We’d been walking for a little over an hour and a half when we decided to stop and rest. Gerard kept saying, ‘We’re almost there.’ Blah blah blah.
‘We’re almost there’ got real old 30 minutes ago.
We had no food or water, no reception on our phones, if we were really lost we were screwed. Apparently Gerard bended the truth a little when he said the tunnel led to another part of town. More like, it led to ANOTHER town 30 miles over.
Sigh. We’d be down here a while.
It was already 1 in the morning and I could tell we’d probably be sleeping here tonight. The conditions weren’t too bad, sure the walls were made of dirt but it could be far worse. There could be bugs and other creepy crawlies, which there weren’t, as far as I could see. Thank god.
It wasn’t pitch black either, it could’ve been better but there were tiny lights tucked into the bottom of the wall, extending for miles. That’s pretty lucky.
The air was moist and smelt like fresh soil; it was almost soothing. You’d think most people would be horrified trapped underground but I wasn’t. I felt in tune with the Earth, I felt protected.
The only down part to it was that it was freezing and the stone top of the tunnel was dripping water in random places.
We sat down at the perfect spot, dry and free from any incoming water droplets.
“How will we get back to Harvey Cedars?” I said quietly. We were all huddled together, me in the middle, conserving heat.
“There’s a bus that goes directly to it about half a mile down the road of where we’re going.” Gerard replied.
“Oh,” I simply said.
“I think we should sleep here. It’s pretty dry, the lighting is okay, and we don’t know how it’s going to be farther down the tunnel.” Frank added.
“I agree. We’re better off staying here.” Gerard said. I nodded and brought my knees to my chest, hugging my body tightly to stay warm.
“So what now?” I asked.
“Too early to start that talk, we don’t know what the situation is above ground.” Gerard shrugged.
We stayed silent for about 5 minutes till Frank dug into his pocket and pulled out a carton of cigarettes.
“I knew it.” I glared at him.
“Sorry.” He sighed, sticking one end of the cigarette in his mouth and lighting up the other end with a match.
“Meh.” I yawned and shook it off. I really couldn’t be bothered anymore. At this point we probably weren’t going to live to see next week so it didn’t matter anyways.
Frank reached over me and offered the pack to Gerard, to which he accepted, pulling out a cigarette with ease.
Frank tossed the lighter to him and leaned his head back, blowing smoke upwards in a relaxed manner.
“Aren’t you going to offer me one?” I have him an annoyed look.
“No.” He said without looking at me.
“Why? I deserve one in this scenario. You can’t treat me like a kid.” I grumbled.
“Knock yourself out then.” He said, tossing me the pack, eyes still locked on the ceiling.
My eyes widened and I rummaged through the box, pulling out the first one I saw. Gerard leaned over me and sparked the lighter; I frantically put it to my lips and sucked in.
