part0043

They were pouring out, spilling over the lip of the pit in a great tidal wave of nightmares, a gruesome obscenity from another place and time. Dozens, hundreds of the beasts erupting forth like a geyser. The ground underfoot shook mightily.

Chakrit hoisted Rachel’s prone body over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift and grabbed Ana’s limp hand. ‘Run!’ he bellowed. Fighting every urge in her body, she did, forcing her legs to work through sheer willpower. Chakrit took the lead and she tried to keep up, the red light from the pit illuminating the cavern and glinting off the pool of water ahead of them. Ana narrowed her eyes and focused on it, their one chance.

A stalactite ploughed into the rock mere feet from her, showering her with tiny shattered pebbles. She kept her head down and ran. Behind her the noise intensified, indiscernible screeches and roars and that damnable clicking sound, the wild cacophony grating on her frayed nerves.

Not far now. She was losing ground on Chakrit and Rachel, the pool impossibly far away, and then without even realising it she was falling, for a brief second, and then splashing, engulfed in the cool water, her head beneath the surface, momentarily unable to breathe. Her feet touched the rocks below and she pushed herself up until her head broke the surface and she could look into Chakrit’s wild, frightened eyes. He glanced over her shoulder.

‘Deep breaths,’ he snapped, forcing down great lungfuls of air, and then he was gone, taking Rachel with him, leaving Ana alone. She copied him, and as the red light vanished behind something enormous she ducked her head under the water and swam, hands in front of her, feeling for obstacles and obstructions. It was pitch black and a brief, maddening flashback to being inside the guts of the spider washed over her. She wrestled it away, thrashing her legs to gain forward momentum. Her head struck a low rock but she kept swimming, stopping for nothing. She tried to remain as close to the ceiling of the tunnel as possible, praying for an air pocket. Already her lungs felt like they might burst.

Her escape route was narrowing, the roof dropping lower and lower until the rounded stones massaged her back, and she used her hands to grip the bed and pull herself along. She started to panic, keeping her mouth shut, knowing that letting the water in would surely finish her off for good. The tiny cave forked and Ana chose the right-hand side without thinking. How long had she been underwater? Thirty seconds? A minute? How long could she keep under? She had to breathe soon. Had to .

Her shoulders scraped off the sides. There was barely enough room for her to kick her legs anymore so she concentrated on her hands, gripping the walls and thrusting herself onwards. Her throat started to burn, her heartbeat out of control.

She knew she was going to die. Should she just open her mouth and get it over with?

Her hands slowed, her grip lessening. A bright white light appeared before her and suddenly she couldn’t feel the surrounding rock anymore. She was floating, sailing through the water as if caught in a current, moving towards the light.

I’m dead , she thought, relaxing her muscles.

Then her head was above water and the cool night air was on her face and she breathed in huge, wracking gasps of air, her senses slowly returning. She opened her eyes as she floated serenely down the river, flanked by trees on either side, great hulking sentinels marking her progress. Behind her lay the mountain. She shifted her weight and turned round, searching, but there was no sign of Chakrit or Rachel. She thought of the fork in the tunnel, of her split-second decision to take the right-hand side. What if…

No. No what ifs. Ahead of her the water roared and instinctively she knew it was a waterfall. She tried to swim to the side but the banks were too steep and she was too tired, too utterly, hopelessly exhausted. She gave up, letting the river carry her like a broken tree trunk, drifting, drifting, and then falling, falling.