The flight of stairs stretched as far as the eye could see going deeper and deeper into the dark bowels of the Earth.
Mark face darkened a little. He had scouted this place prior to the beginning of the end but he hadn't taken notice of this flight of stairs and he surely couldn't have missed something as enormous as this. Infact, Mark hadn't expected to walk this far before reaching an exit but here he was standing before a flight of stairs that seemed to have appeared out of the blue and worst of all it was leading deep into the depths.
No matter what angle Mark is viewed it from, it wasn't a favourable development. He has come into the tunnel to escape the eye of the storm that would descend upon the city and even though there would be remnant of that storm he didn't plan to spend a long time in this forsaken tunnel.
He had come into this tunnel bearing neither food nor water, he had come empty handed and had hoped to sneak back to the surface through one of the many outlets in the tunnel but here he was staring at this. Life sure always had a way of messing with him.
He also knew he couldn't go back the way he came from cause he knew one of the falling clouds had fell directly over it.
He looked at his partner, he pale, forlorn face had began to regain some colour. She looked back at him, her look suggesting she doesn't know about the stairs and she was as surprised as he was.
Left with no other choice than to follow the path that had been laid down to them, Mark voiced out
"Since we have no other choice, let's just follow this and see where it leads us"
She looked at him and nodded, Mark had began descending the flight of stairs he then paused and turned around.
His partner gave him a questioning look as if to ask
' what's the matter?'
He looked at her then said
"I didn't catch your name"
She tilted her head a little then she replied
"It's Kya"
"I'm Mark"
With that they began their descent into the deeper darkness of the tunnel the only sound present were the echoes of their feet hitting the cold, hard stone.
The flight of stairs seemed almost endless. They had been descending for how long, a minute, an hour or two? Mark couldn't tell as he couldn't track the passage of time but he knew they had been descending for a long while.
They hadn't began to feel the effect of dehydration but soon it'll start to sip into their bones making them weary and weak yet there was no way out in sight.....,yet.
They continued their endless descent, beads of sweat lining their brows but they didn't stop or slow down for a moment even.
It was as if a silent agreement had been reached by both of them not to stop even for a second.
The tunnel surprisingly was filled with cool air which was surprising seeing as they were about two hundred meters into the earth but it was great news. They didn't have to worry about suffocating deep in the bowels of the earth or dying of high environmental but there was still the problem of food and water
When they had entered the tunnel at first, there had been a few rodents and insects scurrying about but since they stepped foot on the stairs, they hadn't even seen one insect. It seemed like they were the only form of life in this part of the tunnel and for whatever unknown reasons rodents and insects were avoiding this part of the tunnel.
Mark didn't know for how long he could keep his pace but he knew he had to catch his breath sooner than later.
He looked at Kya trying to gauge her condition. But what he saw made him shocked and embarrassed.
Although he couldn't make out the entirety of her face in the darkness of the tunnel but he could see that her face was calm without a single ripple on its surface, she looked perfectly fine like she was just taking a walk in a mid winter sun.
Wiping the sweat off his brows, Mark picked up his pace. He couldn't afford to lose to a girl.
But a lot of things didn't add up in this tunnel. He had done a little scouting prior to entering the tunnel and had marked an exit point, he had also explored further but he hadn't come across a long flight of stairs.
The appearance of an unidentified landscape was both intriguing and appaling. It was a marvel of....is it technology, or maybe nature, or maybe it was something else, something entirely different from the previous ones he had thought of.
Something huge and inconceivable an outskirt rat like him couldn't comprehend.
Why would someone place an endless flight of stairs here in the first place, were they just like him and knew exactly what he would do so they decided to toy with him.
Talking about being just like him, isn't he surely an oddball. He received revelations that were coming true bit by bit but he couldn't even control when and where he received the revelations, he doesn't even know how it works, it just happens unexpectedly and he would be left trying to digest and fit what he saw into the dangerous bigger picture then map out a plan to survive whatever was coming.
Yes survive, that was what was expected of him and what he expected of himself.he was meant to survive and to do that he had to be cautious.
He stole a glance at Kya as the thought crossed his mind but his thoughts were interrupted by a sudden change in the surrounding and he wasn't the only one that noticed it.
After descending down the flight of stairs for an hour or maybe four and being surrounded by nothing but echoes and darkness they were stunned to see a bright light on the distance.
In the desolate darkness, the light was like a beacon beckoning unto them and drawing their spirits towards it warmth and luminance.