I force myself down the passages back toward the sewer entrance hatch. My legs feel like they're dragging an ever increasing weight as I push closer to my destination. I turn the corner and hear the security guard acknowledging my arrival into his headset. Not so much for my safety, but to calculate how much time I lost today and how much more I'll be penalized. My best estimation is that our keepers will add another twenty-four hours to my sentence. I barely feel the pangs of regret.
I dress quickly. It takes a few minutes for the hatch to unseal and I enter the sewer. Down the ladder and into the muck, greeted like curious dogs by a dozen offensive odors at once. It's darker down here then usual, it must be raining topside. I switch on the flashlight mounted into my safety hat and sweep the area searching for Christopher. I wait for a moment for the magnetic hum to disappear before calling to him. The waste has risen since yesterday to just below my crotch and it's thick as you can imagine the collective excrement of hundreds of thousands can become. Moving through it is an uphill battle, but I trudge through searching for my young comrade.
In the darkness, I see a faint light in the distance of the pipe. I call to see if it's Christopher and get no answer. As the light gets brighter, I hear a quick and frantic sound getting louder. My approach finds the waste becoming less and less until I finally arrive to a raised grated platform. I pull myself upon it; moving toward a darting light and the moans of a wounded animal. I fear the worse.
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