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«To our left, into a dark tunnel,» Planck says.
«Sounds good,» Angel sounds worried, «but what if you’re wrong and this road leads to the rocks? Are we going to get lost and just waste our time? What if the road down takes us faster to the sea?»
«Indeed, how can you be so sure that you are right, Planck?» I ask warily.
«Intuition plus common sense. And they rarely let me down,» the elderly man replies calmly.
«And we must rely on your intuition when it comes to our lives?!» there is such genuine fear in Yu’s tone that I begin to suspect that something is wrong with the girl.
«I agree with Planck. Look in the lower exits, the floors are wet. Although the grottoes are also open, and the sun’s rays enter them. But unlike „our“ grotto, they don’t have time to dry after ebbs. There will be even more water below, so we definitely need to go up,» Martha suddenly intervenes in the conversation. For me personally, her argument sounds more than convincing.
«I propose to vote, after all, almost all of us represent democratic countries,» Alex offers, «who is in favor of going up?»
Everyone raises his or her hands. Joleo, after a little hesitation, also votes in favor. I sit down with Leeloo and whisper to her ear, not sure if she can hear my words in her delirium:
«How are you? Can you walk on your own?»
Surprisingly, she immediately turns to me and answers smiling:
«Don’t worry about me, Lavina. I’m a great swimmer.»
Alex and Runner each take a flashlight and we head into a dark passageway leading into the unknown.
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.
There are two exits waiting for us in the next room. Runner heads into the light tunnel. Joleo volunteered as his travel companion, whose unexpected courage cannot but arouse admiration. Having appeared at first as an insecure «absent-minded scientist», now he looks almost like a hero. At least, I am imbued with more and more respect for his ability to make responsible decisions in extreme situations, and, most importantly, not to panic. After all, many of us are on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
I volunteer to accompany Alex in the dark corridor. Partly because I just can’t sit in total darkness, surrounded by panic and fears, but more because I want to stop being inactive and, thus, come to my senses.
After a little time, we run out into a cave with two corridors: light and dark. At this point, we need to split up. Alex takes over the dark tunnel, and I must examine the light one. Before that, Alex puts his hands on my shoulders and intently looks into my eyes:
«I just wanted to tell you…»
Despite the serious situation, I experience a slight tingling sensation in my chest and some strange feeling in my stomach, comparable to a spasm during free flight…
«… the last time I played with you (it feels like it was in a past life), you disappointed me a lot. Don’t let me down this time, we have a whole bunch of blind kittens there. We won’t let them drown in this damn bucket!»
With these words, he turns me around and gives me a slight push towards the tunnel. That’s what Alex is! I am seething with indignation, but at the same time, this rage gives me strength, pushes me forward. What did I actually expect to hear?! Dying slobbering declaration of love or «leave me and live if you have to»? I’m angry with him, but even more angry with myself when I reach the next fork. The hated echo is heard:
«Until the flooding of the cave system remains: four hours and thirty minutes.»
Both passages are light, luckily for me. However, I am desperate. We’re wasting time again! What if I get lost in these caves? Will someone come looking for me? Alex will run to save his blind kittens. Again I feel a fit of anger and without further thought I head to the first grotto. Dead end. Relief. Disappointment. Second grotto. Long, tapering at the end. I have to get on all fours and crawl, so I remind myself of Alice in Wonderland. Now I will look out of the rabbit hole and see the magical alluring freedom… But instead of it – another dark hall. What to do next? I don’t have a flashlight. Reason insists on going back to Alex and exploring the grotto together.
«Losing time, losing time» … this thought knocks in my head. Ignoring the voice of reason, I enter the grotto, find a wall by touch and move along it, carefully examining the surface with my hands. Nothing, just a smooth, damp wall. I walk in a circle, constantly keeping in sight the bright passage from where I just came, in fear that if I look away for a minute, it will disappear. And then I will forever remain in pitch darkness! Once again I approach the light without finding a single tunnel. It was a dead-end grotto.
Alex is already waiting for me at the same place.
«Where do you roam? Your walk is clearly too long! My tunnel ends with a large light grotto with three dark tunnels. Please tell me that you have found a way out!»
a metallic voice replies instead of me. «Until the flooding of the cave system remains: four hours zero-zero minutes.»
I can hardly breathe when we return to the rest of the players. Thirsty tongue sticks to the palate. The wetsuit wicks moisture away from the body, but sweat flows from the forehead in three streams and is poured into the eyes and behind the collar.
Runner and Joleo are already in place. Runner makes a caustic comment to us, but I ignore it. We describe our discovery – an impressive size open grotto with three dark tunnels and only two lanterns to explore. This means that we will not be able to check all three cave passages at the same time.
Joleo reports that at the end of the path he explored, the corridor narrows, leaving a narrow dark hole. Where it leads is hard to say. Firstly, you can get into it only by moving on all fours, and secondly, you need to crawl, apparently, for a long time. Therefore, Runner and Joleo returned to make a joint decision.
«The hole may be a way out, but in case it’s just a dead end – we are lost», Planck is thinking aloud.
«No no no!» Yu suddenly shouts, «This cannot be a way out! I will never go there for anything in the world! Three tunnels are three chances. Do you hear? We have more opportunities to get out of these damn caves if we follow Alex’s path», the girl squats and starts sobbing uncontrollably. BeBe hugs her shoulders:
«Yu is right», she supports her friend, «according to the theory of probability, we have more chances with three outputs than with one».
Alex is doing a small vote. Everyone raises their hands in favor. The prospect of being in a dark narrow corridor in a cave gradually filled with water can drive even the most persistent crazy.
«Wait!» everyone turns to Martha, «it seems to me that we are missing something extremely important».
«What exactly?» Runner snaps, «Now is not the time for philosophical reflection. Are there specific proposals – go ahead!»
«Let her tell,» Blonda interrupts impatiently.
«I don’t know for sure»…
«And you’d better know», Runner gets up and walks in the direction from where Alex and I just came running.
«It’s just illogical. We advance at random, which is not the case in a good quest».
«We aren’t in a „good“ quest. This is an incomprehensible game of some sick perverts who lured us into a wormhole», Alex objects.
«And yet, my intuition suggests that we don’t notice something, something obvious»…
I stare at Martha in amazement. Now that she has voiced this thought out loud, I understand that all this time I have been thinking about the same thing. She’s right, something is wrong here. Until that moment, despite the danger and cruelty of the assignments, there was an iron logic behind everything. Now it is slipping away from us somewhere further and further…
«We have no time for speculation. Stop banging around irrelevant», Runner demands. And to confirm his words the voice is heard again:
«Until the flooding of the cave system remains: three hours and thirty minutes.»
«I just… No, nothing. Let’s start,» Martha brushes aside, and without further discussion, we head towards the three dark tunnels Alex found.
All players literally tumble down from fatigue when they finally reach their goal – a spacious, light grotto. The height of the walls is significantly lower than the first hall, where we woke up a little over three hours ago. However, there is still not the slightest chance to climb up due to the smooth surface, treated for years by the salty ocean waters.
Apart from the dark tunnel we just came from, the cave has three more exits, which Alex spoke about. («Or entrances,» I note to myself sadly).
We are catching our breath for ten minutes, then dive in twos – me with Alex and Runner with Joleo – into two of the available passages. I shudder when the familiar metallic voice announces the inevitable:
«Until the flooding of the cave system remains: three hours zero-zero minutes.»
It takes about ten minutes before we reach the next bright room.
«Oh no,» I whisper and cover my mouth with the hand in horror. Alex just shakes his head silently. A new fork opens in front of us: three more dark corridors.
We return to the others almost at the same time as Runner and Joleo do. I don’t even need to hear their story to understand from their expressions: there is also a fork in the other tunnel. There remains one uncharted dark corridor. If at the end of it there is no way out, this means the end, inevitable death: we simply will not have time to explore all the newly discovered grottoes. And we can only hope that the whole task was a complete farce. The countdown will end, the lights will turn on, and Maestro will announce some next test for our emotional endurance, as then, during the «plane crash». Another announcement interrupts my thoughts:
« Until the flooding of the cave system remains: two hours and thirty minutes.»
The lights will turn on and Maestro… Wait a minute! A hunch dawns on me and makes me shudder with annoyance. How could we be so blind?!
«Martha was right!»
Everyone turns their heads to me, interrupting the heated discussions. I continue, trembling with excitement:
«All this time, the clue was under our nose, and we ignored it, instead of sitting down and thinking. And we made an unfortunate mistake!»
«What’s clue?!»
«It’s in your hand, Alex! Yours and Runner’s! These are two lanterns. Do you hear? Two, not three or four!
«So what? I don’t see any connection,» Blonda asks nervously, but not without hope in her voice.
«It’s obvious! Remember, Maestro gave a hint:
«Let the light guide you
To your cherished goal,
Leave doubts in the shadows
Bury them into oblivion.»
We can simultaneously explore two dark grottoes and as many light ones as we like, in this case we are moving towards the light…
«But as soon as the third dark tunnel appears at the same time – this is the wrong path, which must be buried in oblivion. We only have two flashlights! You are a genius, Lavina!» Alex jumps to his feet despite his tiredness.
Everyone livens up noticeably, unexpectedly receiving a clue, at least something resembling a hope to get out of our common grave.
«So far we’ve been going relatively well and, judging by the narrowing of the walls and the lowering of the ceiling height, in the right direction. We’ve never met three dark passages at the same time. Until then,» Planck says excitedly.
«We shouldn’t have come here. The right path is the very narrow hole that we so carefully tried to avoid,» Joleo sums up.
«No! No! No! This isn’t true! What if this grotto is the final destination?!» Yu looks around pleading. «Why can’t we wait for the tide and just float up like the corks? Planck, how will the water behave when it arrives at the grotto?»
For a while, Planck ponders her proposal:
«I’m afraid it’s impossible to predict. I don’t have enough information about our location for that. It all depends on the geographic latitude. The water can come slowly enough that we just get tired of staying on its surface and drown before we can reach the top of the cave. But if the tide passes quickly, then, on the contrary, under the pressure of water we can be knocked down, taken into a whirlpool, hit against the rocks… But the main danger is that this grotto can not completely flood, but only to a certain level. Then the chances of getting out are zero. It remains to wait for low tide and stay on the water until that time… And we still don’t take into account the relief on the surface…»
«If this is really a way out,» Martha interrupts him calmly, «then the organizers plan to kill at least one person today,» after a pause, she adds, «I can’t swim at all».
Martha is right. The organizers of the game must know about this. The question about the ability to swim was clearly present in the questionnaire.
«Be that as it may, we must return. I don’t want to become fish food. Whoever wishes can stay here and hope for a miracle. And I went to hope for a miracle where I can still do something».
With that, Runner turns and walks without hesitation into the tunnel we just came from. Planck, Martha and Alex follow him.
BeBe stands near the wall, hiding her face in her palms. Joleo approaches the woman and whispers something softly in her ear. I can’t make out the words, but gradually BeBe lifts her face and despair is replaced by some new expression, similar to hope. Finally, she breaks into a faint smile. Joleo carefully takes the woman by the hand and gently leads her behind him, like a frightened child. This is how they join the rest. This gesture touches me deeply. Joleo, so absent-minded and plain at first glance, became a real savior for BeBe in her moments of deep despair. He found the strength for two. I am imbued with indescribable respect for this player. Some people in stressful situations tend to panic, while others, like Joleo, are able to reveal themselves from a new side – full of nobility and human dignity.
My attention turns to Angel and Blonda. The guy sits detached on the floor of the cave, Blonda kneels in front of him and holds his hand.
«Angel, baby, you have to move. (Baby?!) Please come with us», she begs him, “’cause staying here means death. Please don’t leave me alone!»
She either shakes him by the shoulders: «get up, I said, do you hear?», then tearfully asks: «please, follow me.» Angel seems to be in a daze and only occasionally shakes his head.
I really don’t understand anything about human relationships. Blonda, self-confident, sharp tongue beauty, in love with, albeit outwardly attractive, but weak man? It looks like Runner is tormented by the same thoughts. He returns from the tunnel and sharply addresses Blonda:
«Leave the baby here, it’s his choice».
«I’m not going anywhere without him,» she snaps.
«If you don’t go by yourself, I’ll carry you by force,» Runner seethes with indignation and jealousy overwhelming him.
«I’m not going anywhere without him, you understand, you son of a bitch?» she repeats with undisguised contempt.
Runner takes a deep breath and, grabbing Angel by the hand, drags him along, thereby pulling the guy out of a deep trance. It seems that Angel is moving forward by inertia…
Me, Leeloo and Yu close this strange procession of people who are fighting not only for their own lives, but also for the lives of those who have become close to them.
«Until the flooding of the cave system remains: two hours zero-zero minutes.»
That’s who all human feelings are definitely alien to.
Despite all efforts, our team is progressing unacceptably slowly. Fatigue, thirst and despair do their job. When we finally stand in front of a cramped manhole, which looks like copied from a real horror movie, a voice announces:
«Until the flooding of the cave system remains: one hour and thirty minutes.»
This grotto is not much different from the previous ones – convex rocky walls, sounds of drops and inhospitable piercing cold. And yet there is a difference: it ends with the release to freedom. Or a way to nowhere.
It seems to me, that the sound of water is heard in the distance. Fear runs cold in my veins.
«I’ll go ahead,» Runner commands. He is sweating a lot and can hardly keep on his feet. His hands are trembling. «As soon as I get to whatever it is, I’ll immediately give a signal. You are all waiting here, got it?»
«No time for that,» Joleo objects sharply. «We follow you right after».
«What if the hole gets too narrow? I won’t be able to go back and we’ll all be stuck in this damn tomb!»
«Nooo!» Yu falls into uncontrollable sobs again. I try to put my arms around her shoulders, but she struggles.
«In this case», Alex intervenes, «we are still drowned. So what’s the difference where?»
Runner just waves it off and climbs into the tunnel without further protest. Alex, BeBe, Joleo, Planck and Martha follow him at two minutes intervals.
Surprisingly, Angel, without any persuasion, climbs after Blonda. The emotional shake-up obviously did him good.
Only me, Leeloo and Yu remain in the grotto. Yu is sitting on the floor, huddled into a ball and muttering, without ceasing, under her breath «no… no… no.»
«Yu», I try to sound soft, but convincing, «you can’t give up now, one step away from being released. After having come all this nightmarish journey!»
«You don’t understand,» she raises her face, wet with tears, «This isn’t just fear, but a disease that I cannot overcome. Breathing is out of rhythm, and the brain refuses to work. Terror paralyzes the entire body. I am like a fly in a sticky web – any movement only tightens the threads of fear, blocking the access of oxygen and common sense».
«It’s poetic, Yu, but let me tell you that staying here means certain death».
«Until the flooding of the cave system remains: one hour, zero-zero minutes.»
Now not any doubt remains: we hear the sound of water, which gradually fills the grottoes, and is getting closer and closer to us.
«Don’t leave me,» Yu grabs my hand in panic, «You promised. You remember?»
«I won’t. But don’t leave me either», I frantically try to imagine what Alex would say in this situation, «don’t let me down! I don’t want to drown here… because of you, Yu!»
For some reason, from my lips it sounds like an awkward accusation, and not at all as a stimulus to active action. The art of persuasion, apparently, is not my strong point.
Leeloo softly touches my hand and whispers:
«Tell her that she is not alone, that you are also afraid. Tell her the truth».
The girl nods to me encouragingly and finally disappears into the tunnel.
«Yu, listen,» I say carefully, «I’ve never been so scared in my life. If it weren’t for all of you, I wouldn’t budge, I swear! Instead, I would sit and obediently await my fate. Only thanks to your strength of mind, I find the courage to move on. I just want you to know that».