Chapter 7 - THE TUNNEL UNDER THE FLOORBOARDSRobert dropped to his knees beside Katherine, throwing his weight against the rusted iron ring of the floor hatch. With a loud, protesting groan, the rusted latch gave way, lifting upward to reveal a pitch-black vertical shaft descending into the damp earth below, smelling of wet stone and old iron.
"Grace, give me your phone flashlight!" Robert ordered, holding out his hand.
Grace scrambled across the room, pulling her cell phone from her purse and shining the beam down into the subterranean dark. The light caught the damp stone walls of a narrow, hand-dug tunnel stretching outward toward the tree line along the creek.
"Go! Both of you, get down there!" Robert urged, gesturing for Katherine to lead.
"I'm not leaving you behind, Robert," Grace insisted, grabbing her husband's arm.
"Grace, listen to me," Robert said, his voice dropping into a fierce, tender urgency. "I'm heavier, I'll slow you down. And someone needs to hold the heavy hatch open from this side until you're clear, or Frank will hear us dropping down. Go with Katherine. Protect my daughter."
Before Grace could argue further, a faint, hissing sound began to emanate from the kitchen vents above them.
Hsssssssssssss.
Propane.
Frank hadn't just locked the doors; he had already rigged the external gas tanks to flood the cabin.
"Move! Now!" Katherine yelled, dropping feet-first into the dark tunnel shaft, her hands scraping against the rough dirt walls as she hit the stone floor below.
Grace hesitated for a fraction of a second, tears streaming down her face, before sliding down after her. Robert stood above them, grabbing a heavy iron fireplace poker to jam beneath the trapdoor just in case the weight gave way.
"I love you, Grace!" Robert shouted down into the dark.
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"Robert! Come with us!" Grace screamed back, reaching up through the fading light of the hatch.
"Tell my son... tell him I'm sorry I raised a monster," Robert whispered, and then he slammed the heavy wooden hatch shut, locking it from the inside just as the smell of raw gas reached suffocating levels above.
