Juno hadn’t expected Alaric Thomas to intervene at such a critical moment.
When the tunnel began collapsing around Sarah and Beth, she had genuinely thought there was nothing anyone could do.
Holding up a falling section of rock with an entrenching tool long enough for two people to escape required a frightening amount of strength.
Holly stared at Alaric for several seconds before finally speaking.
“Okay, I take back what I said before.
You’re definitely tougher than you look.” Sam immediately felt slightly annoyed, wondering when Holly had been given the authority to judge Alaric in the first place.
Alaric couldn’t have cared less about either reaction.
He pulled himself free from Beth’s grateful embrace and looked toward the completely blocked tunnel behind them.
“Beth, Sarah, calm down first.
We have a bigger problem now because the way we came in is gone.” Beth was still emotional after narrowly escaping death, while Sarah looked even worse.
Only after Alaric pointed out their situation did everyone turn toward the collapsed passage and realize how serious things had become.
Tons of stone now separated them from their original entrance.
Rebecca stepped forward before panic could spread further.
“Everyone calm down.
According to the information we had on the mapped cave, there should be other possible routes out.” Her intention was obvious—give the group some hope before fear took control.
Juno’s expression immediately changed.
She knew she couldn’t hide the truth anymore.
“Rebecca, those maps aren’t going to help us,” Juno admitted.
“This isn’t Boreham Caverns.” Rebecca stared at her.
“What are you talking about?” Juno’s face had gone pale.
“I changed the destination.
This is an unexplored cave system.” The entire group fell silent.
Rebecca’s shock quickly turned into anger.
“You brought us into an unmapped cave without telling anyone?” “I’m sorry.” Juno struggled to defend herself.
“I thought exploring somewhere that had already been completely mapped wouldn’t mean anything.
I wanted us to discover something new.” Rebecca finally lost her temper.
As the most experienced caver in the group, she understood better than anyone what Juno’s decision meant.
Their original route was blocked, no rescue team knew their real location, and nobody outside even knew which cave system they had entered.
Sarah and Beth were visibly frightened by the revelation.
Sam and Alaric were both supposed to be newcomers, making the situation even worse from Rebecca’s perspective.
If they couldn’t find another exit, every person here could die underground without anyone knowing where to search.
Holly was probably the only one who wasn’t completely horrified.
The woman loved dangerous situations and had spent most of the expedition chasing excitement.
Even she had become noticeably quieter after the collapse, though the danger still seemed to spark something reckless inside her.
While everyone argued, Alaric studied the chamber around them.
The walls seemed to close in from every direction, leaving the air damp and stale while darkness swallowed anything beyond the range of their lights.
Somewhere farther inside the cave, he could hear faint scraping sounds that reminded him of rats moving over stone.
The oppressive atmosphere made one thing obvious.
They couldn’t stay here.
Once the argument finally ended, everyone agreed that finding another route took priority over blaming Juno.
They selected one of the available passages and prepared to continue deeper into the cave.
As leader and the person responsible for bringing them here, Juno insisted on taking the first position.
Alaric was placed directly behind her.
After what he had done during the collapse, nobody questioned whether he could handle himself.
Sarah refused to remain at the rear after nearly being buried alive, so Rebecca volunteered to take the final position.
The group then squeezed into another narrow tunnel and continued searching.
The deeper they traveled, the more confined the passage became.
Damp stone pressed close around their shoulders while their helmet lamps created moving shadows across the walls.
Even Sam and Holly, who had started the expedition excited, gradually stopped talking as the enclosed space became increasingly suffocating.
Fortunately, that section didn’t last forever.
They eventually emerged onto a much larger opening where their route abruptly ended at a deep chasm.
The darkness below seemed bottomless, and the only visible continuation of the cave lay on the opposite side.
Crossing it would require climbing equipment and ropes.
For people with their experience and equipment, the obstacle was difficult but manageable.
Rebecca took responsibility for establishing a crossing point and moved carefully above the drop while securing the rope.
During the process, she discovered an old climbing piton embedded in the stone.
Rebecca stared at it for a moment.
Someone had been here before.
That should have been encouraging, but the abandoned equipment suggested something more troubling.
If another expedition had reached this depth, why had nobody ever mapped or reported the cave?
Alaric suspected the answer was probably lying somewhere farther underground.
Everyone crossed one at a time.
Juno went last and tried to recover as much equipment as possible before leaving the chasm behind.
During the attempt, an old anchor point suddenly failed and she dropped hard against the rope.
Rebecca reacted instinctively and caught the line, suffering a painful rope burn across her hands as she stopped Juno from falling.
Juno’s scream echoed through the cavern.
The sound traveled far deeper than anyone realized.
Rebecca’s injured palms were bleeding, and the metallic scent spread through the damp air while echoes continued moving through the tunnels.
Somewhere in the darkness, something that had spent generations living underground became aware that unfamiliar creatures had entered its territory.
Alaric suddenly looked upward.
A dark shape moved across an opening high above them.
It disappeared almost instantly.
His Enhanced Vision made him certain it hadn’t been imagination.
Something humanoid had moved through the rocks after the shouting and commotion.
The Crawlers were already close.
Alaric considered warning everyone, then decided against it for the moment.
Half the group was already close to panic, and shouting about monsters nobody else had clearly seen would accomplish little.
He would rather keep them moving until he knew exactly where the creatures were.
Beyond the chasm, the terrain became wider and easier to navigate.
Eventually, the expedition reached another junction where several primitive markings had been carved into the stone.
Rebecca and Beth examined them while the others gathered nearby.
The markings appeared to show the cave system.
More importantly, they suggested there might be another exit.
For the first time since Juno revealed the truth, everyone received something resembling good news.
Alaric studied the crude shapes more carefully, though he couldn’t shake the feeling that parts of the drawing looked less like routes to freedom and more like some kind of underground nest.
Juno tested the passages for airflow before choosing one that appeared promising.
She was preparing to enter first when Holly slipped past her without waiting.
Even after everything that had happened, her instinct was still to rush ahead.
“Holly, slow down,” Juno snapped.
“I’ll check it out,” Holly called from deeper inside.
There was a slight edge in her voice now.
Earlier, Holly had rushed ahead because she was excited.
This time, Alaric could hear something else beneath the bravado.
She was frightened and trying to outrun the feeling by constantly moving forward.
Predictably, it ended badly.
A scream suddenly erupted from the passage.
“Holly!” Juno and Sarah rushed after her, with the others following close behind.
Alaric quietly summoned the Two of Spades into his hand as he moved.
There was no point pretending the cave was safe anymore.
[Contained Target: Saw-Tooth] “Fuse.” The Ghost Card vanished into him.
Power immediately spread through Alaric’s body.
His strength increased, his already enhanced eyesight sharpened further, and his senses became much clearer in the oppressive darkness.
The transformation was temporary, but the familiar surge of physical power calmed him almost immediately.
Only that feeling gave him genuine security underground.
When they reached Holly, she was lying at the bottom of a short drop and screaming in pain.
Her leg had broken badly during the fall, turning an already dangerous expedition into an even greater problem.
Without proper medical treatment, continuing through the cave would be extremely difficult.
Sam quickly moved forward to help stabilize the injury while Juno and Sarah supported Holly.
Nobody needed to say what they were all thinking.
Their group was trapped in an unknown cave system and now had an injured member who couldn’t move normally.
Sarah, however, seemed focused on something else.
“I saw something.” Juno looked at her.
“Sarah, you’re scared.
We all are.” “No.” Sarah shook her head violently.
“I saw it.” Her voice grew louder as everyone turned toward her.
“It looked human, but it wasn’t.
It didn’t have any clothes, its skin was pale and gray, and its face…” Sarah struggled for words before continuing, “There was something wrong with its eyes and mouth.” Juno immediately tried to dismiss it.
“You were panicking.
You probably saw a shadow.” Sarah looked close to losing control.
“It wasn’t a shadow!” The expedition was already beginning to collapse emotionally.
Holly couldn’t walk without assistance, Rebecca’s hands were injured, Sarah was nearing a panic attack, and everyone now knew nobody outside had any idea where they were.
Sam had reached her limit as well.
She moved close to Alaric and grabbed his arm with trembling hands.
Tears were already forming in her eyes.
What was supposed to be an exciting trip with her sister and friends had become a nightmare in less than a day.
Juno prepared to stop Sarah from frightening everyone further.
Alaric spoke first.
“I believe you.” Every head turned toward him.
Sarah stared at Alaric like someone had finally thrown her a lifeline.
Being told that what she had seen wasn’t simply the result of fear seemed to steady her slightly.
Of everyone here, Sarah probably wanted it to be a hallucination more than anyone else.
But it wasn’t.
Alaric knew exactly what she had seen.
His expression remained calm.
“Because I saw one too.” Silence filled the cave.
Nobody immediately responded.
The situation had changed completely.
Finding an exit was no longer their only problem because there was now something non-human moving through the tunnels around them.
Worse, except for Alaric, nobody knew what those creatures were or how many might be nearby.
The fear on everyone’s faces intensified.
Alaric sighed and lowered his backpack.
“Okay.
Since we’re past the point of pretending this is a normal cave expedition, there’s something else you should know.” He opened the pack and removed the compact firearms he had brought for emergencies, along with his spare magazines and weapon-mounted lights.
Then the Two of Spades appeared between his fingers, holding something even more reassuring in reserve—the rifle he had stored together with Saw-Tooth before entering the cave.
Alaric looked at the terrified group.
If monsters were really coming, he preferred meeting them with firepower.
…
[Community Goals Ongoing]