cruel intentions

 Mannie told Sadie she didn't know how lucky she was. He'd been in worse spots, crawling into caves that were barely big enough for him to slide through. They had a winding staircase to take them down into the cave.

"Now, why would you do such a thing?" She looked at him as if he must be a little crazy.

"Because," he really couldn't give her a good reason other than the thrill of finding a fortune. Although, that hadn't exactly happened yet. Other weird things usually took place, like traps and creepy things embedded in the walls, but maybe they'd get lucky this time.

He told her not to asked another question because he heard something.

"Like what?"

"Shh." He pressed his forefinger to her lips. Then pushed her behind him. She sighed slightly and he told her to hold her breath. He knew she was ready to kick him. She thought they'd been down here far too long as it was. She didn't think they'd ever reach the bottom.

"It's better than falling."

She sucked in a breath and held on to him as if better carry her. Naturally, he kept his back pack to one side and held up with his flashlight as they went into the depths of darkness.

"What if it runs out," she wanted to know.

"I have another. You do too."

Carefully, he forged on down the winding steps, as if to expect the worst. Probably a lost bloody zombie waiting for them at the bottom.

"See, you rattled it," he informed her. Zombies were usually just corpses, but once awaken they could be deadly. He knew she didn't believe him. He guessed it was about time she knew what they were fighting in order to get to their destination.

It was coming. There was something that faintly sounded like a rasp more than a roar but it was coming as they took another step.

"Why? Why is this happening?" She screeched.

"Because the last idiot down here didn't make it out," he told her. She hugged him from the backside harder.

Oddly, this felt a little comforting to Mannie. It made him sense he'd have to fight harder. Especially, with her on his back. 

Finally, his flashlight caught a glimpse of it, withered like an old tree as its limbs swayed about. It was bloody too. 

Mannie cracked his neck before he began. He put his best foot forward and kicked it in the gut. It fell back on the floor of the cave.

 He found some matches in his pocket and lit them up. As the zombie came back he flung the flames into it's chest and set it on fire which illuminated the cavern. There were crude paintings on the wall and scratched out words he could not decipher.

"Are you sure there's no other way?" Sadie sounded as if she didn't want to hurt the zombie.

"Nope," Mannie shined his flashlight to his right away from the fire. There it was, the bunker.