Beyond The Lost

13

My legs began to burn as we continued through the tunnels, cold muggy air sticking to my skin. For some reason, I can sense the same dread I felt before. It seems this place reeks of suffering and pain.

I eyed the fingerprints covering the walls, tracing my own alongside me. Mud collects beneath my nails for a good while before something else catches my eye.

It's a wooden sign hanging above a fork in the tunnels. There's four different halls to go down, each of them have their own sign at the front.

"Which way do we go?" Victor asked me, eyeballing each sign. They all tell us to go left aside from one that tells us to go straight.

"I don't know. Give me a minute." I walked around the small area, searching for some kind of clue. Unfortunately, the words written along the walls are not in my language, so that would be of no help.

"The cold is helping keep me awake."

"That's good!" I stopped as I noticed a small sheet of paper lying on the floor. I bent down and slipped two fingers beneath it to read the front.

TURN OVER

I didn't think much of it, but flipped the paper over, finding a string attached to the back of it. "What the-" Three of my fingers were suddenly crushed with heavy metal, a bear trap barely hidden beneath the dirt nearly snapping them off. I screamed and slammed my fist into the dirt wall beside me, unable to move.

"Shit!" Victor hobbled over to me and examined the damage. "Fuck- okay, let me try to open it."

"And get your own hand stuck? Sounds smart."

Extremely loud music began to play from one of the tunnels, slowly growing louder. Victor looked at me in a panic and quickly pulled the trap apart. His fingers slipped the first time and the trap slammed back down on my hand. "Ow!"

"Look at me." He grabbed my face with one hand and forced me to look at him. "This is gonna hurt really bad and I'm really sorry but we have to go."

"What?" I attempted to look over at my hand but he held my face tightly, pulling a sharp knife from his back pocket. "Victor what're you doing?"

"We have to go, Eve!" The music suddenly stopped, leaving him more panicked than before. "Just trust me."

"No- no no no!" I tried to tear my head from his hand when he placed the knife at the base of my fingers. "Victor don't do this-"

"We don't have time." He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, okay?"

I heard footsteps behind me and glanced back, finding a tall and lanky creature crawling from within the hall labeled "go straight". His head is covered in what looks like teeth. "What the fuck is that?!"

"I told you we have to go!" He jerked the knife back toward his side, sliding through my fingers and grabbing my arm to pull me to my feet. I didn't even have time to process the pain, I don't even remember feeling it. "Come on!"

He pulled me down the farthest tunnel from the creature and made sure I was keeping pace with him.

I felt a little dizzy, looking down to my hand and watching blood pour relentlessly down my palm. Two of my fingers seemed to have been cut, but my pinkie must have gotten stuck due to it being ripped off. It's a gruesome sight. "Where did you find a knife?"

"It was in my pocket before we got here." He ripped off a large chunk of his shirt, making sure to choose a piece with no blood on it. He then wrapped it generously around my hand, pulling my shoulders close to him. "Don't worry, they won't be gone when we get back."

"How do you know?"