Continued from: http://www.xeneth.net/urpc/index.php?topic=2815.0

If there was ever a time to panic, this would be it. However, she took a few deep breaths, and told herself that if worse came to worse, they could always go back for more torches. She then placed her energy looking for the image on the wall. If that was their only way out of this place, then so be it.

Feverishly she searched, bringing her torch close, but also keeping an eye on the scarabs. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another. But from the corner of her eye, she notice Ishi move toward Constantine. Be it the odd relationship between the child and the man, or just curiosity, Skylar turned to them both.

It seemed Ishi had found something, at least, Sky had hoped so. Moving closer to the two, she waited for something, a sign, words telling her they would soon be on their way. She hated feeling weak, feeling useless, but for now, that is exactly how she felt.

Constantine looked at the deeply scratched picture, his brow furrowed in obvious worry. That was one of theirs, certainly. It was the Kato symbol, underneath the most Kato-aligned building in the city, a place both he and his brother knew. The letter that marked which direction they'd approached from was gone as well... This wasn't above ground. There was no weather to speak of. The scarabs didn't scratch the walls when they moved. It had to have been done purposefully. And that meant...

"Allright, stay close... And keep your eyes open for anything. We'll take the next exit we find."

Constantine would move only at a brisk walk. He hadn't shared his conclusion with the other two for fear of scaring them needlessly, but the way he constantly peered outward into the darkness was perhaps a sign that he feared something more. Something more than the relentlessly deadly scarabs all around them. Supposedly, the sounds of the beetles used to muffle the screams of the unfortunate on occasion, and the noises they made currently were enough to make anyone's blood run cold. Constantine was only slightly less helpless than either of the two people he traveled with, and he bore the responsibility for everyone's safety...

He didn't need to say anything in order to get the girl to stay close. That was just common sense--to be expected, really. She walked as close to him as she could without actually inhibiting his movements, expecting Skylar to probably do the same. It was just a matter of comfort at this point. It wasn't like Constantine could actually protect the three of them; if all the scarabs up and decided to swarm, there wasn't anything that any of them could do about it. As such, sticking close to Constantine was just a matter of sticking close to the largest, most physically capable of them; it was a false feeling of defense. Without it, though, Ishi may well have succumbed to the pressures in her mind, curl up in a ball, and just sit there until her torch burnt out. Of all people, she needed a false sense of security the most.

"Con-stan-ti~ne . . ." Ishi whined, whimpering simultaneously, "How much rong . . .?"

She was terrible at speaking Common, but decent at understanding it. For all her lack of skills with the language, she was at least able to convey a point when she really needed to--like right now. The little girl wanted to get out of her mind, and she wanted that to be known.

The silence was almost unbearable, god...how many times she had thought that during all this, though, she didn’t bother to ask any questions. She was sure she didn’t wanna know any of the answers.

She stayed close to him, and kept an eye on Ishi, making sure she was close as well. Deeply she breathed, keeping herself calm as it seemed the walls were closing in around them. She never considered herself claustrophobic, until she was trapped within these stone walls, with no sure way out.

It was Ishis words that snapped her back to what was going on. “Oh, not much longer sweetheart.” Skylar smiled, reached out and patted Ishi. Skylar was terrified, maybe Constantine was, too...but she would do everything in her power to keep Ishi calm, and safe. “You’re doing a great job, Ishi.” They all were really. All were alive, and still moving. The real question was, for how much longer?

"Yes, it won't be much longer..."

As if on cue, Skylar's torch would go out, its fuel expended. The minutes were passing by in a way that was nearly impossible to discern. Adrenaline would make it feel like hours had passed already, but perhaps more important was the way they didn't have a lot of progress to show for it. With the torch out, the scarabs would become bolder, quickly approaching Skylar in their constant attempts at food...

"Damn it! We're going to get out of here..."

Constantine would watch Skylar to make sure the scarabs didn't reach her head, glancing at the walls. It seemed familiar... Too familiar. In fact, on the wall just in front of him, he could barely make out a bird symbol, scratched out in a similar way to the Kato symbol. On the ceiling above was a set of eggs, dripping some sort of viscous liquid, and on the ground below was a torch, its light extinguished by the eggs above...

"No..."

Ishi just kept her eyes ahead of her. The eggs would have just freaked her out. She had seen them out of the corner of her eyes, and knew to just look away. They had come up earlier, and it was just best to not look. She'd have otherwise freaked out pretty quickly.

The unfortunate side of her understanding of Common was that, although she could read it well and speak a few things here and there, she could only understand bits and pieces of what someone said, especially if said fast. Nonetheless, she still caught the reassurance she was altogether provided. It made her feel a bit better, at least. Well . . . until Skylar's torch went out . . .

She looked up immediately, seeing the slime coming off of the eggs, and quickly moved towards Constantine, practically pressing herself up against him with her head upon his elbow, all in order to avoid the liquid. But then, Skylar was left for a moment, and Ishi used her free arm to prod an extra torch in her direction. Although the girl didn't say anything, she seemed to start whimpering when there wasn't much more light than the torch that she carried. That was when she really became scared. Her torch would probably run out of fuel sometime soon, too. She had extras. After giving one to Skylar, she only had one extra, actually. Hopefully it'd be more than enough.

Ishi stopped when Constantine did, and instead of looking down at what he was shocked to see, she shut her eyes tightly and let out a soft whimper. If he started to lose it . . .

I don't want to die here! I . . . I don't want to die here~!! --became the only thoughts that could go through her mind.

Her screams echoed in the hollow tunnel as the darkness swallowed her whole. The only thing she could hear were the scarabs, moving quickly now, but more importantly, in her direction. She jumped as she felt something prod into her thigh. Realizing it could not be a massive bug, she reached out to feel it was a torch. As she pulled it from Ishis hands, it fell, igniting with a brilliant glow.

She looked up at Constantine, tears clearing a trail down her dirt stained cheeks. “I can’t do this...” Her voice was somber, relaxed.

And as if the fates were laughing hysterically at their situation, Constantine also lost his flame. Her eyes closed, perhaps death would be full of light, and silent.

She reached down, scooping up the torch that was lit. Suddenly, she felt, so heavy, so weak. Her pack was weighing her down. Her pack! Reaching back, she pulled two more torches from her bag and quickly set fire to them as she rushed over to Ishi and Constantine. By her calculations, they still have a couple or so left after these.

“I’m sorry.” That was all she said to him. But gently she reached out and pulled him away from the eggs that were the demise of his last torch, they were, too precious to allow that to happen again. “What now?”

Constantine didn't respond for a moment, holding both torches in his hand. It was certain, now... He'd killed them. He didn't know how to navigate, and worse, he didn't even know all the dangers, from the look of things. Holding the second torch in his free hand, he looked at the scratched off symbol of the intersection they'd already visited...

"Now... Well... I'm not really-"

Constantine stopped speaking in the middle of his sentence, moving his arm over Ishi's head as he turned his body, throwing a torch down the pathway he'd been interested in earlier. He hadn't truly seen anything this time, but something about the situation was too similar... As the torch flew down the passage, sure enough, a figure could be seen to move to dodge the flying implement. And as it passed, it would momentarily illuminate a face, barely human, pale white and gaunt. His eyes were widened in surprise, and he would immediately turn, running off down the hallway past scarabs that didn't seem to notice his presence.

"We'll ask him."

Constantine would state this simply before running off after the man. His actions were impulsive, born of fear... He didn't even know who the man was, but the more unpredictable Constantine was, the safer they'd be. For the moment, he just had to assume that Ishi and Skylar would be with him as he pursued the man they couldn't even see any more...

Once Constantine's torch had gone out earlier, they weren't entirely eclipsed. Ishi's torch had never gone out; it was as lit as ever, and had never stopped being so. Between the three of them, though, it was pretty dim. One torch for three people wasn't nearly enough. Fortunately, Ishi was able to pass off torches to the others, just like Skylar wound up doing--and though it might have been a miscalculation to bring Ishi and Constantine two torches (while Ishi's was still lit), it wound up working for them. That became an expendable light source, as if they had such a thing down here, and helped light the way for a new development.

Every good thing had a drawback, though. In this case, it was Constantine dashing off with very little warning. Ishi blinked, stopping in her tracks, just watching he run. That couldn't be good. No, that wasn't good at all. She glanced up to Skylar, and then back to Constantine, who was quite distant by that time. Then, it finally hit her: he wasn't going to turn around or anything, he was making a mad dash.

"U-ueito!" Ishi cried as she tried to run--and failed; all she could do was walk quickly.

Next time he did that, she'd have to grab onto him and demand that he carried her on his back. If they lived. Oh God, if they could survive this . . . he'd owe her a hundred piggyback rides. Not that she didn't deserve anything of the sort anyways, but that would certainly be something to tell him about later! No matter how bleak the situation seemed when he wasn't there (and she could barely catch up with him), Ishi--during a rare moment--tried to think of something positive as she walked quickly, hopefully alongside Skylar, to keep herself from losing it like Skylar almost did. It was amazing how these series of events could mature a person.

She drown out all other noise but his voice. The only thing she could find comfort in. Then, nothing, more silence. She looked over at him in time to see the torch flying through the air. A face, of ghostly white started back at them before turning and running away from them. She gasped loudly, but the only thing she could think, was, why weren’t the scarabs attacking him?

With that being done, she had little time to react to Constantine bolting down the pathway, leaving her and Ishi to scramble to catch up. Doing so was much easier for her then Ishi, who seemed to be more then struggling with her home made outfit.

She had considered picking the child up, but running with the torches seemed more of a danger then the two keeping together at a quickened pace. In the distance, the far distance, she could still see Constantine. “Don’t lose us!” She yelled ahead of them. Her eyes however stayed alert, that face still etched vividly in her mind. What else was lurking down here?

As Constantine ran, he would reach down to his hip, drawing the baseball bat. He wasn't necessarily going to use it, but it would make negotiations with the other man a bit more slanted in his favor. After all, he just wanted to get out of the tunnels. The fact that he seemed to be actively interfering with that was a problem, but...

Constantine wouldn't lose Ishi or Skylar. He wouldn't even get a chance to move down a different corridor. As he neared a corner, preparing to turn it, a large blunt object of some sort could be seen to fly from around it, impacting Constantine's face with a resounding crack. The man's whole body would relax, his knees slowly falling forward before he fell face forward onto the ground, his torch going out as it dipped into the ground. The scarabs would quickly begin to move over his unconscious body...

Ishi and Skylar would have plenty for themselves, though. The small creatures, seemingly brought to a huge level of excitement by the new encounter, were more pressing than ever, running at their legs even under torchlight, and climbing walls and ceilings so as to be above them, falling about them as they ran beneath. Escape seemed to be completely impossible...

Ishi did her best to try and keep up, but that was difficult. While avoiding the much disliked idea of falling over and letting the braver scarabs have a small buffet, it was nearly impossible to run. Just walk quickly; that was all she could do. Sadly, that wasn't enough. Constantine was hit, his torch went out, and he wasn't moving. Ishi was immediately set into a state of alert, and before she could suddenly feel nothing but fear, adrenaline demanded that she run for it to get light to Constantine before the worst happened.

"C-Con-stan-ti~ne!!" Ishi cried out as she sped up, ignoring the possibility of tripping and falling on her face--which almost happened, but determination kept her from doing so.

She caught up in no time at all, and while still holding a lit torch, bent down to be close to Constantine. The scarabs were coming too close--way too close, and then there was that person that the scarabs didn't attack. Her other torches were dropped as the girl set herself into a serious state of alert. With her right hand--her left now holding her torch--she drew her blade. It would be such a strange sight, though; Ishi looked her age. In fact, she looked younger. Unlike most girls her age, she hadn't physically matured by much. It always looked strange--almost laughable, in fact--when Ishi seemed poised and ready to hurt someone, but the truth of the matter was that she was, in fact, ready and willing to slash someone's stomach open without much more than a second thought . . .

The torch seemed to drop in slow motion. It wasn’t seeing Constantine fall that caused the knot to form in her stomach, or even the lack of light. No, it was the sickening thud of something, smashing into his face.

Before there was time for her to react, it seemed Ishi had already. The childs voice rang out , and her feet carried her quickly to the side of the fallen man. Skylar, being a bit more cautious, moved toward the two. Glancing back and forth, knowing that somewhere that man still lurked, and it seemed now, that he was not a friend.

It took only seconds for Skylar to reach them. Kneeling beside the two of them, she patted Ishi on the shoulder, and turned Constantine on his side. Scarabs scurried everywhere, surely he had already been bitten. The light Ishi had, along with Skylars was enough to keep them safe, for now.

Satisfied that Ishi and Constantine were both safe, or at least as safe as they could be, Skylar ventured over to where Constantine had been stuck. It would seem the other man was long gone, and nothing else seemed to peak her interest. She turned and leaned against the wall, staring at her two friends, trying to decide what she should do next, it was already apparent that time was of the essence down here.

A scream was caught in her throat as she felt, that someone was near...”Ishi...” Was all she got out of her mouth, and even it was in a very hushed tone. In a flash, a hand reached around the corner, smacking her with a balled fist in the forehead, in turn bashing the back of her head off the stone wall. Her knees felt weak, and the light from Ishis torch got smaller and smaller, until she, too lay helpless, unconscious on the floor.

"S-Skyrar~!" Ishi cried out as soon as she saw Skylar downed.

At first, Ishi started to run to Skylar, but then she stopped. She was standing between Constantine and Skylar, realizing at that moment that she only had one torch. The others were on the ground. If she could go get them, light them, and set one by Skylar and one by Constantine, everything would be all right. The torches wouldn't die too quickly, and the scarabs would be kept away. Quick thinking--she had to use something like that, something to provide some hope to an otherwise hopeless situation, something to keep her stable . . .

Until she felt a stabbing bite on her wrist. Ishi let out a high pitched cry of pain as she shook her hand quickly, accidentally throwing the torch to the ground. While still burning, but slowly going out, it rolled until finally stopping by Constantine's side, halted only by rolling handle-side first into his shoulder.

A scarab had bitten her, and she had thrown it to the ground as well. Now, though, she was in more danger than before--she was bleeding. A lot. Stifling a cry, she held her hand close to her stomach, blood slowly soaking her shirt. Where were they coming from--?

Her pant leg! They were crawling up her pant leg! Two scarabs were crawling up the cloth, while others were dropping from the ceiling. Frantically, Ishi began to kick her leg, throwing the two off, and stomped at them. They had such hard bodies--it was like breaking glass bottles with her feet, while wearing socks. But she got them. She got both of them. Blood began to trail and stain the dirt--just like it must have so many times in the past, from different victims, during a different time, with vastly different circumstances--as Ishi backed away from the amassing insects.

The back of her foot hit Constantine, and she nearly rolled over him and to the ground--but Ishi held her ground. Nervous, scared to death, frantic, hurt--the girl, with only one hand on the hilt, swung her short sword with wild abandon, letting out soft whimpers as she did, stepping forward as if she were trying to make grounds against an enemy, hitting nothing, failing to even intimidate the famished insects.

The girl let out another cry--another bite. This time on the back of her leg, on her shin. It was sick; she could even feel a bit of meat torn away. Fallen to one knee, the girl, in a fit of anger, stabbed her short sword down, stabbing it hard into the shell of a scarab scurrying her way, pinning it to the ground--killing it.

More came, one crawling up the blade, attacking her hand, biting her other wrist. As she felt more gnawing at the back of her already injured leg, tearing through the cloth, getting skin. That was the point where she had taken too much. Tears streamed down the little girl's cheeks. She had put up a fight. It had come to a point where that was all that mattered. That's what her sisters would have done. They'd have fought until their last, not stopping until they couldn't move their arms anymore, and would have probably even used their teeth after that. Kill as many as possible--make the dying moments important--

But Ishi couldn't do that. She had put up a fight, but that was all the fight she had left in her. As soon as she felt her skin torn on the side of her chest, she let out another pained shout, followed by sobbing. They were going to eat her alive--she was going to die here. On both knees, she leaned forward, forehead upon the ground, knees slowly brought up to her chest. She could feel more bites--on her back, shoulders, arms, all as more and more weight piled onto her, scarabs all crawling up, furiously desiring their meal.

Ishi had curled up into the fetal position, crying muffled sobs. This was how it was going to end, then . . . here in a place that was so much like her mind . . . it felt like she had died inside, and now that was killing her on the outside. Eating her alive. At first, she thought nothing more than of her drive to live: I DON'T WANT TO DIE HERE!!!! But even in her mind, even when she screamed as loud as she possibly could, it felt muffled. Muffled by doubt--muffled by reason.

There was no true hope down here. They were all going to die, and no amount of hoping was going to save them. The only saving grace would be if they died quickly. Skylar and Constantine were lucky--they weren't conscious for this. They didn't have to feel these creatures pile onto them and pick at their flesh.

Just kill me.

And then, everything went black. It was not the torch going out; it was still barely lit, sitting there on the ground beside of Constantine. Perhaps the girl had slowly fainted--or perhaps the scarabs had overtaken her, covered her, and completely eclipsed her from the flickering source of light . . .

As Ishi joined Skylar and Constantine in unconsciousness, it seemed at least, there would be no witnesses to whatever fate awaited them. However, it was likely small solace...

Continued Here: [url][http://74.53.3.210/~sordidys/sordidystopia/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=117&sid=4ce3367868c2494c845c62c506b1ff40[/url]]