Pember blinked, his tongue dry behind his teeth.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. I was taking her out. We were going swimming. She was leaving the house. She never left the house. The train was running late. The train.
The train.
The train.
The train.
Blake’s face reappeared at the trapdoor. “Pem? What’s wrong?”
Pember blinked rapidly, running a shaking hand through his hair. “U-um, n-nothing. Nothing. I… I’m good, I’m good, I’m good?—”
As he dropped to his knees and got ready to crawl, he realised just how little space there really was. He’d have to climb back over Samantha’s body, because they’d never be able to lift her with him still in the chute.
The primal side—the prey side—of his brain suddenly registered that there was a corpse. A body. There was a dead fucking body right there. Cold. Murdered. Throat slit. It wasn’t normal. Not normal. Not normal. Not normal. Ohshit,he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t make that crawl again. What kind of drugs had he been on? Where the fuck did his courage go? Gone. It was all gone now. He couldn’t?—
“Pem? What’s wrong?” Blake repeated, clutching his chest as he leaned over the hole.
Pember’s eyes were glued to the tunnel. He couldn’t move. “I-I-I-I… O-oh, oh no.”
“Pem, look at me.”
Pember’s eyes flicked up to the alpha.
“I want you to press the square button on the side of your radio. It’ll switch to an open channel so you won’t have to hold the button to speak. I’m going to talk you through it, okay? Pull up your hood and mask so you don’t get any more fibres on your face.”
“R-right.” He swallowed, pulling up his hood.
“Good, now squat down and lie on your front.” So he did, trying not to think about Samantha’s corpse lying beside him. “That’s good. You’re doing really well. Push yourself forward and start moving. That’s it.”
Pember closed his eyes, skin crawling as every line of his body touched Samantha. The adrenaline must have worn off. It was the only logical explanation.
The dark. So dark, despite the torch. Cramped. Walls. Closing in. Train, coming.
“O-oh my God,” he whimpered, trying to keep his breathing steady.
“That’s it, sweetheart. You’re doing it.” Blake’s voice came over the radio. “I’m so proud of you.”
Pember grimaced. “I-I thought you were mad with me?” he said, teeth chattering.
Blake let out a breath. “I am. But we’ll talk about it later.”
Pember let out an unhinged laugh, the sound ricocheting around the tunnel. “H-hey, Blake?”
“Yeah?”
“Can we have hot chocolates later?” Because for some God unknown reason, he really wanted a hot chocolate right at that moment.
“With marshmallows?” Blake replied, voice soft.
“Y-yes.”
Pember’s eyes were screwed so tightly shut that he didn’t even realise he’d reached the end. All he felt was a firm hand on his shoulder and someone pulling him up.
“I’m here,” Blake said, hauling him to his feet. He had jumped part way down the chute and was hanging off the ladder. “Fucking hell, Pem.”
Somehow, they managed to climb back up the ladder. Well, Blake climbed, Pember just let Blake shove him up by his backside.
