The sound of shifting, rumbling rock startled Maddie with a jolt, making her cry out as the rock around her rumbled and moved.
"What happened? What did you do?"
He growled back at her angrily. "I did nothing! The rock is just unstable, and the entire cave system is still settling. And unfortunately, our little space is ripe for a cave-in."
"Oh." Maddie didn't know what to say.
For some reason, the fact that he was making a point of not interacting with her unless totally necessary was less frightening now and almost... Awkward.
Not that she wanted to interact with him, that prospect was still terrifying. Her heart skipped a beat every time he said something.
It was just that when no one was talking, the silence was suffocating, and that was almost as bad, in a totally different way.
More in an attempt to just fill the boredom than achieve anything else, she reached forwards, stretching out her fingers to prise her boot off of her useless leg, peeling off her sock to reveal her pale toes.
Her foot looked wrong. It was too... Still.
It was like it wasn't even a part of her body. She couldn't even feel it.
It sent her over the edge.
Tears bubbled up in her eyes, bursting like a dam with loud sobs, choking her throat.
Her sobs echoed around the empty space, sounding more pathetic than the silence.
"Oh, great. Now she's crying. Brilliant."
Maddie turned her angry, bloodshot, red eyes on him. "You don't get to judge me. Just cause you're emotionally devoid."
He spun on his heel, face twisting with fury, and Maddie visibly flinched, before he'd even said anything.
But before anything else happend, there was another rumble, and dust and chunks of rock began raining from the ceiling, ground and wall shaking with outside shockwaves.