They moved their way through the unusual surroundings. The jagged bored walls winded, ebbed, and flowed like an empty underground river; smelled like dead fish mixed with something stale too. There were smaller holes scattered throughout the tubes they travelled. Some sections intersected with other man-sized tunnels, not neatly forking, or branching into diverging paths, but seemingly connected almost by happenstance forming sharp breaks and turns. One could easily get lost down there, which the group of prospectors thought ahead to prevent, by marking the walls with florescent chalk to follow back once finished.

The group soon came to a section that opened into a wide chamber. Both its ceiling and floor were overlayed with gem shards, and scattered among said floor, fully intact gemstones glimmered when the lights from the headlamps shone upon them. Unlike the shards, none were embedded into the stony surfaces, but resting in small divots. Everyone opened their backpacks and scrambled about, plucking the fist-sized gems, and tossing them into their packs. Steve let the light linger on one he held in between his fingers, to view the jade-like stone in the center of the green crystalline integument.

It was after a good few minutes when Arun signaled the group to shut off the headlamps and go silent. It seemed at first like a false alarm, but this time everyone heard it: movement from one of the nearby tubes. One of their biggest concerns in revisiting Aspido wasn’t the security, or leaving empty handed, but the potential of other competitors. For that, everyone in the group came armed with pistols, which Steve unholstered and readied. He heard two other pistol hammers cock back as the sound moved its way closer to the chamber. The sound was almost about to leave the tube when it stopped. Only the dripping of water drops could be heard over the silence blanketing the area, until it was interrupted by the noise of a racking rifle.

A handgun went off. Then the rifle spat off a volley before more handguns joined in the fray. The cacophony of igniting, smokeless, gunpowder and the light of muzzle flashes, partially deafened and blinded all involved, forcing everyone to flee the area.

Returning the way from where he and the rest came, Steve reactivated his headlamp after jamming his fingers and scraping his head on a wall. He hurried his way through, following the florescent marks the group left earlier to guide them. Once out, he was joined by Arun and Junior.

“Are you guys okay?” Arun asked, checking on his teammates.

“I think I got winged on my side, but I think I’ll be fine.” Junior responded. “Who was that back there? Was it security?”

“How should we know?” Steve answered in a rhetorical question.

“Either way,” Arun began planning, “I think it’s high time we head back to the mainland. We’ll count out what we’ve collected and the-”

“Where’s Cole?” Steve interrupted to inquire.

The three of them looked around momentarily. “Shit, I think your friend is still down there somewhere!” Arun voiced out of concerning realization.

“We have to go back!” Junior urged.

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Junior turned to head back underground when Steve grabbed him by the shoulder of the shirt. “Forget it,” Steve overrode, “he’s probably already found another way out! Let’s bounce!”

The sound of an approaching helicopter aided Steve’s words in eliminating any reservations, causing the remaining team to run back to the shore.

On their way to the hidden dinghy, whether it was from an edged shard, cheap quality material used during manufacturing, or something else that happened while underground, a rip gave way and gemstones fell out of Junior’s backpack. He let out a sharp curse as he tried recollecting his loose haul. The other two stopped running and turned to him.

“Leave it!” Arun whispered loudly, “Just take what you have and come on!”

“Fuck that! I’m not leaving behind my share!” Junior quietly countered as he tried scooping up an armful of gems.

Beams from flashlights focused onto Junior. The lights were only drawn to him from where he was standing, since the reef rock blocked the other two from being spotted. Junior dropped the gemstones and went for his gun. Bullets ripped through his body, knocking him against the wall behind him, where he then quickly slid down. Steve and Arun continued running to the boat before he hit the ground.

The dinghy was heavier with just two people pushing it out to sea. The hull scraped on the coarse reef, creating a noise that induced a sense of anxiety about the boat’s integrity, and the possibility of attracting unwanted attention. Once the boat hit water, both men jumped in, grabbed an oar each, and paddled as fast as they could to a safe enough distance to run the motor. Moving towards the stern to start it up, Arun said, “I’m sorry about your friends, but don’t worry. Once we acquire the profits from the sale of the gems, we can find their next of kin and send them their share.”

“I’ve got a better idea.” Steve said, causing Arun to look back. He never got the chance to ask what was meant by that statement, as a rock pick was buried into his skull.

“And it certainly doesn’t involve scum like you.” Steve concluded, right before dislodging his tool and pushing Arun overboard.

Taking his place next to the motor, Steve started it up and made his way back to the mainland with both backpacks.

……………………………………………………………………….

Back at the condemned house, Steve set down the two backpacks on the table near the kitchen. Having the contact number of Cole’s jeweler friend, he arranged an appointment for the exchange. Afterwards, he sat down at the table and poured the treasured contents out of both packs, counting fifty-two whole gemstones in total. He stood up from the chair to walk a few steps away. The idea of all that profit going solely to him struck with a sense of excitement and relief. With that much money, he’d be able to buy back a good portion of what he lost, work to make back the rest, and the disaster fades away like a bad dream.

His head in the clouds was instantly brought back to earth, by the sound of something hard and almost porcelain vibrating on a wooden surface. He turned around to see what it was. One of the gemstones on the table was shaking. Then another gem started doing the same. Then another, and another, until all of them were violently jittering.

“What in the-”

A gemstone popped with the intense sound of a magnum revolver. The explosion sent green shrapnel everywhere, embedding shards into the walls, ceiling, and Steve himself. Before his body could register what had just happened, another gem burst and sent more pieces flying. The others followed in rapid succession, exploding into shards that embedded into surfaces, demolished items, and struck his person. Twitching and flailing backwards as they sliced and riddled him, he fell to the ground dead before the final four gemstones finished blowing up.

By the time it was all done, the affected area resembled a lesser version of the chamber, or a greater version of the shipwrecked schooner, back on Aspido. Steve’s dismembered corpse made a gruesome addition with the likes of its gem-pierced vitals. All was quiet throughout the abandoned dwelling for the rest of that night, except for the sound of scraping needles by the thousands.