Tunnels – a flash fiction story

“Are you telling me it just turned up overnight?”

They peered over as far as they could but the angle made it hard to see more. Loose sand and pebbles shifted under Mia’s foot and skittered towards the edge of the gaping hole. She watched in awe as they tumbled over the edge.

“When I drove on that track last night, it was not here.” Larry pointed over to the dirt track leading past building units. It wasn’t right next to it but there was no way you could have missed this. Mia squinted as she tried to gauge the size.

“It’s got to be over a thousand metres wide.” She shook her head. “We should have heard the machines digging it.”

“What sort of machine makes these ridges?” He pointed at the patterning that disappeared down. How deep was it she wondered.

“We’re going to need to get a drone over this. And check for any track marks. And CCTV, is there any?” 

Larry was just staring at her, a frown creasing his forehead.

“What?”

“You need to take a closer look. Look at the displaced dirt.” He pointed to one edge, a little further round the circumference of the hole. A gap had been driven into the dirt, a tunnel through.

“I don’t get it.” She shrugged, feeling herself get annoyed at the guessing game. “Just tell me.”

“This isn’t a hole that someone dug from up here. Whoever dug this, did it from underneath.”

This was written in response to a picture found on Finding Clarity https://purplequeennl.blogspot.com/search?q=mirny