First Soul

Chapter Nine

"How do we get out?!" Deyna screeched as she tried to make her body sink further into the jagged, rocky wall.

That wouldn't work but I kept the comment firmly in my mouth. When, not if, the wall finally found our vulnerable little bodies, she would feel the sharp edges of that weaponry penetrate her flesh. We were going to die in here and it was going to be a painfully slow, bone crushing one.

I tried to think, the loud crunching from our rocky impending doom made it difficult, as did Deyna's hysterical screams. Phillip silently watched it approach. I could feel the creeping deadly snakes of panic rupture my chest.

Then the idea hit.

"Drag every item you can off the walls and put in on the floor. We have to stop this wall!"

We quickly set to work, including Lester. I could see the amount of energy it took the ghost to make his hand pick up an object that existed in this world. The strain on his features made it clear that Lester wanted to save us as much as we wanted to be saved, which was, at this moment in time, an awful bloody lot. I could only hope that the obstacles on the floor would put a stop to the wall's movement.

Guns, swords, shields, anything that could possibly stop the course of the wall littered the floor. The wall, oblivious to the road block, continued its journey. I assessed the mess and realised the weapons would move closer. I saw the expression cross Lester's face as soon as the thought came to me. I launched myself towards the pile of metal and picked up two very large guns.

"Lester, you must make the exit. You got us in here, you can get us out," I shouted above the noise of the moving wall.

"It doesn't work like that, Stephen. I cannot make an exit."

"Why the hell not?!"

"There is no intended exit. You are not meant to leave."

With those words, my stomach dropped to the floor. Lester had to be mistaken. It wasn't over yet. There had to be an exit. "There is always an entrance and exit to a room. There has to be one."

"The rules in this place are different to the ones up above in your world. He wants you to die in here."

"Who?!" I shouted.

Lester didn't answer. The man was good at giving as little information away as possible, but he'd given away little bits without knowing. Those I could work with. I loved to pick apart clues and I'd pick at this one.

I could hear Deyna's whimpers over the rush of blood in my head. We wouldn't die in this room. I was, however, rather happy to see Phillip gathering the weapons and putting us, around his body. Phillip was preparing himself for a fight and I would definitely join him.

"Right, we only have one option."

If I was going to be crushed in this small room, I would do it whilst fighting my way out. I turned, grabbed two guns from the floor and let them loose on the wall.

Bullets whizzed in all directions, they shattered upon impact against the hard rock. I reloaded and started the assault once more. Bullets joined mine. I turned to see Phillip and Lester both handling guns which were directed towards the rock. Deyna was hacking away at the hard rock with a large sword, her screams of desperation drowned out by the lethal gun fire. She moved back, panting with exertion. She'd barely made a dent in the rock.

"Oh my god, everyone move!" Deyna's shout registered through the manic thud of bullets.

I stopped and whistled loudly, bringing Phillip and Lester's attention to Deyna. She held her hand in the air, the smile on her face was one of pure joy.

"Deyna's found a grenade!" Phillip shouted the obvious.

I rushed over to Deyna who handed me the grenade without hesitation. I felt the niggles of doubt in my gut again, never in my life had they given me this much responsibility. I held up the grenade and almost whooped with glee, the clip was still in place. This might just work.

We pulled shields off the wall and positioned them, creating a protective wall around us.

"Right, get down!"

Deyna and Phillip positioned themselves behind the shields. Lester stood in front of the shield, acting as, well, as a shield. I looked at the grenade, took a deep breath and pulled the clip out with my teeth.

I'd seen someone do it in a film once and had always wanted to do it.

No time like the present.

Taking a deep breath, I threw the cold metal and then launched myself behind the shield. Covering my ears hadn't prepared me for the angry rumble of the ground, or the smash of dust and rock that ripped the air right out of my lungs. I coughed and stood. My ears buzzed like a swarm of angry bees were trapped in there.

The shield held up, but it wouldn't for much longer. I choked on the smoke and noticed that the wall was still moving towards us. Squinting, I could see that I'd blown a hole in the other wall and that the gap was big enough for us. I didn't have time to celebrate, celebrating would come later when we'd found a way out of this place.

"Get out! Get out!"

I all but pushed Deyna and Phillip towards the hole as I followed them, stumbling over rubble. I rummaged around for the thing I wanted. The wall moved ever closer as my hands pushed aside rocks, shards of metal and weapons, I found the Hunter and jammed it in my trousers.

I held the panic at bay as the wall sandwiched me. Pushing my body closer to the rock. Deyna screamed as my body felt the pressure from the rock. I pushed myself through the hole just as the wall came to rest with a bang and a shudder.

My knees buckled beneath my body. I'd never been more grateful to be alive, ever. Deyna flew into my arms and murmured something incoherent, she pushed away and hugged Phillip. I smirked at Deyna's exuberant display of gratitude. Phillip also smiled.

I looked at Lester and the smirk dropped.

The expression on Lester's face revealed far too much sadness. I had that feeling again, I knew something waited for us to fail, pushed us to fail.

We'd survived this, but at what cost?

I took a deep breath and made sure the gun was safe in my belt. I walked to Lester to look at the map. We had to find a way out of here, alive.

The look on Lester's face didn't give me one ounce of hope. 

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There's so many things at play here...

Does anyone have any guesses as to what is happening with Lester?