The Misadventure

Chapter 15

Fallout's POV

The first room was dark. The kind of darkness that completely envelops you, suffocating senses and generally making you paranoid.

"Cavet?" Bella's voice sounded a few feet to the left of me. I moved cautiously in the direction, reaching out. My hand brushed against skin and she squealed, but I wrapped a hand around her mouth. I felt her nod and she pushed it away.

She got so close to my ear that I could feel her breath. "Cavet, what's going on? Why can't we talk?"

"Because I can't hear you breathing. You're right next to me, and I feel it, but I can't hear you breathing." I muttered. I sucked in a long breath, making sure to fill my lungs completely.

"Oh," She whispered doubtfully. We were both quiet for a while, then, "I can hear you breathing, though."

I moved so quickly that she barely had time to make a noise. My sword flipped up and around, neatly sliding into her stomach and pulling free. I gasped for air, sucking in and out in an attempt to make do for the time I had just gone without oxygen. There was no sound of a body hitting the floor. There was no blood on the sword, either, when I went to wipe it clean. The blade came away dry in my hands, cool metal against flesh.

Stretching my sword far out in front of me, I slowly waved it back and forth as I walked. Not once did it bounce against a wall, or, to my disappointment, Bella.

The light echo of my footsteps was suddenly joined by others. Far, to the right of me, I could just make out my voice.

"The door's this way. I found it earlier when I was looking for you." Bella's voice replied to this, oddly calm despite the fact we were just thrown into evil's play set.

"Ok. Did you check to see what was outside?"

"No," my voice replied. "I wanted to get you and then get out of here as fast as possible."

Silently, I followed the sounds of their voices.

"I could have found my way out," Bella replied. It was quiet for several seconds before my voice responded, light with humor.

"Well, I would have missed you if you didn't. C'mon, it's not that much farther." Bella remained quiet, but the patter of footsteps revealed that she was still following. I sucked in a breath and held it once more, jogging over to the footsteps.

Listening for the sounds of breath, I determined that Bella was on the left and lagging behind slightly. Perfect.

I looped my arm around her mouth. I released my held breath in a long hiss as I whispered into her ear.

"That's not me, don't trust them, play along." I released her and took another breath just as she did, disguising the sound of my own in hers.

"Bella?" My voice said. I was close enough to her to feel her tense.

"Yeah? What's wrong?" She asked.

"Are you okay? It sounded like you stopped breathing there for a second, and we couldn't have that, now could we?" It laughed.

She forced out a laugh. "No, I'm fine. How far is the door?"

"Just up ahead, don't worry."

"Cavet?"

I yanked my sword free, and just like before, there was no sound of a body. Gasping for breath as I was, she found me quickly, kneeling on the ground.

"What was that? Are you okay?" I patted her arm in an attempt to say I was fine, as talking was still beyond my reach.

"Dunno," I finally said. "Our voices, but not us."

"Right. That's not weird. They didn't have our personalities either, did they?"

I coughed. "No. Although, that wasn't how I figured it out."

"No, you'd focus on all the scientific stuff. That's why you weren't breathing, right?" She asked.

"Yes," I confirmed. "The one I was with could hear me breathing, but I couldn't hear it. You said you figured it out because of personality?" I got to my feet as she answered.

"Well, ya know, it was partly you grabbing me out of no where and telling me, but I realized after that you, the not you, was cracking a lot of jokes and seemed kinda relaxed about this whole thing."

We walked along at a normal pace, now that the threat was eliminated.

"Nice catch. I suppose I should have realized too." I said.

"Eh. it was hard to notice. So, do you actually know where the door is?" She asked.

"No. That may be difficult. Wait, hold on." She paused.

"What?"

I moved slowly in a circle, tapping my feet against the ground. "Was the floor always wood?"

I could hear the grin in her voice when she responded.

"Nope." She jumped at the same time I did, and we crashed through the door and down to the ground below.