Terrestrial Alien ✔

Chapter 59: Belly of the Beast

Joshua

The metal handrail is icy against my palm as we descend the spiraling steps. The space smells of cold, damp stone, and the sound of our shoes clunking over the metal steps echos and clamors all around us, filling my head with noise.

A few feet below me, Marlowe leads the way with nothing but a penlight to pierce through the darkness. Sundo follows hesitantly behind them, me behind him, and Lynch takes the rear, prodding us onwards every time we pause just a bit too long.

"Sorry for the dark," Marlowe says up to us, pausing to lean into the middle of the spiral and shine the pen in our direction. "We've been having trouble with the fuse boxes down here lately. The smallest bump and they throw a whole-ass fit."

They chortle and flicker their penlight on and off a couple times, and Sundo gives an obligatory smile.

The darkness flashes in and out of my vision, and I hold onto the frigid handrail a little tighter. The stairs alone are enough to make me uneasy—what, with the way they plummet straight down for who knows how far, carrying us deeper into the unknown. We could be approaching the center of the Earth, for all I know. But with the darkness, the space suddenly becomes more constricting, stifling even.

"Well, I'm glad you have the pen, then," Sundo replies with a nervous laugh, taking another few careful steps downwards.

A rumbling sound comes from above us, and he slips on the edge of the step with a gasp. I suck in a sharp inhale, grabbing at his shoulders and holding fast, catching him before he can fall. Above us, the rumbling continues, bringing with it a sprinkling hail of dust and small rocks.

Shielding my face with my forearm, I search upwards through the slats of the spiraling steps for the disturbance. I'm just in time to watch the last sliver of blue light be closed off by the door as it grinds shut on its own, taking with it the night sky and the stars and the only way back out.

This is it. This is really happening.

I can no longer tell which is louder: our shoes on the steps or the blood rushing through my head.

Marlowe is saying something, and so is Lynch. I've stopped on one of the steps, one hand gripping Sundo's shoulder in a vice grip, and the other, the handrail, so tightly the metal bites into my palm.

This is really happening. The door is closed now, and we're down here in the dark, following strangers to nowhere good.

Something brushes my hand, and I start, jerking my head down from the now starless space above us. Sundo peers at me from one step below, his eyes holding that same faint luminescence they always do. Like deep sea algae or the stuff inside glow-sticks... The familiarity is comforting, at least, enough that I can let out the exhale I didn't know I'd been delaying.

His fingers brush over the back of my hand on the railing, before gently prying my fingers off. He twines his fingers through mine, gazing up at me all the while.

"Your heart is racing..." He murmurs. "I can hear it."

I swallow thickly, trying to find an even rhythm for my breathing again. Now that he mentions it, I'm aware of it, like a jackhammer between my lungs.

He gives my hand a squeeze, his touch warm against my frozen digits.

"Don't panic. Think of this like..." He searches for the words. "... Like an adventure," he settles on finally, trying for a smile. "We're going somewhere new, and it's going to be okay, as long as we're together. We have each other."