The First Moment
Copyright© 2026 by TMax
Chapter 13: Tunnel
Slow, tentative, and out of sync, we turned the corner like a newborn centipede. Only the placement of the hands kept the group together.
The tunnel extended for about fifteen or twenty feet, then turned left. The walls glowed faintly and gave us enough light to see, but also made the gloom feel like a horror movie where the creature waits around the corner and jumps out to rip the group apart. Scraping sounds and snorts echoed through the tunnel. Lanka squealed, turned, and ran to the soldier in the middle.
“Chicken,” Morgan said in a tone that indicated that she would have run away had Lanka not beaten her to it.
“Back up, over here,” Sasha whispered and herded us to the side. Shivam and Nate had their arms around each other’s shoulders and trembled. Alice and Morgan each grabbed one of my hands while Hank continued to stare down the tunnel. Harriet rushed to fill Lanka’s spot behind Sasha. Our baby centipede hadn’t lasted very long.
“Ok, as you can hear, tunnels echo and enhance sound. Those sounds could be from over a kilometer away, so when we move in, we don’t say anything. We move slow, real slow. The sand will help muffle our sounds,” Sasha said. Alice and I nodded as she put a warm arm around my shoulders.
“Hey, I don’t think we have anything to worry about. Those are just echoes,” Hank said as he pressed against Harriet, who encouraged the contact. Morgan put her hand on Hank’s shoulder, and Hank, reluctantly, almost like he wanted me instead, put his hand over hers. Alice pushed me forward, and I placed my hand on Morgan’s shoulder, so short that I had to stand very close to her, my male member against her side, and yet, not sexual in any way.
Alice placed her hand on my shoulder, which sent a shiver down my spine. We had snuggled in a warm, safe bed, on Earth, less than a couple of hours ago.
Sasha placed his hand on Harriet’s and said, “Everyone in position? We are going to move as a group.”
Lanka appeared, split Harriet and Sasha, and put her hand on Sasha and placed Harriet’s hand on her shoulder. Harriet didn’t appear to care while Hank frowned.
Morgan snorted and said, “The chicken returns.” She backed into me, almost like she needed to feel more human contact. Alice leaned into me, her breasts and warm body against my back. A female sandwich, something I secretly dreamed about but not in this way. A trip to another world, an alien world, and yet, I just appreciated the human contact, which made me realize that we stood in an alien tunnel, on an alien world, in some little-understood alien contest, with possible aliens around the corner.
My breath shortened and I suddenly couldn’t get enough oxygen. The floor tilted, and I would have fallen, had Morgan and Alice not held me up. I had to close my eyes to focus on each breath, slow, in, out, calm, like the counselor showed me, just the moment, just breath next, in, out, and my heart rate slowed.
“Yeah, the female soldier suggested it. She thinks people who stay in the dome have a low survival chance,” Lanka said as she stared at Sasha, who smiled in return.
Shivam asked, “Why the hell would they stay then?”
Morgan leaned back. I could feel her heart rate race and how shallow her breath had grown.
“Just breathe. Slow and steady. Just in and out,” I whispered to her. She squeezed my hand on her shoulder as she slowed and controlled her breath.
Sasha shuffled forward, and we stumbled a bit before everyone moved as a group.
“Yeah, why would they stay?” Lanka asked, much too loud, which caused everyone to stop and look around as if an alien would materialize from the solid rock wall. Given how these tunnels had appeared, I half expected it.
Sasha peeked around the corner, then turned to us and said, “Survival demands sacrifice, and we are doing this not only for ourselves but for the entire human race.”
“What do you mean by that? Are we being sacrificed?” Hank asked as he stood up straight from the half-crouch.
Sasha peeked around the corner again, then turned to us.
“Ok, I get it, you’re all adults used to having all the information, but sometimes you just have to accept that you can’t know everything, you know, trust in the process, trust that I know best,” Sasha said in a quiet voice that somehow carried to everyone in the line. He peeked around the corner, a slow movement till one eye looked beyond, then a slow movement back.
Lanka snorted and said, “You grew up in Russia, and you say you trust the administration.”
Morgan interjected, with scorn in her voice, “Stupid blondes, if we all follow the same strategy, then a single situation could wipe out everyone, but if everyone adopts different strategies, then the chances of at least one group surviving go up.”
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