Book of the Dead

by Greig Beck

  An electric shock of fear had nearly caused Matt to black out, and he had to gulp to pull in air over a galloping heart. “Shit.” He coughed, and looking up saw Abrams and Andy standing back in the shadows. Their lights came back on as well. Abrams stepped up and grabbed him, one handed, lifting him slightly.

  “Where the fuck have you been, Kearns, and where’s Senesh?” The man’s eyes were furious.

  Matt felt his heartbeat ease – regardless of the fright they had given him, and Abrams’s fury, he was glad they were there. “I was coming up.”

  Abrams let him go. “Where’re Senesh and Drummond? What have you found?”

  Matt rubbed his neck. “I came back to get you – reinforcements. Adira went on to look for Drummond.” He remembered the facial fragment. “I think we found Tan–” he looked quickly at Andy, and changed course “– someone, or what was left of them.”

  “What?” Andy’s face contorted. “Was it Tania? Did you see her?”

  “No, no; I don’t think so.” It was only then that he realized that the geologist still held out hope that Tania was a hostage and not a willing participant in Drummond’s plan. Perhaps the fool even had feelings for her that had existed somewhere other than his groin. Matt shook his head, and looked to Abrams. The major understood exactly what Matt had meant.

  He gripped Matt’s arm. “Well, Professor, we’re your reinforcements.” He gave Matt a push. “Show us where Captain Senesh went.”

  Matt walked them back along the passageway that changed to a tunnel, and then to rough-hewn cave, and back again, until he found the large cathedral-like room with the altar. He waved them on, making sure to avoid the shard of human being on the floor. Matt saw that Hartogg spotted it, but didn’t mention it: instead the SEAL nodded his acknowledgement to Matt, and held his gun a little tighter.

  “The smell; getting stronger,” Andy said. “The sinkhole in Iowa smelled a bit this way. But this is different too. Moldier. Stronger.”

  “She went through there.” Matt pointed past the altar to the dark curved passageway behind it.

  Hartogg moved quickly around the stone altar and leaned in. He slowly moved the barrel of his gun and light beam in and around the dark hole. He turned and held up his hand, Abrams nodded, and then the SEAL slipped in.

  They waited.

  Andy sidled up to Matt. “You think she’s dead? I mean, was that her you found?” he asked in a stage whisper.

  Matt shrugged. “No, not a hundred percent, but it kinda looked like a woman…sort of.”

  “Sort of? What does that even mean – sort of?” Andy’s voice had gone up a notch, and Abrams briefly looked across to them before going back to work on his comms device.

  Matt winced. “Andy, look…” Ah, fuck it, he thought. He’s a big boy, and this might get a lot worse yet. “Look, you remember Bill Anderson in the wall of the sinkhole? How we only found bits of him?”

  Andy’s lips started to curl in distaste. Matt decided to pull back a bit on the details. “Well, we found something that might, and I mean might, have belonged to her.”

  “She’s dead? Fucking hell. Drummond tore her apart?” Andy’s voice echoed.

  Matt held up his hands. “Andy, we don’t know tha–”

  “Hey!” Abrams shushed them as Hartogg stepped back into the room.

  “Just more passage, but the decline is increasing to about twenty percent.” He looked at a large dial on his opposite wrist. “We’re already half a mile down.”

  “Well, we’ve lost contact now – too deep.” Abrams looked at each of them. “Looks like we’re as good as it gets as far as the cavalry goes. So…” He nodded at the dark tunnel. “Only way is down.”

  Hartogg grinned, and headed back into the tunnel.

  They travelled on, ever deeper, once again through tunnels of brick, rock, ancient green stones, some wide, some train-tunnel sized.

  Abrams stopped to shine his light around at the walls and ceiling. “Professor Kearns, the house above us…” He frowned as he stared at the tunnel walls. “Those old brownstones are usually about a hundred years old, but these tunnels…”

  “The house is younger than the tunnels. Andy, what do you think?”

  “Huh? What?” Andy still looked a little dazed.

  “The rock.” He panned his light. “The house seems younger than the tunnels.”

  Andy nodded. “You got that right. The geology in Kentucky is some of the oldest in the country and dates back to the Ordovician age – about 450 million years. The state was once a warm shallow sea full of trilobites and cephalopods.”

  “Cephalopods, huh?” Matt felt ill.

  “Yeah, they’re ancient types of octopus things,” Andy said, turning back to the walls.

  “I got that,” Matt responded weakly.

  “Anyway,” Andy continued. “To me, it’s pretty obvious that the tunnels were here first, and the house was built over the top of them. This underground structure is old…very old. And it’s not easy to work this rock – it’s like iron.”

  Matt added his light. “And if you’re going to work the rock, why create passageways in these shapes? They’re not like anything I’ve ever seen before.” Matt pointed to some arches stretching along the tunnel and away into the dark. “We make doors and passages based on our physical form – we’re upright bipeds. These doorways are wide, bulged in the middle, and enormous.”

  Andy shrugged. “There are mansions with big doors and passages.” He shone his flashlight down the gloomy passageway. “We’re down a long way.”

  “We need to keep going,” Abrams said quietly. “This is leading us somewhere, and if Drummond is involved, it might be his home base, so I doubt he’ll be by himself.”

  “Adira said we needed to be ready,” Matt added, looking up at the formidable arches overhead. “These structures were built by an advanced race that was here a long time ago.” Matt’s vision turned inwards as he sought the words – but they were already there – they always would be. The verses tumbled from his mouth, whether he wanted them to or not.

  “They slumber, a race far older than man’s first word,

  In a city more ancient than Lemuria’s first brick.

  The sleepers in the dirt, the burrowers below us all.

  We who climb down into the depths find not just caverns of wet and slime,

  But carved faces beautiful in their hideousness, carrying not one visage of mortal man.

  Pathways spiral ever downward to hopelessness and eternal blackness.

  There, find mighty columns, towering edifices, and streets too wide for a sapiens’s feet.

  A primal city long past anything the tiny human mind could comprehend.”

  Abrams exhaled slowly. “Streets too wide for a sapiens’s feet, huh?” he grunted. “Well then, looks like we must be on the right path.” He nodded to Hartogg, who had been silently watching the forward and rear passages. The big SEAL shouldered his weapon and headed off into the dark again.

  Abrams put his hand on Matt’s shoulder. “You next, Professor. Andy, you’re my rear guard; okay?”

  “No problem,” the young geologist said, looking nervously over his shoulder.

  Ever deeper they went, minutes turning into dozens of minutes, into hours, and the passageways turning to tunnels and once again to huge caves. The ancient symbols were always with them, pressed into the stone now and not daubed upon it, but carved so cleanly it looked as if they grew from the very rock surrounding them. Their meaning still tugged at Matt’s mind, needling his brain, mocking him.

  At last they came to a split in the tunnel, and Hartogg held up a fist. He turned to Abrams. “Want me to scout em, Boss?”

  Abrams shook his head. “Send a pulse.”

  Hartogg pulled what looked like a flashlight from a pouch on his thigh and aimed it down the first tunnel. It pinged a few times, and then he read from a small screen on its top. He shook his head. “This one; nothing, no movement, and no blockages. Just goes on until
the downward curve makes it drop out of sight of the sonar.” He moved to the next, and did the same. Once again the pings sounded for a moment until he turned to them and shrugged. “Same. We got miles of tunnel and a choice – toss a coin?”

  Abrams looked down at the floor of the tunnel mouths, and clicked his tongue. “Ground is too solid for any footprints.” He checked his watch. “No idea which way they went. We don’t have time for dead ends.”

  “Then we split up,” Andy said. He pointed to the left cave. “I’ll go down that one.” He gave them a crooked smile. “I want to get his over with as quickly as possible. We give it twenty, and then come back, okay?”

  Abrams cursed and stared off into the blackness of the right-side tunnel. Matt knew he was weighing his options – there were very few, and the time running out was making wrong decisions costly, and potentially deadly – not just for them, but perhaps the entire world.

  They didn’t have a choice – Matt knew Andy was right. “I agree; we don’t have the time to check them both out.”

  “Okay. Andy and Hartogg, you take the cave to the left. Professor Kearns and I will do the one on the right. Back here in twenty whether you find something or not; agreed?”

  Hartogg nodded, and he and Abrams synchronized their watches. The SEAL then waved Andy on, and they vanished into the blackness.

  Matt looked down into the impenetrable darkness of their chosen tunnel. His cavalry had now shrunk to one man. He took a shuddering breath.

  Abrams, watching him, said, “I know, Professor…Matt. I’d prefer to be anywhere else right now as well.”

  He turned and entered the tunnel. Matt followed.

  *

  Hartogg and Andy moved quickly, the SEAL travelling fast, almost at a jog, chasing the spot of light emanating from his gun-mounted flash. Andy stayed as close he could manage, looking back over his shoulder every few seconds – the hair on his neck was on end the whole time.

  They entered another chamber, and Hartogg eased in, walking cautiously for a few paces before he froze and held up his fist. “We got company.”

  The words jolted Andy. “What? Where?” he whispered back, feeling a tingle of fear run up his spine to his scalp.

  “Ten o’clock.” Hartogg brought the barrel of his gun and light slowly around toward the figure.

  Andy did the same, and as the illumination crept around the corner of the chamber, he could just make out someone standing about twenty feet to the forward-left, up against the wall, back turned to them. “Hey.” Andy lifted his light a little more. The skin of the figure was milky white and smooth. He raised his light fully onto the figure as Hartogg started to crab to the side, gun up. Andy sensed what Hartogg was doing and moved to stay in front of him.

  The body almost shone in the glare of his flashlight. Andy’s mouth dropped open. She was naked, and…beautiful.

  “Tania,” he whispered. He edged forward. “Tania, it’s us.”

  “I wouldn’t recommend that, Mr Bennet. Please stand aside.” Hartogg had his light beam on the former captain, and was unblinking in his concentration. “Captain Kovitz, you will place your hands on your head immediately.” He lifted his rifle to sight along the barrel.

  “Help me.”

  The voice was barely recognizable. It had come from Tania, but didn’t sound like her. It was if she was speaking while holding a mouthful of water in her mouth.

  “That’s why we’re here – to help. Everything’s going to be okay.” Andy took another few steps, and got to within ten feet of her. He held his hand out – it was shaking – he couldn’t stop it. It was Tania, but something deep inside his brain screamed at him to stop, and back away.

  He ignored the little voice in his head, and took another step. “Tania, you’re safe now. It’s me, Andy, Andy Bennet, remember?”

  She turned.

  Andy sucked in a breath, and then smiled, struck by her shameless beauty. Even though he had seen her naked form in his fantasies ever since he first met her, he could never have imagined such perfection. Her breasts were small, high and firm, her stomach flat and below that her pubic hair glistened like curls of silk in the beam of his flashlight.

  He swallowed, feeling slightly aroused even as his heart raced with fear. He turned to Hartogg. “Lower your weapon – get that light out of her eyes.” Andy moved again to stay in front of Hartogg.

  The SEAL ignored him, keeping both his light and gun pointed at the woman.

  Andy saw that her blue eyes seemed darker than normal, and that she stared unblinkingly at him. Then it clicked why – her pupils were fully dilated, even though Hartogg’s light was aimed directly on them. And she still hadn’t blinked.

  “I think she’s drugged.” Andy took off his shirt, and shook it. “Let me put this on you.” The material was dripping with his perspiration, but he was determined to give her some modesty. She’ll thank me for it later, I bet, he thought.

  “Don’t.” Hartogg’s voice was loud in the silent room. “Mr Bennet, please move aside, sir. Now.”

  “Here.” He held out the shirt, anticipating laying it around her shoulders. His fingers trembled as one part of his brain couldn’t wait to touch her, and the other screamed at him to flee.

  “Mr Bennet, something is wrong. I advise you not to move any more.” Hartogg’s voice raised a notch, and he edged in a little closer, the gun up and now pressed hard into his cheek.

  Andy moved sideways again staying between the edgy Hartogg and Tania to avoid a reflex trigger pull making a fatal mistake. Tania’s lips parted.

  “Help me.” Her lips hadn’t moved to form the words, and once again the sound had a strange bubbling quality. Her mouth didn’t close, but now hung open, even wider.

  “Get the fuck out of my way!” Hartogg’s voice was a roar. “That’s not –”

  Andy leaned forward. “Yes, Tania?”

  A black tendril shot from her open mouth. In the blink of an eye it flew past him, travelling the fifteen feet across the chamber floor to Hartogg and striking him in the chest. Andy’s head whipped from Hartogg to Tania and back again. The SEAL was thrown backward, but not to the ground. Instead, he was suspended in the air, the black pipe having speared him in the chest. His rifle was out of his hands, and Hartogg gripped the thing impaling his body, his face contorted in pain.

  “What are you doing?” Andy’s brow creased in utter confusion, and his mind refused to make sense of what he was seeing. “What’s happening?” He spun back to the woman. Her face was devoid of any emotion or sensation. It was as if she were an unresponsive machine that had somehow speared the SEAL like a fish, and was now…reeling him in.

  Hartogg made agonized gurgling sounds. As Andy watched, the SEAL dropped one hand to reach for his sidearm and lift it free. Immediately, the glistening tendril in his chest widened. Hartogg dropped the gun, throwing his head back in agony. The sickening sound of ribs popping and splintering filled the dark room, even drowning out the SEAL’s grunts of pain. Andy rushed to him, but the man was already gurgling blood.

  Andy went to take hold of the arm-thick pipe, but saw that Hartogg already had his hands wrapped around it, and where he had gripped it, the black mass was now spreading over his fingers.

  Andy’s hands hovered, indecision almost causing a short-circuit in his mind.

  “Matt!” he screamed. “Major Abrams!” His voice bounced away down the dark passageways without response.

  He picked up the handgun, ran back and grabbed at Tania. She was at least four inches shorter than he was and he guessed he outweighed her by sixty pounds, but he might as well have been trying to tug on a block of stone. Then he felt the pain – where his hands grabbed at the woman, there was a burning sensation that felt both hot and toxic, like a marine jellyfish sting. Andy looked at Tania’s face, and saw she was still facing Hartogg, but, grotesquely, one of her beautiful blue eyes had slid around to be positioned where her temple should be – and it was watching him.

  Andy’s heart thu
mped so hard in his chest, it made him feel physically sick. He let her go, and backed away, his head shaking. “What’s – happening – to you?”

  Another dark tendril of oily-looking flesh shot from a newly opened hole in her belly, this one wrapping around Andy’s neck. It tightened immediately.

  Andy’s eyes watered from the pain and the despair. Just then, beautiful Tania burst apart, revealing the bloated creature inside.

  Andy’s fingers involuntarily tightened, and the gun went off in his hand. The shots and his last screams echoed along the ancient walls.

  *

  “Did you hear something?” Matt stopped and half turned.

  Abrams came back and joined him, tilting his head.

  “It’s gone now,” Matt said. “But it sounded like gunfire.”

  Abrams grimaced. “Maybe.” He checked his watch. “If we head back now, it’ll still take us fifteen minutes to reach them – whatever is happening will be long over by then. Don’t worry about it. I trust Hartogg; that guy can deal with anything. We’ve got another few minutes, and then we can turn back. One way or the other, we’ll find out what the noise was then.” He waved Matt on. “Come on, let’s finish our search…and pick up the pace.”

  They marched on, descending another few hundred feet as they went. Around them, they could now hear the shifting and cracking of rock as though they were moving along some deep fault line, and the heat and humidity became more unbearable with every step they took.

  Matt laid his hand on the rock wall. “This is impossible. The earliest traces of modern man arrived here about thirty thousand years ago. But this system looks as old as anything in Egypt or Troy – this shouldn’t be here.”

  “So who built it?” Abrams was shining his light deeper along the tunnel.

  “I think we’re about to find out.” With his hand, Matt traced some more symbols in the stone. An image flashed into his mind of a dark sea, so still that it could have been black ice, except for the vapors hanging over its warm surface. Without knowing, he had the feeling it was fathomless, but that still, down in that inky liquid, something watched and waited. Something far older than humankind, or anything else that ever lived on the planet.