It wasn't long before the tunnels split into different paths. Each explorer was given their task. Two different groups would venture off. The group that Jess was in would stay closer to home, collecting water in the hopes of cleaning it once they returned. While the other group, which consisted of Isabel and Thane, would venture further forward to scavenge for supplies. Individuals could go as far as the light could reach, but that was it. Isabel had it drummed into her head that the number one rule for an explorer was to never go off alone.
And yet, whenever she had the opportunity, she couldn't resist going further when no one was looking.
Living underground with limited food, water and hardly any electricity left her curious mind starved for so long. Her mother would tell her stories about the history of the world, further back than anyone alive could remember. Helen was one of the few historians who desired to hold onto their history, and Isabel had inherited that fascination. The moments that she truly treasured were when she would find some hidden artefact that she could bring back home, and she could see her mom's face light up with amazement. Any chance Isabel had to make her mother smile; she would take.
Glancing left to right, making sure none of her bosses were looking, Isabel darted down one of the tunnels. She shielded her firefly lamp underneath her ragged shirt, barely able to keep the light from pouring out of the many holes in the fabric. Moving like a mouse, she escaped without drawing the attention of her bosses. She breathed a sigh of relief, tightened her grip on her pickaxe and headed deeper into the unknown.
She could only imagine the grief that Jess would give her for journeying alone once again. Isabel shrugged, already planning for a way to make it up to her friend for putting her through some frightful moments.
Isabel walked for a solid ten minutes, facing nothing but bleak darkness. She shivered under the cold chill in the air, and the groan of the tunnels made her hairs stand on end. But she continued bravely. Before long, something glimmered under the light of her lamp. She gazed down at the ground and saw something half hidden in the dirt and rubble. She crouched down and carefully used her pickaxe to pull the item closer to her.
''No way!'' She gasped as she stared at a small lightbulb that looked to be in perfect condition. The glass dome was still intact, and the insides didn't appear to be broken. If she brought it to an inventor back at the colony, it could probably be salvaged and work. If she could also find something to bargain the inventor with, Isabel could potentially keep it for her hut. That would really make her mother happy.
She reached down to retrieve the bulb.
''What do we have here?'' a loud voice startled her, and before she could react, a large hand grabbed the bulb right out from under her.
Isabel glanced up and scowled as she was greeted by Thane, giving her a knowing smirk. ''I found it! I claim it!''
Thane chuckled, not the least bit intimidated by Isabel, even when she stood up as tall as she could. She still couldn't even reach his shoulders. ''So, do you always wander off by yourself to hoard? I don't think the other explorers would appreciate that.''
''I report back the important things that I find.''
''Were you going to report this?''
Isabel groaned with frustration. ''Come on, it's just one lightbulb.''
''Then you won't mind if I hold onto it.'' He then put it in his basket before she could argue. ''Unless you're willing to trade.''
Gritting her teeth, Isabel folded her arms across her chest. ''Fine, what do you want for it?''
Thane's grin widened. ''Hmm, there's one thing that comes to mind.''
Isabel could feel her blood boil as the realization kicked in. She advanced a step closer to Thane and clenched her fists. ''If you even look at my mother…''
''I'm just thinking of the human race. Mating season will be upon us, and it's not like you're suitable for the occasion. Your historian mother…I can breed her.''
The straw was broken for Isabel. She swung her pickaxe at Thane, too enraged to think about the consequences. Before her strike could land however, Thane grabbed the shaft of the tool and held it in place. Isabel struggled to pry it from his grasp, but she was severely outmatched. Thane yawned to emphasis his dominate strength and mock her. Suddenly, he jabbed the shaft forward, hitting Isabel in the face and knocking her to the ground.
She let go of her pickaxe and cupped her now bloody nose, coughing and trying to fight through the tears building in her eyes. Thane towered over her as he tossed her pickaxe away.
''You have no place here. You're just a burden to the colony. If you want to help us, you can hurry up and die. That would be one less mouth to feed.''
''Shut up!'' Isabel screamed.
''We need to think of our future. Your mom won't have long to go before she can't have any more children. And considering your dad went missing while exploring the tunnels, someone must step up and be the man.''
''I said shut up!'' Isabel leapt to her feet and lunged at Thane. The giant of a man easily sidestepped her assault and kicked at her feet, knocking her to the ground once again.
Stamping on her back to keep her down and stifle out her sobs, Thane chortled. ''I'm doing you a favour. My father is part of the council. If you hit me, we could have you banished. Actually…that doesn't sound like such a bad idea.''
Isabel slammed her fists into the muddy ground. Angry at Thane, and angry at herself for being powerless to do anything. ''We shouldn't be fighting each other. I'm not your enemy.''
''True,'' Thane nodded nonchalantly. ''But, considering you hoard items to yourself and don't report them, you can't mother children like the other women in the colony, you might breed children that aren't able to breed, and you can't hold yourself in a fight…you're almost as bad as an enemy. You're a burden.''
With her face buried in the ground, Isabel's ragged breath kicked up dirt. Her body coiled in anger and frustration. In that moment, she wanted nothing more than to knock Thane down, but she could clearly see that wasn't going to happen. However, the last thing she wanted was to give him the satisfaction of putting her down, literally and figuratively. So, much to Thane's confusion, she started laughing mockingly. ''What's the matter? Afraid that if I had kids, they'd be more good looking than yours?''
He stamped on her back harder, causing her to grunt, but Isabel kept laughing, even as tears started to flow down her face.
''You think you're tough? I doubt you'd be so brave if a Drake was here.''
Thane spat. ''You think you'd do any better? You can't even hit me.''
He grabbed a fistful of her hair to pull her up before swinging her around and throwing her into the wall nearby, tearing a bit of her hair out of her scalp. She collided with the wall so hard, chunks of rock fell to the ground with her. Isabel was able to avoid the rocks in time, however, the two of them froze when they noticed something jutting out from the new hole in the wall...a human skeleton.
Dirty and broken, it leaned out of the debris like the earth's morbid decoration. Isabel and Thane were motionless as they stared intensely at the rotten bones. Then Isabel noticed something leaking from the skeleton. Liquid poured out from the hole, over the skeleton's shoulders and onto the ground. The liquid glittered in an array of different colors, lighting up the tunnel more than any firefly lamp could. A puddle started to form at the feet of the skeleton, causing Isabel to scurry back and avoid whatever damage it might cause. Thane approached the puddle cautiously and then probed it with his pickaxe. It suddenly burst into flames, almost exploding in his hand. He cried out in shock and tossed his tool as far as he could. ''What did you do?''
''Me? You're the one who threw me into it!'' Isabel was too confused to even be mad at him anymore. Whatever it was they had discovered took all priorities. This was unlike anything she'd seen before. She remembered her mother talking about fuel, perhaps this was it? So many possibilities ran through her mind, and that was before she had time to focus on the skeleton. Who could it have been and where did it come from?
Thane slowly backed away. ''You stay here. I'm going to report this back to the colony.''
''What? Why can't you stay here?''
''Because I said so.''
''We don't even know what this is. It could be radioactive.''
Thane looked at her with confusion. ''What?''
Isabel rolled her eyes. ''I don't have time to explain. I don't think it's safe for one of us to be with this alone.''
''What are you afraid of? It's not like it can go anywhere.''
The skeleton screamed furiously. Its voice was harsh and ragged as if it hadn't spoken for centuries. ''You're turn!'' It yelled before lunging forward.
Thane was the closest to the skeleton despite moving back and was right in its path. Because Isabel was wise enough to not tear her eyes off the skeleton, she was the first to notice its attack. Before she even had time to think, she leapt in the way of its path, stopping it from tackling Thane. It wrapped its bony arm around her before dragging her down into the pool of liquid. Isabel tried to escape, but it was too late. It pulled her into the puddle, and they both disappeared into the liquid.
Isabel had no time to think. This was all impossible. The skeleton coming to life and attacking, her being absorbed into a puddle that wasn't even an inch high, and her not turning to ash the moment her skin touched it like it had made short work of the pickaxe. Her body moved slowly like she was trapped in a dream. She could barely see past her own nose. Lights blurred before her as her body started to become hot. Her heart raced faster as she feared this was the end. She couldn't breathe as her lungs were filled with the liquid. A scorching pain rushed throughout her body as she could feel every muscle tighten and constrict at the same time. She wanted to cry out for help, but nothing could be heard.
As darkness started to sweep over her, her last thoughts drifted back to her mother. She didn't want to hold back the tears this time. She feared that she would never feel her mother's warm embrace or hear her sweet voice ever again. She would be left alone in this cruel world. Isabel didn't want that to happen.
She refused to let that happen.
Using every bit of strength she had left in her, she started swinging her arms forward. She tried to swim to freedom, even as it felt like her body was on fire. But, the fire didn't help her. In fact, after a few seconds, she felt renewed. A surge of power exploded from within as she swam faster and faster until she could see a pool of light getting closer. She reached out towards the light.
Air returned as she exploded from the surface of the liquid. She crawled out from the puddle and onto solid ground, coughing violently and feeling like she was going to vomit. Her body was coated with the strange liquid, making her feel hot. When she felt her throat sooth, she looked up and observed her surroundings. Thane was nowhere to be seen, and the skeleton's bones melted into the puddle as the liquid shrunk until there was nothing left and Isabel was left alone, panting in the darkness.
''What the fuck just happened?'' she asked herself.
XXX
GOOD DAY LADIES AND GENTLEMAN AND OTHERS. DID YOU LIKE THIS NEW CHAPTER? WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON ISABEL? WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THANE? WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN NEXT?DON'T BE AFRAID TO LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS AND THEORIES. I LOVE HEARING FROM ALL OF YOU AND I'M SHOCKED TO SEE HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE COMING ON BOARD TO READ THIS STORY. YOU ARE ALL AMAZING AND MEAN THE WORLD TO ME, SO I WANT TO MAKE SURE THIS STORY IS AS GOOD AS IT CAN BE.
FROM HERE THIS IS WHERE THE STORY WILL START TO GET MORE ACTION PACKED. THERE WILL BE PLENTY OF EXCITEMENT, DRAMA AND SENSUALITY COMING VERY SOON. THANK YOU ALL AND TA-TA FOR NOW.
