Fear of the dark. [YiZhan FF - Mystery Thriller]✔️

9. - A door?

9. - A door?

For an hour we have been following the increasingly warm air in the passages. Sometimes the passages are so narrow or low that everything is demanded of us to somehow get further. Just now we had to climb over several, I would almost say, boulders, to be able to be now in this somewhat wider passage. Oh yes, Han explained to me that in a cave it is not called tunnel, but passageway and my brother is suddenly silent. And, we are still far away from a possible exit, as it seems.

Right now we are taking a break, because Leni and Han need to rest because of their injuries. Nothing pursued us so far. I heard Missy and Meng Yao talking and talking about how maybe there was nothing there and Han might have been attacked by the Polish guys because he couldn't find the Polish girl. Or they are mad because he went into this new "gear" with all of us instead of staying on his familiar path.

With me sitting, Zhan, Cheng and Yanli. Now it's my brother who sits apart. But, even though I am so mad at him for all his lies, I feel sorry for him already. I understand how important Cheng is to him and that he wanted to do it for their future. I just said to Yanli that we can't know how we would have acted in his situation.

We all hope a little that the Romanians have reached the exit and maybe think so far to send us help, the satellite phone has been left in our cave camp for such a case.

The time we are now sitting here waiting for them to regain some strength so we can continue is quite enough to think about many things. For example: What if the warm air is somehow coming in here differently and not from an exit at all? Han and Leni will never make it the long way back. After all, we don't even know how many miles of cave passage we've walked. Zhan accurately called it a labyrinth. And what if we do have to take the long way back? How much longer will we be down here? Will the batteries last? Was that something that attacked Han, perhaps, lurking there somewhere in the darkness, waiting for us? Could it really have been neither human nor animal? And if so, what was it?

Zhan borrowed Han's lighter just then and turned it on. The way the flame danced and pointed in the direction we came from, it seems we are on the right path. At least, the way to the place where the draft, which had been felt all along, was coming from.

Han wants to talk to all of us, I suspect bad things. I'll get right back to you.

*~*~*

Han said he is not able to go on soon and Leni's ankle is also causing problems. It is very swollen and she can hardly move her foot because of it. Maybe it is broken after all?

We should all get some rest, maybe try to sleep again, Han suggested. He said he would keep guard, too. But because he is injured and very exhausted, my brother offered to keep guard. Rin joined him.

I never thought I could fall asleep under these circumstances. But I did. I leaned my back against the wall, let Zhan sit between my legs, and held him tightly in my arms. My eyes fell shut all by themselves.

It felt like I had only been asleep for five minutes when someone shook my arm to wake me up. It was my brother, gesturing to me and Zhan to be quiet, he tapped his mouth with his index finger. At first I didn't understand what he even wanted, I wasn't even awake for two seconds. But then I was wide awake when I heard a noise. Something that sounded like someone scratching on a rock wall with a metallic object.

My brother held the small camping axe in his right hand and we all stared, spellbound, at the narrow opening above the boulder that I was amazed to realize we had climbed over four hours ago. We turned off our lights so as not to draw attention to ourselves.

After perhaps five minutes, the noise faded away again and silence returned. None of us wanted to stay in this passage any longer, because who knows if the person or persons might not get the idea to look in this passage.