A Walk in the City of the Dead - Part 3

During the summer, there was a big group of about 50 people for a late night tour of the Vaults. The tour began as usual and all followed the guide. However, the notorious sections of the group loitered and lagged behind. Giggling and laughing they reached the entrance of one of the Vaults where the guide awaited them, or so they thought. No sooner did they line up inside the Vault, than they realised that their other half of the group was missing. They turned to their guide for an explanation, only to realise that their guide had a horribly burnt face. He turned, walked right into a wall and disappeared like light. He was the Watcher and is regular at the Vaults. He was burnt in one of the fires that had engulfed a section of the Vaults. Was the yellow light I saw disappearing into the wall him? I don't know!

The Vaults, as I said are all underground. They had doors but no windows. The Vaults are about 20'x20' and had about 30-40 people in it. Who would stay here? People with dark pasts and presents, like thieves, murderers, rapists and yes the unfortunate downtrodden. There were no toilets, there was a system called 'gardez l'eau' (in French for keep liquids), wherein you collect your wastes through the day and throw it at 10 pm. People would not walk the streets of Edinburgh at 10 pm, least they know, they have 'gardez loo' heading their way! That's how Edinburgh functioned back in those days. Gardez l'eau, no ventilation and extreme weather conditions in winters and summers made the average life expectance no more and 1.5 to 2 years for the residents of the Vaults. The Vaults were slow but sure death.