The Underground

Chapter 6.2

Sweeping colors of crimson red crept out of the cracks of the entrance. Rotten wood and cracked stone wept tears of red, the soft wisps of color embracing Vivian in a gruesome hug. As the clouds of color caressed her, they whispered to her. Begs and pleas, too quiet to understand properly.

Fear crashed through her like a wave, the deep feeling of corruption seeping into her soul and drowning her senses. Her knees gave out and she fell to them, her hands reaching to her face. She covered her eyes, but the red bled through her skin. The whispers grew louder, screaming for release, for help, for life, or for death. She clutched her head, pressing her palms into her ears while tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Stop it," she begged, tears blurring her vision and blinding her to anything besides the haze of crimson color choking her. The screams turned to savage screeches, the noise clawing at her eardrums like a rat burrowing into her skull.

They scratched and dug. They screamed and sobbed. They begged for anything and everything.

Each shaky inhale sucked in another lungful of them. They sang inside her chest, a horrible symphony of lost souls consuming her from the inside out. The overwhelming sense of loss and terror tearing her sanity from her, but a flicker of warmth nearby keeping her mind just barely intact.

Brienne's warm arms clutched her hands then swept around her waist, pulling her into an embrace. "Vivian? Vivian, what's happening?" she demanded, grabbing the other woman's face and searching for eye contact.

The golden aura of Brienne pierced through the haze like the sun parting a clouded sky. They screamed as they left, purged by the wolf and her radiance. But not saved.

"There's so many," Vivian sobbed, whispers ringing in her ears even as the red color left her vision and body. They begged for help when they arrived. They were begging still when they left.

"So many of what?" Brienne questioned. Her vibrant eyes bore into Vivian's searching for answers.

Quivering lips and shaky hands pulled on the wolf's strength to steady themselves. Vivian sucked in a deep breath, vision and mind clearing, but fear remaining. She stared at the boarded entrance. "So many souls. They talked to me," she whispered, voices lingering in the back of her mind.

Brienne pulled her into a tighter hug, resting her chin atop her head. Confused as she might have been, it was not the time for questions. "We need to get help."

"Help me!"

Vivian froze, her eyes shifting upwards to Brienne. The wolf stared back, giving an almost imperceptible nod. They had both heard the cry. Before either could speak, a skin-crawling screech echoed out of the warehouse in front of them, clearly the voice of whoever had called for help.

"Don't go..."

Brienne was already moving. She crashed through the rotting wood in a display of brute strength, racing in the direction of the cry for help. Her beautiful aura, bright and golden, was swallowed by the swirling crimson and darkness inside.

The quiver in Vivian's hands returned. The shame of her cowardice was amplified by the innate bravery of her friend. She stared into the darkness, the color of red slowly seeping out from the broken entrance. "Please come back..."

Seconds passed like centuries. Shame burned her face and heart, conquering her fear, if only in that moment. Adrenaline coursed through her and she let her muscles act on their own, driving her forward and into death.

The return of the screams was immediate and deafening. Voices sobbed in her mind, phantom hands clutching at her arms. Tears were coursing down her face again, but she kept running blindly through the pitch-black building, chasing after the only glimmer of light in the distance.