Free The Hollow (Rose of the Dawn Series Book 2) by Ily Maguire Page A

the distance.
    A yellowish glow
emanates from somewhere up ahead. I don’t want to go back toward the morgue. I
know what’s back there. I won’t go back there. I walk slowly, careful of my
steps. Aware of what might be down here with me. Who might be down here with
me.
    A squeak, not a
rat, a gurney being wheeled . Behind me? I look back, but don’t see
anything. It’s way too dark. Then above me, banging on pipes. Was that a
moan? Did someone just moan?
    The gurney gets
closer.
    A scream pierces
the tunnel and my body flees without me thinking or commanding it to do so,
adrenaline coursing through my veins, forcing me forward. I run toward the
glow.
    And then I’m
stopped: pulled over, against the wall, against my will.
    “Shh, don’t
scream,” the voice says.
    I couldn’t if I
wanted to, their hand is covering my mouth. The person is much bigger and
taller than me. Stronger.
    My arms attack
my captor, scratching with the only five nails I have. My new arm is much
stronger and more coordinated. I barely have to think about its movement.
    “Rose, Rose,
please. Stop. I’ll let you go.”
    Immediately I’m
released. I run up the middle of the tunnel, but then I stop. Do I know him? I turn around.
    Stepping out of
the shadows, I’ve hurt him, his hand presses against his neck.
    “I-I know you,”
I stammer. But how?
    “I’m
Christophe.”
    He was there. In
my room. I was sick. My arm.
    “Why are you
down here? Are you following me?” It seems a lot lighter than before.
    “The question
is: why are you down here? Do you even know where you’re going?”
    I shake my head.
No, that’s not right. I’ve been down here and I am down here for a reason. But
what was it?
    My good arm
holds my other arm. It’s lightweight, but so heavy on my shoulder.
    “Do you know
where you are?” Christophe asks stepping closer.
    I shake my head
again.
    “You’re in a
tunnel known as the body chute. It’s where the bodies were taken from the
morgue to the incinerator. You were heading straight for it.”
    “Body chute?
Incinerator?” The yellowish glow.
    Christophe nods.
He still has on his sunglasses. It’s so strange. How does he see down here?
    “There’s a
stairway over there. C’mon, I’ll take you back to your room.” He takes my hand,
my fake hand. I know because I feel it in my shoulder as it curls around his in
response. I watch it move like a real hand. Christophe doesn’t react like I
would’ve expected. He doesn’t react at all.
    “No. No, wait!”
I shake his hand off without thinking. He stops and turns to me. “I have to get
to Leland. I have a message for him.”
    “A message? From
whom?”
    “From Jenny.
About the digging. It was urgent.”
    “Urgent, huh?”
Christophe doesn’t move like I think he should. Quickly and in the direction of
wherever Leland is.
    “Yes! Very!” I
am emphatic.
    He pulls me back
and behind a crumbling brick pillar. And then my good hand in his, he pushes
through a wooden door. How did Jenny ever expect me to find my way? She
must’ve known someone else would come down here. Wouldn’t she?
    We’re back at a
staircase. We pass the stairs and follow another tunnel. I’m all turned around.
    “It’s all meant
to be confusing, but I know my way,” Christophe assures me. I believe him and I
trust him. I don’t know that this is a good thing. He points forward. “It’s
just up ahead.”
    This tunnel
looks like all the rest: dark and gloomy. Damp and musty. Wet.
    As we approach
the part of the tunnel that forks to the left and right, a loud distressed moan
travels down the length of one of them, stopping my heart. My blood running
cold.
    “What is that?”
I ask. It doesn’t sound human, but there can’t be anything bigger than rats
down here. That was no rat. It moans again.
    “It’s one of the
disappeared. One of The Hollow’s test subjects. It’ll pass. We’ll just wait
here until it does.”
    My body wouldn’t
budge anyway. The moaning