An Undead Rebellion (Sequel)

danger / not quite at home

DRAKE'S P.O.V.

Reaver led us through a winding path in the thicket of forest, urging us to move faster as we sprinted and dodged obstacles. My lungs were on fire and every strained breath hurt like hell but I pushed on, my fastest speed only allowing me to outrun Kasper by a very short distance. Man, in high school I kicked ass in track. Fucking supernatural fucks, I dug a little deeper and surged forward, until my foot landed on hollow ground and the next thing I knew I was falling straight down into a man made earthen canal. I got to my feet, squinting in the dark as I strained to see how far down I was. I glanced up, as Kasper called down to me, asking if I was alright. I could make out his shadow hovering at the edge of the hole.

"Fine!" I affirmed. I glanced around again, and realized I wasn't surrounded by walls of packed earth, but passage ways dug out of the dirt. "There's a fucking tunnel system down here!" I called up to him, catching my breath finally now that I was at a standstill.

"It probably leads into where they're camping out." Kasper answered, now crouched down. "Reaver and Eris are far ahead."

He dropped down into the hole, surprising me more than a little. Who would willingly be stuck in claustrophobic hell holes dug into the ground? Not I. But apparently Kasper was different. He produced a compact flashlight and flicked it around, uncovering two passageways, one to our left and one at our backs.

"Which do you suppose?" I inquired, rubbing the grit from my palms unsuccessfully.

Kasper pointed his flashlight down the tunnel behind us. "This one."

I inclined my head, gesturing him forward. A few steps in a concern popped into my head. "So, what are we gonna do if we run into a vamp down here? There's not really anywhere to run...or hide."

Kasper paused, glancing back at me. His normally bright eyes were a dark blue down here. "I don't know. Talk our way out of being killed, I suppose."

I let out a derisive laugh. "I may be charming but I don't think I'm that good. Not when pretty much every undead in existence probably hates my guts."

"You can be ransom." Kasper noted lightly, leading our path down the tight passage.

"What I've always dreamed of,"  I muttered.  It was a time like now, where I could possibly be confronted with danger at any moment and was virtually defenseless, that I wished I had some sort of supernatural power. Or just Eris next to me.  She seemed pretty adept at killing.

My heartbeat echoed in my ears loudly, otherwise there was only silence and the faint shuffling of our feet in the dirt. My whole body was tensed and my eyes struggled to see further ahead than the light revealed,  watch for approaching figures that could potentially rip my head from my shoulders. I forced myself to let out a long breath.  Kasper halted suddenly, and I did the same.

"Do you hear that?" he asked under his breath,  his free hand going for the 9mm on his hip.

I held my breath, listening. There it was; the distant sound of someone coming down the tunnels. More than one, I realized as I stood there. There was a whole group from the sound of it. The noise picked up the closer they got, there were vague shouts that bounced off the earthen walls and made their way to where Kasper and I stood frozen. They sounded panicked. Well, I was fucking panicked.