Diell Breaker (LGBT- Sci-Fi - Romance)

Chapter 15

Chapter 15  

Rhys woke up in pitch darkness. His protective instincts must have been operating unconsciously because he lay quiet and motionless for several minutes, pretending he was still asleep, trying to get his bearings. It was dark, he was cold, and dirt was pressing into the side of his face. Where on Earth was he, what had happened?  

He couldn't hear anything except his own breathing. He was pretty sure he was the only person here ... wherever he was. He sat up and brushed the dirt off his face and hands. He still couldn't see anything and his heart was thumping uncomfortably loud in his chest. He felt for his wristcom, he would feel better when he had some light, even the small beam that the 'com provided, but it wasn't on his wrist. He felt around in case it had fallen off, but his hand found nothing except dirt. He crawled around carefully for several minutes and soon bumped into a wall, it too felt like it was made of dirt. Holding panic at bay, he continued crawling until he had covered the entire surface of the floor of the small room he was in. Except it wasn't a room. It was a hole in the ground.  

Someone had buried him alive. 

XXX 

Petrov took a deep breath and went to see the Captain.  

"Lieutenant? What's this about?" Farrell asked, a touch of suspicion in his tone. It was the first time Petrov had come to see him alone since their last, personal encounter. 

"Rhys is missing sir," he held the Captain's gaze steadily. "Can you tell me, unofficially, when you saw him last?" 

Farrell's eyes narrowed, just how did he know - ? Had Rhys told him? He kept silent. 

"Nobody told me, but once I put my mind to it," Petrov explained, "It wasn't hard to work out who you were meeting the other night, there aren't that many oms on Fayruz! I haven't told anyone else," he continued, "but I really need to know if you saw him last night and what happened."  

"He's probably found someone new, I'm sure you're worrying about nothing." Farrell answered indirectly. 

"That's what I thought initially," Petrov agreed. "But since Corporal Harrison found his wristcom on the ground behind the Three Suns this morning, it's looking more serious." 

Farrell just stopped himself from looking around to make sure they weren't being overheard. "Alright, for your information only, I saw him there last night, around 21:30. He was fine when I left." He spoke in a low voice. 

Well that's what he had expected to hear, hadn't he? Petrov was surprised how sick he felt to hear his fears confirmed, from the Captain's own mouth. He forced himself to continue. "How long were you, uh, together?" 

"Not long, only a few minutes." He caught Petrov's look of surprised disbelief and snorted. "Nothing happened between us! I told him I wasn't going to see him anymore, that's all. He was a little upset but nothing he wouldn't have got over soon." 

Petrov frowned until he realised Farrell was thinking about a possible suicide. The idea had never entered his head, he was certain Rhys was the last person who would take his own life. 

"He didn't say anything? To indicate where he might have gone? Whether he was meeting anyone?" 

Farrell was shaking his head. "Sorry, nothing. And, Lieutenant? This conversation never happened." Petrov could see he wasn't going to get anything further from the Captain.  

"Lieutenant Cheung is organizing search parties, can I have permission to assist, sir?" 

"Certainly, take a squad of eight with you," Farrell offered, relieved that Petrov had dropped the questioning.  

Petrov didn't know if he was glad or not that the Captain hadn't offered to help in person. 

XXX 

Rhys swallowed a last shuddering sob, finally fighting back the panic that had overtaken him at the realisation that he was buried underground. Screaming hadn't helped, no-one had heard him, he had to think. 

The last thing he could remember was Jake threatening him. Was it possible Jake had put him here? To keep him quiet, to make absolutely certain he never told anyone about their brief encounter? He'd known, from what Alexei had said, that Jake presented himself to everyone as straight. What lengths would he go to, to preserve that image?  

It was true he didn't know the other man well, but Jake was a powerful man, used to making hard decisions. If Jake had seriously wanted to get rid of him, he would be dead, plain and simple, not sitting here in a hole. No, this smacked of someone more unstable, someone who hated him, who wanted him to feel fear and pain. To do him credit, he never considered for one moment that Alexei might have chosen this method of revenge.  

Suddenly, Rhys remembered the man he thought he had caught a glimpse of in town, his ex-lover Sam Peterson. He was another one who pretended to be straight, although he had gone so far as to have a wife and family to complete the disguise. He sought male sex on the side as a series of secret affairs. That had been too much, even for Rhys and he had broken off the relationship when he found out Sam was still very much living with his wife, not separated as he had told him. Sam had not been at all happy about his decision. But that had been nearly a year ago, just before he got together with Alexei in fact, was it possible he could still be holding that big a grudge? 

Thinking of Alexei calmed him down a bit more. He was certain he would be looking for him, even if Jake wasn't. Although he realised that, realistically, it might take some time before anyone knew he was missing. At least when he didn't turn up for his shift on the Voyager, they would know something was wrong. How long had he been here? Had he slept all night or just a few hours? There was no way to tell. 

He had to do something, anything would be better than simply waiting, feeling the panic closing in again. He supposed he could at least check all the walls, and the roof if he could reach it, see if there was a place he could break through. Perhaps he should shout for help every so often too, just in case someone was nearby and could hear him. He stood up and started to feel his way around the enclosure. He was careful not to even think of the fact that he had no food or water with him.