Overlord

35

Slater led the way through dark tunnels, shining her headlamp before her. Syed walked at her side, the biologist’s face set and determined, but fear was obvious in her eyes. Slater hoped her pounding heart couldn’t be heard over the scuff and scrape of their footsteps. She had to think of something, because if she continued to lead them blindly along dark passages, eventually they would tire of humoring her. And then, she thought, they would almost certainly shoot her.

She clenched her teeth, literally biting down on the panic that threatened to rise and take her sanity away. The pressure of these dark tubes of rock had started to become a palpable force, the claustrophobia repeatedly stripping her breath, forcing her to gasp great lungfuls of frightened breath. She didn’t want to die down here, by any means. Not at the snapping mandibles of the mantics, though at least that would be quick. She didn’t want to be shot either, even if that was equally swift. But most of all, she didn’t want to wander lost and frightened, only to get weaker and weaker until she eventually starved to death in the dark, with no light, no food or water, no friends. No hope. She suppressed a sob, thoughts of Aston coming back to her. He had to be alive. If recent events had taught her anything, it was that Aston was hard to kill and the bastard had a habit of popping up again. She had to hold onto that hope. If she considered him already dead, the insanity would leap from the base of her gut where it swirled and throttle her mind in an instant.

Keep moving, find Sam, get out. Keep moving, find Sam, get out. It became a mantra as she walked.

“Seems like we’re getting nowhere,” Larsen barked from behind her.

Her back arched from the jab of his pistol barrel. She staggered forward a couple of extra paces away from it. “Just be patient,” she said, cursing the high note of fear in her voice. “We have to go a long way around, because we couldn’t go back the way we came.”

“We will shoot you and scavenge your supplies if you don’t help us,” he said. “You know that, right?”

Slater laughed in spite of herself. “You’re a really great motivator, Anders. I bet you’d quickly rise to the very top of middle management if you took an office job.”

To her surprise, Olsen, the merc leader, laughed out loud. But when he came up alongside her, his face was scarily hard. “He is less than a leader,” Olsen said, his voice heavily accented Scandinavian. “But his point is true. We won’t carry baggage. Where are you leading us?”

“Back to the green cavern, just like you asked. Only it’s a circuitous route, that’s all.” She realized the slight glitter of nascent vines that seemed to thread a lot of the tunnels between larger caves, appeared to be brighter. She grabbed onto that small detail. “See how these are glowing more? That means we’re getting closer.”

Olsen’s eyes narrowed. Clearly he didn’t believe her, but he dropped back a pace or two again. Although she couldn’t feel its touch, she strongly sensed the presence of his assault rifle inches from her back.

Syed glanced over, a question in her eyes. Slater gave the tiniest shrug. Maybe there was something to it. The tiny filaments of vine did appear to be increasing. They trudged on, leaving a little more hope behind with each step. Syed’s headlamp flickered and dimmed a little, then came back. Her hand rose to it, panic in her eyes.

“Turn it off for now,” Slater said. “Save your battery. We can manage with mine.”

Olsen said something in rapid Norwegian from behind them, then Jensen and Larsen’s lights clicked off. Slater allowed herself a small smile. It was some comfort, at least, that even the big tough mercs were as concerned about survival as she was. Even if they did end up shooting her and Jahara, it gave her some melancholic pleasure to know they’d probably still die here, too.

With the sudden reduction in light around them, Slater noticed a soft glow far ahead. She allowed herself a moment of hope. The smear of green luminescence along the walls was definitely more than the simple hints of tunnel growth. Had she, through dumb luck, actually managed to guide them back to the green cavern after all?

She thought about saying something flippant like, Here we are then! but decided against it. No point in tempting fate. They had seen other brightly illuminated caverns, had nearly died in one despite the safety they thought it offered. Several of them had, in fact, died there. She drew another deep, nervous breath and pushed on.

“Is this it?” Larsen said from behind as the brightness grew. The relief was apparent in his voice.

But they stepped out into something none of them could have anticipated. The passage opened into an impossibly huge space. The walls and ceiling disappeared into infinity, lost away and above in the distance to clouds of swirling, pale green mist. To their right, the ground rose to a high ledge of rock, the wall rising above it to be lost in fog. To their left, the rocky ground curved slowly away into fog-shrouded distance. Several more tunnels emerged at various places along both sides. But in front of them, shimmering and gently lapping, was water that could only be described as an ocean. It glimmered with its own green phosphorescence, sparkling in tiny wavelets that rose and fell. The edge lapped softly at the rock, in a gentle mesmerizing rhythm that left pale deposits of brightness behind that slowly dimmed, only to be replaced with the next gentle wave. Mist swirled over the surface of the water that seemed to stretch away from them forever.

Slater’s breath was trapped in her chest with wonder, but Larsen managed to find his voice.

“What the hell is this?”