TUNNEL RAT

This deal sucks. Mark crawled forward. The tunnel was not very big. He could fit through it and possibly, maybe, turn around. There was certainly no standing room and trying to pass each other would have been foolish. Maybe they could. It would be like teenagers playing twister.

There was also no way to wear armour down here. Mark just wore his fatigue shirt and pants. One hand had a flash light, the other a borrowed pistol. He had a knife in a sheath out of the way on his back. Also slung on his back he, naturally, he wore his pouch. His magic pouch that held lots of stuff, including his newfound grenades. No armour, but he kept his helmet. His lightweight scout helmet.

He scowled and ruminated as he crawled. Mike would have fit. Southaven was a hard no, too big. And they’re too busy! He found the thought of Heather crawling through an enemy tunnel hilarious. No way on this planet. And the boss needs to be the boss, not stuck down here in this God-forsaken tunnel. In his head he mocked Angie’s tone So you’re the only really logical choice..

The tunnel was dirt. It had been dug out, probably by hand. The floor and walls were rough. Wooden supports held the roof every so often, but the tunnel was sure not lined with wooden supports. What the hell is keeping it from caving in?

The worn, compressed floor was slightly comforting. People had used it before and it hadn’t caved in. At least as far as he knew it hadn’t caved in. How the hell could he tell? The sound of crawling was the only noise. Thank God there is no creaking. The only good thing about this. I hate enclosed spaces. Like every other human on the planet.

Does it have to be so f’in dark? In the recess of his mind he knew it was a stupid question, it’s a tunnel dug by hand, of course its not lit like the subway. They had left the entrance and the last light a long while ago. There was probably a way to tell how far he had crawled, but he didn’t really want to know. He figured it would be more depressing if he thought they had gone for 10 klicks and found out they had only made it 200 meters.

This really sucks. The only possible plus was that he was getting alone time with Miranda. Sexy Miranda with the chestnut hair and smoldering brown eyes. Maybe it was her accent. South American accent. English probably wasn't her native language. In the real world I would never had made time with this hot a woman. Way out of my league. Well, Bethany… He shook his head to clear any thought of Sarah’s mom. He had promised himself a million times to forget that bitch ever existed. That’s why I was going on vacation. Go somewhere sunny and warm where they didn’t know what a loser I am. And now I’m in a tunnel with a sexy woman.

Unfortunately, Miranda was 10 feet behind him. They had no way to talk or even be side by side. Can I just flat out ask her if she is an AI NPC? Is that rude? Maybe I should ask if she’s a player. Would that be better? Will she answer? Will she lie? Can the AI lie?

The tunnel was getting darker up ahead. The flashlight didn’t seem to be dying. Dead end? Startled he jumped forward- something had hit his foot. His mind took off- What the hell? What kind of monsters are tin this f’in tunnel? Did it eat Miranda?

Again, there was a tap on his foot- a tap. He took a deep breath and looked back. Miranda was right there. I hope she didn’t see me jump. How could she not?

“Wait,” Miranda whispered. She took something out of her pocket. In the glow of light he could see paper. “I have a map.”

He said what he was thinking, “you have a map? That woulda been nice to know.”

He shined his light on it and got a look at the map. It was sort of a map. It was a line scrawled across the paper with a couple of notes. She tapped one of the notes, but he couldn’t read it clearly.

“Carmen said there is a curtain up ahead and a room on the other side,” Miranda said. He nodded. “This is as far as she got.”

Their faces were inches apart here in the glow from the flashlights. He could feel her hot breath. With her leaning over towards him, he could almost, not quite see down her shirt. Not that he looked. Much. Of course, it was dark.

Focus on the map. They were on the big line. There was a small line drawn across the big line- some kind of blockage. He tried to read a scribble on the side- was that word curtain? That must be the curtain. The big line continued and there was a box after that. Then a small line and a small box. OK, the tunnel goes through some door or something and then to a room. There is a short passage and another room. But wait…

He asked the obvious thing “X marks the spot?” There was an X in the side of the big room.

“I think so,” Miranda answered.

Mark leaned back from the woman. “It would have been nice to know you had a map.”

“Carmen slipped it to me. I didn’t really look at it until now.” Her eyes fixed on his. “I thought YOU knew where we were going.”

“Why would you think that?” He was puzzled.

“The way you charged down here and were moving so fast.”

Gotcha. “I hate tunnels. If I thought about it….” He left out the part where he might run screaming like a little girl.

Her nod said she knew what the next line was supposed to be. Her sudden, slightly cruel smile said she wasn’t going to let it go. “Don’t worry big boy, I’ll take care of you.”

He turned away frowning. It’s always good to be made fun of by hot women.

The blockage in the tunnel was indeed a curtain. Several pieces of fabric hung as a curtain, anyway. Mark pulled back an edge of the curtain. Beyond, it was dark. A different kind of dark but still dark. A darker dark. His flashlight was off and he didn’t want to just shine the flashlight until he had some idea of what was there. Anything could be there. He used the barrel of the pistol to move the curtain a little wider. Maybe the ceiling of the tunnel sloped up and made it taller?

His eyes were adjusting to the dark with no flashlight. There were no sounds. Then suddenly there was a yelp behind him. Miranda lunged into him. He knew in his heart that something was after her, eating her. Probably. They had to escape. I have to protect her. The plan came easy to him.

Move up against the wall, let her get past and escape and I’ll shoot whatever the hell is after her. He flicked the pistol’s safety off and lunged forward and to the side to let her get away and him turn around. He fully expected to crash into the wall of the tunnel on the other side of the tunnel. He fully expected there to be a floor to the tunnel on the other side of the curtain. There was neither.

The fall must have only been a few awkward feet, but it felt like two minutes of paralyzed falling. He hit the floor, landing on his shoulder. Reflexively, his finger tightened on the trigger. BOOM- the noise of the shot echoed around the room. The flash was blinding. Miranda came toppling down on top of him. He managed not to shoot again. She did.

In the deafening echo and blinding flashes of the two shots, came a voice. In a loud whisper, somebody yelled, “¿que demonios?” Up ahead another curtain was thrown open. Light spilled out and silhouetted a man. The man’s rifle had a flashlight attached. The beam swept over the tangle of Mark and Miranda. Miranda reacted first and fired her pistol at the man.

She missed and the man pulled back while firing blindly at them. If he had aimed they would be dead. Although the tunnel had widened and gotten taller, there was nowhere to hide. In fact the passage was less a tunnel now and much more an underground hallway. There was no time to see if it was better supported. Miranda and Mark rolled apart from each other.

“Let’s go.” They were quickly on their feet and charged down the tunnel hallway. Three or four meters down there was a curtain on the wall. I guess there are no doors down here. When they got close, a burst of shots ripped through the curtain. These shots impacted the wall harmlessly.

“F-this.” Mark took a chance and dashed down the hall to the far side of the curtain. Now he and Miranda were on different sides of the opening. “Keep his head down.” He reached into his magic pouch. All he had to do was know what he wanted out of his inventory and it would appear in his hands. In this case, he selected two grenades.

Miranda hard what he said and didn’t say much attention to what he was doing. She pointed her gun and moved the curtain slightly. She fired each shot deliberately, but none of them were aimed. It was a steady drumbeat of shots to keep the shooter supressed. As her clip ran out, she saw what Mark was doing. “No!”

It was too late. Mark had been standing there with a grenade in each hand. He had pulled the pins. Just before she yelled “no” he had flicked the spoons away. The grenades were armed and the clock was ticking. He tossed one and then the other into the room and lunged back. Miranda ran three quick steps back down the hall away from the curtained doorway. She ducked and tried to cover her ears.

BO-BOOM. The double grenade blast sounded like one stuttering explosion. The force of the explosion, and the noise, blasted the curtain away and knocked Mark down. He woozily got to his feet as quick as he could, but Miranda was already making her way into the room.

When Mark got to the doorway he saw the problem. The room just wasn’t that big. The blast must have echoed around the room and then into the tunnel hallway. Dirt and dust billowed through the room. The gunman was a pulpy mess. There was another body, but this one had been blown through a wall. A broken wall? What the hell? Another room? Light was shining through the broken wall. It wasn’t just a room on the other side of the wall. It was their destination.

Miranda swept the room with her eyes, her pistol following. Did she reloaded and I missed it? I hope she did. Is she that fast? The room wasn’t that big and the sweep lasted four seconds, it would have been quicker if she didn’t need to keep blinking dirt out of her eyes the whole time.

Weapons ready, they stepped over the body and through the wall into the room beyond.