Chapter 121
Chapter One Hundred Twenty-One
Darkness pushed in on Connor—unnatural and complete. Wherever he’d fallen, it was as stuffy and hot as the world above, and it stank.
He sat up, groaning when he shifted the leg that he’d injured during the shuttle crash. Once again, it was tender and hard to move.
That might not mean anything, though. The downside of the salves and other treatments he’d used for the bruise was that they masked some of the injury pain. If he’d just irritated the bruised tissue again, the stiffness would pass.
Dust had settled on his lips and eyelids: dry and ancient.
He brushed the powdery substance from his face and hacked up more of the phlegm, then got to his feet.
Rock shifted beneath him with a loud scraping, then settled.
His flashlight was out, as were the lights from his armor. All of them going out at once seemed unlikely, but that was the way this place worked.
He checked the belt pouch that held his glow sticks: only one left.
Connor cracked the stick, then shook it.
Its pale glow brightened, revealing the pile of debris he stood upon and what had piled up around him.
Walls—smooth walls—were on his left and behind him.
A corner.
At the edge of the light, where the rubble pile ended, the floor was flat, like the avenue above.
That meant a room.
So they hadn’t fallen into a fissure or abyss but another level of the prison.
But Elise was nowhere to be seen.
He slid and hopped down the debris pile, gritting his teeth against the flare of pain from the bruise. It almost cost him his balance, but he landed on his feet.
Then he held the stick up high. “Elise?”
A soft gasp came from his right, followed by a muffled cry.
It seemed to come from a big slab leaning against another debris pile.
Connor climbed up the debris pile, put the stick down, then planted his feet and pushed against the slab. His back protested, and his bruised leg throbbed, but he shoved the big chunk of building material aside with a deafening crash.
Instead of finding Elise, though, Connor found another hole in the ground.
He stuck the glow stick into the hole. “Elise?”
“I see you.” She let out a soft whimper. “The floor gave out just as I hit it.”
“That might have saved your life. There was a big slab on top of the hole.”
“Oh. Lucky me, I guess?”
“Are you hurt? Can you move?”
“No and yes. I’m actually standing. Can you lower that light—?”
He stuck his arm down the hole, and he saw her, waving her arms over her head. She stood on top of a small pile of rubble, none of it anywhere near as large as the slab that could have crushed her.
In the faint light, it looked like she was in another room.
On the map, this place had been deep, connected by ramps. Their rooms had to connect somehow—nothing else made sense. But committing to a search meant leaving her without light.
And what if she wasn’t in a room after all?
Connor leaned into the hole. “Can you tell if that’s a room? This area up here is.”
She glanced around. “It looks like one. Why?”
“This prison—do you remember where it was?” He was sure it was down.
Elise squatted cautiously and let out a hiss. “I lost my computer.”
“Would they have—?” Connor pulled out the repaired pocket computer. “Any chance they loaded the map onto this?”
“Can you check?”
Connor set the glow stick down close to the hole so that Elise still had light, then poked through the hacked device. “It looks pretty much like a computer. No glowing maps.”
The archaeologist stretched up a hand. “Any chance you could pull me up?”
He leaned into the hole was far as he safely could, then extended a hand. “Too far.” By at least two meters. Even a belt wouldn’t be enough to get to her.
“Maybe there’s another way out of here…a ramp or—” She froze and crouched.
Whatever had caused her to go silent, Connor couldn’t hear or see it.
Then her head came up. “There’s something down here!”
That made Connor’s decision easy.
He dropped the light onto the debris pile. “Move to your left a little.”
When she shifted enough, he grabbed his Asp close and dropped down to her.
His boots slid on the loose rock, and he slammed down on his sore leg. Sparks danced behind his eyelids.
Her hands were on him, then—pulling him upright. “That was dangerous.”
“Risk and reward.” He groaned as he got to his feet. “Where’s your gun?”
“Probably with the computer.” Elise waved at the debris pile.
Rocks clacked and clattered beyond the range of the glow stick.
Connor pushed her up the debris pile. “It’s moving closer.”
“What is it?”
Connor sniffed the air. There was a familiar stench to the room, or more likely to whatever was in there with them. “Not a scorpion, at least.”
He edged to the left, trying to put the glow stick to his back, but when he put his boot down, the rubble slid out from under him, and he went down on the bruised leg again.
Then the darkness spat out something huge, a sliver of shadow that slithered and stayed low to the ground. A mouth snapped, exposing white teeth.
One of the black snake things, but this one was huge, easily six meters long!
Instead of coming for Connor, the thing sped up toward Elise.
Connor sat up, pushing aside the pain in his leg, and aimed the Asp.
Too late! The snake had positioned itself directly between the two humans. Shooting was far too risky.
So Connor slapped the weapon strap’s quick-release and awkwardly got to his feet.
Then he whistled and stomped with his good foot. “Hey!”
The huge snake twisted around, dripping saliva glistening in the chemical light of the stick.
Connor stomped again and drew his swords. “You hungry, big fella?”
That drew the snake closer, dead eyes staring.
“Come and get it.”
With that, the monster slithered toward him.
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