Armageddon by Kaitlyn O'Connor Page B

against the side of the vent shaft. She was sweating so profusely with effort by the time she reached the next intersection her hands and feet kept slipping. Shaking like a leaf, she parked her rump on the ledge of another intersecting shaft and struggled to catch her breath. “How far are we from the top?” she gasped out in a breathless whisper.
    Dax didn’t even look up. “Three levels.”
    “More?” Lena asked in dismay.
    “You want to go back?”
    Gritting her teeth, Lena wiped her hands on what was left of her tunic and felt around for another seam. Her heart leapt into her throat as her foot slipped along the slick inside of the shaft the moment she tried her weight against it. Dax caught her foot before she slammed it into his face, forcing her leg upward until she could plant it firmly against the shaft wall again.
    Fear rode her all the way up, as she slipped over and over, clawing at the seams that were little more than bumps until her fingers began to bleed, adding to her difficulties. When she’d made it to the next intersection, she tore a strip off the bottom of the tunic and wrapped it around her fingertips, tying it. The little spots of blood seeping through the thin fabric seemed to give her a little more traction. When she paused at the next intersection, she tore off two more and wrapped the strips around her toes.
    She wasn’t going to make it, she thought glumly, even while she continued to go through the motions. She was going to make a misstep somewhere and slam into Dax and take them both down.
    It became a litany pounding in her skull as she struggled on and on, ignoring the shaking in her muscles at the fear and strain. She was ready to admit defeat by the time she’d finally reached another intersection. “I don’t think I can do much more of this.” In fact none.
    “We’re there.”
    Lena blinked, her head popping up automatically as she glanced toward the top of the shaft. She couldn’t see anything but more shaft and then a blockage of some kind.
     
     
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    “We are?” she asked doubtfully.
    “Wait here.”
    Lena moved further back into the horizontal shaft as Dax climbed past her. She watched him until he reached the end. Bracing himself carefully, he began kicking at the piece blocking the top of the shaft. She’d just begun to think he couldn’t get the leverage he needed to knock the thing loose when it fell to one side and a gust of air whipped past her, freezing the sweat on her skin. Before she could blink, Dax was over the side and out of her sight.
    “Dax?” she called in a quaky, frightened voice.
    He leaned over the opening, holding a hand down. “Come on, baby girl.”
    Lena’s chin wobbled. Abruptly, all she could think of was that she wanted Morris. He’d always made everything alright. She needed Morris and he was gone. He was never going to be there for her again.
    “Just a little further. Come on.”
    Swallowing with an effort, Lena scrubbed a hand across her eyes to dry the tears that had puddled in them and moved shakily to enter the shaft again. Her heart seemed to stand still in her chest as she looked down.
    “Don’t look down! Look at me!”
    Too late! She didn’t think she could’ve made it this far if Dax hadn’t been behind her all the way, blocking her view of the miles of shaft below her, giving her the reassurance that he was there to catch her.
    Never mind that she hadn’t actually believed he would, that she’d been afraid the whole time that if she fell she was going to take both of them down.
    She needed the illusion of safety he’d given her.
    “Lena! Get your ass up here!” Dax bellowed abruptly.
    Stiffening her spine, still quaking like a leaf, Lena moved into the shaft and began struggling upward again. A jolt went through her when she felt a hand brush one shoulder. He caught her arm as she slipped, heaving upward. She managed to grip one side of the top edge. Her feet sought traction, slipped and she pedaled upward.