Page 188 of Satan's Spawn

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I don’t knowhow long I’ve been walking through this God forsaken dungeon of doom, but it is definitely enough to have my feet aching and bleeding.

Flip flops ruined.

I twist open the cap to my water bottle, which barely has any left because I used most of it to clean Felix’s blood off me.

Taking the last few slugs, I toss the bottle, curling my arms so I can hug myself.

I’ve been following the tracks for what feels like hours, in hopes they will lead me back to the world, but so far all they’ve done is make me go around in circles.

I’m convinced this tunnel is a labyrinth.

I’ve finally stopped crying around fifteen minutes ago, deciding Crayton isn’t worth the risk of dehydration.

And from the looks of it I’m going to die in this place.

Something pricks my foot and makes me wince, and when I look down I find a piece of glass stuck in my heel.

“Fuck.” I curse, leaning against the wall to take a closer look at the damage.

It’s not worse than what Felix looked like, so I guess my odds are good.

I pull out the shard of glass and reach into my bag, which is now substituting as a crossbody, for a tissue to clean the wound, which thankfully comes through.

Not like my damn phone.

I mean, why has no one thought to put cell towers down here?

Because old decrepit caves are meant for bugs and mice, Rebecca, not humans.

I lift my middle finger up to my conscience, who apparently lives on the roof of this railroad.

With a heavy sigh, I march on; my hope of getting out of here tearing apart like the skin on my feet.

I reach for my traitorous phone, and turn on the flash light, in hopes a little more vision will help me find my way.

It does something, but not much.

I start humming the tune to “24 Karat Magic” in an attempt to escape insanity, when the sound of screeching in the distance has my heart nearly leap out of my rib cage.

Life. Humans.

The screeching turns to rumbling, like a train is taking off, so I follow the sound, which grows louder with every step.

The walls turn into huge thick pillars the deeper I tread down the path, which means I must’ve done something right in my travels because I haven’t seen this area yet.

The ground rattles beneath my feet, making me jump onto a low platform that appears on the side of the tracks. It stretches ahead, so I continue balancing on it to avoid the shaky tracks.

I look to the right, seeing a flicker of light, a different hue than the ones mounted to the concrete overhead, so I jump between two pillars onto another track, careful not to touch anything metal since it’s obvious these ones are live, and there’s several.

Hm. That’s weird. All the surrounding tracks near the pit were single run; there appears to be at least three separated by these giant columns.

I must be getting closer to an exit.

I start to run, tasting freedom at the tip of my tongue. I jump between more pillars, back down onto tracks until I’m furthest from where I started and following the small blue light in the distance.

I pass more of the partitions, which turn into solid walls, then turn into partitions again, but still no sign of a human being.