Cyber Mortality

Chapter 47:

"This place is so creepy," Jez groans as she moves her blue flame about to illuminate the corridor. "Plus this is taking forever. Do you really have to tap every single stone?" Her green eyes laze between Vyra and Birch. After a moment she leans against a pillar in boredom. 

"We don't want anyone to die from a trap we should have detected," Vyra grits her teeth while tapping another stone.

"This is taking forever," DeNyle sighs. "Especially with so many people behind us."

"It is certainly different from being in just a party of four," I grin and turn back to look at the bobbing blue lights behind us. "And we can die now. So that's very different."

DeNyle's blue eyes meet mine and his brows knit at my words.

"We aren't going to die," he clenches his jaw. "I won't let that happen. Just don't pull any stunts like you did back on that mountain. Good lord, I about had a heart attack when the mountain exploded."

"It was pretty cool though," I grin and think back to the avalanche I caused.

"Do you hear that?" Jez inquires as she scans around. 

"Hear what?" we all strain to listen, but only hear the the sounds of one hundred people shuffling about.

"Huh," she lays back on the pillar she had been resting against. "I thought I heard the sound of swords scraping together or something. Weird."

"It was probably just someone in here sharpening their blades," DeNyle shrugs.

Rocky's eyes scan the room but after a moment he settles down as well.

"Nope!" Jez shoots to her feet suddenly and scans the room. "I hear it again."

Rocky climbs to his feet and starts to walk a slow circle around the room.

"What is that?" more people rise from their resting places to peek into corridors and try to find the source of the sound.

"Iris?" a woman's voice pipes up from the far side of the room. "Is that you? I thought we had lost you!"

From one of the corridors a girl around the age of fifteen steps out with a sword in her hand.

"Wait!" Jez shouts, but it is too late.

The woman rushes toward the girl with her arms spread wide.

"Iris!" she exclaims and wraps her arms around the girl.

The girls hand moves fast as lightning, burying her sword through the woman to protrude out her back.

"Everyone back away!" Vyra commands with fear in her red eyes. "Come toward the center of the room! We don't know what is going on!"

Heeding Vyra's words, everyone backs up toward the brazier in the center of the room. 

Shink! My eyes whip toward another doorway to find a man with an axe stepping through.

"Is that another person you thought was dead?" Rocky questions while pulling his bow off his back.

"Yes," Birch nods and equips his shield. "Somethings not right here."

The girl, Iris, draws her sword from the woman's body and takes a slow step forward. Blood dribbles down the sword to drip onto the floor.

"She bled for real," My throat dries up at the sight. 

Rocky pulls an arrow out and drags the tip across his arm. A line of red appears and a few drops slide down to his elbow.

"I'm bleeding for real too," he blinks in surprise.