The Belly of the Beast

Ch. 29, Cold and Pain

 Everything was painful, and cold. So, so cold.

My head felt like it had been pressed in a crusher, a jagged pain pulsed at my temple. My eyes came open slowly, the world seesawing in shades of deep blue and black. My limbs refused to obey, but finally my metal hand rose, blurry and wavering, and brushed against my forehead.

A white hot flash of pain.

I stared at my blurry hand in pain-filled confusion, waiting, until it solidified into metal fingers marked with blood. You hit your head on something. You need to put a bandage on it.

It was only when I turned my head, looking for something to bandage the wound, that I finally saw Dagger sitting opposite me and it all came back. Swirling around my feet, and lapping at my thighs, were several inches of cold water.

You're in the Pucker Letter Trial.

There's water in the box.

Bloody beast .

Fear and adrenaline pumped energy to my limbs, clearing the fog of pain. I sat up, gasping as the cold water splashed. We were still in the box, the sides dark again, as it had been before they dropped us. Maybe they had some way to dim or brighten the glass? A faint, glowing light came from the top of the box, and I squinted up at it then grimaced in pain. Dagger sat opposite of me, his legs tangled with mine, the box too small for him to fully draw away.

"What happened?" My brain felt slow, my tongue clumsy.

He leaned against the wall, as if this whole thing bored him. But his soft voice hid some dark emotion. "We hit the water."

The cold water at my feet spread to the dark walls. No, glass walls.

Horror tightened my throat when I realized the darkness came from the water that surrounded us.

We were at the bottom of a water tank.

A water tank that seemed to stretch into oblivion.

I tilted my head back again, ignoring the pain at my temple and the crushing sense of claustrophobia. There was some sort of built-in light glowing around the perimeter of the top of the box, shedding a faint white light on us now. I must have hit the top when they dropped us. Dagger didn't seem hurt, but he was taller than me, maybe he'd been able to brace himself in time.

Far, far above us, so far I needed to squint, I could make out the glimmering light of the surface. The sheer distance sent a shiver down my spine. It may as well have been another level entirely.

"Has anyone else gotten out yet?" I said. "What's the Trial?" My head spun as I slowly stood. The ankle deep icy water swirled with red, though I couldn't see any place where the water was coming in from... maybe it was a slow leak? I touched my head and grimaced when my fingers came away with blood.

Dagger didn't reply, appearing content to sit in the swirling red water. I stepped over his legs, splashing in the few inches of water, just to make some noise to mask the deep, rumbling sounds of the water beyond. Somehow the gentle noise of it all was terrifying; a low, constant rush and murmuring, like the depths itself breathed. How much time had we wasted? Clearly Dagger didn't share my sense of urgency, staring dead-eyed out into the water. I cupped a handful of water and slapped it on the gash on my forehead, then hissed at the burning pain—the water was full of salt. Funny, in all the Old Earth stories, the oceans had been full of salt.

Focus, Z.

"How long did we sink?" I stared out at the oppressive dark water.

Dagger shrugged. "A couple minutes. There's a cable attached to each box. After the initial fall, it lowered us each into position."