Time Remaining: 36 Days, 21 Hours. (Status: 8 hours have passed. The engine has cooled. The team is exhausted.) Location: Sector 2 - The Serpent's Throat (Deep Subterranean).
The silence was heavier than the noise.
For the last eight hours, the only sound in the tunnel had been the Sound of cooling metal and the rhythmic snoring of Vivian, who could apparently sleep on a pile of jagged basalt rocks without a pillow.
Arthur sat on the front bumper of the Iron Horse, staring into the absolute darkness. He held a tin cup of cold coffee that tasted like engine oil and regret. The emergency red lights of the cabin cast long, bloody shadows against the tunnel walls. The air here was damp, cold, and smelled of stale earth—a sharp contrast to the furnace of the Wastes outside.
Arthur shivered. The adrenaline from the bridge jump had faded hours ago, leaving him with bruised ribs and a headache that throbbed behind his eyes.
