by K. A Knight
“Good, keep going!” Riggs urges, and I know he’s feeling hopeful too.
“You okay back there, Kay?” I ask as I maintain my speed—fast enough to cover good ground, but slow enough not to cut myself or accidentally fall into any sudden crevices or holes.
“Just great, got a nice view of your ass,” he remarks, the bastard.
“Yeah? Angle your head up, brother, I want to look too,” Fin teases.
“You’re all giant pervs,” I mutter, even as I smile.
We keep going, and I listen to them banter back and forth, laughing along, until I stop.
“Wait!” I call as Kalen nearly bumps into me. “Fuck,” I exclaim as I stare. “We have a problem.”
The end of the tunnel is wide enough to sit up in and probably large enough to get Kalen next to me as well, but I’m frozen, staring in shock.
“What?” Riggs shouts. “Fucking camera cut out. Okay, it’s coming back—Holy shit!”
“Yep,” I mutter, gaping at the cavern the tunnel opens up into. Only, we are at the top, almost close enough to reach the ceiling, and it’s a straight vertical drop to the water below.
“What?” Kalen snaps.
“Vertical drop, too high to fall into the water below. We’re near the ceiling in a cavern, and there’s only one way across,” I mumble.
“Which is?” he prompts, sounding worried.
“Free climb across the ceiling to the opening I see on the other side, while placing cams and rope along the way.”
I hear swearing as he sidles up behind me and looks over my shoulder. “That has to be twenty meters away. That will kill our arms, and we’re already exhausted.”
“We have no choice, we can’t go back.” I sigh and pull off my bag and start to drag out my equipment as I turn to the side. Kalen slips into place beside me, grabs my hands, and squeezes.
“Wait, I’ll go.”
“No. You’re heavier and slower. I can get across faster, and I’m a better climber,” I reason without looking at him, but when he doesn’t reply, I glance up.
He swallows nervously and looks out. “Fuck, Andrews, this is dangerous as hell.”
I laugh softly and squeeze his hand. “Everything we do is dangerous. This is no different, so don’t start getting all caveman on me now, asshole. Your one good quality is your ability to trust my skills.”
“Skills?” Fin teases.
“Mad skills, babe, you know it.” I laugh and wink into Kalen’s camera. “I can do this. If I didn’t think I could, I wouldn’t try,” I admit.
As Kalen pulls his hands away, I hear the others arguing, but I’m too busy getting ready to really listen. I clip on a rope for Kalen to hold as backup in case I fall, although it won’t really stop me from hitting the wall. I add my helmet and climbing gear to my hip before taking a drink and loosening my arms.
I can do this… I can do this…
I lied, I don’t know if I can do it. My body is tired, really tired, and this is a hard climb, even for an experienced, fresh climber. There is no guarantee I will make it across—the ceiling could crumble, my ropes could snap, anything could happen—but I have no choice. I have to get us out of here, and I’m the smartest, best option, and everyone knows it.
“Be safe,” Kalen murmurs, then hesitates, obviously wanting to add more, but he knows everyone is watching. “Ah, fuck it,” he growls and grabs the back of my head, dragging me closer and sealing his lips to mine.
I gasp in shock, and he swallows it down, his tongue twining with mine. The kiss is hard and fast, and then he pulls back slightly. “You get across there, princess, and I’ll give you all the orgasms you want,” he murmurs against my lips.
“You’ve got yourself a deal.” I laugh as I turn away, trying not to show how flustered and turned on I am just from one bloody kiss. This man is lethal to my heart and panties, and now I know how well he fucks, how he feels inside me, and I’m craving it. Being trapped in a small space with him doesn’t help.
I chalk my hands, and then Tyler’s voice cracks through the speaker, stilted and angry, though he doesn’t mention the fact he just saw his brother kiss me like his life depended on it. I don’t say anything, unsure what I would say anyway. “You’ve got this, Peyton. Focus. See it in your mind,” he orders, and then his tone softens. “Nothing is impossible, not if you’re willing to do anything to make it happen. So make it happen,” he says, echoing my father’s words.
“I’ve got this,” I mutter.
“Yeah you do, darling. Show us why you’re the fucking best,” Fin adds.
“Peyton, there’s an optimum path if you go to the left. I’ve calculated a ninety percent chance of success if you use that route,” Riggs informs me, offering comfort the only way he knows how—with numbers.
“Ninety percent?” Kalen snarls.
“Ninety percent is good enough.” I smirk, and then I reach out and grab the ceiling, digging my fingers into the rocks before swinging my body forward and out of the tunnel. The sudden weight pulls on me, but I grunt and begin to climb, knowing I need to move fast before my muscles give out.
It’s all in my mind. All in my mind, I repeat. A body can sustain so much, but usually, the mind breaks first. Mine won’t.
I will get across and save us both.
I grit my teeth, keeping my eyes on my path with guidance from Riggs. Everyone else is quiet as they watch, not wanting to distract me, and the small tug of Kalen’s rope reminds me he’s still there. I stop and add a cam, swinging from one arm before grunting and carrying on. Shit, this is hard. I’ve barely made it a quarter of the way across, and sweat is already beading on my forehead and my arms are screaming.
“Get your ass moving, Andrews. Is this the best you’ve got?” Kalen goads, and his taunting makes me grind my teeth together and burst forward. I know he’s doing it on purpose, but it works. “That’s it, Andrews, keep fucking moving. I don’t know how you broke those records, you’re too fucking slow to think you’re the best.”
“Fuck you, asshole,” I hiss as I swing and add another cam.
“If you can talk, you can climb faster, come on!” he yells.
With a scream, I swing myself across a big opening and place a cam there, but my hands seize and my arms ache, making me groan.
“Peyton? You okay?” Tyler asks worriedly.
“Fucking peachy. I just thought I would hang for a bit,” I joke.
My arms start to cramp, so I dig my hands in and flip upside down, pressing my legs through the hole to take some weight off them for just a moment as I pant. Fuck, this is hard. I want lots of orgasms for this.
“Andrews, get the fuck up,” Kalen shouts. I close my eyes and control my breathing as he carries on berating me. “Don’t fucking make me come out there and save your ass like some fucking damsel, that’s not who you are. Get your ass across this ceiling now.”
“All right, all right. Fucking asshole,” I mutter and uncoil before continuing. They all urge me on as I climb, and I’m nearly to the other side now. Adrenaline pumps through me, until I barely feel anything at all.
“That’s it, princess, so close! That’s my girl!” I hear him holler, and it makes warmth pool in my belly as I roll into the tunnel and lie there, panting for a moment before getting to my knees. I hear the cheers of the others as I secure the rope for Kalen to cross.
“Yes, darling!” Fin screams.
“Are you okay?” Riggs questions.
“Well done, baby, I knew you could do it!” Tyler praises.
Wiping my face on the back of my arm, I call, “Your turn, asshole, now that I’ve paved the way and made it easy for you.”
He laughs as he climbs out, and with my bag and his, he starts to climb across the ceiling. He moves slowly but surely, using the rope I set, his legs dangling below him.
Something catches my eye on the wall, and I lean out to see better. It looks like the rock is shifting. The others are still laughing and teasing Kalen, but I can’t look away
from the greyish black blob. Then I realise…
It’s moving upwards.
Climbing the wall.
It’s not rock, it’s alive… It’s a creature, a monster, something my eyes can’t seem to make sense of. “Kalen,” I start, but he’s too busy climbing. I keep my eyes on it, but then flicker them up to check on his progress when I notice the whole wall seems to move.
There’s more than one, and they are all heading towards him. I haven’t a clue what they are, but I have a bad feeling. “Kalen!”
“What?” he grunts.
“Move faster,” I warn.
He looks up, meets my eyes, and then spins to follow my gaze to the wall. I watch him squint and stare for a moment. “What’s wrong, princess?” Then he sees it. “What the fuck is that?” he shouts.
“I don’t know. Keep moving, just get across, okay?” I yell, trying to stay calm.
With a swear, he moves faster as I speak into the comms. “Something is moving on the wall, lots of somethings, can you see them?”
“We see them, what are they?” Tyler asks.
“Not a clue. Kalen is halfway across.”
“Tell him to fucking move faster,” Tyler snaps.
“Kay, move your ass!” I bellow, and he groans as he speeds up, tiring from carrying the weight of our equipment.
I keep my eyes on the wall, but they reach the top quickly, and I gulp as I finally get a good look at one—creature was right. I’ve never seen anything like it before, ever. It looks like it’s adapted to live down here, it has no eyes, but when it turns its grey, scaly head, I see large holes for the ears. It looks like a bat. It’s small, the size of my leg, but still a big son of a bitch. Its body is black and grey, nearly blending with the wall, and it has wings on its back. It has long claws on its spindly hands, bones sticking out from its side, and bowed, bent legs that propel it forward. Its face is pointy, with little lips and a tiny nose.
Honestly, it’s terrifying, something out of a horror film. It’s more than adapted…this is interspecies breeding. How the fuck did it even survive down here? I have a moment where I think maybe it’s just curious when it does nothing but hang there, but then it screeches, emitting a sound that has me covering my ears…
And it flies.
Right at Kalen.
“Duck!” I scream. He presses against the wall, and the creature barely misses him, landing on the ceiling between him and me. It hangs upside down with its taloned feet digging into the rock, its long claws lashing out at a swinging Kalen. He yells when it slices through his arm. When I see the spurt of blood, I panic and look around for anything to help.
I spot a few loose rocks and grab them, then I fling them at the creature. It turns its attention to me with a screech as I keep tossing stones. One knocks it loose, and it tumbles into the darkness below. But when I look back at Kalen, he’s fighting off three more. He’s managed to get his knife out, and he’s stabbing at them as they attack. Fuck.
He won’t make it across like this. Even now, I hear the groan of the rope rubbing against the rocks. I grab more rocks and start flinging, making noise. They all turn to me, even as he shouts for me to stay quiet.
Fuck that.
“Hey, you fugly assholes! Come this way, you don’t want him, I’ve got more meat! Come on, motherfuckers, it’s feeding time at the fucking zoo!” I scream as I make as much of a racket as I can.
They turn and flock towards me. I duck and curl in on myself to protect my eyes and organs before grabbing my knife and swinging wildly as they beat against my back. I hear a scream and the assault lets up. Lifting my head, I watch as Kalen goes berserk, and creature after creature drops dead to the water below. When he’s done, panting and swearing, they circle him with chattering noises.
“Move now!” I scream.
He throws himself forward, moving faster than I have ever seen him as I keep an eye on the creatures.
“Peyton, answer us now!” the guys shout, but I’m focusing entirely on these weird, motherfucking creatures to protect my man.
Then I see it.
It scuttles towards him.
“Kalen!” I scream, my arm outstretched, but he’s too far. He’s not going to make it. I have a split second to think on what to do. He doesn’t see it yet, and it will rip him down and kill him.
There is no other choice.
I won’t lose him again.
He looks up and meets my eyes. In that split second, I see the dawning horror on his face as he realises what I’m going to do. He tries to reach for me, to stop me, but it’s too late.
“Love you!” I yell as I lunge forward, feeling his hand catch in my hair as I pass. I connect with the creature with a resounding thud, the force of my leap sending us spiralling down.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Kalen
All it took was one second, but it felt like a lifetime as I stared into those blue eyes I know better than my own. She dived towards the creature so easily, so selflessly, without thought.
And then she fell.
I reach the tunnel and stare down at the water, waiting for her to resurface, unable to answer the panicked screams and yells of the others. “Come on, princess,” I hiss, my heart cracking, my body quivering in fear.
I thought I knew terror when I faced my enemies. I thought I knew dread when I came back home and nothing was the same and I couldn’t fit in—or when I lost her. But it all pales in comparison to this as I wait for her to resurface. This is fear, terror, and it freezes me completely.
I wait.
And wait.
“Kalen, answer me right fucking now!” comes the frantic cry.
“She’s gone,” I whisper. “She—she fell.”
“What?” he yells, and I hear the others as well.
“She fell, she fell.” I keep repeating it, and when I see the water below turning red, I gag. No, no—not a fucking chance! I get ready to dive in, but Tyler stops me.
“No! Look, the current! She’ll be pulled elsewhere. Your best shot is to go down the tunnel now! Find her!” he shouts. “Kalen, you have to move. They’re coming again, brother. I know—I know, but you need to move.”
“I can’t leave her!” I argue, my heart breaking. My mind is torn between what I know I need to do, what she would want me to do, and what I want to do.
“You have to, okay? I need you to keep moving so you can find her again. If you dive down there, you might die, and then we’ll lose you both. You’re the only one there, brother, the only one who can save her. I-I’m trusting you to save our girl.”
I hesitate, but a screech has me looking up. Tyler is right—they are coming for me again. I glance back at the water, which is red with blood, but I don’t know if it’s hers or the creatures’ and he’s correct. The flow is going the way the tunnel is, so they have to meet up. They have to.
“I’m coming, princess! Hold on!” I bellow before turning and crawling down the tunnel, my heart pounding. The sound of wings is loud behind me, but they seem to be hesitant about going through the shaft.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” I chant to keep myself moving. She’s not dead. She can’t be. Peyton Andrews does not fucking die.
She’s a bitch, she’s reckless and stupid, and sometimes she’s selfish, but she isn’t that easy to kill.
“Brother,” Tyler rasps brokenly. “Please, please bring her back.”
I know it’s the only weakness he will allow himself. It must be killing him that he can’t be here. To save her. To protect her. There’s only me. It’s all on me. I can’t say anything, I can’t… He loves her. He’s always loved her, and they are supposed to be together.
So where do I come into this?
She said she loves me right before she fell. I heard it… Did he? What does this even mean?
Nothing, I realise, if I can’t get her back. I speed up, uncaring about the reckless way I’m moving through the tunnel. She is all that matters. Even if I have to tear up this whole fucking p
lace, I will find her.
Right into the abyss.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Peyton
I wake up cold, wet, and bleeding. Brilliant.
What the hell happened? My head is fuzzy, and luckily, the water I’m lying in is shallow and keeping me afloat. With a sigh, I sit up, but I wince at the abrupt movement and shut my eyes as I hold my head. The pounding is horrendous, causing me to groan in pain. Son of a bitch, this is worse than that time Fin made home-brewed vodka.
As soon as the pain recedes to something manageable and I can open my eyes, I get to my knees and look around. My shoulder twinges, and I look down to see it hanging at a weird angle.
Fuck.
My arm is dislocated. There is no one here but me, half of my equipment is missing or smashed, and I can’t swim or climb like this. Closing my eyes for a moment, I prepare myself for what I have to do next. I grip my arm, hold it out, and then with a sharp tug, I align it back into place and pop it in. I bite my lip so hard from the pain that I taste blood, but once it dissipates, it feels better. Wiggling my fingers, I test my range of motion. It twinges a little, but not enough to stop me. I’ve had worse.
I check the rest of my body, moving toes and fingers. I have some bumps and scrapes, my head being the worst, but I’m lucky I didn’t break anything.
That was a hell of a fall.
I find my bag floating next to me. I must have knocked it off the rope when I fell. After grabbing a torch, I slip it on. A lot has survived inside, thank fuck, but I’ve got no real diving gear, only my spare air tank. I can breathe from it in an emergency, but other than that, nothing. My thoughts instantly turn to my dive partner.
I hope Kalen is all right. I look up, but the ceiling is black. It looks like the water drained into another section of the cave and took me with it. Here’s hoping those bat monsters aren’t in here. Just to be safe, I slide my knife from my side and kneel higher, quietly, in the water. The waves move away from me, and I frown when I hear a plop.