Does It Matter

18

  Zhang Qiling was confused. A feeling that bothered him to the extent of being annoying. He just couldn't understand what was going on in his unfortunate companions head.

When he had first noticed Wu Xie being tossed into a wall, his first thought had been to protect his charge. But then he had noticed, that the younger was not just thrown, but had willingly thrown himself into the oncoming hit.

It was clearly a suicidal action, but given what he had seen with Wu Xie thus far, his reactions to most situations did give off that idea, so he guessed that that was just the way he was.

However there was generally a reason behind the choice of reaction, so he looked around to take stock of his surroundings beyond the immediate dangers, but all that could be seen was crumbling dirt. And the cracks throughout the walls where Wu Xie had made contact.

"We need to collapse the tunnel."  Ah, so that was it.

He looked back to his companion, only to see him smashed into the ground face first. That hadn't looked intentional. He was suddenly brought back to awareness of his own surroundings as a root snaked around his ankle, causing him to jolt and slice it apart with much more force than was actually necessary.

  He looked back up just in time to see Wu Xie roll out of the way as a cluster of branches smacked into the ground with enough force to send the whole tunnel shaking, cracks forming all throughout as it did. Wu Xie gave him a small grin and a thumbs up, clearly proud of himself.

What the fuck.

He held back his incredulous thoughts, it wouldn't do any good to speak them out loud. Bits and pieces of the ceiling began to fall and he saw Wu Xie dive out of the way, knowing that the other was largely running off of adrenaline at this point... They both were.  He avoided more crumbling chunks of debris, and became aware of the light entering the tunnel with the collapsing layer of dirt and gravel.

He spared a brief glance up to see that the hole was almost large enough for a person, but looking around at the surrounding damage, if they were to wait for a larger opening they would most likely end up buried. How did he even get stuck in this situation in the first place? Oh yeah, he decided to follow the trouble child into a tomb.

Zhang Qiling stepped out of the way just in time to avoid another falling chunk of stone, realizing that now was not the time to be dragged into thought trails. At some point the youngest Wu member had come to stand only a foot away, and was now squinting up at the light shining through the earthen window that he had created by extension. A look of contemplation briefly crossed his face while he turned his gaze from the light to look around for a way up.

Finally, he sighed, and swiped an arm at his brow, his black hair fluffing up in the process, and turned to look at him.

He gave Qiling a quick once over glance, before coming to look him in the eye. "Climb on my shoulders, then pull me up." He stated with a sheepish expression and a shrug of his slim shoulders. Shoulders that wouldn't be much good for standing on.

Qiling resisted the urge to roll his eyes, feeling that the younger might be a little bit lacking in the self awareness division.

   Without even bothering to reply he took a step closer to the other, and without warning bent down and threw him over his shoulder. He was Zhang Qiling, most never considered that he might have limits, to the point that he himself blocked any that he did have into the very back of his mind. He absolutely did not need help to get out of an opening barely seven feet from the ground thank you very much.

And with that thought being forcibly kept in circulation in his mind, he made a running start and rebounded off the crumbling wall to give himself a slight boost before leaping up to reach the opening, completely forgetting that the extra weight would not allow him to land on top, though he still managed to accomplish his goal by catching a tree root just outside of it. With what little strength he had left, he pulled them up onto solid ground... Well, almost solid.

The ground under his feet was still crumbling from below, and they needed to get far away if they wanted to ensure their lives remained intact.

"Can you put me down already?" Came the almost bored sounding voice from just behind him, and he flinched at the sudden reminder of the fact that he was carrying a conscious human being. Wordlessly he set the other down, acting as a stabilizer so he could regain some form of balance.

The tremors running inconsistently through the jungle floor had become increasingly strong, prompting them to come to a wordless agreement that it was time to go.

Wu Xie absently wondered what had become of his uncle and his crew as they made their stumbling way as quickly and as far as they could go away from the place, tripping over the smallest of things from the exhaustion setting in and clouding their minds as the adrenaline made of desperation faded out.