Rory 8

The hatch opened up, suddenly, and he could see stairs headed into the darkness below.  Rory hesitated for a moment, but then began the descent.  The dim light from above revealed a skull and crossbones painted underneath the hatch.  Somehow he hadn't already, but Rory quickly retrieved from his knapsack his raygun.  He didn't want to be caught unprepared.  His foot crumbled something on the steps, and he could see that it was the skeletal remains of a lizard, a tiny one.  He wondered how many live ones scurried about.  When he reached the bottom of the steps, Rory realized that there was no ground there.  With relief, his foot caught the rung of a ladder.  He continued downward.  When the rungs ran out, he was happy to discover that he'd reached the bottom at last.  The last rung his hand touched, and he'd hoped, revealed with just a little probing the final puzzle piece.  He'd been right.  Rory reached into his knapsack once more and took out his camera.  He hoped the flash would reveal enough, so he'd have an idea what lay ahead.  And it did.  An enormous octopus....!  But it was trapped in the pool, right?  Rory slowly plotted his next move, and clutched the raygun tighter.