Forget the Forgotten

Chapter Fourteen

Amelia emitted a soft scream and doubled her speed. With every step a burning pain shot through her leg. She stretched out her arms and groped along the wall in the darkness. When the wall ended, she turned the corner. A little in front of her, the torch was visible again.

*Thank God,* Amelia thought and limped on.

She concentrated on the flickering fire, but no matter how hard she pushed herself, the light was fading again.

With her foot she stumbled over an empty bottle. The loud noise startled flocks of rats scurrying through the darkness in panic. Her ankle throbbed with every heartbeat, the pain was murderous.

Just when Amelia thought she would collapse at any moment, she saw that the light was getting brighter again. Jacob and Veronica had obviously stopped. With new energy, she stumbled forward. This tunnel did not look familiar to her. Nor was there any sound of water rushing through it.

Tired as she was, Amelia still felt an urgent need to get away from here. The red mist was out there somewhere. It had killed Tom silently. So it could be right behind them now and she wouldn't know until it was too late.

"Why did you stop?" Amelia asked, gasping. "That thing may already be after us. We have to keep going!"

Jacob frowned at her in the flickering light.

"I was sure the water was here. Which direction did we come from earlier?"

"I don't know," said Amelia.

She looked into Jacob's terrified eyes. "I have no idea how to get back to that puddle of water."

"We'll never get out of here," Veronica moaned. "Never!"

Amelia realized how she was getting angry. Why didn't Veronica pull herself together a bit? "We have to keep moving so this red mist doesn't find us," she said laboriously.

"Where are we going?" Veronica hissed at her. "If we keep walking, we'll just get more lost."

"We're already totally lost anyway," fired Amelia back. Now she was really angry. So after Veronica threatened her and almost left her behind, she was ready to give up?

"Give me the torch!" ordered Amelia and grabbed it out of her hand.

"Hey!" protested Veronica. "Who has made you the leader?"

"Shut up and listen!", Amelia ran over her voice. "I'm scared too, but we can't just sit here flapping our lips and waiting for that thing to find us. We have to think of something!"

"Well, then you'd better rack your brains," Veronica replied snippily. "That doesn't change the fact that we're trapped down here."

"Don't you care what happens to Nick?" Amelia asked.

"You know I care," growled Veronica.

"Don't you want to see him again?" Amelia went after her. Veronica seemed like she was about to burst into tears, but she managed to wink them away. "He may be dead," she said softly.

"Maybe he's not," Amelia objected. "But we don't know that."

"So what do you think?" Jacob now joined in. "Should we turn back and follow Nick? And after that, uh... ...thing?" Amelia didn't answer. Did she really want to go back? The thought of the red mist sent shivers of fear down her spine.

"What do you think?" she asked back.

He sighed. "I think we should just keep walking. Maybe we'll find an exit even if we can't find the water."

"What about you Veronica?" he added. She nodded. "Well, let's go," said Amelia. "But please, not so fast. I can't run with my ankle."

"We know that," Veronica muttered, barely audible. They continued to follow the twists and turns of the tunnel, passing through several empty rooms. But none of them looked familiar. With each bend, the torch grew a little weaker. Soon it would be in complete darkness.

And then?

Amelia forced herself not to think about it. Her breath was heavy as she laboriously hobbled on with her injured foot. She turned the next corner.

A collapsed, motionless body lay on the ground in front of them.

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647 words

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