Beneath Terra

This is Chapter 2

Chapter 2

We stepped into the cave, turned on our headlamps, and began looking around. Fifteen minutes in, and so far, it had been easy—no tight squeezes, no weird terrain. Still, walking through what felt like a stone maze, surrounded by nothing but rock and shadow, steadily descending deeper into the earth… that was enough to get our hearts pounding.

And if you looked at the group, you’d see it wasn’t just me. That creeping, electric buzz of adrenaline had hit all of us. So yeah—off to a successful start.

This cave had been visited a few times before, but one of the main reasons we picked it was because three people had gone missing in it.

Now, I bet you’re wondering: Why on Earth would we do this?
I don’t know. You figure it out.

As we kept going, we used glow-in-the-dark spray paint—this bright, neon-green stuff that glows faintly once on the walls. It made a perfect trail to mark our way. Andrew voiced concern about it being graffiti, but John was more worried about something else: being able to get in and get out alive.

We kept walking for what must’ve been another hour before stopping to rest. We clicked on a couple of lanterns and set up what looked like a comically stereotypical picnic. Sandwiches came out of backpacks like this was a family hike and not the start of a horror movie.

Then Patricia wandered off.

John immediately looked at me. “You gonna go get your girlfriend?”

I rolled my eyes. “A partner in crime and a girlfriend are two very different things.”

“Tomato, apricot—go get her.”

I let out a long, dramatic sigh and glanced at Andrew, hoping I could silently nominate him. But his expression was pure panic. Poor guy looked like he’d seen a ghost already.

I just shook my head and stood up.
Dang, I thought as I walked off, Ted’s absence is really taking a toll on Andrew’s sense of security.

“PATRICIA!”

I began to call out repeatedly. but she wasn't responding. and that really started to get me on edge. she wandered off for no good reason because she's just so chaotic. and now she's not responding when we yell it. I begin to turn the corner, and then “BOOO!!” Patricia had jumped out from around the corner and I hit my head in the ceiling of the cave. she started to laugh as I rubbed my head. I had a helmet on, however my head still hurt like crazy from the Collision with the cave ceiling.

“ What the heck?” I asked her quite angrily.

“ I'm just having fun.”

before I could say anything she continued, “also I found something that you guys need to see.”

I looked at her kind of puzzle, but she didn't waste much time. she turned around and immediately started to walk towards what she thought was interesting. “ wait! I need to grab John and andrew. they're still sitting and eating far away because you wandered off”

she turned around and gave me a look of disgust, not just that I was telling her to wait, but she could taste the bitterness and the words. We walked over to the group while they were eating. Andrew didn't say anything, he just looked at us and then continued to look around. but John did not hold back a snarky comment, “ I'll look you finally found her and took you long enough. might I ask though, with a thud and the loud ow, who found who? Was it your girlfriend in crime?”

Patricia left, I'm glad at least somebody found it funny. but before I could tell anybody anything. she immediately started talking frantically and excitedly, “I found something that I really need to show you all.” The group looked at her confused and you even stopped frantically to look at her to see if he could figure out what she's talking about.

“W-what is it?” Andrew asked very timidly.

“ no spoilers.” Patricia said, then turned on her heel and began to walk towards it. I followed closely behind Patricia, As I was following, I heard John stumbling to get up and grab his stuff and move with us quickly. and I heard Andrew let out a faint “wait” before following.

we went through twists and turns, and had to even crawl through small cracks. but eventually after a few minutes of walking we finally found what got Patricia so excited.

to all of our amazement, we were all standing at the gates of an underground city.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. This is only chapter 2 so if you are interested in how this story continues, hit subscribe. And all stories are better to talk about with friends so please share the story. thank you again, hope to see you soon.