Chapter 40 – Descent
“Are we sure we know where we're going?” Jerry asked, following Shariel down stone stairs. His boots clomped on the steps, making loud, hollow thuds as they carried him deep into the bowels of the fort. Even with the echoes, though, it was blissfully quiet compared to the fire alarm in the barracks. Evenly-spaced light fixtures—ancient-looking things, and probably installed soon after the discovery of electricity—adorned the walls. Their rusty steel housings were bolted directly to the rock, and exposed wiring ran from one to another, connecting them all in a chain. They broke up the darkness with barely enough yellow light for one to see the next few steps ahead. The air was musty and mildewy, and water dripped in the distance somewhere. Those hollow plops echoed off
