The Thieves of Otar

War

"Run!"

Zia hobbled along as quickly as she could, but still it wasn't enough. She tried to discard the staff and just hop forward on her good foot, but even that was far too slow. 

"Faster, Zia!" Heath urged her from behind.

She didn't waste her breath with a reply. She was going as fast as she could on her one foot, but she knew it wouldn't be enough. Sooner or later, the tunnel would cave in on them, and Zia wouldn't be fast enough to escape it.

The dirt ceiling above them shook, showering Ike, Jay, Heath, and Zia in a cloud of dust and dirt. 

"We need to move faster!" Jay called from the lead in front of her. "The whole thing could collapse on us at any second!"

Zia could have cried in frustration. She felt so helpless without the use of both her legs. And now, because of her injury, she was going to get her friends killed.

No, not if she could help it. Zia knew she was slowing them down. She also knew that none of them would make it to the surface before the tunnel collapsed if the others stayed behind with her. "Just go!" she told them. "I'll catch up!"

"You're such a terrible liar, Zia," Ike called up from the rear. "If you think we're leaving you down here to die on your own, you've got another thing coming."

The ceiling rumbled again, once more sending dirt falling down on their heads.

"We need to move!" Jay warned again.

Zia wasn't sure whose hair she wanted to pull out more, Jay's or her own. "Just go ahead without me!" she pleaded as another rumble came from above. "I'll try to catch- gah!" Zia shouted in both surprise and protest as Heath scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder. "What are you doing?!" she shrieked.

"Saving your sorry hide," he replied. "I'm not any happier with it than you are." There was another rumble, louder this time, and a large chunk of the dirt ceiling fell down right behind Heath's back, which, of course, meant that it was also right in front of Zia's face, and she jumped at the sudden dirt clump falling past her eyes.

As much as she didn't want to admit it, they made better progress through the tunnel with Heath carrying her. She was positive her face was redder than an apple, but she was determined she could handle a little embarrassment if it meant that her friends could get out of this alive. 

With Zia's view of everything behind Heath, she looked over Ike's head as a section they had just passed crumbled, cutting off any hope of backtracking. 

But the caving in didn't stop there. It sounded like the world was tearing itself apart as the top of their tunnel started to crack and fracture. Zia could feel the vibrations of the ground beneath her through the air.

"We're almost there!" Jay shouted. "I can see the next Den!" It was a good thing too, because the crumbling and falling was chasing them, and it was catching up. Zia couldn't help but think about her nightmare and the shadow chasing her down an endless corridor.

Zia felt the air around her change, and she assumed they had just passed into the new Den.

"Quickly, find the exit!" Jay instructed. 

"And put me down," she ordered Heath, who bashfully obeyed.

"Sorry," he muttered, looking a little pink. He was embarrassed? Zia was the one who needed to be carried!

But they didn't have time to discuss that now. Zia hobbled away, trying to put as much weight on her wounded leg as she could stand. She searched the ends of the Den, but there was so sign of any exit.