The three men stood and stared at each other as the door lowered into the floor. It would have been a fair contest to determine who was more stunned: the two who had just walked twenty miles in an ancient undersea tunnel or the one who had been drilling into a stone door for over a month with absolutely no success, only to have the entire door drop into the floor to reveal two men in black neoprene wetsuits—one standing on the other's shoulders.
Nobody moved.
Teddy reached out his hand in a casual gesture that encouraged the technician to hand over the broken industrial drill bit he was holding in his hand. The nature of Teddy's gesture was so calm, even peaceful, that the movement did nothing to break the spell they were all under. Mesmerized, the technician handed the three foot long broken drill bit to Teddy.
Teddy smacked him over the head with it.
Joshua jumped down and quickly entered the bright white passageway. Spotting a half-eaten sandwich resting on the back of the drill, he tore it in half and handed a piece to his father as Teddy checked over the technician. The passageway was empty except for the drilling machine and a small golf cart that stood facing a white door.
"Give me a hand!" Teddy had stripped the technician of his lab coat, shirt and pants—they would fit Joshua. He also took the man's security badge, a utility knife and large ring of keys the man wore on his belt. "Let's drag him back into the tunnel and you can put these on."
"Are we going to leave him for dead?" Joshua's voice warbled a bit.
"Of course not! He'll take a little nap and we'll tell somebody where he is once we get out of here." Teddy was pleased by Joshua's concern.
While Joshua hurriedly dressed, Teddy drove the golf cart next to the doorpost under the fan shaped depression, jumped on the roof and motioned for Joshua to toss the gold dust covered glove up to him. Pressing the glove into the depression and smearing it around, Teddy tried to get as many dust particles onto the stone as possible.
Sending up a quick prayer, he pressed his naked hand into the depression and let out a whoosh of relief as the stone began to rise from the floor. He couldn't be sure, but he thought he had felt a slight hesitation as the stone began to move. Looking down at the glove, he could only discern a few remaining particles embedded in the fabric of the palm. No matter, they were almost home free.
"You drive! I'll sit back here looking like a prisoner until I can find a lab coat." Teddy slumped in the rear-facing seat as Joshua backed up.
"Where am I going?" Exhilaration showed on his flushed cheeks.
"Up. Up. Up! But be ready to hide if we encounter any big groups." Teddy gave him the thumbs up as Joshua hit the gas and the white door slid open. Teddy slumped down as if unconscious, but kept his eyes open a tiny slit to observe his surroundings.
Long white plastic looking corridors that screamed: lab. Somehow, the antiseptic character of the place made him feel like nothing good was going on down here. They passed a door and Teddy thumped the side of the cart for Joshua to stop. The door bore the number 13 over top.
Jumping off before the cart came to a full stop, Teddy tried to peer through the opaque glass front of the door—he could see nothing. Turning the handle slowly so as to make no noise, he cracked the door an inch and peered in. The smell hit him immediately—rank, rotten death.
Teddy pushed the door closed quickly and jumped back on the cart, but not before he perceived natural stone walls and dripping moisture and… movement.
Joshua was moving before Teddy hit the seat. Suddenly he slammed on the brakes. They had come to a four-way crossroads.
"Which way do I go, Dad?" Joshua whispered.
Teddy peered over Joshua's shoulder trying to distinguish between the corridors—they showed no difference. Absolutely no difference.
"Look at the floor, Dad!" Joshua pointed. Two of the corridors went down, but one had a slight up angle to it and Joshua slammed on the gas and sped into it.
They passed several more corridors leading who knows where and either took the one that went up or if there were several, stopped to listen for voices or the sounds of machinery or golf carts. The place wasn't exactly humming with activity, but there were definitely busy people about and nothing they went past looked like it offered a quick exit.
As they drove, Teddy was becoming more and more certain that nothing good was going on down here. He couldn't shake the smell of that cave.
The cart stopped.
"This is our stop." Joshua had parked next to a couple of other carts in a line next to a set of double doors. Hopping out, he ran to the doors, waved the security badge and was about to open them when Teddy grabbed his hand.
"Let's be careful." Teddy gently guided Joshua behind him and turned the doorknob. It was locked. "Get those keys."
Joshua pulled out the key ring on its lanyard and tried several keys before one worked. There was a smaller key ring with just a few keys that he guessed were those most frequently used. Teddy turned the knob and pulled the door quietly open about half an inch. There was no identifiable smell. Cracking the door wider, he could see dozens and dozens of steel barred jail cells—everything was white.
From what he could see, the inmates lay in the corners of their cells for the most part and didn't seem to take much notice of the door opening. Directly across from the door he was opening lay a single white door. That had to be their goal.
"You go first, quietly. I'll try to stay out of sight behind you. There is a single white door directly across from us. Don't talk to anyone in the cells." Teddy took Joshua's arm and pushed him through the door as the boy looked at him quizzically.
Joshua found himself staring into the eyes of a very, very short man—maybe three feet—who didn't display any obvious signs of dwarfism other than his height. He quickly turned his head and began walking toward the door on the other side of the cavernous room. He endeavored to keep his eyes down, but he couldn't help looking up at the silent figures in the cells—some of whom were beginning to notice them as they scuttled through. At one point, he locked eyes with a little girl who couldn't have been more than nine or ten—he couldn't understand why anyone would lock up one so young—he jerked his eyes back to the floor and kept moving, feeling his dad cowering behind him.
***
Caleb looked again at his hand—that hadn't been a nip, she had really bitten him. The outline of the bite was turning bright red, especially where the skin had broken. Uncle Stu was sleeping next to him, completely exhausted from trying to stay up without any food or water.
Caleb was drifting off himself when he had the strangest dream. His brother Joshua was walking past their cell wearing a lab coat. Apparently he was working for these people. Even stranger, his father was crouching behind him wearing a black neoprene wetsuit.
Relief flooded over Teddy as they reached the far door. He had been avoiding looking at the inmates, the last thing he wanted was somebody shouting after them. He stepped in front of Joshua and tried the door: locked. "Joshua, we need the keys again."
As Joshua waved the badge and tried key after key, the seconds ticked by with painful timidity. Teddy could feel the number of eyes staring at his back increasing and he willed Joshua on to the right key. He felt so many pairs of eyes on them that he was physically afraid to turn around and see the entire room staring at them—and then he heard his worst nightmare: pssst!
He tapped Joshua to hurry him. Pssst! There it was again, but he wasn't about to turn around under any circumstance.
Joshua slid the next key into the lock like butter and turned the knob—he wasn't waiting either. Teddy pushed through behind him and was about to close the door…
"Dad!" A loud whisper from a voice he recognized.
Caleb?