Bad Air by Simon Rudd | Claustrophobic Underground Horror Novella

Description

A claustrophobic underground horror novella by Simon Rudd

Cass only meant to be underground for a few hours.

A quick solo trip into an abandoned Welsh mine. A rumour of rare anatase crystals. A chance to prove that the site was real before anyone else found it, stripped it, and claimed the discovery for themselves.

She has the gear.
She has the experience.
She knows how to read rock.

But the deeper Cass goes, the worse the air becomes.

The mine begins as a place of slate, quartz veins, old timbers, rusted tools, and the quiet thrill of discovery. Then the headlamp starts to flicker. The passages begin to look wrong. Footsteps echo where there should only be one set. Something calls her name in the dark.

And when Cass realises she has failed to mark her way back, the mine stops being a site to explore.

It becomes a place that is keeping her.

Bad Air is a tense, atmospheric horror novella about obsession, isolation, pride, and the terrible moment when expertise is no longer enough. Set in the damp, narrowing passages of an abandoned Welsh mine, it blends survival horror, psychological dread, and supernatural unease into a story built around one simple fear:

What if the dark underground was not empty?

Why readers will love it

• A gripping underground survival-horror setup
• A strong, flawed protagonist driven by expertise, pride, and obsession
• Claustrophobic abandoned-mine atmosphere
• Slow-burn psychological dread that builds into real terror
• Welsh landscape, old workings, minerals, bad air, and hidden history
• Perfect for readers who enjoy horror rooted in realistic detail
• Short enough to read quickly, unsettling enough to stay with you
• Available as a PDF

Cass is an experienced mineral collector, used to lonely hillsides, old workings, and the heavy silence of places most people never see. When she tracks a rumour of rare anatase crystals to an unmarked mine in Wales, she knows the risks — rotten timbers, bad air, unstable passages, no phone signal.

But she also knows what happens when collectors hesitate.

Someone else finds the site.
Someone else takes the specimens.
Someone else tells the story.

So Cass goes in alone.

At first, the mine gives her exactly what she came for: quartz veins, pyrite cubes, and the proof that the rumours were true. But the deeper passages are older, narrower, and wrong in ways she cannot explain. Her headlamp fails. The air turns heavy. The echoes do not match her footsteps. Shapes appear in the rock. A voice says her name.

Then Cass realises she is lost.

With her phone battery draining and the mine twisting into something stranger than geology, Cass must confront not only the darkness around her, but the choices that led her there.

Bad Air is a dark, tightly written horror novella for readers who love claustrophobic settings, grounded realism, and the creeping fear that the place itself may be alive.

Best for readers who enjoy

• Claustrophobic horror
• Abandoned mine stories
• Survival horror
• Psychological horror
• Folk horror atmosphere
• Supernatural suspense
• Short horror novellas
• Strong female protagonists
• Stories set in Wales
• Dark, realistic horror with a slow-burn build