6:8
By the time Siobhan dove back to the bottom of the cave Kim was waiting for her near the sealed door, holding a piece of stone with the other half of the triangle for sulfur. Siobhan gave a thumbs up and grabbed the stone from Kim, then swam over and placed it in the tablet it belonged in.
Grabbing up the P and R she placed them into the lintel where they belonged. Then she swam back down and adhered the pieces of the tablets together with Ivan’s glue. As advertised, it worked great, the water seeming to cause no issues at all with its seal.
She hadn’t thought to ask how long it would take for the seal to be set, so she decided to give it a minute. Gesturing at her wrist like there was a timepiece there she mimed what she was doing for Kim’s benefit. Kim gave a thumbs up and settled back against the wall with her arms crossed and her eyes closed in a meditative gesture.
The movement drew Siobhan’s eyes to Kim’s face. The air bubble she’d formed seemed to be holding. Siobhan had to wonder for how much longer though. She also started counting off in her head, trying to calculate how much longer her rebreather had. With no idea how long they had been down in the water, besides that her fingers were pruney. Fingers got pruney after about five minutes so that wasn’t much of an indicator of time lapsed.
Concern for timing in mind, she decided to test the seal on the glue. She was able to move a tablet complete, without losing any pieces, so she deemed it ready. Picking up the tablet with the circle bisected by a horizontal line she swam up and placed it in the first of the niches about the lintel. Then she dove down, collected the tablet with the crux quadrata below a triangle, and swam back to place it in the second niche.
After grabbing the third tablet she poked Kim in the arm. When Kim opened her eyes Siobhan pointed at the tablet in the crook of her arm, at the last niche, then shrugged. Kim gave her a questioning look to which she shrugged again. Then she swam up and placed the tablet in the last niche. It settled with a subtle click and then the pressure of the water changed.
Crud! She hadn’t considered that there might be a mechanism that would cause the water to rush towards the center of the cavern. She’d kind of just thought it would drain at a normal speed but there was definitely something sucking the water towards the drain plate in the center of the floor, pulling she and Kim in the same direction.
Kim didn’t need any urging to begin swimming hard for the surface. Siobhan was right at her side, keeping as close as she could to the wall so the siphon towards the grate wasn’t directly beneath them. Even pulling as hard as she could for the surface, Siobhan felt herself being dragged inexorably towards the grate. She scrambled at the water, like a pup that couldn’t swim, her mouth wide as she dragged air through the rebreather. At that moment her brain decided to remind her of a story she’d heard of a girl who’d gotten trapped by a pool’s main drain and had been disemboweled. If she’d been fighting the drain up to then she doubled that effort now, clawing at the water.
Then a hand closed on her ankle and she was yanked down. She didn’t go gently, instead thrashing and kicking until another hand closed on her free leg and then arms enveloped her completely just above the knee.
Eyes wide with terror, she stared down past her knees to see what it was that had her. Terror turned to anger as she saw Kim sitting on the ground, cross-legged next to the grate with her arms wrapped around Siobhan’s legs. It was really all Siobhan could do not to kick her in the uterus. But she was a decent human being and that was not a decent act. So, instead she wriggled a leg loose and clipped Kim’s chin with her knee. Kim’s head snapped back but she didn’t loosen her hold, instead snapping her hand around to wrap her fingers around Siobhan’s ankle. Then she threw her weight backwards, an awkward motion with the water cushioning her, dragging Siobhan to the ground.
As soon as Siobhan’s body was flat on top of Kim’s she realized she was free of the pull of the water towards the grate. In fact there was a slight sense of suction from the earth below them, like it was holding them down. At first this made Siobhan panic but then her conscious brain overrode her subconscious fear of drowning and she remembered she could breathe.
Kim pushed at her shoulder, flipping her flat to watch the water’s surface as it fell towards them. The dark shadows of their friends loomed closer and closer, dropping with the water level. Kim started shimmying her shoulders, working her way slowly back from the drain while maintaining contact with the ground. Realizing this was the way to stop them from being crushed by their friends, Siobhan wiggled and squirmed along with Kim.
They managed to get a solid five feet free of the drain before the others started to hit the ground feet first. At that point the water was probably about five and a half, six feet deep. Which meant that Dempsey, Ivan, and Dan were only partially under the water. Ben, Patti, Gwen, and Prairie, being shorter were still all but submerged.
Dempsey and Ivan pushed hard to get their backs to the drain, throwing themselves closer to it to form a bulwark between it and the smaller members of the party. Grasping hands close to the elbow, they linked and pushed against the current. Seeing their intent Dan grabbed for Ivan’s free arm. They gripped each other, locking elbows, and then the wall was three-men wide with Ivan anchoring the center.
First Prairie lost her footing and was flung back towards the drain, landing caught in the space between Dempsey and Ivan. Then Gwen flew threw the water, smashing into Ivan, who she immediately closed her arms and legs around and climbed like a monkey until her face was above water, her chin planted on his shoulder.
Patti’s feet hit the ground and she surged against the current, holding Sass’s ball high in front of her so it cleared the water. Ben’s feet started sliding and he clenched his muscles, turning the slide into a glide so he was behind Patti. With bent arms he braced her shoulder blades, adding his strength to her fight.
The water, thankfully, dropped fast. It went from at Ben’s collarbone to his chest, to his waist, and then it was only pulling at his legs at thigh-level and he could fight that.
When the water hit that level, Siobhan tried to sit up. Kim pushed her hand to Siobhan’s collarbone, holding her in place. If they sat up at that point the current, strong because of the rapid dumping through the drain, would have ripped them forward, at best injuring them and at worst causing them to cannonball into the others.
Only when the water had hit a level just above their faces did she release her hold. Siobhan immediately popped up like a cork. She then turned and flailed her arms at Kim in a moment of pure unadulterated terror-driven rage. Apparently the smacks, which Kim had a time dodging and blocking, weren’t enough because Siobhan yanked the apparatus off of her face and started screaming.
“Never! Never never never do that again!”
The air bubble around her head, no longer held by the pressure of the water, made it feel like Kim’s head was in a vacuum. She released it and gasped in a breath deep enough to bow her back, all the while trying to dodge Siobhan’s flails. Siobhan managed to slip past her guard and clapped Kim’s jaw with her open palm.
“Ow!” She bent her elbows and covered her face like a prize fighter against the ropes. “Light! Light!”
Siobhan stopped flailing and looked at the light in her hand which she’d been efficiently bludgeoning Kim with. The mania in her eyes dimmed and she dropped her hand into the small puddle that was all that was left of the water that had been an aquarium not so long ago.
Which reminded her. “Where are the rats?” she asked in a scratchy voice. Inhaling alchemy fumes for so long had done a job on her throat.
The rest of the group was in various stages of recovery from the water’s battering. As soon as the pressure of it ceased Prairie collapsed against the cradle of Dempsey and Ivan’s arms. Gwen slowly unwound herself from Ivan, patting him on the chest after she’d gained her feet. Her, “Good, Ivan. Good,” suggested she wasn’t quite ‘all there’ yet. Ben took his arms from Patti’s back, squatted, and rested his elbows on his knees as he took deep breaths. Patti clutched the ice ball contained Sass close to her chest and closed her eyes.
Eventually Dan answered Siobhan’s question. “Soon as the water started dropping they scrambled out the hole to the lake.”
Kim slowly pushed herself to her feet and looked at Siobhan. “I shouldn’t have held you down. I didn’t want you to get whiplash.”
Siobhan grasped the hand Kim held down to her and let Kim pull her to her feet. She searched the space beyond Kim’s shoulder rather than meet her eye. “It’s just too soon, you know?”
Kim nodded. “I do. It’s okay.” She worked her jaw delicately. “You pack quite a punch.”
With that she walked over to Patti and raised a hand towards the ball cuddled against Patti’s chest. “Can I?”
Patti nodded slowly but she didn’t release her grip on the ball. Kim nodded minutely. “Okay. I think it would be best if you put the ball on your palm. Or the ground. Whichever.”
Patti very slowly unfurled her arm, then put the ball in the palm of the hand still wearing the glove. Kim laid her hand on the ball and released a slow pulse of heat, melting the ball and revealing the little house within. Sass crawled out of the window of the house and lay panting in Patti’s hand. Kim waved her fingers gently over Patti’s palm and a breeze ruffled over the mouse.
“Thank you,” Patti mouthed. Kim gave a thumbs up then stepped over towards where Gwen was animatedly talking to Ivan.
“See, it was like a pressure-assisted toilet,” Gwen gestured with her plunger. “When the water released it caused a forceful blast that sent us shooting for the bottom of the cave.”
You might have thought that most people would be listening with glazed eyes but it was Ivan so he actually nodded. “But the air we were breathing wasn’t pressurized.”
“That is true. Must have been something else that caused the effect but the water definitely flushed very quickly towards the bottom, causing the pressure we experienced.”
Next to Kim, Dempsey muttered, “Did she just say we were flushed out of a giant toilet?”
Kim curled her lip. “Pretty much.”
“That’s-”
“To borrow a phrase from Gwen, ‘gross’.” Turning to say this, Kim winced away from the bright light of the crystal Dempsey held. He must have snatched it from the ceiling before he was sucked down by the water. Quick thinking.
Dempsey mouthed something and the light from the crystal dimmed and winked out. He frowned in Gwen’s direction. “She’s an interesting one.”
Kim shrugged. “She’s Gwen. Which means,” she expanded, looking directly at Dempsey with specific intent, “she is precious to me and I can’t hear anyone say anything negative about her.”
Dempsey lifted his brows. “Okay.” Dempsey shifted. “You all seem really loyal to each other. Except when you aren’t beating on each other. That’s going to bruise.” He pointed at where Siobhan had clocked her on the jaw.
She delicately probed it, wincing. “Yeah.” Then she shrugged. “My fault for holding her down.”
It looked like Dempsey was going to ask a follow-up Siobhan called out from where she’d gone to investigate the sealed door she’d worked on. “There are stairs beyond this door!”
Dan walked up behind her and peered over her shoulder. “Shields in the front?”
“Which would be me,” Dempsey said, picking up his shield and moving forward.
Patti tucked Sass into her cleavage and hooked Sass’ house to her belt. “I have a shield.” She hefted her small, punch shield.
“Uh,” Dan started to protest then appeared to think better of it as both Patti and Kim gave him a ‘do not protest because she’s a woman’ look. His look telegraphed ‘rescinded’ as he stepped sideways to give Patti access to the stairs. He and Siobhan fell in behind Dempsey and Patti. As range attackers it was the sensible position.
Kim started to follow them stopped and turned to look at Ben who was still crouched, still had his elbows on his knees. “You cool?”
Ben looked up with eyes that held ghosts. “I’m not sure what’s real and what isn’t.”
Gwen frowned and pressed her fingers to his temple. She cocked her head, screwed her mouth to the side, then stepped back. “Is that any better?”
Ben shook his head and looked around the dark space. “Maybe.”
That said he straightened and headed for the stairs. Prairie fell in beside him with Ivan behind. Kim grabbed Gwen’s wrist then quickly released it. “What happened up there?”
Gwen shook her head. “The rats. There were a lot of rats. And apparently if you scare them they fart some kind of hallucinogen.”
“Ben was far-” Kim blinked, curled her lips over her teeth to keep in a chuckle. Damn, scatological humor! “Far-” head shake, “Pooted on by a rat? Oh, Shit!”
Gwen grinned. “Not shit. Fart.”
“It’s not funny,” Kim said, blinking her eyes to clear the laughter tears, “but it is.”
“Ivan too.”
Kim chortled. She guffawed. She giggled and snorted. She even slapped her knee.
Gwen eyed her, “Geez. It’s not that funny.”
Kim blew a raspberry then crossed her eyes to simulate getting high.
Gwen snorted. “Okay. It’s a little funny. But I’m a little concerned that Ben isn’t dealing with it. I did the same thing to him as I did to Ivan and Ivan was able to start processing the stimuli.”
Kim gave her a look of confusion.
“So,” Gwen expanded, “I couldn’t actually fix the hallucinogen effects. From what Prairie says there’s not much you can do to counter a hallucinogen. You can give someone benzodiazepine to deal with some of the effects but basically all you can do for a trip is to let the person ride it out. But that can take hours. Like, a lot of hours. I just kind of,” she wibble-wobbled her hand, “helped them by mimicking the effects of benzodiazepine and also getting their brains to process the overload of stimuli that was causing them to see and hear stuff that isn’t actually there. Or,” she frowned, “I did it for Ivan but Ben’s brain doesn’t seem to want to deal.”
“It’s the rats,” Kim said.
When Gwen looked to her for clarification she shook her head. “Not my story. I shouldn’t have said anything. Just know it’s not what you did.”
Gwen shrugged, leaving it there. She was good like that.
Together they headed for the door. Beyond it was a stairway that curved, like the inside of a nautilus shell. The stairs were wide enough Kim and Gwen could walk side-by-side, so they did. They were about five steps up and what Kim guessed was a quarter rotation or a gradual ninety-degree turn when Gwen cocked her head.
“Do you hear something?”
Kim stopped and focused on hearing. “Where?”
“Behind us.”
Kim spun to look behind, holding the alchemy light which was still burning out at arm-length. Her eyes widened and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Something separated from the walls at the bottom of the stairs and started oozing towards them.
“Uh, Gwen?”
“Yes?”
“Can you run?”
“Uh huh.”
Kim stepped back down one stair. The whatever oozed back from her light. She juked to the right. The whatever oozed to the right. She stepped backwards back up onto the stair she’d left. The ooze moved forward.
“Okay,” she said, real slow, and pressed her back to Gwen’s “I’m not going to say run, but I am going to say move. Forward. Fastish.”
“What is it?”
“Not sure but it’s staying out of the light. So, that’s a thing.”
She felt Gwen’s shoulders curve forward and then Gwen stepped up a step. Kim did the same, backwards, keeping pressure on Gwen’s back with her own to guide her.
“Coming up on the rest of the group,” Gwen announced.
“Stuff still following.”
“Okay. Move!” Gwen called forward.
“Huh?” Ben’s voice came from in front of them. Kim eyed the ooze. Eyed her light. Eyed the ooze. Then made a quick decision.
“Ben? You up for trying something?”
“What?”
“We got some weird shadows coming up from the rear.”
“What?” his voice was directly in her ear. Kim jumped.
“Geez! Wear a bell!”
“Where are the shadows?” Ben squinted into the dark beyond where Kim was pointing the light.
“Past where the light hits. See?” Kim shifted the light left and right. The oozing darkness beyond slithered to avoid it. “Keep going, Gwen!” she tossed over her shoulder, shifting to follow as Gwen continued up the stairs.
“Here,” she said, shifting the light to the hand closest to Ben and gesturing at him with it. “You want the light?”
“Not yet.” He moved when Kim did, stepping back slowly step-by-step. A look of concentration crossed his face. “I’m not sure those are shadows.”
“Then what are they?”
“I don’t know. They could be shadows and whatever I got hit with up top could be messing with my perception still. I don’t suppose the walls are glowing?”
Kim eyed the walls which were definitely dark.
“Pulsing?” Ben added into the silence.
“Smell like cotton candy?”
“Seriously,” Kim muttered, “Rat poots are the good shit.” Then louder she added, “No.”
“So,” Ben said, “I’m going to say I may not be helpful in this situation but…” he shrugged, “doesn’t hurt to try.”
With that he reached a hand out towards the ooze. Kim gave it a solid second then took another step back up the stairs. Keeping his hand out to the ooze, Ben pressed his shoulder to hers and followed.
“C’mon,” he extolled under his breath. The ooze didn’t comply.
“So,” Kim whispered, “that’s not working.”
“Not working,” Ben echoed.
“How ‘bout we get gone?”
“Sounds good.”
Enter The Woods 