Humpty's bones

Ten

Leading off from this section of tunnel were rooms. Although deep underground they were dry. They didn’t smell bad. Objects lay on tables beneath more plastic covers. Those stretched out forms made me uneasy. Bodies under sheets? Well, that’s what they looked like. I made myself check them, otherwise my imagination would riot. I’d find myself picturing zombies rising from their tables of death. When I poked back the covers with a mop I found in a corner I saw that the ‘zombie’ shapes were only blankets packed in cellophane.

In every room hunched objects in the shadows suggested demon shapes. Elsewhere, were skeletons of mechanical equipment. Computer screens stared — all blank and hollow. Pipes gurgled softly, mocking me. Lights flickered. They seemed to be enjoying the fact I was scared. When they dimmed they seemed to be saying, Hey, Naz. At any moment we can switch ourselves off. How are you going to get out of here in the dark, Naz? Where will you go? When it’s all black and you’re scrambling to get out, and your hands touch a face covered in bristly hair, what you gonna do, then?

I was edgy. Sweat made my back sticky. Nerves filled my stomach with butterflies. When I came across a door bearing the words: Gun Store I was ready to steal a rifle to protect myself. I groaned in disappointment: the gun room was padlocked shut.

With the silence weighing heavy, I rejoined the tunnel. Echoing footsteps — my own. Where were my friends? Were they okay? I passed ten trucks parked nose to tail. Plastic sheets rustled. It was the air-conditioning units that caused the draughts. They made a sinister whispering. The air blew into my back. Those electric fans are strong, I thought. Plastic covers rippled. A loose end flew up to catch my ear. This isn’t right. How could fans be that strong?

Like white rats running across the floor, pieces of torn poster scurried. Lights flickered. The breeze got stronger. Plastic flapped with a snapping sound. I tried to ignore the blast of air in my back. Only the fans… nothing to worry about…

Unless…

I stopped dead. I knew I must look back.

Only I daren’t.

Because I knew what I’d see. This breeze? It was like being in a subway station when a train rushes through its tunnel to the platform.

The truth struck hard as a punch: Something’s coming this way. Something big. Something fast!