[Trade] Just Around the Corner

A red, constantly flickering light illuminated the long, seemingly endless corridor. Everything in this place clearly indicated that this ragged building had been abandoned long ago – perhaps even before the people mysteriously vanished from the archipelago. The pale, featureless walls were covered from end to end with suspicious-looking stains. It was hard to tell whether these stains were mould, or perhaps simply dirt that had accumulated over the years? The floor was thickly covered with tiny pieces of plaster, which over time had turned almost to dust. Despite the damp, brown earth seeping through the cracked concrete floor, no plants grew here – this mysterious place lay several metres below ground level, so sunlight never reached it.

Solace, despite all his courage, watched these shabby, eerie surroundings with a shudder of unease. Some time ago, he had noticed strange sounds coming from behind the damaged ventilation grilles. It was as though some potentially dangerous, unidentified creatures were hiding in these claustrophobic tunnels. The smell that hung in the almost stagnant air did little to help him maintain his relative calmness. The scent was so thoroughly steeped in mustiness, dampness and decay that practically anything could be hiding within its meandering currents – including the scent of another predator that might be lurking just around the corner.

The male had been exploring these human ruins for barely an hour and was already wondering whether to turn back. He had no specific purpose in mind – it was the result of a spontaneous, completely ill-considered decision that had driven him to descend into the unexplored underground. The male came to a halt, nervously swishing his tail from side to side. Solace chuckled to himself – he shouldn’t feel out of place. His ancestors had surely come into the world in a place exactly like this. And then they had destroyed it.

~*~

Veldrin led the way, parting the dense tropical vegetation with his long, saber like claws. The other male, 5962, was practically stepping on his tail, keeping such a close formation. They communicated with short squeaks and grunts, offering each other a little encouragement. The jungle overwhelmed them – its cavernous, harsh arms stretched out above them, creating an atmosphere of uncertainty between the two young males. They had ended up here by chance, and then lost their way amongst the green, densely overgrown labyrinths built by various plants. Now, as the sun slowly sank below the horizon and the forest itself grew more gloomy and hostile with every passing minute, this sense of being lost began to weigh heavily on them.

They didn’t know each other well, but they clung to one another like frightened chicks, seeking support in each other. In the midst of courtship season, other adult males did not look kindly upon the presence of juveniles in their flocks. Thus, Veldrin and 5962, at least for a time, were abruptly deprived of the security afforded by a larger group of their own kind. They had to fend for themselves.

5962 narrowly avoided a branch that snapped back with surprising force. The rosette male gave his companion a short snort to signal that he needed to be more careful as they pushed through the thick undergrowth. Veldrin apologised, even though he knew that something like this would surely happen again soon. His head was filled with rather catastrophic thoughts, and every shadow he suddenly noticed, every movement he caught out of the corner of his eye, provoked another shiver of anxiety that ran unpleasantly down his neck. It was difficult to focus on such trivial matters when one was fighting for survival inside one’s own head.

~*~

The cracked floor continued to creak beneath the acrocanthosaurus’ heavy footsteps, emitting an unpleasant, scraping sound. Solace did not turn back.

The corridor and all its branches seemed perfectly symmetrical, so this part of the building was painfully monotonous. There was nothing to indicate which direction the male should take now. Every path seemed equally as bad.

Guided by some strange intuition (to tell the truth, his initial instinct had been to return to the surface, but Solace had nipped that in the bud), the male turned his attention to the right-hand side of the corridor, carefully scanning the small, illuminated plaques hanging above the entrance to each room. It was of little use – Solace could not read. Despite this, the second door (or rather the gaping black hole that remained where it had been) somehow drew him in. The male quickened his pace almost imperceptibly, heading towards his newly chosen destination. He turned around, wanting to ascertain whether the quiet, unsettling sounds that reached his ears from time to time were anything more than a figment of his imagination. He saw no one there.

To enter the dark room, he had to crouch down, stubbornly squeezing himself through the narrow, almost claustrophobic gap in the doorframe. Something rattled ominously beneath his feet – he had to watch where he stepped. Solace strained his eyes, trying to make out anything in the pitch-black room. His eyes, which only moments before had been constantly stimulated by flashing lights and neon signs, had not yet adjusted to the near-total darkness – the only source of light was a faint, greenish glow seeping into the room through the ventilation grilles. The musty smell was no longer quite so pungent here. It was hard to tell whether this meant there was any fresh air coming in, or simply that Solace had already grown accustomed to it.

~*~

Veldrin wrinkled his nose, trying to examine this strange object with his sense of smell. To his disappointment, there was no unusual scent in the air – they were still surrounded only by the heavy, damp and vibrant smell of the jungle. 5962 emerged from behind him, slightly hunched, as if under the weight of all the fear and anxiety that held him in its grip. Despite straining his young, inexperienced mind to the limit, he had no idea what exactly they were looking at.

From amidst the dense, green vegetation – mainly clumps of ferns in full bloom – emerged a strange, dark object that had undoubtedly been crafted by human hands. It did not fit in with the surrounding natural environment at all. It contrasted so sharply with the ancient, vast jungle that it seemed almost blasphemous, a violation of nature. Its sharp, geometric shapes formed a trapezium several metres long, constructed from grey, smooth concrete panels. In the centre of this inorganic shape was a door – once protecting the descent into the underworld with all its might, but now pitifully warped and tilted to one side. Even a stronger gust of wind would be enough to push open these gates and reveal what they concealed.

Veldrin and 5962 looked at each other with a considerable amount of uncertainty. Neither of them uttered a single word (to tell the truth, they were a little too shocked by their discovery to even make a sound), but they both knew exactly what the other was thinking. There was no hiding the fact that the two young males, frightened by their recent experiences, were wrestling with their thoughts. They stood before a very important choice, one that could prove to have far-reaching consequences.

They were in the very heart of the vast jungle, with no idea which way to go and no hope of being rescued by anyone else. Although neither of them was particularly experienced, both 5962 and Veldrin knew full well that the tropical forest, intimidating even in daylight, could become downright deadly under the cover of night. The jungle was surely teeming with predators, both small ones – venomous snakes and spiders – and huge carnivores that would have no trouble at all dealing with the defences of the two young therizinosaurus. At the very thought of it, both males nervously swallowed.

That was precisely why this place, shrouded in an uneasy aura, despite all its quiet eeriness, seemed so tempting to them. The entrance to this structure, resembling an air-raid shelter, was rather narrow, and the ceiling (barely visible in the dim evening light) rather low. No huge, bloodthirsty carnivore could squeeze through here into the underground. Perhaps they could spend the night here safely?

They didn’t hesitate for long over this decision – the jungle, shrouded in ever-thickening darkness, had become too ominous for them to choose otherwise. Moving with far less confidence than just a moment earlier, the two therizinosaurus pushed open the twisted metal door and descended the stone steps. Both had to duck their heads slightly to avoid bumping them against the low ceiling, thickly covered in cobwebs. After a moment, the only light guiding their way was the red, ominous glow emanating from the fluorescent tubes attached to both walls.

This time, 5962 led the way, trying desperately to muster even a shred of courage. He took careful steps, trying to avoid the cracks that formed a dense web across the stairs. Though the bunker had something blood-curdling about it, one had to admit that it did have one reassuring aspect – unlike the jungle, it was really quiet here.

~*~

Solace’s eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness. His dilated pupils scanned the room menacingly, at last able to make out some distinct shapes from the blurry image. The room, though now it resembled more of a burnt-out ruin than the glory days of its past, had an intriguing look to it. Every element of it, despite the passage of time, was painfully imbued with human innovation and technical ingenuity, so closely tied to all life on the archipelago. The male was unsure of his feelings towards it. On the one hand, though he would surely never admit it aloud, he was deeply intrigued by this artificial world, completely inaccessible to him. This was likely because, until now, Solace had had little contact with the remnants of human technology – he had tended to keep his distance from urbanised areas. On the other hand, he felt an instinctive revulsion towards all this artificiality and the geometric, unnatural forms.

The male, covered in short black feathers, driven by a strange, tightening sensation in his stomach, looked back over his shoulder once more. He could have sworn that, despite the almost deathly silence reigning in the underground, he was not alone here…

1719 words