“Naw, but if they ever find it a thousand years from now, they’ll wonder about it,” Marco said.
“No shit,” Dean said and snorted.
“Hey Marco, I’ve come to a juncture. Do I go left or right?” Thad asked.
“I think we came left, so make a right,” Marco said.
Greg sure hoped that Marco knew where he was directing them. A tremor of unease went through him once more. The warning bells were bouncing around in his head like a kicked beehive. He’d not seen any pits on their way down and that was good. He heard a low rumbling and hope surged.
“I hear something,” Greg said. All of this reminded him of Raiders of the Lost Ark, he’d seen it when he was a kid. He had thought all of it a wonderful adventure. Not so much now. But he had heard something, he just didn’t know what.
Dean turned his head this way and that, but he heard nothing.
“I don’t hear anything,” Marco said.
“Me either,” said Dean.
“Keep going,” Marco suggested.
“Another turn,” Thad called. Dean hoped that they could find their way out of this labyrinth. He felt horrible for getting them down here and it was all his fault. It had seemed such a good idea at the time but then the damned earthquake and then Marco dropped his phone, leaving them blind. There was a small frisson of fear that tickled through him like a flame and he felt ashamed of himself for letting it niggle its way in. He was a Marine and he had a backbone of steel. He’d faced down the bullies in high school and kicked their collective asses. He shouldn’t be afraid now; they would find their way out, they had to.
Dean put one foot in front of the other, his hand cold on the old stone. He moved carefully forward, hearing the men around him breathing hard; his brain told him that it was stress breathing. He could feel the ground level out and his heart began to slow. They were out of the deeper part of the tunnels. Once more he cursed himself for his stupidity. He was a serious fuckup and he knew it. He wasn’t normally so stupid, but he really wanted to come down into the tunnels. He was glad they were heading out of here; it was enough for a lifetime.
“Again, sorry guys. I’ll buy us all a good dinner at the restaurant; you can eat as much as you want, Thad,” Dean announced.
“You’re gonna regret that,” Greg said in a singsong voice and laughed. Thad and Marco joined the laughter.
Thad was feeling better as they went along, he wanted the hell out of this place.
“Hey, I hear it again,” Greg said, excitement in his voice. Thad stopped and listened. Then he caught the faint rumble of something. It was a low frequency but he heard it, or rather felt it.
“I hear it too,” Thad said and started walking again. They moved in silence and Thad blinked, it was all inky blackness around him. It was disorienting and he didn’t like it. He had to keep in mind the training he received in boot camp. The only thing keeping him from staggering around was his hand on the cool wall. He felt the rough bumps under his fingertips and he felt like a blindman. He remembered in his martial arts training when he had been a teenager. He and another kid were at the dojo fighting and one of them got the bright idea to blindfold themselves. A smile crept across his lips in recollection, they had completely missed each other and ended up tripping over each other and some of the equipment in the dojo. It had been a bust and all he’d gotten were lots of bruises. He found out that he was not a Ninja or anything like it.
“Is that a light ahead?” Marco said and Thad felt the shorter man come up beside him. He turned his head but could see nothing of Marco or the other men. He looked ahead but saw nothing. They kept moving and then he saw it, just a flicker and it was gone.
“I think I saw it, maybe a torch or something?” Thad said, hope and excitement in his voice. He heard sighs rumble through the other men. He felt as though his eyes were trying to push out of his head as he looked hard in front of him. He caught the flicker again and then heard something. He couldn’t identify what he heard but quickened his step. As he moved forward, he saw the flame now and it was a constant. He heard shouts and he slowed his pace.
“Guys, we’re gonna have to come up with some kind of explanation when we get up to the surface.,” Thad said quietly, knowing that his voice might carry to whoever was up ahead.
“We’re stupid Americans, we’re goofs,” Marco offered.
“Yeah, and we can tell them that I made you guys go,” Dean added.
“Why don’t we just play dumb and not speak Italian,” Greg said and Thad laughed.
“That’s a good idea, Greg. Okay, nobody say anything and we just play dumb,” Thad said.
“Somehow, they’ll know you speak Italian,” Marco said.
“I’ll play dumb, trust me, I just want to go eat,” Thad said and chuckled softly.
“Sure, okay, that’s the plan. Let’s rock this,” Dean said.
They all walked along and slowly, Thad realized that he could now see the wall. He picked up voices and a low rumble that filled the air. He wasn’t sure what that rumble was and his brain was trying to puzzle out the sound. It was then that his nose twitched and picked up the scent of sewage and he grimaced. They hadn’t smelled the noisome stench when going into the tunnel but he was smelling something now and he
