When she climbed through and turned around, it was then Sarah realized a hole had been carved out of the rock and a partitioned building had been put in the cavity. She turned around and watched Sutton back inout, holding the metal paneling. “Oh, dear Scott, my boy, you have some explaining to do,” Skannish sang out.
They saw Sutton jerk his hands back as the metal slammed against the opening. “That took forever the last time,” Sutton mumbled, but everyone heard because of the echo in his suit.
“Follow,” Sutton said, walking past them and the gunfire retreated down the tunnel closer to them. When they neared the end of the building, everyone saw a dark gaping tunnel that led into the rock face.
When they followed Sutton into the tunnel, everyone stopped, gasping. It was just as big as the main tunnel leading to the central bunker. They all saw Sutton hadn’t stopped and took off after him. The flashlight in Sutton’s hand only sliced the darkness ahead without ending. Below their feet the floor was asphalt, but there were no overhead lights. When Sutton’s flashlight shined around, they noticed the walls and roof overhead were exposed rock. In all the other tunnels and areas, the rock was covered with steel or concrete facing.
Hearing Skannish breathing hard, “Sutton, we have to slow down. Skannish can’t keep this pace up,” Sarah yelled, knowing they had traveled over a mile. Sutton stopped, shining the flashlight down the tunnel. When the beam hit the wall ahead, Sutton saw they were approaching a curve.
“We can walk now,” Sutton told them.
“Now tell me, how did you know about this?” Skannish panted.
“After finding out about the security guards sneaking out and nobody figuring out how the flu got in the other bases, I asked the president if I could have a detailed plan of this bunker,” Sutton explained. “I wanted to know if people could sneak in and the president sent me the plans.”
He turned around and shined the light down the dark tunnel. “This is the way to the train station,” Sutton told them.
“Are you joking?” Sarah asked and the group followed Sutton as he walked down the tunnel.
“Nope. One end of the train tunnel goes all the way to Camp David, the other end stops somewhere near the Pentagon,” Sutton told them and then glanced back. “According to the plans, this part was stopped a year into the building of this bunker. But the train station area was completed.”
“I can’t believe you went off exploring like Indiana Jones and didn’t invite me,” Skannish chuckled. “My, I have to say, this is extraordinary.”
Rounding another curve, they were met with a steel wall and Sutton walked up to a hatchway. Unlocking the wheel, Sutton spun the handle and then opened the door up. “That apartment building we were staying in was just placed in the opening of this tunnel, since they already had the space,” he told them, stepping through the hatchway.
Everyone followed him in and were shocked to see Sutton taking off the suit. “Close the hatch. This area has its own filtration system down the tunnels. They aren’t connected to the complex,” Sutton told them.
Then everyone noticed there were lights around them, not many but light fixtures were overhead. “My word, look at this,” Skannish said, kicking his suit off and looking down the tunnel and saw it opened up in a large area. “And to think I felt guilty, asking for a new desktop computer last year. How many billions did they just throw away with this?”
“I don’t even want to know,” Sutton laughed. “I’ve only been down here twice exploring, but found rooms stocked with all kinds of stuff.”
“So that’s why you stopped putting up a fight these last few days when I told you to go to sleep,” Sarah snapped and everyone snickered.
“Well,” Sutton cringed. “If I hadn’t, we would be trapped in the lab.”
“I wonder how many know of this?” Skannish mumbled as they stepped out into a cavernous opening. Train tracks ran through the center and the area could only be called a train station. “Reminds me of Grand Terminal in New York.”
Raising his hand, Sutton pointed at buildings on the same side of the tracks they were on. “That first building was going to be a restaurant; a very fine dining restaurant. Those buildings past it are now just storage rooms. The one I checked out held hundreds of boxes of the old Nintendo entertainment systems,” Sutton told them and then led them over.
“I hope there is food in that restaurant,” Sarah said, finally letting Skannish’s arm go and letting him walk on his own. Then she registered what Sutton had said. “Wait, the NES was put out in the eighties.”
“I know. Me and my sister each had one,” Sutton chuckled.
“How long do you think this area has been sealed off?” Sarah asked as Sutton opened the door to the restaurant.
“The last building on this side is packed with cases of MREs with a date of six years ago. So, I know someone has been in here in the last six years,” Sutton answered and they all stopped to look around the opulent restaurant. At the far back corner, they saw a laptop set up on a corner table.
“That’s mine,” Sutton told them. “It’s nice and quiet here.”
“How many entrances into the complex lead here?” Sarah asked.
“Only the one we used,” Sutton told her. “There are two maintenance tunnels that open up to the outside from here. I only had time to follow one and it was welded up and
