Spliced

“Close one” Cat remarked.

Kass sat up and took a moment to get her breath back. Once she could breathe again she looked around the room. It was maybe 10 metres wide by 20 metres across. There was an open doorway across the room and torches on the walls. Everything was made of stone, and ornate carvings lined the walls.

“Here kitty kitty?” Kass asked between a few welcome deep breaths.

Cat shrugged. “What? It worked.”

“They didn’t put out the fire,” Kass noted.

“No,” Cat agreed “Seems they only affect electricity. Well at least we know Amanda and whomever she’s with are probably fine.”

Cat stared at the door. “How far back do you think they got?”

Kass shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“We need to get to them. Indi’s shield will be useless if they make her pass out. Tanya’s healing won’t be enough if the whole horde goes for her.” Cat ran a hand through her hair, thinking.

“Maybe Indi will be able to tune them out,” Kass replied.

“Maybe, let’s hope she leans fast. That was a risky move you pulled back there, but a good one.”

Kass nodded in acknowledgement. Compliments from Cat were rare.

Cat watched her awhile then added, “That said, we wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t been flirting with my brother.”

Kass groaned and got to her feet. “Cat, I . . .”

Before she could finish Cat was up in her face. Kass instinctively took a step backwards. Cat followed and Kass quickly found herself backing into the wall. Cat put an arm out, palm against the wall so Kass couldn’t move sideways.

“I’m sorry,” Kass whispered.

“When we get out of here if you go near him, I will beat the crap out of you, got it.”

Kass nodded.

Cat seemed satisfied. She took a step back and looked around the room. “Where do we go from here?”

Sirius found himself in a corridor with a strange glow about it. Fluorescent green moss lined the walls. He looked up at the broken ceiling. It was too high to bash back up through. He’d have to find Falco another way. Between some of the green moss were streaks of blue. Closer inspection revealed them to be caterpillars. Strange, but at least they gave off some light in the otherwise unlit corridor. He looked left then right and took a moment to listen. It was unusually quiet. He couldn’t even hear any sounds from above. There was something else though. He could just make out a faint drip. Water? Maybe he could follow it out? He started walking towards the sound.

“Do you think they’re following us?” Indi asked Tanya as they stopped at an intersection for a moment to catch their breath.

“I don’t know. Better we don’t stop for too long. Which way do we go?”

“We came from that way,” Indi pointed, “but I don’t know if we should completely backtrack or try a different way?”

“You remember the way we came?”

“Yeah, I can remember it perfectly, photographic memory.”

“Then maybe we should go back to the start.”

“Past that cavern at the start of the acid maze?”

“Maybe it’s repaired itself.”

“Then what? We'd still be two floors down.”

“I don’t know but we need to make a decision.”

“Do you think the others got away?”

“I don’t know.” Tanya took a hesitant step towards the corridor that led back to the acid maze. “What Angelic said before, I’ve heard other stories of vampires who can tune out the effect of the mimics so I think it is possible to do. I couldn’t tell you how to do it exactly but I could try...”

“What you did before, when you grabbed my arm?” Indi asked “For a bit I couldn’t feel anything.”

“Yeah, to some extent I can mess with brain chemistry, but it’s risky, I don’t really know what I’m doing and it doesn’t last very long.”

“My brother can change how someone feels. Not so much physically, more emotionally, but he can reduce pain somewhat too or at least one’s perception of it.”

“Well the physical and emotional are somewhat interlinked. Is he an empath?”

Indi nodded then moved towards the other corridor. “I don’t think we should go that way. I think we should try something new.”

Tanya sighed but started towards Indi’s corridor anyway. “This seems like a terrible idea.”

“Maybe” Indi agreed as she started walking. “But on the bright side we might get to see cool new places before we get killed.”

The corridor wound around until it seemed like they were going in circles. It must have had a slant to it but the floor was so uneven that it was hard to tell if they were going up or down. Large cracks lined the walls, almost big enough to crawl through.

Indi ran her hands along the wall. It felt wet and mossy. Silence filled the corridor if it could even be called that anymore. The place felt more like a cave. Even the sound reminded Indi of somewhere more natural rather than man made. Somewhere in the distance a dripping sound echoed and she wasn’t sure but it almost felt as if there was a slight breeze. She ended up so focused on the sounds and sense of the place that it would have been impossible for her to miss the new sound that suddenly seemed to fill the space in her head. A screech and sharp pain. Footsteps, hundreds of them. How close?

“Ow,” She grabbed at her head.

“Are you alright?” Tanya asked “Are they coming?”

Indi nodded and caught sight of a possible escape. “Quick, in here!” she ordered as she struggled to fit into one of the large cracks which lined the walls.

Tanya followed quickly behind. It was a squeeze but they managed to get far enough in that they wouldn’t be obvious from the outside. Neither woman made a sound as the creatures approached.

Indi’s head burned hotter and hotter but she remained silent and tried to focus on the cool rocks beneath her hands. She must not scream. Eventually it was too much and she felt herself slip away into welcoming unconsciousness.

Cat led the way, walking like some kind of angry warrior. Kass followed with quick small steps, eyes cast downwards half watching Cat’s feet, half lost in thought. A little too lost in thought. When Cat stopped suddenly at yet another junction Kass almost walked into her. Cat shot her a dark glance but Kass missed it by refusing to meet Cat’s eyes.

“Listen!” Cat said.

“Is that a river? We should see if we can find it.”

Cat frowned. Her mind filled with images of a dark underground torrent of destruction snaking its’ way through gaps too tight to fit a person. But she knew Kass was right and Cat already felt thirsty. Still she hesitated. A river in this place would most likely be found deeper in, not the direction they wanted to go.

“Maybe it’ll lead us out,” Kass said hopeful.

Cat frowned again. “How?”

“All rivers lead to the sea.”

“Except there’s no sea around here. It’s desert for miles.”

“It’s better than nothing,” Kass said softly. “There might be an opening.”

“Better than nothing is finding Amanda. We don’t have a shit show without her.” Cat curled her hands into fists.

“People go caving out here remember. If we find an exit we can get help.” Kass fiddled with the cuffs of her shirt and wished she had a cigarette.

Cat stood her ground still hesitant to walk towards the sound of water.

“It’s just as likely to not lead out at all. Maybe if we had Indi she could tell us if there were any cave exits around here or Sirius, he knows his rivers, or Wolf, or... well probably not Zephyr..., Amanda’s the one who caves anyway so she’s still our best bet.”

“Is it Zeph’s baby?” Kass interrupted.

“No.” Cat turned away to consider their options again.

“How do you know?”

“I just know. Timing. You know.”

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Cat asked more resigned and in a softer tone than earlier.

Kass leaned against the wall and looked back down the way they had come but didn’t reply.

Cat glanced at her but once again Kass didn’t meet her eyes. They needed to keep moving.

“Are you afraid?” Kass asked after a bit of silence.

Cat turned to look back at her again not sure if Kass was talking about the baby.

“Of the water?” This time Kass met her eyes. It was a simple and honest question but there was something else to it, something deeper, a challenge.

“No.” Cat turned back to face the corridor squared her jaw, took a step forward, and started walking again, towards the sound of water.

Kass kicked off the wall and followed quietly behind.

Falco wasn’t sure how long he’d been sitting against the wall. He’d tried yelling for Sirius to no avail and he didn’t want to keep at it for too long in case something other than Sirius heard him. What to do? He thought about a list of possible solutions. Given the size of the place and the way things randomly shifted about there didn’t seem any more sense in staying put over moving about. If anything the best solution was most likely to be to focus on getting himself out of the place and finding help. He didn’t like the idea of leaving Indi behind though. It probably didn’t matter either way. He had as much chance of finding Indi as he did at getting out. Maybe if he kept moving he’d find something useful. At the very least he’d feel like he was doing something. He sighed and picked himself up. Just as he did a different wall up ahead opened up. He stood very still and listened carefully. Oh what the hell, he might as well check it out. It was better than waiting here. Eventually, he found the tunnel narrowing and becoming more like a natural cave. He kept pushing on regardless. Was that whispers he heard up ahead?

Indi slowly came around and was surprised to find herself still in one piece. She reached out sideways and felt the cool dampness of the rock wall.

“Indi?” Tanya whispered.

“Yeah.”

“You alright?”

“What happened? Did they go?”

“They went right by us. They didn’t even look in here.”

“What do we do now?”

“I don’t know.”

Just then they heard movement from further in the crack. Both of them stopped whispering and became completely silent until they heard a familiar voice speak.

“Indi, is that you?”

“Falco?”

“Yeah.”

“Wait, it could be a trap,” Tanya warned.

“If it’s a trap we’re already in it.” Indi explained tiredly.

“It’s me I swear” Falco replied.

“But how do you know it’s us?” Tanya asked.

“I could hear you, you’re not as quiet as you think.”

“How’d you know we weren’t Mimics.” Indi asked.

“Mimics?”

“It’s what the creatures are.” Tanya told him.

“They make sounds like people so they can lure you in. You know, Mimics” Indi added.

“Oh, well I didn’t know that.”

“Well at least you know now.” Tanya replied.

“Where are you?” Indi asked.

“I’m trying to get though but it’s a bit tight” Falco explained.

Indi moved further in, reaching around in the darkness. Eventually she grabbed a hand. It was warm and larger than hers, and very familiar. “Found you,” she whispered happily.

“Are you okay? Where are the others?” he asked.

“We got separated,” Tanya replied.

“Us too.” Falco tried to wriggle further in. “It gets quite tight here, I’m not sure I can fit though.”

“There’s nothing this way anyway, it’s probably better for us to come over to your side.” Indi replied still holding his hand across the tight portion of the tunnel.

“There’s not much this way either.”

“Maybe we can go back to where we last saw Cat and Kass,” Tanya suggested.

“What about the creatures?” Indi asked.

“Well they passed by us before and they don’t seem to stay in one place so maybe where they’ve just been isn’t the worst place to go?”

“Sure, maybe.”

“Assuming I can get through here” Falco added.

“I can help.” Indi reached for his hand. “I’ll pull.”

They struggled for a bit, Indi pulling, Falco pushing.

“Hold up,” Falco said. “I think I just need to find the right angle.”

Indi stopped pulling but she didn’t let go. She was afraid if she did he’d disappear or the wall would slam between them. Unfortunately her hand was now getting in his way.

“Indi . . .”

“I can’t . . .” she started.

He sighed. “I know.” He squeezed her hand tighter and tried to get though with one hand free. With a bit more pushing eventually he managed it. “Pheww,” he breathed a sigh of relief. “Now where?”

“This way” Tanya inched slowly out from the crack, making sure to peer carefully down the corridor with the torch before emerging.

“You guys have a toch,” Falco commented.

“Yeah,” Indi replied.

“We won it in a fight,” Tanya said in a tone that made it impossible for Falco to tell if she was joking. “Shall we?” she added.

Indi nodded as she and then Falco stepped into the corridor.

They set off back past the glow in the dark fungi, back towards where they had last seen Kass and Cat.

“Whoa, trippy,” Falco remarked as they passed through the glowing room “What is this stuff?”

“I know it’s cool right!” Indi paused, unable to help herself from stopping to take another look at the weird fungi.

“Yeah, weird,” Falco agreed, leaning in next to her to have a look.

“Guys!” Tanya prompted.

“Right” Falco agreed, straightening up and starting moving again. Seeing Indi was still fixated by the fungi he gently grabbed her. “Come on Indi, let’s keep moving.”

She nodded and they followed Tanya around the corner.

“This stuff is everywhere,” Falco commented.

“Yeah, but something’s different,” Tanya paused.

“The torches aren’t there” Indi answered, but as they got closer she saw the real problem. “The wall’s still sealed off.

“That’s the way they went? Cat and Kass?” Falco asked.

Indi nodded.

“What do we do now?” Tanya asked.

Indi looked back the way they had come. “We try the other corridor.”

“The one the creatures came from?” Tanya’s voice went up an octave.

Indi nodded then paused. “How do. . . how do you think the other vampires tune the mimics out?”

“Tune mimics out?” Falco asked.

Indi nodded “They emit a high pitched sound. It affects vampires. It gives me headaches.”

“They’re the cause of your headaches?”

Indi nodded then turned to Tanya “I know you said you didn’t know, but if you had a theory about how it worked.”

Tanya shook her head sadly. “If I had a theory . . . well, I don’t know, I guess, if I had to guess, it would be a bit like tuning out a mindwalker.”

“People can tune out mindwalkers?” Falco asked.

“Sure, not often, it depends on the mindwalker and on the person. I mean I’ve met mindwalkers who can only read what you’re currently thinking about, and,” Tanya blushed, “ones who can read a lot more, but I’ve never been able to reduce what they could normally see, not that I’m aware of it anyway. I did meet a guy once who could though. A mindwalker at the time confirmed it. He said it was like having doors in your mind and just deciding to close or open them.”

“Sly always said some people could fight back against emotional manipulation but I don’t know how they did it.” Indi replied then added for Tanya’s benefit, “my brother I mean.”

“The empath?” Tanya confirmed.

“Yeah.”

“Well hopefully you don’t get the chance to practice with the mimics,” Falco said. “Shall we keep moving?”

The women nodded and all three of them entered the unknown corridor.

“That’s a long way down,” Cat remarked.

They had found the source of the water. A side door in the corridor they had been following entered into a silo. They now stood on a platform nearer the top of the room. Quite a way below them they could see water. Across the other side of the room, a little above the level of the water was another platform with a door leading out. To their left, and out of a hole in the side of the wall flowed a small stream of water.

“It’s about ten or fifteen metres,” Kass replied. “Not too high to jump.”

Cat gave a short laugh. “Because going deeper into this hellhole sounds like such a great idea.”

“It must go somewhere,” Kass replied. “Someone built this.”

“Yeah and they’re probably dead. Long ago. Let’s keep going.”

“There are torches down there.”

“So? There were torches this way too. We go down there, there’s no guarantee we’ll be able to get back up. And you have no idea how deep that is.”

Kass was quiet for a moment. After a few seconds she replied, “Yeah I guess.”

Cat nodded. She was glad not to have to leap down in to the void of murky wetness. However as she turned to head out the only door she found it blocked by one of the Mimics. “Uh oh.”

Kass’s eyes widened. The creature tilted its head in an oddly jerky motion, like its neck was some kind of clock that kept getting stuck. It looked from one of them to the other, deciding. A moment later another appeared in the doorway behind it.

“Um, looks like it’s down after all.” Kass took a wary step backwards, towards the edge.

Cat froze.

Kass inched herself closer to the edge and peered over cautiously. She kept one eye on the mimics.

The mimics took a step towards them.

“Cat? We have to jump.”

Cat’s eyebrows knotted together in thought. Her eyes shifted around the room looking for another way out. Anything but jumping.

“Cat!”

Cat didn’t move her feet. Her hand itched by her side, searching for a weapon. The knife! She’d put it in her back pocket. She could fight.

“Cat you can’t fight them all.”

Another mimic rounded the corner. Then another.

Kass glanced back over the edge then back at the mimics. Cat stood between her and them. No way she could throw them about without hurting Cat. She looked back and forth between them one more time before making up her mind. She turned and leaped off the edge.

Cat heard the splash. She pulled the knife from her back pocket, ready for a fight. The Mimics didn’t attack just yet but they inched ever so much closer.

A fifth mimic rounded the corner.

Cat felt something hit her body. The force knocked the knife from her hand and over the edge she went. Cat fought. She scratched at it and pushed at it as much as she could mange as gravity pulled them down. But as they went under, Cat forgot all about the thing holding her. Her first instinct was to freeze up. Then when she found herself still underwater her focus shifted to struggling to get out. She tried to breathe but there was water in the way. She thrashed out in all directions. She tried to suck in a mouthful and choked. It seemed like an eternity. Everything was dark. She didn’t know which way to even struggle. She felt hands pull or push her up, she wasn’t sure, and then there was air. She took in a deep coughing breath. She needed to survive. She grabbed at anything and everything close as she slipped back under. Hands grabbed at her but they seemed to be having difficulty getting a hold.

“Cat, stop struggling!” she heard Kass yell from far away, as her head surfaced again.

Panic had a hold of her. No, someone else. She was coughing and spluttering. She couldn’t breathe. She needed to get out. Arms wrapped themselves around her. Tried to pull her down. Or was it up? She couldn’t move. Water hit her face. Where were her arms?

“Cat I’ve got you.”

Sirius was there. Why was Sirius there? When? She breathed in a gulp of air and immediately coughed then realised she hadn’t slipped under in a few seconds now. She still struggled in the water. She needed to stay up. She needed to get to shore. She needed these arms off her.

“Kass, lift us up.”

Sirius again. The world came into focus a bit more and she realised it was Sirius holding her out of the water while he struggled to keep his own head up.

“I can’t, I might throw you too high.”

“Just do ...” Sirius sank under the water briefly. Cat struggled and yelped as she too seemed to sink down with him. He resurfaced coughing. “...it. Cat stop struggling. Kass it doesn’t matter. Just lift us...(glug)... up and keep us up. Gently. Take your time. Focus. Cat stop!”

Cat couldn’t help moving. She was afraid if she stopped she’d sink back down. She was afraid if she stopped kicking something would grab her and drag her down. She just wanted him to release her. Even with her head above the water Cat was running out of air.

The water level dropped. Sirius kept his grip on Cat as they were lifted. He was glad she was only half focused. A focused Cat would have planned her hits better and might have done some real damage but this Cat just threw her arms around aimlessly. She was still a handful but Sirius was much stronger.

“Nice work Kass, keep going, you can do this.” He encouraged her in the hopes that a bit of belief might help her maintain this level of control.

Kass used her powers to raise them up very slowly and then move them towards dry ground. The sooner they got up on land the better.

Sirius could feel Cat breathing way too fast but he didn’t want to rush Kass. As soon as they were fully out of the water Cat relaxed and stopped fighting him and went almost limp like she was out of energy. If not for her rapid breathing Sirius might have assumed she’d passed out.

“Nice, just drop us here” Sirius said once Kass had them over dry land about a metre up.

“Just..?”

“Just drop us.” Sirius nodded.

Kass released her powers. Sirius was ready. He landed on his feet, still holding Cat up. He lowered her gently to the ground once he had his footing. She flopped down, her knees curled under her, her arms splayed out, her elbows propped her up, her head hung inches from the wet rock. She breathed in deeply. Her whole body shook.

“Cat?”

She didn’t reply.

“Maybe give her some space?” Kass suggested. She twisted her hands together and shifted slowly in place.

“Cat? Are you okay?” Sirius got as close as he thought he should given that Kass was probably right and Cat likely didn’t want to feel any more suffocated right now. To his relief Cat nodded. For a couple of minutes they sat there in silence.

Cat finally spoke. “Where did you come from?”

Sirius smiled. “From above. You didn’t look up when you came in, there was a hole just above the door. I arrived just as the mimics did.”

Cat nodded. “Well I can’t fault the timing but you could have warned be before you threw me off a cliff.”

“Didn’t really have time.”

Cat gave a half laugh half cough.

Sirius breathed a sigh of relief.

“Should we get out of here?” Kass asked. She was looking back up at the ledge they had jumped from. The mimics were crowded around the edge. One had fallen down into the water but had had trouble getting out and had long since disappeared beneath the surface.

Cat nodded.

“They didn’t cause the lights to go out.” Sirius wondered aloud.

“They don’t affect fire” Kass replied.

The change in Sirius’s posture was instantaneous, as if he’d been carrying a weight around and all of a sudden it had been lifted off him.

“Yeah, let’s get moving” he said with more hope in his voice.