Rapidly, Jake and Alice gained speed as they fell toward the planet's hollow core, trapped amongst the shattered bits of gearwork that had laid strewn about the chamber’s floor. Pressed tight together, screams escaped both their lips as they fell, lost amongst the sound of crashing metal and crumbling earth. Slowly they were forced closer and closer together as bits of rubble began to close in on all sides crushing the two. They picked up more and more speed, falling faster and faster. Any hope of survival left the two as they realized a safe landing was impossible. Clutching one another they fell into the endless maw of the hollow earth, awaiting the sudden stop that would mean their deaths.

  All at once their velocity was gone. It was not a smooth transition, the sudden loss of speed wreaked havoc upon the already bruised and battered bodies of the pair. It felt like someone had run each of their organs over with a car before surgically sealing the two back up. It felt hellish, the sudden loss of momentum, yet before they could properly process what had happened to them, they were falling again. This fall was not long, merely a split second before they lay collapsed upon each other in a shivering heap, landing upon soil and grass as the sun rose overhead.

  Around the two bits of debris fell outward, fanning out in a circular pattern that thankfully managed to avoid crushing the shivering duo. Neither Jake nor Alice moved as they lay under the gleam of the sun overhead. They were too stunned to process what had happened to them. They both merely lay in shock for a while.

  Their bodies were racked with pain, suffering from the unending abuse of the corridor compounded now by the brutal aftereffects of their escape. Their heads felt dizzy, the longer they lay still the harder they found it to think straight. Now that the adrenaline of their escape from the voice was wearing off, they found themselves suffering greatly from the effects of blood loss and fatigue. Exactly how much blood they’d spilled or how much time had passed since either was allowed a chance to rest, they couldn’t say, but both silently agreed it was far too much on both accounts.

  Along with this, unending waves of thirst and hunger rolled through their battered, beaten bodies. While they’d stayed trapped in the voice’s corridor it had ensured they were just enough to stay alive. Just enough rest. Just enough blood. Just enough food or water. Now though, their connection was severed and the voice was dead. Along with that, they’d seemingly managed to survive by falling through to another world again. The full brunt of their hunger crashed down on both of them, and it was brutal.

  Jake felt as if his innards were melting away. His throat was cracked and bloody. His limbs felt dead, lifeless. He doubted he could muster the strength needed to walk, let alone feed himself. Find water. The longer he lay still, unmoving buried amongst the ruble of the voice’s heart, the greater the desire to simply give in grew within him.

  He’d fought for so long, tired for so long, for what? For this? To be tortured? To be left for dead, starving, and dehydrated god knows where? Fighting and struggling to achieve a goal. To make it home. A goal he knew in his heart was impossible. Try as hard as he might, the voice’s taunts circled on loop in his brain, jabbing at his willpower. What was the point in carrying on anymore? Forcing himself to keep going, to endure whatever other horror waited for him when he knew in his heart of hearts that all that awaited was a more painful death right around the corner. It would be so much easier to just give in now…

  As Jake lay, wallowing in grief and pain, ready to give up completely beside him Alice sprung to her feet. She was unstable and wobbled about as she stood, very nearly collapsing back down as soon as she stood, but even as the all-consuming fatigue, pain, hunger, and thirst gnawed at her willpower she forced herself upright. She breathed in the new, alien air around her. Forced her mind to move past the voice. Turning around, a smile that looked nearly forced stretched across her weary, worn-down face, Alice extended her hand down toward the collapsed Jake.

  “Come on…” She said, tone sounding a bit impatient as she waved her hand hurriedly in Jake’s dazed face, “I’m hungry!”

  Jake was stunned that she could so easily move forward, even if it was an act. To so easily move past the horrors of the voice, the horrors of the corridor… It astounded him. With admiration, he grasped hold of Alice’s hand and allowed himself to be pulled up to his feet.

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  “Least we won’t have to worry about water,” Alice said, before vaguely gesturing around her. Jake stood confused, unsure what she meant, before realizing that as they stood talking a deluge of rain thundered upon them from on high.

  When this downpour had started, whether it had always been there since their arrival or was something new, Jake couldn’t say. He’d missed it completely, so lost in thoughts of his own misery that the rain landing upon him failed to register on even the simplest of levels. Yet Alice noticed it. She stood upright and proud, head thrown back, swallowing mouthful after mouthful of rainwater. Jake watched, allowing the rain to melt the filth and blood free from his skin, before he to cocked his head back and allowed the rain to melt the pain away from his throat.

  It seemed so simple. She’d noticed the rain, something so simple and stupid. Yet to Jake, in that moment it meant everything. He still had reason to go on, even if only for a little while. Still had reason to struggle, and fight, and carry on. He still had a promise to keep, still had to help her find a home of her own, perfect in every way. After all, it was his fault she was here in the first place, his fault she’d been forced to endure the horrors of the voice, the horrors of the corridor. Yet still she could stand, could laugh, could smile. Still, she could notice the rain, and so Jake had to help her while there was still time.

  Alice, for her part, turned away from Jake. She didn’t want him to see the tears streaming down her cheeks. The rain helped mask them somewhat, yet still, if he were to look at her directly, he’d probably notice, probably want to ask questions. She wasn’t ready for that, didn’t know if she’d ever be ready for that.

  She regretted asking anything about the voice, gnawing curiosity had driven her actions. She’d just been so curious as to what could drive a being as cruel and sadistic as the voice, what possible plans or goals it could have. She supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised by an answer as simple and barbaristic as ‘cruelty for the sake of cruelty’ after growing up in the care of the Unbroken, yet still, the scope of the voice’s malice shook her to her core.

  The death of an entire world, entire populations of people. Who knew how many species lay dead due to the sick whims of the voice? Something about the complete and total genocide perpetrated by the voice kept her attention, despite how hard she tried not to think of it. The more she thought of it, the cruelty used as entertainment that cultivated a mass genocide, the worse her fears grew. She couldn’t help but think of the Unbroken.

  She’d accepted the whims of the Unbroken would simply be beyond her understanding, their reasonings unimportant. Nothing they said or believed could ever justify their horrific actions. But now, worry replaced the curiosity she once held regarding the Unbroken. Genocide, the complete and utter destruction of a people. Already the Broken were close to extinction, their numbers growing fewer and fewer as the years went on. Was that the Unbroken’s end goal? The complete eradication of the Broken as slowly and painfully as possible?

  It hurt her heart to think about it. True she sat free now, especially in this moment that she was rid of the voice. But to think of everyone she’d ever known, everyone she may have cared about being systematically purged… She shuddered and tried to clear her mind. She’d accepted long ago she could never go back now she was on the run with Jake. She never wanted to go back either. She was free now… free…

  As her tears fell harder than ever before, her heart hurt as her thoughts turned to her sister's corpse, sprawled out before her in the voice’s torture chambers. As real as her nightmares. She’d spent so long dreaming about her sister’s corpse, imagining the body denied to her by the Unbroken. To see it brought to life… she could feel something deep inside her crack and break apart every time she thought back to that corpse.

  It wasn’t fair. A truth she kept trying to ignore, but now standing beneath the rain as the sun rose, ready to explore a new wonderous world that fact hammered itself home all the harder. It simply wasn’t fair. Why her? Why? Betsy should be here, not me… I should have been…

  Alice’s thoughts descended further and further into a spiral of self-loathing and doubt till finally she shook her head violently. While this did little to quell the screaming voices in her mind, it did serve to attract Jake’s attention, who shot her a concerned look.

  “You ok? Need to rest a minute?”

  “I’m fine… Rain just felt nice.” Alice said, brushing away Jake’s concern without facing him. Jake let the issue go, though he couldn’t help but note the sniffling sound coming from Alice, clear even over the pouring rain.

  “Come on now… let's get moving. I wasn’t lying when I said I was hungry.” Alice said, taking the lead as the two ventured forth from the crumbling ruins of the voice’s heart in search of something to eat.