14
I’m not sure how much time has passed. It could have been minutes or hours. I’m not sure. My throat is parched, and my legs are tired. I’m not sure how much longer I can keep going, but I can’t give up. The tugging keeps pulling at my core, but our destination never changes. Each step met with more sand, heat, and red sky.
Dax has been following me the whole time, wordlessly. His footsteps quicken and soon he’s caught up to me. With concern in his eyes, he turns his head my direction. “Are you okay?”
There it is. The question I figured would come eventually. I had begun hoping it wouldn’t the last little bit, but I should’ve known better. I’m exhausted, but I can’t stop. I need to get the artifact and get back to Charlie. He’s going to get pissed I came down here without him. “I’m fine. We just have to keep going.”
“Maybe we should take a break.” His tone is soft but stern.
It’s not a suggestion, but I don’t intend to listen to him. I don’t have the time for that kind of luxury. “We can take a break when we get back to Earth.”
Silence is the response I get. I sigh and pick up my pace. If I don’t find this flipping thing fast, he’s going to push the issue even further. I imagined Hell would be hot and red, but never empty with nothing to terrorize us with. This is throwing me off kilter. Even the place where the flame is kept is in an open room, not surrounded by sand and open space.
This is freaking ridiculous. How the hell am I supposed to find it when I’m stuck out here in this oblivion? My feet stumble on each other, and I land on my knees with my hands in the sand. Grit gets in my eyes causing them to water.
A hand wraps around my waist and helps me up. “You need to rest.”
I pull away and rub my eyes. “It doesn’t matter if I need to or not. We don’t have the time. We need to keep moving.”
“If you don’t take a break and get some sleep, you aren’t going to find the flame and there is no telling how long we’ll be down here.” He lets out a breath and puts something soft in my hand. “Get some rest so you can actually find the flame so we can get home faster. I’ll stand guard.”
The material in my hands feel like cotton. “What is this?”
“It’s my shirt. Use it to get the sand out of your eyes and as a pillow.” He pushes my hands to my eyes.
Not having the energy to fight anymore, I use it to help wipe the debris away. A strong musky smell fills my nose which surprises me. I figured it would be sweat. It doesn’t take long until it’s a lot more comfortable. “I think we should keep going.” I lower the shirt and find Dax standing before me.
His arms are muscular and he’s looking around. “No, you need your rest.” He focuses on me. “I really think that’s why you can’t locate the flame. Take a nap and I’ll stand guard.”
Maybe he’s right. It has been a long day and there is no telling how long we’ve been down here. I hate to give in, but what do I have to lose. We aren’t making any progress. I lay down on the floor and place his shirt under my head, balling it up like a pillow.
As soon as I close my eyes, I fall into a deep sleep.
The ground shaking wakes me. I sit up and glance around. Sand is in the air everywhere. I can't make out more than just a few feet in front of me. "Dax?"
"I'm here." His voice sounds close by, yet I can't make a single thing out.
I grab his shirt and stand but the ground is shaking so hard I almost fall back down. Holy shit. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine." His voice is closer and soon a hand grabs mine. "Come on, let's go back the way we came. At least there we know eventually there will be a door."
Is he freaking wanting to back track all that way? The ground shakes harder to the point it feels as if it's going to open underneath my feet. "I... I don't think that's a go... oooddddd idea."
"It's our best option at this point." He tugs on my hand and finds my other hand, putting his shirt to my face. "Use this to protect your face and move now."
Not sure what else to do, I follow him as we make our way back to the door. I'm not sure what the point of it all is, but he's right in the sense that at least we know there is something if we keep going back this direction. There is no telling if there is anything going the other way. Maybe this wasn't the right way to begin with after all.
The ground rolls underneath our feet. It's hard to keep on my feet, but, with Dax's help, I'm able to.
After just a few minutes, a large gray wall comes into view through all the dust. "Is that the cave already?" There is no way that can already be it. We were walking for hours.
His hand tightens on mine. "I think it is."
Our pace quickens and we reach the wall within minutes. We walk along the outline of the cave for a few minutes trying to find the door. The ground still rumbles, but the wall protects us some from its wrath.
I look off to the side a few feet away and notice the coloring is a
