Things are looking up for Harper, but Doc’s hands are broken and bruised.

Will Doc ever fulfill his dream to be a concert pianist?

The answers to this and more revealed this week on a very special Dust.

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Chapter 5: Sights Unseen

Day 38

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Again I woke before the others. For the first time in a while I had seen some memories. As usual, the predominant theme was dissection and experimentation. Was that all he did? Or did he only pass a subset of memories to us? Maybe the horror of these makes them shine brighter than the mundane memories. It would be nice to take a nap and see him eat a sandwich or read a book, but I had a feeling it wasn’t likely. I didn’t have any deep revelations this time. but I did see one of his experiments I might repeat on myself if I ever had the opportunity.

I tried to flex my ruined fingers. The broken digits were setting at odd angles. I was going to have to re-break them at some point if I wanted to heal correctly. It just wasn’t feasible in the dark. Surprisingly from a touch I could tell that the inflammation had gone down quite a bit, and they were nice and dry. No infection as far as I could tell by touch alone. That might not mean anything, but I had a hunch my over-oxygenated blood was speeding the healing process. I knew from memory that oxygenating an injured limb was often the difference between a cast and amputation. I had no way to be sure, but my rushed change in the facility seemed to be a more impressive choice than I had at first realized. I had already seen it’s usefulness in an active lifestyle. Every day as my brothers massaged their sore legs after hours of hard walking I was able to continue without trouble. Lactic acid build-up in muscles only happens when you outrun your body’s ability to deliver oxygen. If we ever had the luxury to choose our changes based on comfort I’d recommend they all do the same thing.

It was amazing how much a good night’s rest and a full stomach could improve my mood. Only yesterday I had been ready to give up if not for a push from Wolf, and now I was planning for a future where we had the luxury to base our actions on comfort. I grinned at the perpetual night around me.

And then I heard heavy breathing somewhere off in the dark. I reached to the left and right. Rabbit and Harper were still next to me. I shook them awake. “Rabbit, wake up Wolf. Quietly.”

I could still faintly hear the breathing, along with what sounded like heavy sniffing. Wolf made a small snort as he came awake and the breathing stopped. Whatever was out there had heard something.

“Harper, can you see anything?”I was still whispering. It might not know where we were. It was a vain hope, but there was no way we could fight in here. My hands were meat and none of us could see an inch from our faces.

“Maybe for a second. I thought I caught a glimmer, but it’s gone now. We should move.”

“Let’s go.”

We put Harper at the front this time. He was our only slim hope at seeing our executioner. We continued along the wall as we had been, stepping softly and breathing only when necessary. The wall was useful to guard our backs, and if we wandered into the open we might never find it again. After quite a long time with no further noise, we began to relax. Still, we now knew for sure there was more in this cave than hungry vegetation. We ran into another stream of water, a little more of a trickle than the last one. Harper was once again able to see a spot of light above us, and this time I thought I could see a faint point of light too. We stayed there for a long time, cleaning wounds and drinking our fill. For my part, I figured if anything was following us, cleaning ourselves a bit couldn’t hurt. From the sounds it made it might be relying on smell or sound more than sight. After all, we already knew the normal nocturnal sight adaptations weren’t of much use down here. Having enough water to clean ourselves was wonderful, though I had to grit my teeth every time I passed over a cut. I used my upper arms for the task since my hands we out of commission.

Feeling better and more confident that we had avoided the immediate danger, we kept moving. We passed two more patches of dripping water in short succession, and each time the light above was a little brighter. Our excitement was growing with each pinpoint of light. We were definitely headed in the right direction. Another short walk and the sound of dripping water was constant, and Harper announced that the ambient light was enough for him to make out our outlines when we stuck close. From the edge of our awareness we began to notice a hissing static sound that grew and grew the further we went. Soon we were avoiding puddles and the sound had resolved itself into the roar of rushing water. Harper made out an increase in brightness ahead and to the left. We started moving cautiously again. Harper could see a lot better now, but the sound of the water was drowning out the sound of our footsteps, and it would be difficult to hear any pursuit before it was on us. By the time we were maybe five minutes walk from the hole in the cliff face we could all see the bright spot ahead. It created a bit of a halo off the puddles and on the reflective rock. I lifted a hand to stop, and we all huddled together. I had to speak up to be heard over the rushing water. It seemed to be coming from within the lit area.

“We should wait.” I don’t think Rabbit heard. Wolf looked frustrated. I empathized, but we’d been through too much grief to rush now.

“Why? As soon as we get up there we’ll be much better at defending ourselves. We could see.”

“We know there are things living in here. If you had to live here, where would you stay? With the water. With the light.”

We’d been thinking only in terms of of an exit, but any cave exit was by definition a perfect burrow for any number of predatory animals. Especially an cave with an ample supply of fresh water so close. Wolf didn’t look happy, but after considering my words he settled in with Rabbit and we set a watch. The plan became to wait a good long while, and if nothing entered or exited the opening then we’d move in cautiously and take a look. Of course eventually we’d have to make a run for it either way. None of us were chancing another trip through the dark for a second option that might not even exist.

An hour later we got a bite. Just as I thought Wolf might explode from the strain of sitting still, a silhouette moved from the cavern into the light. From the dim outline we couldn’t tell what it was, only that it was shorter than us and walking upright.

“It’s not a person. Or at least it’s not a healthy person.” Harper could make out a lot more detail than us in the low light, but we were still quite far away. Even with his vision.

“It wasn’t walking right. More like an old man or an ape. It put it’s arm down to support itself a couple of times.”

That might mean the only thing between us and freedom was an old cripple, but after the life we’d led so far none of us were willing to bet on it. I had a hunch it was our pursuer from early, or maybe another of his kind returning from an unsuccessful hunt. We couldn’t afford to rush into danger, not with both my hands useless and my poison unusable, but we really didn’t have another choice. This was it for us. We moved on slowly, with Harper and Wolf in front as our eyes and claws, and Rabbit at the back keeping an eye behind us in case more things started returning. Not that he’d see them if they were there. We closed on the gash in the wall, and still saw no sign of life. The water was deafening now, maddening. Living here long term would be enough to drive a sane man mad. More good news for us? Through the opening the cave walls condensed to an opening maybe twice our height and twenty feet wide, funneling smaller the further we went and turning a few times. The light visible from the cavern was funneled by the reflective obsidian, not direct. It was still getting brighter with every turn, and I saw Harper stumble as it began to burn his now light sensitive eyes. I had a plan for that, but first we had to reach a safe area.

Harper moved to the back as we continued, closing his eyes and gripping my shoulder to find the way. Our feet become dirty with thin wet soil, and after another turn we began to see moss and small mushrooms. Under other circumstances I would have considered stopping for food, but we knew this tunnel was in use. We approached every turn with caution, until we came to a hole barely big enough for us to fit through one at a time. The light was far brighter through this portal, practically doubling on the other side. Wolf brought out his claws with a wince and went through first, followed closely by Rabbit. I was still leading Harper, who was by now functionally blind. Working ourselves through, we were now standing in a proper surface cave. Indirect sunlight pierced through distant leaves and we stood on a thin layer of honest dirt. Not glowing, not pulsing. I had never been happier. I couldn’t wait for Harper to see. Of course it couldn’t last.

Looking over for Wolf and Rabbit, I saw Wolf on the ground with a hideous creature holding his neck to the ground. Rabbit was frozen and screaming, but I hadn’t heard him over the rush of water. I charged the thing as it struggled to get at Wolf’s neck. It was shorter than us by a head, but lined with course muscle. Wet matted hair covered it’s deformed legs, which were capped in feet that were hinged and much too large for the rest of it. I could count the vertebrae of it’s back. My body slammed into it and we went down in a pile. Wolf had his leg pinned under the thing and struggled to stab at it with his claws. The whole situation was soundless in the constant din of water falling. Having been startled the thing with my body slam it turned towards me, and I had to fight not to back away. It’s eyes were small atrophied things, obviously unseeing and milky white. It’s nose was huge and wide, and it’s whole lower head extended farther forward than seemed possible. It had no proper chin. Wet, white hair clung in patches here and there. No organized eyebrows or lashes. I slammed my forehead into it’s face and the world spun a bit. Wolf was trying to slash it, but it avoided him quite well for something that couldn’t see. It opened it’s mouth and a long tongue lashed out at my face. I avoided it only to notice it was tipped with bone. It extended further and further towards my stare. We had no way to fight it. This thing was strong, and if Wolf couldn’t get at it we were out of moves. Suddenly The tongue went limp and the thing crumpled. Rabbit stood behind it holding a chunk of black stone and looking like he was about to faint. I jumped away, staying out of reach until we confirmed it was really done for. Wolf got out from under it with some effort and slashed at the neck. Then he took Rabbit’s rock and gave it a hit for good measure.

Turning the thing over we took a good look, but we couldn’t really learn anything that hadn’t been obvious. The tongue barb looked nasty. It might have been another one of the creatures from the facility, or something else entirely. It had a human face of a sort, but it was too far changed to see any resemblance there might have been to our own. I was beyond those thoughts at this point anyways. If it fought us it would die. I wasn’t going to lose anyone else over a family resemblance. We gathered up Harper, who had no idea anything had happened, and moved further towards the sounds of water and the distant trees. Wolf hugged the wall and collapsed. That fight had taken a lot out of us. Now that we knew the inhabitants were blind I felt more secure. Hearing wouldn’t help them this close to the water, and we could mask our scent by rubbing dirt onto ourselves. We did just that, and despite my confidence in our preparations we decided to set a sentry before resting. Rabbit offered to take the first watch, and we fell asleep in the dirt, in sight of trees and light for the first time in our lives.

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So there it is. They’re out of the dark and Rabbit got his moment in the sun (pun intended)

This chapter didn’t get a ton of action, but I got to set up some additional properties of Doc’s Blood (all true!)and set up some of the next arc.

I’ll probably take Saturday Off, and return with a new chapter Sunday. Going river tubing.

Up next expect our first interactions with truly intelligent life, as well as further body mods and of course more action.