As they walked, they reached their destination. Adel stopped. "We're here." Everyone looked around but saw nothing. It was an empty lot. The boy approached the phone and looked ahead.
"Dad, there was a door here!"
The man looked towards one of the trees in the distance.
"Yes, there's a door to the underground from here."
Adel stopped him. "What do you mean? I don't understand. A door to what underground?"
Everyone went down to the door, but there was nothing strange, just some food rations in boxes and some old wood and crates. They looked at each other in surprise, wondering what was next.
Not long after, they heard voices approaching from outside. It was clear they were the voices of the dead. Adel rushed to close the door behind them, and everyone helped him. My son jumped in to lock it. It was a terrifying moment; they felt trapped in a small underground room. A group of the dead walked above the door, and everyone tried to remain silent, knowing that any noise could turn the room into a mass grave.
Hours passed, and the number of the dead only increased. The sun began to disappear, and night fell amidst their tears and exhaustion. Their eyes began to close as they sorted out who would remain awake.
It was the little boy's turn. It was already midnight, and there wasn't a single ray of light; they were in a vast, endless tomb of darkness.
The boy, disoriented in his dream, noticed a tiny ray of light, a point of light almost invisible. He tried to get closer, placing his hand against a solid wall to see its source. He saw no opening, but knew he simply needed some light.
So, he gently woke Adel and whispered what he saw. Adel approached to make sure, and indeed, he saw that tiny dot. He took out his phone, turned on the light, and moved closer to the wall. Suddenly, he heard a sound like a door opening behind the mud.
"I heard that," he said. The boy looked at him. "Yes, I heard it." Adel looked at him and woke everyone up. "Someone with a phone and a light can open this for me, even if we have to dig."
The boy woke everyone up, and they were all astonished.
Everyone tried to touch the area around the light, hoping to find an entrance.
But there was no hope.
They had to sit in silence, their stomachs rumbling with hunger. Then one of them opened a box containing some bags of dried pasta and grains and put them in his mouth while everyone else watched in silence.
He looked at them. "What if I die of hunger too?" He reached inside, pushing the bags aside to give them something, searching for anything other than pasta. Then he noticed something red at the bottom of the box, in a corner. Our eyes widened, and he silently gestured to them about what he saw. Adel approached and didn't hesitate to press against him before even asking them anything.
Everyone was terrified that it might be a bomb or something that could explode, but then they saw a door open from the bottom up, like something out of a movie.
A light began to appear on the ground, growing larger until the door opened and they saw a passageway leading further underground.
Without hesitation, they descended amidst the lights on the ceiling and the pipes, following them to find their way.
As soon as they reached the bottom, the lights turned on automatically, revealing a complete underground laboratory.