Avernus: Book One

by Steven Webb

  Joseph filled his arms and followed along.

  Behind them Sophie could be heard arguing with Rocco. “No seriously Rocco stay here.”

  “I feel bad. I need to help him.”

  “Don’t you think you’ve done enough to hurt his pride. I mean seriously. You knock him out and now you want to tell him he needs your help to build a shelter.”

  Tears ran down Trent’s cheeks keeping the blood from completely drying, as he struggled to place the branches in the ground. All Joseph could do was sit and wait for Trent to ask him for help, yet the longer he waited the more the canopy seemed to come together. Seeing how stable it was almost came as a surprise to Joseph. He never took him for the handyman type.

  Sophie joined Trent and Rocco carrying a lit branch in her hand. She piled together the leftover ribbon branches and set them ablaze. The trio settled in, leaving Rocco to stew in his own misery.

  SOPHIE

  Sophie awoke to a dried out mouth. Instinctively she reached for the canteen. The lack of weight made no impact on her attempt to get a drink. A few stray drops graced her lips. Her entire body felt parched. Trent and Joseph were still soundly asleep. They looked so peaceful, she decided not to disturb them. She gently tried to step past Joseph who woke up. Trying to keep from waking Trent, Sophie whispered to him, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  Joseph blinked his eyes. “No worries. Where you going?”

  “Well I need to get a drink. Want to come help me look for some water?”

  “Sure. I could use some myself.”

  “Bring the canteen and lets go.”

  Joseph inched his way out, stepping ever so carefully. “Okay so what’s the plan?”

  “After yesterday’s little shower, I’m thinking we should be able to fill the canteen from the tentacle plants.” Sophie headed out, before Joseph had a chance to reply. There were plenty of plants nearby for her to choose from. She eyed one with a small puddle of water inside. “Joseph hand me the canteen.”

  “Why are you still whispering?” he asked, handing it over. “I don’t think Trent can hear us anymore.”

  “No idea really.” She returned to full volume. “Anyway, this should be a good start.” She submerged the canteen into the stagnating water. The air bubbles stirred up the dirt that had settled on the bottom of the cup. Once the canteen was full Sophie raised it to her lips. The water managed to quench her thirst but left a metallic taste in her mouth. “Here have some.”

  Joseph took the canteen from her and went to take a sip.

  “Oh by the way there a bit of dirt in it.” Sophie tried to warn him, but it was too late.

  “Wait Whagagag?” The words became unintelligent as the water filled his mouth. He started to choke.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”

  “Not your fault. Hughhhh. I shouldn’t have tried to talk.”

  She filled the canteen back up. “Here try again. This time remember to drink the water not breath it in.”

  “I can manage that.”

  Sophie watched Joseph raise the canteen to his lips. “Remember you’re not a fish.”

  A burst of laughter left joseph’s lips. “God dammit. Quit trying to make me choke.”

  “But that’s no fun.” It was great to get a good laugh in. it seemed like life had gotten so serious that all the joy had disappeared over the last few days. “Fine. I’ll be nice and let you drink.”

  Joseph’s eyes were locked onto Sophie while he lifted the canteen once again to get a drink. He stopped short. “Don’t you dare.”

  “I promise.”

  The canteen tipped a bit more and stopped short. “Seriously. Don’t mess with me.”

  “I cross my heart. If I do you and Trent can make me sleep in Rocco’s lean-to listening to that god awful snoring. I swear I’ve heard quieter chainsaws.” She burst out laughing tickled by her own joke, which in turn caused Joseph to start laughing along.

  “Okay, that was the last one.” He regained his composure. And poured the water managing to get a proper drink this time around.

  “See I told you I could be good.”

  “Yeah for some reason I still don’t believe that.”

  “That’s on you.” Sophie was feeling energized from the laughter. Going back to the camp seemed too depressing. “Hey wanna go chill in the hotspring for a bit?”

  “Why not.” Joseph filled the canteen up.

  The two of them walked side by side, until they reached the steam covered pools. The clear sky reflected off the agitated surface of the water. Their warmth was so inviting. The smell of the beasts charred remains occasionally wafted through the air but was not enough to deter them. Sophie wasted no time stripping down and climbing into the water. It was a small concession to be able to return to dry clothes once she was through relaxing. It wasn’t like Joseph hadn’t seen it all before. The warm water felt as good the second time as it had when they first climbed out of the pit.

  Joseph followed suit and climbed in. “never thought we’d be able to have a hot tub after we crashed.”

  Sophie closed her eyes and let the warm sunlight hit her face. “Same. And we don’t have to deal with kids splashing in it, or cleaning it.”

  “All the pleasure with none of the work. The perfect scenario.” Joseph went silent.

  Sophie opened her eyes to see him staring towards the pit.

  “Well maybe one kid.” She slapped her hand down in the water sending streams skyward. They water crashed down on Joseph’s head. He seemed to register her actions yet didn’t respond. She was bound and determined to distract him from whatever he was doing. She sent a wave of water his way. Yet again he seemed not to care.

  “Hey what’s going on?” Sophie inched closer to Joseph. “You all right?”

  “I just can’t help thinking about Nova. the image of her body, stuck floating in that tunnel, unable to continue its journey has been haunting my dreams.”

  Not knowing the best way to help left Sophie feeling helpless. She placed her arm around Joseph’s shoulder. He immediately laid his head down. His eyes remained fixated on the opening.

  “You know we don’t blame you.”

  “Yeah, but I still feel like I need to do something to honor her.” He stood up in the water and climbed from the pool.

  Where are you going?”

  “Something I have to do. I need to help her move on.” Joseph’s feet moved swiftly. He was already halfway to the second pool before Sophie understood what his intentions were.

  “Wait, are you serious?”

  “Deadly serious.”

  “Well wait up. I’ll join you.” She stepped out of the pool and ran to catch up. Before she could make it halfway to him, Joseph had disappeared into the pit. She reached the edge and lowered herself slowly onto the first ledge. The water in the terraces was cooler than on the surface. No matter how quickly she maneuvered he was still a ways ahead of her. She managed to clear the second terrace when he made contact with the river. “I’m almost there. Give me a minute.”

  “Fine. Just hurry up. The water’s freezing.”

  Sophie sped up her pace, making it down two more terraces. She was prepared to descend the next terrace when she noticed something float past Joseph. “Hey, what was that?”

  “What was what?”

  “That thing that floated past you.”

  “I didn’t see anything.”

  “Look, there’s another one.” This time it’s yellow color was visible. “No way. That can’t be.”

  “What are you ranting about?” Joseph turned around. He began flailing violently in an attempt to escape the river.

  Sophie’s suspicions were confirmed. “Don’t come up here.” Slowly she backed up. She had to get away.

  “Just wait for me.”

  “No your infected. Don’t come up here. You’ll only manage to spread it.”

  “I feel fine.” He pulled himself from the river.

  Sophie managed to make
it to the top ledge. “I don’t care. Stay down there. The three of us still haven’t been exposed.”

  “This is ridiculous. I’m coming back to camp.” He let out a gut wrenching cough. Blood stained the water terrace.

  “See you’re sick. Just stay there.”

  “No, fuck you. I’m fine.” She watched him struggle to work his way up towards her. He stood on the second terrace now. “It’s just a cough from the water earlier. I swear.”

  “No. Stay back.” Sophie got onto dry land and ran towards her clothes. She no longer cared about keeping them dry. Her only thought was of survival. The further away from Joseph she was the safer. His violent coughing changed from echoing through the pit to ringing out unhindered. He was on the surface. She turned her head to see him struggling to stand. She needed to place as much distance between them as possible before running to tell the others. He continued to follow her rather than heading towards the camp.

  Sophie bobbed and weaved through the pillars. Upon reaching the edge of the ribbon forest, she ran until the trees completely obscured the open field. I need to head back to camp. There was no sign of Joseph, but resting now could mean him catching up. She breathed through the pain and forced herself on.

  Rocco’s camp came into view. “Wake up. Rocco get out here.” Sophie was exhausted from running. She collapsed outside his shelter.

  “What are you yelling about?”

  “Sorry, I didn’t want to wake you, but we’re in trouble. Joseph’s infected and he was following me.”

  “Sophie what’s going on?” Trent came wandering up to join them. “Oh it’s Rocco. What the hell did you do to Sophie? And why is she naked?”

  “It wasn’t me you jackass. She said Joseph’s infected.”

  Sophie struggled to catch her breath. “Yeah, we went down to the hot tubs to relax. Joseph got the crazy idea to free Nova’s body from the river. Once he got into the river I noticed that chunks of moss were floating down stream.” She stopped talking to take a few slow breaths. “Anyway, he said he was fine but started coughing up blood. Next thing I know he’s chasing after me.”

  “Well why would you run back here?”

  “I didn’t know what else to do after I lost him in the forest. I don’t think he’s gonna make it back.”

  “Well put your clothes on and then we can all go see if we can find him.”

  A quick nod of her head, and Sophie put her clothes back on. She was still shaking from the thought of Joseph willingly trying to infect her.

  “Let us know when your ready.” Trent said.

  “No we need to head out now.” Rocco seemed intent on being quick to neutralize the threat.

  “Dude give her a break. At least let her catch her breath.

  “It’s okay. Rocco’s right. We need to head out. The longer we wait the closer Joseph gets.”

  “If you say so.”

  Sophie took the lead. She headed back, following her original path as best she could. So far no sign of Joseph anywhere. She kept her ears peeled for any sign of him coming up on them.

  “There he is.” Rocco was the first to spot him. Joseph’s body was spread out on the ground. A pool of blood flowed from his mouth. He wasn’t moving.

  A wave of relief stuck Sophie. Even after everything that had happened to her, the sight of Joseph chasing after her wanting to give her his gift of death had been the most terrifying. Perhaps it was because he was someone she had grown to trust.

  “We need to go.” Rocco turned and headed out. “I’ll come back with a torch and take care of the body.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Trent agreed. “I’ll stay back with Sophie at the camp.”

  “No need. I’m fine, really. I want to help you Rocco. What if I stay here and gather up branches while you get the torch?”

  “You sure that’s what you want?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You heard her Rocco, get moving.” Trent still seemed agitated with Rocco.

  Sophie set to work plucking branches and piling them up. Trent helped out. He broke the branches exactly as Rocco had told him too. It sparked some hope in Sophie that maybe now that there were only three of them Rocco and Trent might be able to at least tolerate each other again.

  A small pile of branches surrounded the body by the time Rocco returned. They took turns saying their goodbyes before he set the body ablaze. The trio remained until the flames had died down. For whatever reason Sophie felt no remorse for the loss of their companion. She left his smouldering body behind and headed off.

  TRENT

  The smell of searing flesh, and hair overwhelmed Trent’s senses. It not only afflicted his sense of smell but managed to cling onto his tongue. As far as he was concerned, his mouth contained a piece of Joseph that he was unable to spit out. The time had long past for him to leave this horrid scene behind and join Sophie back at camp, leaving Rocco to his own ways. How did we get to this point? We went from ten to three. Even the water’s poisoned. What kind of cruel joke is this? When he arrived at Rocco’s camp, he realized he was the only one left that could the satellite. Left in Rocco’s incapable hands the whole thing would probably wind up broken in some fit of rage, or from his fat ass rolling over it in his sleep. He picked up the battery in one hand, and the dish in the other. only a few drops of water spilled from the cells on his way back to the canopy.

  Sophie was already laying down. “Why are you dragging that scrap metal around? If NASA hasn’t found us by now I don’t see how that dinky little thing is going to make any difference.”

  “I don’t know if it will, but it was Joseph’s way of taking care of us and I won’t let his efforts be pulverized because of Rocco. Besides it not hard to move.”

  “I don’t think Rocco would destroy it.”

  “Better not to take the risk.”

  “Whatever you say.” Sophie rolled over and went silent.

  Trent set the Beacon up and reconnected the wires. Beep….Beep. He’d forgotten all about the sound. It was too late to turn back now. He was determined to keep it there with him. He closed his eyes to drift off to sleep.

  Beep….Beep…Beep.

  His mind refused to tune out the sound. He tossed and turned trying to get comfortable. The night drew on and exhaustion was settling in but the beeping kept him on alert. Each successive beep ground away at his sanity. He fought until the anger boiled over and he could no longer resist his animal tendencies. Trent leapt up from the ground in a fit of rage. His sole focus was on the adrenaline laced rampage. Without thinking he knocked the entire setup over. Water covered the ground and over his feet. The source of his madness was gone, but a new issue arose. His feet were damp. He sat next to the fire attempting to dry them before returning to his spot to sleep. The silence was so relaxing, within minutes he had drifted off to sleep.

  “Daddy I missed you.” Little Lucy ran up, dragging her doll along the ground. Trent picked her up and wrapped his arms around he and gave her a kiss on the head. “I missed you sooo much.”

  “Are you staying this time?” Lucy cinched her arms tightly around Trent’s neck. “I don’t want you to leave again.”

  “I promise I won’t.”

  “Good.” She leaned back in his arms and looked him in his eyes. Her lips parted. “Beep.”

  “What?”

  “Beep.”

  “I can’t understand you baby girl. You’re just making noise.”

  “Beep.”

  Trent roused from his sleep. It was still dark out. Even with the source silenced his damn subconscious refused to let it go. All he wanted was to sleep and escape the memories of the last several months. The first dream not involving the mission in any way and he managed to ruin even that. The frustration kept him from getting comfortable. Not wanting to wake Sophie, but needing to get out, he grabbed a branch from the fire and set out into the woods. He made sure the light from the fire remained insight at all times. The light was barely a flicker, easily mistaken for a firefly were he
on earth. “Ahhhhhh,” Trent screamed at the top of his lungs until no more air was left inside. A quick breath and he was right back at it. Something rubbed up against his leg. In his fit of rage he forgot to pay attention to his surroundings. Whatever it was must have taken advantage of all the noise he made to sneak up on him. He looked down prepared to see something terrible. His tentative glance was met with a pleasant surprise. Rubbing up next to him was one of the spikers who had rescued him. He was relieved to see they had managed to escape the white cloud of death. There didn’t appear to be any other spikers nearby. Not wanting to leave his friend alone, Trent urged it to follow him back to camp.

  The spiker kept pace, running around sporadically but still following Trents ultimate path. They continued on like this until they reached the edge of camp. Trent stepped forward under the canopy. He turned and faced the spiker who seemed apprehensive to join him. Trying to keep his voice down, he went to the spiker and urged it to come along. It refused. He didn’t want to leave it alone in the forest. The only option left was to pick up the creature and carry it into the shelter’s cover.

  The spiker fought violently as if crossing some unseen threshold that caused it great agony. The spiker clawed at Trent’s chest and arms. It’s mouth bit down hard enough to break the skin. Trent tossed the creature. “Fine get the fuck outta here.” The creature responded appropriately and fled. He looked over towards Sophie, making sure he hadn’t woken her. He nursed his wounds until his eyes grew heavy. A dreamless sleep overtook him.

  A beam of sunlight hit Trent’s face. He roused unsure that he had slept at all. Sophie was already huddled by the fire.

  “Morning. Glad to see you were finally able to fall asleep.” Sophie handed him a chunk of roasted meat.

  “Thanks. Wait, are you saying I kept you up?”

  “Yeah but I figured eventually you’d settle down.” She took a bite of meat. As she spoke small chunks of food flew from her mouth. “Once you wandered off I was hopeful. But when you came back with that spiker, I almost lost it.”

  “Sorry, I was trying to be quiet.”