Mothman and Caspian began to shuffle around. Brandon remained in front of us, peering intently into the darkness.
“Hello!” Finally called back, voice ringing strong and loud. “I’m here! Please hurry!” He sounded desperate and tired. The idea of leaving him to suffer on his own was something I couldn’t handle. Especially with him so close. No normal person would leave him like this.
“We’re coming for you!” Brandon called out. He seemed to stand a little taller, his face fiercer with determination.
We moved deeper into the tunnel, the darkness so thick the lantern seemed to cast a tinier glow than it should.
“Oh, thank you,” the climber said, his voice smooth as butter. “Thank youso much.”
1
Nothing said bonding experience better than crowding around a decaying body. Yep, we were going to have plenty of fun stories to tell our future kids… if we ever got around to actuallymakingsaid kids but as of now we were too busy making dead bodies. Well and stumbling upon surprise ones like this guy. By my count that made two corpses in the tunnels.
All four of us had our eyes glued to the corpse at our feet. It was old enough that the soft tissue had started to go. It was thin and dehydrated, eyelids sunken in. I hadn’t studied the decomposition rate of humans in extensive detail but it had to be less than half a year old.
Ava was looking troubled and lonely, standing there eyeing the dead man in dismay. My hand slid around her back and I gently pulled her closer to me. She pressed against my side very willingly, her hand coming up to grip my coat.
Well, well, well.I liked this development. Thank you for dying, mystery corpse, you ended up an excellent wingman.
This simple little rescue was becoming longer than anticipated. We’d been down here for what felt like an hour, following these twisted tunnels as the climber, Thomas, kept encouraging us deeper.
Just a little further. You have to be close now. Please, please, please.Over and over, the man wouldn’t stop talking until suddenly he would. Then it would be hard to get him to start talking again as if he forgot how and needed to relearn it.
Caspian had said Ava attracted the supernatural but I was beginning to think she attracted all sorts of fucked up situations, horny monsters being the least concerning.
So far, the climber had been wrong with every assurance. We were not almost there and he wasn’t just around the next bend. Yet he kept with these false promises, knowing just what to say to keep Brandon and Ava pushing forward, desperate to find him.
Caspian wasn’t happy. I’d decided to stay neutral about it. There’d been a time I was all for playing a god of rescue. I used to warn humans of great trouble on the horizon. I was the harbinger of death. The silent voice of warning. The god of doom. That was a long time ago though and I hadn’t cared about the state of human lives in a very long time.
The only thing concerning me now was my plump little vixen. I’d be wherever Ava was, salivating for a chance to play cowboys and horses. She could wear my hat while wrangling me to the ground. Then she could ride me till dawn, body bouncing up and down over and over. A delighted shiver rolled over my body, making my fur stand on end.
I wish she had better taste in location but then again, I could wish in one hand and shit in the other. Guess which one would fill up faster?
Being beneath the surface of the earth felt unnatural to me. I was meant for the mountains and skies, not tiny tunnels and low-hanging ceilings. The room with supplies we had stopped at was as far as I usually liked to go and I didn’t make it a habit to visit this place. It was a hold-out; a just-in-case place if I needed to hide for whatever reason.
“This is fucked.” Brandon finally broke the silence, thrusting his fingers into his green hair. Caspian reached out and gripped Ava’s shoulders, pulling heroutof my arms. I ground my teeth in annoyance.
I got it, he was used to being her only mate. But he had better get with the new picture quickly or we were going to have a problem. A bigger problem than us already snapping, grumbling, and glaring at one another.
The tension was running thicker than ever in these caves. Everyone could tell we were one little comment away from a full on bloody brawl. I could tell it was making Ava and Brandon nervous. Hell, it was making me nervous but I couldn’t stop my irritation. It was a boulder tumbling down a hill.
Normally, I was a patient person. Right now I was not. The now-dead hunters, this subterranean hike, this fucking body in the path,andAva’s splinter “infection”—it was putting me on edge.
I kept expecting the next fucked up thing to pop up and yellboo. I didn’t know if that was paranoia or a reality I was sensing in the air. My antennae shifted atop my head, tasting the air. It was hard to tell what I was picking up in these caves. It was all so stagnant.
“Are you okay?” Caspian asked. Ava blinked, finally dragging her eyes from the body to look up at him. It took her a moment but she finally nodded. Her eyes looked glassy and unfocused.
Her aura had always been peculiar, more bright and golden than any I’d ever seen. Now the light was fading to the dim copper of an old penny. It looked sick. My eyes drifted to her hand.
No one had seemed to catch on yet that she was harboring a curse except for me. I saw it the first time I got close to her, out in the woods. I hadn’t brought it up because I’d been a little busy with other things. Then I'd been hoping to talk about itafterwashing the blood out of our fur. Except, the state of that curse looked like it was now progressing.
Seeing my beautiful human’s aura in this state gave me anxiety. I’d much rather be the one shouldered with illness. At least I knew what I could handle. Who knew what she could handle and the damn thing was, everything seemed out to kill her. From mad men hunting monsters to tiny pieces of wood stuck in her hand.
This wasstressful. I'd been shit at keeping humans alive and yet here I was trying to do it again. This was different though. This time it was just one human and failure wasn't an option.
I reached around her and pressed the back of my hand to her forehead. She felt… like a temperature. I frowned, realizing I didn’t have a clue as to what passed for a normal human body temperature.
I leaned in closer and pressed my hand to Caspian’s forehead. He jerked back in shock, his eyes widening in distress at my touch. I gave an amused huff at his reaction. What did he think I was going to do? Pet his hair? Anyway, their temperature felt similar enough to me.
