"БРОСАЙ СВОЕ ОРУЖИЕ!"
"DROP YOUR WEAPONS!"
Our voices echo out through the caverns, and in an instant I remember the thing that lurks here too. The tension in the air is thick, the ones who have the most control over the situation are the ones with guns. Aiden and the man across from us.
"Бросай свое чертово оружие! мы вышибем тебе мозги."
I can't understand what he's saying, the language sounds like Russian. But I can assume he's ordering us to put down our weapons. That's something we're not doing, but…
"Aiden, if I act you act."
He nods his head, and I continue to stare down our foes.
I drop the bag carrying my wife to the ground, and lower my weapon a bit. We can't understand each other, but he clearly saw us saying something and dropping my bag, and my guard. There's a good chance he'd see that as an act of surrendering or at the very least an attempt at a compromise.
And I think he did. Because when I did this a wicked grin goes across their faces. I can tell this isn't going to end peacefully…
I'd rather not have the guns go off, there's a good chance it'll send whatever's here charging down the caverns to get to us… there's a distance between us and them, it would take a few seconds to run up and stab them, id get shot. Shit… what do we do? There's two pathways ahead, if something does happen we'd have to take a gamble. Picking the wrong one could lead us right to it.
"Я больше не буду спрашивать, опустите оружие!"
I can see him getting more aggravated by the second. I have to make a choice fast.
A sudden noise makes them all pause for a moment.
Grrraaaaaaaghhhh!
In that instant all of them turned in the direction of the loud beastly roar…
That instant was all None needed. Using the noise as a cover he sprinted forward as fast as he could towards the man holding the club. At the same time aiden, following his lead, seemingly even realizing his plan fired his gun at the man who had his gun set on None.
Bang!Bang!Bang!Bang!
4 shots in rapid succession. 2 hit their mark striking him in the torso and the other in his head.
The man's body goes limp, dropping to the ground as blood pours from his head. By the time his body hits the ground, none is already at the other.
"Брат!"
He swings his club but None dodges, at the same time slashing him across his chest leaving a narrow cut. None could tell the death of the other man left him disheveled, he used this to his advantage not letting up on attacks.
He slashed, again and again. They narrowly missed their mark each time, but the man was beginning to lose his footing…
None pulls his arm back, and the man notices. He moves to the right to avoid the attack… but the attack never came.
None reached forward with his open hand and grabbed onto the man's arm. He tried to move, but he didn't realize that None stepped on his foot. Pinning him down. He was trapped.
In one instant, I yank forward and drive the knife into his torso. I feel the blade biting through his flesh… I pull it out only to stab him again once more for good measure. His hands let go of the club. It's almost as if I can feel his body grow weaker as we're still close to each other. Staring each other in our eyes. I pull the blade out again and watch as he holds his wound…
He steps backwards, clumsily as if he were a drunken fool. And then he falls to the ground…
He may have been my enemy, but I'd rather him not die in pain like that. At the end of the day, both of us are just trying to survive. Some encounters happen to end in death.
I walk closer to him, kneeing down before him, and staring him directly in the eyes. I can see the emotion in his eyes. There was no fear, there was no terror. Only hatred and malice. Coughing and choking on his own blood he mutters to me.
"...гореть... в аду."
Still I can't understand what he's saying, but I doubt it was anything good. I take my blade...
Shik
and strike forward where his carotid artery should be. The blade goes in effortlessly, and it comes out just as easily as it went in. All movements that the man was making before were now still...
This is... this first time I killed an actual human...
Killing a human disturbed him... it did, not because he felt bad, or guilty. In truth...
I don't really feel much at all...
The lack of emotion he felt was what truly disturbed him...
Why can't I feel anything?
He had gotten used to killing things here, he no longer felt that same rush of negative emotion that he felt when he first took the life of something in the abyss, in fact a part of him was already beginning to enjoy it. He questioned it many times but he always pushed those thoughts away.
"Am I even human?"
"Am I losing my humanity?"
"Have I already lost it?"
But he held out hope, people cope with different things. In war some people don't see their enemies as human. Which takes away from their value.
I'm not killing humans so it's fine...
None had hoped he was doing something similar, he hoped that he just didn't feel things because he didn't see them as human enough to feel guilty about maybe the same could be said for the feeling of pleasure, but now having killed an actual human... That illusion is shattered. He hasn't been here long...
But was he already beginning to lose his humanity? These were people too, they obviously had some type of bond, why else would they be traveling together. They were people. They were human. They lived, they breathed, they ate, they were alive… So why don't I feel anything?
those questions bounced chaotically around None's head without control, he did feel but the fact that he was entertaining this more then the act of killing spoke for itself. He stood there motionless lost in thought. It's only been a short time but he was already losing something or perhaps already lost it. That unsettling feeling began to mix and morph into fear. Fear, fear, fear because this wasn't right, and if he were still human, how much longer would it take before he loses that too.
"Hey None, you okay?"
"I'm fine."
I hate that I am…
"Hey come on, we have to go. There's a chance that thing still might've heard the bullets."
"Yeah, let's check the bodies first, but let's be fast."
I go through his pockets one by one as quickly as I can. Nothing, nothing… Oh a lighter. Finally this is the last thing I needed. Doesn't seem like there's anything else useful. I don't need the club plus it would be irritating to carry, but the other guy should have some bullets on him. Hopefully they work for the gun Aiden has.
"Alright, are you ready?"
"Yeah let's go."
"It sounded like the roar came from that way, so let's go the opposite way."
We head down the pathway to the left, almost running to get as far away as we can. As fast as possible.
…
At some point, we slow down our pace, we've gotten pretty far from where we once were. Enough for us to relax a bit, but with my mind a bit eased I slowly begin to question my humanity again. If I'm already losing my humanity now what's going to happen further down. What am I going to become? Disturbing my thoughts I feel a tap on my shoulder.à
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Aiden, do you think I'm human?"
"What? I mean you're not one of those things you know."
"Obviously, I mean... When I killed that guy, I didn't feel anything. It's weird, I thought there would be some panic, some guilt. This guy had a family just like me you know but. There's just... Nothing."
"Well, yeah that is strange. Even I feel bad, but like you said, shoot without hesitation, if you didn't move when you did we could've died. At the end of the day, they were threats. Threats that we don't know and we didn't know what they were capable of. I think you're probably just adapting to this place or something. Caring about everyone would get you killed in a place like this you know? That doesn't mean you're not human. I mean you care about me right?... You do, right?"
"Heh, I mean obviously you're the only friend I have and the only one I can rely on. You said I'm like family remember, I… feel the same."
"Then I'd say you're human."
His answer gave me a bit of solace. He is right, this isn't the place where someone can survive if they're constantly worried about the next person. So the people I'm close to don't get hurt, it doesn't matter who I have to kill. Right Aiden is the only one I can trust.
"You can trust me too."
To my right, I see my wife smiling brightly... That smile that gives me just a bit more strength.
"Yeah, I know."
"Who are you talking to?"
It's becoming a habit to actually answer her.
"My beloved wife."
I look back at him, to see a pained expression on his face. I can tell he's attempting to put himself in my shoes, to truly grasp that pain. But that's something I wouldn't want him to feel.
"I'll be fine, don't worry about me."
"Tell her I said, thank you for looking after you."
A warmness fills my heart. Any other person would probably think I'm crazy. Well I am, but I guess we both are.
Raghhhhhhhh!
Hearing the roar we quicken our paces once again. It's coming from that direction, it's closer. I'm assuming it's now in the area where the bodies are. Hopefully it takes its time eating them or something. That'll give us just a bit more time…
"Do you see that Aiden?"
I stare up ahead, and an unusual object comes into sight. I can't fully see it from a distance, but it definitely shouldn't be in a cave system.
"Yeah, what even is it?"
We jog over to the object. As slowly more of it starts to come into sight. It's like a cage. Hanging from something. With a device on the side. Wait… no way
"Is this an elevator?"
"Holy shit. I think it is. I'm guessing it was made by the villagers at some point."
"Probably, but If that's the case it might be really old."
"Don't have much of a choice. The only other way is back where that creature is."
"Yeah you're right, let's just hope it doesn't break."
I look up to the chain it's attached to. It seems a bit withered from wear and tear. I'm not even sure if it'd be able to hold us. I wouldn't wanna risk it at least.
"Let's go one at a time. So the chain won't break."
"Alright, you go first None."
"Okay."
I step into the elevator and Aiden pulls the lever. The gears turn and slowly bring me down…
It's interesting. They must've been there for quite a bit. Or whoever built this in general. It's not something you can make overnight. This feels extremely dangerous though.
…
Reaching the bottom, I step out of the cage. Hm, doesn't seem like this is the bottom of the pit. It's still to the right, going even deeper. Could the door really be inside the pit? Maybe there's another elevator somewhere. I guess I should send it back up.
I pull the lever and watch as it slowly ascends, soon to be out of sight. Before long I can't even hear the sounds of the chain dangling back and forth…
While I'm waiting, I might as well put this lighter to use.
I unstrap my bag, reaching inside and beginning to sift through it
…
Eventually I find and pull out the pipe and tobacco. Grabbing a few pinches, I pack the pipe fairly tight…
The sound of the chain rattling makes its presence known once again, and I can see it come back into sight.
"Yo."
"Sup."
"You wanna hit of this?"
"You bet."
I strike the lighter, and put it to the bowl, inhaling deeply. Afterwards I pass It to Aiden and exhale the smoke from my mouth. Before long a sense of absolute calmness goes over me. My body feels fuzzy, my head feels light. Aiden coughs slightly before handing it back to me.
Cough cough "Man, that's nice."
"Yeah, I'm not much of a tobacco smoker but shit this place will make any drug feel like heroin."
"Haha, yeah right."
"Let's get going."
As I'm looking towards Aiden, my vision notices something behind him.
"The hell?"
Large indentions in the walls of the cavern… going upwards.
"Looks like that thing can climb too."
"Looks like it can get down here too. Let's hurry"