Fated Rivals

Chapter 14

One of the guards opens the old weathered door of the shed and we all pile in, locking it behind us. On the outside and even the inside it just looks like an old, worn-down shed with canned food on a few shelves and rusted tools scatter around. That is, until one of the guards reaches under the work bench in here and flips a switch. There's a sound of several deadbolts unlocking and then a secret trap door swings open from the middle of the floor, slamming against the back wall of the shed.

This trap door is one of the seven entrances to the secret tunnel system under pack grounds. However, it also counts as one of the thirty-five exits (only the seven entrances allow for someone to have access in AND out of the tunnel system). These tunnels are winding and complex, with some even stretching on for miles. If you know how to navigate them you could essentially get to any part of pack grounds quickly. If you don't know your way around them than you could be trapped down there, forever lost. Also, they're barely lit.

My father descends down the old creaking stairs first, then me, then the guards, closing the trap door behind us and plunging us into almost complete darkness. Thanks to our wolf night vision we're able see and head towards our unknown destination.

Back during my freshman year, father introduced me to the tunnels. I was super excited to explore them, but father said I needed to memorize the entire map before we went. And younger me took one look at that thing and went crossed eyed just looking at it. Needless to say, I didn't study that map at all since I knew father would be with me to guide us. Well when the day came to go into the tunnels, we started at an entrance near the edge of pack borders. I went down first super excited. Then my father closed the entrance; and all of that excitement turned to fear really quickly.

He yelled from the other side that if I had studied the map like he told me to than I should have no problem finding my way back to the pack house entrance. Heh, yeah I was screwed. There's no way to track somebody above ground by scent since they run so far underground, so finding him that way didn't work. And even if I could I would need to know where the switch is to open the door. Father went searching for me a day later and found me shivering from the cold and starving a mile away from the pack house entrance. After that I made sure to memorize every square-inch of that map to a T.

After an hour of traveling through the many identical pathways we finally reach our destination. The Pack Dungeon. I've only seen this place on the map but I've never been inside. Mainly due to the fact that the door to enter this area is a locked 6-inch-thick, 7-feet-tall iron door that's silver plated. All I know is that this is the biggest "room" in the entire tunnel system. I guess today is the day that I get to go inside.

Father hands a key to one of the guards who opens a panel next to the giant door and unlocks it. After a series of mechanisms and dead bolts stop making noise two of the other guards, now sporting special really thick gloves, turn the giant wheel handle and pull it open. The first thing that hits me is the horrible smell from the room, which smells like trash and rotting corpses. The second thing that hits me is the sound of groans, hushed chatter, and screams. I turn to my father but he doesn't even look affected at all; meanwhile I'm fighting back the urge to vomit. I guess I shouldn't be surprise since this place is called the Pack Dungeon for a reason, but still some warning would have been nice.

Two guards go in first, then father and I, then the remaining guards. As we walk further into the foul room down a long hallway, I take note of the numerous cells side-by-side on both sides of the corridor. The cells are made of solid concreate with silver plated iron bars and doors at they're entrance. There are mainly rogues in them: some screaming at us, some mumbling to themselves, and the rest just glare as we pass, to tired to do much anymore. I want to say that this is what they deserve for going against our pack but they look super malnourished and exhausted. Some of them even have infected wounds and mangled limbs. What the hell happened to them?