35. Down

First Hunter went back to his markings and wrote down 'J down abyss, going after him, H' should the others come here.

He put on the belt and placed carbines on the belt, then put the other ropes on the belt too. One rope he tied around a broken street lamp and fixed his big carbine on him. Then after making sure that it would hold his weight he started climbing down the exact point where Jack fell. When he lowered his body in the slope it took him a moment to lose his grip to just trust the rope. He glided down, this rope should reach about 10 meters. He didn't look down as he let himself slide down. It was really new to see wide enough to at least see how far the cliff was. After 10 meters he took the pickaxe and the carbine with the nail attached on it. He hammered it in the stone wall, it didn't work. Hunter started sweating, he put the thing back out and hammered it alone with the pickaxe, this time it worked, so he put it only after hacking the carbine nail in, then he hit the nail and it was finally stable in the wall. He changed the ropes on himself, letting the old hang there.

He went wider down. His hands hurt like hell but it didn't matter. Luckily he could reuse the ropes so even when they were wearing out, it was manageable going on. After a distance of about fourteen stories, he saw what was on the ground of the abyss. He had to let himself another two skyscrapers in height down to finally reach the bottom. But he could see a forest with unbelievingly high trees, looking like a jungle. It was a sight to be seen, coming from the sandy place without a bit of green. He had hope so he continued smoother than before. He tried not to think about how many times and how many ways that fall could kill Jack.

When he was only one skyscraper from the bottom, it went dark, but thanks to the moonlight he could still see a bit. And he could hear crickets. And there was wind. These were such new sensations, it was unbelievable. He stopped shortly to drink water from his backpack. If they all could go down here, maybe they could live here. But even if he himself could go down, he didn't believe he would manage to climb back up to tell the others about this place. It wasn't long anymore, he could do it. About an hour later he could see clearer the lush grass, the thick trees, and insects were swarming around. It was really nature at its purest. Hunter didn't know if he should hope for animals or not, without weapons they would be prey. 'Ah, the axe' must have fallen down before Jack did. This would be helpful. 'Jack is fine, don't think about it anymore. This prick could survive a metal pole through his head.' He believed he even saw Jack packing this damn pole in his backpack before they got out. 'When I see this shitty thing again I'll melt it.'

When he looked down again he saw so much blood. He couldn't see it clearly before because it was overshadowed from a tree. Hunter was so shocked his grip loosened, and he got his hands even more injured trying to stop the fall. In the grass lay some humanoid form, with blood everywhere. But what made him nearly lose his mind was that there was something, maybe a wolf or a deer, nibbling on what Hunter thought should be Jack's foot. He reached in his backpack and threw the dry shampoo, not even striking near the two. "Hey! Go away you motherfucker!" He roared down. The animal looked up and saw him. "Yeah if you got it in you come up!" The deer looked around and ran away. Hunter breathed out a sigh in relief and hurried up, ignoring his bloody hands and crying muscles. When his feet touched the ground he blacked out a moment, trying his best to reach Jack, it was dark, and the moon didn't help much with the trees, he crawled to Jack and laid beside the sticky bloody mess that he was before hugging him and losing consciousness.