Roys should have one, too, so we weren’t out yet. The spray slipped beneath the wounds to stop the bleeding. The blisters oozed, shrinking until they were little more than dead skin hanging off his back. The cradle could piece him back together in a minute. This would last him for hours.
“Something down here is blocking our comms,” Roys said while tinkering with his commlink. The holo screen flashed from his failed attempts tocall out. The med spray did wonders, seeing as he was already back in commander mode. “They worked fine above ground. I can check my downloads, but that's it. Yours?”
“Same.”
“Check your supplies.”
We didn’t have much, seeing as his pack was burnt off from that flora and I was assigned the water canister, so I wasn’t carrying another pack. Weapon-wise, we had two blasters, a flamethrower, three blades, two flash grenades and two regular grenades. In terms of supplies, we had one full med spray, our water canister, a lamplight, and three ration packs.
“We could last a few days down here,” said Roys.
“I’d prefer it if we didn’t.”
“We wouldn’t have to worry at all if you followed orders.”
“That took longer than expected.” I stood with the water canister on my back, the lamplight attached to my belt, and marched.
Roys put his supplies on his waist, including his visor. He left the top half of the exoskin dangling, too broken to protect him and far more irritating for his injuries. The lamplight and my visor illuminated the path ahead.
“And here you are making the same mistake.” He caught up to block me. “We need to scan these tunnels as we go, otherwise we may end up moving in circles.”
“Then start scanning.”
“I am in no mood for your attitude, Ethin.”
“Lucky.”
Roys got in my face, eyes blazing. “You realize you would have gotten your friendkilled had I not intervened?”
I waited to see if he’d add that last bit — how he came in to protect me but I didn’t return the favor. He didn’t, and I shoved past him. He bit back a pained noise.
“That thing would have killed us all if we had stood around. I wasn’t about to die doing nothing,” I said.
“We did not know what the flora was or what it could do, and you made us learn it the hard way. You shouldn’t have shot, as I ordered, but you panicked.”
“I didn’t panic. I made the best choice that I thought would get me the fuck out of there.”
“Just you?” he challenged.
“Just me.” I took a random turn while Roys had his commlink up, scanning. “Now cut the fucking lecture. We’re alive. That’s what matters.”
“You best hope the team is alive. We won’t know until we’re out of here,ifwe get out of here,” he said, and my blood ran cold.
I wouldn’t die down there. I wouldn’t be left in the dark.
Roys stepped in front of me. “You’re impatient, stubborn, and you always do whatever you want regardless of the consequences, especially if those consequences don’t really harm you. Maybe you are lucky, lucky that it’s you down here and not any of them.” He turned away. “I’ll scan. Stay behind me, if you can do that much.”
Every muscle in my body screamed to walk in the other direction. I would show Roys what it meant to do whatever I wanted. I’d leave the bastard to defend himself, to rot away after that med spray wore off.
Pivoting, I had every intention of doing exactly that.
Except the tunnel was long and dark, growing smaller, constricting… and I heard the rustling of the mine, the constant creaks and cracks. The message. A single fucking message on our broken holo screen with our parent’s pictures. I wouldn’t even get that much. I didn’t have anyone to send that message to anyway. I gave away all I ever knew, everyone I loved, for a glimpse of freedom. Most wouldn’t see this life as free, but compared to the Colony, tolerating Roys was the better option.
I marched after Roys, keeping my blade out, considering what had happened with the blaster. He had a flamethrower in one hand and the scanner pointed ahead in the other.
“I can’t see the team’s vitals on my commlink,” he said, bottom lip caught between his teeth.
“They’re likely searching the perimeter for us or waiting for backup.”
