Jonah hung in the dark air. His right hand gripped the thick, cold, rusted metal pipe. His entire, massive body dangled over the deep, endless chasm.The pain in his stomach was not just bad. It was absolute agony. It was a bright, burning, blinding fire. The giant bone scythe of the Goliath monster had cut deep into his side. Hot, wet blood poured out of the wound. It ran down his thick leg. It soaked his boot. The blood dripped off the bottom of his shoe and fell into the dark, empty space below. Drip. Drip. Drip.Jonah closed his eyes tightly. He ground his teeth together so hard his jaw made a cracking sound.He waited for the bright blue light in his mind. He waited for the System to save him.Please, Jonah thought. Please, turn on. Give me the pain blockers. Give me the auto-heal.But the inside of his head was completely black. The Dead Zone had killed the machine. There was no magic left. He was just a man. And a man with a hole in his stomach will die.Above him, the Golia

Jonah watched this from the floor. He tried to crawl toward them. He dragged his bloody body across the stone, leaving a thick, wet trail behind him. But he was moving too slowly.Lisa was sliding closer to the edge. The rock was scraping her stomach.She needed leverage. She needed a tool.Lisa used her free left hand. She reached into her belt. She pulled out her heavy iron wrench.Right next to her head, there was a deep crack in the stone floor.Lisa slammed the thick iron wrench directly into the crack. She wedged it tight. She grabbed the handle of the wrench with her left hand, locking her arm in place.Now, she was anchored. The iron wrench held her to the mountain."Pull!" Lisa screamed.The muscles in her arms bulged. The veins in her neck popped out. Her face turned bright red from the incredible, impossible effort. She was just a normal human, but the human will to protect a friend is stronger than any machine.She pulled Kevin upward.Kevin used his legs to kick against t

The darkness was absolute. It was not just the dark of a room with the lights turned off. It was a heavy, suffocating blackness. It felt like a thick blanket wrapped tightly around their heads.Jonah sat on the cold stone ledge. He held Lisa’s small, broken body against his massive chest. He could not see her face. He could not see his own hands. But he could feel her.He felt the wet, sticky blood soaking through her green mechanic’s suit. He felt the terrible cold creeping into her skin."System," Jonah whispered in the dark. His deep voice trembled. "System. Please."He closed his eyes, even though it made no difference. He pushed his mind deep inside his own brain. He looked for the bright blue light of the Tactical Grid. He looked for the magic menu that had saved his life a hundred times before.Wake up, Jonah screamed inside his head. Turn on! Give me the healing menu! Give me the red potions! Auto-heal! Do it now!He waited. He held his breath.His mind remained completely, to

"We rest," Jonah whispered. "We wait for our strength to return. And then, we climb down.""Climb down?!" Marcus yelled. He almost dropped the lighter. "Are you insane?! The machine down there is dead! You saw the light turn off!""It is not dead," Kevin argued. He held his broken shoulder. "I can still feel the vibration in the stone. It is very faint. But it is still beating.""It is a trap!" Marcus cried. "The virus is just waiting for us down there!"Jonah turned his head slowly to look at the old man."There is nowhere else to go, Marcus," Jonah said. His voice was tired, but it held the heavy truth. "If we climb back up, we will die in the yellow fog. If we stay on this ledge, we will starve. Our only hope is to reach the bottom. We have to find the Echo Seed. We have to see if we can turn it back on. If the Seed wakes up, maybe it can clear this fog. Maybe it can heal Lisa."Elena looked down at Lisa’s pale face. She gently stroked Lisa’s dirty hair. "I don't know how much time

"The space is shifting," Kevin whispered from behind Jonah. "The environment is misaligned. The Dead Zone is breaking reality.""It is reacting to her," Jonah said. He looked down at Lisa in his arms.The corrupted energy from the shockwave was inside her. Her dying body was connected to the broken computer code of the Dead Zone. As she got weaker, the world around them got crazier.Hssssss...The red light pulsed.Suddenly, the ceiling of dirt above them dropped. It moved ten feet down in an instant, almost crushing their heads.Elena screamed and ducked. Marcus dropped to his knees, covering his head with his hands.Haaaaa...The red light faded. The ceiling snapped back up to its normal height."The walls are closing in on us!" Marcus panicked. He grabbed his heavy rifle. He aimed it wildly into the dark. "We are trapped! The cave is breathing! It is trying to crush us!""Put the gun down, Marcus!" Jonah commanded. "Shooting the walls will not save us!""We have to go back up!" Mar