Fools of us All - Chapter 27

A damp, musty air moved past our faces. The tunnel was unlit, disappearing into complete darkness mere feet down its length. I looked at Jack and raised my eyebrows. He shrugged. I lowered my eyebrows and glared menacingly. Miraculously, he suddenly ‘remembered’ the light he was carrying in his pocket. He flicked it on, the light doing little to illuminate the passageway, but it was enough to proceed. I motioned Jack ahead and followed close behind.

Spin hesitated. “I’m not sure I’m comfortable with this,” he said, still standing at the mouth of the tunnel.

“Your other option is to stay where you are until the M.E.R.C.s find you and kill you,” I threw over my shoulder, not slowing my pace. A frustrated sigh wafted down the way behind me, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps as he jogged to catch up.

We walked for a long time, following the path before us. At some point a small trickle of water started running down the middle of the tunnel, its motion showing me that we were heading downhill. The tunnel curved a few times, but there were no paths leading to either side, and always we headed downward. Once we stopped and I examined the walls. They were curved, meeting above our heads like a giant pipe. They were also old, older than the portion at the mouth of the tunnel. These walls had been built a long time ago.

We continued walking, and I could feel more of a breeze against my face. Suddenly we came to a large hole and the tunnel opened onto a large passageway. The dim light did not have a prayer of reaching the other end, or the far sides, but it did not need to. Dirty old bulbs hung from the ceiling, providing enough illumination to see where one was walking. Passages opened at regular intervals along the wall. It was like stumbling onto a highway with a bevy of exit ramps.

Spin let out a long, low whistle. “Impressive,” he breathed.

I turned to Jack. “What is this?” I asked.

I could see his smile in the pale light. “Welcome to the true underground. From here you can get to anywhere in the city. These are old tunnels from a long time ago. Now, only certain, select people know about them. People like me.”

“And these tunnels go anywhere?” A thought was forming.

“Anywhere.”

I looked around again, slightly overwhelmed by the scope. “Jack, I’ve been homeless for a while now, living in the underground. How come I have never heard about this before?”

He clicked off his light, leaving him in shadow. “Because you assumed you were at the bottom of the heap. But the people who live here can’t survive anywhere else. They are of no use to nobody. No matter how far down you go, there is always someone below you.” His shoe scraped the floor in the dimness, and I knew he was gone. But I didn’t care. I knew what we had to do.