Carmine (Completed)

Chapter 51

My head ached with the ensuing urge to survive, yet the options offered to me were terrible. More than that a noise infected our conscious from a distance and made my headache worse. I asked, "What is going on down there Five?"

We were currently on the street on our way back to the cavern.

Five nodded. "There seems to be a valve leak. The workers have opened the pathways to the sewers. We cannot go the way we came."

I mused on that briefly, for I knew that happening was quite coincidental. There was danger close by I was sure about that. "What then?"

Five pointed up. "The airpipes." Large holes, grilled at the front, they led to the surface, but they gave us an unsafe path to freedom.

Valor groaned. "An annoying climb."

A quick decision needed to be made and we had no time for this when I knew this was a trap. "Tap into that woman strength of yours. We got to get over this," I replied.

Climbing would be easier on the darkest side of the wall, so we turned back and went to the lowly section of the town. We walked much slowly and measured, once we came under the mighty gaze of the silos.

The road thick with the shadows of the metal walls snipped at my legs. Reaching the end led us into metal buildings that were barely manned. The workers here wore googles and I felt why. My eyes were burning a bit, fluttering them with frequent blinks helped. It looked like a lot of important structures. As much as I loved to know how those places were utilized, we pushed forward.

I stared up the wall, jagged edges stuck out and deep pits supplemented the sunken shadows into the light gray glow. The sight frightened me to the core.

Five rushed ahead of us, with one arm, yet he swung from edge to edge.

The rope lowered from his back, and hung ready for our climb. Sandream walked up to Janilla. Janilla jumped back and exclaimed, "Get away from m-" but, Janilla fell back as her body relaxed into Valor's arms.

Valor looked up at Sandream and said, "You could have asked her."

Sandream said low, "We have no time to waste." Valor glanced at me, and I nodded for us to continue, for my patience was little when I had a headache. The rope was tied around Janilla with the ending of the rope attached to my belt and I allowed length to linger below me.

Valor climbed and I followed her. Sandream was last and kept in line with me as I went up the rock's face and we went up a good distance. My fingers tingled with a spiking pain that was as brief as the peace of mind I desired. The risk of falling settled on my mind.

That would be a terrible way to die. To have came this far and have died so simply would have been depressing. I shook the sweat off the back of my hair. Dying here was not happening. I kept negative thoughts at the back of my mind and pushed onward.

The time passed eerily slow. Finding my fingers between cracks and breaks in the rock got harder. With the fading light, I made out little definition in the rock. The building sweat made it no easier.

I caught my raspy breathing. My eyes squinted from the flow of sweat on my eyelids. Shaking my head, I saw Five already hung from one of the grill gates of the airpipe. He seemed to be ripping it from the side.

Five stopped moving.

My hand lost gripe and I screamed with my arms whirling in terror.

The rope tugged into my waist, stopping my deadly descent and my awkward screaming. An ache traveled up my lower back, but I was not falling to my death, which was fantastic amid my gasping. I turned and tried to get my bearings, but my sight failed me mostly.