17 Aorta

Keanu and I were beside him in an instant.I tried to shake him but it was like trying to move a mountain.

"Ulrik!"

No response.

"Yo,Yo!.....wake up man," Keanu slapped his chest twice,wincing each time but his concern negated the pain.I frantically searched his exposed skin for an injury we hadn't noticed,a snake bite,anything.His eyes were closed and his body completely still.I bent and put my face an inch away from his nose and felt the air leaving his nostrils.He was breathing but it was shallow and well paced,as if he had fallen into deep slumber.His skin was unbroken and unmarred.Keanu tried to find a pulse point but his skin was hard and impenetrable and he fell back on his haunches,stared at the door that had opened into a wide foyer.I was trying to move Ulrik's hundred pound head from side to side but it proved to be as futile as trying to move his body.Dammit, weren't there supposed to be people in this place?

"Help!"