At first Katie tripped over the concealed entrance, thinking it was a badger den until she shone her torch down and saw that the walls were tiled. Not re-purposed tiles, not like something had just stacked them up until it had conveniently formed a perfectly smooth tunnel that looked more like a grubby kitchen wall than a possible animal's hidey-hole.
When she poked her head inside it smelled like dirt, no badger musk or the faint breathing/scrabbling sounds that you'd expect from a den that's very much in use. Surely by now they'd have smelled or heard her anyway and come to tear her face off for being so close to their home? This alone was almost enough for her to decide to crawl further inside and see if there was anything interesting inside.
When she spotted a bottle of furniture polish at the far end, her mind was made up. She began to shuffle further inside, determined to figure out what could possibly be down there, who had made their home in the woods and disguise it as a hole in the ground. They might even be famous or it might be some abandoned government project. Either way what adventure!
The tunnel was bigger than it looked at first, she was able to crawl into it with minimal strain and only vaguely worrying that it might never end or it might end in someone's basement. Strangely it took several sharp turns as though it would turn right back in on itself and by her estimations it should have but instead it steepened into a crude staircase that was also tiled - the same tiles as the tunnel but messier, as though they'd been done in a rush.
She made it as many as five steps down before her hand met a smooth slope and slid out from underneath her sending her phone skittering into the dark. Taking a deep breath she followed it, thinking that she might be able to use it and call for help when she reached whatever end the slide met.
She never saw the broken tiles coming but she sure as hell felt them.
It was the last thing she felt as she fell on top of a pile of old bones that were mostly animal.
When she poked her head inside it smelled like dirt, no badger musk or the faint breathing/scrabbling sounds that you'd expect from a den that's very much in use. Surely by now they'd have smelled or heard her anyway and come to tear her face off for being so close to their home? This alone was almost enough for her to decide to crawl further inside and see if there was anything interesting inside.
When she spotted a bottle of furniture polish at the far end, her mind was made up. She began to shuffle further inside, determined to figure out what could possibly be down there, who had made their home in the woods and disguise it as a hole in the ground. They might even be famous or it might be some abandoned government project. Either way what adventure!
The tunnel was bigger than it looked at first, she was able to crawl into it with minimal strain and only vaguely worrying that it might never end or it might end in someone's basement. Strangely it took several sharp turns as though it would turn right back in on itself and by her estimations it should have but instead it steepened into a crude staircase that was also tiled - the same tiles as the tunnel but messier, as though they'd been done in a rush.
She made it as many as five steps down before her hand met a smooth slope and slid out from underneath her sending her phone skittering into the dark. Taking a deep breath she followed it, thinking that she might be able to use it and call for help when she reached whatever end the slide met.
She never saw the broken tiles coming but she sure as hell felt them.
It was the last thing she felt as she fell on top of a pile of old bones that were mostly animal.
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