>>5849408A slow rushing sound starts to become audible as you descend, rising up towards the elevator as you work your way down. You turn, and see a spray of something rise up into view. A fine mist gathering around a thick cable which had appeared in the distance, all too quickly followed by a great metal cylinder that loomed out of the darkness suddenly. Water spilled freely from a precisely drilled port in the bottom, a shutter drawn open by some kind of tension mechanism made from several twisted wires and a metal plate. It was nearly twice as big as the truck, and vanished into the gloom above you almost as quickly as it came, leaving a spilling trail of water behind that quickly dissolved into dribbles and then mist that gradually dispersed entirely.
“Is that halfway?” You ask.
Errat nods. “It'll slow down as we hit the bottom." He leaned over and opened his own door, looking down through the grates. “Doesn't look like we're close yet, though. There's barely any light down there, but you <span class="mu-i">can</span> see the ground.”
“Like moonlight?”
“What's moonlight?” Errat furrowed his brow.
“...weak ambient light. Barely enough to see by."
“Then yeah, moonlight.” A gentle groaning sounded through the ceiling of the elevator, and you see the crank start to slowly run backwards, unwinding itself as you reach the bottom. Your expression must have seemed concerned, because Errat speaks up again. “The elevator always resets to the top. If you're down here and want to get it down, you pop the counterweight from this end and wait.”
“Understood.” You turn, and notice Errat retrieving something from behind his seat. A shortened shotgun, from it's appearance, with a single tube running it's length. “Should I be concerned?”
“This time? Yeah.” Errat glanced around. “The best time for them to attack is when we're almost down, since there's only one- no, not yet.” He stops you as you make to get back inside the truck. “Unhitch us.”
You nod, and quickly move to yank off the chains from the front and back. The task felt easy enough, but you disconcertingly realize that the inky black floor beneath you is changing colors, getting oddly bluer and developing odd lumps of half-texture as you approach the foundation floor. It wasn't enough to reliably see by, but it was also rapidly getting closer, and you hurry to release the rear hook and throw up the gate as the truck's engine turns over. “Who's 'them'?”
“Mutants.” He says, carefully. “Bilge rats. All stripes. Most of them are near feral, but you also have the people who were banished down here for one crime or another. They're the most dangerous, since they're desperate. Down here, you barely have any vermin without refuse from the upper levels, barely any picking, any foraging... the only available meat is human flesh.”
“That sounds like a legend.”
