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Jack sighed as he plopped onto his bed. It wasn't really a bed, it was just a pile of blankets and a pillow, but it was better than most of the other people had. It had been another long day. Navigating through the caves wasn't as easy as he had hoped. Ever since his head injury, Jack had trouble remembering things. At first, it was just little things, like random people's names, but it had gotten worse, to the point where he would forget details about the Shepherd's Journal. That was the only reason he was getting special treatment. The entire group's lives depended on his ability to find his way through the caves, and the stress of that was starting to get to him. He was grumpy and curt with people; even more so than usual. Even Audrey was wary of him if he was in a mood.

It had been three days since he took over the position as guide. In those three days, he'd led them down two dead ends, into a nest of weird giant centipedes, and nearly off a cliff. But in his defense, he had gotten them to the glowing thing. It was supposed to be close to the entrance to Atlantis. But that also was a problem. Jack couldn't remember anything that came after that. He wasn't going to admit it to anyone, but he was lost now. Maybe we'll get lucky and find it by accident. He thought hopefully. He scoffed at himself. Yeah right.

Jack had finally gotten to know the rest of the crew, at least a little bit. There was the demolition expert named Vinny. There was Mole, the digger. He didn't really talk to Jack, and he was okay with that. Packard was a grumpy old lady who reminded him a lot of one of his favorite foster parents from his childhood. She was very sarcastic and didn't seem to care much for anything. He liked her. He already knew Dr. Sweet and Audrey. And lastly was Cookie. The man a crazy old coot, always saying the strangest things about his time in the west fighting Indians and such. Jack didn't really care for him or his cooking. But the man didn't seem to takes hints. He just plodded around like everyone loved him.

Although he now knew them, he didn't really want to hang out with them. He ate by himself at supper, slept away from the group at night, and rode up in front all alone. Audrey came and talked to him sometimes, but his moodiness drove her off. He didn't mean to do it, it just sort of happened. He was too proud to apologize, so he got used to being lonely. He missed Milo a lot. Even when he had no one, he had Milo. They had been thick as thieves. Now all he had of his friend were memories, and now those were starting to fade. He would get headaches and lightheaded if he tried to think to hard. It was frustrating, being even more disabled than before. It didn't help that Rourke rode him like a horse about finding the path. Every time he came up to Jack's truck, he would demand to know exactly where they were supposed to go. Jack did his best to translate it from memory, but even his brilliant mind couldn't recall all of the details. It was annoying, having him check in on him all the time.

It seemed that Jack wasn't the only one who was moody. Helga was especially bitchy. It was probably because of Rourke. It was a known fact that they were fuck-buddies. From what Jack had heard, it was a one sided relationship. Once Rourke had had his fun, he'd send her out. Jack could see why she would be upset by that. But every night, she came back. He figured that they had some sort of contract or something like that. He'd heard of those kind of things. Every time she saw Jack, she would give him this angry glare. It didn't make sense; he'd hardly said anything to her. He had to admit though, it was kind of hot, having her be mad at him. That was besides the point. The point was that her moodiness, along with his own, seemed to be making the company down in the dumps. There wasn't any laughter around the fires and everyone went to bed early.

None of that bothered Jack. He was getting used to it. He did miss talking to Audrey, but he wasn't about to apologize. Instead, he focused on his task of saving everyone from dying. He recalled something about some sort of wall painting that was pointing to the gates of Atlantis, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Every time he felt like he was getting close, it would slip away. If he saw it, he'd know, but that wasn't good enough for Rourke. He wanted a map and Jack couldn't give him one. He decided that he would go and look around after everyone went to sleep. He didn't want people to think he wasn't in total control of the situation.

He waited an hour or so after the cooking fires were put out before gathering a few supplies and sneaking out of his tent. He was toward the edge, so it wasn't difficult. The ground was relatively level on the old highway so he could move quicker without too much fear of tripping. Once he was a fair distance, he turned on his flashlight. The walls were covered in carvings and paintings. They all had this similar blue color in them. They varied from pictures of boats and fishing nets to flying fortresses shaped like whales and everything inbetween. The walls went up nearly fifty feet, and every inch was covered. How did they get up there? He wondered as he walked along the wall.

The weird nest type thing let out an eerie greenish-yellow light. It kept the cavern decently lit. There was a skinny rock bridge that connected two sides of a huge ravine. From what he could gather from the writing and images, they would have to cross it. It wasn't going to be easy. It was barely wide enough to fit the driller, and it didn't look like it could handle very much weight. Jack decided that he would go over to the other side and see what he could find.

The walk was almost a half mile. He was sweating heavily by the time he reached the end. It was abnormally hot. It seemed that the heat was coming from the mystery lightsource. It didn't make sense. Very little made sense down there. Once safely off the bridge, Jack made his way along the edge. The paintings stopped suddenly. It looked like they had been erased or covered up. He looked at it quizzingly. What is this about? He wondered. He made his way along the erased pictures. The big cavern broke into dozens of smaller caves, each one heading in a different direction. They all looked the same, except for one smaller tunnel. This one had no paintings on it either. The other ones continued the same as all the caves had before then. This one was different. It peaked his interest.

The light was dimmer in there, so he had to use his flashlight. Oddly, the track looked traveled. It didn't look like the caves that the giant centipedes used, it looked like a hunter's trail. He and Milo used to track animals out in the woods for fun. He'd gotten pretty good at it, where Milo had always been terrible. The rock on the floor was smooth, like it was walked on by barefeet. It was kind of slick, likely from oils on the foot. But that doesn't make any sense. He sat down for a moment to rest. Rubbing his finger on the ground, he thought. Could there be people down here? It didn't seem logical, but he couldn't come up with a better theory. Being careful not to use his bad arm, he got back up and continued in.

As he walked, his flashlight started to flicker. Cursing, he hit it on his thigh a few times. It blinked and turned off. Fuck me. Jack started to panick. Nobody knew he was out there. If he followed the wall back, he might find his way back through the darkness, but there were other tunnels that branched off of that one. He could just as easily get more lost. He huddled on the ground while he tried to come up with a plan. I have enough food and water to last maybe a day or two. He had originally brought it along as a snack, but now it might be his lifeline. He figured that he'd been walking for a half an hour when the light went out. That meant about forty-five minutes or so from the light.

Suddenly, he noticed a pair of glowing blue orbs. What the hell?! His heart started pounding. He pulled out his pocketknife. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. The balls moved toward him, revealing that it was a face. The creature's mouth gave off the same blue glow. He could see a little white hair on the outside of it now. His breath came out in pants. What are they?! He wondered terrified. Two other faces appeared out of the dark. Three of them! Jack started backing away slowly. They didn't seem to know he was there. He crept as quietly as he could, but his peg leg made a slight clang with every step. He winced at every single one.

He felt against the side, keeping his hand on it at all times. The cave seemed to be opening to the right. He turned around it slowly, losing eye contact with the creatures. He continued backing up. After a few minutes of tense silence, it seemed safe enough to relax. He let out a deep breath. Just as he did that, one of the creatures jumped around the corner, letting out a deep growl.

"Oh fuck!" Jack screamed as he jumped backward. The ground below him disappeared. He was on the edge of a cliff! He fell backwards, plunging into the darkness. The eyes simply watch as he plummeted. Time slowed, much like it had on the sub when Milo died. It felt like he was falling in slow motion. I am going to die! The thought shattered his brain as he screamed. He was going to die.