I don't have a penny

At the City Hospital

Daniel, Amy, and Jake were pacing thoroughly through the corridor. They were constantly on the phone, contacting various people. Eddie approached them, her face layered in sweat. Jake saw her and walked up to her, "How is it?"

"She has slipped into a coma due to the head injury. Whatever, I have given up the rest of the evidence to all the media outlets."

"Strange. The girl who acted as an assistant working on the hotel was completely unrelated to the hotel", ADniel furrowed his brows and huffed.

"Any updates?" Amy asked with an exhausted frown and walked behind Daniel.

"No", Daniel sighed, "If she had sprained her ankle, then where did she disappear?"

"Don't let anything slip up", Jake spoke firmly, "We are contacting the higher-ups."

---

Somewhere in the city

Lilith followed the strange sounds, which seemed to her as a morse code language. She had swiftly moved out of that cage and was following the sounds through the corridor. Suddenly, it stopped and she understood that something was not right. She leaned against the wooden panels to calm herself down, only to feel the wall she was leaning on, move under her. She immediately stepped away, in case, it was a trap. What she saw next, however, made her gasp in exasperation. The wooden panel had moved and revealed a secret tunnel. She peeped in it with exasperation.

"Move-in", the morse code seemed to say, "Hurry, we don't have time."

Without thinking much, Lilith jumped in. The tunnel led downwards and as a result, she felt that she was sliding down a huge slide.

Five minutes later, when Lilith landed, she had her eyes closed in fear. The next moment, she felt someone shaking her violently by her shoulders.

"Mom!" Alice shook her, "Open your eyes. It's me."

Finally, Lilith took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She allowed herself to be pulled in for a hug by her precious daughter.

"Mom. We should leave right away!"

"How?" Lilith was exasperated.

"This way", Alice led her to an opening on the floor, "It's hard. But we don't have other choices. They will find us sooner or later."

"Okay", Lilith nodded.

...

"It's so dark in here", Lilith crawled behind Alice, "Where did you find these torches?"

Currently, they were crawling in through a tunnel, which for Lilith, was a neverending story. It was dark but Alice had somehow managed to get her hands on two headlight helmets.

"That doesn't matter", Alice blurted out. She was having a hard time crawling because of her tall stature.

"How long?" Lilith asked with a frown, "You don't seem comfortable."

"According to my map, the ending is not too far. So, it won't be much longer."

"Do you know where this tunnel leads?" Lilith asked.

"It doesn't matter where it leads, as long as we are out of that ugly building."

...

15 minutes later

"Here", Alice pulled Lilith out of the tunnel.

"Where are we?" Lilith asked as hes brushed her clothes. She looked around and found that they were surrounded by black curtains.

"It seems like a supermarket", Lilith saw Alice peeking out through the curtains and moved behind her to have a look.

People were moving around wheeling their loaded carts here and there. There were all kinds of goods as far as the eyes could see.

"Ah!" Alice groaned, "I just want to have those cupcakes. But, my bad, I don't have a penny."

Hearing her, Lilith sighed. She slipped her hand inside her pocket and it was empty! Moreover, she never knew her daughter was such a glutton who would think of eating in such desperate situations.