The Underground, by Lucie Všianská

The Underground

Sam and Alex are really curious boys who decide to go and explore the Brno underground, but they find a strange olive green beast there, which seems to have some extraordinary powers and also looks quite scary.

 

It was really hot summer’s evening. The Sun was slowly setting behind hills, but the city of Brno hasn’t died yet because students were enjoying their summer holidays and there was a party in almost every club around the city. But not everyone chose to spend their holiday just laying around doing nothing. Some of them, just like the heroes of this short story, chose to earn some money on a summer brigade. So when the two boys, main protagonists of this story, found out that Brno undergrounds are looking for some tour guides, they decided to try this job.

When they have already worked here for three weeks, they knew the underground like their own shoes. They have already been in every corridor but one. And they spent all their free time thinking, what could be at the end of one and only corridor they haven’t explored yet. They really wanted to find out, but it was forbidden to go there. But this evening, when they were eating a delicious pizza, which their friends brought them from a restaurant nearby, they decided to finally go on an expedition to find out what are the secrets of this mysterious corridor.

Sam, a really tall and thin guy with short brown hair jumped off the table they were sitting on and took keys from a hook. “You’re going or what?” he laughed.

Alex rolled his dark eyes and he left the table top too. “Of course I am. But only if we’re bringing a flashlight with us,” he grinned.

Sam unlocked the door leading to the underground and the cold air coming from there gave him creeps. Alex picked the flashlight and he put on the light. They both entered the underground and there was only darkness around them, the only light was a thin strip of light, glowing from Alex’s torch. Sam took out his new smart-phone he got at the end of school year and he lit up the flashlight here too. Part of this room is now covered in a bright light from a smart-phone.

All you can hear in the room is a breath and a fast heartbeat of two young men who decided to enjoy some adventure. Darkness, silence and coldness, that’s a modest description of this quite creepy place, and it suddenly became creepier when the door made of steel, which is entrance to the underground, made kind of some squeaking noise and closed itself, so there suddenly wasn’t any light coming from the hall of the underground and the boys lost all of their courage. They were terrified, but neither Alex nor Sam wanted to admit that because they were both too proud and they knew this place too well to know they aren’t in any danger. Or were they?

Both boys were still standing in the first hall and they weren’t sure if they really want to visit the mysterious corridor which was so tempting. To get there, they only needed to jump over the tape that was there so the curious visitors won’t get lost. And the tape was now only a few meters far from those two curious boys.

Sam made a few steps. He pointed the torch to the path in front of him, so he could see where he’s going. “Are you going, you chicken?” He shouted at Alex.

Alex decided to go, slowly, but he was going. “I am.” He reached Sam and took a few deep breaths before they continued. They finally reached next underground hall.

This hall was really large. There was a tiny exhibition of some historical heritage, but right now both Sam and Alex weren’t really interested although there were quite interested in History. But there was something better to explore. The corridor...

Alex points the light to a ceiling which is full of spider webs and the light causes them they glitter a bit. “The atmosphere is so different when you’re there at night,” he whispers and looks at Sam, who just laughs and makes another step deeper to the underground. “It’s kind of magical, don’t you think?” Alex keeps talking and they enter a room full of some historical torture equipment.

Sam looks around. He’s quite scared, but he would never admit that. He looks to the right. This is where the corridor is. There is cold air coming from there and there are drops of cold water falling from the ceiling. There are many reasons not to go there, but despite this, they still wanted to know where the corridor leads to. Forbidden fruit. That’s it.

There is a piece of tape so nobody could go there, but it’s really easy to jump over it or creep under it. Alex chose to creep under the tape. His body is full of adrenaline. He really wants to uncover the secrets this corridor hides. Sam jumped over the tape, but he ended up in a water puddle and the water splashed over everything including Alex’s jeans. “What are you doing, you silly?” Alex is really angry, he rolls his eyes.

And the boys continue walking through the corridor. The further they are, the more cold temperature is, but they aren’t giving up. When they finally found the courage to pass the tape, they won’t give up this easily. Walls were garnished by grey stones and there was water between them. The boys were so pumped up with the adrenaline, so they just began to run. They were so excited; nothing could stop them from running.

The corridor started to narrow, but that wasn’t a proper reason to stop running and they reached the end of this long tunnel. They were both smiling because they reached their goal. “So here we go...” said Alex. There was a tall door made of steel on the end of the corridor. Sam tried to open it within a door handle, but suddenly they heard a strange noise coming from inside. It sounded like grunting, but the boys weren’t sure. They were quite astonished but Sam chose to act like a courageous young man and he opened the door.

Boys were really surprised when they found out, what was behind the door for all this time. There was a large wide room with many decorations in it, such as glass chandeliers and similar luxury equipment. What they saw was beautiful. It was. Before they saw the beast that was hiding at the corner of the room. It didn’t take them long to find out it was the beast making the weird grunting sound. The beast was awake and hungry.

“Run!” Sam shouted and he started to run really fast. Alex ran straight after him. But Sam wasn’t careful enough and he stumbled over a little stone in his path and he ended up lying on a ground. “Oh crap,” he swears as he’s getting up. They run like they like never ran before. They run faster and faster. They jump over the bloody tape and they are finally in the first hall, where it all began. They are struggling to catch their breath. Sam wants to open the door, but his pocket is empty and the door is locked.

“Sam? What’s going on?” Asks Alex, who is really scared he hasn’t any colour on his face. Sam doesn’t even have to answer his empty pocket speaks for itself.

“I’m so sorry mate.” Sam sat on a cold hard ground and his eyes were full of bitter tears. He was so upset with himself. And Alex was also angry he smashed his fist into the wall. Luckily, he punched the switch, so there was finally bright light everywhere. They both turn their heads and stare. The beast finally arrived. The Beast from the underground... Or The Brno Dragon. Monster from the Brno fables.

An olive green animal is now crawling closer to Alex and Sam. Its mouth is full of really sharp yellowish fangs. It looks quite like a normal crocodile, but way bigger. Its body is approximately four meters long. It is quite curious too because it’s observing boys with its huge eyes.

The boys are watching the animal and all they can think about is who the weird crocodile is going to eat first. Though, the beast doesn’t look like if it’s considering to eat the boys as a really good dinner. It just shows its teeth just that boys know they are never really safe.

Boys both start to scream and they hug each other. The monster just laughs at them and hides its teeth. Boys are kind of confused now. A huge crocodile? A huge laughing crocodile? They’ve never seen such a thing.

“Alright lads, let me introduce myself. They call me The Brno Dragon and I am the ruler of this city for centuries. I sleep a lot these times, but you two woke me today and I’m really upset, you will have to get me a present.” It grins.

“And what do you want, Dragon?” asks Alex with his shaky voice.

“I only want a little glass marble. A little red and white marble from a clockwork. The marble that appears only when the bells on a cathedral rings at noon. Bring it and you’ll be free. Now go!” It glazes at the door and they suddenly mysteriously open. Both the boys immediately run away and don’t stop until they are at the train station, in a safe distance from the Dragon.

“What the heck was that?” Alex is trying to catch his breath he’s feeling quite sick, not far from throwing up.

“I have absolutely no idea, buddy,” answers Sam “but I think we should get the marble. I don’t want to be eaten by a huge crocodile.”

Next day they met by the clockwork on the Freedom Square and they waited for the marble to show up. It was really nice weather, the Sun was shining and the air was pretty warm, so it was quite pleasant to wait by the clockwork, way better than if it would rain.

So there it was. Eleventh hour, the bells on a near cathedral Petrov were ringing and the boys heard some rattling noise from inside of the strange clockwork. After a few seconds, a beautifully decorated glass marble appeared in Alex’s hand. Alex stared at it for a few moments. “It is so beautiful...”

All they had to do was to wait until the evening comes again, so they could give the marble to the Dragon. As soon as the Sun disappeared from the sky and whole city of Brno was covered in darkness, boys went to the underground again. And this time, they didn’t need to come to the secret room, because the Dragon was already waiting for them right by the entrance.

Its big eyes shined as well as its yellowish teeth it was showing again. It was kind of a magical moment, it seemed like a fairytale but it was real.

“So like I see, you are good boys.” Said Dragon.

Alex knelled down in front of the Dragon, letting the Dragon to take the marble from his hand. “It’s all yours, sir,” he whispered.

Dragon took the marble and closed its eyes. The Dragon suddenly disappeared, in front of both the boys. Neither of the boys didn’t know, what this supposed to mean, but also neither of them wanted to examine this, because they were still kind of scared and all they wanted to do was to escape and never come back to the underground because there are things between heaven and earth we shouldn’t play with, and one of these things is the Brno Dragon…