Out of the Darkness

132

"Ash, keep an eye out. Yell if you see or hear anything," he said. "Yup," Ash replied. Sam held the lid up while I lifted Anna's limp form into my arms. I didn't know why, but I had to get her out of this place. I had to try. "You're bleeding," Sam said, nodding towards my now covered forearm. "I'm fine," I replied. I knew that I was bleeding and that it wasn't slowing down yet. I could feel the sticky, clotted blood that was trying to dry being covered by the fresh blood that was still coming. It was deep, and my arm was screaming, but I was okay. I had to be. "Okay, can we find our way out of this God awful place now?" Sam asked, letting the lid down slowly. "Lead the way," I replied, shifting Anna so that my arms were under her shoulders and knees. At first, I felt like I could carry her forever. She felt so real and solid in my arms, her cheek against my chest. We walked back the way that the demons had gone, shining the light everywhere that we could, and listening for any little sound. The dark hallway in the basement just seemed to go on forever, curving now and then but never ending. "Look, I know the staircase down here took forever, but this is taking even longer. There are no doors or anything. Are we missing something? Should we turn around?" Sam asked. I shook my head. "No, keep going. This has to be the way. We know that we can't leave the way that we came in. What other options do we have?" We had walked for so long that my arms were starting to hurt, the muscles aching from carrying Anna for so long. My bad arm felt so weak, that I had to keep pausing to reposition Anna. I didn't want to chance dropping her. I had no clue if it was still bleeding or not though. "Colby, you okay?" Sam asked, shining the flashlight towards me, when I had to pause yet again. "You don't look so good, brother." "I'm fine," I replied. I took a step towards him, but then my world started to turn black around the edges. I stepped back and leaned against the concrete wall, closing my eyes against the lightheadedness that had overcome me. "Brother, you're white as a sheet. We need to take a break." My eyes snapped open, meeting his. "NO. We don't have time. I'm fine. Just, someone take her for me, for just a few minutes." He looked at me, skepticism dripping from his expression, but he took Anna into his arms. "You're still bleeding. God danggit Colby! The back of her jacket is wet and I can almost guarantee that it isn't from sweat. Why didn't you say anything??" He passed Anna off to Ash, then pulled my arm to him. "You stupid son of a bitch," he muttered, before pulling off his belt and lopping it around my arm, above where it was sliced. "This doesn't look good. There's something black in it." "SHIT SAM!" I yelled, when a sharp pain went straight through my arm. I glared at him as I yanked my arm away. "Be careful, would you?!" "Stop being a wuss," he said, then pulled my arm back over to him. "I need something to wrap around it but we don't have anything." "Here," Ash said, turning his back to us. "Grab the shirt out of my back pocket." Sam pulled the plain white t-shirt out of his pocket, and furrowed his eyebrows. "Have you had this the whole time we've been in here?" Ash turned back towards us, and shrugged awkwardly with Anna in his arms. "Yeah. I always keep it there." "Okay then," Sam said, with a light chuckle. I couldn't really pay attention to what was happening, because my vision was going blurry and dark again. "Sam," I said, grabbing onto his arm with my good arm. "Whoa!" he yelled, as my fingers slipped from his arm. My world went dark. The next thing I knew, there was a sharp sting across my cheek. "Wha?" My mouth felt thick and parched. "Oh thank God!" I heard Sam exclaim. I cracked my eyes open to see him leaning over me. I was lying on the cold concrete, with a bright light shining down. "Did you just slap me?" I asked, bringing my hand up to rub my cheek. He laughed, but it seemed to be more in relief than humor. "I didn't know how else to get you to wake up. Don't you EVER do that to me again!" I tried to sit up, and he placed his arm around my shoulders to help me. "I don't think I had much choice in the matter brother," I replied. "Ooo ouch." I looked down at my arm to see a ripped, white cloth tied around it. It was already starting to turn red and black with my blood. "Come on. We've got to get you out of here." He helped me to my feet, holding me steady as I wavered a little. "You good?" he asked. I nodded slowly. "I think so." "Okay, let's find our way out of this fucking place then." We started walking again, but I noticed that Sam kept the pace slower than before, and kept glancing back at me. I knew that I had lost too much blood. I could feel it. My body was weak and heavy, every step harder than the last, but I was determined to keep going. "Wait!" Sam exclaimed, stopping in his tracks so fast, I almost crashed right into him. "Yo, I got an armful back here! Maybe more of a warning next time!" Ash exclaimed. "Anna," I whispered to myself, then turned around to make sure that she was okay. She was still unconscious, lying still in Ash's arms. I wanted more than anything for her to be in my own arms, but I knew that I would just put her in danger if I tried.