Orange Lust

“Damn it's cold in here…”, my meek voice spoke out.

The bright light in front of me turned around and shined in my eyes, and although I couldn’t see through her thick standard issue helmet, I could tell Mars was rolling her eyes at me.

“You know you don’t need to wear those anymore, right? The surface may be uninhabitable but it's completely fine to breathe in here as long as you're wearing one of these” Rita asked Mars, the mask covering her mouth and nose muffling her voice

“We don’t know what's in these caves. There could be diseases.”

“That’s the whole point of the respirators. They clear out any airborne pathogens.”

“I still don’t trust ‘em”

Rita audibly sighed, “I guess they don't give you that gun for your smarts, do they?”

“They won’t teach you survival instincts in the classroom sweetheart. That you can only learn on the field.”

Just as Rita was just about to reply with another snarky comment however, my eye caught on something to the wall left of me: A hole.

“Guys come look at this.” I spoke as I walked towards it.

Rita glanced over at what I was shining my light on, “Woah, looks like a tight squeeze for sure.”

I placed my hand into it, and stood still for a moment, “I feel a draft coming from it. There's definitely some big opening on the other side of it.”

“Do you think you could make it in?” Rita asked me

“Not sure… let me give it a try”

I stuck my head into the hole and held my arms to my side tightly. I took a deep breath in and exhaled as I pushed myself into the hole, getting about halfway through before taking another deep breath and pushing myself through it once again. After a bit of wiggling I got my head and arms free on the other side before grabbing the walls and pulling myself the rest of the way through. Once on the other side of the wall Rita passed me my flashlight through the hole and I shined it around the cave, stopping it on something only a couple feet in front of me. A long pink piece of what looked to be organic material stretching out and up from the floor

“Holy shit!” I yelled, “I think I found something alive!”

“No way are you fucking with me?!” Rita asked through the hole, clearly ecstatic

“Yes, something organic is growing out from the floor. Its fuckin tall too! I can’t even see where it ends!”

“Hold on, let me through! It might be dangerous!” Mars spoke

“You won’t be able to fit through with your helmet on, dumbass” Rita scolded

She was right, I barely scooted through and that was with nothing but my clothes on. I couldn’t even imagine her scooting through there with all her tactical gear on.

“Rita, pass me the camera. I need to get some photos of this thing!” I called out through the hole.

“What does it look like? Is it dangerous?” Mars asked

I chuckled, “Doesn’t look like it. It looks like some sort of organic tree. I have no idea how it's even possible!”

Explanations for how this could be even remotely possible raced through my head as I studied the pillar. As I thought, I could hear Rita shuffling through Mars’ bag looking for the camera. Moments later I heard her place it halfway through the hole and I reached in to grab it. I took a picture of the base. It seemed to spread out on the floor and extend upwards till it reached the roof. That's when I noticed two more pink appendages behind it that looked just like it, also extending all the way from the floor to the roof of the cave, maybe 15 feet off the ground. I placed my hand against it and squeezed it gently, feeling the material.

“There's two more… and they’re definitely organic materials.”

Suddenly a brilliant bright orange light lit up the roof of the cave, although my flashlight overpowered it. I decided to turn it off so I could see it better, and stared up towards the ceiling, completely dazzled by the view I saw. The light felt so… captivating.

“Woah! Guys turn off your flashlights.”

“What? Why?” Mars responded

“For an armed guard you sure do ask a lot of questions, you know that right?” Rita once again scolded, “You know this is why they use you guys as cannon fodder! You’re all dumb as rocks!”

Just as they began to start another argument, I felt something warm and wet circle around my arm. I reached down and realized the pink mass had wrapped itself around my forearm and was slowly spreading upwards, wrapping itself in coils around my arm.

Panic struck me hard. I stood frozen unable to utter anything out as the two voices in the background exchanged insults, completely unaware of the events that were transpiring. I prayed it was just going to let go of me and not break my arm if I stood completely still, but then I felt it start to wrap around my throat. I diverted my eyes to the floor, wondering how this was even possible. It had somehow detached from the ground and was now wrapping around me. That's when the realization hit me- It wasn’t growing from the bottom of the cave: it was growing from the top.

I tried to release a scream but just as I opened my mouth to do so I felt it tighten around my neck, **** me and preventing me from making a few muffled **** sounds. Fight or flight kicked into full ****, and I thrashed back and forth trying to free myself from the dire situation I was in. I managed to free my arm from the pink appendage while doing this, but my throat was still being choked hard.