Ben felt a grip around his ankles and from the feel of it, it indicated it was a man's hand.
He was mere feet away from his exit but before he knew it, he was being pulled back into the stream of acid.
It took him a moment to process what was going on then he gasped and felt a surge of acid, force its way into his mouth only to be forced back out by the shield.
He could feel the hate on the man, his fingers clamped tighter on his leg like a bear trap and Ben felt powerless.
More negative feelings creeped into his mind at the sudden loss of his escape. He slowly fell into despair while the hand pulled him further into the abyss.
Ben had a great advantage being a doctor in his past life, due to the fact that his focus had been sharpened by the grueling labor of surgery and with the Guide, focus was a necessity.
With a great focus came a greater clarity of intent, and with more focus the Guide grew more powerful and they could utilize it to its fullest capacity.
'Where is he taking? Who is it?'
The notices filled his vision, and with enough time to process all that was going on around him, he calmed down and focused, his intent was clear, he wanted to see, he wanted all the system notices gone.
[TOTAL NOTICE DELETED ×60]
Ben's vision cleared as the notices disappeared, then he quickly activated Horus, so he could see clearly through the turbulent current and the dim light of the tunnel.
He gasped as he saw the man who was pulling him to his doom. It was the same man from before, the same man whose grip he had broken.
The same man who had tripped and knocked him down and the same man he had left behind.
Ben wondered how it was possible he was being pulled with such ease, almost like he had no weight at all
'He must be using boosters too,' he thought. 'But how many? How many would he waste to see me dead?'
Ben felt his grip tightened around his ankles and realized his physical prowess was already high.
'No wonder he can pull me so easily while swimming, the boosters would only heighten his strengths taking him beyond his physical ceiling, now he could be as strong as ten men. But still I won't let him take me.'
Ben made the mistake of kicking him in the face. With Horus he could see the veins pop out on the man's forehead as he got even angrier.
Ben tried to kick him again but before he could, the man swung him like a rag doll and sent him crashing against the wall of the tunnel.
Even with the stream dampening the impact of the crash, Ben still felt like he had fallen from the top of a story building and landed on his back.
"What do you want! Ben screamed. We're dying!"
The stream rushed into his mouth again and he coughed it back out. Ben didn't even realize the man still had a grip on him and before he could fight back, he slammed him against the wall again like he was trying to force out every bit of fight left in him.
Ben wasted no time, he had calculated it all, he kicked him on the face. A kick from an expert in human anatomy, from a doctor to a patient.
The kick served the same function as an uppercut, it sent his lower jaw crashing against his upper jaw, creating a vibration that ran through his skull and rattled his brain.
Ben with Horus active on both eyes and his arms free caught a glimpse of blood that he feared was his own but no it spilled out of the man's mouth.
The blow had been dampened, he felt the grip on his ankle tighten again, he squeezed his face at the immense pain it was now causing him.
'I don't understand? He should be out cold!'
Ben gasped as he saw his answer, it was a piece of the man tongue flowing away in the current as the acid slowly dissolved it.
It had been in the way!
[BOOSTER EXPIRES IN 10SECs]
Ben saw the man's vicious face as he came for him, he could see his lips moving but could tell what he was saying.
I'm gonna kill you, the man repeated.
Ben tried to fight back but he was easily overpowered and the man wrapped his hand around his throat.
"You left me for dead, you little shit!" The man said as he began choking Ben.
*****
William and the old man had found what they had believed to be the exit out of the tunnel, the white light at the end of the tunnel had convinced them well enough.
With William too exhausted to run, the old man talks him into resting his faith on force of the stream of acid, leaving it to propel them forward and out of the tunnel but they had become the most unfortunate victims of optimism.
Hope is a opium for those Ill disposed to decide their own fates. A quote found on the front cover of the old man's book. William had brushed past it once when out shopping with her, he didn't buy it.
The old man was a man of facts and logic and William was a man of facts and logic as well, afterall it was his job to fabricate facts and twist logic for his fools.
So all through their lives it would be fair to say both men were Ill disposed to hope but surrounded in a world of despair, stripped of their choices and will, one wouldn't find it so hypocritical that such men would fall prey to the uncertainty of hope.
William slammed against the wall, the heavy pressure behind him,he felt the hardness of the wall pressed against his face.
A dead end, he thought.
He was pinned against the wall and unable to move.
'No it can't be.'
His face was turned toward the right, just where he had been by his side but with the system notices he couldn't see a thing.
'No, not like this we can't die here, I should have kept on running, I should have used the boosters, it's all my fault.'
He moved his arm, slowly and slowly until he hit the old man's hand and the old man moved his finger and William was glad he wasn't hurt but then he felt another tap and another.
'What's he doing? Is he hurt?' William wondered, it didn't feel like a random thing. 'Is he trying to tell me something?'
Tap
Tap,Tap
Tap, tap, tap,tap
Tap, tap
Then it finally struck William, 'no, it's Morse code! Shit! My Morse code is rusty, I almost didn't recognize it.'
Like lip reading William had picked up Morse Code for a job and had since discarded it
He listened closely to what the old man was trying to tell him, after a will of being in the fog, he only made it out with a single word, he wasn't a hundred percent certain of.
Treasure? What treasure?
The next word he got was "chest". He listened as best he could.
'The floor? There's something on the floor? Is that what he's trying to tell me or is all this just arthritis?'
The next words he got was,
'Way out?.... Wait, the old man must have seen something on the floor, maybe it was a way out.'
Willam got excited but all that excitement drained out of him as he felt the pressure of the stream on his back.
'Now how do I get out of this, with this much pressure on me, I won't be able to move.
William wondered if the booster would give him enough strength to push himself off the wall and swim against the current and pressure.
William activated his guide and it appeared superimposed over all the damage notices that constantly flooded his visions.
'Booster!' William thought l and the option to buy one came up but at he top right corner his pov he saw the time he had left.
[TIME LEFT : 8hrs:4Mins]
Considering the mistake he had made when he decided not to purchase a booster, now he knew he had no choice in the matter.
[BOOSTER PURCHASED ×6]
'Would this be enough?'