Chapter 28 - The Hospital Above
Morning slowly approached.
Most of the hospital remained unaware of the struggle unfolding beneath its foundations.
Patients ate breakfast.
Doctors conducted rounds.
Children laughed in the pediatric wing.
Everything appeared normal.
Only those paying close attention noticed unusual changes.
Entire hallways had been quietly closed.
Security cameras pointed in different directions.
Maintenance workers appeared on floors where no repairs had been scheduled.
Daniel Voss stood inside the hospital's executive conference room overlooking the city.
Spread across the large table were copies of architectural blueprints dating back almost eighty years.
Several sections had been highlighted in red.
One elderly board member looked nervous.
"Are you certain this should continue?"
Voss never looked up.
"It has continued for seventy-five years."
Another executive cleared his throat.
"The police have begun asking questions."
"They'll stop."
"And if they don't?"
Voss finally raised his eyes.
"They've investigated before."
"They always leave."
A young attorney entered carrying a sealed envelope.
"It arrived thirty minutes ago."
"No return address?"
"None."
Voss opened it.
Inside was only a single black-and-white photograph.
It showed Harold Bennett standing beside the first Richard.
Nothing unusual.
Until Voss turned it over.
Written across the back in fresh blue ink were seven words.
The eighth keeper already works beside you.
For the first time that morning...
Daniel Voss looked genuinely unsettled.
He slowly examined everyone seated around the conference table.
Eight people.
Including himself.
None spoke.
None smiled.
Somewhere among them...
Someone had betrayed him.
Far below the boardroom, Richard pushed the ancient steel door open another few inches.
The empty wheelchair rolled farther into the darkness.
Behind it...
Footprints.
Fresh footprints.
Leading deeper into a section of the underground facility that, according to every official blueprint ever created...
Did not exist.
Richard looked back once at Olivia.
Then disappeared into the darkness without hesitation.
Olivia tightened her grip on Harold's recovered envelope.
"Stay close," she whispered.
May you like
Because somewhere ahead...
Someone was still walking.
