Chapter 2

"Hey girl, do you know how to get out of here?" the girl asked. "I've been driving for half an hour and still haven't seen an exit. This tunnel is way too long."

So she was just another poor soul stuck there. I shook my head, disappointed.

"We're looking for the exit too," I told her.

We chatted for a bit, and I found out she was a recent college grad named Katie Nelson.

She had driven into the tunnel, hoping to take a shortcut too.

I called Sean over to join us.

When Katie heard we'd been driving back and forth for almost an hour and a half, her jaw dropped in shock.

"Wait, so you've been driving for almost two hours, both ways, and you still haven't seen an exit?" she asked.

She looked even more freaked out than we did.

I sighed, feeling helpless. "Do you have any signal on your phone?"

Katie frantically fumbled for her phone.

No service. The signal bars were empty. Her phone had no signal either.

"What should we do?" Katie whispered.

We were completely stuck when suddenly an idea hit me.

"Wait. I remember scrolling past a post from some clickbait account. It said even with no signal, you can still call 911 in an emergency," I said.

"Then hurry up and try it." Katie urged.

I quickly dialed 911.

"Sorry, your call can't be completed right now. Please try again later," the automated voice said.

What? That didn't make any sense.

Was it possible that so many people were calling 911 that the lines were completely jammed?

I told Sean and Katie, "You guys try calling 911 too, just in case."

But no matter whose phone we used or how long we waited between attempts, we got the same automated message every time.

It said, "Sorry, your call can't be completed right now. Please try again later."

It repeated, "Sorry, your call can't be completed right now. Please try again later."

Katie was freaking out. She tossed her phone aside.

"How can 911 not go through? My cousin works at the police department, and he told me even if the lines are busy, the call gets transferred to another station," she said.

"No way. Someone always picks up," she insisted.

Things were getting stranger by the minute. I instinctively grabbed Sean's hand tightly.

He wrapped his arms around me, whispering to comfort me, "Don't be scared. I've got you."

Katie pressed her lips together, unimpressed. "Come on, you two are still acting all lovey-dovey right now?"

I gave her an apologetic smile and suggested, "Well, since driving isn't working, maybe we should try walking and see if there's another way out nearby."

"Instead of just driving around aimlessly and burning through our gas, let's try something else," I added.

Instinctively, I shoved the weird phone situation to the back of my mind.

Maybe it was just the tunnel messing with the signal. And those clickbait posts were probably just nonsense anyway.

We turned on our phone flashlights and started walking back together.

But we'd barely taken a few steps when I suddenly stepped on something soft.

"Wait. I think I stepped on something," I said.

I shone my phone flashlight down at my feet.

The next second, a chill ran up my spine.

There on the ground was a crushed soda can.

Sean looked puzzled. "It's just a soda can. What's the big deal?"

I swallowed hard, fear creeping into my voice. "That can, I tossed it out of the car. But I remember throwing it out right at the tunnel entrance when we first drove in!"