Beyond The Bridge [ONC 2023] // Longlisted

Chapter Twelve

The darkness makes the tunnel harder to navigate and we stumble over more rocks than before, since we cannot see what is in front of us. Levi continues to use the wall as a guide, and I listen for the sound of his footsteps. My hope for our eyes to grow used to the darkness doesn't come to fruition, and it is still impossible to see anything, even my own hand in front of my face.

Beside me, I hear Levi stumble and scramble on the sand to keep himself upright. I reach forward and grab onto his sleeve, helping to keep him steady for a few minutes.

"I've run out of wall," he says.

"We must have reached another chamber."

"Do you want to light another candle, or do we stay here for a moment and get our breath?"

"I say we stay here. Just for a little while."

"Agreed. My leg is starting to hurt again."

He groans and I feel him drop to the floor, rummaging in his satchel for something he can nibble on before we keep moving. I join him on the ground, my legs aching from all the walking and the dull throb returning to the back of my head. Tentatively, I lift a hand up and press my fingers against the back of my head. I wince as a wave of pain travels through my skull from where I press my fingers. The ground moves beneath me.

Levi hands me another quarter of pork pie, but even the smell of it manages to turn my stomach as I drop my other hand into my lap. I know I won't get very far if I don't eat it, so I slowly chew on the quarter, forcing myself to swallow it and ignoring the churning in my stomach. Everything I have eaten since we first set out on our journey threatens to make a reappearance.

I close my eyes, allowing a darkness of my own choosing to obscure my vision. Levi breathes heavily beside me and I hear him rooting through his satchel in search of one of the spare candles. My heartbeat drums in my ear and even with my eyes closed, I can feel the earth moving beneath me even though I am certain it's not moving at all. The tunnel isn't silent, either.

To the right of me, I can hear something hitting the ground, a soft thumping noise as it hits the dirt and sand.

"Can you hear that?" I ask, opening my eyes.

"All I can hear is my stomach and the little voice in my head telling me to eat more of the food. Don't worry, I'm not listening to it."

"No, it sounds like something is dripping." I turn my head towards where I think he's sitting. "Light the candle."

"Give me a second to find the matches."

I listen to him rummaging around the satchel for a few minutes before the sound of the match striking against the box echoes through the chamber. A small flame bursts into life and I see Levi's hand move towards the new candle to light it. Light once again fills the chamber, and he holds the candle out in front of him so we can get a better look at what might be hitting the ground.

The chamber we find ourselves in is not too dissimilar from the one we were in before, except there are two tunnels instead of one. Again, they are shrouded in darkness so we cannot see where they go or if they will lead us to our final destination — the mouth of the cave. I know we will have to follow the same idea as last time and pick the tunnel with the rocks, but there is no guarantee it's the right tunnel.

Levi hands me the candle and I shuffle over to the side in search of the mysterious dripping noise. I wave the candle in front of me, holding it close to the ground where a small puddle had gathered. Mud and sand have mixed into the liquid, but it's a sign that there is running water in the cave and something Levi and I can drink as we fight our way out.

"Do you have anything other than wax paper in your satchel? There's water dripping from above, which might suggest we're right above the stream. We need something to catch it in."

"There might be a cleaned-out inkpot in there, but it's not very big."

"It's better than nothing."

I hear him search around in the satchel for a second time before his hand stretches out into the darkness with the inkpot. I wrap my fingers around it and place it underneath the drip, but it's falling so slowly that it will take an age before the pot is full and we can drink it. The candle flickers, wax falling down onto my fingers. My headaches, the floor moves beneath me once again.

"It's going to take a while to fill it up."

"We can wait for a little while longer. Water is more important right now." He sighs. "Come here, I can hardly see you in the candlelight."

He reaches his hand out towards me and I grab it, holding the candle in the other hand and using my legs to propel me across the ground and back towards Levi. When I reach him, he loops his arm around my shoulder and we listen to the dripping of water into the inkpot. It's slow but somewhat comfortable to listen to in the otherwise awkward silence that settles over the chamber. I place the candle on the floor beside me.

My stomach churns, and this time, I cannot fight the vomit and bile rising in my throat. I turn away from Levi and wretch, emptying the contents of my stomach onto the dirt and sand. Levi places a hand on my back as I cough up the last of the bile, but my stomach still churns despite being empty. The ground beneath me moves in the candlelight.

"Grace? Are you alright?" Levi asks worry laces his tone as I turn back to him. I see a slight furrow in his eyebrows.

"Fine, I think."

"No, you're not." He places his other hand on my forehead. "You're really warm and it's freezing in here. Do you still feel dizzy?"

Light spots dance in front of my eyes again, but no amount of blinking can get rid of them. They just grow stronger. My head spins, the dull ache getting sharp and feeling as though it's about to split my head in two rather than leave me alone.

"Grace?" Even though he is sitting right next to me, Levi's voice sounds distant, as though he were standing on the other side of the chamber rather than sitting right next to me.

A loud, screaming sound echoes in my ears and I squeeze my eyes shut to try to fight it, but it gets louder. Levi says my name again, but it disappears into the ringing. The white spots in front of my eyes grow larger until the chamber is filled with light and I find myself tipping into Levi.

~~~

Ctrl Alt Del by BrianMullin0

Join the search for MetaAppleSoft's Zack Murkerberg, who is wandering somewhere out in the countless worlds of the Virtual Universe, untethered from his recently vaporized earthbound body, before time runs out and Zack's brain waves become digital junk files - and stop Murkerberg's 'killer,' who wants to delete Zack and the Virtuaverse for good...or evil.

First Published - March 12th, 2023