desperately trying to dig their way through a chalkboard.

“Back!” Nick whispered through clenched teeth. “Back! Back! Back!”

We scrambled backwards. Colin cursed as my heel nearly took him in the eye, but I dared not slow lest Nick’s back-scrambling boots hit me. Heart pounding, sweat ran down my face and into my eyes. Finally, my feet made it back to the opening of this death trap and I nearly screamed as hands gripped me from behind, yanking my belt.

“Gotcha,” Colin said pulling me out.

I rolled onto my knees and helped pull Nick from the hole.

I peered down the empty tunnel, seeing an orange glow the far side, but nothing more. “Did you see it?”

Panting, Nick shook his head. “No. But, it… growled.”

“Shit.” I looked back down the shaft. “You think it’s waiting?”

He blew a long breath. “Possible. If it is, whoever sticks their head out of the passage first is a dead man.”

“What if we go close to the edge and pushed each other through at the end?” Colin asked.

“Not willing to risk that. Not if there’s another way.”

“Three kilometers,” I said.

“Then we need to hustle.” Nick cracked another stick and dropped it on this side of the shaft. “Keep your eyes and ears open. They’re hunting us now.”

Taking point, I led us back down the passage, past the cloaked maiden, and into another hall. Steps led down into gray water, leaving narrow ledges on either side. Straddling the flooded passage, our backs against the arched ceiling we moved on, our red-hued reflections staring up at us.

Twice we stopped and listened for sounds behind us, but heard nothing. Each time we dropped another glow stick so that we might see any pursuers following us past that point. After two hours, I turned down a passage and saw an orange glow ahead. Cautious, we drew our weapons and crept forward.

The glow stick rested on the floor, nine inches beneath the square passage in the wall. Hounacier ready, I removed a telescoping inspection mirror from my belt and held it out, making sure the tunnel was vacant, then peered through. Fifteen meters down, I could see the light of Nick’s second stick. “Clear.”

“Look at this,” Colin said, kneeling beside me.

More bare footprints, like those from the previous night, marred the dusty floor. They crisscrossed back and forth across the side entrance.

“At least two,” Colin said.

“And one in shoes,” I added, nodding to a set of sneaker tracks mixed in with the other prints.

“Which way?” Nick asked.

I motioned ahead.

“So let’s find ‘em.”