Humpty's bones

Seven

The four of us dashed downstairs. Upstairs, whatever had entered the bunker must be in the lounge. Does it know we’re here? Will it follow?

‘Sheesh,’ Pitt gasped. ‘What is this place?’

Jenny raced into a maze of tunnels. ‘Keep moving. We don’t know if that thing’s going to come after us.’

‘What we gotta do,’ panted Adam, ‘is find a way out. Fast!’

These tunnels were gloomy places. Shadows lurked at every corner. I guessed the tunnels were broad enough to accommodate three buses side-by-side, they were certainly high enough, too, but the length? They stretched faraway into the distance. And did I mention the cold? Breath misted out all white. In the tunnels were huge, hulking forms covered with plastic sheets. Adam was so frightened he hurried forward without pausing to look. Pitt hauled up the sheets.

‘Hey, a Jeep. And check this out… wow! A tank. Look at the size of that gun.’

Jenny whistled. ‘This is where the army must keep spare equipment, just in case the other stuff gets wiped out in an attack.’

Pitt’s eyes shone. ‘I wonder if there are any rockets.’

Jenny started to say, ‘You can forget taking — ’

BANG!

Adam shouted, ‘That’s the door to the stairs — something just bashed it open.’

By now the entrance we’d come through was way off in the distance. Just a speck. But we could make out another speck. This one moved.

Fast!

‘It’s found us!’

We ran like crazy. By tanks, vans, troop carriers, all covered with sheets of plastic. They formed sinister mounds. They hinted at deathly things.

In the gloom, the confusion, the speed at which everything happened, it was inevitable. I turned off into another tunnel. A minute later I stopped to get my breath back. Then I saw the others weren’t with me.

‘Pitt, Jenny, Adam. Where are you?’There was no reply. A deadly silence filled the tunnel. My friends? No sign. Only the unnerving shapes of vehicles under grey shrouds. At any second that demon-thing might prowl round the corner. Here I was, alone.

All alone.