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He was fairly certain the stench was penetrating his skin and seeping into his bloodstream. The tunnel was saturated with it, to the point that he felt as though the air should be putting up more resistance as he moved through it. When he’d first entered it had been truly overwhelming, sending him into a coughing fit, but as time had passed he’d accepted the permanent damage this place was doing to his nostrils and pushed his disgust aside.
Glancing down at his map, he took yet another right only to be met with a dead end. He swore, turning around and reentering the main pipeline. The maze of tunnels had grown more and more complicated as he’d progressed, going beyond the level of detail the map had described. He wasn’t even sure if there was a correct path anymore, let alone which one it was.
It was dizzying, retracing his steps over and over again, only to make no progress. Frustration grew as he continued his search, and after a while he had to accept that he was hopelessly lost. His comm did nothing more than crackle when he activated it, and he knew he would have to figure this out himself. He suppressed the urge to sigh, not wanting to breathe more of the air than was strictly necessary, and continued to wander.
It wasn’t long before he realized that some of his lightheadedness probably sprung from the fact that he’d resisted taking full breaths for nearly fifteen minutes now. He felt suffocated, and leaned against the wall to rest for a moment. The tunnel before him was split into four directions, each on equally indistinct. He peered down each one hopelessly, his breathing still shallow. The map had become useless several turns ago, since he’d lost track of where he was. He decided to wing it, and headed eastward.
Only to feel the ground collapse below him.
He yelled as he went into freefall, only to be stopped by the abrupt reintroduction of solid ground. Pain shot through him as his limbs were jarred. He scrambled to regain his footing, then looked upward. He saw that he’d landed himself in a ditch several meters deep, and could tell it would be impossible to get himself back up to the top.
“Oh, that’s just brilliant!” he shouted, kicking the ground uselessly. He was stuck in a stinking hole with an alien on the loose, and couldn’t even contact the rest of the team to ask them to come and get him.
“Fuck. That’s just fucking spectacular.”
He knew it had been a bad idea to go in alone. Closing his eyes, he leaned back against the wall of the hole and prepared to wait.
To his relief, it didn’t take nearly as long as he expected.
“Owen?” came the faint sound of Gwen’s voice echoing from above.
“I’m down here!” he called out. “Bloody floor collapsed on me. You gotta get me out.”
“We’re coming!” That was Jack. He heard the sound of footsteps growing closer, and four shadowy figures appeared above him.
“Did you find the thing already?” he asked, surprised. “Why are you all together?”
“No, we haven’t found it. We decided it would be better to meet back up and search one tunnel at a time,” Jack said.
“Do your comms work? I tried to contact you earlier but there was no signal.” It was unnerving talking to them when he couldn’t actually make out their faces, which were shrouded by the dark.
“Yeah, ours work!” said Tosh. “We don’t know why yours went out.”
“We can figure that out later,” Owen replied dismissively. “Just get me out of here.”
“There’s a bit of a problem with that…” Jack said. “We can’t.”
“What do you mean, you can’t?”
“Just what I said. We don’t have any equipment to haul you up.”
“Then go to the bloody SUV and get some.”
“Listen, we’ve been looking for this alien for ages! I really don’t want to leave before we find it.”
“So, what, you’re just gonna leave me here?”
“That’s my vote,” Ianto chimed in.
Bastard.
“Am I really that unimportant to you lot?” Owen grumbled.
“Well… yeah, kinda,” Jack said. The sincerity in his voice made something uncomfortable churn in Owen’s stomach.
“It’s not as if you make much of an effort with us,” Tosh added with subtle malice.
“You’re just so irritable all the time,” Gwen mused. “Always pushing us away.”
“But–” Owen began.
“It’s really no wonder. You should have been expecting this,” Jack’s tone cut like glass.
“Expecting what?” he didn’t have the strength to quell the panic in his voice.
“We’re giving up on you, Owen.”
His mouth fell open, and he stared at the figures looming over him.
“Don’t…” he whispered.
“Too late.”
And they were gone.
“No!” he cried out. “No, please. I’ll try harder. Come back–”
“Goodbye, Owen.”
“Don’t leave me. Please, don’t leave me!”
He scrabbled against the wall, their retreating steps echoed like a death knoll in his ears. He couldn’t breath. He couldn’t breathe.
“Come back!” he gasped, sinking to his knees. “Come back.”
Finally, he filled his lungs to scream. And was surprised by a fleeting wisp of fresh air. He blinked.
He was standing almost directly under another manhole. He could tell it wasn’t the one he came through, since this one was a bit closer to the ground. A slight breeze filtered in through it, brushing against his face. Looking around, he saw no sign of the abyss he’d fallen into, or of the other’s retreating backs.
The world solidified around him as his terror broke.
He sat in the lingering stillness, holding the map in his shaking hand.