Me: This chapter is longer than the first, and a lot more exciting. You'd better review if you want to read more.
Fire in the Dark
(Chapter titles are hard to come up with, okay!)
Numbuh 362 yawned and stretched as much as she was able and sat up in her bed. It had been a pleasant nap, and she was ready for a patrol around the Moonbase. She grabbed her crutch (she could only use one because of her shoulder) and placed her right foot and her crutch on the ground to steady herself. She limped out of bed and out of her room. She knew Numbuh 86 would want to join her, so she headed for her friend's office.
Numbuh 362 entered the room, but it was empty, "I wonder where Fanny's got to," she wondered aloud.
Fanny and Shaunie entered their house and shut the door. The two redheads made their way to the kitchen and Numbuh 86 got out the first aid kit. She immersed her searing wrists in icy sink water, only to hear a brief hissing sound as opposite temperatures met. She winced; it stung but then had a slight relaxing effect.
Shaunie applied some ointment on his sister's wrists. He could tell she was holding back tears from the pain, she was that tough. She continually inhaled through her clenched jaws and gasping.
Fanny bound her wrists with bandaging tape. Then she sat down for a minute, still in agony.
"Shaunie," she finally spoke up, "don't tell Mum an' Dad wot 'appened. Don't tell anyone, it'll be out secret."
"But Fanny," Shaunie objected, "this looks serious. It doesn't look like any scar I've seen. You should have someone look at it."
"You and I looked at it, I think that's enough people. Don't worry, the pain will probably be gone by tomorrow."
"What if it isn't?"
"Well, then thot'll be my problem. Just don't tell anyone, okay?"
"Okay, Fanny," Shaunie agreed reluctantly.
Back on Moonbase, Numbuh 362 was about to give up and start by herself when the very person she had been looking for came walking toward her.
Numbuh 362 hailed Numbuh 86 with a, "Fanny, ready to get back to work?"
Numbuh 86 bit her lip with indecision. Should she spill the beans and tell what happened? She knew Rachel would find out sooner or later, or maybe she wouldn't. It wasn't something to worry the Supreme leader about anyway.
"Aye, sir, where are we off to?" Numbuh 86 asked, trying her best to hide her secrets with a grin.
"Just the usual patrol around the base," Numbuh 362 replied casually.
The two girls ambled along metal hallways lit by a pattern of lanterns and lights overhead. They walked past many other Kids Next Door operatives, most of whom acknowledged Numbuh 362's presence. A few asked how she was, to which she responded with a, "One more week, and I'm all clear. Thanks for asking,"
As Rachel and Fanny continued, the operatives became fewer and the hallways became narrower. The light also dimmed, this section of the Moonbase was not visited very often. They both stopped for a second, Numbuh 362 had to rest her ankle.
Numbuh 86 leaned against the wall, "So, we about ready to head baaaaaaaack…!" Fanny trailed off as the wall she had been leaning on fell back and she tumbled behind it, swallowed into the darkness.
Numbuh 362 stared down after her friend. There was a long, narrow, and winding staircase behind the broken wall. Rachel hobbled as fast as she could down the stairs to help Fanny. As she descended, it became darker and damper, it gave her frightened chills, but she kept her nerve. She brushed past cobwebs; this passageway must've been old, as well as forgotten. But she remembered it.
When she reached the bottom there was a minimal amount of light, which only worsened the fear building inside of her. Rachel shivered; it was cold down here and heavy on the odor of death and decay, a place of nightmares.
Rachel finally found her voice and called out, "Numbuh 86? Fanny? Where are you?"
Numbuh 86 groaned audibly in the dark. Numbuh 362 moved in the direction the sound had come from."
"Sir! Don't take another step! Look out!"
A sudden burst of light illuminated the area, revealing the large pit, a dark, doomful abyss that laid barely one step from Numbuh 362. Had she not heeded Numbuh 86's warning, she would've been gone.
Where was this light coming from? Looking toward the source, Numbuh 362 discovered it was fire, blooming from Numbuh 86's hand like a warm-colored flower. Rachel gasped; Fanny began to levitate in the air.
"Wot's this?" Numbuh 86 asked aloud as her body continued to disobey her and was moved as if she were a marionette.
Fire spouted from the scars glowing on Numbuh 86's wrist and shot at Numbuh 362, who dodged them as nimbly as she could in her current condition.
"Fanny, what are you doing?" Rachel asked in a horrified tone.
"It's not me, sir." Numbuh 86 tried to explain as another fireball launched from her hand. Numbuh 362 got out of the way just in time. But she had forgotten the pit. Her left leg with the broken ankle stepped into the pit. Fear gripped her heart as she dug her good arm and leg firmly into the ground next to the abyss.
Numbuh 86 lunged toward her leader, who yanked herself forward with all the strength she could muster, pulling her bad leg out of the pit.
Rachel knew she couldn't fight in her condition, she could hardly even see down here. She also couldn't dodge the blows forever. But she put on a brave appearance to hide her weakness.
Numbuh 86 flew straight toward Numbuh 362, and whatever was controlling her didn't intend to miss this time.