A little late, well for me it is anyway.

Also, there will most likely not be an update tomorrow as I'll be helping my family make tamales and taking care of some last-minute Christmas things. Just letting you know.

Next chapter will be in Sam's POV again

Everly's POV

As I stepped out of the SUV and walked toward the van abandoned just inside the tree line, there was a thud behind me.

Judging by the swearing coming from Eric, I could guess what that thud was.

"Thank God," Tessa said as she stepped out of the SUV and stretched.

Seconds later, there was another thud, followed by Tessa cussing out Eric.

I ignored them and continued on toward the van with Noelle by my side. I didn't bother taking out a weapon. If there was someone inside they would have fled long before now, or they were dead. I did however have a knife that I could access very easily if I was wrong. I doubted I was.

"The doors unlocked?" I asked Noelle as she tugged on the handle.

She nodded. "Yep," She said as she pulled open the back door of the van, but there was nothing in there. Not that I had expected to find anything.

I climbed into the back of the van while she and Ryan went around to the front, digging through the glovebox and various other compartments for any evidence of who they were or where they had gone.

I combed over the back of the van, looking for anything that might stand out. Any evidence of anyone actually being in the van, but there was nothing.

"Anything?" I asked Noelle and Ryan.

"Nothing," Ryan as he closed the passenger side door and came walking around to the back of the van. "There's not even a spec of dirt in the van. It's been totally cleaned out."

"Well I've got something," Tessa said and I hopped out of the van, making my way over to her. She pointed down at the ground. "Footprints," She said as she looked off into the forest in front of us. "They head deeper into the trees."

"Wait for a second," I told her as she started to follow the footprints.

"You want me to wait?" Tessa questioned angrily. "You're the one that keeps saying we shouldn't be wasting any more time. Our friend is missing and if there's a chance she's somewhere around here, I'm going to take it." She began walking off. "You can sit on your ass and twiddle your thumbs all you want but I-"

Tessa cut off with a startled shout as she abruptly fell through the ground.

"Tessa!" Ian shouted as he ran up to the hole in the dirt, with Ryan and Noelle on his heels.

Once Ryan got to the edge of the hole, however, he looked down into it and began laughing hysterically.

"Shut up you little-"

"Don't Tessa," Ian called down to her.

Eric, Alejandra, and I came calmly walking over to peer down at Tessa sitting on the floor, surrounded by dirt and rotting wood pieces.

"How much you want to bet there's a dead body in there with her?" Eric whispered to Alejandra.

"I can hear you, asshole," Tessa shouted up.

"Oh no," Eric said with feigned fear. "Whatever will I do?"

Tessa threw a knife up at him. Alejandra caught it before it embedded itself in his eye. Suddenly, Eric was pissed and began yelling obscenities at Tessa. Tessa just flipped him off.

Noelle rolled her eyes and shoved Eric back from the hole. "Can you see a way to climb up?" She called down to Tessa.

Tessa grumbled something under her breath as she shoved to her feet. She pulled her phone from her pocket and shone the light around. Finally, she spoke again. "There's a ladder, but you're all going to want to get down here. I think I figured out where they went."

I turned to Ryan and Alejandra. "Go get the assault rifles from the back of the SUV," I told them. "The ones with the flashlights attached. "And grab whatever other weapons you think you'll need."

Ryan nodded before gesturing with his head for Alejandra to follow.

All the agency vehicles were stocked with various weapons, explosives, and other equipment we agents might need while on a mission. If you didn't have time to grab your own weapons-which most of us hadn't-then taking one of the agency vehicles was the simplest solution. Unfortunately, while the agency vehicles were always stocked up, there weren't always as many of one weapon as might be needed. So, while I assumed there were at least two of the rifles I'd sent them for, there was no way of telling if there was enough for everyone. It mattered little, as there were plenty of other weapons for the rest of us to use.

Though, I hadn't bothered to take any of the weapons from the SUV for myself, as I had my own. I hardly went anywhere without my weapons. The only one I currently didn't have on me, was the silver dagger I usually carried. I hadn't brought it with me when Zero sent me on that suicide mission and I didn't have a chance to grab it before this whole mess started. Henri was currently keeping it safe.

I turned to Ian. "You might want to grab whatever weapons you think you'll need," I told him. "We don't know what we're walking into."

"I've got my weapons on me," Ian said before turning back to Tessa. "Where is the ladder?"

Tessa shone her light on it. "I think I fell through what was left of a wooden access hatch." She turned and looked over her shoulder. "There's a series of tunnels here, going in like four different directions."

Ian let out a sigh. "That could take a while to search," He said. "Especially since we don't know how extensive these tunnels are."

"Then we split up," I replied. "Divide into pairs. We don't have any time to lose."

"That still leaves one person by themselves," Noelle said.

"Yeah," I replied. "I'll be fine."

Ryan and Alejandra came walking back over before anyone could say anything else.

"The SUV was only stocked with three of the assault rifles," Ryan said. "and the usual menagerie of other weapons."

Alejandra passed one of the rifles to Ian. "I grabbed a few more of the smaller guns," She told him. "Just in case."

"Let's hope we don't need them," Noelle said.

Eric scoffed. "Speak for yourself," He said. "I'd like to shoot somebody." He took one of the rifles from Ryan and then started down the ladder.

I turned to Ryan. "You grab any of the extra flashlights?" I asked him.

He smiled before holding one out to me. "Of course," He replied.

Alejandra held out the last rifle to me. I shook my head. "You keep it," I told her.

Ian frowned as he looked me up and down. "You don't even have a gun," He said.

"Great observation," I replied flatly before stepping down the ladder myself.

Everyone else followed suit, turning on flashlights as soon as they reached the bottom.

Four different tunnels, leading in four different directions. All of them were dark, there were no lights as far as I could see, and nothing but darkness at the end of the tunnel.

"Pick a direction," I said. "Ian go with Noelle, Eric with Ryan, and Tessa with Alejandra, this way each group has one of the rifles."

"Except for you," Ian said pointedly.

I held out my arms and began backing away from him down one of the random tunnels. "I'm Agent Thirteen," I said with a mocking smile. "I don't need a rifle." I gave him a mock salute, ignored his curses, and walked off down the tunnel. I held a knife in one hand and a flashlight in the other.

I made it probably about ten steps down the tunnel before Ian's voice stopped me in my tracks.

"You do realize," He said in a mocking sort of tone. "that you're wearing an earbud, right?"

I blew out a breath of frustration. "Well, now I remember," I muttered. "was it too much to ask for a few minutes without having to hear any of your voices?"

"What about me?" Ryan questioned.

"Trust me," Tessa's voice filled my ear. "I'm less thrilled about it than you are."

"I doubt that," I muttered.

I ignored them as I continued on down the tunnel. I took quick, small steps to ensure I didn't make any noise, for if there was someone down here, I didn't want them alerted to my presence.

Of course, with Tessa falling through the access hatch with a crash and letting out a shout, if there was someone here they probably already knew we were as well.

"Anything?" Noelle questioned through the earbuds after a while of silence from everyone.

"Found a couple of rooms," Eric said. "But they were empty. Not even a scrap of paper inside."

"Nothing on our end," Alejandra replied.

"Nothing so far for me either," I said.

I continued down the tunnel. The further down I went, the more a feeling of dread began creeping up on me. As agents, we were all pretty paranoid and most of us knew better than to ignore our gut feelings. And right now, it wasn't just the feeling in my gut that was screaming at me, it was the little voice in the back of my head as well.

"We've come upon a divide," Tessa said.

"Don't split up," I said instinctively.

"Well, how else are we going to be able to search both-"

"Don't," I repeated as I stopped and looked back the way I had come. I could no longer see where we'd come in. "I don't like this," I said. "We need to get out here, call in Zero, have this place properly searched."

"Are you kidding?" Tessa questioned.

"It'll take Zero too long to get here. There are no good landing places, you can't fly in, and Zero's days away," Ian replied.

I shook my head even though they couldn't see me and began moving back the way I came. "We need to leave," I said.

"Now hold on," Eric said. "we can't even be sure anyone's here."

That wasn't a question to me. Someone was here. I had that feeling of being watched and not the nice one that came from admiring something.

"And who put you in charge anyway?" Tessa questioned. "So far, there's nothing even here."

She said that, and then all hell broke loose.

Gunshots echoed through the tunnels. Shouts erupted from Eric and Ryan. I took off running back the way I'd come.

No one was shooting at me, the gunshots were coming in through the earbuds and echoing around the walls. Judging by the shouts though, Eric and Ryan were under fire.

"Which tunnel did they go down?" I shouted as I ran.

"The one to the left of yours!" Noelle shouted back.

"We're on our way," Alejandra said. "Try and see if they'll answer-Look out!" More gunshots began echoing out.

"Son of a bitch!" Tessa shouted. "We got some unhappy hosts over here!"

"I think they're pissed we didn't bring any housewarming gifts," Eric's voice finally sounded through the earbuds.

"I've got a housewarming gift for them," Alejandra said seconds before an explosion resonated through the tunnels.

"Do you want to bring the entire tunnel down on our heads?!" Tessa shouted.

"I mean," Alejandra replied. "if it takes them out too . . ."

Tessa made a noise in the back of her throat. "I knew I shouldn't have asked you."

I made it back to the tunnel junction and turned down the tunnel to the left of mine. Ian and Noelle appeared at the same time I had, but they went running down the tunnel Tessa and Alejandra had gone down.

Eric suddenly let out a strangled sound and fell silent.

"Eric!" Ryan shouted in panic and I picked up my pace, running as fast as I could to get to them.

"Eric!" Ryan shouted again before suddenly letting out a shout and falling silent himself.

I was running, I could see both of them on the ground, the light from their flashlights casting shadows on the wall. Before I could get to them, however, the whole tunnel seemed to begin to shake and as I got closer I noticed that a section of the wall was coming out and closing me off from Eric and Ryan.

"No!" I shouted as I ran into the concrete wall seconds before it sealed completely with Eric and Ryan on the other side.

"What's going on?" Ian asked.

"I'm kicking ass," Tessa replied.

"Not with you," Ian said. "Thirteen, what is going on?"

"Some sort of door just sealed," I said. "I can't get to them!"

I backed up a few steps and looked all around for some sort of lever, or button, or anything to get the wall to open back up. In feeling along the wall, I felt . . . something, but seconds after I pushed in the hidden button, I realized that was exactly the wrong thing to do.

I tried to run, but I wasn't fast enough as the trap door I had been unknowingly standing on dropped open and I fell into the darkness.

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