Chapter 3
Consciousness came back slowly to Dean. He remained still, with his eyes closed, and kept his breathing even as he used his other senses to try and determine where he was. His fingers felt dirt under them, so he wasn't in the house anymore. There was something hard poking him in the back, making him uncomfortable. He took in a large breath of air and thought it smelled off, with an undertone of decay or rot and staleness to it. It wasn't enough to make you gag, but it was still unpleasant to smell. He concentrated on listening to the sounds around him, but it seemed too quiet. It was as if sounds had been deleted from this place, wherever this place was.
He pulled up his memories and remembered the missing high school kids, the old house, finding the bedroom upstairs, and there was something in the closet. He pictured it in his mind, seeing the blacker, than black, what? An opening of some kind was his best guess. He had moved closer to inspect it and the last thing he remembered was stepping into the closet and then poof, he woke up in this place.
Very cautiously, Dean opened his eyes into slits and let them glance around only seeing dim light, that barely let him see at all. He blinked a few times and opened them up wide, raising his head off the ground. What he saw looked like a tunnel or passageway. The walls seemed strange and almost like something was moving inside of them. He eased to a sitting position and arched his shoulders before looking down at what he had been laying on.
Dean picked up something, long, whitish in color, with a splintered end and the other end was shaped like a rounded ball. When he looked closer, he realized it was a human leg bone and quickly dropped it back on the ground. He wiped his hand on his jacket and grimaced as he looked up and down the passageway for any signs of life. He figured if there were bones, then maybe there might be others alive around here.
He got to his knees and pushed himself to a standing position, swaying slightly as he got his balance. Dean didn't use the wall for support because it looked wet and slimy, and just downright disgusting. He checked the area in front of him for the portal or opening that he had come through but couldn't find it. After walking slowly down each wall looking for it, he gave up and wondered if someone or something had left him here, away for the opening so he couldn't escape.
The only thing Dean could think to do, was to head in one direction, right or left, and see where it took him. He pulled his bandanna from his back pocket and used it to wrap around the hip end of the leg bone, thinking the sharp end could be used as a weapon. He smiled when near to where he was lying, he saw his shotgun and stepped over to pick it up. Dean didn't know what he was going to be up against and had a feeling rock salt wasn't going to be of much use, but it was better than nothing.
After a moment's hesitation, Dean decided to go left, remembering a book he had read that said when in doubt, go left. He paused long enough to kick around on the floor until he found enough stones to make a small arrow pointing the way he was going. He wanted to be sure he could find his way back here and wanted to mark the place because he didn't want to walk in circles. When he was satisfied with it, Dean looked down the long passageway, checking the dirt floor for any footprints but didn't see any. He drew in a long breath and started walking, his senses hyper alert for any dangers ahead of him.
As he walked, Dean tried to determine where the dim lightening was coming from, and all he could tell was it looked like the ceiling gave off an unusual glow of some kind. He didn't know how long he had been walking, but it seemed like forever. He had come to five intersections so far and had always taken the left turn, marking his progression as he went. There had been no signs of life down here with him and he was beginning to wonder if he was the only one alive in this place. He kept looking for the opening that had brought him to this place but couldn't find it.
Dean's sharp eyes picked up something on the ground ahead of him and he stopped to pick it up. It was a gum wrapper and seemed fresh because he could still smell the odor of the gum on it. He cocked his head and listened, trying to tune everything else out so he could pick up that foreign sound. Then he heard it, a shuffle of feet, barely discernible somewhere ahead of him. It was so faint if he hadn't really been listening for it, he would have missed it.
Determined to find what was making the sounds, Dean increased his pace, on high alert as he came to another intersection and looked both ways trying to hear the noise again. He felt like he was in a maze that had no ending or reward for finding your way out. What sounded like a soft voice coming from the right passageway had him going that way and wondering if what he was hearing were the missing teenagers.
It seemed the lighting never changed the deeper into the maze he went. He had found a couple of small indentions in the walls that were big enough for a someone to hide in, but they were empty. Dean could sense that his surroundings seemed to be changing as he heard a soft voice again. It seemed the passageway was opening outward into a large area filled with boulders and what looked like more bones scattered around the place. On one side, part of the ceiling had caved in leaving a mound of rocks and rubble.
The scared whispers caught his attention again and he crept forward with the shotgun raised ready to defend himself. He stepped around a large boulder to see three teenagers hunched together, sitting in a tight circle.
"Please don't shoot us," the guy begged as he tried to push the girls behind him to protect them.
"I'm not going to shoot you," Dean responded in disgust, lower the shotgun and studying the three. "I'm Dean. Are you the missing kids from that haunted house? Weren't there supposed to be four of you?"
"Yes, are you here to get us out?" one of the girls asked in a shaky voice.
"I would if I knew where we were," Dean replied with an annoying huff.
"Kyle is gone," the guy told Dean. "We think he's dead. I'm Ryan, and this is Hope and Stacey."
"How are you sure Kyle is dead?"
"Kyle and I woke up alone in a passageway," Stacy tried to explain as her breath hitched as her body shook. "We went looking for Hope and Ryan and something started chasing us. It was hard to tell what it was, but it was scary. Kyle made me hide and he was going to draw the monster away and lose it in the tunnels. I waited and then I heard Kyle yelling in panic and then his voice was suddenly cut off," she sobbed as she hid her face in her hands. "He never came back, and I went looking for the others on my own. It took a while until I found them."
"Damn! Did you guys get pulled here through an opening in the closet?"
"Yes," the other girl named Hope replied. "I knew we shouldn't have read that book. I begged Kyle not to do it."
"What the hell were you kids doing in that house anyway?"
"We were doing a séance from a book Kyle found at a yard sale. We were just fooling around. It seemed cool at the time and harmless. You know, we were getting into the Halloween spirit."
"You do know how dumb that was? Messing with something that you didn't understand," Dean scolded in a harsh voice. "There's no telling what you have disturbed or woke up."
"It was just for fun," Stacey whined and shrunk smaller when Dean glared at her. "We never believed anything would happen when we read the spell."
"What are we going to do? That thing is going to find us and kill us," Hope sobbed, clutching Ryan tightly and burying her head into his shoulder.
"Can you describe it to me?"
"It was big and dark, and it had red eyes. Scary red eyes. Do you know what it is?"
"No, but hopefully we're safe in here for the time being."
"How long have we been missing?" Stacey asked. "My parents are going to be so worried."
"When I got into town it was five days, I guess."
"That's really strange," Ryan commented. "I mean, we should be starving and thirsty, but we aren't. Why is that?"
"It must be something to do with this place. It takes away those types of needs since there doesn't look like there's much to drink or eat around here."
"Those bones, are they human?"
"Yeah, we're not the only ones who have been trapped in here. From the looks of them, I'd say they were old."
"Are we going to die in here?" Stacey whispered looking at Dean with frightened eyes as he lips trembled.
"Not if I can help it. If you can get into this place, there's got to be a way out too. We just need to find it."
"You don't seem scared at all of this place or what might be here with us."
"Not my first rodeo kiddies. I've deal with some strange shit in my life. Right now, I need to rest for a bit and then we need to keep looking for a way out of here," Dean told them before dropping to the ground and leaning back against a boulder. He was exhausted and needed rest, but he was also plotting, trying to figure a way to keep everyone alive. "Stay quiet and rest while you can," he instructed the kids as he closed his eyes and ignored them.
They started to whisper among themselves but stopped when Dean cleared his throat and growled at them. It was quiet again in the open area and the only thing Dean could hear was the uneven breathing to the three teens nearby. He tuned them out and listened to the quiet that surrounded them, hearing their shuffling around as they finally settled, and silence filled the space.
A/N: Dean did find the kids that were alive, but how is he going to get them out of this place. Thanks for coming along for the ride. I do like reviews/comments. NC
