Chapter 578: All The Burden On One Fragile Back
And so it began.
He went back into the narrow fissures, armed with a makeshift pickaxe he’d fashioned from scrap metal and wood.
He found weak points in the cave walls and attacked them with all his remaining strength, chipping away at the stone in hopes of finding a hidden cavern, a subterranean ecosystem, anything that might provide sustenance.
It was more dangerous than before.
Every swing of the pickaxe sent vibrations through the rock, and sometimes those vibrations brought chunks of stone crashing down around him.
More than once, he barely dodged a falling stalactite or a collapsing section of wall.
If he hadn’t retained his sharp senses, dulled though they were by the Anti-mana, he would have been crushed long ago.
But he kept going. He had to.
Anya stayed at the entrance to whatever fissure he was exploring, holding the rope tied around his waist, calling out to him every few minutes to make sure he was still alive.
"Mika? Are you okay?"
"I’m fine. Just hit a tough spot."
"Mika? Can you hear me?"
"I can hear you. I’m almost done with this section."
"Mika? Mika, answer me!"
"I’m here, Anya. I’m always here."
Every time he emerged, he looked worse than before.
His face was smeared with dust and sweat. His clothes were torn in new places.
His body was covered in fresh cuts and bruises from near-misses with falling rocks and collapsing walls.
If they hadn’t salvaged medical supplies from the hospital ruins, his wounds would have become infected long ago.
But he never complained. He never asked for help.
He just kept going, day after day, driven by a desperation that Anya was only beginning to understand.
’He’s doing this for me.’ She realized. ’He’s pushing himself past his limits because he thinks the adults are going to try to hurt me.’
The thought made her want to cry.
She watched him disappear into another crack, his small body squeezing through an opening that seemed impossibly narrow, and she made another silent vow.
’I’m going to become stronger. I don’t know how, but I will. So that Mika never has to do this alone again.’
’So that no one—not adults, not monsters, not anything can ever threaten us again.’
’I swear it.’
—
The adults, meanwhile, were deteriorating.
As the days without food stretched on, they became more and more animalistic.
They fought among themselves constantly—over sleeping spots, over water access, over scraps so small they weren’t worth fighting over.
The older doctor and one of the attendants got into a physical altercation that left both of them bleeding.
The nurses formed cliques and turned on each other, their alliances shifting by the hour.
And the way they looked at Anya and Mika...
It made Anya’s skin crawl.
’We’re the weakest.’ She thought, remembering Mika’s words. ’And when predators are starving, they go after the weakest prey first.’
She started staying closer to Mika. She stopped venturing anywhere near the adults section of the cavern.
She slept with her back against the wall, facing outward, so she would see if anyone approached in the night.
She was scared. All the time.
But she didn’t break. Because Mika needed her to be strong, and she had made a promise to herself.
’Never again.’
—
On the twenty-first day, everything changed.
Anya was sitting near the wall Mika had entered hours ago, absently drawing patterns in the dust with her finger.
She was worried. He had been gone longer than usual, and his last tug on the rope had been nearly thirty minutes ago.
She was just about to call out to him when she heard it.
"ANYA!"
His voice. Shouting. Not in pain—in excitement.
"ANYA, I FOUND IT!"
Mika emerged from the crack moments later, his face split by the biggest smile she had seen since they fell.
His clothes were torn, his hair was full of rock dust, and there was a fresh cut on his cheek, but he didn’t seem to notice any of it.
"I found food." He gasped, grabbing her shoulders. "Anya, I found food!"
"Really?!"
"Really! There’s a cave. A whole other cave system. I broke through a wall and it opened up into this massive chamber, and there’s a plant—a vine, growing all over the walls—and it has these fruits. Huge fruits. The size of boulders."
"The size of boulders?"
"Titan Berries. I read about them once. They grow in subterranean environments like this. They’re not exactly common, but they’re edible.’
"And there’s enough of them to feed everyone for weeks. Maybe months."
Anya threw her arms around him, laughing with relief. "You did it! Mika, you did it! You saved us!"
"Not yet." He pulled back, his expression sobering slightly. "There’s...a complication."
"A complication?"
Before he could answer, the sound of approaching footsteps made them both turn.
The adults had heard the commotion. They were coming toward them, the whole pack of them, their eyes gleaming with desperate hope.
"You found food?" The older doctor demanded. "Where? How much!?"
"Tell us! We need it!"
"I’m so hungry—please, just give us something—"
They crowded around Mika like starving wolves, their gaunt faces twisted with need.
Anya instinctively stepped closer to him, her heart racing.
"There’s food." Mika said, his voice steady despite the mob pressing in. "A subterranean plant called Titan Berry. The fruits are massive and nutritious. There’s enough to sustain all of us indefinitely."
The adults’ faces lit up. Some of them actually cheered.
"But." Mika continued, raising his voice. "There’s a problem."
The cheers died.
"What kind of problem?" The nurse asked suspiciously.
"The cave where the fruit grows is...occupied."
"Occupied?"
"There’s a bat. A massive one. It guards the fruit. Getting to the plant means getting past the bat."
A collective gasp went through the group.
"A...A creature?" One of the attendants stammered. "Is it dangerous?"
"Of course it’s dangerous!" Another nurse snapped. "It’s a giant bat! What do you think it does, sing lullabies?!"
"Calm down." Mika said. "The bat isn’t as bad as it sounds. I’ve observed it. It’s slow. Stupid, honestly."
"It reacts primarily to sound, and even then, its senses are poor. As long as you stay quiet and move behind cover, it can’t track you."
"So what are you saying?"
Mika took a deep breath.
"I’m saying that getting the fruit is possible. But it requires two people. One to distract the bat, and one to harvest the fruit."
"I’m willing to be the distraction..."
He looked around at the adults, meeting their eyes one by one.
"...I just need one of you to come with me and do the harvesting."
Silence.
The adults stared at him. Then they stared at each other. Then they stared at the floor.
"Well?" Mika prompted. "Who’s going to volunteer?"
More silence. Someone coughed nervously.
"Ah, you see." A older doctor began, his voice uncharacteristically hesitant. "The thing is, I have a...a medical condition. My heart, you understand. Very delicate. The stress of confronting a wild animal would almost certainly—"
"I can’t swim." One of the attendants blurted out.
"There’s no water involved."
"Still! Still, I...I have a fear of...of dark places. And bats. Especially bats."
"I have a bad knee!"
"I’m too old for this sort of thing!"
"I’d love to help, really, but I have to...I have to..."
The excuses piled up, one after another, each more pathetic than the last.
Anya watched in disgust as grown adults, fell over themselves trying to avoid having to do anything remotely dangerous.
"You’re all cowards." She said, her voice cutting through their babbling. "Every single one of you!"
"Mika is offering to be the distraction—the dangerous part and you still won’t help? You’d rather starve?!"
The adults had the grace to look ashamed. But none of them stepped forward.
"I’m not going to force anyone." Mika said in a resigned manner. "But you need to understand the situation. If we don’t get this fruit, we don’t eat. It’s that simple. We’ll all starve down here, together."
"Perhaps..." The doctor cleared his throat. "Perhaps we could see this cave first? Before we make any decisions?"
Mika nodded slowly. "Fair enough. Follow me."
He led them to the fissure he had discovered, a narrow crack in the wall that he had widened with his makeshift pickaxe.
It was still barely large enough for an adult to squeeze through, but Mika and Anya could fit easily.
"See?" The doctor said, his face brightening with relief. "The hole is far too small! Even if we wanted to help, we couldn’t possibly fit through there."
"What a shame. I suppose you’ll have to handle it yourself after all, boy."
"I’ve already said I can widen it." Mika replied. "The stone is soft. With a few more hours of work, it’ll be big enough for anyone to pass through."
The doctor’s smile faltered. "Ah. Well. That’s...that’s good to know."
Before anyone could make another excuse, a sound echoed from the fissure.
"SKREEEEEEE—!"
A high-pitched, screeching cry that seemed to vibrate through the very stone.
The adults scrambled backward, their faces white with terror.
"What was that?!"
"Is that the bat?!"
"I’m not going in there! I don’t care how hungry I am—I’m not going anywhere near that thing!"
"Neither am I!"
"Me neither!"
They fled. Every single one of them turned and ran, their earlier desperation for food completely overwhelmed by their cowardice.
"Wait!" Anya shouted. "Come back! This is our only chance! If you don’t help, we’re all going to—"
But they were gone, retreating to their corner of the cavern like frightened children.
Anya stared after them, her entire body shaking with fury.
"I hate them." She whispered. "I hate them so much."
"Mika?" Anya turned to him, suddenly uneasy. "What do we do now? If none of them will help..."
"Then I’ll do it myself."
"What?! No! Mika, you can’t! You said it needs two people! And that bat—I heard it screeching—it sounds terrifying!"
"It’s fine." Mika’s voice was calm, but there was something in his eyes that Anya didn’t like.
Something resigned. Something determined.
"I’ve been in there before. I know what I’m doing."
"Then let me come with you! I can help!"
"No."
"Why not?! I’m not useless, Mika! I—"
"No, Anya." Mika’s voice was firm. "You’re staying here. That’s not negotiable."
"But—"
"I need you to stay safe. Can you do that for me? Please?"
Anya wanted to argue. But the look in Mika’s eyes stopped her.
There was something desperate there, something almost pleading.
"Okay." She whispered. "Okay. I’ll stay."
Mika’s shoulders sagged with relief. "Thank you."
He turned toward the fissure. But before he could go, Anya grabbed his hand.
"Mika? Please be careful. Please come back."
He looked at her, and for just a moment, his expression softened.
"I always come back, don’t I?"
And then he was gone, disappearing into the narrow crack in the wall, leaving Anya alone with her fear and her prayers.
—
Anya stood at the entrance to the fissure.
She could hear the sounds from within—scraping, shuffling, the distant echo of something that might have been wings.
And then—a screech.
It was high-pitched and horrible, cutting through the stone like a knife. Anya’s blood ran cold.
The adults, who had been hovering nearby, stumbled backward with cries of terror.
"What was that?!"
"Is that the bat?!"
"Oh gods, it’s going to kill him—"
"Shut up!" Anya screamed at them. "Just shut up! He’s in there risking his life while you all stand around doing nothing!"
"The least you can do is be quiet!"
They fell silent, cowed by the ferocity in her voice.
Anya pressed her ear to the rock, listening desperately. More screeches. The sound of something heavy moving. A muffled thump.
"Mika." She whispered. "Please be okay. Please, please, please..."
The minutes stretched into an eternity. Anya’s legs went numb from kneeling on the cold stone. Her heart pounded so hard she could feel it in her throat.
Every horrible scenario played out in her mind.
Mika caught by the bat, Mika crushed by falling rocks, Mika lost in the darkness, alone and hurt and—
Just then—a sound!
Scraping. Dragging. Coming closer.
And then Mika’s head emerged from the crack, his face streaked with sweat and dust, but his expression triumphant.
"I got it!" He said. "Anya, I got it!"
He pulled himself out of the fissure, dragging a large plastic bucket behind him.
When he opened the lid, Anya peered inside and saw...sludge.
Thick, blue sludge that looked like someone had put a blue papaya in a blender.
