The night when everything falls apart. [2]
Two figures could be seen walking hand in hand down a dimly lit street, their eyes scanning the surroundings cautiously.
They were unmistakably Jake and Jenny, who had just left little Evan at the orphanage.
"I'm already missing him," Jenny confessed, trailing behind Jake.
"You should know that our child's well-being is best ensured by our absence; being near him would only put his life in danger," Jake explained, pausing to look around for any signs of being watched or followed.
"But are you certain we can leave this place, escape from this area?" Jenny inquired.
"Yes, I'm confident we can make our escape from here, from this very area," Jake assured her with a determined expression.
"Okay, but promise me, if anything happens to me while we're away from our child, you'll take care of him with twice the effort," Jenny implored, her voice tinged with sudden urgency.
"Huh, what the hell are you talking about right now, and why?" Jake asked, turning to look at her.
"Let's just call it a woman's intuition," Jenny said with a smile.
"Oh, come on, you and your intuition," Jake retorted, smiling in a way that made Jenny chuckle.
As their conversation came to a close, so did the street, and they found themselves standing near a park.
They quickly entered and first sought cover inside a bush.
"Jake are you sure that's the correct park in which the way was hidden." Jenny asked as she looked at him who was looking around to see if anybody was here or not.
"No, I am 100% certain this is the right way. And don't you trust your charming husband?" Jake said with a cheeky smile.
"Yeah, yeah, Mr. Charming, let's just go before those guys find us," Jenny said as they emerged from the bushes and walked towards a building in the park.
Indeed, it was the men's restroom they entered, choosing one of the stalls.
"Isn't it exciting, just like those videos?" Jake said, blowing some air on Jenny's ear as she looked around for the way.
"What are you doing right now? Is this the time for things like that?" Jenny exclaimed loudly, startled by his action.
"Shush! Don't you remember we could get caught if you shout so loudly?" Jake whispered, his hand gesturing for silence.
"Sorry, but aren't you the one making me do this? And where's the way out?" She asked, looking around to no avail.
"It's through there," he said, pointing at the toilet seat.
"What do you mean by that? No, never. We won't fit, and even if we could, I wouldn't do it, not even if my life depended on it," Jenny said as she stepped back, bumping into the toilet wall which started to shake slightly.
"What are you doing? Do you want to get us caught?" he asked as he saw her actions.
"Do you think a sane person would just say 'oh, okay'?" she retorted, mimicking such a reaction.
"No, dumbo. Listen, we don't have to go inside; we just need to push it aside," he explained, preparing to demonstrate.
He grasped the toilet seat, ready to push, but the stench from within made him dizzy. So, he closed the lid, took a deep breath, and resumed his effort.
At first, it barely moved, but with added force, it began to shift, and within minutes, they had moved it aside to reveal a tunnel that a normal person could fit through with some squeezing.
"So, who's going first?" he inquired, as she decided to enter last, and without any argument, they began to enter.
As they entered one by one, Jake, who was last, found a lever inside. He pressed it, and the toilet seat began to shake slightly, returning to its place.
"What happened, and why did the lights go off?" Jenny asked, her voice tinged with fear from the sudden darkness.
"No, it's nothing; I just closed the passage door. Don't worry, am I not here with you?" he asked as they both started crawling onward with their torchlight on.
Jake was well-prepared, bringing a torchlight with him. Using a phone would have quickly led to their capture by the powerful entity chasing them, and in this dragon kingdom, capture meant certain death. They were fleeing to a neighboring kingdom where they could live for a while and later return to retrieve their son once the situation cooled down.
"Jake, are we going the right way?" she asked after approximately fifteen minutes of crawling without seeing the end of the tunnel.
"Don't worry, just believe in me. We're taking a shortcut to leave the city and escape the kingdom, so we have to travel a bit," Jake reassured her. Jenny nodded, and they moved ahead. After a while, the tunnel widened, allowing them to walk with only slightly bowed heads by the time they reached the halfway mark.
Jake suggested using only one torch to conserve the battery. They knew they had traveled half the distance because a mark reading '50%' was written on the floor, and they noticed that every time they crossed a distance, they found a number with a difference of 10.
Approximately two hours later, they stood before a wall.
"Where's the way?" she asked. Jake nodded and pressed a specific part of the wall.
Initially, nothing happened, but seconds later, the wall slid open, revealing a path.
"We have to go this way now? Come on, I'm already so tired, and we have to walk even more," she complained childishly.
"Just five more minutes, honey, and we'll be out of the city," he reassured her as he stepped into the passage.
They both entered, and the passage sealed itself after a few minutes due to a button Jake pressed.
As they walked, the passage, which had been widening, now began to narrow until they were forced to crawl. After a few minutes, they reached the end of the passage.
"What now? Is the tunnel closed? Are we going to die here, or is there another way?" Jenny asked, trying to see him.
"Just wait, I'm looking for somethi~~~~~. Ah ha, found it!" he exclaimed as he pressed a hidden button, and the wall at the end of the tunnel retracted. Jenny, shaking, hurried outside as the passage opened.
She crawled out, feeling suffocated, but the scene before her was even more repulsive.
"So, this is your escape plan? Jake, I'm going to kill you," she shouted as she surveyed her surroundings.
-- To be continued --