[GlacierDragon]

I know we havn't gotton very far into this story, but I'm thinking of canceling it. The thing is I havn't been writing much of it lately, and it's getting in the way of a much, much better story that I'm working on (which is technacly a novel as it's over 50,000 words). Anyway I'll post the remaining chapters that I have written, and then I'll conferm if I'll be continuing or not.

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Chapter 9

The constricting tunnel opens up into a large room full of Mudokons packing eggs into crates. Everyone looks up from their work, alarmed looks on their pathetic faces, as they see me come skidding off the conveyor belt. I can’t hear the siren any more, which means that with any luck no one around here will be looking for me. Yet.

I knock a Mudokon over as I rush towards a door opposite me. Pulling it open (the door, not the Mudokon) I race inside and quickly slam the door shut. I’m in a smaller room now, filled with empty crates. The only exit is the door I just came through.

Damn.

I look franticly around. I don’t want to go back. That conveyor belt only leads to one place, so everyone will know where I am.

I spot an air vent in the wall. Could I escape through there? Before I can give a second thought, I’ve pushed a stack of crates underneath it. I hop up the crates, trying not to wobble too much, and prise the grille off the wall. It’s large enough to crawl through. If, that is, I ditch my legs. I’m faced with a predicament. It seems that in order to escape, I have to leave behind the things that will help me to escape.

Oh, I hate paradoxes!

Fine, I’ll leave them behind. I grab the sides of the air vent and haul myself into the shaft, whilst also pulling myself out of my legs. When I’m all the way out, my legs topple over sideways and smash on the ground. This also leads to the crates falling over and scattering everywhere. Good. Something to slow any followers

I crawl through the air vent. It’s really cramped, and I have a feeling that after all this I will be more than a little claustrophobic. I’m not hearing any pursuit, which is very good. I speed up. It’s dark, but not so dark that I can’t see where I’m going (which is strait ahead as there aren’t any turn-offs). I here faint voices coming from somewhere underneath the air vent. Curiosity and suspicion taking hold, I stop and listen.

“…a bit daft, don’t you think? I mean, it’s not as if this is the first time someone’s escaped. If she had kept her guards with her then this wouldn’t be happening.” I recognise the voice as a Mudokon.

“Well, you know what they say; the one thing stupider than a Slig is a Slig Queen.”

Rage fills me. I can’t believe this! Mudokons, calling Sligs stupid? Shouldn’t it be the other way round? But I am surprised at what the first one said, about Sligs escaping before. I wonder why no one’s ever mentioned that? Because it would make Skillya look idiotic and irresponsible, a voice in my head tells me.

The conversation below me turns to something about work-related accidents, and I carry on scurrying. For an air vent, there’s not much ventilation. My breath begins to come out raggedly due to the heat and the lack of space. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

After about fifteen minutes of crawling, the path splits. Now I can choose to go left, right, or directly up. If I had gecko feet I’d go directly up because I have a feeling all this is still underground. But, unfortunately, I don’t have gecko feet. So I guess I will go…

Eenie meenie minie mo…

I’ll go left.

More crawling that seems to go on forever. Wow, I never realised escaping could be so fun (sarcasm). I wonder, is there any point to this? I’ll probably be caught anyway. That’s it, think negative thoughts. That way you will subconsciously find a way to be caught. Then you’ll be happy, the voice in my head says. Strange, I never realised I had a conscience before. Why has it only just started speaking to me?

After a load of minutes that I can’t be bothered to count the air vent widens into something more manoeuvrable. I rest, my arms aching from pulling myself along for so long. I can here the siren again, but it’s quite faint. It’s slightly brighter in here. At first I don’t know why, but then I find out.

The floor that I am standing on is solid. But then, after about a metre, it turns into the criss-crossing form of a wire mesh. The wire is quite thick, so I’ll be able to move across it without hardship, but that’s not what I’m worried about. When I move across it I will be visible to whoever is underneath at the time. And, to make things worse, the floor doesn’t go solid again for about a hundred yards. So, put basically, I will be completely vulnerable.

I quietly creep to the edge of the mesh. I peer through it and see, well, no Sligs. It’s a lowly-lit room occupied by a load of glass cases. Filling the cases are Slig eggs bathing in warm, soft light. It’s an incubation room, and I’m guessing the wire mesh is here to let out excess heat.

Okay, no danger here. So I step out onto the wire mesh and, going as fast as a crawling Slig possibly can, make my way to the other side. I reach the middle of the mesh when I hear the whoosh of an opening door and footsteps enter the room. I freeze. I’m slightly relieved when I see that it’s just a Mudokon, but I still don’t relax. If it were to look up it would see me and run to the nearest guard. I would be gone before it got back, but even so they would find out where I am (assuming they haven’t already).

I finally relax when the Mudokon finishes its task (checking that the eggs are the right temperature) and exits the room. But I don’t rest for long. I continue crawling across to solid ground. I finally reach it, where I find three air vents leading in different directions waiting for me. The one in the middle has a slight breeze coming from it. Finally, a sign that I’m heading in the right direction!

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If there were any spelling od other mistakes in that chapter tell me. I didn't have time to check it properly.