Escape Route Unknown
683 Words
The stairwell echoed with the slow, heavy footsteps of the shadowy figure approaching.
“Liora Mavens… we need to talk.”
That voice wasn’t loud… but it was enough to paralyze her.
Arin grabbed her hoodie. “We should definitely not talk.”
Jace nodded rapidly. “Talking is for safe people! We are not safe people!”
Nova pulled out her tablet like it was a weapon. “Okay, nobody panic.”
Jace: “I AM PANICKING.”
Xaden stepped in front of Liora, jaw clenched. “Stay behind me.”
The footsteps grew louder.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The figure reached the landing above them — a dark silhouette, tall, motionless. Liora couldn’t see his face, but she felt the stare.
Cold. Direct. Knowing.
“We need to leave,” Nova whispered. “Now.”
The only exit was down, deeper into the tunnels.
The exact direction they weren’t supposed to go.
Xaden didn’t hesitate. “Move.”
“DOWN?!” Jace squeaked. “AS IN DEEP DARK TUNNELS?!”
Arin shoved him. “Would you rather go UP toward Mister ‘Let’s Talk in a Creepy Voice’?”
Jace thought for two seconds. “DOWN IT IS!”
They bolted down the stairs.
The figure took a step forward.
“Running will not help you,” he said calmly.
Liora’s heart punched her ribs. Nope, absolutely not. She ran faster.
They reached the door leading into the lower tunnels — an old metal hatch covered in dust. Xaden yanked it open, motioning everyone through.
Liora stumbled inside first, nearly tripping over a pipe.
Nova slammed the hatch behind them.
Arin leaned against the wall, gasping. “Okay. Okay. We’re alive. That was stressful. My lungs have complaints.”
Jace collapsed dramatically. “Tell my snacks I loved them.”
Nova ignored them, tapping furiously at her tablet. “He wasn’t a student. That voice was too… calm.”
Xaden crossed his arms. “Too confident. Too familiar with the tunnels.”
Liora hugged herself. “I hate that he knew my name. WHY does everyone dangerous know my name?”
Arin shrugged. “Maybe you’re famous.”
Nova deadpanned, “Arin. Be serious.”
“Okay… maybe you’re infamously famous.”
Xaden crouched near the hatch, listening. “He’s not following.”
“That’s good,” Liora said.
“Or bad,” Nova added.
“Why bad?!” Jace demanded.
“Because if he’s not chasing us, it means he knows where we’re going,” Nova said.
Everyone went silent.
Liora opened the notebook — Emil Dane’s notebook — flipping through pages. The drawings made more sense now: tunnels, symbols, warnings.
One passage circled three times:
“If chased, use the lower route. They avoid it.”
“We should follow this,” she said, pointing.
Arin frowned. “If they avoid it… maybe we should too.”
“Or maybe,” Nova said quietly, “that’s exactly why Emil marked it.”
Liora exhaled shakily. “We don’t have another choice.”
Xaden nodded once. “Let’s go.”
They walked deeper into the tunnels, the hum growing louder. Pipes rattled. Lights flickered. Shadows stretched unnaturally across the walls.
And for the first time since the chase began—
Liora felt something watching them.
Not from behind.
Not from above.
From ahead.
She stopped.
“Guys… look.”
At the far end of the tunnel was a door glowing faintly with blue light. Unnatural. Electric. Wrong.
Nova’s eyes widened. “That wasn’t here last semester.”
Arin backed up. “Doors shouldn’t glow. Glow = danger.”
Jace: “Glow = death.”
Xaden stepped forward anyway.
“That’s our way out,” he said. “Or our first real answer.”
Liora’s pulse hammered. She tightened her grip on the notebook.
“If Emil used this passage…” she whispered.
“Then he knew the Shadows wouldn’t,” Nova finished.
“Because even the Shadows fear what’s behind that door,” Xaden added.
The hum grew louder.
The blue glow pulsed.
Liora swallowed hard.
“…Let’s open it.”
- Writer
