The Van Til House: STRAF SABBAT
Chapiter 14

"Great choice, Hendra," Novi nagged. He took his sweater up to cover his nose.

"You want to flat out on that pile of trash, not pa-pa, just say no" Hendra said grumpily.

Magisna did not touch them. He could not stop looking at the walls made of the same gray coal. But these walls are filled with graffiti writing that has faded away from being consumed by time. Paint red, blue, yellow, green, black. The wall had almost hypnotic power, the same two words, again and again, from floor to ceiling.

LATEN FEESTEN-LET'S PARTY!

"Liar," whispered Hendra.

"Detestroying," Magisna replied, trembling. There seemed to be a madman writing those words, he thought. Repeating the same thing. Maybe I am learning Dutch. I don't think this article really comes from the Dutch era. It's just the work of crazy people who are crazy about Dutch.

"Why would a crazy person want a party in the trash can?" ask Novi.

"Well you're a cave, keep the cave just garbage?" reply Magisna.

"Try thinking," Hendra interrupted. "No one will disturb you, no complaints of noise from your neighbors, no police, not even hansip. One hundred percent private."

"Yes, if you survive," said Magisna.

The comment produced silence.

"Udah ah, let's get you out of here!" Alex began to complain. "This place makes me migrate,"

"Yep," Hendra agreed. "We have to keep going."

They found another tunnel on the opposite wall and continued on their way. The stench of the garbage room was accompanying them, hanging on their clothes like steam.

Magisna breathed through her mouth to endure the nausea. His ankle hurt again, and by walking limp he became tired faster.

He was amazed that they could find no way out of the labyrinth. The stairs under the fertilizer room couldn't be the only way in.

There must be another way out.

He imagined them appearing through a manhole somewhere else - perhaps in the middle of a plantation. Plantation residents may find four people staggered out from underground, covered in dirt, mud and even blood.

He doesn't care. He did not even care if they appeared in the middle of Pak Isa's room, as long as they remained alive.

"Slow down" whispered Hendra.

Magisna looked around. They found the room again. Larger than others with low ceilings. Around them were piles of broken tools.

The stench again attacked Magisna's nose. A foul smell.

I knew this smell, he thought, fear pumping all over his body. He had once smelled this smell after a brick wall exploded on their faces. Just before Dika...

He heard Hendra gasp.

Then he saw it too.

Red fog!

Magisna watched in fear as the fog united in a far corner, as if sensing their arrival. The smell is getting stronger. Magisna felt her hair bristling as an unfriendly breath reached her ears.

"Oh, no," he whispered.

The red fog advanced, approaching towards them.

"Run!" Hendra yells.

They ran into a tunnel that turned to the right. Magisna shouted and held onto her ankle, barely falling down.

"Come on!" Hendra yells. He grabbed Magisna's arm and dragged her.

"Okay, I tried," cried Magisna. The pain is unbearable. But he pushed himself forward, forcing himself not to limp and run.

"Where's the fog? Is it behind us?" Novi yelled through his shoulder.

"The cave won't look!" Hendra shouted back.

Magisna looked straight ahead as he ran.

He turned right.

He turned left.

Graffiti flashed blurry in his view, the walls of coal blocks like endless. Their torches were fluttering in stuffy air. But they didn't stop running.

Magisna moaned, trying to draw air into her lungs. But that feels impossible.

His feet were burning, his knees were shaking.

He felt his running start to slow down.

"The cave is not strong anymore" he groaned. "Ndra..."

"But, Ndra..."

His eyes were twitching. His feet are numb and wobbly.

Then it collapsed to the ground. A tin can poked his waist. A piece of rotten and wet paper stuck to his cheek.

"Come, Gisna!" urged Hendra. "Road!"

"Have he!" scream Alexza.

"Diem you!" hardik Hendra ketus's.

"The fog is gone!" Novi.

Hendra grabbed Magisna's arm and pushed her away. Magisna forced himself to move and run. His left ankle went numb until he wondered inwardly if his foot was still in place. His knees were wobbly at every step.

Moving on, he ordered himself. I have to keep moving forward.

The tunnels opened up around them, and they jumped into a large room. The other alleyways headed into the darkness. But Magisna didn't care about them. All he cared about were two words on the wall in blood red paint:

LATEN FEESTEN'S

This is the room under the fertilizer shed! They finally found it!

"The ladder!" magisna is triumphant.

We're back! We survived! Magisna cheered in her heart.

"Allright!" Novi prancing.

"Yes!" Mo pointed his fist into the air.

"We made it!" alexza imitates a character from a cartoon. "Successful! It worked! It worked!"

They ran to the stairs, throwing their torches to the side.

Magisna grabbed the rusty steps - almost able to feel the sandy metal under her fingertips.

Alexza pushed him to the side.

Magisna fell to the concrete floor so that her jeans were torn and her right knee was injured.

"What the hell are you, Lexza?" Magisna shouted furiously, but Alexza had already climbed up.

Magisna looked through his shoulder. His heart suddenly stopped.

The first tendrils of the red mist flowed from the tunnel!

"Damor!" Hendra's orders.

"Lu aja naek," urged Magisna. "You cave can't be naek, you're the only one who's strong pulling the cave up."

Hendra threw his body up the stairs after Alexza.

The room was filled with red fog. The fog was now hurtling towards them, bubbling with an evil life force.

"Road!" Novi. Sweat ran down his face. "Buruan!"

Magisna climbed as fast as he could, but he was so slow!

One ladder, two, three. One foot on the other. Sweat seeped into the new wound on his knee, stinging like acid. His ankle is throbbing.

"Please!" he heard Alexza screaming. "Help us!"

The stairs twitched, making Magisna's breath sting. Not now, he thought.

The ladder shifted.

"Please!"

In the gloomy light, he could see one of the holding stairs coming out of the wall.

Please don't fall down, he prays in his heart. Not now!

On top of it, Hendra's boots retraced on metal, dripping rust fragments onto his face.

They'll make it. Must.

Magisna heard a scream beneath her.

He looked down and found the red mist surrounding Novi. First of all, the fog wrapped around Novi's feet. His eyes widened, looking into Magisna's eyes. His face was panicking amazingly.