Tim stepped out into the darkness of the tunnel with apprehensive steps. "Seems okay so far," he said, glancing around. He walked towards the rubble, and inspected it a bit "Hello, can anyone hear me?" he hollered towards the rubble.
"Keep it down, loud noises might affect the ceiling!" Andrew harshly whispered towards Tim, whilst hanging out the broken window looking at him. Tim looked back and started walking back over to us. "I think we should try walking back to the previous station. Maybe we'll find the rescue crew back there." he proposed.
Since we'd already broken the window, I saw no reason to further delay, and said, "Sounds like that's for the best." Liam further agreed, "We should surface and see the world God has made for us."
After sharing looks amongst ourselves, Andrew relented and gave his agreement in the form of the word, "Fine." and we all started to climb out of the window. Hopping out after the moaning Denise who had gotten both Tim and Andrew to lift her, I felt as if my landing had echoed across the stars.
Standing on the tunnel's earth, grounded to the rest of the world, I felt vulnerable and small, as if the walls were listening, about to open their eyes, or jaws.
Looking back I saw Liam leaning against the car staring up at the ceiling as if looking beyond it. Catching my look he turned to me and smiled. Not wanting to engage with him I turned back to the window and helped carry down Rain.
Again the child's silence and curious eyes struck me, but without the backdrop of his mother's care it no longer seemed as comedic, and instead surprised me. How was this child so unbothered by what's going on?
Not wanting to pry I passed Rain back to Rebbecca, who had climbed over, and turned my focus to Andrew, who stood at the front of the group.
"The priority here is safety and caution, all we are doing is getting back to the station and trying to get out of harm and the professional's way, so stick close to each other and follow me," Andrew stated firmly at the front of the group.
"Yes, Yes follow your knowledge and obey your ego, who put you in charge any way, now hurry up and move I need a lawyer and a coffee," Denise said while jabbing at him.
Shaking his head a little and turning, Andrew started to walk and we followed. A building tension hung over me as clearly as the tons of dirt as we started our expedition into the dark. The slow crunch of my feet on the gravelly earth sounded in beat with my booming heart.
With only those sounds and the flickering, shadow-like forms of my companions accompanying me, I slowly marched alongside the rest of the group as we made our way back to the station.
The walk was unimpeded, with the only part of the tunnel that had collapsed being the one right on top of the train.
Slowly the smell of the earth gave way to fresher air, the first indicator that we were getting to the end. "I think we're getting close," Tim said, and quickened his pace to go past Andrew.
"Slow down, near the station is when we should be most careful," Andrew called out "The emergency crews will be most active around there."
"If a crew was here we would have heard them by now!" Tim called back, "I'll see what's going on." And with that he rushed ahead into the dark.
The brazenness of his actions shocked me, but then again the bad feeling I had been getting was likely further adding to my worry. I'd forgotten that the others weren't as on edge as I was.
It seemed that that difference wasn't destined to remain for long.
A shout "HOLY SHIT, GUYS COME QUICK!" echoed from down the tunnel a few minutes after Tim had gone on ahead.
The rest of us hurriedly ran and quickly caught up, witnessing the cause of Tims disbelief. Though we could only partially see what had happened, through the stairway, it was more than enough to confirm my sickly feeling and stun us all into silence.
All that remained of the city that I called home, was pure and utter devastation.