Mine Read Online Free Page A

over the threshold.
    Immediately they both began shivering. It was as if the doorframe was a barrier separating the cold room from the frigid hall. The air—all of it, not just a confined stream—moved down the short corridor like an icy breeze.
    With courage he didn’t realize he had, he put his arm around Leah to warm her up. Much to his surprise and pleasure, she leaned into him.
    The others had all disappeared around the corner. When Joel and Leah arrived at the turn, they saw that the stairs started only a few feet away and descended into darkness. They could hear their friends working their way down the steps but couldn’t see them.
    “I really don’t want to go down,” Leah whispered.
    “Good, because I don’t, either.”
    Joel gave the hallway a good look. Unlike the rooms they had come through, this space appeared as if it could have been built yesterday. The off-white walls were unmarked. No stains, no cracks, not even any dust. The clear coated concrete floor glistened in the flashlight beam like it had been poured only days before.
    The elevator door was the only item that seemed old, though not because of any deterioration. Age-wise, it was as new looking as everything else, but its design seemed to come from a different era, very similar to that of the desks in the first room.
    Not expecting anything to happen, he pushed the call button. It lit up and a second later the door slid open.
    “Son of a…” he muttered.
    The car was larger than he expected, room for at least twenty people. It had metal walls and a ceiling of white opaque material that hid interior lights.
    “We could take it down,” he said. “Meet them at the bottom.”
    “Do you…want to do that?”
    He stepped back from the opening. “Not really. Why don’t we wa—”
    A scream echoed up the stairwell from far below.

F IVE
     
    Mike
     
     
    M IKE STARED AT his watch as the second hand moved past the six and started toward the top again. When it finally hit twelve, he lowered his wrist.
    That was it. His friends had been gone exactly an hour, three times longer than he’d expected. He’d made a deal with himself that if they weren’t back when the sixty minutes were up, he would do something. Since he’d been sure they’d have returned by now, he’d put no thought into what that something would be.
    He knew the smart move was to stay where he was, but the stress of waiting was driving him crazy.
    God, you guys are really pissing me off!
    Perhaps if he went just a little way beyond the fence, maybe to the point where he’d last seen their lights, he’d be okay. If that was as far as he went, there would be no way for him to miss them in the dark. And if he didn’t see any sign of them there, he could come back and wait.
    Yeah, that’s a good plan. I can do that. No problem.
    It took a few more words of encouragement to himself before he finally scaled down the debris. When he reached the break in the fence, he paused. Once he’d crossed it, he would be a lawbreaker like the others.
    Make it quick and you’ll be back before anyone knows .
    He hesitated a moment longer and then stepped through the gap.

S IX
     
    Joel
     
     
    J OEL’S FIRST INSTINCT was to get out of the building and not stop running until they reached the camp, where they could get adult help. But if the screamer was hurt, the delay might mean the difference between life and death.
    “I’ll-I’ll go check,” he said. “You can stay here.”
    Leah slid her hand into his. “No way. We’ll go together.”
    He glanced at the elevator and then back at Leah. Her face mirrored his fear of the confined space. “The stairs will be safer.”
    She nodded, relieved, and they headed down, flashlights illuminating the way.
    The stairwell curved gently to the right. It wasn’t until they’d completed a couple of rotations that Joel realized they were going around the elevator shaft.
    “Do you feel that?” Leah asked. “The air?”
    He nodded. The cold