Duantless Book 8: A Cold Journey

Chapter 17: Concatenate

Amarie stayed close to her friends, stepping carefully over the uneven ground as Aiko and John led the way through the jagged yet straightforward path leading them away from the ledge of death that they have come to know it as. Some areas were wide open and dry, making it easy to traverse, while other sections were narrow, requiring some ingenuity to get through. However, through all their issues, they pressed on trying to find the kids and hopefully a way out. Amarie squeezed through a very narrow portion of the cave, seeing herself coming up behind Shaffer, who waited for her to rejoin the group.

Shaffer looked back at Amarie and asked, "Everything ok?"

"Yeah," Amarie said, walking right next to him. "Just wondering when we'll finally going to get out of here."

"It's hard to say. Every time we've had to deal with something that involved a crystal, things tend to get a little...complicated." Shaffer's answer did not fill her with confidence, but she figured it was probably the best one to explain their situation.

"So you guys have been through one of these before?"

"Yeah, that one was just like this."

"You mean with the traps and such?"

"Well, not exactly in the same traps. Each temple provides its version of security, if you will. So we never know what to expect, but so far, one thing is consistent, they all try to kill us."

"But if you guys are the ones that are supposed to retrieve these...crystals, then why make them hard to get to, even for you guys. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of your goal?"

Shaffer thought about the question for a moment and then creeped out a smirk. "You're right, but we're not the only ones looking for them, now are we? Kind of like a little extra security to ensure their safety. Although I would hope that we would be getting better at dealing with these places."

"Let's hope we find a way out of this place. I like danger as much as the next person, but I didn't really think this was going to happen when I woke up this morning." Amarie said, smiling at Shaffer, who smiled back, understanding what she meant.

"Hey guys," John yelled back as he and Aiko halted ahead. "We have a problem."

"What is it?" Amarie said as she and Shaffer stepped up next to John to see a dead end. "Crap."

"My thoughts exactly," Aiko said, as she touched the wall and started knocking on it. "Feels pretty solid."

"Cave in?" Shaffer said.

"No," Amarie said as she examined the wall over. "This has been here before and is apart of the wall."

"You think we need to go back and rethink this plan? Maybe a turn that we missed?"

Aiko suddenly felt the drip of water fall on her cheek, surprising her. She slowly moved her flashlight upwards, noticing a small hole no bigger than a half-dollar dripping water from the ceiling. She shinned her light into it and could see a whole other room just above them.

"I think we have a way out," Aiko said. "There's another cave above us. I think we can get through."

"You sure that's wise. I mean, what if we cause a cave-in?"

John took a look at the hole, and Aiko could see the concerned faces of Amarie and Shaffer. "If we do cause a cave-in, it won't make our situation any worse than what it is now. Right?"

John tore himself away from taking a look at the hole and let out a low groan saying, "I don't like the idea but Aiko's' right," John said as he too shined his light at the hole. "It seems thin enough to breakthrough. Shouldn't be a problem."

"Alright then, how do you want to do this?" Shaffer asked.

Aiko let out a small smile and pulled out her gun. "Whoa, whoa, wait a minute," Amarie said, rushing over to them and holding her hands up. "You guys are not seriously planning on using those hand cannons? The very same reason why we're in this mess in the first place."

"Well...yeah," Aiko said, confused about her reaction.

"No way that's just going to make our situation worse."

"The only way it can get any worse is if die and besides out of all the stuff I packed in our gear, pickaxes, dynamite, and drills were not one of them. So...yeah, this is what we got. Unless you want to hit the hole with your bare hands."

"But..." Amarie went to say something when Shaffer placed his hand on her shoulder, stopping her. She knew she was outnumbered by this discission and closed her mouth, giving a reluctant nod taking several steps back along with Shaffer. Aiko and John stepped forward, positioning themselves a reasonable distance from their target, readying their weapons. They switched the devices to their unique setting, and both of their guns let out a low humming sound. They gave each other a look then, in unison, powered up their weapons glowing bright green and blue from their slide chambers. They both nodded to each other and begun firing at the hole, finding it easy to break away the stone.

In the chaos, Amarie and Shaffer covered themselves as a cloud of smoke shrouded the tunnel. Aiko and John soon stopped not only to let the dust settle but to also give them a clear view as to what they were doing. Small loose rocks trickled down the cavern floor-filling everyone with anticipation if their plan worked. It took a couple of moments, but the dust finally cleared, revealing a much larger hole for them to pass through. John turned on his light and could see another passageway just like they thought, and a smile came over him.

One by one, they crawled through the newly made hole. Everyone pulled out their flashlights and shined them around to realize that they must have blasted their way back into the temple due to the corridor they now stood in was just like the one that they fell from. As surprising and exciting as it was to get back on track, they still were lost as to where to go next.

Shaffer shined his flashlight down the path to the left and said with an uncertain tone, "So where do we go from here?"

Everyone sporadically started making suggestions when Aiko called out from the right side of the corridor, "We go this way." Everyone turned to see her kneeling on the floor with a smile on her face.

"How do you know that?" John said, walking over to Aiko, who aimed her light at two sets of footprints gleaming down the darkness on the corridor. "No way."

"I know, right?"

"What is it?" Shaffer said as he and Amarie walked over to see the footprints as well. "Well, I'll be damned."

"The kids came this way," Aiko said as she began to feel like things are starting to break their way. "They must have passed through here just recently."

"You think?" John said.

"Yeah, we need to catch up with them fast. Who knows what things this place has in store for them." Aiko stood up, adjusted herself, and then quickly started walking away. Everyone else followed on after as she kept a close eye on the tracks hoping it would lead them to the kids before the temple had any more surprises for them.