Exhale.
Have you ever jumped off of a cliff? Not suicide or anything of that matter; But let's say a steep cliff at the lake on a summer swim trip? The feeling of that moment of free fall speed, with no control over the outcome. It comes with a punch of adrenaline and time slows as you rocket towards the water. Then, Splash! Youre enveloped in the water. Relaxing and lifting the weight of your body to the top as you are covered in the water's embrace.
That is as close as I can get to describing the feeling of the first 10 seconds after I exhaled the chemical. My blood pressure spiked; I felt like I was being microwaved from the inside. I let out screams of pain from my physical torment but my mind was overflowing with the most pleasure I had ever experienced. Suddenly my fingertips started smoking. I was panicking, sweating, laughing. I couldn't understand this event. My fingers become hard and callused. Suddenly it all quit and all i felt was the mental relaxation and focus. It was the best of both worlds.
Once I was aware of my surroundings again Daisy was locked in on me. I noticed her hand on the trigger of her pistol. " You'll seek that feeling for the rest of your days if you continue Mr. Percy, a slave to that smoke. Choose wisely."
She was right too. I wanted to hit it again. But I could tell my mental state wasnt prepared. But that isn't the grand purpose; the big what, that these things were made for. I felt my fingertips, they were hard as rock. I stretched out my hand towards the wall of ice and imagined myself as a dragon, full of fire, ready to be released. I focused on that fire... and released.
Fire flies from my fingertips, flowing like a flame torch on a napalm tank. This stuff was an inferno of heat. I pulled my other hand up and let the power flow. This did something for me too. My brain felt the release of the flames as it would a sexual release. Endorphins rushed to my brain tickling my insides. I was in love with this power.
It took maybe 30 seconds to melt the entire wall of ice. All 10 inches of it, and that's not including the bit of wall i scorched. I guess I rode out the feeling a little too long. But the job was done and now the effects of the smoke was wearing off. Fleeting high. It's true this adam was some nasty shit. Those people in Rapture. They were putting the shit straight into their bloodstream. No wonder the whole damn city went crazy.
"That'll do just fine. This hatch leads straight into the facility. From what Jack tells me it should have two exits and one leads to the boiler room. If we can bring the facility back to temperature we should be able to bring some of the machines back on. That would atleast provide enough heat for us to have a camp while we figure out how to get into Lamb's offices" Daisy was prepared. But that last line shocked me.
"Lamb's offices?"
Daisy let out a single laugh that was overlayed with disbelief, "What did you think we were doing down here? Waiting to die?" I didn't have an answer, " No, Lamb has turned this paradise into a prison. Jack aims to take her down and end the freeze. He believe's it is the only way to bring back his family and the citizens of Zion."
" How do we even know what we are going up against? If these people are all Gods as you say, what kind of war are we fighting?" I was pissed. I did not sign up for war. " I will not die down here!"
" Mr. Percy.. if we are lucky; we will all die down here"
Daisy studied my reaction then turned around; she pulled the panel from the wall and jumped in head first.
As I saw her body crawling deeper into the darkness my fear seemed to return. This place wasn't just a grave for God's, Percy could now tell. Daisy believed this was also her grave... maybe it was mine too.