Eventually the wall arced away to my left, and from the slight change in echo I knew I'd entered the cavern. There was still no light, but the air here was definitely fresher, cooler. I felt certain that it wasn't my imagination. There was something down here, some chink in Furnace's armor. I just had to get back in with a light and I'd know for sure whether that chink was our way out.
That was when I heard it. It started so quietly that I barely even noticed it, then it began to grow in volume-a low hum, like a cell phone vibrating in somebody's coat pocket. I felt my skin break out in goose bumps. I wasn't alone. There was something in here with me.
The sound shifted in pitch, fading then reasserting itself. I couldn't work out what it was but it chilled me to the bone. I thought about the thirty kids who'd died in here when the cave collapsed-thirty angry spirits charging back and forth across the deserted cavern for all time looking for somebody to take their anger out on. Maybe the hum was their collective screams, so loud and furious that it breached their ghostly plane and entered ours.
I took a step back and the noise changed again, growing louder. It toyed with my hearing, playing tricks on my tortured imagination. I couldn't tell whether it was far away or close. If distant, the noise could have been a roar. But it also could have been a whisper in my ear from something right next to me. No, not a whisper-a growl.
I suddenly panicked. The noise grew louder, a guttural snarl that could only have come from one creature. It was a dog, one of the warden's monstrosities. He'd obviously put one in here to devour anyone stupid enough to try to escape.
Blind and terrified, I swung around and ran. But I'd lost track of where I was, and with a crunch I slammed into the rock wall. Something hot dripped into my mouth, choking me, and I spat out my own blood, gripping the rough stone for support.
The growling was getting closer, and I saw the darkness begin to take shape, morphing into a nightmare creature that bounded toward me. I felt so sick that I thought my stomach was going to flip inside out, and I held up my hand to ward off the monster. But as soon as I did, the illusion vanished back into the night.
I blinked hard, my throat slick with blood and bile. The wall had to lead back to the equipment room so, doing my best to ignore the persistent growl, I fumbled my way along it, expecting to feel daggerlike teeth sinking into my shoulder at any minute. But nothing came for me. Each time I looked back and thought I saw the beast in the blackness, it vanished with a blink of the eye, a hallucination brought on by fear and fatigue.
I rounded the corner of the corridor and found myself staring at the boarded door, light squeezing through the cracks like golden fingers trying to embrace me. I took one last look into the cave, then crawled through the bottom board, staggering back into the equipment room.
Too late I realized I should have checked the room first. I heard feet pounding on rock and swiveled around in time to see a massive black shape swoop toward me. The blacksuit had just emerged from Room Three, and like a speeding train he rammed into me, wrapping his hamlike fist around my throat and lifting me off the floor.
"Better have a good explanation for this, Sawyer," he hissed. I saw the mole, knew it was the same giant who always seemed to terrorize me. His fingers were like iron, squeezing my windpipe and refusing to let me draw a breath, let alone reply. I felt my vision cloud as I stared into the twin silver portals of the freak's eyes. In them I caught a glimpse of my own reflection-the bottom half of my face smeared with the blood that still gushed from my nose, my eyes the very essence of terror. Seeing what I'd been reduced to was infinitely more terrifying than the man who held me.
"Been fighting?" the blacksuit went on, and despite the pain I felt a massive wave of relief. He hadn't seen me climb out from the tunnel. I did my best to nod, and with a glint of shark teeth he threw me to the floor. I landed on my back, winded.
"Back to work," Moleface said, pointing the gun at me. "If I see you out here again during hard labor, then I'm going to splatter you all over the walls."
"Yes, sir," I said. Somehow I managed to pull myself to my feet, lifting my pick from the rack again and my helmet from the floor. I barely had the strength to stagger back through to Room Three, but beneath my crimson mask I was smiling.
A REVELATION
THE REST OF THE MORNING felt like a dream. The adrenaline had robbed my body of any sensation, leaving me completely numb, and I seemed to float back into the chipping room. As soon as Donovan saw me, he dropped his pick and ran over, taking my arm and helping me to the far wall. After checking to see that the blacksuit hadn't followed me in, he lowered me down onto the rock, using his sleeve to wipe the blood from my face. I just lay there, helpless as a baby, looking at him but not really seeing him.
"Christ," he said eventually, speaking over the pounding of picks. "I won't say I told you so. What happened? Guards? Dogs?"
I opened my mouth to speak, but instead of words I suddenly found myself spewing my breakfast all over Donovan. He reeled, disgusted, but his expression quickly snapped back to one of concern.
"You all right?" he asked. "For God's sake, don't get sick. They'll take you."
"I'm okay," I slurred. Puking seemed to have removed the lead ball from my stomach, and feeling gradually ebbed back into my body. I struggled to a sitting position and wiped the acidic drool from my lips. "Sorry about that."
"Little warning would have been nice," he muttered. He glanced toward the door then back at me. "You better get up. That guard will rip your guts out if he catches you sitting down on the job."
Taking a deep breath, I heaved myself upward, using my pick as a crutch. I looked at the solid wall before me, and the thought of smashing through it for the next few hours almost made me chuck again. Donovan lifted his pick and brought it down hard, bathing us in sparks and debris. He struck a couple more times before looking at me impatiently.
"Well?" he said. "What did you find?"
I grinned and shrugged. "I thought you weren't bothered."
"I'm not, just curious is all."
I started to reply, but he suddenly looked back toward the door and gently shook his head. I lifted my pick, glancing out of the corner of my eye to see Moleface standing in the doorway. I couldn't make out his expression, but something told me his silver glare was aimed right at me. I took a halfhearted swing, and when I looked again the guard had gone.
"I'll tell you later, big guy," I said, swaying unsteadily as I prepared to swing again.
Donovan just sniffed and muttered, "If you live that long."
SHOWERS, FRESH UNIFORMS, march to the canteen. I could do it blindfolded now, without thinking, which was just as well since I was on autopilot for the rest of the day. I couldn't stop going over what I'd done. It didn't seem like it could have happened, none of it. The memories sat in my mind like the tendrils from some half-forgotten dream, fragments that couldn't possibly have been real.
But they were. I had done it, dashed beneath the boards and entered the forbidden room-a crime that could easily have been my last. And for what? All that effort just so I could panic and flee at the slightest noise.
We arrived in the trough room to see that Zee was already there-positioned as far as possible from the bench occupied by the Skulls and staring mournfully at his lunch. Gary Owens was sitting at the head of his table, bandanna still perched on his shaven head. The other gang members sat around him like caged animals, not moving or talking and looking like they regretted ever joining the Skulls.
I cast my eyes around for Kevin but he was nowhere to be seen. Knowing this place, he was probably lying in a crypt of shadows in a dark corner somewhere, already forgotten. Scanning the room further I made out the two other new kids, Toby and Ashley, sitting in a corner sharing food from a single plate, pressed against each other for comfort. Both their faces were bruised.