Tight Enclosed Space

Thu-Thud.

Thu-Thud.

Thu-Thud.

Thu-Thud.

"So. I'm either alive or in Hell. If this were Heaven it wouldn't hurt so much. AND SOMEBODY WOULD TURN THE BLOODY LIGHT ON!" David opened his eyes. Dark. Deep black. Silence. He began to laugh. Not a pretty laugh. Not a jolly laugh. Rather an insane laugh that would make you reach for the door and say "I've just remembered I've got an appointment I'm late for. I'll catch you on another day."

David began shaking. His whole body involuntarily trembling. His heart Thu-Thudded in his head. Red blotches danced in front of his eyes and the taste of blood filled his mouth.

He hugged himself with his front paws, rocking back and forth.

He was at the bottom of a deep shaft.

In the dark.

Alone.

No one knew he was here.

Well, the only people who knew he was here could not help him.

A deep, grunting groaning noise came from his throat.

"Aaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr."

"Aaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr." (Do you know my spelling checker didn't like that word. But it couldn't suggest a better one so I'll stick with it..)

"Aaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr."

The smallest part of David's brain started to talk to the rest of him.

Sun.

Sky.

Little clouds shaped like Cola.

David's arms clenched tighter.

"I'm in a wide open space."

Then again he tried:

"I'm in a wide open space I'm standing I'm all alone and staring into space."

His heartbeat slowed.

He spoke the mantra to himself over and over.

He stopped rocking.

The red blotches in front of his eyes cleared.

He swallowed.

He opened his eyes.

It was dark.

He was at the bottom of the shaft, in quite a large space.

He stopped hugging himself and slowly stretched his arms out. He couldn't touch the walls from where he was! He shut his eyes and clenched his teeth.

Sun.

Sky.

He suddenly realised that he was rather uncomfortable. He seemed to be sitting on a pile of twigs covered in dust. Not dust, more ash-like. And twigs wouldn't be here at the bottom of a ventilation shaft. Silly gerbil. They're not twigs, harder. Smoother. More bony. Like, bones.

Yep bones.

Bones covered in ashes.

"AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" (Believe it or not, my spelling checker ignored that one)

David stood up. His head didn't hit anything. His only thought was quite simple and concise. He screamed:

"I HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!"

Clenching his front paws he stared up at the ceiling.

A faint breeze slid past him up to the shaft above him. He reached up but couldn't feel a ceiling. He counted to three.

He edged forward, slowly. 'Inched' is not the right word, 'Millimetred' would be best to describe his progress.

After twenty paces, his outstretched arms touched a wall.

Cringing, he reached below himself and picked up a bone. He shook as he scraped it up and down on the wall, scouring a near-vertical line in the earth.

Once he was confident he had marked the wall and could recognise the mark he started to edge clockwise (not that he could tell the time) around the chamber.

After ten or so paces his hands felt a tunnel leading off. His toes, however didn't. So the tunnel started, he felt around, at knee height. Strange chamber.

He kept going and counted three more exits until he came back to his marked wall.

So he was in a roughly circular chamber, with four exits roughly evenly spread out.

"Call me sentimental" He said to himself. "But I'm going to take the first one I found."

He edged round to it and clambered up into the tunnel.

There was no sign of light. He took a deep breath and started forwards.

After three or four yards, the tunnel bent sharply to the left and David could see a faint glow at the end.

"YES!" He whispered as loudly as he could.

Being careful not to rush forwards, being wary of vertical drops he made his way towards the light.

Carefully. Slowly. He edged to the hole in the floor and the light. He peeked down.

His head jerked up and he hit the ceiling with a loud 'bump'.

He swallowed.

"Hellfire." He whispered under his breath.

"Well," He thought to himself. "I'm not getting out this way!"

He edged back slowly.

Back to the bone-chamber. Next tunnel to the right.

Again after three or four yards the tunnel bent. This time it bent upwards. David stood on his hind legs and felt along the shaft.

He breathed a huge sigh of relief. There were paw-holds on one of the walls!

He started climbing up slowly. These paw-holds seemed to fit him perfectly. He thought about what Rob had said about the builders of these tunnels and made a chilling connection.

Thinking of the bone-chamber.

"Well. I know what happened to the diggers of these tunnels." He shivered and nearly lost his grip. "Not now David. Not after all of this. Not with all this still to do."

He climbed up and was soon happy to find his head popping out into a horizontal tunnel. A tunnel with evenly spaced spots of light. He grinned to himself as he clambered out of the shaft.

"This is something I can cope with." He smiled to himself and scuttered to the first glow.

Below him was a long room full of bunks full of rabbits. These sleeping accommodations were not as luxurious as the first few rooms he'd perused. This must be the sleeping quarters for the masses.

Gorden could be here!

So, instead of just peeking and passing onto the next hole, he sat there and stared around the room. Luckily the rabbits slept with a small amount of lit torches so he could see.

He scuttered carefully to the next ventilation hole and spent a few minutes staring, looking for Gorden.

He scampered and scuttered from light to light until he'd passed along the entire length of the room. No sign of Gorden.

The next light was over a burridor. The next light after that was quite a way away. And David had learnt from his past adventures. He took it very slowly.

Partway to the next light he found a handle! Feeling around he discovered another.

Feeling brave, he carefully lifted the handles. The trap-door came up in his hands. Below him was a small storeroom with a door, which was just ajar enough to show him this. He nodded and lowered the trap-door.

Still carefully, he crawled to the next light. It was another sleeping chamber. He scanned the rabbits in the room and passed from light to light slowly and carefully.

He rubbed his forehead. No Gorden in this room either. He scratched an itch on his back and made his way to the next light - it was over a corridor. Carefully, looking for more trap doors and vertical shafts he inched towards the next light.

No trap door this time, he could see straight into a room full of sleeping bucks.

One of the rabbits caught his attention. It was big enough to be Gorden. David scampered to the next light and peeked down. Ready to be disappointed.

"Gotcha!" He said to himself. Then "How the hell do I get to him?

"If I go down into the storeroom I've got to walk through an entire room full of rabbits.

"Hellfire."

David backed up and traced his paddings back to the trapdoor and the storeroom. He lifted the trap-door and dropped down. He stretched out. His hand hit a vertical pole. He grabbed it as it fell to the floor and he smiled.

A few seconds later, mop in one hand and bucket in another, David strode confidently from the storeroom.

He turned into the first sleeping room and marched through it. Not looking left nor right. Barely breathing.

He reached the room with Gorden in and aimed straight for his friend's bunk.

He shook Gorden awake.

"Gorden, come with me!" He whispered hard.

"Go away." He said "Who's Gorden?" David was shocked for a second then remembered all that Rob had said.

"What is your number?" He asked the tired rabbit.

"Number Thirty Seven." The half-asleep rabbit slurred.

"Good." David pushed the mop at him "On Behalf of the Committee, I was told to get Buck Thirty Seven and bring him." If you looked closely you could see that David's fingers were crossed.

Gorden, or rather 'Buck Thirty Seven' stirred and sat up. "If the committee wills." Buck Thirty Seven took the mop that David proffered and followed when David led him off, bucket in hand.

David thought back to the first room with rabbits in all those hours ago.

"We have been asked to the Committee Chambers" He told Buck Thirty Seven. "You can lead the way." His gamble paid off and Gorden strode off, leading the way.

Outside of the chamber, two guards stood. Buck Thirty Seven had been primed for this and walked up to them.

"We've come to clear the mess up." He told them, showing his mop.

The guards shrugged and opened the doors and let the two 'workers' slide in.

David let a deep breath out - the chamber was empty. If not then they would have been in real trouble.

"Buck." He said to Gorden, "Hold out your hand." Buck Thirty Seven did as he was told.

David slid the wooden ring Rob had given him onto Gorden's paw. It had an immediate effect - Gorden fell over.

David was on him at once, slapping his face.

"Wake up you great lummox!"

Gorden stirred and sat up.

"What?" He said. "Where?" He continued. "How?"

"Oh shut up and listen to me." David began, "Can you pull the head off that mop?"

Gorden did as he was told, but this time he was Gorden and questioned everything.

"Not now..." Was all David said.

A few minutes later they pushed their way out of the chamber.

Nodding at the guard Gorden couldn't help to add:

"Cleaned that up easily, Bye now."

"Be seeing you." The guards said as Gorden and David walked away.

David was hoping against all hope that the guards didn't realise that the mop now had metal-shod ends. And that the head didn't fit properly.

Gorden led the way out of the warren.

At the warren entrance two guards stood.

"We've been asked to clean up some mess." Gorden said and strode out into the open air.

The head fell off the mop.

"Hey!" Shouted one of the guards, Gorden swung the staff round and hit him in the belly. He jerked the staff back and hit the other guard (behind him) with the end.

"Run!" Shouted Gorden. Leaving the stunned guards, they raced up the hill before the general alarm could be raised.

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