The temperature rose steadily the deeper they ventured into the tunnels until even Nickie was glad of her suit’s protection despite the nanocytes that regulated her body temperature. She glanced at Keen, whose faceplate was now foggy from the sheer amount of sweat pouring off him.
“You okay?” she asked.
Keen nodded and pressed on.
They came to a larger rockfall, and this one blocked the tunnel. They began to look around for a way through. John opened his handheld and tried to find an alternative route. He swiped and tapped at it a couple of times, and frowned when it didn’t respond. He banged it against his hand in frustration.
Nickie shone her flashlight over the cave-in. “Is there another way around?”
John held up the device to show her. “Not one that I know for certain we can trust, especially now this thing isn’t working properly. We’ll have to dig through.”
Nickie shrugged. “Then let’s get to digging. Just wait while Meredith tells me where the best place to break through is. We don’t want to get killed because we took the wrong boulder out and collapsed the whole thing.”
“Good thinking.”
Meredith directed Nickie to a relatively safe place, and they got to work clearing a path. They were almost through when another rumble froze them in their tracks.
Nickie paused in the act of passing back the chunk of rock she’d just pried loose. “That tremor was stronger than the last one.”
“We’re a lot closer to the center,” John informed them. He held up his map device. “I got it working again. We’re almost at the end of this section of the labyrinth.”
“Oh, thank fuck for that,” Nickie exclaimed. She almost lost her footing on the loose scree but caught herself using the rock in her hands as a counterweight to regain her balance.
John scrambled up. “Here, let me help with that.”
Nickie handed him the rock without a word. The corner of her mouth lifted when John tried to hide his surprise at the weight. “What, no argument?”
Nickie smirked and tore a boulder twice as large from the rockfall with ease. There was the hint of a dull red glow in the space vacated by the rock. “Hey, I see the other side!” She skipped down the side of the rockfall to dump the boulder safely at the bottom and turned to climb up again.
John was still standing there with the rock in his hands and a look of shock on his face.
“What?” Nickie demanded. “Do I look like a fucking damsel?”
“At no point did I say you did,” John countered. He gave her his usual easy grin and ducked through the hole. “Damsels are rarer than dragon’s teeth these days.”
Grim watched the exchange with more than a little confusion. “Are you two flirting or arguing?” he asked.
“Yes,” came John’s reply.
Reinek, Labyrinth of the Dead
The temperature rose to even more uncomfortable levels on the other side of the rockfall.
Nickie ducked through, followed by Adelaide. Then the two women helped Grim and John through the hole, and finally Keen. They climbed down the loose slope and paused to take stock of their surroundings.
They were in a larger tunnel which led off toward the source of the faint red glow. That’s not fucking sinister or anything.
We are approaching an aperture, I suspect.
Adelaide and Keen began to cough as the group deliberated on which way to go next.
Nickie felt a little lightheaded for a moment until her nanocytes got to work to filter the impurities out of the air. “Everyone, get your respirators in. There’s something funky in the air.”
Adelaide coughed again, harder this time. “Mine isn’t working.” She swayed a little as the bad air began to affect her, and Keen rushed to steady her before she stumbled and fell. He lowered her gently to the floor. Nickie undid her faceplate, removed her respirator from where it hung around her neck, and quickly sealed it shut again.
“You need that,” Adelaide protested between hitched breaths.
Nickie took a deep breath to show Adelaide that she wasn’t affected by the toxicity. “Nope, see? I’m okay without it.” She handed the respirator to Adelaide and waited impatiently for her to switch them out.
Adelaide gave them a thumbs-up a minute later as the respirator cleared her lungs. She got to her feet as the color returned to her face.
Nickie stalked off as soon as Adelaide was functional again, determined not to waste another minute. She gave John a little shove as she passed him. “You can quit thinking we’re flirting. Unless you get off on disappointment; then you’re golden. Just leave me out of it.”
She didn’t wait for him to reply. She moved onwards to scout ahead and make sure their route was clear, using the copy of John’s map she’d had Meredith upload to her HUD. They were getting close to the end of the mapped area now, and she wanted to see what they were facing next without anyone seeing her reaction. It would also give her time to think of how to tackle it while the others caught up.
Is it getting hotter?
It is. Your suit is operating at optimum levels. I can divert a little more energy to your nanocytes to compensate if you need me to, but it should be a last resort.
She dialed up her suit’s temperature control. The suit is fine. I’ll save my energy since we don’t know what’s ahead.
The tunnel widened as she walked, opening up until Nickie found herself in an enormous cavern. The expansive walls were lit with the red glow. Nickie ventured toward the source, a gaping fissure in the rock of the cavern floor. She peered over the edge at the river of magma churning sluggishly below.
Well, shit.
That’s one way to put it.
She stepped back and scratched her head, fazed by the enormity of the challenge. If she had been here alone on this mission, the problem would be nonexistent. In fact, she probably would have been wrapping this up around about now and getting the hell out of there.
This was the downside to working with other people—the lost time spent holding their hands to help them keep up. A part of her was wistful for the days when she could lone-wolf her way through whatever situation she found herself in.
Only for a moment. She remembered that she’d also had no one to laugh with and no one to light the dark along the way. A little handholding might be a fair exchange for that.
“Wait up,” Grim called as he and the others entered the cavern.
“I wasn’t going anywhere,” she shot back. She leaned against a boulder while the others got their bearings.
John gazed around the cavern in wonder. “Wow, this place is huge. I wonder what the test is.”
Nickie pointed at the tear in the rock. “I’d say the impasse we’re at qualifies as a test. One that not just anyone can pass.”
Grim glanced over the edge, then took a quick step back and gulped. “I’m doubting my ability to pass the test right now. That’s a big fall.”
“It’s okay. The lava would kill you before the fall could.”
Grim freaked out at that. “It doesn’t matter how I would die, only that I have to get over…that.” He pointed at the crevasse.
Adelaide came over and patted his arm. “It’s okay. We can do this.” She shielded her eyes from the glow and strained to see the other side of the fissure. “I can’t see a way across. Looks like we’ll have to make our own.”
Nickie squinted, judging the distance. “I’m pretty sure I can make it across. I just don’t know how to get the rest of you over there.”
John shucked off his pack and began to rummage around inside. “We don’t need to make a way. Here.” He produced a thick coil of synthetic-looking rope, which was secured to the end of itself with a clip, so it didn’t unravel. He handed the rope to Nickie, along with a mesh bag that contained the bolts to fix the line to the rock when she got across.
Adelaide eyed the rope skeptically. “How are we going to get across using just a rope?”
John stuck his hand in his pack again and
came out with a zip line harness. “Easy, I thought of every eventuality.”
Nickie hooked the rope over her body and walked to the edge of the tear to look for a suitable landing spot. There was a protrusion in the cliff opposite that looked wide enough to take them if they crossed one at a time and took care when they landed.
She backed up and prepared herself to take a running jump.
“Be careful!” Adelaide cried, shattering Nickie’s focus.
Nickie ground to a halt before reaching the edge. “No distractions,” she told Adelaide. She returned to the same spot and started again, this time without interruption. She landed on the opposite side of the crevasse with a jarring crunch and a flood of relief. She shook off the shock to her joints and got to work securing the line to the cliff wall.
She gave the line a tug when she was done, and it went taut. A couple of minutes later it dipped, and then Adelaide came flying toward her on the improvised zip line with her legs pedaling frantically in the air.
Adelaide landed awkwardly just as Nickie got out of the way. She let out a little screech as she ran to a stop before she hit the wall.
“You okay?” Nickie asked.
“Yeah, I’m good. Keen’s next.” Adelaide removed herself from the harness and brushed herself down to remove the dust she’d raised with her landing.
Nickie hooked the harness back onto the rope and John pulled it back across. Keen got into the harness and paused on the edge to talk to Grim. He pushed off and landed neatly beside Nickie and Adelaide a moment later.
“What’s going on over there?”
Keen wriggled out of the harness and handed it to Nickie. “Grim is asking to be left behind.”
Nickie sighed. She’d had a feeling he would refuse to cross. She turned to Adelaide. “Stay here. I’ll be back.” She grabbed the rope with both hands and jumped to wrap her legs over it. Suspended upside-down, she pulled herself hand over hand to shinny back to the other side.
When she got there, she took the hand John offered and clambered back onto solid ground as another tremor shook the cavern.
Nickie handed the harness to John. “Just get over there. I’ll take care of Grim.”
John looked skeptical, but he pulled the harness on and clipped it onto the rope. “Are you sure?”
Grim’s embarrassment was evident. “I’m sorry, Nickie. I just can’t do it. Just leave me here. There isn’t time.”
As if to prove his point, the volcano gave a protracted rumble that shook the cavern and caused a layer of dust to rain down on them.
John looked up and pointed to a crack that had opened in the cavern above them. “It’s too dangerous to stay here on your own. That was why I needed someone like Nickie in the first place.”
“Then I’ll turn back. I can get Durq and Meredith to pick me up.”
“I’m not leaving you,” she snapped. “What if something happens to you? No, you’re crossing, Grim. We’ll find a way.”
John made his way to the edge and prepared to zip across. His face fell as he risked a glance down at the slowly rising magma. “Whatever you’re going to do, make a decision and do it fast. This place is about to get a lot hotter.”
Nickie waved him off. “Then go, and send the harness back for Grim.”
John nodded and was gone.
Chapter 16 Nickie
On the opposite side, Adelaide, John, and Keen did their best to work out what was going on with Grim. Nickie was gesticulating angrily, which was nothing new, and Grim was backing farther away from the edge with each second that passed.
“Do you think he’ll do it?” Adelaide wondered.
Keen nodded. “He will.”
John smirked. “And if he doesn’t, I’m pretty sure Nickie will just fling him over her shoulder and carry him across.”
Adelaide giggled. “You silly man. She’s strong, but she’s not that strong.”
John gave her a knowing look. “If you think that, you’re sorely mistaken. I know what she’s capable of.”
Keen shuffled, plucking at his suit uncomfortably. “It’s getting hotter.”
“I know,” Adelaide agreed. “Thank goodness for these suits, or we’d be in deep trouble right about now.”
John checked his suit’s readout. “You’re telling me. We should keep moving. Nickie and Grim will catch up.” He found a handhold in the cliff face and began to climb to the top.
Keen glanced across the fissure. “Yeah, I think she’s getting ready to do something anyway.” He turned and joined Adelaide and John, huffing a little as he exerted himself to keep up with the others.
John reached the top first. He hauled himself over and twisted around to lean over and help Adelaide. When she was safely on the ground he went back to help Keen, but the older man just grimaced at him and worked his way up and over.
The three watched and waited while Nickie worked on getting Grim to overcome his fear of heights. A deep, protracted tremor shook chunks of rock loose from the already-crumbling roof of the cavern. It was followed by another more chilling rumble, one that wrapped cold fingers around their spines.
“What was that?” Adelaide asked, her face creased in worry. “It didn’t feel like a tremor.”
John dismissed Adelaide’s fear with a wave. “Don’t worry about it. It’s just the volcano getting ready to erupt.”
Keen snorted. “‘Just’ the volcano. Priceless.”
Adelaide was less than impressed with John’s flippant attitude. “Remind me again why we decided to come along with you on this insane mission?”
John grinned. “Clearly it was because of my dashing good looks.”
Adelaide gave him a cold look. “Nope. Not that. All I can think is that I must have had a moment of impaired judgment when I decided it would be a good idea to go adventuring.”
The deep rumble sounded again.
Keen looked in the direction of the tunnels. “That sounds like it’s getting closer.”
“How can it be getting closer?” Adelaide asked in alarm.
“It’s not,” John insisted. “It’s the tunnels, making it sound like it’s getting closer.” He went back to squinting through the rising steam to check on Nickie’s and Grim’s progress.
Unconvinced, Keen turned to Adelaide while John’s attention was on their teammates. “Those rumblings are pretty intimidating, I must admit. I’m not so sure we should be this close to an eruption.”
John wheeled around with a fevered grin. “Where’s your sense of adventure, old man?”
“Old man?” Keen blustered. “Who are you calling old? Just because I don’t fancy being burned to a crisp or crushed to death if this place comes down on top of us, it doesn’t mean I’ve lost my sense of adventure.”
John shrugged. “Just saying it how I see it. You have to let go of all that and learn to live in the moment.”
Keen tensed. “That won’t get us to our goal. We need to be careful, plan ahead, and stay safe.”
Adelaide placed herself between the two men as they took a step toward each other. “Guys, please. You need to stay focused. Look,” she pointed at Nickie, “she’s on her way.”
Nickie paced in front of Grim, her temper fraying as her concern for his safety grew with every shower of dirt and dust that fell. “Grim, you have to get your ass across that gap. The fucking roof is going to come down on us at any minute.”
Grim had backed up against the rock face in an attempt to gain a sense of security. He cringed, his mandibles working fast enough that the translation software took a moment to decipher his words among the panicked klicks. “I want to. I just…can’t make myself do it. I’m sorry. Please just go. I’ll be fine.”
Nickie stopped yelling and waving her arms and sighed. “No, Grim, I’m the one who’s sorry. I know you’re afraid.” She began to pace and think instead of yelling in Grim’s direction. “Let me see if Meredith can help.”
There isn’t much I can do to help, Meredith admitted.
There
has to be something. She looked at Grim, who was shaking like a leaf as he regarded the steaming chasm with abject horror. I’m not leaving him behind.
I don’t see how you’re going to get him across if he is too traumatized to move. It’s a pity he’s too heavy for you to jump over with.
Nickie growled. “Fuck this!”
Grim looked up at her with puzzlement.
“One minute, Grimmie. We’re going to get you over there if I have to sprout wings and fucking fly you across.” If I had just a bit of juice left I could make the jump with him. There has to be something we can do! He’s my friend, Mere. I don’t have so many of those that I can leave them to die. Please?
There is a way, Meredith answered slowly.
Why do you sound like I’m going to be pissed at whatever you’re about to tell me? Just spill it so we can get the fuck out of here. She dodged a chunk of rock that fell from the cavern roof.
You’re going to be less than happy but you need to contain that and get moving. I have been slowly recharging your energy packs. You have approximately half a charge between the three packs. Meredith hesitated. I can transfer the energy into one pack and it would be sufficient to make the jump. However, it has taken this long to gather even this much charge, Nickie. It might be a mistake to use it now.
What’s the worst that could happen? If you don’t think this is the kind of situation that warrants using it, then I don’t know what the fuck you’re expecting us to get into.
Okay, say you use the energy pack now, and then you get hurt badly enough to need it. What will you do then?
Nickie grinned. I’ll suck it up and get on with it. Or I won’t. It’s worth the risk, Mere. Look at him. It’s not even a choice. I refuse to leave him to fend for himself. Dude gets lost on the way from the cargo hold to the galley, for fuck’s sake.
If you’re sure…
The volcano shook angrily.
Yeah, I’m completely fucking sure. Now activate the damn energy pack so I can get Grim out of here before we all die. And don’t think I’m going to forget that you kept this from me.
Labyrinth (Deuces Wild Book 3) Page 16
