Chapter 15: Found
The sewer was large. No, more than large; it was ginormous. Spanning almost the entire length of the district of Sierra Vista, and scattered throughout the countryâ if there were the catacombs in Paris to get you lost, there was the sewage system underground, here in Stalwart, coming in second place.
"Damn it!" I mumbled, as I made another turn, only to stumble upon yet another similar-looking barrier up ahead. I had been doing this for God knew how long now. Yet I had barely made a scratch. I hadn't even seen my companions' shadows, what more of their faces?
Glancing down, I refrained from looking at my leg knowing how bad it was getting. But bad didn't even begin cover it. My right calf had numbed an hour ago, which could have been good or bad, considering I had an easier time walking on my own. But I was afraid I was slowly catching infection from submerging myself in the dirty water earlier.
Turning another corner, I saw that nothing was up ahead, only darkness and more dank space; no Audra or Hanz waiting for me, telling me that everything was okay.
What the hell should I do now?
Why, walk, you dum-dum, my mind cajoled at me. If you stay here, you're dead either way. Don't you see they're not coming?
I took a long, sharp breath. Yes, they are. Yes, the others are coming.
But why would they? Another part of my mind spoke. Neil had left you, didn't he? For all you know, Audra and Hanz could have been in on this. And what assurances do you have that they'll find you through this maze? You couldn't even find your way out. You're hopeless.
I clutched my head with a hand, my other arm supporting the clutch.
Stop. I wanted this to stop.
The voices in my head were getting loud. Angrier now, as if they were real. It started about thirty minutes ago, along with a warm, intense feeling creeping all over my body. I think it was the fever, but it could also mean that I was going crazy.
I mean, I'd seen movies like this. People suddenly turning batshit while they were alone. What was the probability of it happening to me?
Audra, Paxie, kissing on a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G.
God, it just wouldn't stop.
I took another numb limp forward.
"Hey, Pax?"
I swiveled to the left. Only to see that no one was there, only my imagination taunting me again.
"You haven't thanked me yet," a husky voice continued.
"I know, Audra," I murmured.
"Then why haven't you?"
I shrugged. Meanwhile, starting to limp forward again. "I don't know," I admitted.
"You're really that introverted, aren't you?"
"Yeah."
"I like that."
"Thank you. . ." I slid to the ground, my back against the wall. There, that wasn't so hard, was it? All I had to do was say 'thank you,' and it would all be over with.
So why couldn't I?
"Because you're weak."
My face contorted as I realized whose voice it was. There he was again, maligning me. I simply wanted to grab him.
"Then what?" the voice cajoled. "You're going to hit me again?"
"I didn't mean to," I whispered. "It's just that the bracelet was important to me."
"More important than another human being?"
"I don't know. . ." I covered my head with both of my hands. Everything around me was spinning, and my head hurts so much as if it was going to crack. "Just leave me alone, Neil."
For once, just leave me alone.
The flashlight was flickering, which might have explained why I suddenly woke up.
"Ugh. . ." My head was throbbing. And it felt like my whole body had caught on fire.
I looked around at where I ended up on, yet nothing had changed. There was a similar-looking brick wall in front and on my back. My eyes traveled the length of the chamber. There was murky water in the middle. Darkness, more darkness. In the distance, I could hear something dripping from the ceiling. God, what had I put myself into?
I groaned.
If I hadn't hit Neil on the head, if I hadn't been too prideful for my own freaking good, maybe, just maybe, I could have asked him to reconsider his decision, begged him, even, to let me go back with him, and then this whole getting lost thing wouldn't have happened.
But what did I do?
You did what was best for you, a small voice said inside my head. You stopped his bullying. If you make it back to them, he'll never test you again.
But would I make it? I thought. Back to them, I mean?
The flashlight flickered, and I couldn't help but look at it. Even that had given up on me.
A cold sensation ran through my spine when a thought suddenly occurred.
Crap!
I glanced at the flashlight again. If that died on me, then I would be totally submerged in darkness, wouldn't I? Why hadn't I thought of that?
"Because you're stupid." Neil's voice echoed in my head. "And worthless. Say goodbye, Leighton."
Say goodbye to what?
But then the flashlight suddenly died, and instantly, I knew what he was talking about.
Snatching it from the ground, I shook the flashlight like a complete madman.
"No!" I said. "Open up!"
The light flickered on. Then off again like a joke.
"Turn on!" I yelled. "Turn on!"
Clang!
What was that?
I glanced onto my left.
There was a very strange sound, coming from in there. Completely out of nowhere.
Clang!
I paused for a moment, drawing a labored breath.
Was that my imagination running wild on me again?
Clang!
I froze. No, there was definitely something out there. Something I couldn't see in the darkness.
Clang!
Oh God!
Clang!
I braced myself for whatever was coming. The sound was getting nearer and nearer, it was almost on top of my head.
Clang!
The flashlight flickered on.
I looked at whatever it was and it looked right back at me.
Clang!
I shrieked at the top of my lungs before my arm was seized up.
This was a nightmare! All of it. Me, hobbling in the sewers. Me, being chased by this unknown creature. Me, almost running to the wall due to the darkness. Me, shrieking yet again as I heard this groaning sound coming from behind me. A nightmare, I tell you, and it didn't stop there.
"O beck!"
O beck?!
As if I was going to find out. I dragged my useless leg with me, the same thing I did earlier before I was eaten, barely out of breath, my heart pounding like it would jump out of my chest as I made my escape.
"O beck!" the creature called again. "Earl!"
I turned to the left because that was the only thing I could think about at the moment. Turn leftâ just keep turning left. Somehow, someway, I would lose the monster behind me, even when I could barely see in the dark myself.
But what if it could still spot me? The horrible thought sank in my stomach. If it had been living here for a while, surely it could detect me, even in the cover of the blackness.
Then I'm dead, I thought.
I'm dead. I'm mother effingâ
"Woah!"
In the middle of my limping, someone had caught my arm. Someone who was breathing heavilyâ Someone who was starting to say something incomprehensible to me. "Earl! Sokay."
"No!"
"Sokay!"
"Leave me alone!"
I gave it a smack using the flashlight. It continued pulling me nevertheless, starting to wrap me with its claw-like hands, till the flashlight was dropping down, totally useless.
Prepared, I bit the creature's hand.
"Ow!"
"Ha! I said leave me alone, Satan!"
I limped away again, fleeing for my life. This was worse than the tracers. I wished they were chasing me instead.
"Earl!"
"You suck!"
"Girl, in front of you!"
I realized that it had spoken true human words only when it was too late. Half of my body went downwards. Way, way down before I could stop it. I was being pulled down, towards some kind of pit.
"Help!"
"I'm coming!"
"Please help me!" I cried. There was water. A lot of it was pulling me down. I didn't know where it was heading, but it was sucking the whole of me, as if I was a tissue paper being drained out.
A slippery hand grabbed one of my hands. "Hold on!"
"I'm trying!"
Whoever or whatever it was pulled me upwards in the darkness. I couldn't see it completely, yet I knew that it was doing all its best.
"Hold on, miss!"
"I am!"
But the water was still pushing me down, dragging me to its liquid hell.
"I think I'm going to die!" I spluttered.
"No, you won't!"
"Tell Audra I'm sorry!"
I braced myself for the worst. With one last pull from the water, I was yanked towards it. I was twirled and swirled, until everything went black.
I think I might have died at that second.
"Ahhh!"
I was splashing, treading in the water, fighting with my whole being to stay alive.
"Ahhh!"
My legs trashed. My arms went completely upwards. And with one big swallow, I got up.
Only to see that I was in an overwhelmingly bright place. This must be what heaven finally looked like.
"You're awake," someone said.
"G-God?!"
A man with a greyish beard shifted on his seat, smiled at me once before getting up. He flourished his hand in the space before heading to a flap, and with one last word, disappeared into the area outside where I couldn't see him.
"No, I'm afraid not," he'd said.
I looked around in the wake of his disappearance; confused, terrified, and a little bit curious with all of this. Where was I if this wasn't heaven? Did I somehow make it out of there alive?
The flap where the man exited through rippled just a little bit, the wind from outside blowing in.
Cold! It was cold. But not like sewery, drafty coldâ if there was such a description. But cold like I was near the mountains.
Shivering, I noticed the rest of my environment.
The ceiling where I was, was lower than the usual, made up of some kind of cloth. A tent, perhaps? I think I was in some kind of tent. My eyes roamed the rest of the place, more curious than ever.
Pillows, lots of it, were scattered all around me, covered by a cloth reminiscent of burlap sacks. There were cups on the floor, and some kind of artworks hanging on the cloth walls.
I gave a little gasp as the man from earlier came back. On his hand was a small cup made of wood as well, steaming, it seemed, from the fog that rose up.
"Soup?" he said, his voice gentle but hoarse, making my stomach turn immediately.
"You're the. . ."
"Yes," he said, taking a seat. The place was big enough to house six to five adults, all standing or resting. It was that kind of tent.
"Where am I?" I said, feeling like I'd lost touch with reality.
"In the guest room," the man replied, handing the cup to me. "I found you in the sewers while I was making my rounds."
"Rounds for what?"
Yet he didn't answer me anymore, and I was forced to look at him from head to toe, trying to piece together the kind of man that he was.
He was wearing black pants and a blue t-shirt that was the same color of his eyes. He wore boots. If anything, his longish beard gave him this hippie look, though there was something about him that made him look formal too.
The man pointed to the cup I now held as if coaxing me to drink it.
"N-no thanks," I refused. It was better to be safe than sorry.
The man, smiling now, looked like he understood that. "Don't worry," he said. "I'd been feeding you the same hot drink ever since you'd made it here."
"Oh."
He shrugged, then leaned back as if to give me some space, even though there was already a lot between us. "My name is Dante, by the way. What's yours?"
"P-Pax. . ."
"Okay. Are you part of a larger group, Pax?"
My heat skipped a beat. To think that I had almost forgotten.
"Audra!" I blurted. "Hanz!"
"Who?"
"Where are they?" I said. "They must be looking for me. We had come from the same groupâ They were my friends!"
"Were?"
The man and I looked at each other once more. Surely, I couldn't tell him what happened to me just hours before? Surely, I couldn't speak of Neil's betrayal? Speaking of which, how many hours had it been?
The man, as if reading my thoughts, raised his hand to appease me. "It's been three days," he said, "more or less."
"Three days?!"
"Settle down," he spoke. "I'll tell you what happened."
He then dove into the short story of how he was making some rounds, afterwards finding me in the dark, and trying to help me. But I was too panicked to hear him out. It lead to a bigger accident. I wouldn't have made it out alive if it weren't for him.
"But I thought you were a monster," I admitted to him afterwards.
He gave me another small smile of his, nodded his head. I noticed that he was prone to doing that. He must have developed patience due to his age. He must had been what? Fifty?
Nonetheless, the man continued. "So I brought you here against the council's rules and tried to patch you up. I hope that it helps."
Patch me up?
I glanced at my leg, noticing for the first time that the jeans that Audra had diligently rolled up to heal me before was completely torn at the calf now. And instead of old bandages, there was a new one applied, coupled with this leafy thing sticking inside that I had never seen before.
Dante, the man's name was, was smiling at me again. "You can move your leg now," he said. "Go and give it a try."
Really? I was hesitant of this, but then lifting my foot immediately made me astonished. The pain was gone. Even the numbness that followed after it. What kind of mumbo jumbo went on here while I was sleeping?
Dante, who was observing me, got on his feet. "I know you're confused, little one. And judging from what you said earlier, you're looking for some people?"
"Y-yes."
He headed straight to me, gave me his hands before I could ask for it. "Come with me then. I know you'll be surprised, but we can help you here. If you just trust me."
A/N: What do you think? :)