"Miles to go before we sleep," he muttered.

"Yeah," I replied, rolling my head around to face him. "Miles and miles and miles and-"
"Shut up."

It wasn't just a pretty saying to fill the silence. Raylyn knew where we were supposed to rendezvous with the rest of them, but that wasn't enough. The tunnel system here was a maze of circles and circles off of circles. Dead-ends would have been better, at least then you knew you were going the wrong way. Here though, you just had to take note of what few landmarks there were and hope you weren't retracing your steps. It probably would have been easier if it wasn't so fucking cold for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that the water was frozen, so you couldn't even use it's flow-direction as a guide. To complicate matters, the wheels of the trolley I had been haphazardly propped up on squeaked something fierce, so that the sound echoed down corridors, off walls, around corners - disconcertingly coming from all ways at once. The trolley also limited the paths that were open to us, so Raylyn could have gone much quicker on his own, but I wasn't about to let him leave me behind - not here.

"We'll just go up here."
I looked up the long iron ladder. At least this one looked like it was entirely attached to the wall, but I shook my head. "How the hell you expect me to get up that?"
"I don't."

He dropped the trolley handles and began to climb. I reached out just in time to get a good grip on his ankle and pealed him off the wall like a pancake. He held on strongly, but I had gravity on my side and soon he came crashing to the cement. The clatter reverberated through the tunnels making me deaf for a moment.

"Hey! You want us both to end up invalid on that trolley? If you hadn't noticed, I'm the only one here to push you!"
"I'll make sure you end up on this trolley if you try that again," I muttered.
"Look, I'm going up. I'll find some help up there and get you back. Deal?"
"No way."
"There's nothing down here but lost ways and potholes we can't get that thing across," he stated blandly. I knew he was talking about the trolley, but I could tell by his tone that he was using 'thing' to refer to me too.
"No way."
"Fine! Suit yourself," he said as he grasped both handles of the trolley and started pushing again.

His voice dropped to a whisper, barely audible above the noise of the cart wheels, as he said, "You brought this on yourself." And then he dumped me. Just like that. Just as if I was a pile of garbage, of offal that one has to get rid of to use a perfectly good cart. The ground was cold as I slammed into it, the jolt verbing through my torso, making all the parts of me that already hurt grind with pain.

"You brought this upon yourself," he said again, his voice louder this time and then he climbed out of sight.

I was dazed, but the scream I heard a moment later brought me to my senses. It echoed louder than any noise had yet. It filled my head with such dread that when the silence was finally regained, I wasn't sure if I was still sane. No matter. I was sure that if I didn't move now, I'd be dead before long.

And I had so many people to see before that.

Aching, pushing, pulling with my arms, I made it safely around the upturned cart to the base of the ladder and began the long climb. It's amazing the things you can make your body do when there's no other choice. Humans, like most predators, have a fierce desire to live and when that desire is put to the test, we humans can out adapt any creature on this planet. That's where our biggest strength lies and that night I was the strongest man alive. My legs had stopped working - probably due to being hacked off somewhere beneath the knees - but there way no way that I was going to let Raylyn - Raylyn that mother-fucker - leave me lying in a sewer to die. Oh he was going to get his and I was going to give it to him.

I pulled, weight upon weight, rested my butt on cold iron when I thought I couldn't go on and then I went on. It took a long time to get to the top but I did it. I did it. There was no way I was going to die that easily. There was some sort of material blocking the opening. It was easy to grasp, but gave so much that it provided little leverage as I tried to pull myself out of the crack between the pads. That was what they were. There were two pads, like the lips of a mouth closing over the hole and the little light beyond was artificial. What was this?

But I didn't have much time to think, I had to get myself through the opening or I was going have even less time to regret thinking on the 50 to 60 foot fall to the cement. I closed my eyes and did that too. That was all there was to it. If I had to do it again, I'm sure I could but I definitely couldn't explain how to do it. I passed out almost immediately. My body just quit on me as soon as it knew we had survived. We had both survived. Body and mind overcoming even the cushions that posed as a final obstacle.

There was one thing I saw and heard before oblivion overtook me - though I wouldn't swear to actually being conscious when I saw it: There was Raylyn sitting at a table, teacup in hand, white lace napkin tucked into his collar, staring at me horrified and looking like a trapped animal. And the last thing I experienced before the world was lost to me was a voice, the sweet high-pitched voice of an old woman, saying, "Oh look another one has come to tea. You know that's the seventh visitor to come out of my couch this month alone."