Isolation (Penumbra Fanfiction)

Chapter 3

A/N: Not much to say. Enjoy (:

Next part will be up soon hopefully:D

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The entrance to the mine was a tiny hatch that seemed to be placed in a random spot in the middle of Northern Greenland, with no signs or any indication of what it is and where it led to. The boat had stopped as close as possible to the hatch, and the trek through the below freezing temperatures to this hatch was, thankfully, short.

The drop down the hatch was a long one, with rock floor under the hatch to break your fall. Inside it was dark, the only light coming from the open hatch, with the draft blowing around in the room. The walls were gray rock, and wooden planks stopping the rocks from falling in on them, though they looked so old, it didn't seem to provide much support anymore. There were barrels placed around the room, and an old wooden box. One wooden door was straight ahead of them, and another on the left wall.

Cameron had gone to check the left door, while James went to the one straight ahead. James declared that that door was unlocked, but was blocked by something, while Cameron had entered the other room. Eric, James, and Christina followed Cameron into the room. Natasha had looked in the box and around the barrels.

“I found some flares, they might come in handy.” She said to them as she came into the room. She kept one for herself, gave one to Eric and Christina. They lit them up, the flares caused a creepy red glow in the room, but did make it much easier to see in the room.

“Hey, I found something.” James said, he was crouched by one of the old metal shelves that was covered in rust. “I think there's some sort of pathway behind it.”

“Well pull the shelf away.” Cameron helped James as they both pulled the shelf out of the way, sure enough, there was a small tunnel.

“Where does it go?” Christina asked, “Think it's safe?”

“Well we won't find out just sitting here. Eric, you go first, since you have a flare.” Cameron told Eric, who didn't protest, but didn't look all that eager to go into the unknown tunnel first. So he entered, and the rest of them followed.

The tunnel was only one way, and led to another room, that held nothing dangerous. The door was blocked by two heavy looking barrels, Eric pushed them out of the way and opened the door, “This is the room that was blocked,” He told them.

“The hatch is open.” Christina said quietly. Slightly unnerved at it being open. Shouldn't it be locked?

“There's a wooden tunnel leading down.” James came to see it. “Let's go then?” He suggested. “Better than staying up here.”

Everyone seemed to agree. Christina descended down the hatch first, holding her flare out at arms length, preparing for the worst. She could barely see a few feet in front of her. The tunnel down was small and cramped, making it harder to walk, and the roof above looked unstable. The floor finally began to flatten out, not descending anymore. How far had they gone down? The roof was now higher, making them able to stand up, and a door stood in front of them. Christina managed to open it, and once everyone got out of the tunnel, the close of the door caused the roof behind the door to cave in, causing them to be trapped in the mine.

“Well, shit.” Christina mumbled.

“Here. There's a map.” Natasha said, as she walked up to an old looking map stuck in the middle of a fork in the paths. “Office, Explosives, Northern Area, Workshop, and Storage.” She read out loud. “We just came from the exit,” She pointed to the small circle which indicated where they were.

“Let's go to the office first,” James said, and began to walk that way, the others following.

Christina straggled at the back, looking at everything with an increasing interest, there were boxes and barrels all around, she wondered what they contained. Just as she almost went to go look at a large box that was covered closer, a loud, high pitched howl was heard. She paused, and looked at the others who had turned around. “What was that?” Christina whispered, fear taking over her.

“Sounded like a wolf-” Eric said, but Cameron slapped his hand over his Eric's mouth, and pointed behind Christina, she turned and everyone noticed it.

A large husky dog was prowling around only meters away from them. It looked strange. It looked... undead. It had fur falling off it, only some few patches of it's black coat remained on its back. There was flesh ripped from various places on his body, blood dripping from his legs and belly. The most unnerving of all, was his eyes. The eyes glowed bright, they were white, and with no pupils.

Christina backed up as quietly as she could. “What do we do?” She whispered.

“Who said it'll hurt us?” Natasha said suddenly.

“What do you mean?” Cameron asked in disbelief.

“Well, it doesn't look vicious. I'm good with animals, I could go over there and take a look at him.” She explained, not bothering to keep her voice down.

“No!” Cameron yelled at her in a whisper. “It could attack you!”

“I'm sure it won't.” She didn't listen, and started walking confidently towards the animal. No one else moved, and just watched her, scared for what would happen.

The worst happened.

The dog looked up as she came a few feet away from it. Natasha stopped and bent down, holding her hand out. “Here boy, it's okay.” She said in the baby-voice people use to talk to animals.

The dog growled, which caused her to take a step back, and draw her hand in a bit. “It's okay.” She said again, her voice didn't sound so confident anymore, as the dog kept growling. She stood up slowly. The dog barked angrily and jumped at her. Natasha screamed and fell over, the dog on top of her, attacking her brutally.

No one needed to say anything. Everyone bolted away from what was happened, towards the office, which had an airtight door. Everyone left Natasha. It was about survival. They couldn't help her. She was gone. And it was her own fault.