Chapter 8

LOK

#49

Enjoy!

Never Surrender Part 2

The sounds of shouting that echoed through the cavern drew Bolin from his meal. When he heard a female voice that's when he dropped his bowl in alarm.

"Korra...? It can't be..."

He got up slowly in a state of shock, his spilled goop forgotten and started to climb over the other prisoners in the circle. He was about to leave the clearing area when he was stopped with a hand on his shoulder. Oda's voice was stern, though his warning was gentle and full of actual worry.

"If you go over there, you will only be giving them another reason to hurt you!"

"Someone I know is over there Oda, I have to help her." He shoved Oda's hand off and proceeded to rush towards the sounds of the fight. As he got closer it was clearer now that it was indeed his friend, which drove him even more to the sound of her voice. He was getting rescued, Mako would be there with her and then he and all the other prisoners would be free. His heart skipped for joy and he could not help but smile genuinely, at the fact there was a chance to get out of here or that Korra and Mako were rescuing him. Oda followed closely behind, ready to grab his friend from danger at a moment's notice.

"AAAAHHH!"

A girl's scream echoed through the cavern and Bolin moved forward in a way that Oda had not seen from the young Earthbender before. He moved with purpose at the base of the stairs, his arms outstretched.

"AAAAHHH!" Korra screamed as she fell, she could see the ground rushing towards her face as she could do nothing to stop it. Her life flash before her waking eyes. From the time she was a little girl spouting fire balls and earth pellets to her first kiss with Mako and beyond. Her mother's soothing voice, her father's strong arms... her heart ached to experience one more moment with those dear to her. She squeezed her eyes shut... it'll be over soon she thought.

That is... before a pair of warm arms wrapped around her and not the cold hard ground. She felt she was no longer falling, and slowly opened her eyes. She looked up at the faces of an older man and...

"Korra, are you okay? Damn it, look what they've done to you..."

Bolin... she found him.

"Heh, you should see the other guys." she smirked in response. Her eyes scanning him over in the light, he appeared terrible, pale and almost sickly looking. "And you, you don't look to good yourself."

"Not my fault." He sounded okay though... his humor at least.

Korra continued as she was gently set on the ground "I'm glad I found you, Mako's really worried about you, and so was I."

Bolin waved a finger at her, a grin plastered his face "Actually, I found you. Can't find someone when you're falling fifty feet."

Korra rolled her eyes but she had a smile on her face too, "Whatever. Just untie me." She turned her back to him for him to untie her hands.

"Just want credit where credit is due." was the last of what he would say about that and proceeded to release her from her bindings.

"Where is Mako..." Bolin looked around as he undid the ties. He had seen no one else on the stairs aside from the guards but that did could have mean Mako might be elsewhere.

"He... I did this on my own."

Bolin remained silent, analyzing the response but also unsure of what to say to her. He undid the last of the knots and the binds fell to the floor.

With her hands free she inspected her new 'bracelets' and other 'jewelry' newly added to her body. "What are these? I bet these are why I can't bend."

"That is exactly right, young lady." The older man spoke to her as he gathered her discarded bonds. Korra narrowed her eyes to the potential threat.

Bolin's eyes widened in embarrassment, stunned that he forgot to introduce her to his mentor, "Oh! Korra this is Oda, he's sort of taken me under his wing since I first got here. Oda meet Korra, teammate and she also happens to be th-mmphtrr." He would have said she was the Avatar if not for Korra's swift hand that grabbed his mouth to muffle the word.

"No one is supposed to know... not yet." She whispered in his ear quickly and letting him go.

Oda raised an eyebrow questioningly to the new arrival whom Bolin coincidentally knew and risked further punishment by saving.

Bolin looked up to Oda and realized by his expression that an explanation needed to be had, "She's also one of my closest friends besides my brother, saved my life more times than I could count." He gave her a confident smile.

Oda simply nodded, his expression back to normal, and held out his hand, "It is an honor to meet you Korra." he then turns his attention to Bolin. "Bolin we should get back to the village now. The guards will be around soon and we should not be in this area near the stairs..."

"Village?" Korra asked. She stood on her own, hiding her shaking hands under her arms to not let on the near death experience rattled her a little more than she liked.

"Yeah, its nice. A group of little huts where we sleep." Bolin motioned her to follow as Oda already began to walk up the rocky path. It was also this time she noted that the shoes she wore were gone. She assumed they probably sold them to local shops to help with the money for this whole operation. What ever this was.

"Bo, I don't intend for us to stay the night... "

Bolin stopped and looked over his shoulder. In the light, his pale and sickly face with the expression of longing yet there was also something there that terrified him. "We can't leave... trust me you don't want to find out what happens."

He seemed truly afraid when he said that, a shadow of his former self... and those bastards responsible are going to pay. She clenched her fists hard. "Bolin, I swear I'm going to get you out of here."

Bolin hesitated a second as they entered the outskirts of the village, "And the others, Korra?"

Korra blinked for a second, "Yes of cour- wait there are others? How many?"

"What ever your number is.. that's how many there are here; I haven't really bothered to count... But I wont leave them Korra. I can't." Bolin had stopped and turned to face her, his hand on a wall of a hut to steady himself before he continued. He had, after all, just come off of a day's shift.

"Its horrible down here, but they've taken care of me and even flourished a little. We have to save them... but they seem happy down here. Honestly, If I weren't being electrocuted every damn shift I might be happy here too."

"Of course we'll save them, all of them... I promise." She nodded, it was a promise as the Avatar she intended to keep.

Bolin righted himself again only to show off his physique by flexing, "And the work's made me stronger too, I can lift more than I ever did."

"Yeah, I can tell. Seems to be the only thing that looks healthy about you. What do they make you do here?" inquired Korra, needing to learn a whole lot about this place if she was going to stage a break out.

Bolin began to walk again as he spoke, his eyes shifted to the lights on the ceiling as they began to dim. "They make us dig for stuff, lots of things actually but one really big one. A type of crystal-things that are as I'm told pretty rare and sensitive to light, which is why they make us dig in near darkness... We should get moving the lights are gonna go out."

"Are we going there now? To dig?" Korra asked as she assumed the dimming lights meant it was time to dig.

"No, we're going to hide."

"What?"

"They come out at night." Bolin shivered. "Horrible creatures. Nothing I've ever seen, not even in books. The lights keep them away but there is only so much electricity they can use to keep the lights on."

Korra put her hands on her hips, "I think I can handle that."

"Not without your bending, Korra."

Korra growled, it was getting really annoying real fast without her bending.

Shff

The Avatar turned around on her heels, prepared to fight what ever creature made the noise though she was stopped in mid pose by the sight of other human beings. They were following the same narrow pathway to their huts. The mass of people caught her off guard as she stared at the individuals the turned onto different paths or into nearby huts. Her attention was eventually shaken away by Bolin.

"Here, you can stay in my hut if you like. I'm not sure there's enough time to find one of your own." He presented to her a small sized box hut with one opening. As the lights were almost at their darkest, Bolin was practically shoving her towards the entrance. "Inside, quick!"

"Okay! Okay!" She hastily clamored into the box space, which inside looked a bit more spacious. She was followed by Bolin who immediately began to work on moving a large stone slab. Korra could tell it took a lot of effort to move it and she scrambled to his side to help. With her strength the stone moved fairly quickly into position of sealing the door.

Bolin, at last allowed himself to collapse, crumpled to a sweating heap. "Thanks." He gulped the stale air.

"Thank me when I get you out of here, alright?" Korra inspected the hut for a place to sit, her back leaning against on of the four walls. She felt around and determined that every where felt the the same and decided to hunker down nearest to the door. The pitch blackness did not make things any easier, as both occupants struggled to climb over each other for their suited spots. Though both were almost the same size, Bolin with a bit more bulk, the box was too small for them to have their space and not be very close together. But in the next moment, space would not even matter to her except for the amount of stone that was placed between them and the outside.

"Schrrreeeee! ! Schrrreeek!"

The chilling sound that reached Korra's ears felt like nails on a chalk board. "What was that? !"

Bolin shifted uncomfortably, "Those things... those things that come out at night."

Korra's teeth gritted as she fought the urge to roll away the stone and confront what ever being was making those howls. That was... until the shreaks got closer and carnivorous growling got louder. Soon she could hear the deep thumps of something lurking past their hut.

Korra had sudden the urge to peek out of a crack meant to be for ventilation. She could not see through the darkness except for darker forms, possibly about the size of the hut, lumbering about in the darkness. She looked back at Bolin, who seemed to stare at her or at least that's where he faced. Upon looking back at the crack she was met with a huff of hot air and putrid smelling breath. One of the beasts had found their scent and began clawing at the stone.

She scrambled backwards, adrenaline shot through her system and set of alarms in her head, her breath and scream caught in her throat. She reached the far wall next to Bolin when she was finally able to cry out, a hand reached out to muffle her. Bolin covered her mouth and his other hand held her shoulder. He kept whispering, "It'll pass... It'll pass..."

Korra no longer screamed into his hand, the moment of weakness long passed, but she did not have the heart to shove him away. She trusted him with her life. Even with hounds of hell trying to break down the door. His whispers turned to murmurs and his head rolled on her shoulder exhausted. Bolin fell asleep, it wasn't necessarily a peaceful sleep but sleep nonetheless. Korra contemplated sleep as the scratching and growling grew more vicious as it seemed the creatures started to fight outside. She wondered how any one could sleep with these roaming around in the dark. Little did she realize that she herself was falling asleep as well.

It certainly had been a long day.

End chapter 8

The threads are starting to come together.

Tell me what you think?

Tips and advice are always appreciated as I am always trying to improve. This chapter has not been "Fine tuned" or gone through a 3rd edit.