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“What if we go back?” Emma asked.
“There is no back!” Hunt yelled. “Don’t you get it? This here, this was put here by the last people who got this far, to make sure no one gets past it, and we are on the other side of it. We are so deep down in here.”
“I guess you can’t do the portals anymore with that hand, huh?” Emma huffed, shaking her head. “If we can’t go back, we’ll have to go forward.”
“What do you mean forward?” Hunt asked.
Emma didn’t need to hear it. If she was here with him, it meant Garret couldn’t get to them. But it also meant that Garret would be free to do what he wanted to do. Emma dug her hands into the rubble and began to pull. The rocks had taken years to settle, making it harder for things to move around. But as she began punching at it, the rocks began to fall through.
“Be careful! You could bring the entire thing down on us!” Hunt yelled.
“Yeah,” Emma replied, punching away at it. It would have to hold. She just needed a hole that was big enough for them to get through. “Wait, what is it? That thing.”
She snapped her fingers at Hunt, trying to get him to remember. She had heard Garret ask about it when he firstappeared. It was the reason he had come there. Garret wouldn’t just make an appearance, unless he wanted to find something. They had to figure out what it was that he wanted, and Emma had heard him say it.
“I don’t know what…” Hunt said, shrugging.
“The key!” Emma remembered. “The Key of something, that’s what Garret said he wanted. When he came into the bar. What is it?”
Hunt raised an eyebrow. “Key, huh? I didn’t hear him.”
Emma paused, turning around to face him. “Don’t fucking lie to my face. You were right there.”
“I…” Hunt paused as a loud cracking sound filled the corridor.
Emma and Hunt looked up at the roof of the corridor to see a long crack appear on the roof above their heads, traveling backward quickly and disappearing into the dark corners of the tunnels. Hunt turned to Emma, giving her a chance to see the fear etched on his face.
“Dig!”
Emma didn’t need to be told twice. She threw herself at the face of the rock, punching at it faster and faster. As she did, she began to hear its echo on the other side of the rock. She was getting through. The rubble above the area she was punching began to groan, a sign that it was going to fall and cave very soon.
“Stand back!” Emma yelled.
She ran back, and threw herself right at the face of the rock, using her boot to go through first. She crashed right through it, falling out on the other side. She turned around, seeing Hunt staring in shock. “Come on!”
Hunt rushed toward the hole, throwing himself through it. Just before he could completely get out, a large boulder caught his boot. Hunt let out a loud groan as he twisted his ankle. Emma reacted instantly, digging her fingers between the boulder and his leg, lifting it off before it could do more damage.
Hunt pulled his leg free and rolled off to the side. Emma didn’t give him a moment, she ran and grabbed the back of his jacket, pulling him away from the rest of the rubble as it quickly caved in, covering the space they had just crawled through. The roof above them gave, sending a large slab of concrete falling right at their heads.
Emma knew it would crush Hunt, so she threw herself on top of him, using her back and forearm to take the weight of the slab. It shattered into pieces, falling all around them. She groaned a little from the pain, but it wore off in a few moments.
She looked down to see Hunt staring at her, his eyes brimming with fear as if he had just seen his life flash before his eyes. Her eyes trailed down to his quivering lips, and back up to his eyes. She suddenly realized just how close their bodies were, with his leg between her thighs and her body on his own.
It would take a fraction of a movement for their lips to come together. Emma quickly got off of him and took a breath, trying to organize herself. She had just fantasized about kissing a murderer. “Are you okay? Did any of it hit you?” she asked, regaining her composure.
“No, thanks to you,” Hunt replied in a plain voice, devoid of his usual douchebaggery. “Thank you, I owe you one.”
He tried to get to his feet, but he buckled and fell toward the wall. Emma realized that he was still in pain from where he had twisted his ankle. She let out a sigh. “You’re going to need to put some ice on that.”
“Yeah, I just need a moment,” Hunt replied. “Care to sit for a bit? I can’t walk like this, and it’ll take me a while to heal myself.”
Emma raised her eyebrows, “You can heal yourself?”
Hunt nodded. “I used to lead the Hunters. Considering that my line of work included running away and hunting down creatures with claws and talons that could gut you in a single blow, learning to heal yourself as the leader is kind of a must. But I won’t be able to heal fully.”
“Something wrong?” Emma asked, raising an eyebrow. He had already been a problem for her before he got injured.
“Yeah, the talisman burned the runes on my fingertips. They’re what let me do a lot of my magic. Now that they’re hurt, I’ll need time to work on them. So I’m not as strong as I used to be, and I won’t be able to fully heal my leg.”
