Black Holes - The Mors Mortis Trilogy Book 3

Chapter Twenty Nine

The moment Jared stepped into the portal, the in between pushed down on him. It felt like he was sinking, the air dense as water, and as his ears started to pop and strain and that familiar pressure settled on his shoulders, he began to panic.

For a second, he felt the full extent of his stupidity. He shouldn't have come back here. You weren't supposed to return to places that haunted your dreams, that made you wake sweating and shaking, your mouth shut tight to hold back screams.

He let in one gasping breath, the noise like a gunshot in the silence, and someone grabbed his forearm. Nails dug in hard, the pain slashing through his rising hysteria, and he felt a brief stab of gratitude for whoever it was — Riley, judging by the ferocity with which his forearm was being strangled. He took a breath, letting his heart settle, and then he jerked from her grip, darting away from the halo of light surrounding the portal.

He knew he didn't have long to get away from it before he attracted unwanted attention. Even if he walked for hours, he wouldn't be able to hide completely, but the further he was, the better. Already, he could hear movement. Creatures closing it.

He delved deeper into the darkness, veering away from any noise, and he could feel Cassandra's attention following him, watching. This was the most dangerous part; when the light was at his back and he didn't know what he was walking towards. They'd agreed that while Riley set up the next portal, Cassandra would keep an eye on him, but he knew if he ran into something, there'd be little they could do.

So, he kept his hand on his gun and his steps light, and it was only when he looked down and was no longer able to see his own body, that he stopped.

He stayed there quietly, listening, and once he was sure that there was nothing too close to him, he turned and looked back the way he'd come.

The portal was far enough off now that it lit the space he'd covered in an eerie grey haze. Riley and Cassandra's silhouettes were stark in it's seeping light, and as he watched, another portal opened in front of them and they stepped through.

He stared at the portals for a second longer, just to make sure there weren't any creatures too close already, and then he closed his eyes, letting his body readjust to this world.

Slowly, he felt his senses reawaken. It was startling how quickly sound and movement had become secondary when he'd returned to the world of the dead. But now he was back here, and sight was once again impossible, he could feel his system adjusting, like software rolling back to a previous version.

The silence settled around him, the stillness, and though it made his skin crawl, he stood and waited.

For a long time, nothing happened. He heard quiet shuffles of movement, thuds of feet that he noted and knew to avoid, but then the sound came — as familiar as it was chilling. A low, haunting moan. Like a foghorn in the night.

Jared's head whipped in it's direction, and he moved towards it, stopping once he'd gone a few metres and falling still again, listening.

He continued that way for what felt like hours, his progress painfully slow.

Listen, move, stop. Listen.

It was the only way to stay safe here.

One time, when he stopped, he heard the thud of feet close by. Threateningly close. And he froze for several minutes, his heart pounding. He was just thinking that he was in real trouble when he heard whatever it was shift, and the steps moved away.

Even though he'd never really seen the creatures that lived in here, he'd been here long enough to know that tiers existed — that there were some even the others avoided. They were usually the heaviest, the ones who's steps vibrated the deepest into the ground, and though that information was useful, it was beginning to worry him.