Our journey through the tunnel.

We both turned back at the same time, as we had the same thought in my mind. We both felt like we had been caught already. Well, we were surprised by what made that noise. It was a rat.

"Phew! That was a close one." Sandra said, as she continued to lead the way.

We were both scared to the bone marrow.

"Urghs! My mind already flew off my body." I responded to her, and she smiled.

Just then, we both realized that we hadn't locked the gate, earlier.

"Let me lock it up." Sandra said, and immediately locked the gate. We both left with the key in her hand. At least, locking that gate up would give us ample time to escape from them, even before they realize.

"That's better." I responded, and we both continued the journey. Occasionally, we hid ourselves each time that we heard any noise.

We had really come very far, to be caught at this point in time.

The major challenge came when we realized that we didn't have any idea about the way that led to the outside of that hall.

We really needed to thread with caution, so that we wouldn't be caught.

"I see some men coming towards our direction." I said to Sandra in fear, as I called her attention to the men who were walking towards our direction. At this point in time, they weren't aware of our presence.

Sandra looked at me, and beckoned on me to bend down. I did that immediately.

"You don't need to be scared. They aren't gonna see us." Sandra said to me, and I nodded in agreement. Not like I even had any choice at all.

Just at that moment that I bent over, I saw a narrow path that looked like a tunnel. I immediately beckoned on Sandra.

"See!" I whispered to her, and we both focused our gaze on that way. It wasn't going to be a bad decision, if we decided to try it out.

"Let me lead the way." Sandra said, and I obliged immediately. It wasn't like I was even going to take the lead.

The journey was indeed very long. We kept moving in that long tunnel, without being sure about where it was leading to. One of the things that scared me, was some of the human skeletons that we encountered on the way.

It was a prove that humans had journeyed through that path at some point, and I was scared of the unknown reason why they died on that spot.

"Some people have died here in the past." Sandra confirmed what I had in mind.

"Exactly what I was thinking. I wonder what might have killed them." I responded, and she paused, too.

The both of us were really confused about what to say.

"I believe that some of them might have died as a result of exhaustion or thirst." Sandra began. "It doesn't look like many people know about this hidden way, and that is the main reason that I suspect that they weren't killed." She explained.

To be honest, I was already tired at this point. We were at the middle of nowhere, and I wasn't even sure if I could make it out of this tunnel alive.

"I don't think that I can continue." I said to Sandra, and she gasped in surprise and fear.

"You don't have to do this midway. This must've been what most of this people said, and they ended up in the middle of that tunnel." She tried to admonish me, and I nodded in weakness.

What would she even expect someone who had been crawling on her belly to do?

I didn't have the strength to continue this present journey.

"I will continue, but I'll have no choice other than to stop when my body can no more endure." I replied her, and we both continued the journey in silence.

As we continued, we both got to a point where we had less oxygen, and we both couldn't breathe well. We were both choking at the toxic atmosphere.

"I think we're almost there." Sandra said to me.

"I just hope so." I replied weakly.

At this point in time, I was already feeling very dizzy. I couldn't tell where it was that we had gotten to, but I hoped that it would be far enough, to be free from the dangerous claws of Alpha Roman.

"I can see a dim light far away. We're almost there already. Just hold on a little bit." She encouraged me from the front, and I just nodded my head at the back. It wasn't like she was going to notice it, but I just had to.

From Sandra's voice, one could easily tell that she was very exhausted, too. It wasn't easy, but I would applaud her resilience at anytime. I just couldn't help but wonder what my fate would been, if she wasn't there with me.

"I'm just very tired. I just can't wait to get out of here." I muttered under my breathe, and Sandra laughed out a little.

Each and every word that we said, would echo through the tunnel, and we had to make sure to keep our voices as low as possible, as we couldn't really predict what might come next.

"Don't worry, we'll soon leave this place. I can smell fresh air. I know that our bodies are bruised, but we're still going to crawl to freedom." Sandra said, and I felt a sudden surge of energy that I couldn't explain.

I suddenly wanted to stay strong and alive for myself. I was willing to crawl you the end of that tunnel, and rewrite my own destiny.

"I'm ready. I can't relent at this point. I'm hopeful that we will leave here in good health." I responded to her with great optimism. I was shocked by the way that I was able to regain fresh energy.

Well, it could be as a result of the sound of freedom that sounded like music to me.

"We're here already. I can see the sky." Sandra finally broke the best news of my life to me, and I passed out in euphoria.