The Mystic West.

[Firesprite]

Felicity

Thinking on his brief words as he set her down, she tried to complete the sentence
I dont want... you to get in the way? I don't want to carry you again if you pass out? I don't want you to get hurt?
Unlikely.

Following so close as to almost be stepping on his heels, Felicity tried to focus and push the pain she felt to the back of her mind. There were more important things to think about here. Like staying alive.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Statler

I wondered at her strength. How was she standing? A woman, shot in the arm? Remarkable! But still, worry struck deep.
I heard the sound again, the pitter patter of small rodent feet, only this time, there were many of them, pittering and pattering all about us. Too near for comfort, and too many to not be concerned. I slowed my pace, listening, hoping to keep track of where they were.
One ran across my right foot then, startling me. I recoiled, bumping into Felicity, who stood incredibly close behind me. I reached back in case she needed steadied with my right hand. Once I knew she was still stnding, I brought the hand forward again and drew a pistol.
I was a much better shot with my right hand, but who knew if I could kill so many creatures.
"I think we should move a lot faster, Felicity," I muttered, hearing my own voice quiver. I was thinking about the snake, the sheer size of it, and wondering if something else like it waited for us ahead. The prospect of having the rodents behind us was one I liked, but being trapped between them and whatever might lie ahead...
I froze, my ears seeming to burn. Had I heard it again? Crying? I'd heard that before hadn't I? Distant and childlike?
I turned to Felicity, ears still sharply focused on the air around me, like fishnets waded through it, hoping to drag the sound in.
"Did you just hear something?"

 

[Firesprite]

Felicity

I bumped into him when he stopped so suddenly, his whole body tense and alert. It was like bumping into a wall.

I nodded in acknowledgment at his words to move faster, even though I knew he couldn't see me. The only thing I could think of was, Why didn't the snake eat the rodents?

"Did you just hear something?" the quiet words drifted out of the darkness to me.

"Only rodents. Lots of them.. Statler, wh.. why didn't the snake eat them?" I stammered. "and, ahh.. blood is dripping down my arm.."

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Statler

"I don't know," I began to reply, "I guess something that size needed larger food sup--"
"and, ahhh...blood is dripping down my arm." She added, not seeming to notice that I was responding.
I turned, shining the lantern on her arm, not realizing until then that I had left her in my shadow, and saw she was still bleeding pretty bad.
"Shit," I spat.
I looked back over my shoulder again, wondering how far it would be. The rodents were still scampering around us, even closer now. The sounds of their feet scraping the clay earthen floor of the mine sent little shivers up my spine.
I looked back to her.
"You think you can make it out, or do you want me to try and tighten it a little more?"
In the back of my mind, I thought, that's a dumb question, we have no idea what's waiting for us outside of the mine's exit, afterall.
I decided to let her answer. I'd been rude enough to her for now.

 

[Firesprite]

Felicity

"perhaps, ahh.. could you help me rip my dress? I need a firmer bandage"
bending over, I struggled with ripping the bottom hem off my dress, my hand feeling so weak.

As I was struggling with it, I pondered his interrupted words. Bigger food? that sounded logical considering the size of the beast, but.. what could it possibly find to eat down here? she shuddered to think of it.

Finally getting a long strip of cloth, I had Statler assist me in winding it firmly around my arm, over the first bandage.

A squeek and a flash of fur darted by, startling me and I emitted a squeek of my own.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Statler

I jumped when she squeeked, then realized it was a rat that had frightened her and almost laughed.
"A rat," I said, as if she didn't realize.
"C'mon," I said, "Let's get moving..."
As soon as we turned, I heard the sound, similar to the patter of the rat's feet, but louder, and heavier.
"I don't think I'm gonna want to see this..." I muttered, not realizing I was speaking and hoping after that she hadn't heard.
It came slowly out of the darkness, its black eyes reflecting the light from the lantern. It must have been as tall as my knee, with another just like it walking up behind it. The scampering way the other rats moved was slowed by the size of these new ones, fat and lazy I guessed, but still appearing menacing, as their claws were long and sharp-looking and, unlike the smaller ones, who ran around us only in the shadows, walked slowly toward us in the light of the lantern.

 

[Firesprite]

Felicity

looking over his shoulder, Felicity peered ahead..

"Is that a... R.O.U.S.?" she whimpered

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Statler

OOC: nice reference...


R.O.U.S.? Had she gone over the deep end?
I pointed the pistol at the thing's head, thinking, let's see if I can scare the other away...
I pulled the trigger. As the bullet struck, it sent blood everywhere, the head seeming to burst. It fell over with a heavy thud. The second stared wide-eyed, then turned to run.
"Well, that was easy," I said, speaking mostly to myself, but loud enough for her to hear.
Then, as the rat reached the edge of the halo of light thrown by the lantern, it stopped, twitched suddenly and violently, then squeeked loudly in pain and was pulled away in an instant.

 

[Firesprite]

Felicity

"A rodent of unusual size.. .. I never thought to see one outside of the fireswamp.." she whispered.

flinching at the gunshot echoing around them, Felicity hooked her fingers into the back of Statlers belt, desperate not to loose him.

"that was easy" he'd said. Yes it was, she thought, but how many bullets have you got left? How long can we last down here?

The sudden disappearance of the second ROUS scared her more than she would admit.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Statler

I watched for a moment, wondering if whatever had taken it was coming for us. Surely it would, I thought, if we stay here for too much longer. And all we could do was go forward.
"Come on," I said, holding the lantern at full arm's length. i started forward slowly, expecting it to come barreling out of the dark at me. I knew better. If it was what I thought it was--another snake--it was probably busy feeding on the rat, which would mean it was already busy. We should be able to sneak right past it.
I sped up the pace, hoping she was following, as I heard the sound of sharp nails scraping the clay floor,not moving, but held in place, like a dog on the end of a leash.
As we moved closer, it came into view. The rat, head and front feet already in the snake's mouth, rear feet backpedaling in vain.
I held my breath as we passed it, watching its body twitch slightly as it opened its mouth further to take the rodent down.

 

[Firesprite]

Felicity

Stepping as lightly as possible, and trying to stop the trembling in my knees, I edged past the massive snake.

I prayed that this would be the only surviving snake.

As we moved on, I noticed that our path was begining to slope downwards.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Statler

Once we were past the snake, I let my breath out in a sudden gust, having takne only half-breaths until then for fear we'd make too much noise and disturb the huge snake. I noticed then that the path led downward. Another turn for the worst, should we be headed underground instead of out into the desert like I'd hoped. If the living dead were wandering the streets above, what could we possibly find down here?
My question was answered far too soon as the sound of crying came to my ears once more, much closer this time. Sobbing, like a child lost.
I stopped, listening. I heard it steadily now, steady weeping and sniffling, definitely that of a child.
"You hear that?" I asked her.

 

[Firesprite]

Felicity

"Yes, I hear it too!.. oh that poor, poor child! quickly, we must find it!" Felicity exclaimed.

Dashing ahead, Felicity ran out from the protective lamplight. She only got a few steps before realized she would get quickly lost in the dark. Moments later, Statler caught up with her, and she saw they had come to a junction, a crossroads underground.

Straight ahead, the tunnel continued in a gentle downward slope. to the left, a cool breeze, perhaps another groundside exit, to the right, a level tunnel, but it seemed to be dripping and leaking much more water than the others, and there were fallen rocks on the ground.

The crying continued, but the breeze rendered the sound directionless.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Statler

I shifted my eyes from one tunnel to the next, trying hard to decipher which direction the sound was coming from. It was no use...
"Well," I began, "The smartest thing to do would be to get above ground. So I guess..."
I pointed in the direction the breeze was coming from. In the back of my mind, I wanted to stay behind though, afraid that the crying wasn't coming from outside and not wanting to leave the child down here.
I started walking in that direction, also thinking, that snake will be done feeding very soon. What woud it do then? Come for us?

 

[Firesprite]

Felicity

following Statler into the breeze I became more and more uncomfortable, sure we were leaving a lost child alone in the darkness.

It was almost a relief to find the exit barred.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Statler

"Shit," I spat, seeing the wooden planks covering the mine's exit ahead. We approached it anyway, just to ensure that we couldn't push them from the way. No luck though. They were locked solidly in place from the other side. I managed to peer through a gap in the boards. Maybe we were lucky afterall. Outside, i could see the staggering silhouettes of more zombies, headed no doubt for the town where the others waited.
"I guess we go back," i said, looking to her.
The crying came again, this time sounding much further away.
We'd possibly find the child afterall. There was that.
Sighing, I started back the other way, reholstering the pistol and taking Felicity by the hand.

 

[Firesprite]

Felicity

Dissappointment and relief. Funny how one can feel two such opposite emotions simultaneously.
I was glad we were going to look for the child.

A chill ran down my back as I followed Statler. I glanced back at the boarded up exit, but there was nothing there. I couldn't help thinking that something watched us though.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Statler

As we moved further back, I got a strange feeling, like someone had just walked over my grave as they used to say. I looked around, wondering if she'd felt it as well, but not wanting to sound foolish in asking.
I brushed it off and kept moving. Soon, we were back at the junction between the three passages. I looked around, scanning the two that remained.
I was clueless, but didn't want to go down the less well-kept tunnel, where the rocks seemed to have given way some and the water leaked, but for some reason, the other way seemed too safe, like it couldn't be the right way since it wasn't dangerous enough.
I looked to her. "Any ideas?"

 

[Firesprite]

Felicity

"Perhaps if we go down the stable corridor first for a little way, we will hear if that is the right one, if not, we can try the other. I don't much like the look of it, if we go down it first, it might be wrong anyway, and we will have put ourselves in more danger for no reason." I replied hopefully.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Statler

Made sense.
We started forward, the lantern out in front of us. As the light enveloped new parts of the mine, I studied the supports and walls, making sure they were fully stable. The last thing we needed was to get trapped down here, if we weren't already that is.
We'd traveled about thirty yards when we came up on the hole in the side of the mine. About two and a half feet in diameter.
Snake hole.
"Well," I said, "hopefully it goes in there instead of following us."

 

[Firesprite]

Felicity

I shuddered as we passed the hole, hoping there were no more snakes like that down here. I followed Statler, being careful not to let him get too far ahead, holding my skirts up with one hand, equally careful not to trip.