Читать книгу Antakarana. Quest in Reality - Татьяна Шуклина - Страница 22

***

We’ve been walking for several minutes, carefully examining the walls, in fear of missing a vital exit. A couple of times there are forks on the way, but they all turn out to be only dead-end grottoes.

Suddenly, a light appears at the end of the tunnel. We are significantly accelerating our pace in the hope of getting out of this place as quickly as possible. Despite the fact that the height and width of the cave allows you to move around quite freely, the absolute darkness is depressing. Every now and then someone stumbles over the ledges of an uneven surface. Sounds of drops from all sides seem to press on consciousness. It’s no wonder the players were filled with excitement when they saw the long-awaited release!

Our disappointment is endless when the exit turns out to be a grotto similar to the one in which we came to our sences in the morning: the same high walls, light falling through a wide opening at the top, and two exits at the end of the hall: a light and a dark one. A metal echo meets us in the grotto:

«Until the flooding of the cave system remains: five hours and thirty minutes.»

«It’s pointless to walk with the whole team and examine every pass,» Alex rightly notes,» too little time. Runner and I are the most physically tough of all those present. Each of us will explore one passage and return to this location. Everyone else stay here waiting, stay strong and calm. Heaven knows what else we will have to face. There is not a minute to lose!»

Nobody objects, and Alex disappears into the light tunnel. Runner runs into a dark cave. Less than ten minutes later, both messengers return with impressive results. Alex ran into a dead end, Runner, on the contrary, found out that his tunnel leads to the next dark cave with two branches. None of us like the idea of being back in dark corridors, but there is no other choice.

The tunnel we are running through is longer and narrower than the previous one. Once in the next cave hall, Planck quickly checks the angle of inclination with a flashlight, which no longer lingers in place, but immediately slowly rolls in the direction from which we came.

«I hope we’re on the right track,» Planck wipes the forehead with his sleeve, obviously feeling the full weight of responsibility for his decision.

Our plan works according to the old scheme. Runner and Alex disappear into the tunnels with two flashlights. Both are gone for a while this time. The minutes drag on for an agonizingly long time. We are sitting in pitch darkness with our backs close to each other. The players try to talk about something in order to drive away the fear of the unknown in the impenetrable darkness of the cave. I squeeze Leeloo’s hand tightly. Yu is sobbing nearby.

«Yu,» I whisper to her quietly, «everything will be fine, we’ll get out of here. But you have to be strong!»

«I… I’m scared to death of closed spaces. I’m afraid that breathing may stop at any moment,» she whispers plaintively in response trembling all over.

«Yu, this isn’t a closed space, there is definitely a way out from here, otherwise the organizers wouldn’t have put us here!» I assure her.

«Don’t leave me, please, Lavina! Don’t leave me here alone! Promise me!»

«I promise!»

At this moment, an eerie voice is heard again. In the dark, it sounds even more merciless and makes the blood freeze in the veins:

«Until the flooding of the cave system remains: five hours zero-zero minutes.»

Finally, a panting Runner shows up. His appearance from the pitch darkness is so unexpected and long-awaited that Blonda and BeBe scream out at the same time with both fear and joy. Angel’s timid tone follows behind them:

«Runner, Runner, is that you? Oh God, how scared I am!»

«Yes, it’s me, came for your cowardly ass,» Runner throws contemptuously in response. «There the tunnel diverges, but both passages are dead-end. I can no longer run alone, someone has to accompany me to explore the passages in the caves faster – where is Alex?»

«He’s still gone! We need to leave! After all, now we know that his tunnel is correct!» BeBe’s voice is full of despair.

«No, we’ll stay here waiting,» Runner orders. Everyone is too scared to argue with him. At least we now have a meager light source. We spend a few more agonizing minutes, and Alex still doesn’t show up. My imagination paints a terrible picture of him wandering in the corridors, unable to find his way back.

«He’ll be all right,» I hear Leeloo’s quiet, reassuring voice. She seemed to read my mind.

«Oh, Leeloo! I’ve never been so scared in my life,» I whisper in response, barely audible.

«It’s okay, considering the situation. Everything will be fine, he’ll find a way. Trust in it.»

Leeloo’s words give me strength.

«We are waiting for a few more minutes and set off. Can’t sit here and waste time while Alex wanders the hallways. Maybe he got lost a long time ago. It’s foolish to risk everyone by betting on one!» No one expected such determination from the humble Joleo. The fewer arguments to object to him.

«Oh no, no, no,» I am horrified and squeeze Leeloo’s fingers even tighter.

To everyone’s relief, Alex still emerges from the depths of the cave. He takes a breath for two minutes, then, still panting, announces:

«Well, the lost herd, are you ready to follow me?»

I feel incredible relief – as if several tons of cargo were lifted from my shoulders.