Welcome to Gaia! ::

Zeke, rubbing at a lump forming on the back of his head, was eyeing the walls with cautious apprehension As their group congregated in the larger chamber at the end of the dark tunnel. He was watching the skittering, glowing insects as they moved around them, idle and useless thoughts of bioluminescence before pale eyes drifted onto on of the many junctures branching out from the anti-chamber they currently stood in.

He was listening--he was always listening--but his attention seemed to be elsewhere until Ever's voice filled his com. "Groups are probably a wise choice," he agreed, looking up to the runes that had caught the blonde's attention then back down.

Carl, head turning so he could look down each tunnel in turn, was chewing on his lip as he considered the best course of action. Splitting up would be quicker. If Cee was in immediate danger it would give them the best chance of finding her quickly, but it would also put them in danger should they run into something dangerous. And even if they did split up, they didn't have enough people for everyone to have a partner.

"Er." He took a step forward, lips pressing into a thin line before he turned his gaze from the tunnels to the group of hunters instead. "Okay. Here's what we're gunna do.

"Paige, you and Zeke take the first tunnel. Ever and Bob, you can take the second. Beth and I will take the third, and Jaime, you can either come with us, or take the forth." It was clear by the apprehension in his tone that he wasn't at all sure that was the best idea, but he didn't take it back. Jaime had been the one to suggest splitting up, after all.

Zeke lingered for just a moment, giving Ever a meaningful look, before heading off towards the first tunnel. "Watch your back," he called to the Lifer, tone not quite casual, as he paused to wait for Paige to join him. When she did he'd tip his head towards the darkness, a hand going for one of his inner pockets and the small LED flashlight within. "That goes for you too, gorgeous." It would have been nice if he could have kept both blondes with him. Less worrisome.

Carl waited for Beth at the mouth of the third tunnel, though he was looking at Jaime, brows up in question. Was the other staying or going?

Beth let out an irritated whine before marching over to Carl, arms crossed over her chest.

"Let's take our time," she said loudly, her words reverberating along the walls of their particular tunnel. Her tone caused the glowing bodies on the wall to shift their movements, not that she noticed.

Meanwhile Paige hooked her hand down the back of Zeke's pants because she had zero ******** intent in being separated from him.

"This is a cluster. A ********. And it's also stupid." She paused. "What do you think the runes mean?"

Carl gave Beth a look as they started down their tunnel. It was a perplexed, disappointed sort of look, and a small exhale that wasn't quite a sigh followed. Pretend she's joking, pretend her humor was just jealously fueled and macabre. Pretend hard enough that everything was fine, and maybe it would be. All they had to do was find Cee, then they could head back to the base, finish the mission, go home.

Home sounded so good right now.

"Watch for traps." These sorts of places always had traps, right?

---

Zeke slowed his pace long enough for Paige to hook her fingers around the top of his pants, equally as glad for the contact. It let him keep his eyes forward, attention on the tunnel, the walls, anything that might have been hidden beneath the skittering bodies of the glowing bugs. He fished his phone out so he could snap pictures of anything and everything that seemed mildly relevant and important. "Not a clue, but it sure would be handy if we could read them."

Paige was right, it was a ********. What if Cee wasn't even there? What if they'd just stumbled onto some old ruins that were utterly irrelevant to their current goals?

He kept these thoughts to himself. Paige was on edge enough without the seeds of doubt. Instead he kept quiet, listening to the sound of their steps echoing off the stone and anything else there was to hear.

"Sorry." Bob frowned. Why would he ask? Generally when someone went missing in the desert it was a bad thing. Generally there were horseman and bug monsters and all kinds of brutal s**t. Bob just stayed silent though.

He wished they'd just let him stay back at base. He felt much more useful working on the coms or generators.

Beth merely snorted and flounced down the tunnel she'd been ordered to take. She did not spare Carl a look over her shoulder, but instead called out softly in a sing-song voice, "Now maybe Paige will think I'm the prettiest!"

And then they found Cee, and Beth wilted upon seeing the dark-haired woman - she didn't really even notice the skeletal being until it spoke.

She immediately froze and clutched Carl's shoulder.

---

"What if we're too late," Paige whined as she watched Zeke take a picture with his phone. Her thoughts were rapidly turning towards worst case scenarios, and it was rapidly becoming obvious that she was -- wait, what the <********, what the <******** creature didn't seem hostile, but Paige wasn't going to take any chances. She leaned closer to Zeke and whispered, "Well, what now?"

Bob continued along the tunnel in awkward silence. Suddenly the glowing walls cave way to small chambers and alcoves. Bundles of dried flowers and herbs hung from the ceilings in some of them, and others had racks of scrolls. They were untouched, coated in dust and debris, and in some cases tumbled into piles from decay.

"Should we take some of these?" He looked at Ever while still taking photos.

"...yes." It held a furious kind of enthusiasm, Ever already reaching out to page through some of the scrolls and look through the writing -- for something that resembled Greek, or Latin, or even Welsh, these days. He chewed on the inside of his cheek and prayed that they wouldn't just fall to pieces in his hands.

"We should take as many as we can shove into whatever pockets we have, man." And he meant it. He'd start now. Do this fast, and then carry on, in search of Cee.

1

The horseman gazed up at the two calmly and then explained slowly, as if to very precious children. "A Famine Lair. You will die here, most likely." She paused and then went on, "Humans, from my observation and readings, try to avoid it, though," her eyes scrunched a little in an obvious smile, "your current course is one I must approve of. I've always been a little envious, of how close your kind exists to Death. He is always next to you, fore and aft."

A wistful sigh. "You are lost, but you will of course be found."

2

Several would crumble and flake into so much debris, but most of the scrolls were surprisingly sturdy for their obvious age. In their search of the room, one of them would trip the mechanism to an additional passageway. Tight and cramped and obscured in darkness, the two would have decide whether to explore further in, or continue along the main passageway.

3

"Lives, blood bearer, lives," Nest hissed. Reaching out, even as more her dress and body peeled away in a flutter of wings to surround the two other hunters, the creature traced a hand along the sagging flesh of Cee's jowls. "How many?"

The moths obscured Beth and Carl from sight, the sword a gleaming streak that sliced through and across. Moths died upon contact with it, but there were so many and he was only managing a handful with each pass. It was Beth who felt one fly into her mouth first, despite all his efforts to protect. One and then another, and soon both were choking on small bodies and wings, filling their mouth and then throat.

"How many?"