Into the Sewers Part Two

Lovelynn

As I ran my way down the tunnel, my heart pounded in my chest as I panted, straining my muscles with everything I had in me. Chris Walker had heard me and began pursuing me relentlessly through the tunnel. I came upon some wooden beams, nearly floor level in the tunnel, and I quickly jumped over them, continuing to do my damndest to find one of the two valves. Miles and Waylon were currently looking for the other one; I really hoped they were having much better luck than I was. Bloody water splashed onto me as I continued running, picking up my pace even more when I came to a gap in the wall. This must be it. I thought, feeling relieved, until I felt a sharp pain radiate through my scalp. Chris Walker had caught up to me. He grabbed me by my hair, pulling me into the air one-handed as if I weighed nothing.

Oh, God, help me.

He held me high above him, my hands in my hair, clawing at his hand, hoping he would just let me go. I opened my eyes. He was smiling too widely, a demented grin that stretched across his face.

"I found you, little pig." When he said this, I screamed in anger. We never could catch a break. All we wanted to was to expose this madness and bring justice to the families of everyone involved. Chris Walker had pursued us from the start. And fucking Father Martin acted like he was trying to help us. He was only keeping us here so we could die. Then those damn sick twins. Sneaking up on us when they had the chance, trying to have the upper hand. Chris was holding me too far away from him for me to kick him or try anything else. My neck burned as I held my head up, putting more pressure on my scalp. I closed my eyes, allowing my head to drop, slowing my breathing. I hung there limply, dangling from his hand.

I knew he'd brought me closer to him when the smell of copper smacked me in the face.

Gotcha.

I threw my legs around his chest, digging my nails into his eye sockets. The wetness of his milky colored eyes and their gummy texture startled and disgusted me as blood poured down his face. He roared in pain, tossing me away from him, where I hit the wall hard. Stars danced in my vision as he grabbed at his eyes, trying to ease his suffering. Tears were pouring from my eyes as well, but this time, it wasn't from fear. It was rage. I started to laugh at the pain I'd caused him.

"How do you like it, you fucking asshole!?" I spat angrily. He made a move to charge at me again, but I'd already slipped through the gap in the wall, pushing open the beaten door to the room that contained one of the valves. There was a sign on the pipe which read Female Drain, and I turned it to the left three times, stopping when it would turn no more. By this point, I had calmed down a bit, and I leaned against the wall, concentrating on my breathing. I felt immensely guilty for what I'd just done. I hurt another human being and I actually got pleasure from it.

What the fuck is this place doing to me?

Miles

"You'd better make it fast, Upshur, we've got company coming," Waylon said to me as we heard Chris Walker approaching us rapidly. We had barely just made it to the other room with the valve in it. Above it was a sign that read Prison Drain.

"Well fuck a monkey's uncle, of course he's coming," I said, irritated, as I rolled my eyes.

"JUST TURN THE DAMN VALVE FOR GOD'S SAKE!!" Waylon yelled, eyes widened in fear as he pressed his body against the already closed door. Chris Walker was pounding himself into it, trying to get in.

"Son of a bitch, I need a drink," I said as I turned the valve as fast as I could. I was at the point where I just didn't give a shit anymore. This nightmare was never going to end. Lovelynn and Waylon had something to return to, whereas I didn't. I was mainly doing all of this shit for them. I really didn't care what happened to me.

"WATCH OUT!!" Waylon yelled, running from the door and pushing me back, Chris Walker bursting in. I noticed he appeared angrier than normal, if that was even possible. He was breathing raggedly, blood running down from his eye sockets. That didn't even seem to phase him, however, because he charged towards Waylon, knocking him down.

" THIS. IS. ALL. YOUR. FAULT. YOU WERE IN ON THE WHOLE FUCKED UP SCHEME. HAVE TO CONTAIN IT. NO MATTER WHAT THE COST IS." I watched, horrified, as he grabbed Waylon by the throat, lifting him up.

Shit. Shit. Shit. I looked around rapidly, my eyes settling on a crowbar on the shelf across the room. I grabbed it quickly, hitting Chris Walker across the face with it. Blood flew out of his mouth, and he dropped Waylon, who was gasping for air as he jumped up.

"Fucking RUN!!!" I shouted, and Waylon and I bolted out of the room, refusing to look back. We ran our way back down the tunnel, jumping over a ledge we came across. We finally made it back to the room we started in, Chris Walker hot on our trail. Lovelynn was standing at the passage we'd just drained, gesturing rapidly to the ladder.

"GET YOUR ASSES DOWN THIS LADDER NOW!!!" She shouted, her voice cracking. I shoved her down, watching as she grabbed the ladder, making haste down it, Waylon and I following. The last thing I saw as we made it halfway down was Chris Walker, glaring down into the passage, furious. I smirked, flipping him the bird as we continued our long journey downward, further into this hellhole.

Lovelynn

Once we all reached the bottom, we turned our night vision on. This particular passage in the sewer was pitch black. The green light of our night vision only made it look all the more eerie. It was also colder down here. I shivered, gasping as I caught sight of a corpse, the upper half of it submerged in the murky waters. There were a couple of boxes nearby, but otherwise, there was nothing of any particular importance. Water droplets fell from the pipes on the ceiling, echoing as we made our way through. We made a left turn, stopping as we noticed a body hanging over a ceiling pipe. Whoever this person was, we couldn't see their face, only the back of their head. Their arms and legs hung downward limply. God, I hope that whoever this man is, he's in a better place.

We made another turn, noticing another wooden ledge we had to climb over. Yet another corpse of a man was there, lying face down. Half of him was submerged in the water; the other half lay on the part of the sewer that didn't have any water flooded. This was the third body we'd found in the span of five minutes. My heart was beginning to race, anxiety rearing its ugly head in me the further we traveled. I really hoped we didn't see any more down here. As far as I was concerned, we'd all seen enough.

"Damn, that was a close call back there," Miles said, breaking our silence.

"You think?" Waylon asked drily, rolling his eyes.

"Guys, we're all alive. That's all that matters," I said, not in the mood to hear any bickering.

"Yeah, but barely. We've all been through hell. We've all seen awful things here that I would do anything in the world to forget. But I most likely never will." said Miles.

"Same here. This has been one hell of a night." I replied.

"We're only just getting started," Waylon muttered, as we climbed over another wooden ledge. Finally, we'd reached the end of the tunnel, noticing a ladder going upward.

"Now or never, boys." I said, as I began climbing upward, happy to see the light again. My happiness was short lived, however, as a patient poked his head over the side of the passage, looking down at us. I stopped climbing, watching him until he turned and ran away.

"What the hell was that about, Blackie?" Miles asked once we came to the top, climbing our way out.

"I saw someone. I couldn't make out any features, but he was watching us as we climbed up." I replied, running my hands through my hair, my scalp still sore from my earlier encounter with Chris Walker.

"Well, he's gone now." Waylon replied, peering into the new tunnel system before us.

"Thank God," Miles said. "Let's keep going." Across from us on the brick walls of the sewer was an arrow pointing to our right, with another sign below it that read: ADMIN BLOCK. We all nodded in silent agreement as we headed into the tunnel, turning our night vision on once again. We soon came to a rusty, grated platform that had been built in this part of the sewer. Relieved to not be walking in the nasty water, we all stepped onto it, stopping when we noticed that the tunnel in the direction we were headed was blocked off by giant boulders. There was a door next to us, and with that being the only way to go, Miles pushed it open, and we were surprised to see a patient in the far left corner, standing behind an overturned table. He began to speak as we all stepped closer, cautiously.

"I can tell you guys are just like me. We're all the same. You still know what's real. The doctor is dead, you know that, right? Dr. Wernicke. Died before he even started working here. What kind of experiments does a dead doctor perform on the living? That's the question." He said as he stood there, grabbing his head and twitching.

"So, the patients know the doctor is dead," Miles whispered as we stepped away from the patient.

"I wonder how they found that out." I whispered back. Waylon shrugged.

"Who knows," he whispered.

To the far right, the three of us noticed another passage we had to climb down into. When we reached the bottom, we were in a section of the sewer where the water was completely red. The smell of blood was insanely strong here, disgusting me with each breath I took. Across from us were two signs on the wall. A white one read: MALE WARD, with an arrow pointing to the left. A red one read: FEMALE WARD, with an arrow pointing to the right.

"We can't get to the Female Ward. There's a grated door there, and it's locked, and I don't have the key." said Waylon.

"Alrighty then, Male Ward it is," Miles replied, and we all headed down the tunnel towards it. We all jumped back, startled, when a corpse fell from the ceiling, splashing into the bloody water. There was a large pipe to the right, with the various mangled and bloody innards of someone plastered to it. The water splashed onto us, and I desperately wanted to take a long ass bath in pure bleach and never get out. We were all soaked, freezing, and tired. Mentally exhausted was an understatement. I couldn't wait to see Noah again. My baby. My reason for keeping this up.

We continued onward, making another left into yet another tunnel. There were two boxes stacked haphazardly nearby, water gushing out of a pipe on the wall. Blood was on the walls and floor. Gross. More body parts and innards were also lying nearby. We came upon another corpse, on its side, one leg crossed over the other. My heart went out to all of the people who had unfairly met their demise here. We turned, continuing on through the endless tunnels, coming to a stop when we saw a person's head in the bloody water.

"We better be careful, or we just might lose our heads too," Miles said, cracking a smile. Waylon and I just stared at him, not sure whether to laugh or lose our shit.

"Sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood," Miles said sheepishly. At this, both Waylon and I smiled, shaking our heads. There was another metal door to our left, with indentions in it. I walked over to it, twisting the knob, but it was locked. There was an opening in the wall that we would have to crawl through. In the bloody water.

"Ready, Blackie?" Miles asked, looking at me.

"Not like I have a choice, Sherlock." I replied.

"Let's just get this over with." Waylon said. We all dropped down on our hands and knees as we began to crawl through the copper-scented water. I'd never felt more claustrophobic in my life. The small tunnel felt like it was closing in on me. We were all barely able to get through it, but by the grace of God, we did. We could finally stand again.

This new area we were in thankfully didn't have as much as water. Not that it mattered, but it barely covered our feet here. There were pipes all in this room, and a few boxes here and there. We heard a loud rumbling noise, and the room shook for a minute.

"What the hell was that about?" Miles asked, looking at Waylon and I.

"Beats the hell out of me," Waylon replied, shrugging. There was another rusty platform above us. There was no ladder but we could pull our way up. Once we were all on the platform, we opened one of the doors across from us. We were startled to see an opening in the bricks on the other side, and a patient was there, waving his arm around, trying to grab us. He, like the majority of them, was disfigured, his face and arms looking like they'd been stitched together.

"Side effect from the Engine. It causes the person physical pain as well as mental agony. It often results in disfigurement." Waylon stated, seeming to read our thoughts.

"Your bosses were seriously fucked in the head, you know that?" Miles asked.

"Obviously," Waylon responded.

"This whole place is fucked." I said, making my way towards the other door. I opened it. We quickly switched our night vision on, noticing we were on another metal platform. We soon came to a drop off on the platform, leading down into more sewer water. We all jumped down into it, our night vision going strong as we looked around for where to go next. The water here was waist deep. I shivered from the cold; and finally, Miles had found where we were now supposed to go. There were steps leading up onto another metal platform. The three of us made our way up them, turning to our left, seeing a bloody corpse hanging over the railing. We barely acknowledged it as we came down the stairs on the other side, making our way to a much larger tunnel area. It was all grated shut, except for a small section which was cut out.

We dropped on all fours again, making our way through. The same rumbling noise we'd heard before rang in our ears again, as the sewers shook once more. All our night vision caught was the murky water, casting it in a green glow. The three of us jumped down into the waist deep waters, me accidentally stepping on a corpse as we did so. I jumped back quickly, feeling like I'd done something wrong.

"I'm so sorry, so sorry," I said, apologizing to whoever it was.

"Dead men can't hear, you know," Miles whispered, nudging me.

"No shit." I replied. "I just felt that it was disrespectful."

"It doesn't matter now anyway." Waylon said, shaking his head remorsefully. We all quieted as we heard the sound of chains rattling and watery footsteps in the distance. Chris Walker was back.

SHIT.

"We need to stay against the wall, and move as fast and quietly as we can," Miles whispered to us. We all moved close together, holding our cameras with one hand, and the wall with the other. We moved slowly and carefully, hoping our pursuer wouldn't hear us and come running. I'd had enough of Chris Walker's shit for one night. Yet here we were again. The more we moved, the closer Chris seemed to get to us. Only this time he wasn't running. I guess, thankfully, he hadn't spotted us. At least not yet. Then, the sound of rattling chains grew louder.

"Stop. Don't move, don't even breathe." I whispered, and we all stood still, hearts racing. It took everything I had not to run right then and there. I grabbed Miles's hand, squeezing it as we waited. He squeezed mine back.

"We're going to be okay, Blackie." He whispered to me.

"I sure as shit hope so," Waylon whispered back. We froze in fear when we saw Chris Walker standing a few feet away from us, looking into the other larger corridors. Thump. Thump. Thump. It's a wonder a heart attack hadn't killed me yet. We released the breath we'd all been holding when Chris walked down one of the other corridors, away from us. We waited until we could no longer hear him nearby before we continued on. Miles grabbed us once we got to the deepest part of the sewers, pointing his camera upward. "There's a platform. With a ladder reaching the top. We're going to be out of here soon." He said, sounding truly happy.

"Maybe not," Waylon replied dreadfully, and we all turned just in time to see Chris Walker running towards us. We all ran as fast as we could to the platform, hoping to reach it on time. Miles and Waylon ran up the stairs quickly, me following behind. I narrowly dodged Chris Walker grabbing my ankle. We all jumped up, grabbing onto the ladder as we climbed up quickly.

"YES!!! TAKE THAT, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Miles yelled down into the sewers. Waylon, Miles, and I all broke into laughter as we all grabbed each other, hugging each other tightly. Once we all pulled apart from each other, we noticed a patient sitting slumped over on a stool, his head in his hands. We decided not to bother him as we headed through the open grated door, coming to a sign that read: MALE WARD, with an arrow pointing to the right. We started our way down the corridor, when a patient ran up to Miles, hitting him with a crowbar.

"Ow! The fuck was that for!?" Miles demanded, as the guy turned and ran back in the direction he'd come.

"Oh, well. Fuck it. I don't even give a shit," Miles said, rubbing his arm where the guy had hit him. Waylon and I couldn't help but laugh, doubling over as the laughter overtook us.

"Screw you both," said Miles, but he chuckled as well. I didn't know where this would take all of us, but I knew that we were a strong group.

I truly had faith that we would be okay.