External (Book 1&2)

1|Tunnels

My knees ache as I crawl through the small metal tunnel. I can feel my heart practically burst out of my chest as steps cascade over me. Sweat pools in each crease of my body only increasing my itching urge to escape the claustrophobic space.

But I can't.

I continue to pull my body, one knee in front of the other, letting myself take small, short breaths in fear that someone could possibly hear me moving below them. What I'm doing now is reckless and terrifying. Everything in me doesn't ever want to feel these feelings again.

I stop moving when I hear a large jump above me, followed by abrupt, loud cheering. My heart jumps, but I take a deep breath in attempt to calm my racing heart. Adrenaline pumps throughout my body and I continue moving. I am almost there.

Twenty feet.

"Curfew is currently in place, go inside your homes now. Anyone caught outside of their homes will be placed in a cell and fined fifty points. Again, curfew is currently in place." My muscles cramp up and I clench my teeth in pain. I try to ignore the blasting announcement that ricochets off of the metal walls.

Fifteen feet.

All I know is that I can't be caught. I don't have fifty points to spare. I don't even have thirty.

Ten feet.

Home stretch. I stop for a second and take a deep breath.

No one even knows about these tunnels. How would they catch me?

I repeat these sentences to myself as I keep going. The tunnels are a family held secret, passed from father to daughter. My father had found them on one of his 'adventures' or what is better known as thievery.

There.

A light shines down onto the cold metal in front of me. I shuffle forward a bit more and listen for sounds in the room above me. Once I have the confirmation from the lack of sound, I enter the small room.

As I pull myself through the small grate, the smell of bleach invades my senses. The room is all white, as a way to signify cleanliness I'm sure. Though, death, sickness, and injury is never clean. It has a freshly cleaned bed with a strip of paper laying on top of it in the corner in front of me. Across the way, a medicine cabinet sits by the door. Nearest to me is a set of drawers and a silver tray on wheels. Supplies are strategically scattered along the wheeled cart, most likely in preparation for the next day.

The whole room is unnerving, nothing in it seems natural in any way. Sweat beads down my face, falling onto the tiled floors. The grate is hidden neatly between the wall and that drawer. It is disguised as the floor and almost no one would be able to recognize it's existence.

I look up at the security camera, thanking God it is facing the door instead of me. I go over my plan quickly in my head before carefully opening the drawer. Medical supplies sells for a lot on level eight, the lowest level of the complex, and the level I call home. It's where the poor and criminals live and if you live there, you don't have access to any of the other floor. This includes the medical level.

I throw the supplies into my bag before closing the drawer and entering the next one just below it. Before I can grab anymore, I hear a voice just outside the door.

"I forgot my bag George. Let me grab it and I'll be out of your hair." A woman's voice smoothly says and I freeze. This is not part of my plan.

"Alright Pamela, be quick or else I might have to charge you fifty." George, the guard, jokes and Pamela laughs. I can hear the key enter the lock and I quickly open the grate and throw myself into the small crawl space. I close it as quietly as possible as I hear the door open. My heart pounds as I sit as still as possible, not wanting to go through the risk of moving.