Molly - Part 1

Chapter 27

The bridge ran from one horizon to the next. Anura watched, unbound, at-mercy to the man and his boat. It rocked back and forth and smelled of sulfur, but Anura was indebted to the craft and as such found a certain beauty in it. The bridge, however, only brought misery, and as such Anura saw it for what it was: a gateway to another doom.

"Can't go further," the longshoreman said, chewing on a piece of string. "This is where the nightmares are."

"A little more," Anura said. "I can hear him."

The longshoreman took a rope and began weaving it around the metal shift, the rope going taut as the longshoremen cringed, struggling until finally a black crate bobbed up to the surface and settled.

Anura didn't like looking into the water. It was too dark. Only death could be found down there.

"Be careful."

Anura ignored him, leaning to search past the water and to her destination: a hole at the base where the bridge eventually stopped.

"We're close," she said.

But the longshoreman shook his head. "I can hear the creaking. I know what that means. Means stirring. People moving. No people here anymore, not since the bombs."

Rockets, down, down and further into the abyss. Anura could still see them. She sucked in a panicked breath, hoping the longshoreman didn't see.

"We're almost there."

"Getting close to the midden," he said. "Think you're falling into a trap, miss."

"It doesn't matter," she replied in a whisper, watching the hole come closer and closer. "Just get me there."

"Fine."

Time passed strangely, and when they arrived at the shore Anura could not say if it had been minutes or days.

She stepped onto black sand, and waited. No call came, and so Anura was convinced: this was the only way forward.

"What you're looking for," the longshoreman said, tossing the box onto the shore, "is not here."

"That is for me to decide."

The longshoreman stared at the hole, then nodded. He began off into the fog.

The entrance was large, about the height of five men and just as wide. Wind echoed from within. Anura thought she could hear voices.

She checked the pockets of her jacket, then went over and cracked open the box.

There, positioned in the direct center, was a dial. Silver, with carvings on it. Anura picked up the dial and put it away after tracing her finger against it.

Down she went, further and further, all warmth seemingly taken away from herself and the world at-large. Eventually Anura needed light, so she took out her screen and lit the way forward, the device pulsating with azure electricity, illuminating herself, the ground, and maybe a few feet in front of her. Not enough to light the way, but enough to keep going.

The first alien light. A soft glow, emanating from a specific place, and as Anura's vision adjusted she could see that it was a mushroom, growing out from the wall of the tunnel. More mushrooms appeared until soon they flooded the cave and Anura no longer needed her screen.

The lights spiraled upwards, to another hole. Anura peered at the divide, then looked over her shoulder.

Nothing. Only dark.

She began to climb, and after a few terrifying moments of crawling she came to the other side, pushing back the bramble, the dirt, then--

She couldn't see; she couldn't breath, grasping for anything. The impact forced her down, but somehow Anura managed to grab onto a root and was able to hold herself in place. The water continued to come until finally Anura gasped for air.