Mrs. Hansen's Arc

Chapter 11 of 14

Mrs. Hansen moved deeper into the chamber, holding the lantern high. The walls curved inward as she walked, and the floor sloped down. She hadn't noticed the angle when she first landed. Each step took her lower, farther from the shaft opening above. She spotted the chest wedged against the far wall, half-buried in centuries of settled dust. Steel, heavy, with engravings that matched the patterns surrounding her. She knelt beside it and brushed away the dirt. The lock was corroded, but when she pulled, the lid opened. Inside lay bundled cloth, still intact despite the years. She unwrapped the first bundle carefully. Seeds. Dozens of small clay containers filled with preserved seeds, each one marked with the same symbols carved into the walls. The people who built this place hadn't just left messages. They'd left provisions. A way to begin again. She stood, holding one of the seed containers, and the floor beneath her gave way. The crack started small, a hairline fracture spreading outward from where she'd been kneeling. Then the stone collapsed. She dropped through darkness, the lantern flying from her hand. The chest tumbled after her, crashing against stone as she fell. She hit the ground hard, her shoulder striking first, then her hip. The impact knocked the breath from her lungs. When she could breathe again, she pushed herself up. The lantern had landed a few feet away, still burning. Above her, the fractured opening showed the chamber she'd just left, now impossibly distant. She was in a passage below the first chamber, deeper than the shaft that had brought her down. Stone stairs stretched ahead into darkness, worn smooth by feet that had walked them long ago. The chest had broken open beside her, scattering seeds across the ancient steps. She gathered what she could reach and stood. Mr. Hansen would be frantic by now, but she couldn't climb back up through the collapse. The only way out was forward, down the stairs the first builders had carved into the bedrock beneath her farm.