by David Meyer
Abruptly, the helicopter jolted.
"Oh my God." Dr. Wu's voice screeched out of the speaker. "What the hell?"
Emily shifted in her seat. "Doc?" she shouted. "What's wrong?"
A few seconds passed.
"If you aren't buckled in, do it now." The doc's voice sounded muffled as it exited the speaker. "We've got problems. Serious …"
The speaker sizzled. Then it went silent.
"Doc?" Emily yelled.
A faint voice came from the cockpit. "Electronic systems … failing … navigational equipment … failing … even the compass … spinning like a windmill … how is this possible?"
"Can you land?"
"I can't see." His voice rose to a muffled screech. "So, yeah. I can land. Whether we'll survive or not is a whole other question."
"Gain some altitude. Maybe we can hover until the clouds clear up."
"Negative," he shouted. "I can't—"
Wind swirled into us. Dr. Wu fought to keep the craft steady. We hovered for a few seconds, tipping from side to side.
Terrible noises filled the air. They sounded like horns. I clutched my ears. Doubled over in pain.
Panic filled Emily's voice. "What's our status?"
"Nothing's working," he shouted. "We don't have power. Not a goddamn bit of it."
The chopper tipped sideways. My back slammed against the bench. Gritting my teeth, I tried to concentrate. But my brain felt scattered, ripped into a thousand pieces. It was hell.
Pure hell.
The engine noise drifted away. Then the whirring chopper blades faded to silence. Even the voices quieted down. Soon, the only sound I could hear was rain. It pounded against the chopper with the force of a giant waterfall.
We hovered for a few seconds. Then we plummeted toward the ground.
Wind rushed at my ears.
A single thought raced through my mind.
We're going to die.
I jolted. Pain erupted in every inch of my body. Darkness seeped in from the corners of my vision.
And then I swirled into a sea of blackness.
PART III
The Pyramid
Chapter 35
"Wake up, everyone! Wake up!"
My eyes fluttered open. The cabin was dark, nearly pitch black. The only illumination came from small flickering lights within the cockpit. I felt ice cold. And yet, I sensed blistering heat licking my skin.
I lifted my chin a few inches. My neck felt stiff. Taking a deep breath, I twisted it to my left. Beverly was slouched to the side. Her head rested on her shoulder. Soot covered her drawn cheeks. Her shirt had been ripped and torn in multiple places.
Across the aisle, Crowley appeared dazed. Emily's hair was askew. Small bruises covered her neck.
Graham stirred to my right. He was slumped in his seat so I couldn't really see him. But he appeared to be moving.
"Hey! Can anyone hear me? Get up!"
This time, I recognized Tum's voice. But my brain was slow to respond. Instead, my eyes were drawn to the cockpit. Above several fallen crates, I saw small flames.
"Get up!" Tum struggled to his feet. "We need to get out of here."
My senses exploded as my brain woke up. My mouth tasted like ash. The smell of smoke overwhelmed my nostrils. And my ears rang so loudly I could hardly think.
Tum made his way to the door. He yanked on the metal handle, but it didn't budge.
I unbuckled my seatbelt and stood up. My legs wobbled. It took me a second to catch my balance.
I shook Beverly. "Are you okay?"
Her eyes flicked open. They widened quickly.
"We need to hurry," I said. "Wake the others and find the fire extinguishers."
"What about you?"
"I'm going to clear an exit."
Tum continued to yank on the door handle with little success. I limped toward him. "Let me try."
He stepped to the side. I grabbed the handle. Wrenched it. My shoulder howled in pain. "No good. Give me a hand."
Together, we yanked the handle. It stuck fast.
My muscles strained. So did his.
The door refused to budge.
I leaned back and yanked with all my strength.
The door slid open. A wave of hot air sucked the oxygen right out of my lungs. A dense, wet fog limited my visibility. But I felt heat and heard soft crackling noises.
I rotated toward the cockpit. Blue and white flames flickered wildly, stabbing out repeatedly into the fog.
Beverly squeezed past me and jumped outside. She raced toward the cockpit with a fire extinguisher in her hands. Moments later, chemical foam shot all over the flames.
I staggered back into the cabin. Crowley, with Emily propped up on his shoulder, passed by me. Meanwhile, Miranda helped Dora and Renau to their feet. They grabbed fire extinguishers and hobbled toward the exit.
My eyes scanned the benches. My heart went cold.
Dutch Graham was beyond tough and had survived every challenge nature or man had ever thrown at him. But now he lay on the bench, gasping for air. His face was white. Thin trickles of blood poured from various wounds on his back and shoulders.
I unbuckled him. He tried to speak but only managed a few soft gurgles. I didn't bother checking for broken bones. Instead, I lugged him to the doorframe. My muscles protested as I hauled him to the ground. My boots quickly sank into deep marshland. Gritting my teeth, I carried Graham away from the helicopter.
He winced as I deposited him on a patch of thick vegetation. "Ohh …"
"How do you feel?"
"Like hell."
The flat marsh consisted of tall grass, reeds, and short bushes. A thin ribbon of dry land lay at the edge of the marsh. Then came the trees. They were gigantic, reaching into the fog before vanishing from sight.
A small campsite had been erected on the southern edge of the clearing, just past the marsh. The tractor, covered in a large tarp, sat nearby. But I didn't see Rigoberta, Pacho, or the dogs.
Twisting around, I looked at the helicopter. Foam blanketed it. Dents lined the metallic sides. Soot covered the landing skids. It was still in one piece, but it wouldn't be flying anytime soon.
Nearby, Beverly, Miranda, and the Maneros were gathered around Dr. Wu. His clothes hung in tatters. Chemical foam covered his body.
I helped Graham to his feet. He took a few practice steps. Then we trudged through the thick marsh to join the others. "What happened?"
"I don't know. Everything just failed on me. I've never seen anything like it." The doc glanced at the cockpit. "One of the backup FADEC systems must've kicked in at the last moment. It saved our lives."
Emily hobbled into our circle, followed closely by Crowley. "Has anyone seen Rigoberta or Pacho?"
No one replied.
"You'd think they would've checked on us by now."
"I don't know about you," Graham said. "But if I saw a helicopter falling out of the sky, I'd run like hell in the opposite direction."
We gravitated toward the helicopter. Wordlessly, we split into teams. Miranda, Tum, and the Maneros walked to the external cargo. They unhooked various crates from the cargo hook and slowly wheeled them through the marsh.
Beverly, Graham, Emily, Crowley, Dr. Wu, and I trudged toward the cabin. We formed an assembly line and began offloading supplies and baggage.
"I keep thinking about those orbs," Graham said as he took a bag from me. "What were they?"
Emily grabbed the bag from Graham and tossed it into a pile. "The lightning was pretty heavy. Maybe it played tricks on our eyes."
"On all of our eyes? At the exact same time?"
Beverly took a crate from Dr. Wu and handed it to me. "I think it was ball lightning."
Graham's ears perked. "What's that?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. From what I understand, it's extremely rare. I saw it once while I was stationed in Iraq. The balls moved in all directions and were attracted toward metal objects."
Emily arched an eyeb
row. "Like the helicopter?"
Beverly nodded. "The ones I saw lasted over a minute. When they vanished, they left a scent of sulfur in their wake. They also made noises, like explosive pops."
"They weren't exactly pops, but I heard horn noises."
"Me too," Dr. Wu said.
The rest of us concurred.
"I guess that explains the crash," Graham said. "Helicopters are Faraday cages, so they're constructed to block external electric fields. But the antennas could've acted as holes in the cage."
"Yes," Beverly said. "And …"
Her voice died off. A heavy box slipped from her hands and crashed into the marsh.
I gave her a questioning look. Her eyes were aimed at a point somewhere behind me.
I turned around. My tongue grew huge in my mouth. I tried to speak but was only able to sputter nonsense.
A massive stone structure loomed before me, engulfed by mist and dark clouds. Strange vines, sparse grass and thousands of plants covered its smooth surface, forming a mat that pulsated with the breeze. Its sides angled slightly inward as they rose high into the air, forming an exceptionally steep pyramid. However, they didn't end in a point. Instead, they stopped short, forming a base. A separate, elaborate structure sat on top of the base.
I searched my brain for a Maya temple with which to compare it. But it was like nothing I'd ever seen before. It looked taller than Tikal's Temple IV. It seemed steeper than even the steepest side of Uxmal's Pyramid of the Magician.
Hard raindrops pelted me as I took a few steps forward. The mist, thick and moist, clung to my skin. The odors of chemical foam, mud, and trampled plants swirled inside my nostrils.
The pyramid was a remarkable piece of architecture. And yet, it gave me an eerie feeling. It seemed almost alive. But this wasn't a life I could celebrate. This life felt brutal, vicious.
Evil.
Chapter 36
"Put it down," Dr. Wu glared at Emily. "It's not going anywhere."
The crate suddenly felt heavy in my arms. I stifled a yawn as my initial adrenaline rush started to fade.
"What's the problem?" Emily asked.
"You're my problem. You and everyone else here. You shouldn't be working. You need bandages, medicine, and rest."
Beverly grunted as she flung a pair of duffel bags over her shoulder. "We can't leave these things here." She slogged through the marsh. "We might not find them again."
He opened his mouth to reply. But a scream, loud and high-pitched, cut him off.
Emily swiveled toward the camp. "What was that?"
Miranda swallowed. "It sounded like Rigoberta."
Bags fell to the marsh. Crates and boxes dropped, splashing lightly into the water. Then our entire group ran toward the camp.
Another pained scream sounded out. It pierced my chest and passed all the way to my heart.
I reached the edge of the marsh. Quickly, I clambered to hard ground, raced around the tractor, and entered the camp.
I saw twelve tents. I recognized one of them—a large dome-shaped tent—from the previous excavation. It possessed multiple openings and housed tables, equipment, tools, crates and other supplies. A second large tent, rectangular-shaped, was zippered shut.
Ten smaller tents of varying sizes were situated around the larger ones. I heard rustling sounds coming from two of them. I ran to the nearest one and quickly unzipped the flap.
"Help me," Rigoberta moaned. "My head … it's on fire."
Rain fell at a rapid clip. Thick mist was everywhere. But I still saw her. She looked awful. Her face was pale. Her nostrils looked swollen. Vomit dribbled from the corners of her mouth and dripped down her cheeks, staining her sleeping bag.
Dr. Wu pushed past me. Kneeling down, he opened a leather bag.
"What do you need?" I asked.
"Better medicine."
"What's wrong with her?"
He grabbed a vial and a needle. "I don't know."
As I left the tent, I saw the others gathered around a second tent. Alonzo lay next to it. His head shifted rapidly back and forth. His body trembled fiercely and I wondered how long he'd been sitting out in the rain.
Twisting my head, I looked for Yohl Ik’nal. But the little Chihuahua was nowhere to be seen.
"What should we do?" Miranda whispered. "He looks terrible."
"Nothing," Emily replied. "Let the doc do his job."
Miranda gawked for a second longer. Then she straightened up and walked to the dome tent. The others moved forward and took a peek before following after her.
After they'd left, I moved to the tent and took a quick look at Pacho. His symptoms matched those of Rigoberta.
"Come on, Alonzo." I stepped away from the tent. "Let's get you out of the rain."
He stood up and looked over both shoulders. He barked a few times. Then he dashed toward the dome tent.
I followed after him. On the way, I noticed a fire pit. A lean-to had been constructed to shield it from the rain. The pit looked like it hadn't gotten much use as of late.
As I entered the dome tent, I saw more supplies including tarps, blankets, sleeping bags, dried food, bottled water, and a myriad collection of saws, axes, and hammers.
Graham looked at Miranda. "How long have they been here again?"
"Two weeks."
"And when was the last time you heard from them?"
"Forty-eight hours ago."
"Did they mention any health problems?"
She shook her head.
"What are we going to do?" Dora asked.
"That's up to Dr. Wu," Emily said.
"What if they need a hospital?" Dora waved her hand at the chopper. "We can't exactly fly them out of here."
"Don't worry. I lined up a rescue crew in the event something went wrong. If Rigoberta and Pacho need outside help, we'll get it for them."
"How far away is the crew?" Renau asked. "Can they get here within twenty-four hours?"
"Maybe. Maybe not." Emily brushed her hair back. "We're in the middle of nowhere, miles from the nearest city. You can't expect immediate service."
A stiff wind appeared out of nowhere as they continued to argue. It howled at my ears and ripped at the tent, threatening to yank it out of the ground.
I looked outside. Lightning flashed across the sky. It lit up the pyramid. The light blinked out a second later, but the image was burned into my mind.
The escalating argument faded from my ears. I didn't care about my aches or pains. I can't care about the damaged helicopter. I didn't even care about the mysterious disease. I only cared about one thing.
The strange closed-off canyon had allowed the pyramid to remain hidden for over a thousand years. But that period of isolation was now at an end. It was time to enter the pyramid. To find the library.
To discover its secrets.
Chapter 37
"I'm not going to sugarcoat this," Emily said. "We're in a tough spot. But we'll get through it if we work together."
The rest of us, still gathered inside the dome tent, hushed up.
Her neck was bruised. Her face was flushed and sweat dripped down her forehead. Like the rest of us, she was wrapped in gauze and heavily bandaged.
It was early evening. Several hours had passed since the crash. We'd helped the doc turn the rectangular tent into a clinic. Then we'd resituated Rigoberta and Pacho inside it. While the doc made them comfortable, we'd retrieved our gear from the marsh. Afterward, he'd examined us in turn.
"First things first," Emily said. "Exercise caution while you're here. Don't take unnecessary risks. Stay away from the jungle. Report any and all injuries to Dr. Wu as soon as possible."
Several heads bobbed.
"Rigoberta and Pacho should be treated as if carrying communicable diseases. It's just a precaution. But please wear respirators and latex gloves when visiting them."
Beverly raised her hand. "Did you call the rescue crew?"
"That won't be necessary. Dr. Wu believes they caught the
flu or maybe a flu-like illness. They should be fine in a few days."
"Isn't it better to be safe than sorry?" Graham asked.
"As you know, secrecy is essential to our success. If the world finds out about this place, reporters, bureaucrats, and looters like Votan will swarm it. That's why no one—not even the rescue crew—knows our exact location. I intend to keep it that way unless absolutely necessary." Emily took a breath. "Okay, onto other things. Has anyone seen Yohl Ik’nal? The doc says Rigoberta has been asking for her."
I looked around. I didn't see her, but I noticed Alonzo. He lay inside the dome, facing the southeast entrance. Every now and then, he'd lift his head and bark at the jungle.
"I haven't seen her," Renau said. "Then again, I haven't been looking."
"The crash must've scared her." Tum looked thoughtful. "She probably ducked into the jungle."
"Please keep an eye out for her." Emily glanced toward the pyramid. "Locating and excavating the library remains our primary objective. Cy, you're the point man. Miranda, you and your team will provide support. As we've discussed, you'll also focus on analyzing the site and prepping it for a full-fledged excavation."
Emily moved onto other topics such as foodstuffs and collecting rainwater. Then she adjourned the impromptu meeting.
My body felt exhausted, but I wasn't tired. So, I set out across the marsh. My heart pounded with every step I took.
Slowly, the pyramid grew larger. The mysterious roof comb vanished into the mist, even as the lower walls became increasingly visible.
I heard splashing. Twisting around, I saw Beverly, Graham, Tum, Miranda, and the Maneros plodding after me. I waited for them to catch up. Then we marched in silence toward the giant pyramid.
As I got closer, I marveled at its daunting scale. It was wide. Steep too. Enormous blocks of weathered stone comprised it. Mounds of plant life covered them. A breeze passed through the canyon and the foliage shifted gently, like a dark emerald cloak.
It was an ancient, majestic structure. Yet, it brimmed with evil. It was the type of building where one expected to find demons and ghouls. The type of building that inspired fear in even the bravest of souls.
Squelching noises sounded out as Beverly split away from our group. Without hesitation, she headed toward the west wall.
