Manhole!

Eva jumped down the manhole in the ground taking hold of the ladder on the side after she had dropped deep enough that even her head was below ground level. Then she quickly climbed downwards while realising how close thing it had been with her backpack on. She could have been trapped with her legs down the hole and head up with someone following her. She could hear steps getting closer to manhole and then she saw a large and ugly hear looking down. She was quite sure she had never seen anything so inhuman in real life. She was ready to doubt it was a human.

"Hey! Why don't you come up here to talk?" It asked.

"Not a chance!" Eva said climbing down.

"Humph!" She could hear it grumbling and moving a manhole cover over the manhole.

She did have her maglight with her so she took it once she had reached a ground. There were two directions she could take and she took an another one. Walking down here felt somehow unreal as there were voices and noises that seemed to come from everywhere. Things seemed to move just away from her light.

She thought that it was good that she wasn't easy to scare, but this was certainly starting to get to her nerves.

If she ever made it back maybe she could make a haunting house attraction based on her experiences she thought. She noticed she had already doubted if she could ever get back and thought that it might be a bad sign or a realistic appraisal of the situation. Certainly it could be both.

She thought about shape of the factory she was under and tried to use that to figure out best way to get out. Then she noticed that water (there were water) moved to one direction. With any luck there would be a way out - perhaps through nearby river.

She followed the water flow and thought that it was strange how inelegant sewage system the factory had. There were glowy things in the distance away from obvious path and she could see what she might have thought as interesting lying on the ground, but she was rather focused in getting out instead of exploring. There were noises too, but she tried to ignore them.

Darkness was overwhelming and she almost thought she'd never get out. Then she could see water flow go to a slightly smaller pipe (though large enough for her to move through if need be) and she stopped to think for a moment about a strategy. Her car was close enough to a factory so she'd have to go back there. Or she could call a police even though she had been probably trespassing and the other one had not done anything other than closing manhole cover (that might be endargerment she thought) or she could walk back to town and come get her car with her friends.

Nevertheless she would have to get out first she thought and started to crawl through a tunnel. It didn't take that long for her to get through to place she hadn't expected to see. She saw a bookshelf, armchair and small table with a lamp on it. It did look like someone had a real hiding whole away from all prying eyes. Books looked like they were mostly about sociology (from what Eva could figure out from names of books she recognized). What this small room lacked was something to eat (and the occupant of course, though she doubted one would be far away since light was on).

"Umm... hello?" Eva asked stepping up and towards middle of the room.

"What do I owe this unusual pleasure of someone coming to visit me?" Voice from behind asked. It was pleasant voice, but very unfitting to enviroment - almost as unfitting as whole room.

Eva spun around to see a well dressed man with pale skin. He had probably brown hair and pose that seemed to convey not being worried in the least. He smiled.

"I got lost." Eva explained.

"Quite badly. I doubt you could get here just taking single wrong turn." Man said. "Nevertheless I do suppose we have not been introduced. I'm called Marcus."

"Eva." Eva answered.

"Would you like to sit down and tell what has happened?" Marcus asked.

"I'd rather stand." Eva answered.

"I take it you aren't really used to living in sewage systems. Quite understandable to feel quite cagey. Do you mind if I sit?" Marcus asked.

"Not at all. I guess I am intruding here." Eva said.

Marcus walked towards chair, took couple of wine glasses and bottle from bookshelf. He put glasses on the table and then filled glasses. "You don't have to drink, but I took liberty to pour for you too. You look like you are quite shaken. I shall now sit down on this chair and I hope it makes you feel more comfortable since I probably look less threatening not standing."

"Umm.. quite thoughtful of you." Eva said "And you're quite right I suppose. Thank you for offering something to drink."

"My pleasure." Marcus said.

Eva thought about the situation - she was more than little worried about the situation, but normalcy of Marcus seemed to have an effect too. She could try leaving or taking drink offered to her.