The shadows engulfed them, sucked them through a dark portal. They all had the unpleasant sensation of feeling as if they were being turned upside down and inside out, except for Slimer, who actually was being turned inside out and didn't mind it very much.

It felt like they were traveling the speed of light; their bodies seemed to stretch and their vision blurred. They felt as if they'd fallen forever. Then it stopped.

Kylie, Garrett, Roland and Slimer looked at each other, then at themselves to make sure everything was intact. When they were sure they were okay, they took their first notice of where they actually were.

Flicking on their flashlights, they took a look around. Except for a few candles shining a faint light, the room was filled with darkness. The walls and floors were rock, seemingly carved by hand because the caverns were too smooth and perfect to be natural. On the ceilings and a few walls were symbols, apparently the Marinzeans' language, intricately carved into the rock. Kylie thought she recognized the symbols from Spengler's Spirit Guide.

"Okay," Garrett said in a low voice, "we've got to get to Spengler, Janine, and Eduardo. These tunnels could go on for miles in any direction. Any idea where we should start looking?"

Kylie cautiously started walking out of the room they appeared in. "Well, if that creature appeared in the same place we did, it can't have had that much of a head start. I suggest we split up. I'll go down the left end of the hall with Slimer. Roland, you and Garrett start down the right end."

"Kylie, don't you think it's too dangerous to split up?" Roland protested. "We don't know where we are or how many of those things live here."

"That's true, but even as we argue, Eduardo's getting further away from us. Let's move."

They split up, each walking their own directions. There was the sound of water echoing from a far away cavern, drowning out the sound of someone's screams for help.

*****

While Kylie and Slimer walked one way, Garrett and Roland went cautiously down the passage to the right.

"I've got a really bad feeling about this," Garrett said, rolling down the cavern.

They came to a crudely made doorway in the wall to their left. Garrett walked up to the door, turned the knob and nudged it gently open. After making sure nobody was inside, they walked in to look around. The Marinzeans apparently didn't have much in the ways of possessions; a shabby bed, a bucket of water and some leftovers strewn about the floor.

"Well, no one here," Garrett stated. "Let's get going before there is."

"If they have bedrooms," Roland said, "maybe they have prison cells of some kind, as well."

They went form one door to the next, opening them just enough to see if Egon, Janine, or Eduardo were in there, for what seemed like an eternity, until Garrett came upon a room that looked different; this room didn't have a bed. They walked inside.

"There's nothing in here," Garrett said.

"That doesn't make any sense," Roland said. "There has to be a reason this room's here."

A growling sound was coming closer from outside the door. The two ghostbusters looked at each other, than the door. It was wide open. Garrett quietly rolled his chair over to the door and shut it gently, breathing a sigh of relief.

The door flew open hard, slamming into Garrett and knocking him out of his wheelchair. One of the Marinzeans came in. Garrett pulled his proton blaster from his pack and took aim, but it lashed out at him before he could fire. It's huge claws struck him on the side of the head. Garrett's temple started to throb and he passed out.

Roland took aim and fired on the Marinzean, suspending it in its place but not knowing what to do with it; Kylie had the only ghost trap. His eyes glanced over the room and came to rest upon a piece of wood lying on the floor.

Still firing at the Marinzean, he walked over and picked up the piece of wood, holding it like a baseball bat. Gambling on the fact that the creature would be weakened by now from the constant proton assault, he shut off his gun and quickly charged at it, the wood held in the air. Swinging with all his strength, Roland struck the creature square on its face, sending it to the ground where it lay, unconscious.

Breathing heavily, Roland walked over to the door and shut it, hoping he hadn't drawn too much attention.

He kneeled down and examined Garrett. Blood was trickling from Garrett's temple and a couple of bruises were already forming on the side of his face, but otherwise he seemed okay.

Shaking Garrett wouldn't wake him up, so Roland snuck back out of the room to one of the nearby bedrooms, grabbed a bucket of water lying on the floor, and walked back. He cupped some water in his hands and poured in on Garrett's face. His eyes opened a little bit.

"Garrett," Roland whispered, "Garrett, wake up."

Garrett's eyes opened more and he looked around. As he woke up, a wave of pain slammed him in the head. He moaned and his face twisted in a grimace of pain.

"You okay?" Roland asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. What happened to that thing that got me?"

"It's on the floor. I don't think I killed it, but it'll be out for a little while."

Garrett looked over at the body of the Marinzean, not moving. "Way to go, Roland!"

"Yeah, well, no time for that now. If there is something important here, we'd better look for it quickly."

Roland helped Garrett back onto his wheelchair, and then started searching the walls with his flashlight. "Garrett, look at this."

Garrett, still slightly dizzy with the loud ringing in his ears, rolled over to Roland. On the wall was a series of strange symbols. Garrett looked around the rest of the room, then back at the symbols.

"There aren't any other symbols in the room, just this section here," Garrett said.

Garrett rolled up to the wall, his face only inches away, and noticed something he hadn't before. "Roland, check this out." Underneath the symbols was a small indentation in the wall in the shape of the Marinzeans' clawed hands.

Roland put his hand to the indentation, looked over at Garrett, and pushed. Nothing happened. Roland looked back at the creature lying on the floor and said, "Maybe it requires the hand of one of those things." He nodded toward the creature.

"Keep your blaster aimed in case it wakes up," Garrett said as he rolled over toward the body. He picked up its hand and started dragging it back toward the symbols. He put its hand inside the imprint on the wall. The room started shaking slightly as the wall with the symbols moved back into another room, then to the side, clearing the walkway that led into the secret room.

Garrett and Roland started forward through the passage. The next room was a stairwell leading down. Roland held onto Garrett's wheelchair by its handles and led them down the large spiral stairs. Small torches were placed on the walls going down the huge stone stairs, giving enough light off that three didn't need their flashlights.

The bottom of the stairs led out to an enormous cavern, the size of about three football fields, the ceiling about 60 yards up. They didn't move for a few seconds, but just stared in awe at the size of the cavern. Then they took notice of what was around them; there, on the far side of the cavern, was a creature similar to the others, but much larger. It stood at about thirteen feet. Large, jagged bones stood out of its body about ten inches. Light seemed to be shining from its skin, giving off a bright, light green glow that lit up the enormous cavern. It seemed to be staring hungrily at something lying on the ground. Roland and Garrett followed its gaze to the floor and saw for the first time the victims lying all around. There were bodies sprawled out everywhere along the cavern floor, slowly being transformed into the hideous creatures. Moans of the people going through the painful transformation came from all around, filling the room. A darkness seemed to be encompassing the humans as the glow around the leader of the Marinzeans grew stronger. Looking around at all the bodies, two stood out; Egon and Janine were laying unconscious, their skin a green-gray tint, their bones pressing against the surface of their skin, close to breaking out.

Under the cover of the stalagmite, the leader couldn't see either one of them, but they knew they would have to do something fast.