Wayne paused at an intersection and examined the yellow line. It disappeared down the left side of one passageway and then returned along the right. Apparently the others had found a dead end down there.
“Are we okay?” Andrea asked.
“Yeah,” he assured them, although he honestly did not know. The line was on the left side of the tunnel previously. If Albert had kept the line on that side of the wall the whole time he was walking, then he could remain reasonably confident about which direction they were traveling. That meant that as long as Albert’s yellow line was on his left, he was moving toward them, and if that line was on his right, he was moving away from them. But if Albert’s left hand had grown tired, they very well could wind up going in the wrong direction and perhaps end up traveling in circles.
Olivia turned and looked back the way they’d come. She did not like it down here at all. She was getting a bad feeling from these walls. Something wasn’t right down here. Perhaps it was the walls themselves, so close and threatening, like the cage of some man-eating beast.
They walked past the dead-end path and followed the single yellow line to a set of crossroads, and then into another passage.
Wayne had at last discovered how he could catch up with the others. They were in a giant maze. For hours they’d probably been going in circles. Ordinarily, it would have been impossible. They could wander for weeks and never necessarily cross paths. But here was the path they had traveled, and by marking both sides of the tunnels they’d backtracked, Albert, Brandy and Nicole had saved them the trouble of repeating their mistakes. They could see dead ends before they began. This would shorten the distance between them greatly.
But even so, how many hours had it been since Albert, Brandy and Nicole passed through this tunnel? How long since this yellow line was drawn? Even with these advantages, how long would they be chasing chalk lines in the dark?
It didn’t matter, he supposed. He was determined to follow the line for as long as it took. He only hoped that they remained safe until he reached them.