Abandoned Cavern

An anonymous source gave me coordinates to a secret place that was supposed to be very cool. I had to check it out right away. I followed a GPS, and I ended up in a dusty parking lot sparsely populated by run-down cars. One car with no wheels or roof was directly on the coordinates I was given, so I got in on the driver's side. At my feet was a narrow tunnel leading down. It was padded on all sides with leather seat cushions from very old cars.

At the end of the tunnel there was a drop. I fell a short distance and looked around me. I was in a giant, abandoned underground cave that looked like it had once been a mine and was perhaps halfway converted to being a concert hall. The tunnel I came from was too high to get to, and completely concealed in the jagged ceiling, so I would have to find another way out.

To my right was a long line of broken down vehicles, ranging from small cars up to heavy construction equipment. There was a roof over them, I assumed to keep them from collecting too much dust.

I went into an alcove at the end of the tunnel that was lighting up the room. There was a large opening above the floor that led to a long hallway with windows along each side that were blocked with concrete on the other side of them. The ceiling was flat and narrow because the walls tapered into arches leading to it, and it was a uniform bright white that gave a diffuse glow to the room. I assumed the ceiling was opaque white glass that led to the surface.

I walked around and found a cardboard box in the weeds growing all over the place. There were some interesting old artifacts in the box. I found a few more old books and some leather and brass trinkets around in the grass and put them in the box too.

I turned and went back to the large main room and was about to go around a big pile of dirt when I heard more people further inside. I peeked around the pile and saw that they were wearing hard hats and some were driving small carts around.

To my right I noticed a huge machine. It was a front-loading bulldozer with a patchwork steel and concrete composite armor over it (the killdozer) but the armor was cracked and fallen off in places, keeping the bulldozer from going anywhere. This was unfortunate, because I could have used it to escape without being harmed. Since there was no way to get the machine running, I would have to escape with my cardboard box covertly.

I darted as quickly as I could (while still remaining silent) behind the parked vehicles to the opposite end of the room. I didn't think anyone heard me, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being chased, and my heart and head were pounding. Once out of the main room, I found myself up along the outside of a large spherical structure, (I figured it was another room) with ramps leading up and down along the sides of it. I wanted to reach the bottom so that I could get to what looked like an exit.

Near the bottom, the ramps stopped and there was a drop of about 15 feet. There was a large curved pipe leading to the ground, but it tapered as it went up, and the piece near me was small enough that it snapped like chalk when I tested it with my hand. On the ground below me, I was startled to see two adventurers like myself. They said they had strayed from some kind of guided tour of the caves, and were wondering if this was a good place to get up into the older areas that the tour didn't go. I told them that I would show them a better way in if they would catch me as I jumped down. They agreed, and I dropped my box to them, then lowered myself as much as I could from the ledge and let go, falling back so that both of them could cushion my fall.

Once safely down, we walked up a steep incline back to where the tour was taking place. There were rope barriers like in a museum blocking entry to anything interesting, and the tour guide had her back to a large open area, similar to the one I saw the workers in. The room was much brighter, and everything was relatively clean, however. The entrance/exit was clearly marked, and we ended up in the parking lot. I took them far behind the surface building that marked the main entrance to the rusted cars. I showed them the special car with the tunnel and warned them about the people I saw in there, and they thanked me and went down. I left happily with my cardboard box of little treasures.