After the roaring waves of wind and sound swept through the caves it was some time before we could function again. The power of my last two grenades in such an enclosed space was devastating. The small mouth of the side tunnel we had ducked into had been easily collapsed. I regained my bearings faster than anyone else courtesy of the Sonovis. While everyone was still moaning and unable to move I could actually see a bit more as once the Sonovis rerendered the world after the shockwave I had a 360 degree view around myself without even turning my head.  Miranda was actually lying on top of me, her hands over her head shielding my body. She shifted and the Sonovis revealed Nora at my feet, slowly getting up. Miranda rolled off me and   I saw Jeff and Julius ahead flattened against the ground, with bits of shrapnel on the back of their power armor. Gradually they started moving and I knew they were ok, probably just winded after the blast. 

"Everyone sound off!" Surprisingly, it was Nora who gave the order, but I realized that Jeff was still breathless so Nora had taken it into her hands to assume command. 

"Miranda, A-Ok!"

"John, Ok!"

"Julius, Ok!" at this point Jeff was back on his feet,

" Jeff, I'm Ok! Great throw on that grenade Miranda." Jeff grinned at Miranda and we all waited for him to give orders. But he just kept grinning stupidly at Miranda. After a few seconds Julius got a bit impatient.

"Jeff, what's the deal? What's the plan? You look as zoned out as John." He went up and knocked on Jeff's helmet and Jeff blinked a few times before shaking his head. 

"Sorry, I'm fine. Let's get going, we'll follow the tunnel down and..." Jeff started to pull it together when suddenly I saw something on the Sonovis. The unique 3-d mapping ability showed that there was something behind the collapsed rocks. A second later I saw an image. A long rasping trail left by claws crushing their way through the gravel.

"Shadows, we gotta move guys!" I yelled out, "They're digging through the rock!" As the others reacted to my words, there was an audible noise.

Scritch.....scriiiitch.....scriiitttttchhhhhhhhhhhhh

The damn things were digging through! Without any grenades we wouldn't be able to pull another escape the way we had before. Instantly we all started running down the tunnel. I swayed as I ran, still lightheaded after the hit I took and Miranda eyed me with concern from behind. But there was no time to catch my breath. The dark tunnels whizzed by and I simply chose whichever turn looked like it went up, there was no time to waste! The others followed behind me trusting my Sonovis to guide us better than their headlamps. 

Crunch

There was an unexpected sound from behind and thinking that the Shadows had caught up I looked back. But it wasn't the Shadows, it was Jeff slumped over on the ground. I could see him clutching his back and when I switched to real vision for a second I could see dark red blood dripping from a long tear in the back plate of his power armor!

"Jeff! You ok man?" I quickly stopped and went to get a closer look but Jeff waved me away.

"Just a bit of shrapnel from the blast, I'm ok!" He tried to get up but dropped again. 

"Damnit, give me a hand, we gotta get out of here!" He looked me in the eyes and for a brief second I felt this burning rage. Was he the one who had blown the charges? He was definitely hiding whoever did even if he didn't. But then the image of Jeff covering Miranda and Nora as they dragged me away from the Shadows came to mind. I wasn't done with my revenge, but I squashed it away deep away someplace dark for when I needed it. I slid my arm under his shoulder and hauled him up. My power armor whirred a little but otherwise got him up pretty easily. My larger frame meant that I had more leverage than the girls had had when they carried me. I could handle Jeff on my own. The others were looking back, and Julius had actually turned back to come help, but I gave them the signal to go on.

"Go! I got Jeff, figure out where the hell we're going, see if there's anywhere to hide!" I yelled. Quite frankly, it didn't matter how fast we ran. If we didn't figure out the right way to go we'd die of starvation anyway. And if we didn't find somewhere to hide, the Shadows would probably catch up pretty fast. Something caught my eyes though I was hauling Jeff along. Julius stumbled a bit almost like he stepped on a rock but kept on running as he was focused on the tunnel ahead. There was an outline of something in his footsteps. I paused for a second to investigate as I got close. Julius called back,

"Come on John, keep your butt moving, if Jeff's too heavy for you I can carry him! Let's go!" He sneered looking back. His face was tense with the threat of the Shadows so close. But I kept looking down, I was sure there was something that didn't belong here! I switched to normal vision and in the light of my headlamps I saw it! A glint of something that wasn't grey or black rock! Something shiny under the sand and gravel of the cave floor!

"Hold on! I think I found something guys!" I reached down and jammed my hand through the sand relying on the strength and toughness of my power armor to get through. 

Craaaaaaccckkk Kacha!

With a small breaking noise, I grasped my prize in my fist. Uncurling my armored fingers I saw that though crushed it was unmistakably a transmitter!  Same as the one I had found before! Julius's boot must have smashed it into the dirt when he walked by. 

"What's that?" Jeff asked from next to me, but he was a bit out of it and clearly not paying much attention to anything but standing up.

"Not sure, we'll check it out later." I replied.

"Come on John, I gotta check Jeff out, that wound looked nasty! I think if we take a few more side tunnels, we'll be able to take a break and I'll have a bit to look at it." Miranda called back from up ahead and I resumed helping Jeff limp forwards. The crunching of the caves surrounded us for a bit and I felt the tension ease a bit as no Shadows appeared on the Sonovis. Nothing but the white lines of these unending tunnels. That and the dark void of the empty silent air. After about another 15 minutes of walking, Jeff and I caught up to Julius and the girls.

"Alright...I think we're clear enough for a quick checkup. Miranda, get him looked at already. John, what's going on? What'd you find back there?" Julius gruffly says and Nora gives him a dirty look as she technically has operational authority but gives way as there's nothing wrong with his orders. I walk up to Julius and Nora leaving Jeff in Miranda's capable hands. My hands stretch out and reveal the strange broken box within.

"It's a transmitter like the one I found earlier. Look, you can see on the surface there's some sort of sensor attachment, looks almost like the prototypes of a Sonovis I've seen before. But the technology to miniaturize it like this is something I've never seen before. Shouldn't be possible...for another ten years that is. This is either cutting edge or very experimental...probably both. Who do you think put this down here? It can't have been down here long, I can't imagine the technology has even existed for that long." I explain my thoughts to Julius and Nora who are both frozen deep in thought at the sudden proof that my fantasy sensor was not a delusion. Nora's the first to speak this time,

"Honestly John, this is beyond anything I've seen even in Worldhold's comm systems this is some crazy tech. Doesn't really matter though. Keep it and we'll get it analyzed when we get back to Worldhold, but right now it doesn't change the mission. Let's get out of here first and then we'll go chasing after ghosts." Nora looked into my eyes and nodded intently. That was her alright. Ever the pragmatist. I can tell she's filing this away to report to Worldhold later, but she's already back into survival mode right now. Julius, looks like he doesn't really care either which I guess I don't find surprising. Nothing but money usually interests him. I'm surprised he hasn't realized tech like this is probably pretty valuable, even broken.

"Ehh, John, that's a cool box and all, and I'll admit it does look like a transmitter, but right now we got bigger problems. Let's see if Miranda's got Jeff patched up yet." He grumbles and I sigh. I guess I'm overthinking things, but I can't shake the feeling that this is big. What are the odds that there just happens to be groundbreaking technology down in an unexplored cave system with man eating monsters?

"JEFF??!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Miranda's ear piercing scream makes me whip around. It echoes through the caves as I swivel my eyes rapidly and take in the situation through the Sonovis. Julius is walking away from me to check up on Jeff. Nora almost to Jeff and Miranda. Miranda is next to Jeff holding onto a medscan kit. Jeff is lying with his back against the wall holding a gun. The gun Jeff's holding is pointing at me.

"Jeff.....?" I barely dare to start to ask him but I stop when I see his eyes are ferocious and he isn't listening. My bloods pounding in my veins. I have no idea what's going on except Jeff is pointing a gun at my face, and at this range he probably isn't going to miss. My mind's racing. I'm wondering all sorts of things. Mainly though, I'm wondering...was it him? Was it Jeff that blew the charges early? Is he trying to finish the job? Does he think I'm on to him? Is that why he's trying to kill me now, before I kill him? I'm also thinking other thoughts at the same time my mind flicking back and forth like a pinball. Like my disbelief that it could actually be Jeff. Jeff who always stood up for me, Jeff who was just so much more damn likeable than Julius. But none of that mattered. I start to raise my hands very slowly over my head.

"Jeff, is there something wrong?" I manage to ask, nobody else moving. My hands are going above my chest now. 

"Jeff, are you ok?" I try again as my brain flashes. My hands are almost at neck level. It's gotta be him! It's gotta be Jeff trying to finish me off some animalistic part of me turns on. I don't even try to reason with it as my vision flashes red and my hands suddenly twitch down going for Nora's sidearm still tucked in my waistband.

 Then there's this click as he pulls the trigger. And I'm gone into the darkness.