No Pain No Gain
Daniel watched his friends disappear from his sight, Gassan and Jake waltzing all too assuredly through the front gates of the complex while Pammy and David entered the ominous tunnel. As the last bright beams of Pam’s flashlight were consumed by the darkness the knot of unease in Daniel’s stomach tightened. He glanced down at the only remaining path open to him, the hole in the fence.
“Awesome...” he muttered. He took a deep breath then slid down the small hill to the base of the metal barrier. He placed his hand lightly on the jagged edges of the hole and quickly ducked through. He felt a sudden, sharp pain on his palm and instinctively jerked his arm back to his side, raking one of the deteriorating prongs of the fence across his skin. The mighty shout that had been gearing up in his throat was stifled into a grunted curse as he cradled his clenched hand.
Blood and pain trickled down freely from the cut until Daniel finally made himself take a look. He felt sick. Honestly he almost just wanted to go home, retreat from this whole mess and forget it ever happened, but on the same note he wanted to know what was going on with this place, those dreams, his friends. He also wasn’t too keen on being the one to spoil the fun of the “Mystery Team” up there, so he pressed the injured palm to the edge of his shirt with hopes to stem the bleeding and continued on.
He tried to keep himself distracted by focusing on his surroundings. A few hulking machines lay broken and scattered on the ground, slowly being soaked in by the cruel grip of nature. It was summer yet the night felt oddly cool as he passed by the mechanical behemoths. It left him more unsettled than before. He decided to focus on twiddling the fingers of his right, unharmed, hand instead.
The teenager started at a loud clang beneath his feet. The sound continued ringing and echoing as a small pebble bounced innocently into the gaping mouth of a deserted military bunker.
Written by Flutterbest on 04 December 2017