Still Waters

5076 words

Episode 8: Still Waters Elias’s boots skid on the damp stone as he stumbles back, his shoulder slamming against the jagged wall of the tunnel. Pain spikes through him, sharp and hot, but he barely registers it. His eyes are locked on the figures emerging from the pool, their silhouettes blurred by the dim, flickering light of the cavern. The air feels heavier now, thick with a metallic tang that coats the back of his throat, and the sound of dripping water echoes like a heartbeat—too loud, too steady. The figures don’t rush. They don’t need to. Their movements are deliberate, almost mechanical, as if they’ve got all the time in the world to close the distance. “Move, damn it!” Rylan’s voice cuts through the haze, rough and urgent. He’s already halfway down the tunnel they came from, his broad frame hunched as he scrambles over uneven rock. His hand grips the edge of a boulder for balance, knuckles white. “You wanna stand there and gawk ‘til they grab you?” Elias doesn’t answer. He can’t tear his gaze away. The figures—three of them now, maybe more—step fully into the faint light, and his stomach twists. Their skin is pale, almost gray, stretched tight over bones that jut out at wrong angles. Their eyes are empty, hollow pits that seem to...