The Second Chance (Open Novella Contest)

Chapter Seven - Ow

My arm throbbed from the arrow still sticking out of it. I turned my head to look over at Eva and she was even worse off, with two arrows sticking out of her left leg. Her face was screwed up with pain, but she ran determinedly. My arm didn't hurt so much after that. I heard the beast roar and wondered if an arrow had managed to penetrate its skin. Maybe it was burning to death? I shook that image out of my mind. We rounded a corner and almost collided with the white boy Eva had requested we steer clear of and the Australian girl. The boy stopped dead and stared at Eva.

"Eva-"

"Come on." The girl grabbed his wrist, pushing past us.

Eva stared down the hall after them before I bought her back to her senses by slapping her senseless. And yes, I know that makes no sense!

"I wouldn't go down there if I were you!" I called after them. "There's a sort of monster - creature - thing down there."

"I've got this, but it was sweet of you to worry." She called back as they disappeared around the corner. Then, from somewhere in the labyrinth, we heard a scream and the bright blue light returned, but this time twice as bright, and the pain twice as fierce. My body went numb, I went into shock as I collapsed to the ground again. Suddenly, the pain in my arm felt like nothing as my body was torn apart. The light lashed out at me, causing me to scream. I was faintly aware of Eva next to me, and she sounded like she was in just as much pain, screaming harder than was surely possible. The screams filled my ears, they were everything, they were the world and then- they were nothing. The blue light faded. The pain started to vanish, but my arm still throbbed. I yanked the arrow out and threw it as far as I could. I went about three centimetres. Hey, I had just been torn apart, what can you expect? I limped over to Eva and helped her to her feet. She lent on me, and I almost fell over again. Tears ran down her face.

"This is going to hurt." I said, leaning her on the wall. I braced myself, before yanking the arrows out of her leg. She yelped as a fresh wave of blood washed her leg.

"Thanks," She mumbled, tearing three pieces of fabric off her skirt. She handed one to me and wrapped the others around her leg. I wrapped mine around my arm. We slid down the wall and sat in silence for a few minutes.

"What's that?" Eva asked, ponting at two pieces of paper and a small grey pouch.

"Not sure." I said, struggling to my feet. "Dammit. More paper." The first piece was the same as the last piece we received, two people and a key. The second was a note.

"You must be hungry," I read out loud, "Good luck. P." I picked up the pouch. "Six pomegranate seeds." I popped one in my mouth. "Not my favourite. But I need some food. When was the last time we ate?"

"I don't know about you, but the last time I ate was about sixty-eight years ago."

"Sixty-eight years ago!" I exclaimed. "How do you survive that long without food?"

"Umm, we're dead." Eva reminded me. "We don't need to eat. Or" She took a meaningful glance at me. "Go to the bathroom."

"Oh, right. We're dead. But still hungry."

Eva rolled her eyes, but took three seeds nonetheless. The sound of contented chewing was the best sound I'd heard since entering this blasted place called the Underworld.