"Is she dead?" Hill asked, dreading the answer.
Phoebe hovered silently for a moment, then shook her fist side to side. No.
"Still alive??" He could barely hide the surprise in his voice, the thought of someone being trapped in a cocoon... was insane.
A thumbs-up.
"Shit..." Hill paced the mossy tunnel, mind racing. The spongy green stuff squished under his boots. A survivor meant he wasn't alone—probably another Asiran conscript like him. Someone who might know more about this place. Someone who could help.
But the crack was too damn narrow and the wall was much too thick for him to even think about breaking through it. And it wasn't like he had the power to do that anyway.
He ran his fingers along the jagged edges of the crack, testing it for any more breakage. No way he'd fit through there without tearing himself to shreds.
"Phoebe, can you scout ahead? Find me a path?" he asked, looking up at his ghostly companion.
Thumbs-up. She vanished through the solid rock without a sound.
Hill leaned against the damp wall and waited, counting seconds. One minute passed. Two.
Then it hit. Pain pulsed through his skull, as if someone had just stabbed a hot poker into his brain. He dropped to his knees with a strangled cry, grabbing his head between his trembling hands. The agony was blinding and consuming, bringing him to tears.
The pain vanished as quickly as it had arrived. Gasping heavily, he looked up through watery eyes to see Phoebe. She had returned, hovering nervously above him.
"Damn it, Phoebe," he gasped, rubbing his forehead where the remnant pain was. "Was that you?"
Phoebe waved dismissively, then turned to the wall. She drew a circle on the mossy surface, the imprint of her finger leaving a dark trail. Inside the circle, she sketched a tiny stick figure face. She pointed at Hill, then at the face.
"That's me," Hill said, still massaging his temple. "What's with the circle?"
Phoebe pointed at herself, then deliberately tapped the edge of the circle several times before scratching something above it.
"Out of range?" Hill guessed, the pieces clicking together. "So there's some kind of distance limit between us?"
She nodded vigorously, pointing at herself and the face in the circle again, then gesturing at the wall before adding to her drawing.
"Too far away... and that's why my head felt like it exploded?" Hill winced at the memory.
Phoebe nodded, her movements almost apologetic.
Hill swore under his breath, spitting the words out with frustration. This changed everything. First, Phoebe had limits tied directly to him. He needed to get stronger for her to grow, to extend her reach.
Second, she'd shown a range of at least a hundred yards back in the lava cavern. If she'd hit her limit just now, there wasn't a direct path to the cocooned woman—at least not within Phoebe's current reach. This meant that they would have to walk for a while if they wanted to find a way to reach that woman.
"So we're screwed," he muttered, running a hand through his hair. "The woman's trapped somewhere with no direct access." He kicked at a loose stone, sending it down the tunnel in frustration. "Great. Wandering blind through tunnels it is."
He stood up and brushed dirt from his knees. His stomach growled, reminding him of his original mission. Food first, then rescue. One problem at a time. It may be cruel, but he couldn't afford to gamble his life on someone he didn't know.
After replenishing his body, only then would he give it a shot.
Phoebe gave him a supportive thumbs-up. He managed a weak smile, grateful his soul art was with him. At least he wasn't completely alone in this nightmare.
"Let's move," he said, straightening his shoulders. "Maybe we'll find another way in. Or at least something to eat."
They headed deeper into the tunnel, Phoebe leading the way. The bioluminescent moss cast long shadows as they walked, painting everything in that eerie green glow.
----
Adelaide couldn't move. Not her arms, not her legs. Not even her head. Wrapped tight in thick webbing, she couldn't even scream. Only her eyes could still move, darting frantically around the small cave that had become her prison.
The Asiran conscript stared at her captor from inside the cocoon. Kael had warned her the plague would drop her in a random location. "Don't expect the other surviving conscripts nearby," he'd said when she had returned from the soulscape. "Inside the plague world, you will be alone for the first few hours. You have to make to with what you get."
She'd have to survive alone. That was the way the plague worked.
But she hadn't been ready for the monster that ambushed her in the tunnel. Despite all the combat training she had received from her family, it was able to catch her off-guard, its speed shocking for something so large. Before she could react, it was wrapping her in sticky silk, layer after suffocating layer, before dragging her back to its lair.
Now she watched helplessly as the creature moved about, carrying the mangled body of some furry rodent, its blood spilling onto the ground.
It wasn't like any spider she'd seen in the endless nature documentaries she used to watch. Six legs instead of eight. Segmented body covered in glossy black armor that caught the dim light. Long curved abdomen ending in a stinger, with mandibles that clicked constantly, a sound that would haunt her nightmares if she lived long enough to sleep again.
The webbing was impossible to break. On Earth, spider silk was stronger than steel pound for pound. This stuff was thicker, stickier—like being trapped in concrete that hadn't quite set. She'd tried straining against it at first, but all that did was tire her out.
Her soul art, Viper's Kiss, was useless against these webs. The venomous bite that was supposed to be her advantage in this world couldn't help if she couldn't move her head.
The thing was smart, too—unnervingly so. It seemed to know exactly how dangerous Adelaide could be, as if it understood that a single bite from her would end the fight. It kept its distance, watching her with too many eyes, never turning its back.
Adelaide shuddered as the creature finished eating, mandibles working through the last bits of rodent meat. She could only pray someone would find her before it got hungry again. Before it decided she was next on the menu.
Although, if the creature did decide to eat her, it would probably die too... but what comfort could that provide in such bleak circumstances?
She couldn't die here. Her father would never know what happened. He was the whole reason she'd volunteered to be infected by the plague. She wanted to prove herself capable, to show him she was strong, just like him.
She didn't want to be his fragile little daughter anymore. She wanted to be his legacy.
Now she was helpless, trapped. Just like he always feared she would be.
The creature finished its meal and turned toward her. Its many eyes seemed to study her, calculating.
Time was running out.