I took a deep breath, released it slowly, then opened the door. The room behind it was deep and dark, and the air still. The sensation that had briefly caressed the door handle wasn't evident in the room itself, yet my uneasiness increased, and I wasn't sure why.
I took one step into the room. The flooring was wood rather than concrete, which seemed odd. I paused, waiting.
Nothing happened. No one and nothing jumped out at us.
I took another step. Still nothing. Yet tension continued to crawl across my skin, and the feeling that something watched—waited—was growing.
"I can't smell anyone or anything unusual." Jak stopped beside me. His words seemed to jar uneasily against the still blackness of the room.
"That's the problem." I took another step.
It was one step too many.
With very little warning, the floor collapsed and we fell into deeper darkness.
Chapter 7
Wood and dust rained around us as the blackness swallowed us whole. There was no light, no stirring of air, no sound except the harsh rasp of our breathing.
After what seemed an eternity, I hit the dirt feetfirst and stumbled forward a couple of steps before falling on my face. Pain shot up my legs, then raged through the rest of me, until even the mere act of breathing hurt.
Jak landed with a grunt and slightly more balance, ending up on his knees rather than his face—a fact I knew simply because the sharp rasp of his breathing was close but not ground-close.
For several seconds neither of us moved. My breath was caught somewhere in the middle of my throat, and tension wound through my limbs as I waited for the axe to fall.
Nothing happened.
"You okay?" Jak asked eventually. Dirt stirred, and then his hand caught mine. I gripped it gratefully.