The radio went silent so completely that I caught myself waiting for it to breathe again.
It never did.
Damien turned it over once in his hand before placing it carefully on the stone between us, as though even a dead machine deserved respect.
Neither of us spoke.
Somewhere inside the mountain...
something answered the silence.
At first I mistook it for my pulse.
A slow...
steady...
impossible vibration.
It didn't echo through the tunnel.
It traveled through the rock itself.
Tiny grains of dust began crawling across the floor instead of falling. Pebbles began grinding against one another with tiny, gritty sounds. A bead of water hanging from the ceiling rippled without dropping.
Damien crouched immediately.
He pressed two fingers against the stone.
Closed his eyes.
Waited.
