ATLAS 776

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Victoria looked back at Darryl, panting. Her breath was getting heavier as the pair crawled further.

Unable to see well in the absence of light, and guided by only a small green radiance emitting from the video camcorder, Victoria checked to see if her ally was still following her.

"Where are we?" Victoria whispered, voice rasty and throat dry. She was shaking tremendously, her body taken over by the immense fear.

Her companion stared back at her, after trying to make out what was going on. He was trembling as well, sweat pouring profusely from his neck. "I don't know... Avionics" Darryl whispered back. He was following Victoria's lead, guided through the tight compartment by the viridiant light source.

Victoria turned back. She looked around, the area they were in was damp and tight. "No... Its too quiet here to be avionics..." Victoria answered, holding up her camcorder with a tight grip. The camcorder's battery icon flashed. It was running out of power.

The pair crawled on for what seemed like forever.

Crawling.

Crawling.

Crawling.

Crawling.

Darryl stopped crawling, panting and trying to catch his breath. "Hold up..." he gasped. "I can't do this..

We have... We have been here for like twenty minutes... This... This..."

Victoria turned around again, whispering softly back. "This place shouldn't exist..." Victoria reached her right hand out towards her right, and stretched her palms forward. She wriggled her fingers. "We haven't been going straight either... I can't find a wall, or anything to touch... The entire ground... Is empty..."

Darryl dropped his chest down on the floor. His stamina was out. They were going nowhere. He flipped his body in a heavy movement, turning his sweat soaked shirt to lie its back on the cooler ground.

"Come on, we can't give up.." Victoria said, breathing heavily. Her throat was raspy and breathless. She was tired too, but her light source was not eternal. Victoria looked at her camcorder's screen, and pressed the replay button.

Victoria held the device towards Darryl's face. "Look... We... We have made only... Two rights... Two rights and" Victoria breathed in hard. "And a left... We... We are not going in circles..."

Darryl did not respond. His eyes were fixated on the darkness before him. His focus was out. He was on the verge of giving up.

"Shit."

The lights went out in a click. Darkness shrouded the pair. Victoria placed both her hands on the ground, sweeping and touching around her to locate her ally, whilst fumbling and knocking the camcorder around on the ground.

Victoria could not feel the man. Panic setting in, she continued stretching them out, whilst searching further. Her body turned faster and more frantically. She felt the strain of her jeans rubbing in friction against the ground while she spun. Her legs were feeling heavy.

"Darryl... Darryl..." Victoria panted. "Darryl!... Darryl..." she started raising her voice. All that could come out was a raspy sound, limited by how tired she was. She could not speak properly. Victoria felt tears rolling down her cheeks. She was hot, sweaty, and tired. The complete and enveloping darkness was driving her hopes down into the ground.

"Victoria." Darryl's voice whispered into her right ear.

Victoria stopped right in her tracks. Her body was frozen in unknown terror. She was as stiff as a pole. The voice that spoke her name so closely and intimately into her ear sounded like Darryl, but yet it did not. The voice was unusually cold and eerie, and had sent goosebumps through her entire body. Victoria froze in her place, feeling more comfort in the darkness before her than the thought of turning around to see what was behind her. The voice was not heard again. The dark silence was eternal. Without her senses working, Victoria decided to make a gamble. Staying put had proven worse. Victoria breathed hard again, pulling as much of her remaining strength as she could. Victoria pushed her body forward, limping into the darkness, in a desperate crawl forward. She could not lose here.