The Chase by Ava Glass

Author:Ava Glass [Glass, Ava]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781804944776
Publisher: Cornerstone

21

It was harder work wading back against the current. There seemed to be more hazards under the dark water than they’d noticed earlier and, with their feet so numb, each of them stumbled and fell more than once, splashing clumsily. Emma shone the flashlight at the edges of the tunnel, searching for an opening, but all she saw were solid walls curving up over her head, like a brick sky. Condensation formed on the ceiling and fell on them in a cold, constant rain, soaking them to the skin.

Although she said nothing, with every step her apprehension deepened. What if the only way out was the way they’d come in? The whole thing would have been a pointless waste of time and energy. They could end up right where they’d started. Only more exhausted now, and with miles still to go.

Michael, who had been scouring the ceiling as they walked, stopped abruptly.

‘Hey, come over here. Hold the flashlight up,’ he called to her. ‘I think I see a door.’

Sloshing through the water, she lifted the light to the round walls and curved ceiling above them. But there was nothing there – just a broken section where the bricks had fallen into the river.

He forged ahead, undaunted. Emma swung the light to the other side of the river.

There had to be a way out. Ripley wouldn’t send her down here if there wasn’t.

But they didn’t have much time. The batteries in her torch were growing steadily weaker. It might last another ten minutes. She hadn’t said anything about it to Michael yet – she couldn’t bear to. The thought of being down here without light made her stomach curdle.

She moved back to the middle of the water, searching the walls again. They had to be missing something.

‘Look – there.’ Michael stumbled towards her, pointing in the direction of the wall to their left. ‘What’s that?’

Emma shook the flashlight to try and get more from the batteries. The fading glow illuminated what looked like a narrow ledge about five feet up. At first, she could see nothing else, but then, in the shadows, she thought she could just make out a passage of some kind.

‘You think that’s a way out?’ she asked, squinting to get a better look.

‘I don’t know. But it’s worth a try.’ Michael sloshed to the crumbling wall. ‘I think there used to be a ladder of some sort mounted here.’ He pointed at rusted holes about as big as a fist. ‘It must have rotted away.’ He reached up to the ledge. ‘I think I can get up here, though. Give me a boost, would you?’

Holding the flashlight between her teeth, Emma reached down and knitted her fingers, bracing herself as he placed a cold booted foot in her hands. He swung up with surprising ease, climbing carefully to his feet on the narrow outcropping of brick, which she could now see was barely wider than his shoes. Balancing cautiously, his arms outstretched, he inched across until he could peer into the opening.

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