The World Below (ON BREAK)

Chapter 3

Storage center, Sanctuary city

Tanner wasn't sure what happened. He was a little woozy from being knocked on the head by a stick, and had just regained his senses. A human had discovered the underground. This wasn't good at all.

"You can't come down! I won't let you!" He called again. This time, no one called back. He started to panic. What if the human had already entered? This was really bad.

He heard the sound of steps in the darkness. The human was going down the steps! Tanner rushed for a hiding place. One of the shelves had an empty spot. If they didn't have a light, they likely wouldn't see him if he were to curl up in that spot.

As quietly as he could, Tanner began to slither toward the spot. As he was curling into a comfortable position, the human rounded the corner into the aisle he was hiding in. Tanner froze, unsure what to do. At least he was sufficiently hidden. The human didn't have a light, so he would be difficult to spot.

As the human left the aisle he was in, he relaxed. They hadn't seen him. He let out a little sigh of relief. Unfortunately, that wasn't a good move.

"Who's there?" called the human. She had a distinctly female voice. Again, Tanner froze, and this time stopped breathing for a bit. The human's steps began to recede. He began to slide out of his hiding place to hopefully get a view of the intruder.

He went to the least lit corner of the storage center to see the main area of the warehouse. There, in the middle, were two humans. Two! Both were clearly female, and looked about Tanner's age. One had straight caramel colored hair, the other had skin the color of chocolate and wild, curly hair. Both had their backs to each other, clearly aware they weren't alone.

Tanner had a choice. He could continue this game of hide and seek, or come out and show who and what he was. Neither seemed a good choice. He decided to keep hiding for a bit longer, until he stumbled into them or vice versa.

This time, he chose to go into an aisle just out of sight of them, so that there was a chance of him being seen. When one of the girls began to walk in his direction, he would switch to the next aisle, and so on. This went for a few minutes. Then, he didn't realize the tip of his tail was sticking out from behind the shelf, and one of the two humans stepped on it.