Myles and Miles: Chapter 1

The mud was thick and sucked at my skin like a thousand leeches, and I could barely breathe from the crushing weight of it on my chest. Not only that, but the air itself tasted like acid in mouth and burned all the way down my throat and into my lungs. The others in front of me struggled against the slime, sucking in huge, scorching gulps of air. A couple of them called out in panic, but few had the oxygen or the energy to do so and stayed silent except for their rhythmic breathing. I could feel a wave of darkness flooding just behind my eyes and I fought desperately against it. These people needed me.

A young woman in the front twisted around, pale face streaked with sweat but her eyes glowed. “Myles!” She shouted out above the noise. Her bright eyes swam around in the air until they found me. “Myles, we’re about 200 meters from the other side! You need to make sure nobody falls behind. I’ll hop out on the shore and help people out, but no one can be left behind!”

I felt like my head was floating in a bubble of Jello, but I managed to nod and look around me to see who the stragglers were while the woman turned back around and moved through the muck with renewed vigour. One of the stragglers was a little girl, barely able to hold her chin above the tide; her blonde hair had turned a filthy brown, plaited as it was with dirt. Nevertheless, she struggled onward without any sound of complaint, though tears streamed down her face to mix with the dirt. I found it odd that no one was helping her.

I reached out to her, palm open above the goo, but her arms were pinned to her sides. She had come to almost a complete stop, barely moving, and her lips moved inaudibly, as if trying to talk herself into keeping calm. When she saw me, her eyes welled up uncontrollably and she leaned toward me, desperately trying to move, but the mud held her back. I forced myself to her instead and clawed at the sludge around her until she was able to break out of it and wrap her arms around my neck. I hoisted her up, painfully, and started back where the woman was already picking herself up over the edge of the bank triumphantly.

She looked radiant, a dirty angel in the musty air of the cavern. I could imagine a ray of light streaming through a small crack somewhere, lighting up her whole figure.

“Sierra!” Now it was my turn to call out. The angel’s head jerked around and found me in the dim light. “I’ve got Casey and I don’t think there are any others behind me.” The hum that echoed through the space had subsided somewhat, but for reasons unknown, still made me nervous.

“Perfect!” She’d always been far too optimistic. “When you get here we can come up with a plan and maybe scout ahead a little.”

It took Casey and I ten minutes to get across that stupid, gross pit of dirt and when we reached the other side, Sierra was eager to take Casey from my grasp and help her up. While she settled Casey down and started to brush the little girl off, smiling as she slid her fingers over the soft little girl’s wet cheeks.

I swung a leg up out of the mud and hauled myself out. Immediately, relief filled me to the brim and overflowed. I felt almost purified, even as the remnants of the slush dripped off my forearms and onto the ground below. Sierra pushed Casey’s matted bangs out of her face and turned to me.

“Maybe we should stay here for the night and rest up. Everyone’s exhausted.” She said and then frowned suddenly, looking up into my face.

“What? And yeah, I think that’s a great idea. Though it’d be better if we had some water to wash up with. And you know, drink.” I replied, frowning back at her.

“Mm. Yeah, you know we ran out of water yesterday, Myles.” She kept frowning until she finally licked her thumb and reached up to swipe at my chin with it. I stood still, but looked at her oddly. “It was a bit of dirt.” She muttered.

“You realize the rest of me is so dirty it doesn’t even matter, right?” I responded incredulously. She stared to me as if just seeing me for the first time.

“Never mind. Look, since we need water, we should probably go scout around and see if we can find some.” She said quickly, and jerked around to look at the rest of their crew. I didn’t understand, but joined her in getting everyone’s attention.

“Alright, listen up everyone. Myles and I are going to look around. Jeanne, you’re in charge until we get back. Make sure everyone has somewhere to sleep and take care of Casey.” Jeanne nodded, tiredly running her fingers through thick brown curls, while Sierra squinted around the group. She pointed assertively at three other people. “Nicky, Emmer, and Talon, you guys make up the guard watch tonight. Palmer, come with us.” With that she immediately started walking away, indifferent as to whether or not people would follow her.

Sighing a little, I trod quickly behind, grabbing Palmer by the shirtfront and dragging him along. It wasn’t hard because he was a typical nerdy kid: pretty skinny with no muscle mass and a flop of brown hair.

When we caught up, Sierra had come against a stone wall and had already started talking again. “We’ve gotta split up, then. Myles will take the left door, I’ll take the middle one, and Palmer can take the right one. Shout if you need anything and don’t go any farther than 500 meters. And be careful, there could be traps anywhere. We don’t know who else has been down these halls.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. What?” Palmer cut in, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. “Slow down there, girl. Isn’t this a little dangerous? One of us could get hurt and if something happens, how can we know how to help?”

Sierra rubbed her lip thoughtfully and furrowed her brow. I saw that she had a little cut on the side of her face that was slowly oozing dark blood and staining her skin. I itched to wipe and put a Band-Aid on it, but I doubted we had any on hand and trying to clean it in this state would probably just make it worse.

“I don’t know,” She finally said, seemingly unwilling to give this up, but unable to think of a better plan when it was just the three of them. “We could explore one of them, for now.”

I shook my head. “Sierra, I don’t think that’s a good idea. If all three of us disappeared, the group wouldn’t know what to do. Besides, we’re tired and if we run into any enemies down there, it’s not likely we’d be able to fight them off.”

She didn’t look happy, but agreed nonetheless. Palmer just looked relieved. “Come on, let’s see if there’s anything useful along the sides for now and in the morning we can see what’s through the doorways.”

They explored the area as thoroughly as possible, but only found a small trickle of water in one corner that was barely enough for a couple of mouthfuls. In the end they returned back to their makeshift camp empty-handed.

The campers looked up at them desolately as they passed and I realised for the first time how thin they were: collar bones jutting out from their shirts and skin hanging off their frames. They were barely surviving and if they didn’t find food and water soon, most of them would die. The thought of food made his stomach growl, hunger clawing at his sides like a rabid dog was trapped inside.

“I don’t know how much longer we can take of this hell.” Muttered Palmer, who was staring out at the dark mud pit from which they arrived. Sierra glanced over at him, but didn’t say anything. It seemed useless to point it out. They knew all too well the hell they were living in.

Jeanne was waiting in the corner of the camp, sitting next to her boyfriend, Tom, who was a dark-skinned jock with sad eyes. She looked up as the three of them arrived.

“Nothing?” She asked hopelessly, hands closing around one of Tom’s. Sierra shook her head in response and they sat down with the couple.

“We found three doorways in the rock.” Sierra informed her. “But we have no idea what’s down them. In the morning we’ll send a group down each and have one group waiting here and see which one is safest to take.”

“What if we choose the wrong one and it just leads us back?” Jeanne asked fearfully. Tom tightened his grip on her hands.

Sierra looked at me. Finally, I said, “We’ll deal with that if it happens, but I doubt it will. From what I could tell, none of them turns back the way we came and you can even feel the wind.” Sierra smiled gratefully as Tom and Jeanne relaxed a little.

Unfortunately, Palmer ruined their little relief. “If we do go back, I don’t care anymore, I’ll die before they get their cold, evil little hands on me.” His expression was dark and brooding, accenting the shadows under his eyes. Sierra glared at him and I gritted my teeth. Having a pessimist around was not that fun.

“That’s not going to happen. I won’t let it.” I said abruptly, caught by a sudden passion.

“It’s not under your control.” Palmer countered. Sierra looked like she was about to punch him.

“Enough. It won’t come to that, Palmer.” She commanded. Palmer just shrugged, quelled by her fiery stare, and picked at a stray threat in his muck covered trousers.

For a minute they were all quiet, but Sierra had never been good with silence and so she jutted in with, “Alright, well we should all get some rest. We need to be strong to be able to face whatever is down those corridors.” She got up and walked away to find a space on the floor to sleep and ended up next to Casey, who was curled up on her side clutching her arms to her chest.

“We wouldn’t even be able to stand up against a strong wind, the state we’re in.” Palmer mumbled, but I shook my head at him and we both got up to find our own bed for the night. I found a place between a quietly sobbing lady and a restless boy whose name I thought was Harvey after letting Nicky, who was on watch, know that if they needed an extra guard, I could keep watch after Talon. I looked up at the cavern ceiling, high and dark above us, and tried to remember my family, probably some thousand miles away. I was only able to recall a vague memory of a smiling, bearded man, when sleep overtook me.

I slept poorly. I was up before most everyone else with a throbbing headache behind my eyes. I sat up slowly, rubbing my forehead and grimacing at the pain. The restless boy, Harvey, was finally sound asleep, having passed out from sheer exhaustion. The sobbing lady had fallen asleep with her arms wrapped around her head. I could just make out the red needle marks on her pale skin and the raw skin around her wrists in the dim lighting.

I made myself get up and carefully make my way over to Talon, who was sitting on the edge of the group, looking like he’d been punched in both eyes. I stopped to check on Sierra and Casey, who were curled up against each other as though they were mother and daughter. Sierra’s strawberry blonde hair mixed with Casey’s slightly darker locks and I could almost imagine that they actually were related. I managed to pull away from their peaceful auras and sit beside Talon.

He barely looked up when I arrived, only delivering a half grimace in my direction. Emmer and Nicky lay just behind him. He must have been up for a couple hours now, but he looked as though it had been a couple years. His thick, black hair did nothing to hide how tired he looked.

“Hey.” I whispered, hoping he wouldn’t kill me for breaking the silence. A long, wicked-looking knife lay on his lap, his hand lying open near the handle. He grunted in reply.

We sat without saying anything for a while, mostly because I was too scared I would be breaking the boy’s only solitude if I opened my mouth. But finally, he said, “What’s happening to us, Myles?” He sounded devoid of faith, his shoulders slumping forward. “We’re barely alive. It’s better than being back there, but only just. Most of us are so weak that one day we’re just going to collapse and never get back up. It doesn’t even matter if we can find a path to the surface, we’ll die before long.”

I didn’t feel like disagreeing, to be perfectly honest. My own belief in our survival was at an all time low, but thinking of Casey and Sierra and Jeanne and Tom, even Palmer, I couldn’t just condemn them to this bleak future.

“Talon, we will get through this. We’ll reach the surface and unite with our families, or maybe just stick together for the rest of our lives. We’ll find help, food and water, stop them from hurting anyone ever again. It’s gonna take a lot of effort, but we can do it. We have to.” I said grimly. Talon looked sideways at me.

“How do you have so much hope?” He asked me, shaking his head in amazement. “And after all we’ve been through. So many are dead…”

It was my turn to shake my head. “You can’t dwell on the past. Not now. It hurts too much. We can only move forward, there’s no other way we can survive.” Talon didn’t look convinced, but nodded anyway.

We stayed sitting together for another couple hours until the rest of the crew started to stir. I saw Sierra stretch sleepily and carefully extract herself from Casey before she came over.

“Morning.” She mumbled, hair sticking out in every direction and a light imprint of the stone on her cheek. I couldn’t help but smile a little at how young she suddenly looked. “Anything happen while I was out?” Her words were a little garbled, her tongue too slow for her thoughts.

“No,” Talon replied. “Unless you count Nicky talking in his sleep. Did you know that he once stole a sombrero from some guy named Carlos?”

Sierra grinned, tired as she was. “Why?”

“No clue. He was muttering about how sorry he was. Presumably to Carlos.” Talon replied. Sierra shook her head cheerfully.

“He’s an odd one. Even for us.” She said. Talon and I nodded in agreement. As far as we could figure, Nicky had been a rebellious foster kid to a constantly exacerbated couple who tried their best to put up with his troublemaking. He seemed to have a thousand crazy stories from his past, mostly about illegal things he’d done, and never ceased to bring up the spirit of the ragtag group. He was desperately needed, now more than ever, and had become arguably the most vital part of our company.

Nicky shifted in his sleep, as if subconsciously realizing he was being talked about, and sighed softly. “Of course the hamburgers are vegetarian …”

Sierra covered her mouth to keep from laughing and Talon let out a snort. I grinned at the sleeping boy, but was quickly reminded of our dire situation when a ripple of hunger rocked through my body. Talon’s stomach followed suit and he gripped his abdomen tightly, teeth clenched. A sheen of sweat covered Sierra’s face and she looked like she was about to be sick or pass out.

“God, I would kill for a hamburger right now.” Talon groaned.

“Don’t even say that word, I swear I’m gonna hurl the little that’s still in my stomach.” Sierra said weakly.

“What’s this about hamburgers?” Palmer had walked over to join them. Sierra suddenly bolted to the edge of the mud pit and they all looked away quickly to avoid watching her heaving.

“Nice going, buddy.” I muttered sarcastically, trying to control the quakes in my body. Palmer scowled.

The others were starting to stir around them, blinking in the early morning light that filtered in through pinpoint cracks in the cave ceiling. A low murmur started as everyone started to pack up what little they had in order to get ready for their next adventures of the day. Quite a few held their stomachs and swayed on their feet and some began to go off into the corners to relieve themselves, trying to maintain what little pride they had left.

When everyone was ready, and Sierra had stopped retching, we gathered everyone in a loose circle to talk about the plan.

“Okay, guys, we’re gonna split up into four groups. One group through each door and one waiting for us at the beginning. Each group will go 500 meters and be gone no more than 20 minutes and then come back to tell us what they find. If something happens shout for help and some of the group waiting at the entrances will go down to help. If no one returns then everyone convenes and we all go together.” Sierra said calmly.

“What? Won’t that be walking straight into a trap? If there’s something down one of those corridors, you could be leading us to our deaths.” I was surprised to see that it was Tom that spoke up. He was holding Jeanne’s hand.

“What would you rather do? Leave those who need help to die? Or would you rather stay here with the muck and die of starvation?” I snapped, feeling oddly protective. I looked around the group at the scared, wary eyes of young men and women and all my anger dripped away. Who could really blame them for wanting to save themselves? We’d been through so much already and all they wanted was to survive. “Look, guys, we will get through this. I promise you we’ll be okay, but we’re not gonna make it if we don’t help each other.”

Tom looked at Jeanne and something passed between them, unspoken, that made him sigh softly and nod. “Okay. Yeah, you’re right.” He admitted. “We can’t leave anyone behind.” Jeanne nodded and squeezed his hand.

“But we need to be careful,” She added. “Let’s not rush into danger unprepared.”

“Which is why we need to make sure all of us have some sort of weapon. Just in case.” Sierra agreed, holding up her own pocketknife as an example. I fished around in my own pockets and came up with the knife I’d used to pry open my cell. It was only a makeshift tape handle and a piece of sharp glass, but it would do. It wasn’t like there would be anything around here that would serve me any better.

The others started searching themselves. We came up with a small, fire axe, a couple of knives, a few odd rubber bands for slingshots, some paperclips, sharpened stones and sticks, some nails, and one gun that Nicky had stolen off a guard at their prison. He handed it over quickly and traded in for a rubber band, not particularly keen to carry the lethal weapon. Sierra held it, but didn’t look very happy about it. She pulled me aside while everyone was trying to trade what little they had.

“Myles, can you carry it?” She asked softly, pressing the cool metal into my hands. Her hair was still untamed and floated around her head like a halo. “I don’t feel comfortable being in charge of it. Besides, you said you used to go shooting with your dad, right?” I nodded. “So you know how to use it. Only use it if you really need to.”

I hesitated. “I mean, yeah, I guess I know how to use it, but Sierra, if I have to shoot someone or I accidentally shoot someone…”

She took the gun out of my hands and I thought she might give it someone else, but instead she slid her arms around my waist and stuck it in the back of my belt. She lifted my shirt over it and lightly touched my back. “I trust you, Myles.” Was all she said, looking up into my face steadily for a couple moments before moving away to make sure everyone else had what they needed. I watched her go, but Talon distracted me, clapping a hand on my shoulder.

“Hey, man.” He spotted the gun in my belt. “Hell, if you have the gun, I want to go with you.”

“I’m not using it unless it’s an emergency.” I muttered in reply.

“I know, but still. I’d feel a lot safer with you watching my back anyway.” He admitted, smiling a little. I looked at him in surprise, flattered. Talon wasn’t usually the type to pay people compliments. His opinion meant a great deal to me.

“Thanks,” Was all I had time to say before Sierra clapped to get everyone’s attention.

“Alright,” She looked around at everyone with narrowed eyes, thoughtful. She had a habit of rubbing her ear when she was thinking. “Tom and Jeanne will lead group one and go through the left door. Myles and Palmer through the middle door, Nicky and Talon through the right door. Emmer and I will stay here with a group.” She started to list out who would be in each group while those she’d already mentioned stepped in front of their respective doors. Palmer joined me, gripping a carved stone arrowhead strapped to a short pole. I doubted he could use it, but it was nice to know he had it nonetheless.

The rest of their group consisted of the sobbing lady I’d slept next to last night, a short guy with spikey hair, a pair of skinny twin girls, and a big buff guy with a crew cut. Sierra and Emmer stayed behind with most of the smaller kids and an ill boy, as well as two well-built guys just in case anything went down. Sierra caught my eye and mouthed ‘be careful’ and waved a little. I smiled back, tilting my head down to acknowledge it.

“Let’s go.” I said, turning around to face the dark doorway. For a second, a shiver went down my spine just as a cool thread of air blew through the corridor. I looked over to see Nicky and Talon talking in low voices on the right. Nicky had three nails threaded through his fingers like Wolverine and Talon swung his knife around like it was a pencil. I looked to the other side to see Tom and Jeanne with the axe and a couple of sharpened pieces of wood. They stood side by side, the ultimate team. For a second I wished it wasn’t Palmer with me, but someone else instead. I shook my head to clear it and took a deep breath before plunging into the shadows.