Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66334 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66334 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
We had to crawl on our hands and knees, the metal cold and unyielding beneath us. The air was thick with the musty scent of decay and something else, something organic. Spiderwebs clung to every surface, sticking to my skin and hair as we moved. I could feel the tiny legs of spiders skittering across my hands, and my face, burrowing into my hair. My breath caught in my throat, panic bubbling up as the sensation became too much.
Sharp pain—like a needle—shot through my hand. I hissed in pain, feeling the telltale sign of a spider bite. I wanted to scream and get them off me, but all I could do was keep moving forward, one agonizing crawl at a time, enduring their tiny legs moving up and down my neck. The only thought that kept me going was that I had to get out of there. If not for me, then for Mel and what she’d given.
For Lana and Ky.
For the others who still needed me.
But with every inch forward, the darkness seemed to grow heavier, and I couldn’t help but wonder if we’d ever find a way out of this twisted nightmare. The song's haunting melody played on, echoing through the confined space. My skin was slick with a cold sweat, the pain in my hand so intense I struggled not to vomit. I kept swiping at my face, desperate to clear away the sticky webs and the tiny spiders that got too close to my eyes and mouth.
We pushed through rubber flaps that felt like some cruel parody of a door, and then Dion suddenly stopped. His voice came back, tense and low, "Be very careful...and don't look down."
I edged forward behind him fearing the worst, my heart hammering in my chest as I saw the ladder. It was suspended high above a seemingly endless void, the sight below so strange and disorienting that it defied logic.
My stomach churned, a mix of fear and the lingering nausea from my hand and the stench of Mel’s melting flesh. Dion moved first, cautiously stepping onto the ladder, each movement deliberate and slow. The ladder swayed slightly, making my breath catch in my throat. There was no other way across, so I forced myself to follow, one hand gripping the rung so tightly that it felt like my bones might crack. Every bar was a battle against my own trembling muscles and searing pain.
Brody was right behind me, his presence a steadying force as I carefully made my way across the ladder. I tried not to focus on what was below, a landscape that twisted and turned, making it impossible to trust what my eyes were seeing. The song continued to play, its notes crawling into my ears like a malicious whisper.
My breath came in short, ragged gasps as I inched forward, focusing on one rung at a time, refusing to let the fear consume me.
I couldn't stop. Stopping meant falling, and falling meant... I didn’t want to think about that. We were halfway across when the ladder swayed more violently as if mocking our struggle. I tightened my grip, biting back a cry as the pain flared up my arm. I soothed myself with the fact that I could feel the metal beneath my hand, cold and unforgiving, as I pushed forward.
Dion reached the other side and moved off the ladder onto solid ground. I followed as quickly as I could, the relief almost overwhelming as he reached back and helped, my feet finally touching something stable and where we could stand upright again. He did the same for Brody. I nearly fell in my haste to get the fucking spiders off of me, but Brody's hand was there, steadying me as I stumbled.
“At least it wasn’t roaches,” Dion repeated to himself as he erratically brushed off his clothes.
Brody swore under his breath, shaking out his curly hair. I brought my hand up as I waited for them, promptly lowering it back down. I couldn’t stomach the sight.
“Come on,” Dion said softly, urging me forward.
As we moved through a tunnel, my thoughts spiraled, each one darker than the last. I couldn't stop thinking about Mel—how she had given her life away to save Dion, how she had mouthed that she loved me before she disintegrated right before my eyes. The memory replayed over and over, and I couldn’t make it stop.
Dion and Brody were practically holding me up, their arms steadying me as I stumbled along, half-blind with tears.
I still couldn’t look at my hand—the flesh was gone, eaten away, and I knew if I looked, I would break.
So I kept my eyes ahead, trying to focus on something, anything else. “There were other ladders,” I managed to say, my voice cracking under the weight of everything I was trying to hold back. “Higher up. The others might have crossed those, or will.”