Stepping over fallen rubble and past abandoned, rust-covered cars, we moved to the caved in road and began to carefully slide down.
âItâs really steep, I can feel myself sliding quicker and quicker. This really hurts!â Again, Crystal had to complain. But I will give her some credit here because she was right, it was painful sliding down. It was really steep, Iâm tempted to just call it a wall. I made it down first, not because I knew what I was doing, but rather because my foot slipped causing my whole body to lose traction and send me to the bottom. Slamming into the ground with a thud, dust engulfed my body in a cloud. I was okay but Iâm not gonna say it felt good. Ouch.
âYo! You good?â Jack shouted. Before I could respond, Aleena hit the ground next to me.
âShit, are you okay?â She coughed a little before responding.
âHaha yeah, my foot slipped and I fell.â
âWow, me too haha.â We laughed together for a moment. Ark followed. In pure Ark style, he jumped from around half way and landed on his feet before looking at us.
âDid someone fall?â He said, smugly.
âJeez, good to see his mood getting better.â I sarcastically said to Aleena. I think Ark and I wouldâve got along. Sounds like something Iâd say haha. Honestly, thinking about it, I can see that. Itâs a shame. Jack made it to the bottom gracefully. Now is a good time to mention, this whole time we are all trying to block out Crystalâs fear-filled yelps every time she moves.
âCrystal, we both fell and weâre both fine! youâre almost here, just jump!â
âNo! Itâs gonna hurt!â Tears began forming in her eyes.
âWell of course itâs gonna hurt! Sliding down the rest of the way is going to hurt too!â Were you trying to comfort her? Jeez. Well hey, it worked âcause next thing I knew, more dust filled my vision and Crystalâs voice was suddenly a lot closer.
âOuch! Fuck that hurt!â She screamed.
âOh come on, youâre fine. There we go.â I said as I helped pick her up.
âMaaaaaan why are we even here?â She said in annoyance. You can imagine the look on her face when I told her we were only there because curiosity took over when we saw the fencing. Was going there not a unanimous decision? It was, she just absently agreed, probably with absolutely no idea what we were talking about. Sheâs one of those. Yeah. Itâs not like we had much at risk by going in, well thatâs what we thought on the outside.
After around twenty minutes of walking on the inside, we realised this was some kind of cave system. Likely man-made. Exactly what it was for, we didnât know. Weapon cases and an abundance of ammunition crates were scattered across the labyrinth of caves. Our lack of light sources wasnât making it any easier, neither was Crystalâs whining and occasional angry groans when she ran into something. With five of us and one torch that hadnât run out of battery, our chances of having any light at all for more than another half hour werenât looking good.
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âWhatâs in here?â Jack excitedly asked himself. Glowing green light beamed out as he pushed the lid to the floor with a bang. The little bread crumb lights youâd use to know where youâve already been. These wouldâve been great about thirty minutes earlier but we decided to take them anyway. This place was definitely The Allianceâs doing, all these weapons and ammunition. No protector needs an arsenal this big. After stocking up on ammo, we only walked for another five minutes before a lightsource appeared around a curve. A horrible stench aroused revulsion within me, something truly horrible; a rotting of sorts. I raised my hand and signalled quiet. Deep red and calm white moonlight cast down on two silhouetted figures sitting at a table in an enclosed cavity. My eyes shot up to see a metal covering, like vent bars. Our way out. Before I had a chance to think of how to attack this, Aleena had already begun attacking and bullets were already flying in both directions. What the fuck. Youâre perfect for each other haha. With little cover, I had to pray they couldnât aim. Thankfully Aleena had hit her first knife throw and already killed one of them. His lifeless body lay still on the dirt floor. When the clouds shifted and the red glow illuminated his face, the weight of death came down on me like an unexpected thunderstorm. I was grieving yours but it didnât hit me that now someone will grieve for him. The light on his face reflected memories, good and bad. It reflected someone forced into an organisation they had no desire to join. Not only did it reflect lost brotherhood and cut ties, it reflected mistakes, the mistakes anyone could make but just so happened to lead him here; his final resting place. No proper burial, no goodbye, just a sack of flesh with a knife through its skull. Killing these people was necessary but does that make it right? Iâm still unsure even now. I had no other choice, a little piece of me died every time I killed someone. If I were to keep killing, taking life from someone, it had to be a necessity. Finally snapping out of my trance, my eyes focused on Aleena. Specifically, the knife she was about to throw. Everything but that blade became a blur as I watched it leave her hand, soar across the space, and land between the eyes of the other Alliance member. At that moment, I was reminded of you.
It was a miracle no one heard the gunfire from above, that was no quiet interaction. That smell was becoming unbearable by this point. I had mostly blocked it out until my adrenaline wore off. Climbing through the roof of the cave was difficult. With only a table to prop us up, the last person to leave, me, had to jump and grab Jackâs hand in order to get out. That wasnât before everyone used him as a step ladder, and obviously that was before he used me as a step ladder. Despite the awkwardness, I too made it up. It was unendurable, this fucking miasma clawing at my nose. Clearly I wasnât the only one affected, either, we all seemed to be coughing and wheezing, like our throats were collapsing. I hadnât yet noticed that Crystal had turned around and was blankly staring at the room ahead. What stood in front of us can only be described as life changing, mind shattering, even. Out of everything and everyone Iâd killed up until this point, nothing could have prepared me for what was above that cave. Ahead of us stretched a long hallway lined with red-stained windows, not by design. Between the walls and the windows, the floor was lined with carpet, also not by design. A pile, a heap, a pyramid, bodies. It was almost comical, the way they were stacked on each other as if someone had stood atop them with a flag in his hand. This wasnât a horde, though. Men, women, children, it didnât matter. They were all dead. My first assumption was this place being some kind of a dumping ground for the Alliance to throw the innocents they slaughter. However if that were the case, the windows wouldnât be smeared with blood. I think this room was a mass execution room. Why they were stacked is still beyond me but it was clearly intentional. Something like that doesnât simply occur after a carnage. Holy shit, Ashley. What the fuck happened? I still donât know, I tell myself it was just a shooting but I know that amount of blood didnât come from bullets. It was pooling around my boots, sludging and rippling. Not a word was spoken until another one of Aleenaâs knives was drawn.
âWhat are you gonna do with that?â I asked calmly.
âIs there a door behind the pile?â She responded
âNope.â Ark plainly answered.
âIâm getting us the fuck out of here.â She said sharply before hurling her weapon at the closest window. Once the glass settled, we found ourselves submerged in silence again. No one flinched, no one argued, we all just awkwardly scrambled through.