The four moved farther down into the bowels of the Colosseum and through the silent tunnels. Thad heard a splash and cursed, causing Marco to stop and turn around. Thad lifted a hand to shield his eyes from the piercing light of the smartphone. Thad shook his foot and his leather sandal flew off.
“Son of a bitch!” Thad cursed and hopped over and slipped his foot into his sandal.
“Should have worn shoes, man,” Dean said.
“You step in this water and your nice expensive Italian leather boots will be ruined as well,” Thad grouched.
“Dude, I’m wearing sandals too. Just walk along the sides of the water. Looks like some kind of water system or drainage from the rain,” Marco said, moving to the side of the passageway.
“Trust, that’s why I wear my Nikes,” Greg said and lifted a long leg and waggled his foot.
“Whatever. How far down are we gonna go?” Thad asked as they began to move forward, hugging the wall, away from the water. The air around them was damp and beginning to chill. All of them wore shorts and Thad was beginning to feel the discomfort and thought perhaps they should turn back. He was about to say so when he heard the rumbling deep in the earth.
He stopped and the other men paused as well. Marco turned his phone around and kept it aimed toward the ground.
“Ah shit,” he muttered.
“Think we need to bail?” Dean asked.
“Yeah, we need to go back,” Thad said and went to turn around when a roar came and the earth and stone shook around them. He heard Greg cry out in fear and Thad turned and stumbled, the ground heaving up and then falling back down. Thad stumbled to his knee and his hand landed in the water. He heard Marco curse and then the world around them was plunged into darkness.
“Dammit! I dropped my fucking phone in the water. Nobody move,” Marco called out. Thad froze and slowly stood, wiping his hand on his shorts. The earth continued to move and Thad held his arms out to balance himself. Around him the air seemed to vibrate around them all and he caught a faint hint of sulfur. He could hear the other men breathing heavily. Greg moaned in fear and Thad reached out and blindly grasped his friend’s shoulder.
“Stay still, Greg, it’ll be over in a minute,” Thad said and he felt Greg’s hand grasp onto his forearm.
“Y’all think we’ll be crushed in this shit?” Greg asked and Thad heard his fear.
“We’ll be okay, this place has stood for two thousand years. Somehow, I don’t think a quake would move it, just stand still, it’ll be over soon,” Thad assured him.
“This is some bullshit. I can’t find my phone. Anyone got a lighter? Did anyone else bring their phone?” Marco asked from the blackness.
There were grunts of no that echoed off the walls. The shaking was finally subsiding, though Thad could still feel it in his bones. Then a wall of putrid sulfur permeated the air and nausea grew and began to climb its way up Thad’s throat. He heard someone vomit and he thought perhaps it was Greg. He swallowed hard and his head felt as though it would crack with pain. Slowly, the rumbling stopped and all was quiet within the dark tunnel, but for their harsh breathing. He then heard splashing and asked into the darkness, “what are you doing?”
“Looking for my phone, but I can’t find it,” Marco said. Thad heard the frustration and anger and sighed heavily.
“We need to get the hell out of here,” he said.
“For real. How are we gonna do that?” Greg asked.
“We turn around and head back the way we came. We just keep one hand on the wall and go back,” Thad suggested.
“Maybe we should go forward?” Dean suggested.
“If you smell shit, that’s on me. I think I crapped myself,” Marco grumbled. Thad heard snickering and smiled.
“I think that is the stench from the belly of the earth,” Dean said.
“Yeah, I think maybe something opened up during that earthquake,” Thad said and began to walk blindly forward.
“You sure we shouldn’t just keep going forward?” Greg asked.
“We don’t know what’s ahead, we could fall into a pit. Let’s just go back the way we came,” Marco said and followed behind.
Greg felt weak from the fear that swam through his body. He had felt the small tremors since his arrival in Italy. He’d never before experienced something so terrifying as he had earlier. The whole damned world had moved beneath him and around him. He tasted the sulfur in air like a fart in his mouth and he’d vomited. There was a small part of him that felt shame at his own fear, but if any called him a coward, then he challenged them not to lose their shit when the whole world moved violently.
The fine hairs on his body picked up the trembling of the air around him. His antediluvian brain was jabbing him, urging him, herding him to leave this place. He wanted the hell out of this hole. As though reading his mind, he heard Dean’s disembodied voice reach him.
“Sorry guys, this is on me. I screwed up and I’m sorry,” Dean said, his voice some distance away from Greg. Growing up in rural Mississippi had not prepared him for this. It was a story he would tell his grandmother over and over once he got back and he sure as hell wasn’t going down into any tunnels any more.
“We all had a choice and it was pretty cool, at least before Marco got butterfingers,” Thad said and laughed.
“Yeah, my bad. Sorry about losing the light and the pictures. Man, that’s gonna cost me to replace it,” Marco said.
“You didn’t find it?” Greg asked and felt his
