Monotone | ✔️

Chapter Eleven

And so it was that the next day we departed. The morn started with me hastily stuffing the picture in my backpack, a despondent patch of moisture on the ground, a result of my tears prior to my sleep the earlier night. Then, we gathered together, quickly ate some baked beans in fervent apprehension, before leaving, walking in companionable silence.

I couldn't resist but take a brusque look behind me as we exited our section of tunnels, stuck between the passage of old and new. But, the others disagreed with the nostalgic glance at our former home, so I had to catch up with them, alacrity crackling in my veins.

The taciturn atmosphere was sustained strictly, it seemed everyone was too morose and scared to strike up a conversations. It would be disrespectful, also, to disturb the silence in which the dark settlement obtained, and we would risk alerting our presence to any fiends lurking in the shrouding shadows. We navigated our way with a small, flickering candle, the dull lustre only achieving to illuminate a few feet in front of us, allowing us a nominal berth in which to progress.

Obviously, Chris led the way with his bulging backpack, his perusal gaze narrowed and sharp in seeing. The Twins took up the space in between, with me lingering at the back, occasionally keeping strides with Robyn and Jay when I was too spooked to remain alone.

Constantly, I observed the platonic relationship which the siblings obtained, the knells of loneliness constantly striking chords within me. How did they manage to stay loyal to each other, through thick and thin, through argument and stony silence, through sun and through rain? I would never understand the intimacy they shared, for I had shredded any such relationship like that when I left my parents.

For a while we continued on in this manner, our steps plodding and resonating in hollow echoes like the sullen swings of a pendulum - ding, tick, dong, stomp... A low harmony of rising dread.

Ding tick dong stomp
Ding tick dong stomp
Ding squeak dong squeak
Squeak stomp squeak squeak

We all paused as the cumulative squeaking continued to rise and rise, an impertinent choir of rats. Soon the haughty squeals were joined by twin pinpricks of eyes, pairs lighting up from the gloom, blinking with the aberrational intelligence that comes from aeons of darkness and decay, the evolution that occurs when one is left to roam in the gloom...

"Keep going." Chris said, eyes darting about warily. "We need to get out of this tunnel before they attack. We're food to them." He paused, looking behind us and observing our stoic nods. "On three, I want you all to run. Three... Two... One... Run!" At his command, we all started sprinting. As soon as we moved, the platoon of rats did too, surging forward like oil across the ground.

Soon, they were upon our ankles, nipping our clothes to expose our skin. They flooded over our legs, climbing over our thighs, using our flesh to gain purchase. They coerced us into slowing down, cajoling us with hungry intent, nibbling. I stifled a horrified scream as pain ripped through my limbs, feeling the steady, warm trickle of blood proceed downward... Yet we weren't even close to the exit of the tunnel. How many lives had these rats claimed? Working in clever precision, working in a team to get their prey...

"We need to do something!" I shouted. "Otherwise we're going to die!"

"Well, duh! I thought that much was obvious!" Robyn growled in reply. Vaguely, I could see her, grabbing rats that had climbed up her torso and promptly twisting their necks, before throwing them to the ground with disgusted disdain.

I copied her actions to dispose of the insidious rats; the others followed suit. "The candle! Throw it on the ground!" I yelled, voicing the first idea that came into my head. Yes, it would plunge us into darkness for a short while, but it might buy us enough time to make our way to the exit of the tunnel, where hopefully the cunning, deceitful rats wouldn't dare to follow.

But I was falling behind. Chris - who was at the front and subsequently holding the flame - did not hear me. I felt the rats swarm across my chest with more speed than I could contend with, my hands desperately clawing at the warm, feral bodies as they continued to scratch, squeaking with malicious glee... It reminded me of my nightmare, the nightmare I had suffered when I had first arrived here, when the blood claimed me...

Unfortunately, it was at that moment I stumbled, falling to the floor, falling to a blanket of writhing bodies. I opened my jaws to let out a guttural scream, feeling a rat tail briefly whip inside my mouth.

"Tempest!" The hazy yell resonated behind me.

"THROW THE TORCH!" I screamed, my voice crescendoing as my desperation and panic reached a zenith, a negative one at that, feeling my skin tear and bleed as more rats decided I was on their menu. My mind grew blurred, submerged in an intoxicated, pained fog, my body succumbing to a river of black...

Then a light exploded, shrill screams of the rats edged with agony, and embers licked hungrily at flaming silhouettes.

I felt my tiny attackers receding, using my body as a carpet as they subsided. Although they left, my pain and dizziness didn't, thus rendering me unable to move as my comrades sprinted to me, each sporting injuries of their own. Chris and Jay hauled me to my feet, Robyn quickly throwing small daggers at any rats who lingered in clear sight.

"You okay?" Jay asked, his voice breathless. I nodded in reply falsely, even though it was a stupid question to ask. How would I be okay? I had just nearly died - for the second time in the last two months, may I add - amongst rats. Filthy, insidious, stupid rats.

"Jay - run ahead into the text tunnel and set out some medical supplies. Light another candle." The one that had been thrown on the floor was petering out, the light fading, as my life had been just moments ago... Jay nodded and I felt his arms leave me, Robyn quickly taking his place. Between them, Chris and Robyn supported me as we progressed through the tunnel. Thankfully, the exit of it loomed, although Robyn kept a dagger in her calloused hand.

Leaving the rat-infested horror behind, Robyn and Chris lowered me beside where Jay was setting up, rifling through his backpack at a frenzied speed.

"Tempest, sleep. You'll live." I heard, before drifting into a blissful abyss.