by Jon F. Merz
"So the attack was a feint," said Kendall. "Smart bastards these things, huh?"
"Why take Havel?"
"Was he reloading his gun then?" Mick looked serious. "If he was, then it makes sense. Grab him while he can't shoot."
"Which means the things that grabbed him were here," said Julia. "But not in the numbers we thought they were."
"And," said Mick, "if they were waiting until someone reloaded, it might also mean they are vulnerable to our weapons. That's good news. If they hadn't waited but simply stormed in, I might be more concerned right now."
"Cripes," said Wilkins. "I changed mags twice. They could have grabbed me just as easily."
"Me too," said Nung.
"I had to change magazines as well," said Kendall.
"We all did," said Julia. "It could have happened to any of us. Or maybe they had their eye on Havel all the time. I don't know. I don't know what makes sense anymore."
"I'm not sure anything does at this point," said Mick.
"Well, I'm still concerned," said Julia. "After all, they've still got Havel."
"Yeah," said Wilkins. "What the hell are we going to do about that?"
Julia looked down the tunnel at the darkness. "The only thing we can do," she said. "We go and get him back."
Chapter Fifteen
Mick wanted to leave immediately. "Better to hit them now while they think we're recuperating from their pseudo-attack."
Julia stopped him. "Does that really make a lot of sense? We're not even sure how to get to wherever it is they came from. If we make a half-hearted stab at finding them now in the darkness, we might just wind up in some sort of nasty ambush." She lowered her voice. "And I certainly don't want to lose another man."
Mick sighed, his breath spilling over her like a hot wave of steam. "You're probably right. After that firefight, most of them will need some rest."
"What about you?"
"I could use a few zzz's myself."
Julia looked around. "Are we safe here? I mean, now that they know where we are?"
"Not much of a choice otherwise. If we go back toward the mouth of the cave, we'll have to deal with the colder air. That'll make an uncomfortable sleep period for everyone." He glanced around. "We can either stay here and take our chances or move back. It's your call, of course."
"But you vote we stay here."
"It'll be easier going when we do wake up if we're already positioned closer to the spot of the light."
"You think that's where they're coming from?"
Mick frowned. "Let's just say I'm damned interested in prying up that rock and seeing where that light is coming from."
"I'd expect we all are," said Julia. "You want to handle posting the guards? You coordinate with Wilkins."
"Sure." He started to turn away and then stopped. "Hey."
Julia looked at him. "What?"
"You did good back there."
She grinned. "So, did you."
His smile cut through the darkness. Julia watched him leave and then leaned back against the rocks closest to her. She was exhausted. The adrenaline spike had supercharged her for the firefight, but the dump was now coming over her like a heavy wet blanket. She felt like she'd just swum a river in all her clothes, dragged down by the extremes in her environment in so short a time.
Firefights with strange creatures weren't on the programming schedule for this trip. She smirked, but then got serious. And neither were two missing men.
Not to mention the entire other crew of the station. What had happened to them? It would be easy to imagine they'd all wandered off into the barren ice and got swallowed by Mother Nature.
But this wasn't Mother Nature. Not at all.
And damned if I know what it is, thought Julia.
Wilkins sat down beside her. "You okay, boss?"
She nodded. "Just tired."
"Yeah, the after effects of being so jacked up on your body's natural fight or flight response can really take the wind out of your sails. Had it happen to me a lot of times."
"You've been in a lot of firefights, Wilkins?"
He shrugged. "Grew up in Boston. Dorchester neighborhood. Wasn't exactly white picket fence suburbia. I lived on Corbett Street. You ever hear of it?"
"No."
"Rough place. One of the worst gangs in Boston's history took their name from that street. Bunch of drug dealing crazy ass kids who thought the world would cave to them if they waved a gun and a dimebag."
"That sounds suspiciously like personal experience."
He smiled. "Damned straight. I ran with 'em. Nearly lost my life more times than I care to remember. Got so bad, I lost five friends in the space of two weeks. Used to be a time in Boston when there were more kids dying under the age of sixteen than anyone else. It was a horrible waste of life. But we didn't know any better."
"Most kids don't."
"It took a drive-by outside of my house - with me getting about five rounds pumped into my legs, stomach, and back, for me to finally realize there had to be a better way to make a living."
"Jesus Christ."
Wilkins smiled. "Well, sure, he helped. I prayed to him every night while I lay in that hospital wishing for a second chance. He gave me one, too, and I never forgot that. I went to live with my aunt and uncle out in Minnesota. Talk about a change in scenery. Whatever. It worked. I got my nose straight, got into the books, and headed to college on a full scholarship."
"That where you met your wife?"
"Brenda? Yeah. Helluva woman. She'd have to be to put up with me going thousands of miles away from her." He grinned. "Maybe I don't deserve it, but I like to think it's God's way of patting me on the back for getting straight."
Julia smiled. "Not bad, Wilkins."
"Not bad at all. And here I am at the bottom of the world. On what could be a damned important mission."
"Pretty good for an inner city kid."
"Yeah, not bad. The problem is, that now I've almost come full circle."
"How do you figure that?"
Wilkins gestured around them. "Look at us. We're holed up in some cave while a blizzard buries our transportation outside. In here, we're possibly easy pickings for some kind of creature. And once again - worst of all - I'm holding a gun."
Julia shook her head. "There's a difference now."
"Is there?"
She nodded. "You've got a gun in your hand for protection. You'll use it to save the life of yourself and your teammates."
"Same as before."
"No," said Julia. "It's not. Before you would have used a gun offensively. You would have taken out someone before they became a threat."
Wilkins jaw tightened. "Yeah. But you know what? If I had the chance to do these things before they came at us again, I sure would. That doesn't make me any different than before."
"You really think you're being fair with yourself right now?"
He grinned. "Probably not. This cave is depressing the hell out of me."
"Get some sleep," said Julia. "We'll sort this all out when we wake up and figure out our next move."
Wilkins smiled. "G'nite."
"Good night." She watched him scramble over to the other side of the path. He rested his rifle against the rock close by and worked his hand through the strap so it would be within easy reach.
Julia leaned back, feeling the countless bumps press into her back. It felt like a prehistoric shiatsu treatment. Who would have thought she'd be leading such a group like this?
Life sure has a funny way of dealing out the cards, she decided.
She looked up at the top of the cave and let her eyes close. The lantern still cast enough light for them all to see, but Julia preferred listening to the surrounding noises. She felt her body slacken. Her muscles seemed desperate to throw off the last vestiges of the stress of the earlier firefight.
And she let it.
She felt her breathing deepen.
"Julia."
She moaned and opened her eye
s. Mick was leaning over her.
"Yes?"
"You okay?"
"I was about to enjoy some sleep for a little while. I'm losing it over here. Then I was rudely interrupted."
"Sorry. Just wanted to tell you that the shifts have been worked out."
"Anything else?"
"Yeah," said Mick. He smiled. "You can get some sleep now."
"Oh, gee, thanks."
He kissed her lightly on the forehead. "Sleep well."
She nodded and closed her eyes again. She heard him move off toward another position in the rocks. Despite her still unease with whatever Mick said he was, she sure felt better about having him around. She wasn't particularly certain they would have made it this far if he hadn't been around.
After all, Julia had been trained to lead a scientific exploration. And the current situation seemed anything but.
Her eyes grew heavier.
Her breathing deepened again.
She heard the water still trickling and falling in places. It dropped and plunked off the cave floor. There was something so utterly calming about it. Julia felt herself surrendering to sleep.
And it felt good to do so.
Her arms slid down beside her. The M16 lay across her lap, heavy in the slumbering haze that was overtaking her.
Images swirled behind her eyes. Sounds filled her ears. Julia welcomed them with open arms.
And finally, completely, totally, slept.
Chapter Sixteen
Mick nudged her awake a few hours later. Julia groaned softly, annoyed at having to relinquish her sleep, but she knew she had no choice. It was her turn on guard duty.
Mick looked at her. "You slept well."
"How can you tell?"
He grinned. "Because I know the look of someone in the field who's enjoyed their sleep. You look rested."
"I'm still exhausted."
"We all are. That's to be expected."
"Weird dreams, too."
"What kind of dreams?"
She looked at him. There it was again. A slight shift in his personality. Almost like he was two different people. On one hand, he was the cute rough and tumble guy who'd saved their hide a lot today. But on the other...
Well, Julia wasn't so sure yet what the other was all about.
"Just weird dreams. Nothing much to them. But I think I dreamed about this place."
"The cave?"
She nodded. "Yeah, the cave. The tunnel. Us. Those...things."
"So not necessarily a pleasant dream."
"Well, the part with us in it was pretty good."
He smirked. "Wilkins and Nung had a dream about this place, too."
"Just now?"
"Earlier. When I woke them up for stag duty." He looked at her. "And now you just tell me you've had the same thing happen to you."
"And you think they're related."
He shrugged. "Remember the first night at the station? What you were all talking about? The dreams? How you'd all dreamt about this place for years."
"You said you had the dreams, too."
Mick nodded fast. "I did. I did." He shrugged. "But now that we're actually here, I haven't."
"They could just be a by product of the stress of the firefight earlier. Some sort of post traumatic stress disorder perhaps?"
"Yeah, I suppose they could be." He sighed. "Wish I'd had the dreams, too."
Julia smiled. "You feeling left out?"
"I'm feeling like I wish I knew what the hell was going on around here."
"I think we all feel that way."
He looked down the tunnel. "The answer's down there, Julia. Can you feel it? I know it's down there."
She nodded. "We'll get to the bottom of it." She touched his arm. "What do you think happened to Vikorsky and Havel?"
"And the others?"
Julia nodded.
Mick sighed. "I don't know. Part of me hopes they're alive somewhere. I don't know. Being held captive maybe? How weird does that sound?"
"It sounds like optimism."
"A bigger part of me thinks that they're probably dead by now. Used for some reason. Food? I don't know. It's gruesome as hell trying to debate the possibilities. The best thing we can do is press on and try to find them."
"Or whatever is left of them," said Julia.
"That didn't sound like optimism."
"It's not."
Mick nodded and handed her the M16. "Time we got to our positions."
She took one side of the cave and he the other. She kept glancing over at him. Part of it was for reassurance. Knowing that he was in the nearby vicinity made her feel somewhat safe.
Part of it was because she still didn't completely trust him. Something about him didn't make sense. She wished she could peel back the layers of his head and reach into his brain to extract everything she needed to know.
But she couldn't.
Not yet.
Mick leaned against the cave wall with his gun in hand. He kept the butt in his shoulder but the muzzle pointed just below the horizon. Julia recalled seeing a special on the Discovery Channel about special operations commandos and how they used that position. What had they called it? Low-ready? They could bring up their weapon faster than if it was at their side. They could align the sights faster and bring their targets down.
And here was Mick using a similar style.
Julia didn't think Mick was being completely honest with her. Or any of them.
But why? What was he hiding? And for what purpose?
More to the point, who could Julia trust on her team?
Wilkins.
She smiled. He was her number two man. And she knew he wouldn't take crap from anyone. He'd back her no matter what. She felt lucky to have him along on the trip.
She glanced up, feeling Mick looking at her. It amazed her how much their eyes had adjusted to the dismal lighting down here. The lantern cast only a tiny amount of light, mainly because they'd turned down the oil consumption to preserve the fuel. But even still, Julia could see Mick pretty well.
And he could see her.
She smiled at him. He smiled back.
That was it.
She turned and stared down into the darkness of the cave tunnel. Further down there sat answers to all her questions. All they had to do was walk down, find their way to the other side of the rocks with the light bleeding through them and then have at it with whatever came at them from the other side.
Julia gulped.
She wasn't so sure she wanted another firefight.
Especially if this one was going to be real.
But she didn't have a choice. She owed it to her team. She owed it to Vikorsky and Havel. She owed it to the other staff members who'd gone missing before they arrived.
But most of all, she owed it to herself.
She wasn't going to let this beat her. She wouldn't give Kendall the satisfaction of seeing her beaten.
She smirked and tried to imagine how good it would feel coming back from this trip with everyone safe and sound. How good it would feel to be thought of as a hero. Didn't everyone want to know how that felt? Didn't everyone wish deep down that just once they could save the day? That they could know what it felt like to stand in the winner's circle?
Sure.
More doubt washed over her. Home was thousands of miles away. Clear across the freaking planet. Back to the land of SUVs, cellphones, and cutthroat everyday people.
Julia was leaning against the wall of a dank humid cave deep in Antarctica.
Hunted.
She shivered once realizing how that actually felt. For so long man had considered himself the ruler of the world. Except in certain situations. By and large modern man had mastered every domain, beaten back every race and species until none could stand toe-to-toe with mankind.
And now suddenly something down here was threatening that.
But what?
She shifted, wondering how long they'd been standing there. Then she thought better of i
t. It had probably only been a few minutes. No longer certainly.
She looked at Mick again. "How do you stay awake?"
He grinned. "I'm thinking about all the food I'm going to eat when I get home."
"Like what?"
"Barbecue. I make a mean set of ribs. Slow cook the things for hours. Drenched in beer, the meat really falls off the bones. We're talking hours of slow-cooking, but it's totally worth it."
"You have one of those oil drums?"
"You mean a barrel smoker?" He nodded. "You bet. It's the only way to do it right. It's tough trying to cook them any other way."
Julia felt her mouth swim in saliva. "I could use some of those right now."
"What - you didn't like the ham stew?"
She smirked. "Oh sure. And the tobasco sauce made it all the tastier."
"We had a saying back in the service: tobasco makes everything taste better."
She looked at him. "That's some saying."
"Yeah. Kinda lame, huh?"
"Just not very original is all."
"We weren't paid to be original," said Mick.
What were you paid for, Julia wondered.
Mick shifted. "It'll be time to wake the others up soon."
"Has it been that long?"
"Almost an hour."
"Really? Feels like only two minutes."
"Trust me," said Mick.
I want to, thought Julia. I really do.
But she couldn't.
Not just yet.
She hoped she'd be able to.
Soon.
Chapter Seventeen
Mick arranged them in a loose staggered line as they crept forward toward the point where Mick had seen the light behind the rocks. Mick took point and Wilkins came second. Julia took third and the rest fell in after them with Darren taking up the rear.
Whatever they'd come down here for, thought Julia, it sure as hell feels like we're going off to do battle.
We're soldiers now.
Mick led them about one hundred and fifty meters further down the tunnel. It widened out considerably down here and Julia could still hear the telltale dripping of condensation that echoed when it struck the tunnel floor. She'd never want to hear that sound again if they ever got out of here.
