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name no one answered. She hoped he would catch up soon. She would wait for him on the other side of the checkpoint. Surely the guards wouldn’t know how to get beyond it. She could rest while she waited, knowing that she was finally safe. The thought pulled her through as her foot became suctioned, stuck in the thick soup of goop beneath her.
    ***
    Back in the church’s great room the guards turned, looking to one another with confusion as a loud crash shook the decaying floorboards beneath them. Pieces of angels fell from their pewter holdings in the boarded up windows, crackling across the room with an eerie twinkle as they shifted across the floor towards Steve and Walt’s feet, “Was that the storage room?” asked Walt, looking to his companion with a confused bewilderment. Their hostage was down there and it felt like he was bringing the rest of the church down with him. The floor shook again with more force. From beneath the floorboards a sound like shattering wood resonated against their creaking floorboards. It was as if hell had opened up beneath them. Walt was suddenly fearful. Remorse swam through his veins as he deliberated.
    “Yeah, we’d better both go.” responded Steve. He looked terrified at the thought of going back into the dark cellar again to discover what that unearthly noise was. Stepping over the broken coloured glass carefully he lead the way to the staircase, deliberately choosing his footing carefully to stall, hoping Walt would take the lead.
    The guards ambled grudgingly down the flights of stairs and into the cellar slowly with their weapons drawn. Walt had never fired a gun in his life. His hand shook as he held the tip of the gun away from his face, safety still on. It was more for intimidation than anything. With their flashlights out, the two circled the wrecked room together looking for their captive. All they found was an empty post and a sinkhole in the floor. The two stopped short of the opening, cautious of the floor giving way beneath them.
    “What’s this?” asked Walt, looking at the sunken floor and the shifted boxes. He pointed his light at a pew caught in the gap, half splintered from the force.  The dust had settled back down, but the stench of rotting damp earth was pungent and stifling in the confined space of the cellar. It clung at the hairs on the back of Walt’s neck as he realized what was happening. He should have read the manual when he had taken the position as a guard at the church. Something was in the basement, he just couldn’t remember what. Looking at the damage the sinkhole had caused to the crushed boxes and rubbish, he was sure it was nothing good.
    Steve pointed his flashlight at the opening, leaning into it to take a look at the dark crevasse beneath, “Look Walt, it’s a tunnel !” he exclaimed. In the confusion he confirmed that he had not read the manual either, “They must have left together through there” He paused, circling his flashlight over the hole “...I’m calling this in,” He trailed off reaching for his cell as he tucked his light back into his belt.
    “Do we follow or wait for backup?” Walt asked before Steve had a chance to get his phone out of the pocket he was struggling with.
    “I’ll call it in, they’ll probably tell me to do that anyway...” he trailed off as his phone came free of the tight breast pocket he had slipped it in that morning. He walked away to the stairwell looking for a signal. He glanced over his shoulder at Walt, worried about leaving him alone in the cellar. If the girl and her fugitive were capable of this, he wasn’t sure how far they would be willing to go to get out of the church. She was a criminal after all.
    Walt waited at the entrance to the tunnel, keeping his light trained on the opening as he listened intently for any sounds of movement in the cellar. He was not fully convinced that they had even entered the chasm. It could just as likely be a trap for him and Steve to stumble