The Wall

It took an hour for the drug to work. Elias fought it, pacing the room, muttering scripture, but eventually, he collapsed onto the fainting couch, his breathing heavy and slow.

Mercy moved instantly.

She didn't look at him. She grabbed a canvas rucksack from the supplies. She went to the loose piles of gold nuggets near the vein. She shoveled them in until the bag was so heavy she could barely lift it.

She stripped off the velvet dress, changing back into her rough riding clothes, though she kept the emerald necklace he had given her. It was worth a fortune.

She crept to Elias. She reached into his shirt, her fingers brushing the gold dust on his chest, and unclasped the key.

He groaned in his sleep, grabbing her wrist.

"Don't go..." he mumbled. "The dark..."

Mercy pried his fingers off. "Goodbye, Elias."

She ran.

She hauled the bag up the incline. The air grew colder as she ascended toward the iron doors. Her heart hammered against her ribs. She was going to be rich. She was going to buy a hotel in San Francisco. She was going to eat oysters and sleep until noon every day.

She reached the doors.

She inserted the key. The gears groaned, echoing loudly in the tunnel.

*Please don't wake him. Please.*

She turned the wheel. The heavy iron latches retracted with a deafening *CLANG*.

Mercy pushed the doors open. She braced herself for the blinding light of the snow, the bite of the wind.

The doors swung outward.

Mercy stopped. She blinked.

There was no snow. There was no sky.

Behind the doors was a wall of solid, jagged rock.

Mercy dropped the bag of gold. She reached out and touched the stone. It was cold, immovable. It wasn't a natural formation. It was a collapse. A massive, deliberate cave-in.

"No," she whispered. She clawed at the rocks. "No, no, no!"

"I told you."

The voice came from the bottom of the incline.

Mercy spun around.

Elias stood there. He was swaying, drugged and groggy, holding an oil lamp. His face was pale, but his smile was serene, terrifyingly peaceful.

"I told you the world above was fallen," Elias called up to her. "I sealed it away. Three days before I found you."

"You... you collapsed the entrance?" Mercy screamed. "We're trapped!"

"Not trapped," Elias said, starting to climb toward her. "Protected. The storm cannot touch us here. The law cannot touch us."

"We'll die!" Mercy shrieked. "We'll run out of air! We'll starve!"

"We have enough food for a year," Elias said calmly. "And the air vents go to the surface. We have a lifetime, Mercy. A lifetime to be perfect."

Mercy looked at the wall of rock. Then she looked at the bag of gold at her feet.

It was worthless. It was just yellow rock.

She looked at Elias, who was closing the distance, his eyes full of forgiveness and madness.

"Why?" she sobbed.

"Because God requires sacrifice," Elias said, reaching her. He gently took the bag of gold from her and tossed it aside. It spilled across the floor, ignored.

He cupped her face. "And now, there is no temptation to leave. We are finally free."

\---