Friday, November 4th, 9:30 p.m.

It's hard to breathe in the absence of light. In the recesses of Earth where even light ceases to travel. The air becomes corporeal and covers everything like a heavy blanket. Deep breaths feel like they need to be followed by a spurt of coughing to expel the stale air, because in these places, the air doesn't reach the outside world. An invisible barrier prevents the air from being replaced, it's either unable or unwilling to leave its dark crevices.

Michelle hadn't known all this when she and Ron had scaled into the pit that swallowed their van. Armed with flashlights and beef jerky, they thought they were prepared for what lay in wait, but by the time they descended into the pit, it was too late to change their minds. Michelle urged Ron to wait for her on the outside to keep watch just in case Perry or something else of note stumbled by. He agreed with unbridled enthusiasm eager to escape the suffocating darkness. That proved to be a problem.

The entrance consisted of a fifteen foot vertical drop onto a packing of loose dirt that softened their fall, but hastened their descent into the depths. The scree followed an angled path to the bottom. While the hill had been easy and a little fun to go down, climbing back was not so simple. The loose dirt shifted beneath Ron's feet at every step pulling the ground out from under him as if it were taunting him, giving the illusion of progress like a treadmill. When he reached the top of the steeped slope, the lip of the outside world taunted him, just out of reach. Climbing the fifteen foot wall bore no fruit, because the wet, loose dirt crumpled when he let it hold his full weight.

Michelle considered waiting by the entrance with Ron, but not for long. Her curiosity got the best of her, while Ron waited for eventual help to come by. Michelle promised to scratch X's into the dirt to mark her path, and not to venture too far away from the entrance. She knew she would go as far as it took, but Ron wouldn't understand. The dark tunnels beneath the drive-in were nothing compared to her unquenchable thirst for knowledge.

Michelle Trick #5 - There's no such thing as obstacles, just challenges.

She plunged into the darkness with a high beam flashlight and half their supply of food, and two bottles of water; one of which she'd already drank, but she wasn't about to leave manufactured plastic in the Earth. She tried not to think of the rumbling she'd heard earlier that day, but she was confident that she could outrun it if she was put to the test. She spared a brief moment for the deer she'd seen that morning, and hoped that she wouldn't see it's spirit alongside Cade Jahns and the little boy with no eyes when she laid down to rest.

Michelle was presented with several forks in her path, and she chose right with consistency to prevent becoming lost in what she was beginning to suspect would be a labyrinthine maze. The creature that had dug these tunnels had to have been massive and tireless, never ceasing it's churning of the earth, creating a trap for unsuspecting prey that got lost in its depths. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Michelle noted that her path tilted downward at no more than an angle of five degrees, but after what she gauged to be thirty minutes, she worried that depth was adding up.

The journey uphill would be another challenge, but she would deal with that later.

Time started to have less meaning the deeper she went. Michelle didn't realize how much she had come to take her phone, the sun, and even her internal body mechanisms for telling time as a given. A darkness this deep confused the body, tricking it into believing she was traversing endless night, and that statement felt partially true. Light would never shine in these passages.

After what she judged to be the ninth fork in the passage, she noted that the left tunnel had an upward tilt to it. She marked as many X's on the ground as she could and chose left. The passage turned back in on itself, and the path pointed back the way she had come.

A great heave of the Earth sent a shower of dust and small flakes of dirt through the passage, but after one shift, the Earth settled back down. Michelle took it as a sign she was close to something. Containing her excitement proved to be a challenge, and she had to keep stopping herself from breaking out into a jog. She may need her energy for later.

The upward path twisted and turned more than her original path which had been more or less in a straight line. The path she was currently on didn't have any forks, so she knew if she followed this one back she could find her way out with ease. However, this path had changed direction so much that Michelle did not have the slightest clue in which direction she was now facing, but that didn't seem to matter as long as she followed this one back when the time came.

The Earth shuddered again, this time it continued for several seconds before it settled down. While Michelle had been worried that a shift would send the entire passage on top of her head and bury her alive. Michelle quickly perished the thought when she saw how sturdy and resolute the passage had been when the shift occurred. This shift also seemed to emanate from some point above her and to the right.

That happened to be the direction the path was taking her. She knew she should have been worried in some deep corner of her mind, but her voice of caution was too far away for Michelle to pay it much credence.

It could have been a trick of the mind, but the darkness was starting to feel heavier. It closed in on the beam of her flashlight, like it had an appetite and was feeding on the meager scraps of light.

As she continued, Michelle felt a gradual shift in climate. Her stay in Lancet Falls had consisted of alternating spells of still, dry cold, or piercing wind made her regret not having anything to cover her face. In this artificial cavern, the air was taking on the qualities of sauna with a feverish heat.

This time she did run. A dollop of claustrophobia was starting to accompany her excitement, but she wasn't about to leave before she finished what she came to do. Ron joked one day her curiosity would get her killed, and Michelle prayed that day wasn't today.

A sound drifted through the air, faint, like it's long journey through the heavy air had tired it. There was no telling how far away it was, but what she heard made her stop and strain her ears. It sounded like multiple somethings crying, but Michelle couldn't imagine a human producing a sound like that. It reminded her of the blind mewling of kittens waiting to be fed.

Goosebumps prickled their way up Michelle's arms, and she shivered despite the heat. Sweat gave her forearms a faint sheen. She tried not think about what those sounds meant, but the sound of that deer being dragged against pavement crept into her mind, giving her a fresh injection of reality. Michelle didn't want to be the next meal, but she couldn't turn back now. She'd come too far, and it was going to take nothing short of a meteor to stop her when she was on the scent.

Michelle continued forward, no longer running. Her steps hit the ground with a caution she didn't know she possessed. She imaged tremors traveling through the ground alerting a creature to her presence.

I'll just get a quick peek then I'm out of here.

Something brittle snapped underneath her foot. She knew that sound; a phantom rib cage cracking from the force of the compressions exerted on it.

Michelle pointed her flashlight beam at the ground. There weren't any dried bones, just a mat of dry twigs and branches coated the floor, giving the impression she'd entered the lair of a beast. The mewling reached an unbearable level, their hunger an alarm system. She didn't have much time, before mommy came back.

Michelle's loping strides gobbled the ground with the precision of a longtime runner. A twisted ankle would mean her death, but her legs didn't fail her. A long hallway followed by an opening stretched out before her, and Michelle felt a surge of triumph. She didn't have a camera, but some answers to her own questions would be enough.

She darted through the opening to a large chamber. The center was dominated by an enormous structure of full-size boulders and branches. Sheets of metal reinforced the edges of the structure. A crater in the middle of the crude fort looked like it had been pressed down with continuous applied pressure. Something rested its enormous bulk here on a regular basis. The depression had to be twelve feet or more in diameter, and Michelle knew that's where the Rumbler slept.

The right wall of the bedchamber was adorned with a yawning chasm that could only be an entryway into another passage.

The mewling took on an eager, almost angry tone when Michelle entered the room. Spoiled pups enraged by any delay in gratification. Michelle steadied herself and swung her flashlight beam in a sweeping arc towards the sound.

A miniature version of the nest in the center of the room jutted out from the wall. Mud, rocks, and twigs were melded into a small enclosure shaped like an unmolded bowl made in a pottery class. The beginnings of claws peeked over the lip of the bowl, but the creatures seemed unable or unwilling to pull themselves out of the enclosure. The Rumbler wasn't ready for its children to venture out into the world.

It is a cruel place after all.

Michelle judged the pen to be three and a half feet off the ground. She inched forward ready to glimpse the source of the horrible sounds. A rumble in the distance sounded in tandem with her footsteps.

Her expectations were dashed to the wind when she saw the contents of the nursery. Michelle expected a pen of ravening, slobbering creatures crawling over each other waiting to sink their teeth into fresh meat. What she didn't expect was to be reminded of people selling puppies and kittens at Franklin Towne Plaza.

Michelle counted four of them. Their eyes still hadn't opened, but their nostrils flared as if they were slurping up Michelle's scent. Each nose pointed at Michelle like a homing beacon. Their paws looked large proportionally huge compared to their bodies. Michelle could imagine the spade-like appendages shoveling great quantities of dirt. White, downy fur covered their little bodies with a black streak running down the lengths of their bodies. The fur was still thin enough to see the pink, new flesh underneath. Judging by their appearance, they couldn't have been more than a day or two old, but they were each the size of a cat that had swallowed a watermelon. They triggered the age old instinct to reach down and pet something that was unbelievably cute, but wicked sets of pin-like teeth gave her pause. The cute little fluff balls would've gladly torn Michelle to shreds and gnawed on her bones like little chew toys.

At that moment, Michelle didn't know how deep they were underground, but she knew that she was underneath the drive-in. She shared a kinship with these cute, little monstrosities that she herself did not understand. Something inside of Michelle wanted her to stay and raise these creatures as her own. A twinge of irony plucked at one of her neurons.

I've never wanted kids or pets, but I want to stay and raise these aberrations of nature. Is that irony or what?

The Rumbler had other plans; the rumbling had increased from a steady dull vibration, to a full on earthquake level shaking ever since Michelle had entered the creature's den, but she'd been transfixed by the strange, beauty of the newborns. Michelle turned toward the entrance to the chamber.

The Rumbler stood in the doorway. Her flashlight only revealed a portion of the creature, and that was enough. She caught a glimpse of white, matted fur, rippling muscles, and red eyes fixed on Michelle.

She jolted into a run towards the entrance she'd come in. The Rumbler let out a roar of outrage and moved to block her path. Michelle didn't expect a display of agility from the creature, and counted on her ability to move in short bursts would be superior to the creature's. She managed to slip through its grasp and move down the tunnel from whence she came.

Two things happened at once. First, purple fluid started being pumping through her veins. Michelle thought of them as the endorphins released by a runner's high, but enhanced. Second, the beam of the flashlight flickered with every footfall Michelle took. The rapid and violent movements were jostling the batteries, and Michelle didn't think they were going to last the journey back to the surface.

The world slowed down. Michelle saw everything around her in start and stop images that revealed themselves in synchronization with the oscillations of the flashlight. The footfalls of The Rumbler were deafening, and she didn't like the thought of its massive forelimbs crushing her underneath its massive weight, where she would then become tenderized meat for the young Rumblers. She saw the abundance of life all around her and was startled with how full of life the passage was. The insects that nobody noticed or would notice ever again.

A spider sat perched on its web meters away, and Michelle wondered what was going on it its mind, and how long it had taken to spin its web. She'd never noticed the beauty of a spider's web before, and it felt somehow wrong that The Rumbler would destroy its hard work.

Michelle's legs churned like a finely tuned machine as she put an ever-increasing amount of distance between she and The Rumbler. When the path started to wind, Michelle tried to construct a mental map of where she'd need to go next. Hesitation now would prove fatal.

An impact shook the cavern. A larger downpour of dust and pebbles rained from above. The roof didn't seem as stable as it had before, and Michelle realized what was happening. The Rumbler was not bothering with the twists and turns of the passage and was plowing through the solid walls. If they slowed it down, it gave no sign. In fact, the rumbling felt closer than it had before.

The flashlight died.

Despite Michelle's sharpened senses, she couldn't see a thing. Improved eyesight still couldn't send signals to her brain without any rays of light. The best she could do was a sort of pseudo sight. The pinging of sound waves gave her a general idea where everything was around her, so she didn't bump into any walls or twist an ankle.

Michelle briefly considered turning and facing The Rumbler. She remembered the way the car had gave way before the force of her enhanced state, and the way the cut on her hand had healed. She decided against it. Doing something that bold without knowing the full extent of what she could do amounted to suicide.

The fork in the road popped up and Michelle course corrected in time to not run headlong into it, but her left shoulder slammed into the dirt creating a rumble of her own. Sporadic showers of dirt gave way, and now a constant drizzle took their place.

The Rumbler slammed into the place where she'd just been and Michelle heard a section of dirt somewhere off in the distance collapse.

Please don't be where I need to go.

Even if an entire search party went down here, Michelle doubted they could find her if she got lost, and she didn't think even a large group of people could do anything to stop the monstrosity behind her. It's single-minded rage reminded Michelle of herself when pursuing a story. She hoped the irony wasn't fatal.

On the straightaway, even moving uphill, Michelle was able to increase the distance between her and the monster. She imagined The Rumbler as a competitor in cross country, and Michelle always won first place. The shift in mindset gave her a burst of speed that fear wasn't able to do.

Michelle shredded through the distance between herself and entrance. She didn't know what she was going to do when she got there, but she'd think of something.

A figure standing in the middle of the tunnel made the point moot. Michelle skirted to the side of person and grabbed their hand. She expected the long,soft fingers that had never worked a hard day in their lives, but got the rough stubby fingers of a country boy.

"You promised to stay out of trouble," Perry's voice chided. She could barely hear it over the rumbling.

"My fingers were crossed," Michelle replied lifting Perry like he were a sack of potatoes.

She sprinted down the tunnel with the man's solid abdominal muscles against her shoulder. Perry's added weight would have been too much for Normal Michelle, but the new and improved found it much easier. However, he was weighing her down just enough The Rumbler was gaining on them.

I'll never make it to the exit like this.

"You make it back to the entrance and get Ron out of here!" She shouted, planting him back on his feet.

"Wha-" he started to ask.

"Just go!" Michelle shrieked turning to face the oncoming juggernaut of muscle and fur.

She couldn't tell if Perry left or not, but she had done all she could. As she faced down the Rumbler, a wild idea popped into her head.

Michelle started towards the creature. When she felt it get in range, Michelle jumped. She cocked her arm back, preparing to punch where she hoped its face would be.

A beam of light cut through the air illuminating the slavering creature for Michelle. Not that it mattered, she was way off her mark, and it was too late for her to change her trajectory. Michelle's path was lined up with the beast's shoulder/

Muscle fibers tore on impact. The creature roared. It sounded more like rage than actual pain but Michelle's leap of faith did seem to slow it down. The Rumbler had ceased it's reckless charge and was focused on Michelle. Perry's flashlight illuminated it's bloodshot eyes, and for a brief moment, Michelle wished for the darkness.

The Rumbler's paw darted forward in an agile strike that belied its massive girth. Watching its eyes saved her life. They betrayed the strike a second before it lunged. There was no time for respite as it continued to launch its spade-like appendages into the ground Michelle had previously occupied. Even with super agility, it was all she could do to dodge its manic strikes. Michelle didn't have a snowball's chance in hell to mount an offensive.

All the while, Perry's flashlight wobbled along The Rumbler's muscled body.

Fool. There's no reason for both of us to die. Besides, there's an off chance I'm invincible. A small chance, but a chance.

"Get the hell out of here, you simpleton!"

"Serve and Protect!" he shouted back.

"I'm protecting you!" Michelle said as a paw finally hit its mark.

The claw slid through her calf muscle like a hot knife through butter. The bottom half of the muscle hung loosely from her leg. White, hot agony ripped through her leg rushed to her brain to inform her she was experiencing the worst pain she'd ever felt, pain that blurred her vision, pain that made every second feel like an eternity.

A lot happened in that eternity.

Michelle recognized The Rumbler, or what it used to be, a badger. In her teenage years, Michelle worked on the grounds crew for a golf course in Boise. She'd had the honor of helping flush out a mama badger, so animal control could capture it. Later, they found out the mama had just been protecting her young, but that didn't matter to the animal control guy who lost a finger. The Rumbler was just a mama badger protecting her kidlets.

Mama decided that Michelle was sufficiently incapacitated and switched from her claws to a row of sharp, powerful looking teeth. She lunged where Michelle lay, and Michelle scuttling backwards on one leg wasn't going to cut it.

Michelle's veins and muscle fibers strained towards each other, attempting to knit her calf back together, but they were nowhere near fast enough.

An explosion went off in Perry's general direction. The sound may as well have been a nuclear warhead in Michelle's ears with her hyper acute hearing. 

 Mama's bloodshot right eye vanished. A blossom of blood bloomed into the air where the badger's eye used to be. The rest of the eye dripped down her face like runny egg whites.

The monstrous badger turned its angular head towards Perry. He still held the smoking gun. The barrel wavered, and Michelle doubted he would be able to fire off another lucky shot, before Mama ripped him to shreds and fed bite-size pieces of Perry to her younglings. 

Michelle looked at the badger's one remaining eye. It was no longer bloodshot. If Michelle didn't know any better, she'd say the animal possessed an uncanny intelligence. It looked back to Michelle, and then Perry again. It bowed its head and trundled off back the way it had come.

  What just happened? It's almost like she sized up the situation and decided against it. Like she didn't want to make her kids orphans. 

A wave of guilt washed over Michelle. She knew what it was like to grow up without a mother. 

Michelle pulled herself to her feet. Her calf ached in protest, and she could feel her skin stretching against the newly formed scar tissue. Perry hadn't moved. The flashlight lay on the ground pointing down the way the badger had gone. 

 The man stood as stiff as a statue aside from his trembling hands. Waves of affection for the officer washed over Michelle. She approached Perry and wrapped him an embrace. He stiffened at first before melting at her touch. Michelle stroked his arm and eased the gun out of his hands and onto the ground. The state of shell shock left his eyes, and he looked down at Michelle and smiled. His smile possessed a radiance all on its own. 

 Michelle swooned, only half joking. 

 "Oh Officer Durant, you're my hero! However shall I repay you?"

"I have an idea or two," he said. 

He returned the embrace and pulled her against the musculature of his body. She expected hard angles and a stony surface, not the delicacy in which he handled her She stood on her tip toes and pressed her lips to his. Perry softened and their lips came together like two puzzle pieces. 

Michelle felt another part of him stiffen against her. He kissed across her face leaving delicate tingling sensations wherever he went. When he got to her ear, he breathed heavily before nibbling on the soft skin of her ear. Michelle shuddered feeling goosebumps of arousal prickle along her body, culminating in a spot just below her navel. With her heightened senses, the feeling rivaled any pleasure she'd ever felt. 

 She resisted the urge to tear off his shirt and pin him to the ground. Instead, she pulled the bottom of his shirt up. He took the hint and removed his shirt where Michelle could see the muscled contours of his abdomen and chest muscles. She played a tongue lightly over his nipples and travelled downward, stopping below the belly button, before traveling back up his body. 

 Perry reached a hand underneath Michelle's shirt and unclasped her bra. She was barely aware of it falling into the dirt. His fingers played over her nipples and they hardened beneath his light touch. She could feel the fabric of her panties getting moist, and all sense of restraint was blown to the wind. Michelle planted two hands on Perry's chest and shoved him to the ground. 

 They lost themselves in each other, paying no heed to their surroundings. They were the only beings in the universe consumed by one feeling, that only they understood. No words were exchanged save for moans and screams of pure ecstasy. They were one tangled beast of pure animal passion, and Michelle lost a bit of herself with Perry inside her. They went longer and harder than Michelle would've believed possible, and she knew that the animal of lust inside her could've gone until they both died, consumed by their passion. 

 When the heat faded, Michelle rested her head against Perry's chest. They didn't exchange any words. That would have cheapened the moment. Before she knew it, Michelle was lulled to sleep by Perry's tender breathing.   

Hey guys! SaintCole again,

The journey up to this point has been a cathartic experience for me, and it's weird we are almost to the third and final arc of this journey. I'm excited for you to all see what happens to our characters, but full of melancholy knowing their story is drawing to a close.

I know I ask everytime, but soon we won't be able to. Please vote you guys. It makes me feel good :P 

Now, I want to hear your thoughts and opinions. How was the claustrophobia in this chapter and what did you think of the development of Perry and Michelle? That was my first stab at anything like that. I wanted it to be tactful and passionate. Did that come across?