So this is how it ends...me, all alone...trapped in a wooden coffin inside a dirt hole with no exit...and worst of all, waiting for me to suffocate after the air runs out.

Jake laid there, stuck inside the coffin as he looked up through the wooden hole at the packed dirt weighing the entire coffin down. Some of it had even trickled through the small hole and had filled up the coffin slightly.

He was still down there. He didn't know for how long, but it felt as if an entire half hour had already passed. When did the air run out? The answer to this question hung over him like a watching predator, just waiting to strike at any moment.

And what was worse was that he could feel his limbs getting stiffer from staying in place for so long. The aches and pains he had gone through before the hole had been completely filled in were gone, but even so, he was still crammed into the coffin. He couldn't get up, he barely had room to move his arms and his legs, and every breath he took seemed to suddenly be a fact that he was keenly aware of.

Several times already, he had tried to push up on the coffin lid, as if hoping he could get himself out and dig up to the surface, but the dirt was weighing the lid down, preventing him from getting it to move. And he knew that even if he could've gotten out, he was buried too deeply to be able to dig himself out with only his bare hands. His fingers would've given out from the strain in minutes.

This truly was the worst situation he had been in in a very long time. Many moments, especially ones with the neighbor, had come close to the current one, but to Jake, none of them seemed to compare. He already missed the adventure and danger of sneaking into the neighbor's house and discovering his secrets, of fleeing from him, of trying to hide. Even getting knocked out by the neighbor felt like a luxury that he would've rather had instead of being buried alive as he was.

And he had done all of that with Jeffrey. Jake's mind shifted, thinking of the first friend he had made in the entire town, the one who had convinced him to help try and save the entire town's population, the one who has stuck by him through everything. Jake knew that Jeffrey was buried close, but he did not know how close, and he didn't even know if he could talk to him from where he was. Even thinking about Jeffrey made Jake dread how much air Jeffrey had. Had Jeffrey lost his own supply? Had he already suffocated, died, and was long gone?

It was a possibility, but it was too horrible for Jake to consider deeply. He wouldn't believe that his truest friend in this entire place was dead until he knew it for himself, but would he even be able to find out without dying from suffocation himself? Was escape even possible at this point? No, it didn't seem like. Jake wondered how Jeffrey was at the current moment. He wondered what he was thinking if he was still alive. Was Jeffrey hatching a plan to escape, or was he thinking himself to be doomed like Jake was? Either way, it wasn't as if Jake had any way of knowing.

At the moment, it was not as if he could do anything at all.

Jake felt his heart lurch inside as he knew that there was nothing he could do. He didn't want to accept his fate, he didn't want to die like this, but any alternative seemed to have already disappeared.

Maybe this really was it...maybe he would just have to lay back and wait for it all to end-

But suddenly, Jake heard something. There seemed to be a noise coming from his right, a muffled sound on the other side of the dirt. What could it be now? A burrowing creature making a cry? Something else entirely?

Jake shifted himself sideways, putting his ear to the side of the coffin to try and make it out better. The dirt wall was right next to the wall of the coffin, so as Jake focused his ears, he could hear the sound becoming just a bit clearer, clear enough to make out what sounded like a familiar voice...

"Jeffrey?!" Jake shouted. "Jeffrey, is that you?! Can you hear me?"

It was very muffled, and Jake had to focus to make it out, but he swore that, on the other side of the dirt, Jeffrey's voice was responding to him.

"Jake?! Is that you?! You haven't died yet?!"

"No, I haven't! Is that really you, or am I hearing things from the lack of oxygen?"

"You're not hearing things, Jake! I can definitely make you out! And I think you can make me out too."

"So we're both still alive? Guess that's a plus, then."

"Yeah, I don't think I've died yet. Can't get out, though. Dirt's packed too tightly on top of the coffin lid."

"Same here. What do we do now?"

"Well...I suppose we just have to talk to each other until we run out of air-"

Jeffrey had been about to continue his sentence, but Jake suddenly heard a loud buzzing sound coming from his pocket, and a voice was also coming out of there, one that sounded clearer and much closer than Jeffrey's.

"Hello? Hello?! Jake, are you there! It's me, Aaron! If you're there, respond to me!"

"I'm here, yeah!" Jake replied.

"Hello? Hey, come on! Please don't be dead!"

"Wait, what? But I am here...wait a minute." Jake paused as he investigated the source of the noise, and he managed to reach his pocket, even with the little room there was inside the coffin. He pulled it out and felt what it was: some sort of device with a solid thing sticking out of the top. A walkie-talkie.

And then Jake remembered. Aaron had given him a walkie-talkie before things had went down. If Aaron was still alive, that was good, but Jake dediced that he needed to confirm that he, too, was still alive, otherwise he'd make Aaron think he was long gone.

Jake slid the walkie-talkie closer to his face using his hand. He couldn't hold it up to his face due to the limited amount of room he had, so this would have to do. Then, he felt around, searching for anything that suggested a way to activate his walkie-talkie...

...and then he felt it. Something square-ish was sticking out of the side of the device. He pressed it, and he heard a small click. Had he turned it on? Well, there was only one way for him to find out.

"Hey! I'm here!" Jake called again, trying to see if it had worked.

"Jake?! You're there? Augh, thank god you're still alive! You had me on the edge for a moment there!"

"Jake? Jake, what's going on?" Jeffrey's muffled voice came from the dirt wall on the right. "Who is that you're talking to?"

"Hang on, Jeffrey! I'll tell you in a minute!" Jake called through the dirt, and then he focused his attention on the walkie-talkie. "Yeah, I'm here! I'm not dead...well, not yet, anyway."

"Phew, that's good. I was super worried about what happened after the neighbor got you. Thankfully, I can still contact you. The neighbor didn't find my walkie-talkie."

"Wait...didn't find? You don't mean that..."

"Yeah, I need to tell you...me and Nicky were caught as we were trying to escape. We got thrown back down into the holding room of the basement."

"What?! I thought you guys would be able to escape for sure!"

"Me too, but the neighbor caught as soon after he caught you guys. If you're wondering, everyone else is kind of talking right now. I'm just sitting in the corner of the room, contacting you. I feel a bit rough after I got knocked out, but...I think I'm alright. Anyway, that's not important! Where the heck did you guys go?! I didn't see either of you in the basement with us! Did the neighbor lock you in the basement or not?"

Jake sighed. "No, worse. See...I don't think me and Jeffrey are going to last much longer."

"What?! Why?!"

"Because...well, the neighbor didn't put us in our house, like he usually does to us. And he didn't put us down in the basement, either. He's...buried us alive."

"...you're joking."

"I'm not. He decided to subdue us and then bury us six feet down. Both of us are trapped in these wooden coffins with the dirt piled on the top...and...and we can't get out. I don't think we have much longer before our air supply runs out..."

"I...damn it! This is terrible! Of all the things he would do...well, don't just sit here, talking to me! Isn't there at least one way to escape?!"

"No, there isn't. We've tried everything we can, but even getting out of the coffin is impossible, what with all the dirt weighing down the lid."

"Arrgh! Sorry, guys, but I can't do anything with me being locked here in the basement! Just...please, try to find a way out! Don't die now!"

"I'm trying!" Jake assured him, but Jake truly didn't know what he could do at that moment. However, he suddenly started to hear Jeffrey's muffled voice again.

"Jake, I don't mean to interrupt whatever conversation you're having with yourself in there, but something's off."

"Huh? What do you mean, something's off?"

"I think I hear something...do you hear that, Jake? It sounds like there's...running water...right below us..."

"Running...water? Below us? What does that mean?"

"I don't know, but I just...hear it. I wonder what...what...wait, Jake, I feel something else."

"What this time?"

"Do you feel...any shaking below you?"

Jake paused, and suddenly, he became aware that the entire hole he was in was starting to shake slightly. Not just the coffin, but the dirt below was starting to build up a tremor. What was this? An earthquake of some kind?

Then there was a rumbling sound below him...it sounded as if an entire foundation was beginning to come apart. Jake gritted his teeth in confusion and in a tense manner, just as the noise became louder and the shaking got more intense...

And then, suddenly, the coffin jostled, and Jake was flung around in it for a moment before he started to scream as the coffin began to fall. It was falling down somewhere.

Seconds later, Jake heard a splash and felt himself get drenched slightly. The coffin had stopped falling and had landed in something...but what?

As he pondered this, Jake winced as he heard the sound of what sounded like tons of pieces of something splashed into what sounded like water just near the coffin, and from the little hole in the front of the coffin, Jake could see dirt raining down like bullets onto the lid of the coffin.

"What the heck?!" Jake yelped. "What happened?!" He didn't know, but suddenly, he felt as if the entire space was a little less packed. Instead of the space being cramped and dark, through the hole, Jake could see light coming from outside the coffin. Had he left the hole entirely?

He decided to experiment to see for himself. He pushed onto the lid of the coffin again, and this time, instead of staying in place due to it being weighed down, he found that he could push it off easily. He threw the lid off of the coffin, which fell to the side and also splashed into nearby water.

Then, finally using his slightly-aching muscles, as well as his arms and legs, he sat up and looked around.

The dark, dirt hole was gone. Now he was in a small area with stone walls covered in grime from top to bottom, as well as dripping wet. He was floating in a pool of water that led on to various tunnels around the room, including several small tunnels with grates on them and a large tunnel just up ahead with a big grate on it, which blocked something on the other side. Compared to the darkness of the hole, this room was slightly lit-up by yellow lights underneath the water and on the walls.

And, in the entire pool, he could see various objects floating around, such as pieces of dirt stuck together and chunks of stone bricks that had been ripped away from something. Jake jumped where he sat as another chunk of stone bricks dropped into the pool from somewhere above, and he looked up to see that the entire ceiling of the room had been broken open in the center. It too was made of a similar stone to the walls, but there was a giant hole were bricks had fell away, and just up above himself, he could see the small space that had been the dirt hole he had been trapped in. The hole, miraculously was mostly still intact; only the dirt underneath it had given way.

The entire area was a place he had never seen, and he was still getting used to it when he heard a sound off to his right, and he looked over to see another coffin, floating near his own, just as the lid of the coffin was thrown off into the water and Jeffrey sat up, coming into view.

"Whoa!" He gasped, looking shocked by the sudden experience. "What...what on earth just happened?"

"Guys! Guys, did something happen?" Aaron's voice buzzed from Jake's walktie-talkie.

"Yeah, yeah, something DID happen!" Jake called, and he smiled a little. "We're alive! We...er...survived! And we're somewhere else now, but we don't know where!"

"We must've fallen into this place from the holes we were trapped in." Jeffrey assessed as he looked up at the ceiling, where Jake could see yet another hole, the one Jeffrey had fallen out of. "It looks as if the stone bricks cracked under the strain, causing the dirt below our graves to fall down with the bricks, which broke us free."

"Is that it? Huh...and we're in...a sewer?"

"A sewer?" Aaron repeated from the walkie-talkie. "Wait, that's right! There's a sewer system down below Hortonville."

"There is. I recognize this room." Jeffrey spoke up. "I've heard that there's a sewer system that runs underneath town and carries all the waste away to somewhere else, but I've never actually went down and seen it...but now that I have...blech." Jeffrey plugged his nose with his hand. "It stinks to high heaven down in this place."

Jake raised an eyebrow, sniffed the air interestedly, and then scrunched up his face reflexively. The sewer water and the grimy walls had combined to make the smell of the place a combination of what Jake thought to be rotten cheese and dead rats, which came together to make a less than appetizing smell, to say the least.

"Yeah, it definitely stinks down there, but...man." Jake sighed in relief. "We're out of the hole, at least."

"Sounds like you guys got pretty lucky." Another voice chimed in from the walkie-talkie. "The neighbor must've dug your graves right on top of an unstable part of the ceiling of the sewer. Had he not, you might not have been able to escape."

"Wait...Nicky, is that you?" Jake asked curiously.

"Yep, Nicky's here too." Aaron said. "He's been listening to you guys talk since the walkie-talkie picked up the sound of you guys splashing into the sewer."

"That's right. I could tell that you guys ended up down there, based on the noises I heard." Nicky explained.

"Hey, Jake, how are we hearing Aaron and Nicky here?" Jeffrey asked, looking befuddled. "Isn't it just us down here?"

"Yes, but they can still speak to us thanks to this!" Jake revealed, grinning as he pulled out the walkie-talkie. "Aaron gave this to me before we went and hid from the neighbor in that room with the generator, so we can stay in touch while we're separated. Pretty handy, right?"

Jeffrey made an o-face, then nodded approvingly. "Wow, pretty smart idea, especially since we ended up in a situation as lousy as this one. Never know when we'll need to speak to each other."

"Works well, right?" Aaron commented, sounding appreciative. "I had those two walkie-talkies on me for a while, but I never had a good use for them. Thankfully, I met you guys, and now the other walkie-talkie's in good hands. The neighbor won't be checking the basement anytime soon, so we'll be able to communicate with you for as much and as long as you guys like!"

"And personally, I'd prefer that be for a while." Nicky added. "Since you guys aren't in the basement, these walkie-talkies are probably the only glimpse into the outside world that we've gotten in a long time. The more you guys tell us what's going on out there, the happier I'll be. Besides, I'll get to help you guys out of any problematic situations."

"Fair points." Jake agreed. "Then I'll keep this thing on me." Jake put the walkie-talkie into a hidden pocket inside his jacket, one that was positioned near enough to Jake's face so that he and Jeffrey could communicate with Aaron and Nicky while also keeping their hands free to do any work. "Anyway, I think we need to get out of here."

"Definitely. And I think I see a way forward." Jeffrey pointed out, pointing at the big tunnel and grate just ahead, where some of the water was flooding towards. "I think I can see more of the sewer system beyond there. If we can get through, we might be able to continue onward and find a way out."

"You guys go ahead and get cracking, then!" Aaron buzzed, sounding determined. "We'll be here to provide support!"

"Sounds like a plan. Let's get going." Jake decided. He climbed out of his coffin and, without pausing to think what the water would be like, stepped into the sewer water the coffin was floating in.

It wasn't all that bad; the water felt fine, and it was only high enough to reach just above Jake's knees. Jake could feel his pants getting wet, but he hardly cared at the moment. Escaping this place was much more important than his pants getting soggy.

Jeffrey also looked slightly off-put, but he put up with it nonetheless, and he and Jake waded through the water towards the giant grate just ahead. Jake examined the grate closely. It was made of thick steel bars, and he and Jeffrey had nothing that could break through, so busting through was out of the question. Jake took a closer look at the bottom area of the grate, and he noticed that the water flooded through the grate was actually going underneath the grate, which did not stretch to the floor on second viewing. It actually stretched only from the ceiling to just above the surface of the water.

With this information, Jake turned to Jeffrey. "Hmm...I've looked at this, and it seems like we'll have to swim underneath to get to the other side."

Jeffrey nodded. "Yeah, I saw that, too." Then, he cringed a little. "Erm...this'll be a bit gross, but try not to think about it. We can worry about getting dried off after we get out of here."

"My thoughts exactly. One more thing, though. Aaron, you had the walkie-talkie before, right? Will it short-circuit and cut out if I go underwater?"

"Uh...I don't think so, no. I think I saw a 'waterproof' tag on the label when I found it lying around the basement, so it should be fine. Try not to put it underwater for too long, though. I have no idea if it'll be able to last any longer than a few minutes."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." Jake noted, and he and Jeffrey took one more look at each other, then held their breaths and submerged themselves in the water. The water level wasn't long once Jake looked at it underwater. In fact, it was quite shallow, only being slightly big enough for Jake to be able to swim in it.

Jake swam forward a short distance, putting himself below the grate as he swam underneath is and reached the other side, coming up to the surface to take a breath. Seconds later, Jeffrey did the same, going much faster than Jake did.

Now they were in what Jake assumed to be the main tunnel of the sewer system. It was much bigger than the sewer room they had been in before, with the same stone bricks covered in grime and even moss, and it went a long distance, too. Jake peered at it in amazement of how long it went, so long in fact that the other side, although visible, seemed to be several minutes of walking away. This area too was lit up by yellow lights, which made the entire area much brighter, but it still was dark in some corners, as well as damp everywhere else.

There were tons more big grates along the tunnel, too, all of them identical to the one Jake and Jeffrey had swam under. Water was pouring out of each and every one, down into the main tunnel's own long lake of water that stretched from beginning to end of the tunnel. It was much deeper than the water in the room they had previously been in, and Jake knew he could've submerged himself much more in it.

Along the tunnel were also a series of bridges, with two long ones on either side of the tunnel, going along the length of the tunnel except in the areas where the big grates where, as well as a bunch of bridges going across the longer ones, leading to a center bridge that was as long as the ones on the sides, with pillars along it as it went further down the tunnel.

"Woah, this is...a lot bigger than I thought it would be." Jake said, amazed by the size of it.

"Yeah, I figured it would be this big." Jeffrey added. "And this seems to be one of the main tunnels. Looks like it runs underneath our street, based on how long this tunnel is."

"Wait, one of the main tunnels? ONE of them?"

"Yeah, only one of them." Nicky pointed out as his voice came from the walkie-talkie. "There are definitely more down there, based on what I've heard. Probably one main tunnel for every street in the residential district, combined with the main tunnels that run below the rest of the town, including the commercial and industrial districts, too."

"Then this sewer system must be ginormous if it goes for that long. We'll be stuck down here for hours if we don't hurry."

"Let's get going, then. Sooner we get out of here, the better, and the sooner we can escape all this disgusting sewer water and the horrible smell."

They climbed out of the water, heading onto the nearest side bridge, and then taking a nearby bridge going across, and heading onto the center bridge. From there, they kept going along the center bridge, going past a few pillars as they went down the tunnel, looking for any sign of a possible exit.

It was when they were almost halfway down that Jake spied something. Over by the left bridge of the tunnel, in place of where a big grate would be, was a door. Text had been painted on the wall next to the door, reading:

HORTONVILLE SEWER SYSTEM
Janitorial Storage Closet

"Hey, Jeffrey, look over there." Jake called, and he pointed at the door. "It seems like there's some sort of closet over there. Should we check it out?"

Jeffrey shrugged. "Sure. Let's see if anything's in there."

They went across the connecting bridge to the leftmost bridge and straight up to the door. Jake noticed that, although the door had a lock on it, a copper key was stuck into the lock and left there, as if the person who had come before had wanted to unlock the door but had stopped halfway through. Jake tested the doorknob, and the door opened without a struggle, showing the closet inside.

It was a very small closet, only big enough to fit several people inside, but it had a good amount of stuff in it. There was a rack and some shelves that were loaded with cleaning supplies like spray bottles, drain cleaner, and containers of Septic-Flow, as well as a good number of tools and parts like drain snakes, nozzles, and pipe cleaners. A broom and a mop with a water bucket were leaning against the wall, ready to be used. There were also a couple of storage cabinets in the room. A single lightbulb was lit up in the room, giving it some light all around it.

"Hey, this does seem like a janitor's closet." Jeffrey noted. "This room feels weird, though. By the looks of these cleaning supplies and the activated lightbulb, I feel like people were recently in this room. But it seems abandoned; after all, there's grime and moss all over the main tunnel. You'd think that if cleaners were working down here, this place would look a little bit nicer, but no, it's just grimy."

"The cleaning staff must've fled to their homes or been kidnapped after the neighbor arrived." Jake assumed based on the evidence Jeffrey had provided. "And now that nobody's down here to work, this sewer isn't getting the management it needs."

"That does sound accurate, now that I think about it. Good job coming up with that, Jake."

"Eh, it's nothing. I just heard what you said and made a guess is all."

"Alright, the closet's nice or whatever, but aren't you guys supposed to be finding an exit?" Aaron's voice interrupted, ushering them on.

Jake nodded quickly. "Right, right. Let's get back on track."

They left the closet behind and went back to the center bridge, which they started to go down again. However, they had barely walked for more than half a minute before Jeffrey stopped in his tracks and held Jake's arm to keep him from moving.

"Wait, stop. Jake, look over there." Jeffrey uttered, gesturing towards what was ahead.

Jake looked over to see that, over by what seemed to be the very center of the system, over where there were no pillars and there was an area where the bridges met into one big area, there was some sort of setup.

"Is that...a resting place of some kind?" Jake whispered. "You don't think someone else could be down here, could they?"

"No clue, but if there is someone, let's hope they're friendly." Nicky grunted from the walkie-talkie, sounding alert.

"And let's hope it's not the neighbor, either." Aaron muttered. "I doubt he'd want to go down there, but knowing him and how capable of stuff he is, he could be lurking in this place. Keep an eye out."

They slowly crept towards what Jake could see was some sort of camp. On closer look, the details of this camp were visible. It consisted of two sleeping bags, one green and one red, put around an unlit campfire. Abandoned backpacks that were open and emptied out were lying near the sleeping bags. Wrappers of what looked like candy bars and chip bags had been left lying around the perimeter of the camp, just as abandoned as the rest of the camp.

"Huh, I don't see anyone." Jake commented as he looked at this camp and noted the absence of human presence. He glanced down the tunnel in both directions, half-expecting to see someone peeking out behind a pillar or running off in the opposite direction, but the sewer was empty except for him and Jeffrey. "It looks like this place was abandoned, too."

"Fire's still a bit warm, though." Jeffrey added, as he leaned down and inspected the campfire. "Seems as if whoever was here set this up recently."

"Wait, did you say there was a fire?" Aaron asked, and his tone of voice shifted to sound more surprised. "Like, an actual campfire?"

"Uh, yeah, there is. Why do you ask?"

"Well, um...what else is there? What do you see?"

"What else? Well, there's some sleeping bags...empty backpacks...crumpled up bags of chips..."

"Wait...holy crap, you guys actually found it..."

"Huh? Found what?"

"Our old camp! Me and Nicky set this up a while back!"

Jake blinked once, a little interested to hear that this camp was the result of the efforts of two people he already knew. "Wait, you two made this camp?"

"Yeah, that was us." Nicky confirmed. "Can't believe it's still down there. I was sure the neighbor would've gotten rid of it."

"You guys are probably confused. Let me tell you what we mean." Aaron spoke up. "See, me and Nicky actually managed to escape the basement once. It was the first and only time an escape attempt had ever worked...and after we got out, we thought it best to hide before the neighbor found us. We fled down into the sewer system where we thought he'd never come looking for us."

"And while we were down there, we actually had some supplies with us that we took when we went and escaped. Sleeping bags for the both of us, some food to eat, and a campfire kit we borrowed from this lady who was trapped in the basement with us."

"So we decided to set it all up and stay there until we could figure out what to do next. We stayed there and talked for a bit, wondering what we could do after we escaped. We considered going to the police and getting them to help, or getting out of town and moving far away."

"But then all those talks went nowhere...because one night, while we were going to sleep...the neighbor found us. He knocked us out, and threw us back down into the basement. Since then, we haven't been able to find a suitable escape route; the neighbor tightened the basement's security and covered all the vulnerabilities in the levels so it'd be harder to reach the exit."

"All that happened? Geez, that sucks." Jeffrey groaned. "You guys were so close to freedom, and even when you escaped, the neighbor tracked you down. I swear, that man is something else compared to what normal humans are like. I've never, ever seen anyone that's as fast or with as many abilities as him. I wonder how he learned all of that."

"Yeah, I'm curious too." Jake agreed. "But as for the camp, I want to ask...how recently did you guys go down here? As Jeffrey said, the fire feels warm, like it was used recently."

"Does it?" Nicky questioned confusedly. "That's odd. We were down there a couple weeks ago; that fire should've completely cooled down by now."

"Huh...did someone else use the fire after you guys? Because me and Jeffrey haven't. We only just discovered this place's existence today."

"Well, it's a mystery, but I doubt we'll ever solve it." Jeffrey replied. "I think we should keep moving. I think I see the end of the tunnel up ahead."

"Alright, coming." Jake made to follow Jeffrey, who was heading down the center bridge, but something caught Jake's eye. Sticking out of the red sleeping bag was something that looked like a crumpled piece of paper.

His curiosity caught, Jake crouched down by the sleeping bag and took the paper out. It was crumpled up, but as he un-crumpled it, he could make out a hastily-scribbled message written on it:

This place looks safe enough. Don't know why there's a camp down here, but I might as well use it until I can find a better place to hide. I don't know if he knows about this place, but I'll take my chances. Hopefully I can find the authorities tomorrow morning...

Then, below it, was another message:

He's coming! I need to get out of here! If anyone is reading this, please, run! Don't stay in the sewers for too long, he will find y-

The note ended there, and Jake stood there, looking at it, taking in the words. Based on what it said, he knew right away who had written it and what they had meant. They had been trying to settle here for a night...but something had happened, and Jake had no doubt that it involved the neighbor.

Ignoring the questions and the pictures forming in his mind over what could've went down based on the note's descriptions, he let it go, letting it drift back down onto the sleeping bag and rest there, still crumpled and opened up. One day, someone would find this and clean it.

Until then, Jake put it out of his mind and followed Jeffrey down the center bridge, going towards the end of the sewer tunnel.

It was at the very end, where the sewer tunnel came to a wall, that Jake noticed a huge grate off to the right that had been ripped open, with some of the steel bars being forced backwards to make a functioning space where someone could pass through.

"Hey, I see an opening!" Jake called. "Think that might be an exit?"

"Might be! This is the very end of this street's main tunnel, after all." Jeffrey agreed.

"Tell us if it is! We want to know what's happening!" Aaron reminded them, sounding excited.

Jake and Jeffrey went across the bridges to the right bridge, and they plopped into the water, squeezed through the opening, and got to the other side. They were now in a room that was in similar size to the room they had started out in the sewer, but instead of a huge pool of water that led to other grates, the water ended and there was a floor over here where people could stand. A ladder was attached to the wall at the other end of the room, leading up a hole to somewhere else.

"Alright, this actually is an exit." Jeffrey assessed, looking pleased. "This must be the entry and exit point that people use to get into and out of this place. I'm so glad we found it; now we can get out of here and never have to go down to this disgusting place again."

They heaved themselves out of the water and stepped onto the dry floor. Jake stood up and walked over to the ladder, gazing up at the hole above. It went up a considerably long way.

"Well, looks as if we need to do a bit of climbing if we want to get out of here." Jake stated conclusively. "Do you want to go first?"

"Do you even need to ask? Yes, I want to go first. Let's get out of this place."

"Then I'm right behind you. Go on."

Jeffrey gripped the rungs of the ladder and ascended, going up the hole. Jake did so himself and followed after Jeffrey, following to where the exit to the sewer was laying in wait...

After some time climbing, Jake looked to see Jeffrey stop at the top of the hole. He placed his hand against what seemed to be some sort of black ceiling, but then he pushed against it and to the side, where it started to slide, revealing daylight coming from above. Then he went further up and heaved himself out.

Jake ascended up there himself as Jeffrey stood up on the land above, looked down at the hole, and held out his hand. Jake gripped it, grinning at his friend's cooperation as he was lifted out of the hole and onto the land.

At long last, they were back on the surface. It was the same old Sunset Avenue that they lived on and knew well. They had come out of a manhole and pushed the cover aside, and they now found themselves standing on a small stone area right next to the sidewalk and the street itself. The place still had the pleasant look, with the sun in the sky over a cloudless morning, the nearby birds, most notably crows, chirping away, and the many trees around the area.

But of course, there also were the bad parts of the atmosphere: the ever-encompassing silence, the extremely faint buzz from nearby homes as residents tried to keep quiet, and the wind blowing, which was the only thing that was most notable in the silence.

Jake, relieved that they had finally gotten back to the surface, flopped down onto the grass and let out a sigh as if breathing in the air was the most important thing he needed to do.

"Home at last...finally..." He muttered, not getting up. "Man, I've never appreciated the daylight as much as I have now...I think I could sleep here for hours..."

Jeffrey laughed. "Alright, Jake, I know you're pleased, but maybe we can find a more comfortable place for you to sleep than a grassy field."

Jake chuckled himself. "Yeah, you've got a point. I'm just so happy to be out of there."

"Hey, did you guys say something? Sorry, got distracted by something. What happened?" Aaron asked from the other end of the walkie-talkie.

"We got out, and we're back on the surface on the same street! Home sweet home!"

"Really?! Awesome! I knew you guys would find an exit eventually! And don't worry, I didn't have any doubt in you. Nicky did, though."

"Hey, come on. I wasn't that skeptical." Nicky replied, although he sounded pleased too. "I just knew that they were in a pretty bad situation, is all. But hey, they managed to escape."

"Exactly! Now, then...where are you guys at? Do you see any nearby place that's familiar?"

Jake looked around, and he noticed that, off to his left, he could see his house and the neighbor's house across the street from each other. They were just a couple houses down from their home. Seeing this, Jake's mind suddenly remembered the path they had traversed to exit the sewer. If they had gone that certain way, then...

And he came to the realization of where he and Jeffrey had been buried.

"Guys...I just thought about how we got out of the sewer, and I think I know where we were buried." Jake uttered, grimacing.

Jeffrey raised an eyebrow. "Really? Where, then?"

"Well, this is just a hunch, but based on where we are...I think the neighbor buried us behind my house."

Jeffrey gaped at Jake. "Wait...behind your house?" He looked over at Jake's house off in the distance, then back at where they were, then screwed up in thought for a moment, and then gaped again. "Oh, yeah...actually, that does seem like it."

"He buried you behind your house? That's not cool." Nicky added, sounding taken aback by the revelation. "Then again, it seems like the thing he'd do. He certainly wouldn't want a bunch of graves to take up space in his own backyard, and it would look too suspicious if he tried to bury it in the town's graveyard. And also, he just wouldn't do the graveyard for any random person. Burying you behind your house would've properly concealed the graves, and since the residents are too afraid to even come out and check, you guys would've been left there forever if you hadn't made it out of there."

"Man, good thing you guys were able to escape." Aaron recounted. "Had you not, you would've just been left there. Me and Nicky wouldn't have let you be buried back there like that, but there's really not much we can do while we're locked here in the basement. Arrgh, it makes me mad thinking about it!"

"It's fine, it's fine. Me and Jeffrey can handle ourselves." Jake reassured him. "Although we do appreciate having you guys to talk to. Makes for a more interesting time."

Jeffrey nodded. "I agree."

"Hey, I appreciate that." Nicky commended them.

"Yeah, that's nice and all, but enough of the talk. You guys should probably head for home now." Aaron suggested firmly. "From what we've heard, it's not a good idea to stay outside for too long when the neighbor's around."

"Got it." Jake affirmed. "In fact, I think it'd be for the best if me and Jeffrey lay low for a while. The neighbor doesn't know that we're alive, so we can hide out and use that to our advantage."

"Agreed. Let's not head back to the neighbor's house yet, we barely escaped with our lives as is." Jeffrey complied. "Let's head for your house, Jake. I recommend we go behind the houses while we head there, too, just to make sure the neighbor doesn't see us walking around in plain sight."

"Then let's go. Follow my lead, alright?"

"Understood. Lead the way, Jake."

They nodded to each other before they made their way away from the area with the manhole, heading in the direction of Jake's house.

After a few minutes of walking while making sure to stay behind the houses as much as they could (which meant going around the back fences of the houses), they finally made it home. They snuck over to the back of their house, vaulting over the wooden fence into the backyard.

And, once they did, Jake stopped short as he noticed the two things that he had been dreading finding in his backyard since they had escaped the sewer.

Their graves.

The graves had indeed been dug in the otherwise-empty backyard. There were two, one for each of them, and they were very noticeable in the midst of the grass due to the fact that the tops of the graves were made of packed dirt.

Coming closer to them, Jake noticed that the graves looked like a rushed job. The dirt packed on top of the holes didn't seem to have been put in there with much care, and there were no tombstones next to the graves to mark the name of buried person. Instead, two small rocks had been set in place of where the tombstones would normally go, one with Jake's name etched onto it, and the other with Jeffrey's.

As Jake stared down at this scene, he felt extremely uncomfortable about it for many different reasons. He was surprised that the neighbor knew his and Jeffrey's names, and if he had told the neighbor what their names where, he couldn't remember at the moment. But, it also made him uncomfortable because he knew that, down below these filled-up holes was the spot where he knew that he could've, had he not been able to escape, suffocated, died, and been forgotten by the world for the rest of time. Would anyone have even come for him had he not been able to escape?

"This...this is surreal. And not in a good way." Jake muttered as he stared down at the graves.

"Tell me about it." Jeffrey added, nodding gravely. "We probably would've been dead in there by now if we hadn't gotten out...well, lucky we fell into the sewer instead of suffocating, right?"

Jake looked at Jeffrey for a moment...and then shrugged. "Yeah. I guess it was better than dying."

"Well, of course it was!" Aaron's voice chimed in from the walkie-talkie. "If I had to choose between being buried alive and dying or falling into a sewer, then of COURSE I'd pick the second option! Sure, I'll smell, but it's better than being dead!"

"We've definitely got to reinforce the whole not-being-dead part. I think that's the most important thing out of this entire mess." Nicky commented thoughtfully.

"Trust me, I'm happy to be alive." Jake groaned back as he realized just how tired he was. "But let's get back on track. I want to get inside the house and collapse onto the sofa now."

"Wait, but, what do we do with the graves?" Jeffrey asked, giving the graves a reluctant glance.

Jake waved Jeffrey down exhaustedly. "Leave them. It's too much of a hassle to get rid of them now. We'll see if we can cover them up later."

"Alright, then, I can see why you'd want to postpone it. Let's get inside."

They snuck out of the backyard and around the side of the house, peeking around the corner at the street ahead to make sure the neighbor wasn't outside where he would be able to spot them. Jake, thinking it was fine, made to keep going, but Jeffrey grabbed his arm and pulled him back around the corner. Jake gave Jeffrey a glare, but Jeffrey pointed back at the street, and Jake saw that the neighbor had just left his house.

He looked a bit more aware than ever, but other than that, the neighbor seemed to be the same suspicious character that Jake was familiar with. The neighbor had exited out of his gate, closing it up, then taking out a key from his pocket and locking it. He leapt over the moat, not giving it more than a brief look, then stopped at the sidewalk. The neighbor took a look down the street to the left, then to the right, and then he nodded as if satisfied with the state of the eerily quiet neighborhood.

"Good, everything's as it should be." Jake heard the neighbor say (as the neighbor had a habit of talking loud enough for Jake to hear him from across the street). "This place has been getting better and better ever since I got rid of those stupid kids..." The neighbor scowled and shook his head. "...no, no, I shouldn't remind myself of those kids. They're gone, that's it, I don't need to think about them anymore." He gave the house one last stare, then faced towards the part of the area to his right. "The house is secure, gate's locked, cameras are on...alright, time to go for my run. And I'd better give the grave a check, too...make sure nobody's messing with it..."

The neighbor ran off to the right, heading down the sidewalk and getting further and further away from his house. As he turned the street corner and headed to the left, Jake felt it was safe to come out now. However, one word the neighbor said was giving him bad vibes.

"Grave?" Jake repeated suspiciously. "He has a grave he's watching over?"

"Wait...didn't we see some sort of grave-site entrance down in the basement?" Jeffrey called out. "Do you think that might be this grave he's checking on?"

"Could be, but we can't be sure yet. Oh, nevermind, enough about the graves. I'm glad we're not going into the neighbor's house right now, he'd definitely see us, way too risky. Let's get back into the house now."

They ran into the front yard, headed onto the path leading up to the house, and then onto the porch right up to the front door. Jake, knowing that the door was locked, fished into his pocket and found his house key. Thankful that he had been careful enough to lock the house last time, he unlocked the front door and pushed it open, quickly heading inside to the foyer. Jeffrey got in as well and shut the door behind them, locking it to keep it secure.

Jake made to flip the light switch and turn on the lights...but the lights, weirdly, were already on. In fact, it seemed that the rooms next to the foyer were also lit up. Jake cringed, knowing what this would mean and cursing himself for forgetting to turn off the lights before leaving, was caught off-guard as something ran into the room from the living room to the left.

It was Jo-Jo, the same tabby cat they had rescued. The cat ran into the room, running up to Jeffrey's leg and rubbing up against it.

Jeffrey gasped in happy surprise. "Jo-Jo!" He kneeled down and began to stroke the cat, looking relieved. "Oh, I'm so glad you're safe! I didn't know if you'd still be here!"

Jo-Jo let out a meow, his green eyes looking up at Jeffrey with a look of pleasure at seeing Jeffrey again.

Jake grinned. In all of the craziness that had happened, he had completely forgotten about Jo-Jo. "Good to see you, Jo-Jo. You behaved yourself while we were gone, right?"

Jo-Jo eyed Jake and let out what looked like a small nod.

"I'll take that as a yes. Thanks for holding down the fort while we were gone, buddy."

"Let's bring you into the living room, Jo-Jo, so we can get comfortable." Jeffrey decided, and he reached over and picked Jo-Jo up. The cat did not resist his hold, so it went over quite smoothly. Jeffrey then stood up and carried the cat into the living room. Jake, feeling pretty good at the moment, followed them.

The living room was the same as ever. The same old couch, the same old dresser with the tv on it, and Jake even noticed how Jo-Jo's kitty items, including his cat bowl, litter box, and scratching post (Jeffrey had bought them all with his own money) were still scattered in one corner of the room.

Jake felt his grin widen. He didn't know why, but he felt a lot more happy with his mediocre living space then ever. Sure, it wasn't much, and it was certainly a bit barebones without a good amount of furniture...but at the moment, he didn't care. He was just happy to see it all again, to come back to the place he called home.

Walking forward, he flopped down onto the couch and let himself sink into the cushions. He couldn't hold his sigh of relaxation in; after all, it had seemed like forever since he had been this comfortable.

Jeffrey sat down on the couch too, letting Jo-Jo go so that the cat could walk off of Jeffrey's lap, onto the center of the couch, and curl up into a ball.

"Ahh...finally, relaxation..." Jake mumbled. "...I've never learned to appreciate my house until this moment."

"Still gotta furnish it, though." Jeffrey teased in a joking manner. "This place needs some decoration, right?"

Jake nodded. "Yeah, I've got to remember to order in some stuff. I keep getting distracted by all this neighbor stuff, so I've never found time to do it."

"As long as you get to it."

"Mmm." Jake looked up at the ceiling light above, remembering something. "Jeffrey, I think I forgot to turn off the lights before we left."

Jeffrey grimaced. "Oh, yeah. We should've done that, shouldn't we?"

"Yep. I bet the electricity bill is going to be way higher than usual thanks to our dumb old moves."

They both let out a round of hearty laughter, taking in the joke for a moment.

"But seriously, I'm going to have to pay for that one. Literally."

"Need any money to pay the bill? I've still got plenty left over if you need to borrow any."

"No, it's fine. I can pay it myself."

"If you say so."

They sat in silence for a moment. Jake could hear the chirping of the birds outside, fluttering around the trees. Jo-Jo was cleaning himself, licking every part of his paws. Jeffrey was staring ahead, seemingly thinking about something. It was perhaps the most peace and quiet Jake had gotten in a while.

"So...not to repeat myself too excessively, but we should use this situation to our advantage. The neighbor doesn't know we're alive, so we should watch him for a while and see if we can figure out what to do next."

"Good plan. I've got experience with keeping an eye on the neighbor's everyday life, so we can give it a good long look and see if we can find out anything that we can use to our advantage. We can crack the window too, since the neighbor has a habit of speaking loudly enough so that we can hear him."

"Another good idea. We might be able to find out something interesting if we listen to what he's saying."

"Yeah."

"Also, I had an idea. You know how he sets up traps for us? Maybe we should do the same thing. Think Home Alone, but in reverse. We could mess with him by booby-trapping his house, and he'd never know what him him."

"I don't know. Isn't that crossing the line when it comes to doing this ethically?"

"Yeah, sounds a little weird, doing that."

"Woah!" Jake exclaimed. "Oh, it's just you, Aaron. What took you so long to say anything?"

"Oh, sorry, I was just having a meeting with the other people down here. We've been trying to figure out what to do, y'know...so far, we haven't got any good ideas, but we're working on it. Anyway, I heard you guys talking about setting traps. I mean, it'd be funny, but shouldn't you guys be more focused on finding ways to get into the basement?"

"Well, yeah, and see, I'm doing the traps because maybe we can use them to distract the neighbor while we sneak into the basement. Sounds like a good way to get him out of the way, right?"

"Hmm...actually, that does sound good. You guys try that whenever you get the chance, but you shouldn't go today. Relax for a day, alright? Me and the other people down here will be okay. We get by on our own, mostly."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course! Well, that doesn't mean I don't want you guys to rescue us as soon as possible, but I get that these things take time. Take a day off, and give it another shot tomorrow is what I recommend."

"Will do. What are you going to do, Aaron?"

"Eh, I've got nothing better to do, so...you guys got anything else neighbor-related to talk about? At least while you're taking a break, we can discuss strategy."

"Yeah, me and Jeffrey were already doing that. We heard that the neighbor had this grave-site, and we want to go and check it out."

There was a pause at the other end of the walkie-talkie. "...did you say...gravesite?"

Jake felt a little concerned at the change in Aaron's tone of voice. "Uh...yeah. Are you alright? Do you know anything about it?"

"Uh...nevermind, it's nothing. I was just...thinking about something. Anyway, yeah, I think I know about the gravesite. I've seen that entrance in the basement corridors while I was going through it with the other people down here. Of course, we've never been able to get there, since the entrance is blocked or something, but it sounds important if the neighbor's guarding it."

"Definitely. Anything the neighbor's keeping an eye on must be something important." Jeffrey agreed, giving an approving nod to Aaron's words. "I don't know how we're going to find it, though."

"If the neighbor's heading down the street to it, then that means there has to be a way to it on the surface." Jake assessed. "I say that tomorrow, we go down there and check to see if it even exists so we can find out what secrets it holds. Then, we need to find a way back into the basement. Finally, we should find a battery large enough to fit inside the generator so we can get to the lower levels the next time we're in the basement."

"And then there's the problem of getting inside the house itself. The neighbor's bound to have bumped up security since that excursion through the basement. We should think of a way to get in. Maybe a distraction, or a disguise of some kind...anything that would fool him."

"You guys have the right idea." Aaron approved, sounding cool with the ideas they had at hand. "We can try that all later on-" Aaron's voice was interrupted by some sort of faint yell from the walkie-talkie. "-oop, looks like Nicky's calling me over. I'd better go see what he needs. Until then, you guys go ahead and relax, take a breather, whatever. I'll call you back tomorrow."

"Alright, then, bye." Jake bade goodbye.

"Bye. See you tomorrow."

Jake reached into his jacket and felt for the button on the walkie-talkie, then pressed it, allowing it to shut off. He could hear the static on the other end cut off as well, signaling that Aaron had turned off his own.

"Man, I'm glad we have them to talk to." Jeffrey admit. "It pays to have a source of information from inside the neighbor's house itself. Plus, they're pretty good friends to have."

"Without a doubt." Jake said, smiling. "Anyways, Aaron's definitely right; we should take a good, long break from this neighbor stuff. Want to watch some tv?"

"Sure thing. Think a new episode of one of our favorite shows has come out yet?"

"Won't know until we check. Turn it on, then."

Jeffrey snatched up the tv remote, which had been laying on the couch waiting for them since they had arrived and pressed the power button, snapping the tv on to a show, which seemed to be a wacky cartoon.

As they both began to watch in silence, Jo-Jo sitting next to them, Jake felt himself ease up from the tension he had experienced. Taking a break was definitely one thing he could get down with, as much as he was dedicated to the whole 'invade the neighbor's house' thing. Now he had the chance to clear his mind, restore his energy, and take a fresh shot at things tomorrow. So much had happened; and now he had new allies, new revelations, and new plans, all of it seeming so complex. But Jake knew it was his time to get through it all, and soon enough, he and Jeffrey, as well as Aaron and Nicky and everyone else down in the basement, would finally bring Hortonville back to the way it was meant to be.

That, Jake knew, was a promise. And he would keep it as long as he continued to try and thwart the neighbor at every step of the way...