It's Somewhere Beneath Us

I Missed You

When our lungs burned and our legs couldn't carry us anymore, the four of us stopped. We entered a mold and mildew-ridden living room before spotting a smiley face on a nearby door. Something we hadn't seen in a long time. The previous group had made it this far after all. We ducked into the room and sealed ourselves inside, panting like dogs from how far we had just run. After a moment, however, Bea used her remaining energy to stumble forward and pull me into a hug, her body trembling from a million emotions at once. After a moment, Ethan joined the embrace as well. Daniel didn't, though. He just continued gasping for air before growling out:

"Are you kidding, Joel?! That was your plan?!"

I pulled away from Ethan and Bea and stared at him. Looking back on it at that moment, it really was a stupid idea. But despite that, only one response came to mind.

"Well... It worked, didn't it?"

Daniel caught his breath and glared at me for a second with disbelief. Then, out of nowhere, I heard him begin to softly chuckle. Soon that gave way to a steady laugh, which quickly evolved into a wild cackle. I looked to Bea and Ethan with a nervous glance, thinking for a moment that Dan might be going full Larry when he surprised me by stepping forward and placing an arm around me.

"You're insane, kid. But I'm glad you're okay."

After settling down, we all picked a random spot around the room to crash. It wasn't very big, which allowed us to talk to one another still. I filled them in on what I had been doing behind the scenes while they told me about all of their detailed experiences. How the food tasted, how the place smelled, how excited they were for the next time we found a shower. Things that I wouldn't have known from just the camera.

"I'm so glad you guys are okay," I told them when we had finished exchanging tales.

"You too," Ethan shot back. "There were a few times you didn't make it to the spotlight that we were worried."

"I was fine. Just running late was all. I wasn't going to die before I could get you out of there."

"Well, thanks for sticking around, kid. We all owe you one." Daniel said.

"I don't think so. I think each of you has saved my life at least one time, if not more. I kind of owed it to you."

"Well, consider your debt paid then."

"Not yet. I still have to pay the interest."

Daniel softly laughed as the room fell to silence.

"So, what now, then?" Bea questioned. "Do we just keep going deeper?"

"I guess so." Ethan replied."

"We need to be a lot more careful from here on forward, though," Daniel told us. "We've only been down here for a couple of months, and already we've had a lot of close calls. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think the things down here are a bigger threat than that lumpy monstrosity."

Ethan snickered, "I honestly think it helped us more than its hindered us since we got down here."

"I'll remember that for the next time you go scavenging and have to hide," Bea told him.

"Oh shoot, Joel, do you even remember the route we just ran through?"

My heart sank as I remembered our primary goal, "Oh no... I really don't. It couldn't have been that bad, right? We only made a few turns. Maybe I can go back a little bit and retrace my steps?"

"No, it's not worth it. We can get it on the way back up. Like you said, it couldn't have been too far. Probably just a missed hall or two. For now, we should keep moving." Daniel said.