Lithostatic Pressure

Corpse Carrier - Act 1 | Chapter 9 - Lithostatic Pressure
Thirty-Four Minutes After Juna Died

Specks—the lizard-creature Juna named—waddled thoughtlessly beside her, matching each stride with a quick barrage of its own. The more Theo studied the unusual creature, the less he understood. A fuzzy, orange and bluish one foot wide lizard-creature had walked alongside them for the past twenty minutes. Occasionally Specks would scamper about and perk its head, blankly staring off into the cavern’s distance before flicking its tongue and resuming its clueless march. The creature’s tail bobbed with each step, and every few minutes it had an unusual habit of bending it to caress its coat.

An interesting trait Theo never saw in other reptiles. Specks used its tail similarly to a whip, bending and contorting the appendage to comb through its fur, using the tiny brush-like bristles found on the edge of Speck’s tail. Effortlessly, Specks could move the tail all the way from its neck to the back thighs, and even reaching underneath to scratch its belly. The only part Theo noticed it never could reach was the base of his head. Luckily for Specks, Juna could comfortably reach that part. The lizard-creature would rub up against her school loafers and croak until she bent down and scratched the tip of his head.

Specks seemed to quite enjoy that.

Another world was a far-fetched idea. But every minute that passed walking alongside a flexible, furry, uncolored-coordinated lizard-creature, made Theo question the possibility. Worse still, they had been walking in a straight line for close to half an hour now without anything but far away stone walls and the occasional unknown plant in sight. However, Juna didn’t seem to mind. She would always stop to poke the unknown plants produced from the cracked ground, snipping them at the stem with a pair of scissors she brought along, and tossing them into her backpack.

Similar to Specks, Juna seemed to quite enjoy this too. She maintained a soft hum and a cheerful stride the whole walk. Like a middle schooler on a field trip, she would constantly swing her flashlight around at any minute rock she saw skip away from their intended path. Theo had to stay diligent. He would always drag her back to the walking line. There were no landmarks to judge exactly where they were. If they veered off their starting path by even a foot, they could end up walking a whole circle without realizing it. Theo kept his eyes on the cavern's ceiling, memorizing the chunks of glowing orange crystals above as they passed, and using them to keep his walking line straight. Though on a glance back down in front of him, Theo realized keeping a straight line was no longer needed.

Far off into the breaking point of his vision stood the only stone hill they’d seen since the beginning of their trek. Beyond the stone hill awaited a glimmering light seeping over its crest. The first sight of something different, and light that wasn’t just dimly hanging from the ceiling. Progress.

Forty-nine more minutes passed as they walked towards the long stone mound. Specks found himself on Juna's shoulders, and somehow Theo found himself carrying Juna's backpack. The happy-go-lucky girl next to him remained all smiles despite the almost hour-long march through an air-dense cavern. Theo on the other hand, fought with the idea of them truly being lost. He tried his best to push the worrying thoughts out of his mind. It was no use. The situation was too dire. Someone finding them would be a long shot. They could probably track down Theo's last location from the package he dropped outside of Nile’s Arcade. But beyond that Theo couldn’t picture how they would end up at the town bridge where they “drowned”. Unless—

He snuck a glance at Juna.

Unless she left a suicide note, Theo thought.

He brought his gaze back towards the stone mound and shook his head. Even now he still couldn’t bring himself to ask. Assuming Juna did leave a note, and somehow authorities tracked her last moments to the town bridge, how would they find the cavern? Unless it was logged in some old history book, there was no way of knowing this gigantic cavern existed. Even if they did know, Theo didn’t count they would ever find an entrance.

Finding a way in or a way out was impossible. Theo had tried already. Walking in a straight line was originally his last option. The first—searching the walls for any underwater tunnels they could have entered from—amounted to nothing. After a few minutes of Theo sliding his callused hands across the face of the stone wall closest to where they had woken up, he gave up on the plan.

Though, the scariest part of this whole ordeal was that if they truly were stuck in another world as Juna said, then Theo’s worries about someone finding them didn't even matter. Even if Juna left a note. Even if they found Theo and Juna's last location. Even if they knew exactly what happened and where the two unprepared high schoolers landed. It all meant nothing, if in the end another world was where they had woken. Juna’s etched and torn book being the perpetrator.

The lizard-creature named Specks, the engulfing cavern, Juna—being alive, and now the massive pale wooden village appearing as they marched the hill’s crest. Every variable changed and continued to make the notion of another world more viable. The more that realization sunk into the deepest parts of Theo, the more he couldn’t stop himself from thinking about the problems that came with being trapped in another world. Or rather, the problems of not being in his world.

Kaidia.

Theo was unsure if he could stay diligent.