“No hit, no hit.” Viktor continued to watch the water.
Dmitry snapped his head back to the front as his footfalls angled a little off the center of the spit and he stepped momentarily into deeper water.
“I’ll watch, you lead us.” Chekov grinned. “No time for you to go swimming.”
Up ahead the land mass drew them on, tantalizingly close, and though the huge towering jungle was as dark and mysterious as it had always been, now it seemed a source of safety and comfort.
The rate of inundation was accelerating, and Dmitry’s adrenaline surging through his system made him jumpy and he wanted to sprint, but instead had to slow his pace as the slim sand spit that had been their pathway was totally submerged, and now invisible.
Dmitry knew if he charged on too fast, he might run right into the deeper water and the waiting jaws of whatever thing it was that followed them. He wondered how much water needed to rise before the thing would assail them.
He didn’t need to wonder for long.
From his side the attack came fast. The massive head loomed from the depths. Dmitry swung around but instinctively backed away and fell off the narrow strip into the water on the other side.
Chekov went to one knee, aimed, and fired in full automatic mode into the beast. The creature was all shining dark carapace and pitiless eyes like pools of oil. It looked like some sort of mad cross between a lobster and a shark. On each side of its armored head were long grasping arms and the mouth telescoped open to reveal a gullet of inward pointing spikes down a long throat.
The men and women of his team yelled, cursed, and tried to get out of the way of a creature the size of a bus that must have weighed many tons. It split his team; some behind it on the sunken spit of sand, and some on Dmitry’s side, closer to the mainland.
The water was still too shallow for it to fully beach itself, but the arms on each side of its head flicked forward and then inward, while the mouth gaped wide, the intention clear, as it hoped to catch some of the humans in the sweeping motion.
The soldiers opened up, but the bullets only scarred the thick carapace and none pierced its many inches thick shell.
“Get down,” Dmitry yelled as the arms swept over them again.
On each side of it, huge sets of paddle-like legs thrashed and rowed as it tried to lift itself higher and change its angle so it could make another sweep at water level, where they’d have no hope of evading the feeding arms.
“Explosives,” Dmitry yelled, as he and his team loaded more explosive round magazines and fired.
One of the rounds detonated against the massive head with a bloom of orange flame, and the thing hunkered down a little, but once again there was little damage.
It thrashed some more and seemed to be concentrating on Sasha and Katya, who with their combined size, probably seemed the largest morsel of meat to choose from.
Katya buried her head into the back of Sasha’s neck and refused to watch as the large man kept his body in front of hers.
The result was looking inevitable as, with the tide coming in and the furious movement of the thing’s paddles, it was inching forward and angling itself to be able to scoop them up and drag them into its huge mouth.
Dmitry stood and walked forward as he released round after round. His father, a hunter, had once been attacked by a bear in Siberia and had fought it off with just a hunting knife. His advice: always go for the eyes; it was the softest part.
In a controlled and professional manner, he changed up his ammunition and slapped in an armor-piercing magazine and fired at the closest eye, again and again. And even though the eye itself was covered in hard chitin, this time the tungsten-tipped rounds pierced the hard shell. Unfortunately, whatever damage the projectiles did, they still didn’t seem to be worrying the juggernaut as it continued to bore down on Sasha and Katya.
Sasha reached up to his neck and dragged the woman’s hands away, and then pushed her back. Dmitry could tell it was the man’s last-ditch attempt to save her, for when the next lower sweep of the monster’s massive feeder arms occurred, they collected him up.
Katya fell back, as the dispassionate gaze of the creature stayed fixed on the large soldier. Sasha drew its attention and it gave the other scientists time to crawl away as he continued to fire uselessly into its approaching jaws.
Then something struck the huge body of the creature so hard they all felt it, even right through the sand bar. The massive thing was rolled slightly to one side and a high-pitched squeal emanated from its throat.
The thing’s arms and legs flayed about, but the churning water behind it was becoming discolored with an inky black ichor and boiling foam erupted around it.
“What…?” Dmitry lowered his weapon. “What’s happening?”
In the next instant the creature was tugged backward ten feet. Then tugged some more. It was clear then that something else, something even bigger, had hold of it.
Finally it was dragged into deeper water, where whatever monstrosity was below the surface pulled it down to feast on it.
Dmitry ran to Sasha and Katya and helped them up. He grabbed Sasha’s shirt and turned to the group.
“Now we run, for our lives,” Dmitry yelled.
Sasha went to help Katya back up onto his back, but she grabbed his forearm and held on.
She leaned close to his face. “Do not try and sacrifice yourself for me again. My life is nearly over, yours is just begun.” She patted his cheek.
Sasha tilted his head. “I cannot promise. It is our duty to protect our people.”
“Then next time I’ll push you out of the way.” She laughed softly, and then allowed him to help her up onto his back again.
A few more surge waves and splashes from the red water, and the group sprinted. Fear and adrenaline put wings on their feet, with all fatigue forgotten.
Dmitry and Leonid Chekov took the lead, and Dmitry worried that with the water now at their ankles and the sand beneath becoming softer, it was making staying on the backbone of the sandbank near impossible.
Only around two hundred yards separated the leaders from the shoreline, and as they approached, Dmitry for the first time could make out the towering trees, palm fronds as large as rooftops, and vines sprouting purple bulbs that might have been fruits or some sort of weird bloom.
But he also noticed movement. “Ach,” Dmitry spat and slowed his pace, forcing the others behind him to do the same. “Something is in there,” he said.
“Something worse than that monstrosity that just tried to eat Sasha? Or the thing that did eat poor Pavel?” Chekov asked.
“I think it doesn’t matter,” Dmitry replied. “We’re coming ashore whether we like it or not. And that means if we will need to fight.”
“Okay with me.” Chekov held his gun ready. “Fighting on land is better.”
“Then get ready.” Dmitry was first off the spit and raced along the shoreline for a dozen feet, then turned to the jungle and lifted his gun.
Sure enough, the people filing off the sandbank created enough movement to draw the predator out. A creature like a spindly-legged spider unfolded itself from the tree line where it was mimicking some of the long slender tree trunks and came after the Russian leader like a stilt walker.
The body was the size of a small car, but the legs were each fifty feet long and like dark tubing.
Dmitry waited, legs planted as the thing bore down on him. He let it get closer and then he fired.
From behind the beast, Chekov also began to fire, and he still had a few explosive rounds loaded. The first one penetrated the shining abdomen, and then detonated. The carapace expanded for a moment, and then the thing became unsteady on its long legs like a circus performer who’d had too much to drink.
The creature’s internal organs must have been obliterated, as it simply fell to its side, the body thumping to the sand.
Dmitry watched it shiver in a final death throe and then lay still. Chekov joined him and the pair stared a
t the corpse for a moment before Chekov turned with raised eyebrows.
“So, how has your day been?” He grinned.
Dmitry laughed softly. “Like a day in paradise. And even better; now we have fresh meat.”
He turned about and then waved his group in. “We need to get our bearings, find some shelter and rest. We do our job and then we can go home.”
“Now that sounds like paradise.” Chekov shouldered his rifle. “Dmitry, sir.”
Dmitry turned at the sound of his friend’s voice.
“One more thing.” Chekov’s mouth turned down. “Pavel, he was carrying the communication silo.”
Dmitry shut his eyes for a moment and groaned. “So, now we have no way to communicate with our base.” He sighed.
“Or them with us,” Chekov added.
“No matter. Our mission is unchanged.” Dmitry turned back to the blood-red sea. Their sand spit was totally gone, as the tide had swallowed all trace of it now. The sea creature that attacked them had been as large as a school bus, but something had preyed on it that must have been even larger. One of Katya’s sea monsters, he bet.
“Another day in paradise,” he repeated softly. But he knew, they were as far from the light of paradise as they could be. Dmitry sighed and headed back up the sand.
CHAPTER 20
Five miles to the west of the Russian mission team
Mike sat close to Jane, his thigh just touching hers. They’d taken a break at the base of a cliff, and all sat in a line with their backs to the sheer wall.
The group had been moving along a mountain range that seemed to grow ever higher with every mile they traveled.
Mike lifted himself a little to look over Jane’s head to Harris. The man had dark circles under his eyes and he stared at the tracker as though divining the meaning of life from its tiny screen.
“He’s obsessed,” Mike said.
“I guess he has to be,” Jane replied softly. “As a soldier, his primary role is to defend and protect. He’s going to do that come hell or high water.” She clicked her tongue in her cheek. “And now he has to do that with one soldier.”
Mike sighed. “You don’t have to defend him all the time, you know.”
“I’m not defending him.” She turned. “Just giving you my opinion.”
“Fine.” He faced forward. “I’d just feel a little better if I didn’t feel we were just pawns to allow him to reach his objective.”
“You said yourself; maybe it’s our objective too.” She lifted her eyebrows and smiled.
He snorted softly. “So we’re also fighting Russians now?”
“Sure, but only the bad ones.” She shared a crooked smile.
“Hey, do you remember where they said Camp Bondsteel is situated?” Mike asked.
Jane seemed to search her memory for a moment. “Kosovo, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, that’s right. And you know what else Kosovo is known for?” He moved closer.
“Their famous bean casserole?” Her grin broadened.
He liked seeing her smile. He’d missed it.
“Yeah, of course there’s that. But there’s also the Gadime Cave system.”
She clicked her fingers. “Oh yeah, I’d forgotten: the Lipljan municipality.” She turned. “Do you think…?”
He shrugged. “It’s one and a quarter miles deep, and is damned old, at least Mesozoic era. And most importantly, it’s still largely unexplored.” He nudged her leg. “So, yeah, I do think.”
“Best news I’ve heard all day.” She exhaled and nodded. “There could be a gravity well beneath it.”
“And a way out.” Mike reached across to place a hand on her forearm. “Never give up hope.”
“Easier said than done sometimes.” She laid a hand over his. “I like your optimism. Sometimes it’s a tiny light in a dark room. And I need that.”
He took her hand and rubbed it. Her face was more lined even after being here only a few weeks. Her cheeks were streaked with grimy sweat and were also reddened by the constant furnace-like heat from above.
Mike knew he loved her then and wished he could go back in time and ask himself why he had ignored her and then run away from her.
He squeezed her hand. “And I need your friendship. I’m sorry for cutting you off for so long, and sorry you got dragged into this.”
She scoffed softly. “Tell me, honestly, if we weren’t tricked into this, would you have come anyway?”
“Honestly?” He didn’t really have to think about it. “Probably.”
“I didn’t want to be here.” She sighed. “But do you know why I came? Because I thought you were coming, and someone needed to be here to look out for your big, dumb ass.”
He laughed softly. “Is that what you’ve been doing?”
She nodded. “Well, you’re not dead yet, so it’s working so far.”
“Thank you.” He lifted his canteen to toast her and then sipped the lukewarm water.
Harris finished speaking to Ally and got to his feet. He held his field glasses to his eyes for several minutes, scanning their surroundings, and then craned his neck to look up at the towering rock face behind them. After a moment he lowered them and turned to face the group. “Okay people, up and at ‘em.”
Mike helped Jane up, and Penny and Alistair wandered closer, while stuffing canteens, remaining food packs, and equipment back into pouches and pockets.
Harris placed his hands on his hips. “We need to see what’s coming. Our direction is known but as you are aware, sometimes a direct path is not the fastest or safest path.”
“So, we need a lookout?” Mike also looked up at the sheer cliff.
“Not just a single lookout, Mike, but all of us. Just up ahead there’s a ridge we can climb.” Harris smiled. “Just as well we’re all experienced climbers, right?”
“Experienced but tired,” Penny said.
“Well, we gotta do it,” Harris replied. “And I’d like to promise you we’ll get a cool breeze up higher, but I’m thinking it’ll more than likely be even hotter.”
“Oh boy,” Mike said.
“Ms. Bennet.” Harris turned to her.
“Yo,” Ally replied.
“Plot us a route and then we’ll head up.” Harris replaced his binoculars in their pouch. “I’ll bring up the rear.”
“On it.” Ally headed out.
They set off, sticking close to the cliff wall, and after another thirty minutes of trekking, they came to a fold in the rock that followed the edifice all the way to the top.
Ally and Harris both used their field glasses to check on the slope before he slapped her on the shoulder, and like a mountain goat, she headed up. The group followed.
The going was hard, steep, and lots of loose, heat-pummeled granite rolled under their feet. Most of the climb was on a natural jutting pathway, but a few areas required them scaling up and over jutting boulders.
Though all of them had been chosen for their caving abilities, the complexity added to the mix was the heat. Harris had been right about not getting any breeze at altitude as for every hundred feet they ascended, it seemed to add an extra few degrees.
The heat lifted off the dry stone in waves and was even hot to touch. By the time they neared the top it must have been a hundred and ten and there would be no shade or respite from the blasting red heat hammering down on them.
It took them another twenty minutes of straining, sweating, and exhausting effort to reach the top. It was a narrow ridge of stone, like the backbone of a huge slumbering animal beneath the ground.
The ridge wasn’t all that high as far as mountains go, but it did give them a panoramic view over the blood-red inner world.
Harris and Ally immediately took to their field glasses, scanning the distance, while Penny tended to Alistair’s back for chafing from his backpack.
Mike took a single sip from his canister. He tugged the brim of his hat lower and felt fresh rivulets of perspiration run down the side of his face. He knew the p
recious mineral and water loss he and the team were experiencing was exceeding his intake, and that meant soon they’d all start to suffer from the effects of dehydration: headaches, dizziness, and cloudy thinking, potentially deadly during a taxing climb.
He and Jane turned slowly, looking out over the immense primordial inner world; in every direction there was mostly an immense jungle of leviathan proportions. A flock of flying creatures, stiff membranous wings spread wide floated over one area, and though from the distance it was impossible to verify their size, by using the colossal trees they floated over for comparison he bet the things must have been the size of airplanes.
In amongst the green canopy huge heads lifted, hundreds of feet from the ground to graze on the new leaf shoots. Enormous mouths opened at the front of bus-sized heads to take in thousand-pound clumps of food, and when the things moved to a new area, the entire portion of forest shook in their path.
To their west a sea sparkled in the red light, and far back the way they had come, their ridge of rock joined up with the massive column mountain that was beginning to disappear over the horizon’s curve of their inner world.
Harris joined them and pointed. “That way.”
Mike and Jane followed his finger. Mike squinted as he could just make out something in the distance. “Is that what I think it is?”
Harris nodded. “Smoke. Has to be the Russians.” He handed Mike the glasses.
Mike put them to his eyes and could see the ribbon of smoke rising from the dense jungle, only a few miles from where they were now.
“Yep. Looks like a campfire.” He handed the glasses back.
“We’ve got two options,” Harris said. “We can cross the water, or we can stay up on this ridge which will get us there a little slower.”
“Stay on the ridge,” Jane replied quickly. “If at all possible, we stay out of the water where we can. Far too dangerous.”
“Everywhere is dangerous.” Harris turned. “Right?”
“Right,” Mike replied. “But some options are dangerous, and some are basically suicidal.”
“I have to see this world’s ocean up close. Just once.” Alistair had come up behind them. “If only to take some samples for analysis when we return.” He looked to the water. “In our world all life started in the oceans. It will be the same here. Is it a different ocean?” He turned with a finger raised. “Or is this the same ocean? Perhaps a portion of the surface water world that was hived off, many hundreds of millions or even billions of years ago. And therefore contained the same seed of life.” He nodded. “I have so many questions.”
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