Subterra Heart

Chapter 12: Connor Rocha

The body continued to stare at him, unblinking. It made no other effort to move, aside from loud, gasping breaths. Connor shifted, silently stepping away from it. He kept his light trained on the body, but his eyes darted to either side, searching for more things in the dark. It had taken less than a minute outside of Heart to start running into bloodrot.

"Lenny," he said softly. The body before him continued to lay still, and his radio made no sound. "Lenny," he said again, "get me out of here."

Lenny didn't answer.

"Damnit," Connor muttered, stepping further away.

When he was a solid five meters from the body, Connor risked a quick look around. The cavern walls were riddled with countless tunnels leading out of it – some large, some small, but all sizeable enough for a tall man to walk through comfortably. Connor looked back towards the body. It still hadn't moved. He glanced away again and then shined his lights back on it once more. Still no movement. Satisfied, he turned his attention back towards the tunnels. He chose a medium-sized one in a half-crescent shape and strode towards it. The walls and floor were smooth and even. Connor frowned. He pulled out his knife and scraped an arrow into one of the walls before cautiously walking into the tunnel's open maw.

~

Connor didn't know how long he'd been walking. All he knew was that he felt tired. Very tired. And his head hurt. He'd given himself another dose of parlin after entering the tunnel. Maybe he still needed more. He swung his headlamp lazily from blank wall to blank wall. There weren't any side tunnels to get lost down, so he'd given up on carving directions out a while ago. Lenny hadn't made any effort to contact him this whole time.

He watched his feet taking step after step. The whole process of walking had become a detached, mechanical undertaking. The bag on his back weighed heavily against his shoulders, so he slung it off and held it loosely at his side. Down here, the air was dry and smelled vaguely of roses. Roses and ammonia. There was a pile of shiny black rocks coming up, but he didn't stop walking – not even as he watched his boot catching on one. He didn't even register that he'd tripped until his head hit the ground. Hard. He groaned. There was another pile of rocks by his head. They looked like Park's crystal. The scent of roses and ammonia bit into his nose again. It was just like...

Connor's eyes snapped open.

Park's crystal only grew where the air became toxic. Toxic and hallucinogenic. They were purest in the places where Heart's air didn't reach. The city wasn't airtight – fresh air leaked from it constantly, but that buffer only stretched so far. The toxic gasses deeper in the tunnels was said to smell faintly of roses and ammonia...not something that Connor was overly familiar with.

He sucked in a breathful of air through his teeth. It felt heavy – filled his lungs and burned his throat, but it wasn't enough. How had he not noticed this sneak up on him?

Connor pushed himself back up. His vision swam, and something wet and hot trickled down his forehead. He stumbled, catching himself against the tunnel wall.

"Shit," he gasped. Connor tried backtracking, stumbling along the way he thought he'd come from. But his vision was already going spotty. Quickly – this was happening too quickly.

"Len – Lenny," he choked. "Help." As usual, Lenny didn't answer. Damn asshat didn't think to send him down here with oxygen. He stumbled forward, the yellow light from his headlamp spinning wildly around the tunnel. Marina's cat darted between his legs and scrambled to get out of his way as he fell to his knees.

"Hi, Bug," he muttered. "Did you come here to help me?" He didn't think so. That would be strange. But he couldn't remember why. Couldn't think.

The air was cool, but Connor's clothes were damp with cold sweat as he crawled down the tunnel. He needed air. Air. Fresh air. The air that spilled beyond Heart's boundaries even when its people remained corralled in the city. He needed it. Now.

His hand scraped against something sharp on the tunnel floor. Skin cut. Warm blood. Iron scent through the roses. Connor gazed groggily at his hand, confused. Why was it red? Then, sharp-sided crystals swam into focus all around him. There were so many of them. Connor shook his head and crawled on, wobbling on his hands and knees. Bug trotted alongside him, asking all sorts of questions that he couldn't remember.

Connor just kept moving.