~ Zach ~
I saw the six goblins launch away from the top of the hill, illuminated by the light shining above. And left on top of the hill was Alaric, and what appeared to be a woman. She said something to Alaric, but I was too far away to hear. I could feel the spasms of the goblin under me, his final throes of death pulsating throughout his body.
I looked down and saw my hands stained in a blood red color. I quickly jumped off the body, exhaling slowly. And then I mentally slapped myself. Idiot, I thought to myself. You couldn't even stop them. And you wanna be a hero. Pathetic.
In the middle of my mental scolding, Alaric and the woman slid down the hill towards me, stopping just in front of me. She introduced herself as Mino Lekami, someone sent by the government to investigate the organization of the goblins.
"Well, we found out that the goblins have a uniform now," I kicked the dead body next to me. Blood gurgled out and stained the thin layer of gravel. "But for any other clues as to what's happening, we have no idea. We've been trying to survive, not investigate."
Mino nodded in affirmation. "That's fine. The uniform alone tells us much needed information." She turned to a tunnel to our left. Inside, I could see that it was dimly illuminated from within. Mino began stepping around the body towards the tunnel. "Normally, I would climb out and report right away, but these goblins are so weak, I'm not really scared for my life." Her tone of voice hinted at a sense of arrogance that was barely contained. I already didn't like her.
Alaric looked at me with that quiver in his eyes that I've come to associate with him. I shrugged in response before following behind her. I felt a tug on my sleeve and glanced over my shoulder. Alaric was pointing earnestly at something on my leg, shaking his head.
I looked down and saw a deep, ugly red gash running from the middle of my thigh to the back. During the adrenaline of the fight, I hadn't even noticed it, blood continuously flowing from the wound. "Mino," I called out.
She stopped in her tracks and looked back in annoyance. I stood there, sarcastically pointing at my wound. "I'm not going anywhere with this cut, and I have a feeling Alaric isn't gonna leave me to go with you. Help me first, then we can go."
I saw the exasperation overtake her face. But then her expression suddenly hardened and she marched towards me with malicious intent written all over her face. I took a step backward in fear, but ran into Alaric behind me. Before I could react, I felt a strong tug on my shirt and heard a loud ripping sound.
I looked forward again and Mino had torn a large section out from the bottom of my shirt, exposing the lower half of my stomach. She crouched down in front of my leg before beginning to wrap the torn cloth around my wound. She spun a knot on the back of my leg and pulled the cloth tight, closing the blood flowing freely from the open cut. She stood up in front of me and the malicious expression was gone from her face, replaced by the same cold, expressionless face that we first saw. "Done. Now let's go," were her only words.
Alaric, for the first time since I've met him, which, admittedly, hasn't been that long, looked amused. His face brightened considerably, and the normally scared face he wore was replaced by the hints of a smile. "Well, you heard her. I don't really want to, but it seems like we have to follow her. I'd rather not make her pissed." His voice lost the quiver for a second before he pushed past me and began to follow Mino down the dark tunnel. I sighed internally before following, the determination to protect Alaric being almost my sole motivator.
We stumbled along, using the dim light as our only means of seeing where the hell we were going. We continued onward for about five minutes, the only noises following us being the soft clicks of our steps on stone and the occasional grunt of exertion as Alaric or me tripped on some unseen rock. That was before I had noticed Alaric stop in the middle of the tunnel, Mino preventing him from going any further.
She glanced back at us and held a finger to her lips, signaling us to be quiet. She beckoned towards us and we both shuffled forward. In a whisper, she said "You hear that?"
I didn't at first, but Alaric nodded earnestly, the terrified expression I've come to associate with him back on his face. "Sounds big. Like a crowd," he said. I still had no idea what they were talking about, but I listened closely and heard the faint sounds of….. something. I couldn't tell what.
Mino crouched and began to move forward slowly, towards where the sound was coming from. Alaric and I mirrored her actions and followed along.
Slowly, the sound got louder and louder. If I had to describe it, I would say it sounded like a sports stadium, the iconic sound of a crowd screaming ringing in my ears. There was a sharp right in the tunnel ahead, the new tunnel looking like a shadow in contrast to where we were. However, as we approached the tunnel and stared into it, we noticed another entrance to another room on the left, and this one was awash with light, almost looking like a doorway leading back up to the outside world. I was filled with a sudden longing to get out of this dark, dank place that smelled constantly of death, but I staved that desire off.
Mino began to crouch walk towards the entryway filled with light, and when she reached it, she snuck a glance inside before slamming her back against the wall next to it. As Alaric and I crept into the tunnel, the sound of crowd screams grew from loud to downright uncomfortable. But the sounds didn't sound human, they sounded... different. Animal-like, as if wild animals learned how to speak and only used their newfound vocal chords to scream their throats raw. We both reached the doorway, and with a nod to each other, we looked inside.
It was a massive, circular chamber lit by luminous light bulbs. They looked as if they had been ripped from a wall somewhere and brought to this room, because I could see a multitude of wires leading off to a separate doorway. But this wasn't what my eyes were focused on.
There was a crowd of around three hundred goblins milling around, cheering and screeching towards a stage. On that stage, there was a tall and lean goblin, who stood with his arms spread wide and smiling, basking in the praise of his minions. Behind them, there was a cage. And inside that cage, a person sat bloodied and bruised, and his feet looked marred by a cluster of barely faded cuts. But the most surprising thing was the effect the apparent leader was having on the crowd of goblins.
They were in hysterics. They were jumping, scratching each other, screaming their throats raw, and their eyes were bloodshot and crazed. It looked like a scene that one would see in a cult. The leader motioned with his arms for silence, and the crowd instantly obeyed. Even I sucked in my breath, keeping my breathing quiet. The leader began screeching in a language none of us could understand.
I felt a tap on my arm and turned to see Mino gesturing back down the tunnel. "We got what we came for. Let's go." She began crouch walking away. Wait, so she wasn't going to save the person in the cage down there?! What the hell?!
Before I could think, I grabbed her arm, and I hissed "What about that person, we have to save them!" She shook off my arm. "We don't have to do anything, they're already dead. You saw their feet, right? We can't risk ourselves for someone who probably wouldn't even be able to escape anyway."
I shook my head aggressively. No fucking way was I leaving them. Not a chance in hell. "We have to try," I said.
Mino began crouch walking away again, completely ignoring me. I whirled on Alaric. "Alaric. Please. You know we have to save them, right? Help me!"
His face looked terrified and conflicted. His mouth opened slowly and he said "I-I…" And that's when I knew I was on my own. I pushed his chest forcefully, and he fell backwards on the hard stone with an oof!
"I can't believe you two. You're fucking cowards! I'm not leaving that person, I'm not doing that shit again!" That last part escaped my lips unintentionally. I bit my tongue back and turned around to leap through the doorway. Consequences be damned, I'll die before I leave someone stuck down here!
Mino and Alaric were both looking at me in shock as I turned around and prepared to leap through the doorway, when a shadow covered my face. I looked up slowly, and a goblin stood there, spit dribbling down its face as it snarled at me.