(This series is a collaboration with my good friend Sanchez. His ideas, I ran with it. We will see how it evolves. He has a sound concept, and characters, I'm primarily piecing it all together and seeing how it plays out. We hope you enjoy our efforts.)
_________________________________________________
Midnight Episode 019: THRONE
_________________________________________________
"Ready to explore?"
"You knew these were here already. You had to have looked before now." Dawn Bearpaw glared through the tunnel opening from Harbinger's cellar. The darkness well illuminated by the high-powered flashlight which belonged to her former master Tom Sylver led the way, Nick taking the lead. "I feel like we're Freddie and Daphne of the Scooby Gang." He barely recalled Scooby Doo from his childhood but found her enthusiasm almost fearless. A good quality to have!
"Spiders everywhere watch yourself."
"I worry more about snakes. You picked me up earlier and right after you did I saw a cottonmouth cross our walkway. Spiders I can live with, snakes not so much. Rats even worse."
"What about raccoons? I think one has been living in the house here. Came in through the attic I think."
"I had a pet baby raccoon when I was around eleven. Called him Hamburglar." She laughed. "He loved hamburgers. We set him free when I was twelve or thirteen. Nature called according to Grandpa. So yeah, I'm good as long as he doesn't think I'm a hamburger."
"Looks like this wasn't any short path endeavor. Someone dug this on purpose to hide something or have a quick escape. Prohibition maybe?"
"Well, Sylvie lived here through the 30's to the 80's so I suppose it was possible. No real debris down here to give us any clue. No newspapers or bottles, so someone kept it tidy."
"Could be older than Sylvie and her dad. Walls are dirt still; wood beams are surprisingly sturdy but if you look at the ax marks and pinning it tells you it's older than the 1900's."
"You're right. These could be even before Walton. He might have used it though. I can't imagine anyone outside of you never once found these tunnels. Boot prints there it looks like." She points at prints that were barely legible. "Hmmm!" She used her cell to take a picture of it. "I don't know why I just did that."
"Let's keep these tunnels our secret for now. I don't want unnecessary company. I trust you Bearpaw, don't fail me."
"You can count on me Nick. Not even Grandpa!"
"You didn't rat out Oliver and his REZistance, just like I didn't. You had every reason to tell your friend Rosie what they did to you."
"It would have only made my life worse. Ollie wouldn't go to jail, if he did he'd be out in thirty minutes or less. He does side work for Nodin Merrick."
"Caprice mentioned him. That bad?"
"Business suit Santee Mafia. He has more money than any other resident on the Rez. Owns the casino, the clubs, the only hotel. Outside of what you're offering my people, he employs a good portion but hardly enough. Recall how I said I hated snakes? He's a boa constrictor. He gets you in his coils and drains the life out of you. So, what happened to me never happened. At least I was only assaulted. Once Nodin learns of it, he will set Oliver in his place. Peace with the Elders is a must."
"So, they get away with molesting you and nobody knows differently other than you and I?"
"Well technically you molested me too, Sir." She smirked, "But you I didn't mind. I'm still not sure how you made me squirt the second your fingers entered me. That's..."
"Adrenalin on your part. You want me so bad you can taste me, therefore when I touched you under duress you found your fantasy come true in my slightest touch."
"Now that's confidence." She considered egotistical but somehow knew if he did it again here and now the result would be the same. Shining his light at her cunt the material instantly saturated becoming transparent at her surge of inspiration. "Fuck that's hot." She whimpered.
"See how easy you are?"
"No! I mean that light is hot. It feels like my cotton shorts are ready to smolder."
"These flashlights can burn paper. Those shorts are paper thin." He swerved the beam away from her. "Dried you off quickly though, didn't it?"
"Quit turning me on." She laughed.
"That's what this flashlight said." Clicking it off they were in pitch blackness. For the first time ever, she experienced what her grandfather Newton Waterfall contended with every single day, he blind. In the darkness she had to touch herself while Nick wasn't able to see his true effect over her. Hand down the front of her shorts she fingered herself vividly standing right there in front of him. So, she thought! "Are you coming?" That sounded distant... how did he not make a noise when walking away?
"Shit! Almost! Where are you?"
"About thirty feet from you."
"You walked away without my hearing you?"
"You were busy."
"For like twenty seconds." She realized her white shorts were glowing in the darkness. Dead giveaway. "Don't make me hate you."
"You know that's never possible. By the way... I can smell your fingers from here."
"See what you do to me?"
"Blame Tom, not me."
"Why Tom?"
"He guided you on the path toward Nirvana... I just held the candle." Flashlight back on she covered her eyes against the glare. "This way... follow the leader."
"Fuck!" She came without even touching herself. Who was this guy? "Right behind you Sir." Every step of the way.
Eighty yards deeper a breeze filtered over them. "Tunnel splits off. You go one way; I'll try the other."
"We're separating?"
"Can't live without me?"
"Trying not to think about that." She sighed. "Can I have the flashlight?"
"Yep!" He handed it to her then faded into the darkness to the right. She choosing the breezy side moved on down the path for another hundred yards and came upon a ladder. Shining the light upward at the ceiling she heard voices. Testing the ladder for strength she chose to climb up. Reaching the ceiling she pushed upward on it and a door lifted just enough before hitting something above it. The voices trailing away she killed the flashlight and tried her best in the falling dust to see where she was. A tire, two tires, a doorway with light on the far wall.
"Has to be the barn. I came up under that Jeep, Nick mentioned. There's new lumber on the floor over there, Niles and Will must be storing the rest in here." Above her she heard the truck door squeak open, and she paused. Was someone else in the barn? Listening closely over the sounds of her racing heartbeat she heard soft moans. A ghost?
"God, I wish Niles would fuck me." That was clear and decipherable, Dawn nearly giggled when her footing was lost, a step breaking on the ladder she lost her balance and fell the twelve feet down to the tunnel floor. On her ass, she groaned at the impact. "That hurt!" The trap door above slamming shut heard by Veronica Redmane sent her running out of the barn screaming. She too thought of a ghost.
"Ow!" Dawn laid there a minute in the dust coughing. Recalling V's wishful thinking, Dawn shines the light behind her first to see if Nick had come running. Convinced he wasn't checking on her she shut the light out and masturbated. She could relate with Veronica. "God, I wish Nick would fuck me." Quick and messy she rubbed one off giggling. "Dirty little whore." Dirty little fingers! Dirty period after all the dust and the dirt floor.
In the opposing tunnel Nick felt the walls until he sensed something big blocking his way. No breathing sounds so it had to be inanimate. No growls, no hissing, just silence. Hands probing in front of him he realized the tunnel was sealed off. Bricks by the feel of creases where cement held each brick in place. "What are we blocking here?"
In the darkness he decided not to go feeling everywhere around the wall sides of it when there were spiders. However, in the bricks directly in front of him he did caress what felt like an engraving, but he couldn't make it out. "I'll have to come back with the light."
"Nicky?" He heard Dawn, rolling his eyes at what Niles Gullivant had started with the childish nickname. The light approaching from behind engulfed him. Instead of staring into the supernova he examined the brick wall more closely. Finding the etchings to be an entire sentence, it read, "God rest her soul."
"Is someone buried behind that wall?" Dawn eased in next to him after reading it for herself.
"Crypt maybe. Bricks are not that old, so someone's erected this barrier in the last twenty years at least. Which means... Harbinger either had a resident that not even the bank knew about or..."
"Murder!" She whispered playfully.
"We don't know that."
"I know! I just felt like saying it while it's creepy. I found the end of my tunnel. There's a ladder leading up to the barn. Trap door comes up under that old Jeep so, I couldn't climb out. Oh, the ladder broke too so if you want out from down here you might need a new one. Fell on my ass back there when it broke. Long drop too." She shined her light on her filthy shorts. The heat making her yelp. "Why did I do that?"
"Hot pants! We've seen all we can for today. I need to grab a shower I feel..."
"Like a dirty whore?" She giggled. "Sorry!"
"Fine!" He took the light away from her and shut it off then tossing it on the ground. Grabbing her forcefully he yanked her white shorts down and roughly pressed her against the bricks. One handed he unzipped and tugged his black pants down enough to produce his monster cock. In the darkness he discovered a third tunnel, her weeping vulva, and rammed his monster deep up into her juicy cunt. "This is for Tom."
Lillian Dawn Bearpaw screamed bloody murder at his vicious undertaking. Deep dark tunnels seemed to continue on and on. For ten long minutes of stale air inhalations Nicolas Sanchez destroyed the Santee beauty. In his mind however... the darkness was... Midnight.
