Silas turned without another word, his gaunt figure melting into the oppressive darkness of the western passageway. The sounds of the Runners furiously assailing the trapdoor above seemed to lessen almost immediately, replaced by a silence so profound it felt like a physical weight. Ethan knew this was their only chance. The thought of the Scent-Masking Field Emitter, still unused in his pocket, screamed at him. Now. It had to be now.
As the last of the group, Shane, warily entered the narrow passage after Silas, Ethan fumbled discreetly in his pocket. With a silent mental command, he activated the small, metallic disc.
[SCENT-MASKING FIELD EMITTER (CRUDE) ACTIVATED. ESTIMATED DURATION: 41 MINUTES (COMPONENT QUALITY SLIGHTLY BETTER THAN MINIMUM THRESHOLD). OLFACTORY SIGNATURE SIGNIFICANTLY DAMPENED WITHIN 15-METER RADIUS. MAINTAIN GROUP COHESION. NOTE: DORMANT WALKERS PRIMARILY RELY ON AUDITORY AND PROXIMITY STIMULI. SCENT DAMPENING MAY REDUCE AGGRO RADIUS IF AGITATED BUT WILL NOT GUARANTEE NON-DETECTION FROM SOUND.]
Forty-one minutes. It wasn't much, but it was a shield. Ethan prayed it would be enough, at least to get them past the worst of whatever lay ahead. He fell into step, keeping Lily close, trying to stay near the center of the small, moving huddle.
Silas led them with his unlit oil lantern, navigating the labyrinthine crypts with an unnerving, silent familiarity. The flashlight beams from Ethan and Glenn, kept low and aimed at their feet, cast dancing, distorted shadows on ancient stone walls lined with countless dark alcoves. Within many of these recesses, shrouded, still forms were visible: the "Sleepers." They were ancient, desiccated husks, some barely more than skeletons draped in rotted cloth, others disturbingly more intact. The air was thick with the smell of dust, age, and a faint, dry putrescence that was different from the fresh decay of the walkers above.
[SYSTEM CONTINUOUS SCAN: MULTIPLE DORMANT WALKER SIGNATURES (SLEEPERS) DETECTED THROUGHOUT CRYPT NETWORK. METABOLIC ACTIVITY: EXTREMELY LOW. SENSITIVITY TO AUDITORY STIMULI: POTENTIALLY HIGH DUE TO PROLONGED SENSORY DEPRIVATION.]
"Step only where I step," Silas's raspy whisper echoed, seemingly absorbed by the stone. "Do not touch the walls. Do not speak. Do not even breathe too loudly. They… listen."
Absolute silence became their religion. Every scuff of a boot, every stifled cough, every indrawn breath from the terrified children felt like a sacrilege that could awaken the ancient dead. Lily, Carl, and Sophia were paragons of terrified obedience, their small hands clutching those of Lori, Carol, or Ethan. Dale, despite his age, moved with surprising stealth. T-Dog, his face pale with pain from his arm, bit back any sound of discomfort.
The System was Ethan's silent guide within a guide, highlighting loose flagstones before he stepped on them, noting alcoves where Sleepers were slumped particularly close to their narrow path. Several times, a low groan or a rustle of dry fabric from a nearby alcove sent jolts of pure adrenaline through the group, forcing them to freeze, hearts hammering, until Silas, after a long, listening pause, silently beckoned them onward.
Ethan focused on the System's emitter countdown: 30 minutes remaining. They were moving slowly, too slowly.
At a slightly wider junction where several dark passages converged, Silas stopped. The air here felt colder, the silence deeper. "The tunnel entrance is close now," he whispered, his voice barely stirring the dust. "Your payment."
Rick, without hesitation, reached into his pack and pulled out three cans of food and the spare pack of batteries Ethan had "found" earlier. He offered them to Silas. The old caretaker took them, his gaunt fingers surprisingly strong, inspecting them briefly in the dim spill of Ethan's flashlight before nodding once. "Sufficient. This way. And quickly. Your friends above are becoming… agitated." Indeed, a faint, frantic scratching and thudding could now be heard, a distant echo from the direction they assumed the trapdoor lay. The Runners were still trying.
Silas led them down one of the narrower passages. It ended abruptly at what looked like a solid stone wall. But as Silas pressed a particular sequence of loose-looking stones, a section of the wall, cleverly counterweighted, ground inwards with a low rumble, revealing a dark, circular opening just large enough for a person to squeeze through. "Beyond here, the passage narrows considerably, then slopes upwards to the woods. It has been decades since it was last opened by living hands."
[SYSTEM SCAN: TUNNEL EXIT CONFIRMED. AIRFLOW INDICATES CLEAR PASSAGE TO SURFACE. LENGTH: APPROXIMATELY 150 METERS. NO IMMEDIATE HOSTILE SIGNATURES DETECTED AT TUNNEL TERMINUS. SCENT EMITTER DURATION: 8 MINUTES REMAINING.]
Eight minutes. They had to move fast.
"Thank you," Rick said to Silas, genuine gratitude in his voice.
Silas merely inclined his head. "Once you are through, seal it if you can, though I doubt those above will find this path. Do not look back. And do not return. Some places are best left to their slumber." He made no move to accompany them further.
Rick nodded to Glenn and Shane. "You two first. Check it out."
They squeezed into the tunnel. After a moment, Glenn's voice, muffled, called back, "It's tight, but it's clear! I can see a faint light way up ahead!"
"Alright," Rick said. "Kids, Lori, Carol, Dale, you're next. T-Dog, Morales, Jacqui. Ethan, you're with me and Shane at the rear."
The evacuation into the narrow tunnel began, a slow, awkward process. As Lori helped a terrified Lily into the tight opening, the little girl looked back at Ethan, her eyes pleading. "You're coming, right?"
"Right behind you, Lily-bug," Ethan promised, his voice hopefully reassuring.
Just as Morales, the third to last, was disappearing into the tunnel, a deep, guttural GROAN, much louder and more resonant than any they had heard from the Sleepers before, echoed from directly behind them in the main ossuary they had just traversed. It was followed by another, then a rustling, scraping sound, like many dry things beginning to move.
[!!! WARNING !!! MULTIPLE SLEEPER SIGNATURES NOW SHOWING INCREASED METABOLIC ACTIVITY! AUDITORY STIMULI FROM TRAPDOOR ASSAULT LIKELY CULMINATIVE. THEY ARE AWAKENING! PROXIMITY TO YOUR REAR: 20 METERS AND CLOSING SLOWLY BUT STEADILY!]
The Sleepers. The pounding from the Runners above must have finally roused them. They were an army of ancient dead, stirring in their crypts, and Ethan, Rick, and Shane were caught between them and the narrow escape tunnel.