CHAPTER 64: ONLY ONE OPTION LEFT

Thick liquid splashed against Rhys’s leg. He recoiled with a start. Around him, the sounds were muddled: gasps, a light crack, and the wet slithering of something sliding across the floor and walls. He didn’t need to see it to know the creature was spreading again, not to attack, but to digest them alive.

Rhys took a step back, his heart hammering.

"Stop it!" he shouted.

"I can’t!" Nolan raised his voice. "It won’t listen to me anymore!"

"Then break the bond," Rhys said. "That thing exists because of you."

"You don’t understand... it’s part of me."

Rhys clenched his fists at those words. For a moment, he thought he’d feel sympathy. That Nolan’s pain, the truth about his parents, would justify at least some of what was happening. But no. All he felt was rage.

"Part of you?" Rhys muttered, frowning. "What the hell did you do to make that thing become part of you? Did you feed it your hatred until it chose to stay?"

The creature’s slimy hum continued to grow around him, but Rhys couldn’t stop himself. He felt something cold and thick encircle his ankles. The slimy mass moved slowly, as if savoring every second before engulfing them. It crept up his legs, clinging to his clothes, creeping with terrifying calm.

"Your decisions brought us here," he continued bitterly. "Your damn decisions, Nolan. Your tantrums, your pain, your thirst for revenge... And now what? Are you going to let us die in this too?"

"Rhys, stop," Jess chimed in from somewhere in the cave. Her voice sounded exhausted. "Don’t be so hard on him."

"Hard?!" Caelan scoffed. "The darkness is already swallowing me, Jess. If Rhys wants to lecture him before it swallows us all, I’ll let him. At least someone’s telling him the truth."

"Your parents did horrible things so you could live," Rhys continued. "So you wouldn’t have to do the same thing they did. And you... you turned their death into an excuse to destroy everything."

"That’s enough, both of you!" Jess intervened. "We have to stay calm and think of a way out of here."

"Jess, the creature has already swallowed half my body," Caelan laughed. "If we really wanted to calm down, now would be a bad time to start."

"Shut up, Caelan," Jess replied. "This isn’t the time for sarcasm."

"And this isn’t the time for false hope either," he retorted. "If that thing intended to kill us instantly, it would have done so already. It’s toying with us... taking pleasure in watching us fall, one by one"

Rhys gritted his teeth. The creature would soon reach his waist as well, and then it would be a matter of minutes before the creature swallowed him whole.

He thought of a thousand ways to get out of there. Climbing the wall, digging through the mass to free himself... but each option collapsed before it materialized. They were in the dark. Without weapons. And they were already exhausted.

The worst part: the creature didn’t obey anyone.

Minutes earlier, Eun-woo had managed to convince the creature to stop, but only for a moment. As soon as Nolan regained control, the creature attacked again. Which meant their connection ran deep and only he could stop it..

"That thing doesn’t feed on just your hatred, does it?" Rhys asked suddenly. "It feeds on your desire to hold on to the only thing you have left of your parents."

Nolan didn’t respond immediately. When he finally spoke, his voice sounded lower.

"If I stop wanting to bring them back... then it’s like they’re really dead."

"They’re already dead, Nolan," Rhys said, softer this time. "And you think they’d want you to end up like this? Killing innocent people because of your selfish desire to bring them back?"

Silence fell upon them. Only the wet sound of the mass moving, climbing over the bodies, scraping against rocks, swallowing every corner of the cave. Soon, there would be no one left.

"I never liked you, Rhys," Nolan murmured with a bitter laugh. "And now I remember why... You always manage to say exactly what hurts the most. When everything is falling apart, you don’t hesitate to drag others down if it means surviving a little longer."

Rhys frowned, unsure whether to respond. But Nolan kept talking, his voice thick with resentment.

"You know what the worst part is?" Nolan continued. "I don’t know which of us is crueler. You, who hurt without flinching, or me, who simply allowed this to happen so I wouldn’t let go of the only thing I had left."

Rhys opened his mouth to retort, but Nolan interrupted him again, nearly spitting out the words:

"What I hate most is that you’re right. That your damn logic makes sense. But even if I give up, I don’t know how to let go of my parents... I don’t know how to stop loving them."

Nolan’s voice broke at the end. The creature’s buzzing intensified, and Rhys felt the wetness creeping faster, now against his waist, as if the creature knew Nolan was giving in.

The air grew even thicker, as if they were struggling to share oxygen. Rhys couldn’t see the others’ faces, but he could feel their desperation.

And then Nolan muttered something that chilled Rhys to the bone.

"In that case... I only have one option."

Rhys’s heart skipped a beat. That’s when he remembered Nolan had a gun.

"Nolan!" he shouted, trying to take a step toward him, but his legs couldn’t move because of the goo. "Don’t do it!"

A rumble echoed in the tunnel and a second later, the darkness was illuminated by a faint flash.

The creature constricted suddenly, like a wounded animal. The slimy mass surrounding Rhys twitched violently, and for a moment seemed to release him, only to tighten its grip again, as if hesitant to let go.

A low roar rippled through the tunnel, causing Rhys to instinctively cover his ears. The ground shook beneath him, and then, as if the tension had reached its peak, the creature exploded.

Slimy fragments flew in all directions. Something cold and gelatinous slammed into Rhys’s face, running down his cheek and sticking to his neck. The floor was covered in the thick, rusty, rotten substance.

Rhys heard Jess cough and Caelan let out a muffled groan. He lay still, his skin covered in the substance. His breathing was the only thing that broke the thick silence that followed.

"What happened?" Jess asked between gasps.

Rhys didn’t respond immediately. His heart was still in his throat, and the sticky substance coating his skin made it difficult to think clearly.

"Find Nolan," he said urgently.

"What? What for?" Caelan asked from somewhere nearby.

"Just find him!" Rhys shouted, louder than he intended. Desperation clawed at his throat.

Groping, he stretched his arms out in front of him and began to carefully advance along the slippery floor. His knees sank into the slimy mass that still covered parts of the tunnel. He couldn’t see anything.

"Over here!" Jess suddenly shouted. "It’s here!"

Rhys followed the sound of her voice. He sank to his knees in the darkness, reaching out with his hands, not knowing exactly what he would find.

"He’s alive," Jess said, just before he could ask. "He’s still breathing, but he’s bleeding... I don’t know where. There’s a lot of blood."

"Caelan," Rhys called without moving away. "Help me get him up."

"Are you crazy?" Caelan protested. "It’s Nolan! The same one who tried to kill us. And now you want to save him?"

"Caelan!" Jess snorted. "Nolan will be judged for everything he did, but leaving him to die here like a dog isn’t justice."

There was a brief silence.

Rhys thought Caelan would leave, that he’d have to carry Nolan alone. But then he felt a strong hand touch him on the shoulder.

"Damn it," Caelan muttered in annoyance. "Hold him by the torso, I’ll take care of the legs."

Between the two of them, they lifted Nolan’s body. The heat coming off him was strange... a mix of fever and blood. Rhys felt the soaked fabric of his T-shirt stick to his arms, and a warm trickle ran down to his wrist. Nolan’s wound was bleeding profusely.

"I’ll climb up to the hole," Jess said. "When I’m up there, I’ll let them know so they can pass Nolan to me."

Rhys nodded, even though he knew she couldn’t see him.

He heard Jess groping her way away, the crunch of her boots on the wet rock, the scrape of her fingers feeling the wall. Then, the faint but steady sound of someone climbing.

He held Nolan tighter, trying to keep him as straight as possible.

"How is he?" Caelan asked, his voice low.

"I don’t know," Rhys replied. "He’s burning. I can feel a pulse, but... it’s weak."

There was a moment of silence, broken only by their uneven breathing. They still didn’t dare say out loud that it was over. None of them wanted to relax until they were out of that cave.

"What if we don’t make it in time?" Caelan asked.

"Then at least we tried," Rhys replied.

"I’m up there!" Jess shouted from the hole, her voice slightly distorted by the echo. "Get Nolan ready!"

"Come on," Rhys murmured.

They both adjusted their grip. Rhys slung Nolan’s arm over his own shoulder, while Caelan held onto his thighs. They walked with difficulty, feeling their feet with each step to avoid tripping over the slimy debris that littered the floor. The smell was growing stronger. A mixture of metal and acid.

When they got right under the hole, Jess screamed again.

"Raise your arms when you’re ready, I’ll help you lift him."

"On the count of three," Rhys said. "One... two... three!"

They lifted Nolan as high as they could. Jess reached down from above and managed to grab onto Nolan’s armpits. His body was a little slippery, and for a second, Rhys thought he might slip out of their grasp.

"Don’t let go!" Caelan shouted.

"Got it!" Jess replied.

Inch by inch, she dragged the body toward the opening. Rhys didn’t let go until he was sure Nolan couldn’t fall any further. Only then did he fall backward, breathing heavily.

"Now you, Caelan," Rhys said.

"And you?" Caelan asked.

"I’ll go last," he replied. "I don’t trust the tunnel yet."

Caelan didn’t argue. He approached the wall and began to climb. Rhys was left alone, in the darkness, the creature’s stench permeating his skin and his muscles pulsing with exertion.

But he was no longer afraid.

Rhys sat up slowly, wiping his face with his sleeve. They still had to leave; there might be more dangers out there, but for the first time in a long time, he felt some relief.

And for now, that was enough.