Chapter Twenty-One: Down The Tunnel

(Desperation, Part 2)

***

Jordan charged down the tunnel, grip white-knuckled around her flashlight, determination and desperation to get to Mateo and warn her future husband fuelling her, having her keep the same pace as Sam despite the throbbing pain in her leg as everyone else followed. The tunnel was dark, with pipes running along the sides and ceiling, but Jordan hardly cared. All she cared about was getting to Mateo, to warn him and Mike of the danger they were heading into. To make sure he'd get out alive.

He's alive. He has to be alive. He's alive, he's alive, he's alive.

That's what Jordan told herself, but she still pushed herself further to get to Mateo.

"Come on guys! Hurry up! We gotta find Mike and Mateo," Sam called back to them as she continued onward into the tunnel. "Come on!"

Jordan was about to when she noticed Chris leaning against the wall, face twisted with pain from his injury.

"Chris, you okay?" Jordan asked, determination to get to Mateo tamped down with concern for her friend.

"Hey, Jordan," Chris said, wincing before he went on, "Ahh... I'm kinda gimping out here, guys. I think, maybe, you should go on without me."

Jordan stared at him like he'd grown another head.

'No. No way, we're not leaving you behind, Chris, okay?" Jordan said firmly, shaking her head. Given what else could also be down here with them, no way in hell was she leaving Chris behind, that she wasn't leaving anyone behind. "You can lean on me, okay? But we're not gonna leave you here." 

"Jordan's right. We are not leaving you. We're sticking together. Mike and Matteo will just have to wait," Ashley agreed, giving an unsure look to Jordan as she stared at the redhead before turning away—she was still pissed at her for nearly being responsible for getting her and Emily killed.

Instead, she slung Chris' arm around her and took on some of his weight, grunting as a flare of pain spiked from her own injured leg. She ignored it as the pair continued walking on, turning the corner and being just behind the others and yet they were still keeping pace as they kept going, Jordan hoping her makeshift splint she'd done for Chris was helping his leg—she knew that without it, his leg would be a whole lot worse.

As they limped down the tunnel, Jordan's heart lurched. Mateo. Were he and Mike okay? She hoped they were. While there was no way Jordan would leave Chris behind—it just wasn't in her nature to leave any of her friends behind—her heart still beat with desperation, with the urge to get to her fiancé and warn him, to save him if he and Mike were in danger like she and Sam feared they would be.

They had to get into the Sanatorium. They had to.

But that plan was dashed when Jordan and Chris rejoined the group and saw Sam tugging at rusted doors that must lead into the Sanatorium—doors that were locked shut.

"Oh shit! Mike or Mateo must have locked it behind them," Sam muttered, confirming it for Jordan. "CRAP!"

"That can't be the only way in, right?" Jordan asked, heart squeezing. There needed to be another way in. She had to get to Mateo, she needed to save him.

Emily sent her a look, Jordan shaking her head, as she again felt relief her best friend was going to be okay, that she'd been right and the bites weren't infectious, that she wouldn't lose Emily tonight, as Sam nodded and said, 'Yeah. There's gotta be another way in."

As Jordan looked around, Ashley said, "Wait. Hey."

Turning and having Chris turn with her, Jordan saw Ashley pointing with her flashlight at a manhole cover as she asked, "What about this?"

"Oh. Huh," Sam said as she rushed over, checking it out as Jordan let go of Chris so he could lean against the wall and rest his leg, giving him a concerned look that he replied with a nod of his head as she joined Sam, Emily and Ashley by the manhole cover.

"I mean, should we try it?" Ashley questioned.

"Well, it's not like we got a whole lot of choices here," Sam replied.

Jordan nodded. "If it means getting to Mateo, I'm willing to take any option."

Bending down, Ashley picked up a pipe and used that as leverage to pull the manhole cover up. Once it was, Jordan and Sam worked together to move it off the manhole, revealing a ladder and a dark tunnel below that reminded Jordan uncomfortably of the mines she and Emily barely escaped from with their lives.

A sick feeling crawled inside Jordan. What if... what if this tunnel and the Sanatorium were built on mine shafts honeycombed throughout the mountain? It didn't seem likely—surely it would have all collapsed decades ago. And yet...

"Okay, this is maybe the last place I'd wanna be in right now," Ashley commented as they all grouped around the manhole.

"Me and Em were in a similar place like that just a couple hours ago. Trust me, you do not want to be in there willingly," Jordan muttered, shuddering as Emily's face paled as she stared at the tunnel, remembering the mines as well.

But she would go in there, would do it. Would do anything if it meant saving her future husband.

"So who's going first?" Sam asked.

The question was barely out of Sam's mouth before Jordan was shimmying down the manhole, determination to get to Mateo—the hope this tunnel would lead to him—fuelling her.

"Guess Jordan is," Chris quipped, voice echoing down to her in the manhole as Jordan kept climbing down.

She was halfway down when Sam asked, "Okay. Who's next?"

"After you," was Emily's response before Jordan heard the rungs of the ladder creak and saw the glow of Sam's headlamp as she went down. Jordan just focused on climbing down until she reached the bottom, staring at Sam as she climbed down the manhole.

"Not so bad," she said, trying to sound chipper about it. "You think this is the tunnel to the Sanatorium?"

"I thought that tunnel above was the tunnel," Jordan muttered.

"Of course it is. Where else would it go?" Ashley said, confident this tunnel lead to the Sanatorium.

Looking around with her flashlight, at the rocky walls and floor damp with water past the industrialised part of the tunnel, Jordan said uneasily, "I think this could also be part of the mines. Just... built on top of an old shaft that somehow hasn't collapsed."

"Oh God. Not the mines again," Emily said, and Jordan knew her best friend must have shuddered at being back in the mines again. Jordan felt uneasy about that too, but she tamped that down—she'd go back in the mines again if it meant saving Mateo.

Seeing Sam was almost down, Jordan moved out of the way to give Sam space as she jumped down, Emily going down next. As she climbed down, Sam turned to her and asked, "You okay, Jordan?'

"I'm fine. Just... want to get to the Sanatorium and find Mateo and Mike before it's too late," Jordan answered, looking down the tunnel as she bit her lip. Sam gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze as Emily jumped down, looking uncomfortable at being in a place that reminded her of the mines. Jordan squeezed her hand in comfort as Chris climbed down next, Jordan letting go to watch as Chris came down before, as he almost reached the ground, she took his hand and helped him climb the rest of the way down, letting him lean on her as he rested his leg.

As Ashley was about to climb down, she asked, "Hey, um, we should close this, right?"

"Huh?" Sam asked.

"I mean, what if something's following us?" Ashley elaborated.

"That's a good call. Do it," Jordan said as she supported Chris. While she was still pissed at the redhead, she could admit that was a good idea to close the manhole and prevent anything from following them.

"Yes, fine. Close it. But we gotta keep moving. Can you just catch up? Please?" Sam said as she moved down the tunnel right after Emily, Jordan and Chris following behind them as Jordan cast a look back at Ashley, still at the ladder.

"Yeah," she called back to them as Jordan and Chris turned and followed after the others, going right. They caught up rather swiftly, but as they walked through the tunnel, Jordan was reminded uncomfortably of the mines, the rock walls and wooden planks doing little to help, water dripping ominously.

Chris gave her a concerned look that Jordan reciprocated with a smile as they continued forward, looking at Emily and seeing the tension in her shoulders despite the unruffled look on her face. 

They kept walking until they heard banging, echoing throughout the tunnel.

Jordan jolted, heart thumping in her throat as she looked around wildly. But the banging didn't sound close to them, the acoustics of the tunnel amplifying it to an insane level. Jordan gulped as Chris pulled away from her, giving her a look that told her he was okay to go forward on his own. Jordan still gave him a concerned look before she rejoined Emily as she squeezed her hand in comfort and support—that she was thinking of the hell they'd barely escaped from with their lives as well.

Emily squeezed back as they kept going. Jordan cast a concerned look back down the way they'd come. Was Ashley close behind? Despite her anger and frustration at Ashley earlier, she'd still been her friend and Jordan didn't know what she'd do if anymore of her friends died tonight. She just wanted everyone safe, to have everyone survive the night until dawn.

Was that too much to ask for? For death to consider their relatively young ages, the futures waiting for them, to not take them this night and spare them another year? For them to leave a mountain that didn't seem to hold no return, no reason, and just try to live past the horrors they endured and survive tonight?

Was it really too much to ask for all of that?

As they walked down the tunnel, a faint noise came before Jordan saw Ashley crawl out of a hole in the wall and walk up to them, looking unnerved but relieved at seeing them, Jordan feeling the same as well.

"Oh my God I am so glad to see you," Ashley said to Sam.

"Glad you're safe," Sam replied.

"Yeah, especially with that noise," Jordan commented, hearing the bumping again.

Sam grabbed hold of Ashley's hand as they all headed down the tunnel, away from that noise. As they did, Jordan became even more convinced they had somehow wound up back in the mines, and it was cemented further when they came out of the tunnel and saw a cavern with  a mine cart, wooden structures, a broken ladder and a rock wall reaching up to an entrance letting in faint light down below.

"Look," Ashley said, pointing to the ladder. "Look there!"

"Wow, great," Sam remarked.

"The ladder's toast. We're never going to make it up there!" Ashley despaired.

"Especially with Chris' leg," Jordan added. Climbing that would be suicide for Chris, given the state of his injured leg, and even if he could it would just injure it further, maybe give it permanent damage. No way could he do that.

"No, no, no, I think I can. I think I can do it. It's like... a rock wall," Sam said with some confidence.

Walking toward it she announced, "I'm gonna keep going. You should head back to the lodge. I've gotta get Mike and Mateo."

"Good luck!" Ashley told her as she rejoined Emily and Chris, as Jordan stepped forward to join Sam.

"If you're going, I'm going with you," she said. "Trust me when I say, you need someone watching your back against those things. And I'm not going anywhere. Not when Mateo's life is in danger."

Sam looked at her. "You sure? With your fear of heights and your leg?"

"I can do this," Jordan said, looking up at the rock wall with more determination and confidence than she ever had in her entire life, both for herself and for Mateo. "My fiancé's life is in danger. I'm willing to do anything if it means not losing him."

Sam looked at her and nodded, accepting that as they stared at the mountain together, Jordan looking back to see Emily staring at her, a message in her eyes: Stay safe.

Jordan nodded as she turned back, grabbing Sam's hand. The blonde squeezed it before they let go and walked further up to the surface of the cave wall.

Ready to tackle it and save Mateo.

***

And save him you will, Jordan >:)

Yeah, Jordan's just a mix of wanting to save Mateo (and Mike) and being concerned and there for Chris in this chapter. And yeah, I have no idea where that tunnel they went through underneath the OTHER tunnel is part of the mines or not, but it looks like it is so... *shrugs*

But yeah, Jordan's coming along with Sam! That means she and Mateo will be with Mike and Sam in the mines looking for Josh! >:D

Also, did anyone catch my sneaky references to O' Death and No Return? >:)

Next chapter should be soon and be very... explosive >:)

Please read, vote and comment!

GhostWriterGirl out!