“Honey?” he calls quietly in accented Romanian.
“You’re okay. We’re not going to hurt you.”
No response.
Then—
metal rattles softly farther ahead.
Like chains moving.
My entire body goes cold.
Mason mutters,
“Jesus…”
I’m sure he’s remembering too.
Hannah’s breathing turns ragged beside me.
“They never shut it down.”
Her whisper barely exists.
And somehow that’s worse than if she screamed it.
The tunnel suddenly feels endless around us.
Ancient.
Rotting.
Alive.
Russ motions sharply.
Lucas and Mason move rear guard while the rest of us push deeper underground toward the voice.
The air changes the farther we go.
Warmer.
Stale.
Generator heat.
Oh hell no.
Somebody’s operating something down here.
Recently.
Water splashes beneath our boots as we move carefully past abandoned rail carts and rusted transport cages shoved against the walls.
Human-sized.
My jaw tightens violently.
