Untouchable: Dream Walker Book 2 (Dream Walker series) by DuVal H M

Author:DuVal, H M
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: H M DuVal
Published: 2023-11-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

The cables bolted to the walls made decent holds to climb. Sweat made me sticky, dehydration causing my head to pound. Fear whispered in my mind, adrenaline making me shake.

Just keep going, I thought. Keep quiet and keep going.

I couldn’t afford to slip and fall. Even if I wasn’t far enough from the ground to do more than sprain an ankle, the swarm would inevitably follow me down. And there were too many for me to defend against. I took extra care with each placement of hand or foot, grateful for the endurance I’d built up over all the days I’d descended to the pit.

I looked up, gauging the distance I still had to go. Gusts of air buffeted me with each turn of the machine, that blue light flickering in and out of existence. My throat squeezed and my stomach pitched. Looking up also meant looking at the Macrocheira bugs.

The creatures rested on top of large pipes, angular legs arranged in a sharp tangle. Or they clutched at the pitted ceiling with their talons, impossible to tell one from another. Large, translucent wings buzzed and flitted periodically while they dozed, helping them maintain optimal temperature.

I tore my eyes away and reached for my next hold, my palm squelching into something unpleasantly warm and wet. I gasped, battling the instinct that wanted me to recoil, and scrambled to secure my hold.

A scuffle directly above me had my breath trapped in my lungs, tainted with the blooming smell of feces.

Another cluster of Macrocheira, better hidden by a thick slab of concrete jutting over my position, roused. They crawled over each other, biting and hissing, before settling again. One stalked past the edge of the concrete on spindly legs and proceeded to scat, the noxious droppings slapping against the back of my hand.

I bit my lips closed and prayed. The hot mess on my hand slid between my fingers, my palms already slick with sweat. With a final chitter, the defecating bug finally moved away from the edge.

I was surrounded. At least a few dozen, an impressive colony on its own, reclined on the concrete slab just above my head. Hundreds were likely tangled together on the pipes at my back and across the ceiling. Stars Above knew how many others might be lurking where the little blue light couldn’t reach.

Helplessness throbbed in my chest, threatening to expand. But the only other option was to climb down and wait for Bishop to let me out again. I clenched my jaw.

Peeling my hand out of the dung, I wiped it against my torso so I could grip the next cable. The smell was awful, stinging my eyes and making them water. I breathed shallowly through my mouth, ignoring the faint taste of it that coated the back of my tongue.

Keep going, I chanted, hauling myself up. Keep quiet, keep going.

My hands shook as I navigated up the wall beside the ledge. As I got a good look at the things nesting there. Knobbed knees and horned eye stalks and round bodies blending together into a tumble.

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