This here folks is the continuation from the first chapter of this here story into the second chapter.

So sit back, relax and ready yourself for some details.

Enjoy!

Maria's Point Of View In The Story So Far:

After a while, I didn't know just how long I had being creeping around these damn tunnels. Never found anything like you'd see in the movies. Didn't even see any rats; only heard their annoying squeaks instead.

Although, as fate would have it, I ended up losing track of how many turns I'd taken in whichever direction I had gone in. It felt like I should've been with a black bag over my head since these tunnels were so dark; however, it was just fine for me since I could see just fine in the darkness.

Nevertheless, after bumping into a few walkways here and there and then stepping on those solid objects that who had no idea were for what seemed like forever, I started using my hands to feel around. (Really I just blamed the water current for pulling and pushing me against the walls and walkways but whatever.) Of course, I had started to feel my way around a bit but it was only after I had taken my gloves off; it was just to be on the safe side anyway.

However, so matter where I stopped to feel, it was always the same. Slime-covered concrete or brick walls. Dozens of rusted pipes running and gushing out water just above my head. Those sounds annoyed me way more than some squeaking rats ever could in an entire fucking lifetime.

Drip... drip... drip...

Drop... drop… drop…

These two same, mother fucking sounds bounced off of the walls around me, constantly.

Whether it was just above me, or somewhere off in the distance, I could hear it plain as day. It sounded like the ticking of a time bomb, and I hated time bombs due to past experiences with such explosives.

On the other hand, I eventually reached the end of the particular tunnel that I had been going down for a little while now; found nothing at the end of it. However, as I looked and felt around, I found another passaged leading to the right. So as far as I could tell, the only way I was getting out of here would be by going to the right.

Now if I were to be perfectly honest with myself, then I'd just come out and tell myself that I had gotten myself lost. Of course, being a damn stubborn human being, I just couldn't admit that after wandering these sewers pipes for about three or more hours, I'd managed to wind up lost.

Hell, I even spent the last forty or so minutes actually trying to look for that damned penny just in case I actually managed to find it and not go home just to get yelled at.

Did destiny cut me a break for a nice change of pace and allow me to find said coin? Fuck. No.

So after wasting my time searching through shit and piss, I pretty much gave up the whole penny search and tried to find a way out of these godforsaken tunnels for the last hour and now almost thirty minutes! To make matters worse (which wasn't hard to accomplish in this situation) I had icy water that came up to my shins when I stood up straight. Then there was the problem that the water was moving fast enough that it wasn't physically possible for me to keep my feet planted for more than a second at a time, but I've been in plenty worse situations.

Truth be told, aside from the god-awful smell, scavenging rats, shitty water surrounding the lower half of my body, it turned out that the sewers really weren't that bad of a place. Nice and dark, which were settings I greatly appreciated, and it didn't have anyone in here that were looking to kill me.

Yeah… Well as much as I have really hated slash slightly enjoyed this little venture into the dark tunnels, I still was having quite the difficult time finding an opening to the topside world from down here.

I was brought to the point that I even had to ask myself just how hard would it be to find a sewer lid when the usual street lamp shined on top of it. Apparently, it was extremely hard when it turned out that I haven't spotted one considering how long I've spent down here! Hell, I couldn't even find a ladder to take me back up to the surface!

"I wonder what dad would say to me right now…" I said to myself as the sounds of water gushing out of different tunnels echoed off the walls around me. "Probably something along the line of, "Beggars can't be choosers, Maria," hmm… maybe, "You got yourself into this mess, you can get yourself out," or some sort of bullshit sayings like that".

After mumbling to myself, I happened to come upon yet another intersection.

Letting a sigh go, I looked at my options: only six directions. I moved to the right wall on the farthest side and made deep claw marks in it before moving on. Keeping to the right had to get me somewhere, or at least I hoped it would lead me to a way out anyway.

After a few seconds of easy strides, I stopped and froze the best I could in the middle of the current.

I couldn't hear anything. The sound of the water droplets hitting the pipes and the water was gone. The only thing I heard was my own soft breathing and my heartbeat, and my heart began to increase in its beats as the silence continued.

"Where the fuck did it all go…"? I slowly thought to myself as my hand instinctively reached down and grabbed one of my knives from my belt. "What the hell is going on…"?

Wait! If the sounds stopped then that must've meant that I had finally reached an open area or maybe a way out, right? Quickly, I stretched both of my arms out to scan the area between me and the brick walls. But as I moved my arms out to touch one of the walls I had found out that the walls were gone. I was at another damn intersection. Dammit!

"I'm never going to get out of this sewer"! I scowled as I took a few steps forward. I carefully scanned the area right before my eyes, trying to see if anything was in my way so that I wouldn't run into it. But then I heard it!

Splash…!

My heart stopped beating for a second as I held my breath; expecting some sort trick to pop out at me. Then it happened again…

Splash…!

It was coming closer… whatever it was anyway…

Splash!

I readied myself the best I could and had two knives in each hand just to be on the safe side. Whatever was coming was coming fast. I heard another splash come from my right and turned to the tunnel that it sounded like it was coming from. But then another came from behind me, and another from somewhere else. However, the other two sounded further away than the one right before me, so I stayed put for now.

SPLASH!

Staring down one of the tunnels of darkness, I awaited a battle cry, bullets coming straight out of a gun, or maybe something right out of a freshly brewed nightmare…

Squeak.

What the hell…?

What seemed to be a fat rat jumped up and down in the water; it wanted out of the water by getting onto a walkway. Well sucks for him since the walkways ran out as soon as the water reached my knees. Sucks for me since I was preparing to do battle with a rodent!

After smacking myself in the head for being such a fool for thinking that there was something trying to attack me down here, I continued on my way and walked into the tunnel that the rat just came out of.

Of course, the next second after I let my guard down something came right at me. Some sort of blunt object struck out at me and hit me right in the back of the head with (what felt like) enough force to rip through pure steel like it was aluminum foil.

As the area around me began to spin, I quickly realized how slowly I was beginning to breathe. My arms dropped down to my sides and knees gave out from underneath me. My eyelids felt like weights all of a sudden. I was getting very tired very fast. And this damn endless darkness wasn't helping anything at all.

Then it got worse as I tried to get back up; I couldn't get back up and meet my attacker. I was blacking out and I knew that I wasn't going to recover from it without falling asleep.

Oh damn! What if this was the end for me? My last words spoken to my father weren't the greatest in the world and I'd hate to die on them.

"Damn… it…" I groaned as I fell back down onto my knees. I leaned to my right, feeling the outline of the slimy wall against my cold hand. It was too slippery for me to try and get a grip on, so I just kept my hand sliding against it.

Before I knew it, another blunt attack was slammed against my head, and I was out like a light.

Now with the second chapter written and done, I must move on to create the third chapter.

So wish me luck, my readers, as I embark onto the more exciting third chapter.

Until next time, my good people!