The permafrost of our souls

“Did you really search all the tunnels?” Kara pushed the door, tearing it from its hinges and coloring the rising dust green. The metal door crashed into the darkness, and the girl stepped onto it, trying to peer inside. “When you first mentioned your brother, Kuntze sent several military groups into the tunnels,” James, following the girl, noticed her shoulders twitch the moment he uttered the man’s name. “And then?” Kara felt the soft, damp earth around them, tightly packed into a round passage. She shone her flashlight at their feet, hearing her own heavy breathing alongside their voices. “Not everyone came back,” Bucky tried not to look at the trembling light in the girl’s hands. “Many were found right at the exit, dead from wounds as they tried to return. Some went mad, talking about creatures in the pipes, but everything was checked—they were empty.” “Kuntze didn’t even know who he was dealing with,” Kara smirked, carefully stepping around a puddle of meltwater. “He came for the algae, didn’t he?” “He was sent. Possibly,” Bucky shrugged. “Someone wanted to send that asshole far away. How did you know where to find them?” “I already told you,” Kara paused for a moment at a fork, then turned right. “My grandfather was searching for them, and I went after them for my mother. Just like my brother. Later, I found out my mother died the day you caught me. I wouldn’t have made it anyway.” “Your brother?” The man let the rest slide, though he understood he should, perhaps, express regret, but the girl’s lie still bothered him. “When they discovered her cancer, it was already in the final stage. She didn’t like going to doctors, yes,” Kara took a deep breath, pushing her emotions down. “As soon as the diagnosis was confirmed, my brother came here searching, but he disappeared. I followed and almost found him, until you caught me.” “We would have found him,” James followed the girl, seeing her shake her head. “No,” she smiled as a long, earthen cave opened before them, with a lake illuminated from within by algae. “But he found you.” “What are you talking about?” Bucky felt it becoming harder to breathe, as if the earth around them was sucking all the oxygen from the air. “He also encountered the eels,” she sat on the edge of the lake, dipping her hand into it, watching the eels shimmer in the transparent water at depth. “He fell through the snow into one of the water-filled tunnels. I only got burns from meeting the eels, but he spent more time with them than anyone would want.” “You think he’s still here?” Bucky watched as the eels swam calmly near the girl’s fingers, even though just a day ago they had greedily coiled around her body, adding new scars to the old ones. “The humming in the pipes,” Kara pulled her hand out of the water, shaking it off. “That wasn’t there before, right? Why would eels swim into them?” “He was watching everything through the fish?” The man glanced once more at the lake where the algae, swaying gently, served as a home for the eels. “We can make camp here,” Kara pulled off her backpack, taking out a vacuum-sealed bag with a sleeping bag. “We’ve gone far enough that they won’t find us immediately.” “Is it safe next to this?” Barnes nodded toward the water, but the girl just nodded, unpacking their sleeping area. “He knows we’re here,” Kara was the first to crawl onto the unzipped sleeping bag to avoid feeling the stones of the floor against her bones. “Doesn’t sound convincing,” James settled down nearby, afraid to touch the girl. He wasn’t sure exactly what he was afraid of—her behavior in the last few hours, or the guilt of feeling out of control. “Remember that time?” Kara looked at the man, but he responded with a confused look. “Back then, in the cell, when Kuntze calmed down after you smashed the tank?” “Damn,” he chuckled, recalling the details, and wanted to say something, but looking at the girl, he realized she was already asleep.