1.34 Unfortunate things
1217 Words
With a sigh Luca turned to the fully open door leading deeper in and gestured for his team to move forward. Then from behind came a grating sound of metal scraping stone. With a flinch Luca jerked his head around and stared at the long ‘arm’ that had reached under the stone and was scratching at the floor. Luca thought it was an arm only because the way the appendage bent in the middle was more consistent with an elbow than a knee.
In no other way did it resemble an arm. It was thin to the point of being spindly. Completely dark grey in colour with a glossy look. It reminded Luca almost of plastic except it had to be harder almost to the degree of steel. A hardness like steel was the only explanation for how the three claw like spikes at the end could gouge the floor.
Luca shuddered slightly. Claws like that would go straight through their body armour layered or not. Resolutely Luca turned away he wanted them far away by the time the thing got through that door. Luca did not doubt at all that it would get through the door it was just a question of whether they could get far enough away before it did.
As the moved into the next corridor Luca did wonder how it got through that room the first time? Did it have the answer or did the room repair itself after it had escaped. Neither answer was particularly appealing at this point.
The next corridor was completely devoid of traps and so Luca had everyone take a small break in the corridor before they entered the next room. He would have preferred to keep going to put more distance between them and the thing behind them but at the same time it had been several hours since they’d entered, and they needed to drink and eat, and it was better to do so in a known area than to hope the next section will be better.
Once everyone had rested for a short while Luca led the way into the next room while leaving a single butterfly in the corridor behind them. It would not come any further just be used to monitor for the thing reaching the door.
Luca stared silently around as the arch closed behind them. A cavernous room stretched out before his eyes. It would be majestic if it wasn’t for the murderous obstacle course that filled the room. Like the maze Luca could see several doors leading into the course. The doors entering fanned out on either side of the small platform that his team stood on. There where two more entrances on either side of them.
The main problem that Luca had was that there was a clear wall around the platform that completely prevented them from entering the course. Luca rolled his eyes. They now had an enforced break. Why did he even bother making sure they stopped before hand? With a resigned shake of the head Luca started to exam the barrier. It looked like glass or plastic but running a knife on it didn’t even scratch it.
Tails pulled out one of his step knifes and chucked it into the wall by the top of the door. Stepping on Ghosts back and then the Knife tails jumped up and grasped at the top of the barrier. His hands hooked onto it for a second and then he vanished in place.
Luca’s heart stopped and he immediately jumped up to stand on the step knife trying to see if Tails had just gone somewhere else or couldn’t be seen from the ground. Nothing. Luca closed his eyes. Then reopened them and checked his map. Tail’s marker was still on the map, but it was of to the right for quite some distance.
[Lucky: Tails? Do you copy?]
[Tails: I’m here. I’m fine. Mostly.]
[Holly: Mostly?]
[Tails: Voice said I’ve been transferred to a punishment room for trying to break the rules. Its unpleasant. I’ll be fine. I should come back to you once I beat the… challenge.] tails grunted in the middle of speaking and a crash sounded over the line.
[Lucky: Then we’ll wait here. Rӓv, can you bring up the visuals from Tails glasses I’ll act as support you three try and find a way to remove that barrier.]
Luca settled down cross legged at the back of the platform as Rӓv brought the visual up. After a few minutes the screen on his glasses changed being completely overtaken with what Tails could see. Luca stared at the scene that could only be described as utter chaos for a long moment. It looked like a rockslide had just occurred amongst a forest bellow. The view panned left and right, and Luca noticed a small stream to the left and in front while on the right Luca spotted a still smouldering campfire.
[Tails: That worked surprisingly well. My compliments to the inspiration.]
[Lucky: By that you don’t mean the rockslide I’m seeing the remains of?]
[Tails: There were some… things down there that I didn’t want to deal with… when I doubt bury the problem.] Luca open and closed his mouth a few times as he struggled to come up with a response to that bit of insane wisdom.
[Lucky: Ghost if you try that in my vicinity without express permission first, I will shred your TRPG manuals when we get home.]
[Ghost: Da, will ask first.]
[Tails: I’ve seen traces of other people. I think they are some of our competitors but not sure since I’ve only seen traces. Found a discarded jack that looked familiar.]
[Luca: Discarded or lost? What sort of…] Luca swore as Tails passed the jacket in question. It was a desert camo jacket; Luca had seen at least three teams wearing that style of jacket when they’d disembarked from the vans. Luca hadn’t been sure why they’d been wearing that sort of thing going into a cavern but hadn’t commented. Now it was a rather distinctive indicator that someone from there group had been present.
[Lucky: So how did you end up here? if you caused a rockslide and I can see the environment as well I assume the trees are real.]
[Trails: Smells like pine and dust in here so I assume things are as real as anything else. Though I have no idea where here is. According to the map and your position I should still be in the cube but I’d swear I had the sun on my back at the top of the hill before I started that rockslide.]
[Lucky: There is a sufficient artificial light to maintain actual trees? That is an advanced bit of tech right there. Do you know how your supposed to clear the punishment challenge?] Luca decided not to focus on the how’s of the arboretum since he wasn’t likely to get an answer and focus on getting Tails back to the group. Hopefully that would be the final outcome.
[Rӓv: You two realise that the lack of context for your conversations is killer for the rest of us?]
[Tails: Have you found a way past the window yet? No? Then you just have to put up with it.]
- Writer
