“They have entered one of the corridors,” said the woman. “Hmm, they are in corridor 3, amazing they found that one,” said the man, “and only 2 traps in there too, I will activate them.” As the girls and Muffin walked along Muffin suddenly stops and meows loud. “What is it Muffin?”, asked Jenny, “oh, I see, a trap for us.” “What kind of trap?”, asked Candace. “Watch,” said Jennifer and she took a collapsible pole out of her backpack and pushed on the floor. Up came sharp 6 inch spikes.

Angel and Candace looked a bit shocked. “Even if the spikes miss,” said Jennifer, “the sudden shock could cause a person to fall on them. But now it is safe to cross, so let’s go.” Muffin ran first, then each of the girls, one at a time, just in case there were more threats. Then they came to a spot where the corridor kept going, but also turned to the right and left. Muffin stood looking and came back to Jennifer. Meow,meow.=Me see light down that way. And she pointed with her tail to the left.

Jennifer went to check while the others stayed behind, but as soon as Jennifer got into the intersection area doors closed on all four sides very quickly. Then they opened quickly as well. “Jennifer is gone!”, exclaimed Angel. Then Muffin saw something on the sides of the walls just before the intersection. Meow,meow.=Look here. Candace looked. “Electric eye beams,” she said, “that is what closed the doors. Muffin is small enough to go under them.”

There were four beams, so they could not just step over it, the only way was under. “I think we can do it,” said Candace, “but on your back, that’s the best way to crawl low.” Angel went first and made it okay, going quickly into the left corridor with Muffin. Then Candace went and managed to make it as well. “What about Jenny?”, asked Angel. “Well, we do not know where she went, so we just keep looking for Steve and Kristina for now,” said Candace. Meow,meow.=Not worry, we find everyone soon.

Meanwhile… Kristina and I were still chained up, but sitting on the floor this time. Meow.?=”Are you okay Kristina?” We are still talking in our code. Meow,meow.=”Good as can be expected I guess.” Meow.=”Try to reach the alarm device again.” She looked over at me, turned and reached with her leg. Good thing she has long legs. She managed to reach the right spot and pressed hard with her big toe. Meow,meow?=”How do we know it is working?” Meow.=”that is one problem, we don’t, we just need to hope it is.”

Meanwhile… Back with Annelie and her group as they look for that secret room that Harris mentioned. They went down the hall to a large walk in closet. It was filled with lots of cleaning supplies, but on the back wall were a number of hooks. Harris turned the third one from the right so it was facing down, then he turned it back upright and a door opened in front of them. “This is a bigger passage than the last one,” said Rock, “I will go first.” Harris followed, then Annelie, Elsa, Carine and Kara.

The passage did not go far and at the end was a staircase going down. At the bottom was a door which was locked but Rock easily crashed his way through. The room was dark. They all had flashlights and shone them around the room. Annelie lit a couple of candles, and around a corner on a bed was Darren, but he was dead. “How could someone find him in here?”, asked Harris. “These people seem to be everywhere,” said Annelie, “likely there is another secret door in here somewhere, so let’s look around.” They all came into the room now, except…

“Hey, where is Kara?”, asked Rock. He ran back upstairs, but she was nowhere in sight. Harris followed and they both called for her, but no answer. They came back downstairs, everyone else was okay. “This is getting way too scary,” said Elsa very nervously. “I must admit, I am scared too,” said Harris, “this is all getting crazy.” Then they heard a grinding noise and Rock looked up the stairs. A stone door was closing. He ran up the stairs, but too late, even with his strength he was unable to move that door. They were trapped!

To Be Continued.

©2022 Steve McLeod.