Life of a Baranthia Student 06

Chapter 06 Tunnels of Doom

"So this is our mission?" Sourcy asked, peaking a little hesitant into the tunnel before looking back at the team. With Raina as the teacher leading this mission, she wasn't quite sure. She hadn't had a lot of encounters with the culinary arts teacher but the ones she had, were confusing.  So she wasn't quite sure where to place her or what she was going to do on this mission.

She let her eyes slide over the other students that had come. There was Hanako, looking still a little put off by the earlier events.  Next to her stood Alice. Sourcy was kind of glad there was someone she somewhat liked, also on this mission. The last addition was the student committee president. What was his name again? Kota?

"Kyoya, did you bring the flashlights I asked of you?" Raina asked. The brown haired boy nodded, the look on his face serious. "Pass them out."

Silently Kyoya gave the other three flashlights. The last one he gave to Raina.
"Right." Riana spoke. "A lot of people have disappeared in this tunnel. We don't know what is in there so be careful." Then she straightened her shoulders and gave them a happy smile. "Let's go."

Raina really was odd, Sourcy thought as they entered the tunnel, all turning on their flashlights. Raina went ahead, happily skipping into the tunnel. Alice with Sourcy followed her, with Kyoya not far behind Alice. It felt a little stalkerish to Sourcy. Hanako closed the ranks, keeping her eyes on the back of the group.

They walked for a short while until they reached a three way split.

"So what now?" Sourcy asked Raina.

"We need to look through them all." Raina said, heading towards the right tunnel. But the other four students remained where they stood. "What?"

"We should split up." Hanako suggested. "It is more effective."

Raina seemed to hesitate, unsure of what to do. She wasn't quite ready to let them out of her sights yet. In a way she hated the missions when the students went with others teachers. She always worried about her students. But now that she was with them on a mission, she really didn't feel like she wanted to let them out of her sight. But reason won. Hanako was right. It was better to split up. So she nodded.
Hanako exchanged a look with Alice before she spook. "So Alice, Sourcy for the left tunnel, Kyoya and me take the right tunnel and Raina the middle."

Kyoya spluttered at this arrangement and looked at disbelief when Raina seemed to agree with Hanako as well. He glared at the other girl but she just gave him a challenging look back.

Alice seemed relieved and grabbed Sourcy's wrist, tugging her towards the left tunnel.

Kyoya had crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Hanako rolled her eyes as she headed towards the right tunnel. "Oh stop pouting."

"I am not pouting." Kyoya growled, as he followed her.

"Sure you aren't." Sourcy heard Hanako say in the tunnel.

"It is your fault." Kyoya said, as he left Sourcy's sight.

They could barely hear Hanako's reply now. "The pouting is my fault?" She asked innocently.

They couldn't hear what Kyoya replied next but their exchange was amusing, Raina found.

Next Sourcy and Alice went into the right tunnel, leaving Raina behind. "Well I should go then too." The dark tunnel seemed looming.

~ + ~

Alice was walking next to Sourcy in the tunnel, their shoulders occasionally brushing against each other. Their flashlights illuminated the tunnel somewhat. But it still remained dark. Eary even to them.

She regarded the taller girl next to her. "So I heard you tried getting into Grells mansion?" She said with a small smile that was barely seen in the dark.

"I don't think we even stood a chance of trying to get in." Sourcy replied. "He saw us coming from a mile away." She said, referring to Grell.

"Yeah that does seem like Grell." Alice responded. Sourcy just gave a brief nod.
There fell a silence between them for a few minutes. Both not quite sure in this situation. This being Sourcy's first mission with other students and Alice being quiet by nature.

Sourcy hesitated for a minute before asking: "Does Hanako always act like that on missions?" She was wondering that. She didn't quite understand the girl. Though she hadn't really tried to begin with. Alice would know, she had gone on a lot of missions with the dark haired girl.

"Like what?" Alice asked, not quite understanding the question.

"Taking the lead like that I mean."

"Oh sometimes yes." Alice answered. "It depends on the teacher that accompanies along and the situation." She brushed some bangs out of her face. "She had a lot of experience with these type of missions before she came to Baranthia you know. And she wants us to stay out of harm's way I think, so she offers her knowledge and expertise often."

"Jess mentioned something about that, about her being in a group before Baranthia." Sourcy mused, trying to think back towards that conversation. But Jessica hadn't said much about it, already had been distracted by something.

"Oh yeah, you are rooming with Jessica." Alice said, her voice going somewhat higher. "What is that like?"

"Rooming with Jessica?"  Sourcy asked. "It's okay. Took some getting used to each other but I think we're fine now."

"I always imagine that the roommates of Jessica have to put up with a lot." Alice said.

Sourcy looked surprised. "Why?"

Alice shrugged. " Don't know, just a feeling. She can be so…random."

"True." Sourcy said. "But also a great cook."

That made Alice laugh a little.

She stopped suddenly. It felt as if something was at her ankles. She pointed her flashlight downwards. A rope…

Sourcy turned around to her, pointing her flashlight on Alice. "What-"

Then it happened quickly. Something came down from the ceiling of the tunnel, knocking Sourcy forward onto the ground and landing on Alice.

Sourcy shook her head a little, being somewhat dizzy from the knock in the back. She felt around on the cold ground of the tunnel for her flashlight that had been knocked from her hand. After a minute she found it. She could hear breathing in the silent tunnel. She figured that was Alice. She hoped that was Alice.

"Alice." Sourcy turned towards where she thought Alice was, the light of the flashlight following her. "Are you okay?"

When the light of the flashlight reached the other girl, Alice let out a small scream.

Lying on top of her was a body.

Dead.

~ + ~

He grumbled a little as he stomped ahead of Hanako. He was not very pleased with this arrangement. He wanted to stay with Alice so that when something happened he could protect her. But Hanako had to stick her big ugly nose into it.

"Still pouting I see." Hanako commented with a soft voice, pointing her flashlight at the back of his head.

"I am not pouting." He bit out, his tone harder than he had meant it to be.

"These are long tunnels." Hanako said, ignoring the previous subject.

"Yeah. I don't see an end to this yet." Kyoya said, calming down a little as he stared into the tunnel. They had passed a side tunnel earlier but had decided it would not be a good idea to split up. Both had a bad feeling about this mission. They did not have to mention it to each other. A look had told them both enough. In that way, they were somewhat similar. Though neither would admit to that.

"This could be a vast network of tunnels moving under the town." Hanako said as she stepped closer to Kyoya, her flashlight also pointing into the tunnel now. "It could go on for miles."

Kyoya finally regarded her. "And we don't know what we are looking for."

"Exactly. It's like finding a needle in a haystack." Hanako said. Normally she could've used her ability to track but in this darkness, with only the light of the flashlights, it was undoable.

Hanako moved passed Kyoya, brushing her shoulder and arm against his. The tunnel they were in was getting narrower.

Both continued to walk further into the tunnel in silence. A few minutes passed before they finally saw something else in the tunnel.

A sort of room at the end of this tunnel. They both looked at each other, knowing that they had to be careful now. Someone could be in there.

Kyoya let Hanako take the front. Though he did not like to admit it, he knew this was her cup of tea.

Hanako flattened herself against the wall a little, signaling for Kyoya to stay back a little. She dimmed the flashlight by covering it with her hand. She didn't want to put it out as she could not see anything in the room then.

Slowly she peaked around the corner, the dimmed flashlight pointing towards it. She didn't feel any presence in the room but remained on guard. Slowly she removed her hands from the flashlight and let it shine through the entire room. Then she relaxed. But only a little.

"It's clear." She spoke as she stepped into the room. At the other side of the room, the tunnel appeared to continue on.

Kyoya quickly joined her, letting the light of his flashlight spill over the walls. He frowned. "This looks like blood."

"It is, dried blood." Hanako said, looking over her shoulder. She was standing in the middle of the room, her flashlight pointed downwards. The bad feeling she had just got worse.

Kyoya moved towards her but tripped over something half way. He grumbled before pointing his flashlight at whatever he tripped over. His eyes widened. "What the hell."

A bone.

He turned to Hanako who stepped sideways to show him what she had found.

A whole lot of bones formed as a nest.

And Hanako was certain, they were human…

~ + ~

Raina let out a big sigh. Walking around in a tunnel alone was boring. And she didn't know where she was going. Part of her wanted to go back and sneak up on the students, to see how they were doing. Actually all of her wanted to turn around and go to the students.

So she would.

She turned around but as she did, she got hit on the head. Out of surprise she dropped the flashlight to the ground. She didn't have time to grab it and see who her attacker was as he came at her with surprising speed. She nearly got hit in the head again but she ducked just in time. But the next one hit target again, right on her boobs. She looked down. They bounced right back but felt painful. She frowned. "I think you bruised my boobs."

She punched him but only felt the wall of the tunnel. Small rocks came tumbling down, one hitting her on the nose. That hurt. It better not be broken.

"Who the hell are you?" She bit out, a little frustrated that she couldn't see her attacker or properly punch him/her in the face.

There was only a laugh. A manly laugh.  

And then there was a punch in her face, followed by a knock on the head. It was even too much for Raina to take and she passed out.

The male attacker watched her fall to the ground and smiled. He grabbed her flashlight and let it shine over her body. So this was a teacher of Baranthia. "You are not much at all are you."

"I think you may have gotten lucky." Came a comment from behind him.

~ + ~

"Get if off me!" Alice shouted, a little panicked. She wasn't easily freaked but having a dead body on you was frightening.  It was so close to death itself. She couldn't get the body off herself, it was so heavy. And she could hardly move.

"Hold on." Sourcy said as she moved onto her knees. "Can you free your arm so you could hold the flashlight?"

"I'll try." It took a few minutes but finally Alice had her hand free with a little help from Sourcy, who held back an arm of the body. It felt almost as a relieve to Alice. It felt so restricted when you couldn't move like that.

Alice took the flashlight and shone it up so Sourcy could have a proper look. The body was female. She didn't look very heavy but then a body that did not cooperate in anyway could feel very heavy. Especially if it was on top of you.

Sourcy now moved to her feet. "I'll try and heave it up so you can crawl from under it. She grabbed the body at the shoulders. Slowly she started pulling. It took her a while to get the body up far enough for Alice to crawl from under it.

Alice quickly crawled from under it on her back. She wanted multiple showers as soon as she got back to Baranthia. She felt dirty.

In the mean time Sourcy let go of the body and it dropped back on the ground. Then she went to Alice and gave her a hand. Alice took it and she pulled her on her feet. "You okay?" Sourcy asked.

"Yeah. Just really want to get away from this place." Alice answered.

"Yeah me too." Sourcy muttered. "What happened exactly."

"I think I tripped a rope that was attached to the body and made it come down." Alice said, letting the light of the flashlight go over the ground near the body.

"Why didn't I trip it then?"

"I don't know." Alice said. "Maybe you stepped over it. I think the rope did hung really low to the ground."

Sourcy turned to the body. "She doesn't look like she has been dead that long." She crouched next to it.

"Yeah." Alice said, shivering a little. "She must be one of the missing people."

"I wonder what killed her." Sourcy said. She touched her key and wondered if she should try and connect. But she decided against it. The reaper had already been here. There would be nothing there. And a body with no soul, felt incredibly cold when connected to.  As there was nothing to connect too.

She turned to Alice. "Help me turn her over."

Alice nodded and went to the other side of the body. Slowly they turned the dead girl so she was laying on her back. They both looked her over for signs of any aggression.  

Sourcy wasn't good at any of this. She had seen dead bodies before but never had to look what could have killed them. She wasn't even sure if they would be able to find anything…wait. "What is that in her neck?" She asked Alice.

The other girl looked. "They look like puncture holes. Two of them."

"Vampire?" Sourcy asked.

"Could be." Alice said.

~ + ~

The male attacker of Raina turned his head sideways. "Really, you think so, vampire?"

"I know so." He answered. "You won't be so lucky the second time around."

"When I come across the students you mean?" He smiled. "Don't be ridiculous." He pointed his flashlight on the vampire. In front of him stood a broad shouldered man with red hair that reached until his shoulders. In his face hung one single white bang. One fang slipped over his lower lip.

"I know why you are here, demon." The vampire said, stepping out of the light.

"What could a lowly vampire like you know anything about why I am here." He sneered.

"I won't let you get to her." The vampire had felt her. Had felt her power. It felt great. He wanted to see her. He wanted to touch her. He wanted to have her. But not now. It was not the time or the place. And this demon would not put his filthy hands on her. He would protect her. Though, he thought with a smile, she did not need any protection.

"You don't know what you are talking about clearly."

"I suggest you leave." The vampire said slowly.

"And you want to make that happen?"

"I'll rip you apart." The vampire said with a smile.  

"Am I suppose to wet my pants now?"

"Feel free too. But I'm not mopping it."

The demon sighed. "I know who you mean vampire. However she is not my target."

The vampire frowned in reply. He had not expected that.

"He has sensed her too. So if you want her to remain untouched. I'd suggest you check up on her." The demon said with a smirk.

~ + ~

Kyoya looked at Hanako then at the bones. "They could be from animals."

"No." Hanako said resolute. "They are human."

"How can you know that?" Kyoya asked.

"Because this…" She fished two bones out of the 'nest'. She held one in front of him. "…is called the femur." She held the other bone next to it. "And in animals it is the same length as the other bones. In humans the femur is longer." She thought this had been a male most likely, judging by the size.

Kyoya could clearly see that the bone that Hanako called the femur was longer than the other bone she was holding. So they really were human bones….

"What is a femur?" He asked, wondering where Hanako had gotten this information. But then she was a tracker…

"A thighbone. " Hanako answered, though she seemed somewhat distracted. She dropped the other bone and held the femur in front of her face. "Look at this."

Kyoya leaned in. On the bone were indentions. "What are they?"

"I think these are teeth marks and judging by the size, they are human." Hanako answered simply. Nothing in her tone suggested she was disgusted by this. But she was. And her bad feeling kept growing.

Kyoya's bad feeling was growing by the second too. "What? There is a cannibal here?"

"Yes." Hanoko said. "We have to go find the others. Raina is alone, she is more vulnerable."  

They both moved towards the entrance they had come through. But then Hanako stopped in her tracks.  "Oh crap. He is here."  Slowly she turned around.

Behind her stood a man, crouching into the room. An eerie smile on his face as he looked up at her. "I think you will taste delicious~!"