A second later we pushed through big double doors into… well… I couldn’t believe my eyes. I just stared.
Pitt whistled. ‘Look at this. It’s all twenty feet underground. And it doesn’t smell like poop. There’s air-conditioning.’
I struggled to take it all in. ‘There’s a kitchen. A lounge. Sofas. And is that a TV?’
‘The screen’s six feet wide,’ breathed Jenny in awe. ‘Look at all those DVDs.’
Adam walked in, gob-smacked. ‘A house underground? How weird is this?’
Jenny said, ‘Last year we went on a school trip to an old military bunker. It had stuff like this. Bedrooms, kitchens, offices. If there’s a nuclear attack that’s where all the generals would stay so they could run things. This one must be kept unmanned until there’s an emergency.’
I checked out the DVDs. A lot were new movies. ‘Maybe the government will stay down here if there’s a war. When they aren’t working they’d come here to relax.’
‘We shouldn’t be in here,’ Adam said. ‘We’re trespassing.’
I shrugged, ‘The door’s open.’
‘We could get into trouble.’
‘Scared?’ Pitt grinned. ‘Let me take your mind off going to jail. Da-dah!’ He swung open a fridge door. Packed with chocolate! Every shelf had neat stacks of chocolate in bright blue wrappers. Right at the front of the confectionary was a single bottle of tomato ketchup, with a dried dribble of sauce stuck to the label. He opened another door to reveal frozen chickens. ‘People could live for months down here.’
Adam followed us in a daze. ‘But that door upstairs? Something clawed at it. Then bust it open. What happens if it comes back?’
Only we were too excited exploring to listen to his warning. But we should have done. We really should. Because what happened next was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever experienced.
Five
We’d discovered that the big TV had a games feature. Jenny and Pitt were figuring out how to get the two silver androids onscreen to shoot down the helicopter gunship when…
‘Hey guys.’ Adam’s eyes bulged in fear. ‘Did anyone hear that?’
Pitt studied the onscreen Game Help. ‘Hear what?’
‘Bad news, guys. Someone’s coming down the stairs!’
This time we froze.
‘What if we’re caught down here?’ I whispered. ‘It might be the police.’
‘Or soldiers?’
Adam shuddered. ‘Or the thing that smashed open the door.’
That complex of subterranean rooms had been brightly lit. But somehow the light seemed to fade. The bright greens and oranges of the furniture became dull. That big glassy TV screen seemed to resemble a huge alien eye. One that stared with hatred. Or so it seemed to me. A cold, cold sensation crept through my veins. For some reason a pain flared above my right eye. It must be THAT SOUND. I’d heard nothing like it before. Something was coming down the stairs we’d used just ten minutes ago.
Jenny whispered, ‘It doesn’t sound like ordinary footsteps.’
A soft clump, clump. Shivers ran along my arms.
Pitt turned to face the stairway door. It was closed. Even so, he heard all too clearly. ‘A voice… but can anyone hear what it’s saying?’
‘That’s no human voice.’ I heard a low snarling. Also, I made out words but not in a language I understood. ‘Neefer-ratt-saaar.’
‘It’s getting closer.’
The door began to creak open. ‘Neefer-ratt-saaar.’
‘Run!’
‘But where,’ cried Adam. ‘That’s the only way out!’
Six
Panic! We searched for somewhere to hide. Jenny pointed to another door. ‘Through there!’
A sign on it read DANGER. NO ENTRY. But this was no time to pause. Behind us the stairway door creaked. That strange, menacing voice grew louder: ‘Neefer-ratt-saaar.’ After that, an excited snorting as if a hungry beast had smelt food. Beyond the door Jenny had pointed out were more steps — only these went down, deep underground. The stairwell was a gloomy pit, descending into a forbidden, dangerous place. Here were yet more signs. CAUTION. NO ENTRY. DANGER OF DEATH!
Seven
The four of us dashed downstairs. Upstairs, whatever had entered the bunker must be in the lounge. Does it know we’re here? Will it follow?
‘Sheesh,’ Pitt gasped. ‘What is this place?’
Jenny raced into a maze of tunnels. ‘Keep moving. We don’t know if that thing’s going to come after us.’
‘What we gotta do,’ panted Adam, ‘is find a way out. Fast!’
These tunnels were gloomy places. Shadows lurked at every corner. I guessed the tunnels were broad enough to accommodate three buses side-by-side, they were certainly high enough, too, but the length? They stretched faraway into the distance. And did I mention the cold? Breath misted out all white. In the tunnels were huge, hulking forms covered with plastic sheets. Adam was so frightened he hurried forward without pausing to look. Pitt hauled up the sheets.
‘Hey, a Jeep. And check this out… wow! A tank. Look at the size of that gun.’
Jenny whistled. ‘This is where the army must keep spare equipment, just in case the other stuff gets wiped out in an attack.’
Pitt’s eyes shone. ‘I wonder if there are any rockets.’
Jenny started to say, ‘You can forget taking — ’
BANG!
Adam shouted, ‘That’s the door to the stairs — something just bashed it open.’
By now the entrance we’d come through was way off in the distance. Just a speck. But we could make out another speck. This one moved.
Fast!
‘It’s found us!’
We ran like crazy. By tanks, vans, troop carriers, all covered with sheets of plastic. They formed sinister mounds. They hinted at deathly things.
In the gloom, the confusion, the speed at which everything happened, it was inevitable. I turned off into another tunnel. A minute later I stopped to get my breath back. Then I saw the others weren’t with me.
‘Pitt, Jenny, Adam. Where are you?’There was no reply. A deadly silence filled the tunnel. My friends? No sign. Only the unnerving shapes of vehicles under grey shrouds. At any second that demon-thing might prowl round the corner. Here I was, alone.
All alone.
Eight
Listen. When you’re alone, your head fills with thoughts, doesn’t it? If you’re walking by yourself through a forest you start to imagine you’re being followed. If you’re alone at night, then open the blind to look out, you’re convinced a stranger’s face will look back at you through the glass. Being alone can make your imagination turn bad.
There in the tunnel, deep underground, I waited. I could hear my own breathing. I saw warnings: CAUTION. HAZARD ZONE. At any moment I expected that monstrous thing to come roaring at me. But what was it? There was a sense of menace and strength about it, but I’d not seen it clearly. It had only been a speck at the far end of the tunnel. Just what could live down here that could break out through a thick bunker door?
Shivering, I continued walking in the hope I’d find another exit to the surface. Then a sight met my eyes that didn’t give me any hope. One of the plastic sheets had been ripped to pieces. Shreds of grey covered the floor. A container on a truck had been broken open. Soldiers’ helmets had tumbled out. I picked one up. There were four holes in it, big enough to wiggle my fingers through. Bite holes.
‘They sure have big mice round here.’ I tried to laugh at my own joke but the echo made me flinch. ‘Time to get out of here, Naz,’ I told myself. ‘Otherwise you’re going to end up as dinner.’