Chapter 32

Crunch woke up slowly, like he wasn't still very far from death so consciousness took its time to come.

He blinked open his eyes blearily and from the lights in the tunnel, he could tell that a new day had begun.

He pushed himself up, weaker than ever and pulled his rucksack close, digging in for his leather flask of water.

He should have been back home by now with the means to make his siblings' lives better but fate was an insufferable bitch and life sucked.

Working hard didn't get you nowhere and your life was decided for you before you were even born, or more like your birth decided the rest of your life.

That didn't mean he was giving up, he  didn't die when he was supposed to die which meant he had to win in the end, he still planned to achieve his dreams.

Crunch was just much more determined and a lot more jaded.

He took grateful little sips from his flask and leaned against the wall of the dingy tunnel, he would eat a bit then rest up for a couple hours to regain his strength before starting his journey.

Considering he made it to the mouth of the tunnels alive anyway and then he would still have to get past the Border guards patrolling across the tunnel entrances.

Well, he was going to cross the burning bridges when he got to them.

He took out a piece of dry bread that had been preserved, taking a slow bite out of the coarse and tasteless meal.

It felt like a scratchy face sponge and tasted like one too but he needed the strength so even though it hurt his tender mouth, he munched through an entire strip of dried meat.

He could afford to eat so much at once because he planned to take supplies from Spike, the dead Elf wouldn't be needing it anymore anyway.

He munched slowly, staring into the distance with no thoughts in mind, or maybe his mind was just foggy from the pain and blood loss.

He closed his eyes when he was done eating, depending on how fast he was able to move and if he didn't stop often he could most likely make it into the town by sun down.

That might also make it easier for him to sneak into the town.

Stone Town was where the tunnels were built from because it was the direction that faced the Fairies, which also meant an increase in odd jobs.

It was actually the perfect place to build the tunnels from because a lot of Lower Class Elves lived in and around Stone Town so gathering physical resources wasn't difficult.

And even a long time after the tunnels had been built, jobs were still available for when they needed hands to cart something through the tunnels.

Although that was gruesome labour which rarely paid well because most times you ended up dead, Crunch had heard of some Lower Class Elves were decapacitated and left as a distraction for the wild animals that frequented it.

But that was a long time ago and tunnel related jobs were dropped like hot objects and shunned, the workers going back to their mining and farms.

The only reason Crunch had agreed to do this job even though it stank of danger was because of the high pay out and the fact that he only had one other worker with him on the job.

It made his possibilities of completing the job in one piece higher because if his partner were to turn on him at least he could handle himself.

He didn't know that the one he thought would betray him would turn out to be as much of a victim as he was.

The time passed slowly and even though he felt sleepy, he forced himself to stay awake.

He had no idea if he would wake up this time if he fell asleep so he wouldn't risk it.

When he felt he was ready enough that he wouldn't collapse after a couple steps, he gingerly got up, grabbing his rucksack on his way up.

He staggered over to his long dead companion, his rucksack was still fitted under his cold head.

Crunch tried his hardest to not look at the papery pale skin of Spike and he had to say, he failed woefully.

He transferred everything to his own rucksack except one, a pendant that had the face of a Middle Class Elf and he leaned down to stuff it in the dead Elf's frozen hands.

After he was done, his rucksack felt a lot heavier but these were necessary supplies if he wanted to make it home alive, lastly, he picked up Spike's spear.

It was a beautiful weapon, obviously handmade by perhaps the Elf himself so Crunch didn't break off the blade like he intended for and simply spun the spear.

It would serve as a walking stick and also a weapon so it would be used to it's fullest capacity.

Without a glance behind him, Crunch started his journey, he was just barely out of time anyway because he could hear the distant squeaking of what had to be rats.

He felt sad that Spike wouldn't even have a proper burial but the floor of the tunnel was hard packed ground, that saying, even if it wasn't, he wouldn't still be able to dig in his present condition.

The rats would devour every last trace off him, they would take his clothes apart bit by bit, the nibble into him, eating around the sword forgotten in his body, and cleaning the meat clean off his bones.

He started his journey slow and steady because he couldn't afford to stop to take a break, if he did he would be dead so that gave him the motivation to put one leg in from of the other, over and over again.

He thought himself lucky that the arrow had caught him from behind so movement wasn't difficult or dangerous and the entrance of the wound was small so he wouldn't bleed out anymore.

He trudged solemnly on, making no sounds,  the light at the end of the tunnel had never seem so distant.