Piece by Piece

60. Big Mistakes

Sweat, dirt, and blood coated Davyn's face. For the past few hours, he'd done his best to detect and avoid as many traps as possible. The spear that had shot out of the wall and killed Omar was nothing compared to what followed.

Apparently, spears could also fall from the ceiling in clumps. He'd jumped back, but they still left a bloody mark on his right arm. It stung like fire ants marching under his skin.

A trap door opening had almost taken Alan from them, but he'd fortunately been fast enough on his feet to jump back.

Then there were falling bricks almost crashing the entire group, arrow heads shooting at them from the walls, and spikes darting up from the floor.

Ahmed had refused to leave Omar there, so they ended up dragging a body after them which slowed their progress considerably. Once a row of spikes shot out of the floor and caught Ahmed's foot, they had to help him walk as well.

Every mishap, every lack of proper precaution got on Davyn's nerve, and he had to put every bit of effort into not lashing out, not becoming Snitch Gravel. As the hours trickled by and the traps became more aggressive, he was done. It was his turn to help Ahmed walk, so he was behind when a large chunk of ceiling almost crushed Walt.

"Enough!"

The muttering of the others died away as they all turned to him. Ahmed's body shook as Davyn extracted himself from under his arm and forced him to lean against the wall.

"What are you talking about?" Alan asked. His voice was a little hitched as he'd been seconds away from being crushed, too. "I mean, none of us like this, but I don't think screaming at this place to leave us alone would work."

Davyn didn't care for his snark and charged forward towards Edwards. "This was an idiotic decision. We're going the wrong way!"

Edwards raised his eyebrows, trying for a look for distain, but he too looked shaken. "What are you talking about?"

"We're moving towards the outer edge of the temple, and the jewel can't be there. The best we're going to find is a way out into the sand, and we all know we don't need that."

"A way out doesn't actually sound so bad," Walt said, rubbing his shoulder.

"And you're basing all of that on?" Edwards asked.

"On where we descended and the direction you chose to take. We should've never gone back!"

Edwards huffed. "This direction was as good as any."

Maybe in another life in which he wasn't trapped inside a temple that was doing its best to kill them, Davyn would've used diplomacy and manipulation to coerce Edwards. In this life, he'd had enough. "No, it's not. Logically, it can't be as good as any, you complete imbecile!"

"Why didn't you say anything earlier?" Simon asked, blowing a curly lock of blond hair out of his face.

"This is why!" Davyn indicated towards Edwards. "Because we supposedly have a leader."

"There's no supposedly about it," Edwards said, his voice low and dangerous. "And I don't appreciate your tone or your words."

"My tone? My words? You still think any of that matters now?" Davyn turned towards Harrison. "Levy, hand me over some of that handy paper and pencils you brought along."

"Um..." Harrison's voice shook as he reached into his backpack. "I sort of... Filled them up?"

"Filled them up?" Before Davyn could compute the words and blow up, Harrison handed him the papers. They were indeed filled up with crude drawings of their path and where the traps had been. "You made a map?" Though map was putting it generously.