We get into the harnesses and get strung onto the repelling lines. I feel so uneasy, looking into the deep darkness of the canyon. I always thought this place would be well lit, considering it’s a massive gap in the ground. I can’t see after so far though. It’s eerie.


“You guys ready?” Roger asks as he looks at us from my far left side.


“Ready.” I say.


“Ready.” Timerus, to me immediate left, announces.


“That’s a set.” Mia says, being on my immediate right.


Another set of people are lined up to be next. I guess we are going to send people down as quickly as possible. If they manage to wait a minute between the drops, we all can safely get off of the lines. We all look to one another. We nod, it’s time to descend the canyon.


I take my step back with the rest of the group. The whisking wire and rushing air doesn’t worry me as much as the feeling of my gut going within my throat. I finally make contact with the canyon wall and see them all stopping around the same spot.


“How much further?” Roger asks, his body being hardly visible from my spot.


“Hard to say, we have miles of wire going down.” Timerus responds.


“Let’s get down farther. I hope someone thought about flares.” I say.


“I did.” Mia says.


I am relieved. We take our next jump. I can only guess we move about one hundred feet a jump. I think we need to go down faster. It’s going to be hard to even keep this pace. The light from above seems to do next to nothing down here. The light fades so quickly as we scale the side of this massive canyon wall.


“Mia, drop a flare, maybe we can get a spot on how far down we have left.” I recommend.


“I’m on it.” She replies as Timerus catches up with Roger.


The only way we can tell where one another are, is by the sounds of our wires and voices. Sometimes, we are lucky enough to hear each others scuff marks on the canyon walls. I sigh. Mia drops a lit flare, providing light for all of a few seconds. The red light fades into a small dot. We still have a long way down to go.


“How far would you guess?” I ask.



“Bout half a mile.” Mia says.


“Yeah, that sounds about right.” Roger affirms.


We take another three jumps down the wall. I can hear distant muffled shouting from above us, the wire tensing up on occasion. I can’t imagine what lurks at the end of this descent.


“Bout four more jumps.” Mia says with heavy breaths.


“Wow.” Timerus exhasperates.


“Didn’t you guys expect this?” Roger asks.


“Well, no.” Mia laughs.


“No, I didn’t.” I admit.


“Intel suggested it would be a distance to the bottom, I didn’t realize how strenuous this climb down would be.” Timerus takes a deep breath.


“Ready to keep going?” I ask.


“Ready.” The three say all at once.


We go back to jumping our way down the wall. I can only imagine what kind of expeditions Mia has been through with equipment like this. I try to not dwell on the invasive thought though, as the wall is my main focus, getting down safely.


After a few more minutes we finally come to the ground safely. We unhook ourselves from the line. The way this place is so dark is beyond even that of a moonless night. It may as well be midnight outside. Once Mia finishes with unhooking from the wire she used to get down, she starts throwing a few flares around. It doesn't do much for us, with the acception of knowing there is a river nearby. The sound of rushing water is hard to mistake, especially since it's rare to find any that we can safely drink.


“Looks like we are gonna be walking a ways.” Roger says as he goes walking at the edge of the flares light.


Mia rustles through her pack and hands us each a flashlight. I nod to thank her and turn mine on, rogers and Timerus both do the same. Something about this seems too easy. I thought creatures liked to hide in the dark, that’s why we traveled by daylight this whole time.


“Is it just me or shouldn’t there be more shooting involved right now?” I ask.


“I figure we may still be too far from the lab to actually know.” Mia says back.


We can barely keep eyes on one another. Its almost like the black darkness is alive in its own way. It easily swallows things from our sight.


“Just remember to keep your guard up.” Timerus interjects.


“I think I can do that.” I say as I turn to face the others instead of looking to find nothing but more darkness.


I see Mia and Timerus. Where did Roger go? He was just here a moment ago..


“Uh, guys, where’s Roger?” I ask.


Mia and Timerus scan around them. It seems like he was taken without a trace. Timerus puts a hand up. Me and Mia both go to him, to discover a trail of blood.


“Oh hell no.” I say.


“What could’ve done that so quick and quiet?” Timerus asks.


I don’t know. It seems like Mia is without an answer as well. I crouch down and dig through my bag to get some tape. My flashlight needs to always point where I am looking. I tape the light to my gun and it is going to have to do.


“What moves silently?” I ask.


“No idea.” Mia says. “We still have to move toward the lab. It should be the way that thing went.” She explains.



“I was hoping you wouldn’t say that.” I sigh.


“I guess our work is cut out for our squad.” Timerus says. “We wait for the next ones to land, leave them to stand guard here, while we begin to move to project purity. The next squad will do the same rotation as us.” He adds.


“Sounds like a plan.” Mia says.



“So we guard the wires to make sure we can have backup in a worst case scenario?” I ask.


“Yeah.” He sighs. “Any better ideas?” He asks.


“No.” Mia says, nudging me.


“No, sorry.” I huff.



Standing in the dark feels weird. Not knowing what's lurking in the endless void, that is something else that bothers me on an entirely new level. My hairs are constantly on end. It moves and kills silently. Whatever it is, I hope its only one.


Some faint teal lighting seems to be bouncing back towards us. I stop and look to the others. They seem to notice it too. We nod to one another. I look up to try to guess how long until the next group makes contact down here.


Clicking and growling faintly echoes its way to us. I stiffen up. Whatever light that is, must be something alive. I am praying that its simply some kind of place that is settling from time. I doubt that to be honest with myself.


“What could that be?” Mia whispers.


I can start to hear sand sifting along the wall, bit by bit. The next group can’t be too far. I try to keep calm, looking around using the light projected from my gun. It feels like hours before we hear the next group land.


“Alright.” Timerus says, preparing to update the squad while they unhook from the wires.


Mia keeps her light going back and forth in the darkness. She is keeping as aware of our surroundings as I have been. I guess I’m getting better at this stuff, just by being around her for so long.


The squad behind us lets Timerus regroup with me and Mia. They take the guard posts we originally had in mind. Now, we start heading to the lab.


“Okay, you guys, let’s try to stay alive.” Mia says.


“You know Mia, I thought maybe this time we wouldn’t.” I say sarcastically.


“Oh, shut up Etha.” She laughs.


Clicking and growling starts to fill the air once more. It sounds the same as what I heard earlier. I try to aim my light where the noises come from, but it is as if they aren’t even visible. Plants are starting to be more common and they light up teal the same as we saw earlier. I only wonder why so many plants are here, when the rest of the badlands are but desert sands.


“Leave us...” I hear from up the canyon path.


The squad we had seen land is far from our sight. The voice that rasps its way through the air is made of many voices it seems. The voice is inhuman.


“Leave or die.” The raspy tones echo.