Ravenous

   “Can I take the light?” I asked tremulously.

   Another loud crash resounded from outside of the room. They were getting closer. Cade handed the light over, his black eyes warm and caring. I wondered if he wouldhave left me behind if I had refused to do this. For some reason I didn’t think he would have, but I wasn’t going to ask.

   Taking a deep breath, I dropped to my knees. Cade seized hold of my arm, I blinked as I tried to bring him into focus. His eyes blazed into mine for a long moment, I could feel the determination that he was trying to instill in me, feel his fierce desire for me to stay strong. His thumb stroked over my skin before he finally released me.

   “You can do this.”

   I shuddered as I tore my attention away from him, put my hands out, and began to squirm into the hole before I no longer could. I instantly wanted to start screaming, instantly balked against the horrendous sensation that immediately enshrouded me. There was about six inches above me as I squirmed, crawled, and slithered down the pipe but it felt as if it were crushing down on my back, squeezing the air from my lungs, trapping me forever in this world of slime and darkness.

   The air within the pipe was cool and musty. The small light revealed a shiny layer of gunk, mold, and something that I didn’t even want to think about that was coating the walls. I fought against screaming, fought against squirming my way backwards when I felt someone enter the pipe behind me. The crushing sensation of being buried alive suddenly enshrouded me; it was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe as panic hammered through me. I was going to die, not from being trapped in the pipe but because I felt as if my lungs were starting to shut down, starting to close.

   I reached a turn, and after a little bit of maneuvering, managed to twist my way into the curve. It did not feel as if the pipe was getting smaller, but I was certain it was. I couldn’t let myself think about being trapped in here, couldn’t let myself think that there might be no way out. I would become useless if I did, and everyone else would be trapped behind me.

   “Bethany?”

   “I’m fine,” I managed to choke out to Abby though we both knew I was lying.

   I continued forward another twenty feet when a rocking bang from above caused the entire pipe to shudder. A creaking, groaning noise echoed throughout the system. A soft whimper escaped me as I froze. If there had been enough room in the pipe I was pretty sure I would have curled into a ball and screamed like a baby.

   “Faster Bethy, faster.”

   Cade didn’t have to say it twice. I was suddenly frantic to be free, frantic to escape this world of unending torture and madness within these crushing confines. I wasn’t entirely against death as an option anymore, if it meant escaping this whole terrifying mess. I was begi

   I was either going to find the end of this tu

   I wanted to vomit, but then I would also have to crawl through that. Though, at this point, it might be cleaner than the mess I was already struggling through.

   The pipe suddenly dropped again, taking a sharp turn down. I used the light to peer into the dip. The dim glow bounced off of the slush infested network that twisted somewhere out of sight about fifteen feet down. Where the hell did the damn thing go, and would we be able to get through it? I shut the thought down; it would only lead to even darker and more frightening places in my mind, places that I knew I would not be able to handle right now.

   “Bethany!” Abby hissed.

   “It drops again.” I warned in a strangled voice that I hardly recognized and was more than a little ashamed of.

   And then, I shoved myself into the disgusting darkness that dropped dangerously into nothing.

CHAPTER 14

   There was light at the end of the tu

   I didn’t care what was at the end of this tu

   It was a further drop than I had anticipated; I hit the muddied, wet ground with a loud grunt. Pain shot through my bruised tailbone and elbow. For a moment the air was knocked forcefully out of me, and then it gasped wonderfully, blessedly back in. I panted, clawing at the watery ground as I pulled myself clear of the pipe exit. I blinked against the bright light of day that burned my eyes.

   Though it was wet beneath me I was not in a puddle, and even if I couldn’t see yet I knew that I was in the wide open. I could feel that there were no walls around me anymore; feel my freedom even though I could not clearly see it yet. Hands seized hold of my arms; I blinked, trying to clear the tears away that were blurring my vision. It was then that I realized that the sun was not the reason I couldn’t see, it was the tears streaking down my face and clogging my eyes. “Are you ok?” Cade demanded.

   I wanted to nod, wanted to speak, wanted to reassure him that I was dazed, but completely fine. Instead a terrified, brutal scream ripped from my throat. I couldn’t stop it, and once it tore free, I could feel unending shrieks of anguish and terror building up and roiling through me. I was shaken, torn, and very close to coming completely undone. I had managed to keep it together in that awful pipe, but it had been too much, and I was completely unraveling. I could feel a shattering forming inside of me, a soul wrenching breaking that I was very afraid might just destroy me.

   Cade wrapped me up in his arms, pulling me tight against him. He buried my head in his neck, muffling the sounds of my shrieks with his body. I clung to him, continuing to scream as all of the pent up frustration, terror, and horror of that pipe, and everything else that had occurred, boiled out of me. And once it started I couldn’t stop it, could no longer contain it.

   “Bethany, Bethy baby hush. You’re out now, you made it. You’re free, it’s over, and you did great. You did great,” Cade whispered against my ear, his hands entangling in my snarled and filthy hair as he pressed me closer.

   I shuddered, clawing at his skin and clothes, trying harder to get closer to him, though it was nearly impossible to do so. It was impossible to be any closer, but I needed to be, I needed more. I needed him,all of him. The absolute certainty of that was soul shaking, it nearly ripped me in two as I held him, oblivious to anyone outside of the two of us. No one else existed in this world of warm security within Cade’s strong embrace. I wasn’t aware that my screams had subsided until I felt the gentle caress of his hands over my hair, soothing me gently, and whispering softly to me as I began to tremble. Not from fear this time, or relief, but from the sheer wonder of this tender moment, and his touch.