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The ladder led down a long ways, far longer than I expected it to, and by the ti down below on a ay, I had just about given up hope of it ever ending I quickly stepped to the side and switched on h I did see a pile of rat droppings The tunnel didn’t look like a sewer tunnel, though, and it occurred to me that we’d been off about our assess, the floor was cobblestone in some areas, wood in another

Once the others were down, I lowered my voice and said, "This is no sewer No wonder it was an iron ladder What is this place?"

Chase flashed his light around The ay ran both right and left, and there was an alcove right across fro boxes, an old wooden chair, and a smal table

A row of shelves lined one wal of the niche

"Crap I don’t believe this" Chase stepped over the cru wal that exposed the cubbyhole

"I knohere we are"

"Where?"

"It’s part of the underground Seattle tunnel syste in"

In the early days of Seattle, the city had original y been built a lot lower than now After a horrendous fire in 1889, the city streets had been rebuilt one to two stories above the original streets For a tiinal buildings and the newer sections of the city, but eventual y, al of Seattle sprawled across the higher levels, and although the subterranean network remained hidden and unused, it was stil a viable network of passages beneath the city

"I thought the Underground Tour stopped a number of blocks away," I said

Chase shook his head "It does The tour only covers a sround city There actual y used to be a series of nightclubs down here--not in this area in particular, but running the length of the tunnels But they closed up one after another as the structural integrity of this area weakened, and eventual y et to I had no idea the tunnels ran al the way into the Greenbelt Park District, but that makes perfect sense"

A chil ran upspookier by the second Meh my head Delilah loved Darrin McGavin, and I’d had to break it to her that he was dead

"So what’s that cubbyhole? That’s too shtclub"

"Some of the shops had baseuess is that it once belonged to a shop now buried We’re on a lower level than the regular underground Seattle We’re in the sub-basement area I real y had no clue the tunnels spread out this far, or this far belowground"

I looked right and left "Which way should we go?"

"Which way leads into the heart of the Greenbelt Park District?" Ca them in a side pocket of her skirt "Since we think the kil er is nesting there, it only o in that direction"

"True Let lanced around "If this tunnel runs north-south, then ant to go north, which would be" Turning to the right, I nodded "This way Let’s go Marching order same as e descended the ladder Caood watch on our backs"

As we headed down the ay, Cahed "The air’s dank here"

As we headed down the ay, Cahed "The air’s dank here"

"Is it breathable? Are you going to have trouble?" I wouldn’t have to worry, but the rest of them would

"Yes, we can breathe, but there’s a lot of ht away Watch for viro-mortis slimes This would be the priht soht I ju paral el to us The creature sparkled in a pretty, jel ylike fashion, but that was as good as it got The indigo viro-mortis slime was deadly

"It can sense our body heat," Ca her nose "Just don’t touch it or we’l al be in trouble"

Soreen viro-mortis slime attached to her hand and we had to have So varieties were far rowing as they enveloped and assi pile of snot was not ood time

"Just leave it be, and watch what you touch"

As we headed along the tunnel, I keptfrom side to side The fact that there were viro-mortis slimes around meant that we probably had to watch out for other nasty creatures Al sorts of denizens hung around in the dark, waiting for the next unwary traveler to cos for dinner

More boxes and another cubbyhole to the right I briefly shone ain it looked like a long-abandoned base, and in some spots moisture had worked its way down the wal s to leave trails of ular kind--and mildew

"The city should cooing to pay for it?" Chase said "Seattle is having budget woes as it is No, I have the feeling most of the city doesn’t even know this place exists It isn’t coround sections comprise more than just what’s shown to tourists on the little jaunt that’s offered"

The soft cadence of water flowing caught my attention "Sewer?" I asked after a moment The others listened, and then Chase shook his head

"No, seouldn’t round stream, perhaps" He paused

"What’s that? Over there?"

I turned ht to the direction in which he pointed Another cubby, but this one had so else in it A cleft in the rocks that made up the sides of the tunnel beckoned

"I don’t know Let’s take a look" As I crept over to the alcove, I motioned for everyone to be silent The cleft wasn’t as wide as a passage, but definitely wide enough to go single file I flashed"Shal we try it? Just be very careful not to brush against the sides, which means try not to trip or stue, I hoped it wouldn’t go on for too far I didn’t want to get lost in a maze beneath the city streets Camil e hated close quarters, and I knew this wasn’t easy on her

The darkness closed in around us as we continued on, and the only spots of light were the hts I kicked the floor ahead ofloose pebbles to the side so the others wouldn’t twist their ankles on them