Alone In The Dark?

"Tarmen?" Voah called softly. It was as if she had lost a gap of time and just remembered where she was and that she was not alone… or was she? She crawled on hand and knee toward where he had been standing just a few heartbeats ago... or was it days ago.

She squeezed back a sharp throb of pain from behind her eyes. "I.. don't like this." She found his hand and squeezed it hard. It was cold. Lifeless. Wait... that was not Tarmen. It was the torch bearer. When it moved, she flung it back it in horror. Her skin crawling with goosebumps. Then she knew it was just her mind playing tricks again. Voah sat up with her back against the wall scratching the itch that began to form on her palm.

Her head rolled and then lolled as she swallowed the dizziness that wanted to come out. Then she gave a long heavy sigh.

The whispers came again, calling her name.

“Maja?” she called to the whispers. She wanted to crawl to her mother’s voice but realized that she wasn’t really there. Just her senses trying to fill the void. Voah struggled to hold up her head then wiped her face with a hand. It was slick and left behind the taste of blood on her lips.

It turned out at some point she had cut herself with Tarmen’s claw as she held it with a death grip during the fight. It left behind a nasty gash that she couldn’t see it barely even feel past the intense swells in bear brain. She felt around for it in the dark. There. Next to the corpse of the fallen mould man.

She took it into her hand and crawled around looking for her companion, whom she found. Sitting silently against the wall nearby. He seemed to be asleep so she sat next to him and put the claw into his hand.

“Thank you, my friend.” she whispered.

As she lay there in the dark, another voice responded.
‘…I no forget promise...’ The voice of Gonyual echoed through her mind. She hadn’t forgotten either, but she was too busy to think about it and she felt awful about the way she had reacted in paranoia while he was around. She hoped that Alexis and Gonyual made it out safely.

———

She awoke to the sound of rock striking rock and sparks flying. She caught ever so brief glimpses of Tarmen trying to relight the torch. Feeling around her, she realized they were not in the same spot she remembered, but in some passage. He must have dragged her and the supplies somewhere further in.