Free Dusk Territories: Always Burning by Deston Munden

grinning.
    Private Kingsley always joke him about his age. He never thought that he would miss those men this much.
    He made it to the mouth of the cave. The inside was illuminated by torches in endless rows along the walls. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, dripping clear water on the copper-colored stone in thin rivers that ultimately led back to a clear water pool on the side. High towers of bones and large splatters of dried blood stamped the lair as a cannibal, no the Cannibal’s lair. However, there were some pieces of the resident that felt more like a person lived here instead of a brute.
    Wooden bookshelves lined the back wall. Graham went to inspect the literature. There were many classic titles, philosophy text, and an obscene amount of medical books. The bed, fashioned out of wood, straw, and some cotton, was hefty like a giant slept there. Beside it was a rugged nightstand, and upon that was a sculpture of a woman made entirely out of bone. Graham wanted to see more of the sculpture, but the sound of breathing stopped him from doing so.
    “Is someone there?” The voice, a young man cried out.
    “Juvencio, shut up,” a woman replied, her voice deadpan, almost bored. “If there’s going to be anyone here, they’re going to be here to eat us. Simple fact.”
    “Don’t say shit like that,” Juvencio shrilled.
    “It’s the truth of the matter; we just need to accept it. Drifter knows we got here on our own and we have to get out on our own.”
    “You’re like his main homeslice, though…” Juvencio whimpered.
    “I’m replaceable, expendable, and useful to a point. No need to—“
    “Plenty of soldiers make that statement, doesn’t make their lives any less valuable.”
    The tense breathing and clattering of metal was proof they hadn’t expected a response at all. Graham wheeled around a lofty stalagmite to see an iron cage hanging above a small gulch. Within the cage were two people. A lady sat slumped against the cage, blonde hair tumbling down her neck, head cocked to one side. Only in cargo pants and a ripped tank top, the woman looked out of place in her majesty. Her pale skin was accented by fierce green eyes, which stared to her companion with a bit of annoyance.
    Her partner, a young frail looking man, stood against the bars of the cage. He pushed his black messy hair from his face, the strands drenched in sweat. That could be said for his entire body in fact. In the rich torchlight, anyone could see that his light brown skin was glistening with perspiration. His dirty brown jumpsuit was equally soaked. He bit his lip noticing Graham for the first time. Gore for his fight with Dagon and meal thereafter still hung from his body. Juvenico’s face told his terrified story.
    Juvenico took in a deep breath. “Heron!”
    “What?” Heron barked back. “And please stop swinging this cage.”
    “You see that?”
    “He’s kind of hard to miss.”
    “What’s that even? Urgh. Jesus…” Juvencio paced the small cage, rocking it ever so slightly. “We’re gonna be eaten…by…by…that! Why do you have to be right?”
    Heron glowered, giving no inkling on whether she was horrorstruck or not. “It could be worse,” she said aside to Juvenico.
    “It could be worse?” Juvencio shouted.
    “Yes.”
    “How in the hell could this be any worse? I’m not seeing the worse in this!”
    “’Cause I’m obviously here to help,” Graham interrupted.
    “Yo. We can’t trust this dude!” Juvenico said, rocking the cage a bit more. “He just looks like a guy that could eat us!”
    Before Graham had experienced the hunger, rebuking the fact would have been easy . Now, he couldn’t. In fact, even a part of him feared that he would accidently slip. So, he remained quiet, trying to keep the peace with the two captives with amity. “How about this, I’ll get you some weapons. I’ll hand them to you through the cage when I get you down. Then you’ll be armed in case you think that I’m some