Humpty's bones

Two

This is frightening. We entered the bunker. There was no light at all. You know when you reach out of bed in the middle of the night to switch on the lamp? Even though you’re alone, isn’t there always that moment when you search for the switch that you fear you’re going to touch some living body; something with cold skin; or with manky hair? Just imagine the shock. Your fingers suddenly feel a face with bulging eyes, and — ‘Get it off me! It’s biting!’ From the darkness came a yell of terror. ‘There’s something alive in here!’

‘Adam — ’

‘Help me!’

‘Shush, it’s me.’ Jenny shouted. ‘I pushed your head down so you didn’t bang it. There are chains hanging from the ceiling with hooks on them.’

‘Hooks? What kind of hooks?’ Adam still sounded frightened. ‘I want out of here. It’s too dark. There’s something wrong about this place… ’

Even though the dark made me nervous I couldn’t stop myself saying, ‘And make sure you don’t step on the snakes. They’re everywhere. Sssss… ’

‘Naz.’ Jenny sounded annoyed. ‘That’s not helping. Adam, there are no snakes.’

‘It’s the vampires you have to watch out for.’

‘Naz.’ Jenny’s eyes must have adapted to the gloom enough to target me. I felt her fist thump my arm. ‘Stop scaring Adam.’

‘Didn’t you hear me earlier?’ Adam’s voice wavered. ‘There were no marks on the outside of the bunker door. It had been gouged on the inside. Nobody broke in here. Something broke out. And it must be huge.’

What he said made us fall silent. I pictured a big animal prowling down this passageway to bump aside the chains hanging from the ceiling before attacking the door — snarling, gouging, then battering it in total fury. A shiver ran down my spine.

I whispered. ‘Maybe we should wait for Pitt outside?

Only it was too late for that. Far too late.

We were in the middle of that darkness. It seemed to drown us in deep, deep black. Then… a scraping noise. We flinched. Adam moaned in fear. ‘Oh, man… it knows we’re here… ’

Slowly, a door creaked open, a strange door that worried the life out of me. Weird! It was as narrow as the lid of a coffin. A light shone through it as a ghostly figure stepped through the gap. Its face was a cold blue. It beckoned to us with these chilling words. ‘You can’t go back. You must come with me.’