S08E03 " Into the hungry dark"

[headquarters]

Bakersfield secure zone 2.26.2020. Surface temperature - 12 C*.

Moving hastily from the ruckus behind them in the bar, all of them scrambled hand over foot down the gravel and dirt in the narrow tunnel. Muted shots sounded from the bar room. The discovery of their murderered comrades outside the bar would have angered the patrolmen.

With some haste the party pressed on like rats in a flooding pipe.

Doc turned to Pain Jr. and DeCorba and said with a wry smile - "oh yeah.I forgot to mention that one of us gets picked to stay down here forever. Or he could of course choose mortal combat".

It was narrow. They crawled on for several minutes in silence. In places just squeezing by. Larry- shirt somehow still meticulously white- slid his briefcase in front of him and scampered on ahead. The tunel eventually widened some. The panting group could finally ease their backs and get up into a crouched walk some moments later.

" Get that NV kit of your head man!" Larry sounded angry. "Only the Kings men get to wear those. You want to end up as fodder? No? Well you better listen good". The others looked at eachother. Was everyone thinking the same? NV kit was slipped carefully into pockets ready at a moments notice.

Carefully avoiding slippery stones and nervously threading past sharp stalagtites and opaquely black puddles the five men entered the caves. Behind them the faint light of the passageway was gone some time ago. Someone had apparantly slid the trapdoor back into place. Pain Jr.shone a bright LED light that split the dark backwards behind the slowly advancing line of men.

" Stop that" the guide Larry- hissed. "You will get them angry."

The light was put out and the yellowish faint light of weaker battery lamps and the muted lights from rags being held in front of them guided them further. Their steps no took them passed a cavernous hall of sorts, huge columns of unknown and ancient stone holding the roof up - or were they mere natural formations ? Higher up on the columns some sort of markings seemed to be jutted over their expanse. But then again - it could be only sediments in the rock.

Larry swept an arm across the rom and pointed. "Dont go wandering of now. I would hate for one of you to step on a mine. Its messy. And this shirt is brand new. Also entrails attracts rats - lots of rats. And I is gone and left my fucking flute back in my crib man. So dont."

The party advanced in silence for the better part of half an hour, Larry navigating the seemingly pitch black caverns as if guided by voices. At times he would stop and throw his head back and crane his neck as if listening. Sometimes he shone a lamp and mused for minutes at pebbles. The only sound in the underground warrens the faintest drip from water sliding of the craggy roofs.

Their advance seemed like a perilous one. Their number were huddled together in a tight row as per Larrys instructions so no one would misstep. Their lights were kept subdued by holding rags over them to stunt their reach.They were like a tiny blot of faint yellow light slowly drifting a weaving path across an immense pond of black darkness.

Soon they entered halls and warrens with signs of habitation. Piles of debris and bone and waste lay smelling at intervalls. Some faint fluorescence shone almost invisibly from unseen hallways
further out in the dark. They onlly sounds to have been heard so far apart from their own ragged beath had been a slow drip of droplets of water falling from the vaults above their heads. Now a near inaudible whisper insinuated itself into the dark around them. At first so faint that it was like imagination and memory. But soon it grew and seemed to seep out of the blackness around them from many locations and it mixed together like a muted, faint whipsering choir of voices. Sometimes one of them would believe he had heard a single articulation, but mostly it was like the far trickle of a stream of words. All the while no one was seen. Distant and incomprehensive the voices were - just barely there. Each man gripped his weapons tighter and plodded on - peering into the dark all around. It was not cold down here - but neither was it warm. The sweat on their brows flowing cold from the constant strain of peering into darkness and of imagining the darkness and all it held looking back at them from the black depths.

At last the guide turned to his charges and nodded.

" I can go no further. These caverns all lead to the throne room. Just keep on going straight as soon as I am gone and you will see. Do not stop until someone hails you. I wish you luck. Not that it will matter. Here is a word to the wise - dont shine your lights on anyone. It means that you are attacking them, see.And present a really nice gift.It might not save you - but it can`t hurt."

Larry turned and flashed a light in a rapid series of two muted glimpses.

Soundlessly he turned and retraced his steps.Within seconds he was disappearing into the dark. Just before his form was engulfed in shadows he was seen to turn and whisper " You are inside.."

As they turned to observe the hall ahead the shadows seemed to come alive and glide soundlessly towards them from both sides of the hall as soon as they took the first step onwards.






As soon as you know - lets hear those dates !!