Foundered

Zac IV: Fragments of the Past

The three began to explore the ancient mausoleum, where the ancient Celt and Serb kings had been buried for hundreds, maybe thousands of years. Zac wasn't entirely sure. They needed flashlights in order to see anything, which only made the experience more frightening. While it did qualify as a safe haven, it sure didn't feel like one.

"Why exactly are we walking around anyway?" Zac asked. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he was starting to get freaked out. "Wouldn't it be best if we just stayed put somewhere?"

"We might find a secret tunnel or something where we can make our escape. One that the zombies wouldn't know about," Jasper answered matter-of-factly.

"And how would you know about that, hm?" asked Yara.

"Well...just follow my lead, I'm sure we'll find it," was Jasper's answer. Zac started to get a little worried. Is there something that Jasper isn't telling us?

Zac kept on trying to maintain his composure at all costs. This is finally a moment for me to prove my worth to Jasper. I have to make it count!

Sadly, if there was one thing that terrified him, it was being lost in the darkness. Not because of the darkness itself, no, it was because of what was lurking in it. By contrast Yara seemed rather unfazed, he was more bored than anything else. It was almost as if he had done this kind of thing before.

There was something that Zac couldn't help but mention though. Though it was hard seeing Jasper's face because they were surrounded by pitch black darkness, in the few moments that he did see it, it was one of...sadness? He hadn't seen him like this before, and he got the weird urge to hug him and make things better.

"So are you sure zombies can't attack us here?"

"Not unless they manage to break in."

"Well the zombies are really strong..."

"Nah, we can take them!"

"Not with their current numbers," Jasper lamented. "There could be thousands out there. That's why we need to find another way out."

"Hmm...this could be tough."

Zac sighed a little, feeling rather defeated. He wanted to improve his fighting skills and finally kill some damn zombies, not run away like this. But in their current situation, they had no choice. And besides, what could he do anyway?

As they kept walking through the narrow corridors with no end in sight, he kept getting more and more scared. With the flashlights they had on them he looked through the carvings on each wall. They all seemed to be written in a language that he couldn't understand.

"They're written in Ancient Serbian," Jasper commented, knowing what Zac was trying to do. "Very few but the inhabitants of the tomb know what they say, and they tell a dreadful tale."

"S-So you can understand them?" Zac asked, impressed by his proficiency in so many different languages.

"Yes. They're not that interesting though, honestly."

"Are you sure you're not one of these Serb Kings yourself, Jasper?" Yara joked. Despite it just being friendly banter, Jasper's face fell a little, which once again was noticed by Zac.

"I'm a lot of things. Engineer, actor, director, writer, poet, inventor, etc."

Wow...you're so smart, Zac thought to himself.

Zac then immediately covered his mouth and blushed as he realized that he just said that out loud, pining over Jasper out in the open. This made Yara laugh a little.