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"Okay, just... give a shout every ten rungs or so, so we'll know you're still there," Shane said as Mattbegan his descent into the darkness."Ten!" came the call several seconds later."Twenty!" more distant than the first, echoing hollowly off the walls."Thirty!" A pause. "It's wet."Several more seconds of silence, then a small splash, and:"Bottom! Thirty-six!""What do you see?" Shane hollered downwards."I don't know, it's too dark!"Shane turned to the others. "If any of you have a flashlight, now would be a really good time to say so."No one had a flashlight. Shane stuck his head back out the opening."Matt, you still there?""Yeah.""Great. Stay around the ladder. We're coming down."Shane dropped his feet onto the top rung. "C'mon," he said. "Let's go."Tommy looked uncertainly at the void beyond."If we stick together we'll be safe," Shane added. "Keep together. We'll be fine.""What about what happened to Jjaks-""Shut up about Jjaks!" Shane shouted. He swallowed. "That's over, okay? Let's go."The far-off reddish glow of the tunnel they had left cast a dim spot of crimson light around the vicinity ofthe ladder, just enough for them to make out each other's faces. Sprays of water hit them intermittentlyfrom what they now saw was not a waterfall but an open spout from which the liquid gushed to flowaway past their feet into the dark recesses of the tunnel beyond."Is this the sewage system?" Chris asked, stepping off the last rung into shallow water"Doesn't smell like it," Shane said.They looked out at the two tunnels leading away from them."If we're in the plumbing, we can assume we're underground," Perry said. "We need to go upwards.There should be a ladder, or-""We just came down a ladder," Tommy pointed out."Another ladder, then," Shane said. "Both of those tunnels have to lead somewhere.""It's dark."Shane splashed his way towards one tunnel. "Keep to one wall. Human chain. Hold hands. Don't letgo."**