Chapter 11 - Footsteps Overhead
Heart pounding against his ribs, Ryan pushed Leo and Sarah down the left conduit, the metal scraping against their knees and elbows. The footsteps behind them grew louder, heavier, accompanied by the chilling sound of a heavy chain dragging across the steel floor. Up ahead, the pipe narrowed dramatically, forcing them to crawl on their stomachs through freezing water that had begun leaking from overhead pipes. Sarah gasped as her flashlight beam caught something horrifying dangling from the ceiling vent above them: dozens of old, forgotten children's shoes, hanging by their laces like strange, macabre ornaments. A drop of warm, viscous red liquid dripped from the shoes, landing squarely on Ryan’s neck. He wiped it away, his hand coming away smeared with fresh blood. Suddenly, a small trapdoor in the side of the conduit burst open, and a pale, scarred hand shot out from the dark, grabbing Leo by the ankle and yanking him sideways into a pitch-black side tunnel.
Leo screamed in terror as he was dragged into the darkness, prompting Ryan to drop his flashlight and lunge blindly after his son into the suffocating side shaft.
