ARES Virus: Arctic Storm (23 page)

For shits and grins, he digs the lighter out and holds the flame aloft. Sure enough, the flame bends backward into the tunnel behind; the angle greater than at any of the branches. He shouts into the darkness, his voice returning in multiple echoes, which grows fainter with each return. Whatever lies ahead of them is vast.

He needs time to think about the situation, but doesn’t want to waste their precious batteries. Warning the others to stay put, he douses the light. Darkness closes in, making the chill air seem even colder. He closes his eyes to better visualize the options. It’s apparent that they can’t go any farther in this direction.

So, where then?

Up to this point, there’s been some method to their madness: follow the flame. If they backtrack and proceed down another branching path, then it will truly become random. Not that the course ahead will lead anywhere, even if they could manage to descend the cliff. Every option seems like the dead end he’s sitting next to. Going all of the way back seems the only obvious choice, rather than plodding lost down random tunnels. Frankly, he’s surprised to have made it this far. The entire hill seems hollow.

Okay, we have two and half good lights. Stick with the plan. When the second one starts going out, we turn around, go back to the fire pit, and figure something else out
, Brown thinks, fumbling for the flashlight at his side.

Looking out into what he determines to be a vast underground cavern, he sees that it’s not quite the black void he first thought it to be. His eyes have adjusted to the darkness, and Brown sees that the cavern actually appears to have a faint glow within it. The interior is murky, but not pitch black; he finds that he can actually make out some details. Keeping the light off, he scans the cavern.

Very dimly lit stalactites and stalagmites dominate much of the interior. Although the stalagmites rising from the floor are more rounded, his first impression is that he’s looking into the jaws of a shark. The floor of the cavern is covered in pools of water surrounded by smoothed stone. Meandering through the center is what appears to be a stream, although Brown can’t tell in the dimness if the water is actually moving or not. Seeing the cavern doesn’t alter the situation, though. They are still stuck high above the ground with no way down.

Turning on the light, he makes his way back to the others and explains the situation.

“So, we’re going to take the other passageway at the last branch we came to. We’ll continue until this flashlight shows signs of giving out,” Brown finishes.

They turn around and begin retracing their steps, each sullenly absorbed in their own thoughts. Still pondering a way down the cliff, which is getting more distant, Brown stops in mid-step. He takes a half step backward and feels the sensation of a faint breeze on his already chilled cheeks.

“Come here. Anyone else feel that?” he asks.

“What?” Hayward asks in return.

“That breeze. Does anyone else feel a breeze?”

“I don’t feel a thing. But I’m so cold that I lost all feeling a long time ago,” Clarke answers.

Ignoring any answers, Brown digs out the lighter and holds it up. The flame flickers, dancing in circles. Looking to the walls on either side, he doesn’t see any opening. Confused, he shines the flashlight upward. Near the ceiling next to him is an aperture in the wall, beginning near eye level.

Holding the lighter up to the cavity, the flame takes on a decided tilt. Brown is surprised that he didn’t notice this before, but he was walking numb and absentminded. In fact, he feels lucky enough to have not just walked into the void of the cavern to find himself suddenly wondering why there was wind blowing by his cheeks and why he felt so light.

The opening is wide, but short. The others should be able to squeeze inside, but he worries about his big frame. The fact that there’s a breeze indicates that the cramped tunnel has an opening somewhere. What he doesn’t know is what that means or what’s inside the tunnel. But, he’s willing to keep following the flame. If he does manage to ever get out of this place, this will be the last cave or tunnel he willingly enters. He’s frankly had enough of them to last several lifetimes.

Because Clarke is the thinnest besides Emily, Brown hands her the light and hoists her up and into the opening. Once she’s inside, the shadowed light of the flashlight plays out of the opening.

“It’s low, but the ceiling rises up a touch,” she calls out. “It looks like it turns just up ahead and heads down.”

“Can you turn around in there?” Brown asks.

“Yeah. It’s wide enough,” Clarke returns.

“Okay. Back out of there.”

With help from the two cadets, Brown manages to hoist himself inside. While not quite sharp, the rock floor isn’t all that smooth either. The tunnel does widen and is high enough that he’ll be able to crawl through it. The problem is that he’ll be the only one to see with the flashlight. His large frame takes up most of the tunnel, so there isn’t a lot of room for light to pass around. He opts to break out the other two lights for Hayward and Clarke. With Emily’s more diminutive figure, she should be able to see if Hayward stays behind her.

Pushing his backpack ahead of him, Brown crawls farther into the tunnel. The cold and wet of the stone seep through his blankets and clothing, chilling him even more.

At least there aren’t any puddles to add to the misery…yet
, he thinks, shoving his pack forward again.

As promised, it takes a turn in the general direction of the cavern they had left behind. Just past the corner, it opens and forms into a low cavern. From the other side, another cave enters. Running down the middle of that cave and through the cavern is a runnel of nearly smooth stone, exiting out of yet a third tunnel that dives steeply down, looking like a playground slide.

This couldn’t just be a walk through a long tunnel and exit somewhere convenient, eh? It has to keep doing this kind of shit to us
, Brown thinks, shining his light down the sharp decline.

Although he can’t see it as clearly as he’d like, it appears that the ramp goes all of the way to the larger cavern’s floor. What awaits there is yet to be seen, as the end vanishes where the ramp levels out.

“Fuck it,” Brown mutters.

“Does that mean that we’re turning around?” Hayward asks.

“Nope,” Brown answers, setting his pack on the steep slide and pushing it.

The pack bounces its way down the slope and disappears beyond the bend. Brown maneuvers himself onto the ramp, cradles the AR protectively, and shines his light down the tunnel.

“If you don’t hear from me, turn around and head back,” Brown states.

Pulling himself with his feet, he soon begins to slide. His rear and back bump across the smooth, raised stones as he attempts to guide his passage with his feet, elbows, and whatever else he can manage. His speed picks up quickly and he soon hits the bottom, shooting out of the tunnel and into the cavern. Not slowing, he continues along the slick half-pipe carved into the stone by water runoff, hoping his momentum slows before he violently collides with something solid. He contacts his backpack just before his slide is stopped not by the rock wall he had feared, but by a long pool.

The frigid water nearly causes his heart to stop, and he does his best to keep the flashlight and carbine dry. Coming up spluttering, he stands nearly knee-deep in the pool. Other than a sore ass and back, and being frigidly cold, he’s made it relatively unscathed. Retrieving his now soaked backpack, he lurches toward the bottom of the slide and calls up to the others.

“It’s okay, if not a little wet at the end. Push your packs down and I’ll collect them, then follow. Hayward, you and Emily slide at the same time. It’s not much different than a speed slide at a water park. Keep your flashlights out of the water.”

Packs cascade down and Brown scoops them up before they have a chance to hit the pool. Above, light flashes from side to side and he soon sees a pair of feet sliding quickly toward him. Off to the side, without losing his own balance, he attempts to grab Clarke as she emerges. The move fails and she races by, her slide ending with a splash.

“Fuck, that’s cold!” she yells, standing quickly and splashing her way out of the pool. “You could have mentioned that.”

“I could have,” Brown replies, turning back to the entrance.

He knows he won’t be able to stop Hayward and Emily, but he has to try nonetheless. They both race by, Emily screaming “Wheee” and Hayward letting out a “whoop.” Brown shakes his head as they both meet the water. Their screams of joy are short-lived as the cold water stops their breath in their lungs.

“Fucking A! How is that water not iced over?” Hayward gasps.

“That was kind of fun,” Emily says after emerging from the water. “I wouldn’t want to do it again because of the cold water, but it was fun before that.”

Shivering near the pool, they don their respective packs. Brown has them turn the spare flashlights off as he surveys their landing zone. The floor is covered in pools and smoothed stone. It looks as though most of the cavern is completely under water at times, or at least mostly so. It’s difficult to see whether the pools are deep or shallow past their black, mirrored surfaces. As with the ledge above, he can’t see anything beyond the beam of light. Turning off the flashlight and letting his eyes adjust, the murky underworld reappears, lit by the mysterious glow.. He orients himself and gazes around. He was hoping for an exit sign, but the dim light only reveals the formations of minerals hanging from the ceiling and rising from the ground.

It’s in a place like this that I’d expect to see a sword sunk into a stone or a wizard frozen in crystal.

Holding the flame aloft, it dances in circles, revealing nothing about the direction of the breeze. Not wanting to trust his footing in the murky light, he clicks the light back on and begins making his way around the pools toward where he saw the ribbon of water from above.

If I can’t follow the flame, I’ll follow the water
, he thinks, doing his best to remain upright on the slippery stone.

Brown is thankful for the wool blankets. Even though wet, they provide a measure of warmth and the shivering finally stops. The group slowly makes its way along the stone, eventually coming to a larger stand of water. Shining the light to both sides, Brown feels that they’ve reached what he judged to be a stream. There’s nothing about the placid dark surface that reveals a current. Kneeling, he pokes the water. A small eddy forms around his finger.

“So, you’ve given up your secrets; you’re moving after all,” Brown mutters, withdrawing his digit from the chilled waters.

“What’s that, Sarge?” Clarke asks.

“Nothing. We’re following this waterway in that direction,” he answers, pointing downstream.

They work their way along the slow-moving underground stream, detouring as necessary to avoid the sharply pointed stalactites, pools, and mineral mounds. The walls of the large cavern eventually close in, forming a tunnel through which the sluggish stream flows. Holding a flame aloft, there’s a definite tilt.

“We keep going as far as we can,” Brown says.

Saying nothing, the others follow him into the tunnel, leaving the sound of dripping water behind.

Although slippery, the path next to the water is easy to navigate. The passageway meanders back and forth until Brown isn’t sure that they aren’t turning in circles; he totally expects to see the large cavern reappear around each bend. The beam from the flashlight begins to dim. Brown picks up the pace as much as he can, trying to outrun the fading light. He hasn’t seen any sign of an opening yet, but earnestly hopes the waterway actually leads outside. He’s in a race with his self-imposed rule of two flashlights.

The thought of navigating back is an exhausting one, especially as he has no idea of how they are going to climb up the tunnel slide if they’re forced back. As he thinks about it, the decision to slide down may have been mostly from frustration and without contemplating the ramifications. The light dims to the point that he can barely see the ground in front of him, even with Clarke right on his heels. He calls a halt and douses the light.

“Well, we’ve burned through two flashlights. The problem is, if we decide to go back, it may take us longer to return, seeing as we’d have to scale that slide. There’s no telling what’s ahead, either. Either the stream we’re following will lead outside or it won’t. Even if it does lead out, there’s no assurance that we can exit there. We’re sitting at our go/no go point,” Brown states.

“Well, I’m tired and cold. A fire sounds nice, even if it means we’re back at our starting point with no way out. To me, the odds of someone digging us out are greater than those of this passage leading us out. I mean, after all, they knew we were there. Wouldn’t they want to find us to make sure? If they get close enough, we can yell out and let them know that we’re not infected,” Hayward opines.

“That may be true and it does sound appealing. Keep in mind that we won’t have any lights if we go back. For me, though, we’ve come this far, why not see where it leads? I will admit that going forward without a way back scares the shit out of me, but the way I figure it, what have we got to lose? We’re screwed if we go back and we’re screwed if we don’t find a way out. The difference is that we
know
we’re screwed back at the cave. Forward, there’s only a chance that we may be screwed,” Clarke comments.