300 300. The tunnel
The tunnel was too narrow, barely fitting for Markus’s huge body. Secondly there was no light at all. But thankfully Markus had come prepared beforehand, carrying a torch. But the problem was carrying the torch while climbing down this narrow tunnel.
Plus once inside, he couldn’t make out what time it was outside. All those who were brought here were only given basic clothes and food. No more, no less. Not to mention something like a watch.
But Markus knew that he had entered this tunnel at around 9 pm. And he had already decided to come out of this tunnel by 4 am, before the guards were called for training.
With this thought in mind, he started counting, trying to match his pace with seconds of the watch. He tore a piece of his cloth, tying it around his neck with the torch attached to it.
This way, he made it much easier to climb down with the help of both of his hands. Thus without any more delay, he started the journey downstairs.
Though the journey was definitely not an easy one. The temperature drop along with closed space only added to the already present difficulties. Plus after some distance, he had to crawl all the way instead of climbing down.
And Markus with his towering figure, muscular body definitely couldn’t easily fit the small space. Hence the difficulty level was only increasing.
Markus had already counted till fifteen thousand, yet there was no end of the tunnel. And Markus knew that he couldn’t wait much, because this count meant he had already crossed the half time and yet he was nowhere near the end.
He still decided to continue a little further. Maybe till count of seventeen thousand before he will stop wherever he was and return back speedily.
With that thought, he resumed crawling. Just when he was at sixteen thousand nine hundred and forty three, he could see a dead end ahead. He increased his speed before reaching near the wall, standing up to climb the wall.
After almost twenty or so steps of climbing he could feel firm covering above his head. He took a deep breath and composed himself before silently pushing the lid away, knowing he was taking a huge risk.
It took him some time, but eventually the lid shifted a little, showing that it was open. Markus, stopped breathing while slowly removing the lid away, and climbing another step to peek at the area outside.
But the first thing he saw was footsteps approaching and he instantly closed the lid. He waited there with a rapid heart beat, ready to fight if in case the owner of footsteps had seen him.
He closed his hand into a tight fist, his breathing stopped, body on complete alert and defensive mode.
He closed his eyes for a moment.
‘Little lamb, I have promised you that I will return. I am not breaking this promise.’ Markus told himself before quickly opening his eyes.
After almost thirty seconds, he felt the footsteps going in another direction, towards the right of this tunnel.
He waited patiently for almost a minute till the sound of footsteps faded away. Once he was sure that there was no noise outside, he once again lifted the lid slightly, so that only his head and eyes were above the level of the tunnel.
‘There!’ He thought to himself while looking at the window, almost at a distance of twenty meters.
‘Ok. This will be some really difficult task.” Markus thought while considering the distance he had to cross before reaching the window, that too when the garden was fully lit and guarded.
With that Markus decided to return now as he had seen everything he needed to. He gently closed the lid properly above his head before starting his return journey.
Thankfully he was already aware of the kind of path it was, hence he was much faster while crawling back.
And finally after time unknown, he reached the dead end from where he had to climb up.
Once he reached above, he slowly lifted the lid above his head, trying to check the situation inside room no 4.
He peeked through the gap, only to find the entire room silent and slightly lit, which meant that the day was about to break.
He silently opened the entire lid before coming out and closing the lid behind him. Just when he thought to come out from beneath the bed, he heard some sounds.
“Hey, wake up! It’s 5 am. Those men will be here anytime soon. How can we all be so careless to sleep so soundly!! Let’s get up quickly.” One of the men exclaimed.
‘Huhh! Man you were like sleeping all this while. Couldn’t you have slept for five more minutes? Are you doing this on purpose?’ Markus thought, not knowing what to do since all others were awake.
“Where are those two? Shouldn’t they have woken us up before leaving on their own?” Another man said, complaining about the other two roommates.
pA(nD)A no ve1 “You know how they are. What were you expecting? They have been like that since the very first day. Let’s just forget that those two exist with us in the same room.” The first man said.
“Hmmm. Even Sid didn’t come. He would have definitely woke us up after seeing we are nowhere. Let’s go and search for him. Maybe he hasn’t woken up as well.” A third person said.
‘Don’t worry about me. I am fully awake. And you don’t have to put in so much effort for me. Please don’t search for me!’ Markus thought from beneath the bed.
“Yeah. Get up guys. Get ready for another hell like day!” The man said before climbing down the bed, the rest of them following his suit.
“Hmmmmmm. Gooodd morninnng everyone.” Suddenly they heard a sleepy voice greet them.
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Happy 300th chapter to us!! I originally wanted to plan a mass release of 5 chapters, but unfortunately it was not possible. Thus I thought that maybe I can ask you all to suggest me something that I can do for you all. And I honestly promise that I will try my best to fulfil it. Do let me know in the comments. Have a nice day!!
– Kizy