Writer Games | Death Wish & 51

Task Six: On My Own /SF - Alicia Washington [29]

It was supposed to be fun, damn it.

"Hurry along, Miss Washington," the square-jawed agent said. "We need to leave. This area isn't secure."

I could have laughed at  the irony, once. I could have lectured him until his ears bled on using  my correct title instead of that silly, condescending sibilant. Miss was  such a strange little word, really, a tiny explosion of gas. The sound  was almost-

The train of thought  stopped with a metaphorical screech of brakes. A nightmarish image  clawed its way out of my memory, dark eyes over an awful, inhuman face.  Tears beaded in my eyes of their own accord, and I bit my lip until I  tasted salt and rust.
The others were almost out of sight. I sped up, following them around the bend until I was just behind Maria.
Our  footsteps echoed in the halls, but no one said a single word. The  uneasy silence had even unnerved our armed escort, those lucky boys in  blue who had finally had the sense to blow the damn door to kingdom  come. I almost smiled at the image of perfect confusion on their faces  when they walked into our little excuse for a camp and asked where  everyone was.

That time I had laughed until my voice broke and tears flowed instead of sound.

They weren't looking me  in the eyes. I supposed I couldn't blame them. I hadn't looked in a  mirror since before we entered the area, but judging from the state of  the people around me, it wasn't pretty. We were the last remnants of  bright, excited group of people, going alone into the dark to light the  way for others. We couldn't have known that the mountain would be a  another stony Labyrinth, with its own monster waiting to devour us  whole. We were the offering, the expendables of one nation sent to sate  the appetites of night.

I saw Lincoln, sweet,  happy Lincoln, turn to one of the agents. He wanted to say something, I  could tell- a joke, maybe. Some little word that would banish the  silence weighing heavier than the stone of the mountain above.  Nonetheless, he hesitated at the last second and turned his gaze back to  the floor. We walked on in silence.
Every step took us past another  dark memory. We turned a corner, and Maria and I flinched as we passed  the computer room where we last saw Solace. Maria's face paled, and she  looked away from the entrance, hurrying past it faster than strictly  necessary. His friend.

I wanted to reach out to  her, to touch her shoulder and banish the fear from her eyes. It was  wrong beyond description that a woman with the wit, dedication, and  courage of Maria Thisbe would be left with such a terror, one that I  knew in my bones would stay with her for the rest of her life. The same  way it was wrong that Lincoln, who had only wanted to make his parents  happy, would be left with nothing but pain and loss for his efforts. It  was awful. It was evil.

It was inevitable.

We passed the door of  the main area, stepping over the rubble of the door. Here was where  Maria had panicked and wept at the thought of a stony grave- my fingers  brushed the wall where her hands had searched for support. I felt the  air stir on my face- we had entered the long cave leading straight to  the outside world. Every one of us save the guards inhaled deeply- the  dead air of the mountain never moved, never had any odor besides that of  dust and must and blood.

My feet quickened of  their own accord, exactly when the procession ahead of me did the same.  Our guards shouted something, but it was too late- we were running,  sprinting really, desperate to return to life, to light, to leave the  shadows behind us. No one so much as glanced back- we knew that to do so  would be to acknowledge the shadows, to let them take us back.  Footsteps pounded behind us as the guards tried to follow, but they  weren't going to catch before we were in the light- their training  couldn't possibly match our desperation.

Light appeared, a  shining vista too radiant for me to fully perceive, illuminating the  ancient strata of the cave entrance. I redoubled my efforts, heart  beating a deafening rhythm against my ears. One foot crunched through a  charred circle- the remnants of our cheerful campfire the first night. I  blinked back another memory; laughing and talking with the rest of the  group, the flames dancing in flickering patterns. I had laughed at a  sulking Calypso, argued quantum physics with Maria, and listened to  Dylan talk with comic, drunken sincerity about cryptids until the stars  faded in the sky. We had been happy and excited then, a million years  ago. Wind blew on my face, and the scene shattered, just an instant of  my life flashing into the past.

We left the cave, standing in the burning, blinding sun.

Maria stood as still as a  statue, gazing up at the too-bright sky. Tears flowed down her cheeks  as she stared at the sky and the sun with an expression of ineffable,  eternal joy. Lincoln and Kara collapsed against each other, laughing  with abrupt, breathless gasps. Amari fell to her knees and sobbed with  relief.
I stood behind them all, watching in silence.

Fifteen people had gone into the darkness, adventurers brave and bold.
They  were going to take the opportunity for life and joy, chasing life and  knowledge and excitement. I had known these people, liked them,
Five shadows emerged, an eternity later.

I didn't recognize them.