In the Cold

Chapter 4

Tach limped through the darkness, dragging one hand on the wall, leaning on her axe with her opposite arm. She was tired, cold and thirsty. Her wounds stung now, the euphoria of battle had given into the agony of injury, and she was acutely aware of how many times she had been burnt, bitten, choked, thrown and slashed. She could feel herself fading, between the pain and the blood loss, she would find herself stopping to lean against the wall, only to wake up lying on the floor, without anything to tell her how long she'd been out.

About every twenty metres an important looking door lead into the wall of the tunnel. Tach hadn't tried to open one, because the wolf prints continued down the main tunnel, and in her state of mind, reuniting with her friend was the first priority. Then her animal brain took over, and the thought of possible food drove her to shove one of the portals open.

A dim, greenish electric light buzzed on as she opened the door. Tach stared at it for a few moments, trying to remember who she was and what she was doing in such a bright place. A groggy glance over the contents of the tiny closet-like room revealed that there wasn't many of them. There were torn ends of straps that once upon a time held fire hydrants, first aid kits, boxes of flares, blankets and stretchers, the labels for which sat beneath the empty spaces, taunting Tach with their inaccuracy.

The girl slumped against the wall, shouting when the rough wood reminded her of the gash in her back. That finished her, and in a moment she was slumped on the floor, sobbing.

Through her tears, Tach saw something sparkle with a glint from the buzzing lamp. wiping her eyes, she saw two clear plastic bottles. Large bubbles rocked back and forth in what was almost certainly pure, delicious water, apparently dropped when the room was looted.

Tach grabbed the bottles, hugging them to her chest as she sat up on the bench she'd found them under. She squinted at the labels, making sure that they were indeed water and not some kind of toxic chemical.

"Evian... I wonder what that means. Maybe it's Pastspeak for water. Kind of wish I didn't skip that class now."

Tach giggled. And started unscrewing the cap from one of the bottles. "Well, worst possible case scenario, I poison myself. And then I stop hurting."

The liquid in the bottles wasn't poison. The water flooded her mouth and throat. Suddenly her senses remembered to function and her body once again felt like it was where she belonged. Tach sucked the last few drips from the first bottle without breathing, then rushed to open the next one. She stopped herself after one swig.

"Better keep this for Wolfalina... Wolfette... Wolfabeth... The wolf." she said to herself.

Tach continued down the Tunnel. Now that her mind was keeping up with her, she wondered at how the squid blood kept glowing this long after being spilt. The Wolf was still leaving tracks of glowing blue goo, and she was still dripping with the stuff, it hadn't even dried.

The wolf's path skittered back and forth suddenly, and then there was a puddle, where it had fallen over. The tracks became closer together after that, wobbling a bit as well.

Tach continued to follow the wall, watching the trail with concern. She noticed a splash of colour next to her, and looked up, finding a pattern of swirls and shapes, in black, yellow and red, painted onto the tunnel wall, occasionally working down to the floor.

Tach smiled at the striking thing of beauty in this otherwise strictly functional, repressive environment. She traced her finger along the shapes, accidentally adding lines of glowing blue to them. As she continued along, the patterns became less and less abstract, taking on the forms of people, wolves, deer and rabbits. There was a giant beast like the one she had run into earlier, men riding wolves and giant motorized sleds were attacking it with all manner of weapon, and the beast was stomping on them, and swiping them aside with its tail. There were creatures Tach didn't recognize, things that looked like a cross between a turtle and a chipmunk, and an odd, fluffy chicken.