The Network ( Book One of the Grounders Series )

12

At first the sounds come rushing in. Groans, crunching, shuffling. No voices. My head aches severely and I wince.

My eyes open slowly, everything is a blur of colors that I can't recall the names of at the moment. One of the is the color of blood.

It takes a long time for my eyes to focus, but the pain in my head doesn't go away. Now that my brain isn't foggy, I can register the pain I feel in every single nerve in my body.

Above me I see a light, a circular light that I'm guess in the cavern where the battle was. We jumped through that light and landed here.

I am in a black cavern, the walls are ridged and pockmarked, full of texture. The ground is covered with black gavel, so sharp it penetrated my skin and drew blood when I fell.

I struggle to stand, the world sways violently around me.

I fall over three times before I'm able to stand straight. The world is still a mixture of swirls and color, but not as bad as before.

I lean against the cavern wall to steady myself. Miraculously my bow and all my arrows survived the fall in one piece.

The cavern is small, but there is a massive tunnel directly across from me. All that I can see inside the tunnels is darkness.

Welcome to my world, Alaric Constantine. It was very brave of you to come here but now you must find me. You'd be lucky if my world didn't shatter your sanity the minute you cross through that tunnel, the Dragon says in my head.

Chills run up my spine. What did I bring my friends into?

My friends?

I look at the ground as see Cicada lying a few paces away from a soldier. Her face is covered in tiny scratches from the gravel.

I start to walk towards her but cry out in pain as the sharp gravel digs into the bottoms of my feet.

I bite back the pain and slowly make my way too her. I kneel down at he side and press to fingers to her throat. She's still alive.

I look around. I spot Jonah across the cavern, near the mouth of the tunnel.
There are three soldiers down here with us. They must've fallen in by accident.

I can't walk anymore. The pain is too much. I sit down lightly so the sharp points don't penetrate my backside.

What do we do now? I've never been more clueless in my life.

Eventually the others wake up. The soldiers are confused but it doesn't take long for us to explain what happened.

One of the soldiers, Aaron, says we are walking straight into Hell and refuses to come with us into the tunnel.

"If you stay here alone, you will die, it's better to try and find a way out.

Of course Cicada, Jonah, and I all failed to mention that we are hunting the Dragon.

I here blood-curling screams from above and look up. More soldiers are falling from the melee of battle above.

My stomach rises into my throat. We will have to watch them die. We will witness their bodies smashing apart on the rocks.

A current swishes through the pit and catches the falling soldiers. The spin around and land smoothly onto their feet.

"What the hell is this place-!"

The soldier is interrupted by a growl. Minions are flooding the tunnel. There is at least six hundred of them and forty soldiers.

I load my bow, ready for another battle.

The soldier next to me didn't land as smoothly as his comrades. He lays on the ground unconscious, with blood covering his face.

My hands twitch for his boots and belt but guilt flood my heart. I need them more than he does, but what if he wakes up?

My mind blurs and the next second his boots are on my feet and his sword is strapped to my waist. I see Cicada and Jonah looting other unconscious soldiers. Maybe I made the right choice.

The first minion is killed as it lunges. One of the soldiers slices its head clean off.

That sends the rest of them into a frenzy. The roar and growl and lunge, scratching and biting at any flesh of the soldiers.

I fire my arrow into the nearest minion, the projectile sailing cleanly through its Adam's apple.

The soldiers are holding up surprisingly well. For every soldier that falls, ten minions are slaughtered. The Grounders are positively fed up with these savage creatures.

I sling my bow over my shoulder and draw the sword from my belt. Mercifully the swords weight is just right for me.

A minion lunges at me, its dirt-rimmed nails digging into my forehead.

I slam the hilt of my sword into the minion's chest as we fall. I cry out as gravel slices into my back.

The minion is, now atop me, choking from my below. I flip my sword around skillfully and slide the blade between its ribs.

I stand and rip my blade free from the carcass. Fresh blood drips from the sword, making my stomach churn.

I ignore my emotion and continue to fight. I can't let my feelings get in the way of my objective, and my survival.

I swipe my blade across the chest a minion. The cut is deep, sending the minion into fits of convulsion. I slide my blade through its neck. It goes limp.

I am covered in blood by the time the battle is won.

There are only about foursoldiers let. I search frantically for Cicada and Jonah. They are covered in blood, but very much alive.

There is only two soldiers left. The rest lie on the ground amongst the bodies and blood.

I skillfully flick my sword so the blood flies off in droplets, I trick I didn't even know I knew, and sheath it.

The two soldiers, Rox and Joss, believe our story of the Dragon and are more than willing to hunt him with us. I can't shake the feeling that I am leading all five of us to our deaths.

We start down the tunnel.

The quest begins.