Within the deep dark

Chapter 18-Awoken from slumber

Izuku's body lies on the tiled ground face down, motionless. His bag lies on the ground nearby, its contents spilled out with empty cans, books, and a small leather pouch strewn across the floor.

"GAHHHH!!!!"

Izuku's eyes suddenly open and he gasps for air. He pushed himself upright, coughing repeatedly as he struggled to take deep gulps of the stale air trap within the room. He grips his chest as he breathes frantically. His eyes dart around the room, his sight is blurry with spots dancing across his sight.

He begins to cough hoarsely as his body begins to flare up in pain. He feels his muscles burn and bones ache. His stomach begins to hurt, causing him to raise an arm over it instinctively. Izuku fell to his knees, coughing heavily as something rapidly rose from his stomach up his throat.

And with a final cough, Izuku vomits out a thick blackish-green sludge onto the ground. He coughs again and empties his stomach of some nasty content.

But after a long moment of breathing heavily, Izuku slowly collects himself. He stops coughing, his breathing becomes much more collected, and his eyes become cleared of spots, adjusted to the room's darkness.

Izuku breathes heavily as his eyes dart around the room, eventually glancing at the books and cans on the ground, with a tiny bit of residue from his vomit slowly slithering towards it.

Izuku quickly picks up the empty cans and the books before shoving them into his backpack and stepping away from the mess.

The disgusting pile was a thick dark sludge with chucks that pulsated slightly, causing Izuku to be disgusted by it.

Izuku looks away from the pile of sludge and spots the small pouch lying on the ground. He quickly picks it up. With shaky fingers, Izuku opens it slightly and peeks into it, seeing a single pill sitting at the bottom of the pouch.

Izuku let out a sigh, the pills had gotten him into deep trouble that should have been fatal, twice. He didn't know what they were made of as he had simply found them in a crate buried in the ground. Maybe there was a chance he could find more of these pills around the area, but until then he'll have to be more careful to avoid situations where he'll need the last pill.

Suddenly, a growl came from his stomach. Only then did Izuku realize he felt hungry, well he felt much more dehydrated as his throat was dry, and a stronger desire for water over food. Plus, there wasn't anything much to eat other than the glowberries.

Izuku reached into his bag and took out a can. He took the lid off to examine the inside by sliding a finger in.

'It's dry, meaning I might have been out for a long time.' he frowned slightly. 'This place should be humid considering I'm underground and there's lots of moss around me. Plus I was in this room so air circulation is a bare minimum. For the can and the ground to be completely dry, I must have been out for quite some time.'

'But for how long have I been out for?'

Izuku's stomach let out another growl and churn, causing him to flinch slightly as the pain slowly subsided.

'Okay, I think I should get something to fill my stomach,' thought Izuku, before he raised a hand to touch his throat, 'or maybe some water first to rehydrate.'

With that in mind, Izuku placed the bag on his back and raised a hand to push open the metal door to wander into the deep dark without turning back.

The metal remains shut.

Izuku tries pushing the metal again with both hands, but the door remains tightly closed.

'Wait,' a sudden realization came upon Izuku, 'didn't I need a lever to open the door again?