Lost in Ash (The Phoenix Experiment - Book 1)

CHAPTER NINE

Alva felt the force of gravity in her legs first, so much so that they gave out underneath her upon impact. She felt her body tumble against concrete and rubble, ripping at both her clothes and skin. There was no time to think about the tears as her body continued its momentum. To her horror, she watched as the world around her slowed, her focus narrowing in on the demolished part of the ledge. Large metal supports stuck out, her mind was racing in a split second trying to decide if she was even close enough to grab onto one.

A scream ripped through her throat as she scrambled and clawed wishing that they might find purchase on anything. The ledge grew closer, and rocks tumbled off in front of her, she was going over. Alva closed her eyes tight, waiting for the ground to vanish from beneath her.

But it never came. There was a tightening around her waist with pressure that felt like her body might end up cut in two. The ground, she could still feel firmly below her and her body had stopped its motion altogether. With her breathing heavy, she opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was that her feet were inches away from the crumbling edge.

"Think I'm taking back that bit about the rope being shit," Lev's voice called from behind her.

Alva scrambled away from the edge, rushing quickly over to the steel ledge, and wrapping her arms around one of the support beams. There she shut her eyes, trying to regulate her breathing, and willing the adrenaline to stop coursing so strongly through her.

"Frosty?" She could hear the concern in Lev's voice, but she ignored him. Alva just needed to get her bearings, to calm the terror that had claimed her mind.

An echo of a scream caused Alva to flinch. She was overwhelmed in a way that she had never been before. In the past, she had thought that not meeting deadlines or having multiple deadlines to meet in one day was an overwhelming life. She even thought that having the weight of the world on her shoulders and her family's lives on the line was overwhelming, but all those had been wrong. There was something far more overwhelming about nearly escaping death.

"Alva," Lev's voice was soft, "Come on, show me those pretty blues." She felt him in front of her, but she couldn't comply. She didn't want to be here. If she kept her eyes closed, she could pretend to be home. "You've faced worse, Frosty."

Her blood boiled with his lack of empathy. Did he not just see what happened? "Are you blind?" Alva snapped, her eyes flying open to glare at Lev.

Only when her eyes opened, she was greeted by a smug smirk and a hearty laugh. His large hand came up in a fist, playfully knocking it into her chin. "You're predictable," Lev told her before taking a step back.

Alva scoffed. She knew plenty of people who would argue with that.

They wouldn't.

A shiver went down her spine as the voice whispered to her. It reverberated around in a way that had her wondering if maybe Lev had heard it too. Judging by the way he turned around and moved back toward the gaping tunnel, he hadn't heard a thing.

Alva sighed, her arms beginning to loosen around the pillar, "She screamed again."

"No, she's calling," Lev corrected. It would have annoyed her more if she wasn't just a bit rattled. "We learned it..."

There was a long pause as Alva waited for Lev to finish his sentence. Out of confusion, she walked over to the entrance of the tunnel with him. She followed his gaze looking into the surprisingly well-lit corridor. Surprised to see that florescent floor lights lined the base of the tunnel walls, projecting their lights upward toward the tunnel's ceiling. She looked up at him with her eyebrows drawn together.