Page 34 of Surviving Hallow Hill
Eleven
A dirty metallicarm hangs from the edge, embedded into the red dirt like a street sign directing us onward. And onward, then down. Down into the dense darkness of whatever nightmare the corpses around us came from.
“What if there is no lab or tunnels down there?” Sia asks, his gaze sliding to the wolf at his side.
“There will be.” Styx nods and inhales audibly. “The things crawled out of this hole, and a scent clung to them. A scent that gave me chills to remember where it came from.”
“Belladonna.” Sia says the word without emotion, but I see the hard clench of his jaw, the anger shining in his eyes.
Rueren shares that look with him. His smooth features are so stony, he looks like he’d love nothing more than to rip the academy apart brick by golden brick. “And silver, and wolfsbane, and other things.”
I grit my teeth just thinking about it. This has suddenly become infinitely more dangerous. Not just because dozens, if not hundreds, of hybrids could be waiting for us down there, but because they probably have liquid poison just waiting for us to swallow.
“Well, ladies first,” Amrose says with a small smile, her arm sweeping out to gesture me on.
I can’t help but to look her perfect figure up and down. “And you’re not a lady?”
A long, chiming laugh kisses from her lips as she throws her head back and stares up at the dark clouds rolling in above us.
“No even close, darling.” Her enormous eyes settle back on me with an eeriness I don’t think she’ll ever be able to shake. It’s a silent telling trait that all major predators must have.
No matter how beautiful something appears, the darkness within them will always find a way to crawl out.
That darkness lives in all of us. We all have that stain that has the ability to bleed out, consuming every single part of our souls.
If we let it.
Amrose hasn’t let it. No matter how monstrous she appears in her natural form, she’s just like us. A decent person trapped in an indecent situation.
“I could soar down and see what’s there.” Kira looks to Rue, and I know his wings can’t be ready for something like that just yet.
“No. It’s too dangerous to send one person down alone,” Rue tells her with a final shake of his head.
I don’t wait for anyone else to offer up their life for the group.
I climb. I grip the ledge of the dirt so hard, my nails break into the earth, and one careful foot after the other, I descend into the unknown hell below.
Shaking breaths and scattering rubble are the only indications that tell me the others are following after me. I hear a curse every now and then, but I can’t lose focus. Not now. Now when I have absolutely no fucking idea of what lies below or how far the drop is into that mysterious darkness.
Just as Styx said, the scent of rotting flesh and dirt fade little by little as the overpowering press of medical soap and antiseptic pigment the air. It’s all I think about. With each shaky move I make downward, the smell grows and a twirl of anxious determination claws at my stomach.
We’re getting close.
Just a bit farther.
We’re almost there.
Thunder booms overhead, the noise shaking the dirt beneath my fingernails with its demanding sound.
And then, rain pours over me, slickening my skin and my grip against the earth. It coats my hair until the locks cover my face, darkening my surroundings impossibly more. A gasp and dirt clatter down my way just before a boot grinds painfully over my shoulder. Legs and arms come next, jarring against me, and it isn’t until the very last moment that I react. A slender wrist fills my fist, and I grip the sliding flesh with all my strength while clinging to a feeble root in the muddy dirt.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I growl.
Do I drop her? How much farther is it? Is it a deadly fall or just a...minor maiming that may take months to recover from?
“Drop me,” Amrose commands.
“Uh. I don't know, are you sure?”
