Page 24 of Dark's Savior

Aly groaned and kicked the generator. She must have missed a wire or two. Feeling really put out, she hit the generator again with her fist.

"Damn thang!"

Great. Now her southern drawl was slipping out. This was not her day.

Aly stepped back for a moment and took a few deep breaths. She took off her hood and placed her hands on her hips, letting the rain fall on her bowed head. She probably should just give up. She would be reprimanded, but what did it matter? She felt miserable and wanted out of this damn rain.

Aly looked on the generator for a moment longer, thinking maybe she should give it one more go, when something tugged at her leg. She looked around just in time to see a howler run away, glancing back at her with curious eyes.

Aly turned to face them fully and watched as a few trotted closer to her then paused to sniff at her. All of them seemed to be studying her curiously, and Aly found herself staring back.

Maybe they weren't so bad. They were just animals, after all, and perhaps some were even friendly. She'd never seen one attack anyone, honestly. Usually they were too skittish.

"Hey, there little guy," she said softly, crouching down slightly to be more level with them. "You’re just curious, aren't you?"

A pair of them circled her, and one got close enough that she could almost touch it, but she dared not to in case it did bite. Instead, she remained very still so as not to spook them. One tugged at her bag again and another pawed at her leg but nothing more. They did seem rather harmless.

When the others watching could see she wasn't much of a threat, they slowly padded closer. Carefully, Aly began to stand, feeling suddenly overwhelmed by the numbers.

Friendly but a little too curious as they tugged at her on either side, one even trying to climb up her leg.

"Yeah, I don't think so," Aly said, laughing nervously. She took a few cautious steps and they followed her.

Great, she should have just left them alone.

Aly went to turn her back and start for the elevator car when she nearly tripped over a howler cutting into her path. She stumbled forward and braced herself when another latched onto her arm and tugged. Aly pulled her arm away, and the howler came with it.

"Hey! Come on, enough!" she shouted as she swung the howler around, who was now latched to her wrist and, to her great horror, pulling off her techband.

Aly cursed not too politely and went to snatch her hand away, but the howler had a full grip on her band and was slipping it from her wrist. As the band began to loosen and fall from her hand, Aly flung her arm outward, causing the howler to let go and the techband to go flying. It went high then bounced on the edge of a rail before tumbling below.

Aly froze for a moment, in shock. Numb, yet, to any growing panic. When the panic did finally rear its ugly head, she rushed over to the railing and peered down.

She let out a little cry; both in relief and despair.

By some great miracle, her techband had been stopped in its endless fall to the bottom by a large bright-red floater, getting caught in its wiry tentacles. It was a relief to see that it hadn't fallen into darkness only to break somewhere unseen below; what was despairing, however, was that the floater was making its way to the very bottom, likely from the weight of the techband forcing it down.

She was really screwed this time. As she watched the floater drop farther and farther away, panic welled up higher and higher in her chest.

"Oh fuck, fuck, fuck!" Aly cursed.

Even if it had been her old techband, she would have still gotten into serious trouble. But this being the very band that had only been given to her a few days ago meant if she lost it, she wasn't just going to the warehouses, she was going somewhere much farther away. Alone.

Aly cursed some more and began to pace beside the rail. Then she looked down once more and saw the floater was almost out of sight.

Now, she had two options, and neither were good in any sort of way. She could either let it go and face the consequences—face being taken away to await a punishment she had yet to know. Or she could take the elevator down. Down past level twenty, where she wasn't allowed to go farther. Down past level fifty, where she had been warned never to go again. Then down into the nillium's territory, where awaiting her was nothing short of a swift death, if not by some monstrous creature then by the nillium himself, who had made it very plain he didn't want her there.

Aly stood there, unable to move, torn between her fear of being ripped away from the others to be placed somewhere somehow worse than Lethe Maws and her fear of the darkness and the nillium waiting in it below.

When her brain finally started working past the senseless panic, Aly tried to think logically about her options. Obviously, if she didn't try to retrieve it, she wouldn't risk death so that there was a pretty good reason to just go to Braxin and confess she’d lost it. On the other hand, if shedidtake the risk anddidfind it down below without anyone catching her, she wouldn't have to face the awful possibility of never seeing her team again, of possibly being locked away. Or worse, like Sarah, who may very well be getting experimented on this very minute.

So, there could be an option worse than death. So, what did she have to lose if she went down below and tried to get her techband back?

Unlatching her fingers from the railing, Aly slowly turned her head over to stare at the elevator car only a few yards away.

If no one caught her.If.

She thought of the nillium again and of his threat, and her heart began to pound wildly. Her throat tightened and turned dry. Lightning and thunder crashed several more times before she decided to move. She made her way toward the car and hesitated before waving a hand over the scanner. The door opened and Aly stepped inside. She stood thinking for a moment longer before finally pressing the button for the last level. She took a deep breath and held it as the elevator started to move downward.

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