Chained to You

6 Feet Under

Kai stood and wiped the debris off of his trousers. "Oh so I don't get a "nice to see you" too?" Crow's face broke into an uncharacteristic smile.

"Sorry, ladies first," he said, clapping Kai on the back with a gloved hand. I watched them silently. I hadn't realized how close the two of them were, no wonder Kai trusted him. I guess if someone had saved me when I was on the brink of death, I would think of them as family too.

Kai chuckled and turned toward an adjacent wall, scanning it slowly. His eyes stopped roving once they reached a small indent in the rocky surface. I watched curiously as he tapped it three times with his knuckle and stepped back. As if by magic, the indent moved further inward and opened into a pocket-sized chamber. Kai reached his hand in and brought out an extra flashlight, a few cans of imperishables, and a blanket, which he held out to me.

I shook my head. "I have your jacket, I'm fine. You keep it." Crow snorted and I glared at him. "You don't have to be such an ass, you know."

His eyes widened slightly, but that's the only reaction he bothered to show. "Sorry, sweetheart, I thought that's what girls liked nowadays." I opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind, but Kai stepped between us.

"Let's just all take a deep breath," he said wearily. "I don't know about you, but I'm tired and I want to find a place to sleep as soon as possible." I crossed my arms and huffed my agreement, while Crow snatched the extra flashlight out of Kai's hand.

"Then let's go," he grumbled, motioning to the shadowed tunnel in front of us. Kai nodded and started forward, Crow and myself in tow. At the entrance, Crow held back and allowed me to get in front of him. "Just in case you get any ideas of running." My skin crawled, but I didn't argue; those words made me feel like a criminal being escorted to their cell.

The two flashlights illuminated just enough of the tunnel to keep moving at a staggering pace. Crow kept stepping on the backs of my tattered boots and I couldn't tell whether he was doing it on purpose or not. He was probably just trying to get on my nerves, so I ignored him and surveyed the rock around me. It was a darker shade than it was when we first entered the tunnel, more of a brown opposed to the sandy color it was.

"Where does it lead to?" I asked Kai. My voice bounced off the walls and I smiled to myself. I always loved echoes as a kid.

"You'll see," he responded vaguely. I rolled my eyes and kicked a small rock forward, so it skipped in front of Kai and hit something metal with a loud ding. Kai flicked his flashlight to where the sound had come from. There was a metal bar a few feet ahead of us, and when I looked closer, I saw another one, and another. A prison cell. Was I really being escorted to a cell? Was that their big plan?

I started to back away, but I hit something warm and solid. Looking up, I saw Crow towering over me, an amused smile spreading across his face. "It's not for you," he said as if reading my mind. "It belonged to the umbra bellator centuries ago."

"That's right," Kai chimed in. "These tunnels used to belong to them too, but they've moved on and I doubt they know they exist anymore." I side-stepped away from Crow, embarrassed and flushed.

"H-how did you know they existed then?" I stammered. Kai shifted the blanket that was draped over his broad shoulders and dropped the hand that was holding the flashlight, dimming the light in the tunnel.

"My mother owned the house we were in earlier. I grew up there," he explained. "And when I departed from the umbra bellator, I hid down here and trained anyone who wished to improve their powers. Anyone who wasn't a shadow warrior or allied with them, of course."

"And that's where we're headed," Crow added. "The training ground, or as I like to call it, Living Hell." Kai tut-tutted and continued walking. Following slowly, I glanced over my shoulder at Crow, admiring his confident gait and guarded facial expressions. When he saw me looking at him, he scowled and I turned my head back around, laughing through my nose. What a douche.

The cells seemed to go on forever and I had lost count of how many scattered bones I had kicked out of the way. It was hard to believe that the umbra bellator had enough enemies to fill all of this space.

"Hey, Kai," I said, kicking yet another bone off to the side. "Who did they keep in these cells?" Kai paused before answering.

"Mutants." My blood ran cold and I let out an involuntary shiver.

"Like me?"

"Like you." He responded without looking over his shoulder.