Humpty's bones

Eight

Listen. When you’re alone, your head fills with thoughts, doesn’t it? If you’re walking by yourself through a forest you start to imagine you’re being followed. If you’re alone at night, then open the blind to look out, you’re convinced a stranger’s face will look back at you through the glass. Being alone can make your imagination turn bad.

There in the tunnel, deep underground, I waited. I could hear my own breathing. I saw warnings: CAUTION. HAZARD ZONE. At any moment I expected that monstrous thing to come roaring at me. But what was it? There was a sense of menace and strength about it, but I’d not seen it clearly. It had only been a speck at the far end of the tunnel. Just what could live down here that could break out through a thick bunker door?

Shivering, I continued walking in the hope I’d find another exit to the surface. Then a sight met my eyes that didn’t give me any hope. One of the plastic sheets had been ripped to pieces. Shreds of grey covered the floor. A container on a truck had been broken open. Soldiers’ helmets had tumbled out. I picked one up. There were four holes in it, big enough to wiggle my fingers through. Bite holes.

‘They sure have big mice round here.’ I tried to laugh at my own joke but the echo made me flinch. ‘Time to get out of here, Naz,’ I told myself. ‘Otherwise you’re going to end up as dinner.’