by Greig Beck
“They still look like lunch to me.” Though Matt had a slight joking edge to his voice, after nearly twenty hours of bitter dark chocolate the thought of real food made a few stomachs complain. None of the small group were on the verge of starvation just yet, however, Alex knew it wouldn’t be long before they would all be seeing lunch in every fish and beast. Not yet, thought Alex, but it might be a good idea soon to start working out what was edible in the event they had to spend a little more time down here than they wanted.
“Takeda, clear me a path; exercise extreme caution.”
Takeda gave a small bow and headed down the beach towards the swarming mass of scuttling chiton. Alex could have asked Tank who would have simply opened up with his pulse rifle and blown the creatures to bloody atoms in a few seconds. However, Alex didn’t think covering the dark sand in blood and gore was a great idea given the feeding frenzy they had witnessed in the river cave. Besides being too messy, he knew Takeda loved the thrill of the hunt. He was a born hunter; many times they had been on jungle missions and he had slipped out into the darkness to return with fish or game caught with little more than his shortened hunting blade or bare hands.
Takeda slowly approached the swarming mass. Long eye stalks ending in shining bulbs swivelled to watch the small biped approach. The creatures started to part in a horseshoe shape around the man, not retreating, looking more like they were encircling the HAWC. One of the largest of the creatures, closest to Takeda, coiled its body, opened a pair of plate-sized front claws and raised a deadly looking tail spike to point it at his chest.
In one fluid motion, Takeda drew his sword and removed the tip of the creature’s tail. Whether or not it was poisonous didn’t matter, he was taking no chances. On the backward swing he plunged the blade into the centre of the creature’s head. There was a muffled crunch as its claws and tail dropped immediately; the blade must have pierced its central nervous system. Takeda withdrew his blade and re-sheathed it. The other creatures hadn’t moved and instead started to close in on Takeda once again. This time, however, it seemed the body of their fallen fellow creature was their goal.
Takeda backed up a step and looked closely at the dead creature as the rest of the swarm moved in on it. Its shape bristled with spines and armour plating; black eyes on segmented stalks grew a foot long from its spade-shaped head. Its feet were sharp pointed spikes covered in bristling hairs and what was left of the tail tapered to a point. With its black and green mottled shell it was a fearsome-looking creature. The swarm quickly reached the body and claws like giant toothed shears chopped and tore at the gristly frame. In seconds the four-foot-long creature had gone from a boiling mass of frenzied armour-plated bodies to a blackish pool of blood staining even blacker sand.
From up the beach Matt turned to Aimee. “You said harmless, right?”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to step on one in the shallows, but then normally you wouldn’t unless you were around about two-hundred million years ago. Looks to me like one of the extinct varieties of sea scorpion. They were normally sea-floor dwellers but they could also live on land. Still think they look like lunch?”
Takeda saw that the slaying had started a feeding frenzy among the creatures and actually drew them more tightly together. He drew his sword again and swatted one hard on the head with the flat of his blade. The clang of his toughened steel sword against the thick exoskeleton echoed off the cliff walls and was carried away into the low mist rising off the warm water. However, it worked; the creature scuttled out of the way. Takeda struck again and more of the creatures parted and slowly headed towards the water.
Whether it was the noise or the vibrations from the sword blows was hard to say, but they were moving. Not quickly enough however, and when Takeda halted for a second or two the creatures tried to move back up the beach, either changing their mind or preferring the sand over the water. Takeda waved his free hand and brought his sword down again on the tail of one large retreating sea scorpion. This time he uttered a loud “Yaa Yaa,” to try to squeeze more speed from them.
Alex and the team moved forward as Takeda finally managed to clear the beach. Alex watched Takeda travel farther down the sand, closer to the lapping inky sea. At last the creatures were now in flight and their rapid jerking movements hinted at panic as they crawled over each other to escape. As they picked up speed and were scuttling back into the water, disappearing beneath the surface, the clacking of their spindly sharp legs was replaced by hissing as they hit the water at speed and continued on into the depths.
Alex noticed that there were large wet areas of the beach, each about fifty feet in a rough circle, that the scorpions seemed to avoid. In fact, they were taking great pains to detour around them. Some were taking longer to bypass the slightly raised circular shapes and looked to try to head back up the sand, so Takeda moved quickly to head them off. One of the larger creatures swivelled its eye stalk backwards and on seeing the two-legged predator almost on top of it, decided to cross the empty, wet-looking circle. It got no more than five feet onto the circle when it stopped dead, but not because it had decided to freeze. Rather, it looked glued to the spot.
Alex felt his heightened senses jump and they allowed him to react immediately — this was danger. He shouted for Takeda to halt; unfortunately, Takeda only heard the command after he too had taken several large steps onto the circular pad; he stopped and looked down.
His feet had sunk in and were stuck fast; it was like fly paper. Takeda tried to remove his feet and then used his sword to try and cut himself free. The pad started to draw itself towards the centre of the circle, which had dropped into the wet sand to display a ragged black-red maw. It was some type of enormous living creature that was buried beneath the sand and was using the pad as a trap for unwary animals — a trap that was now being reeled in and sucked down into the dark orifice of its mouth. As the carpet of flesh was tugged violently from under Takeda he was tipped over to land flat on his side. Now, rising back to his feet was impossible as he found most of one side of his body trapped fast.
Alex raced down the beach. He stopped at the edge of the pad and fired his rifle into the round “tongue.” It had no effect; Takeda was now only ten feet from the centre and he could just lift his head to observe the sea scorpion disappear inside. The pad stopped for a second or two and a crunching could be heard as the scorpion was pulverised by a still hidden, powerful set of jaws beneath the sand.
Alex fired again, this time into the centre of the hole, but it still had no effect. He was about to leap forward onto the moving pad, planning to use his enormous strength to pull himself free when Aimee cried out. “Don’t, we need you with us.”
Takeda had not uttered a word or a cry. He looked at Alex and shook his head. Alex nodded, understanding the unspoken communication and said quietly into his helmet comm unit, “Farewell, my friend,” followed by a single word, “Grenade.”
Takeda reached into his belt pouch, pulling free a baseball-sized metal ball. He held it close to his chest and closed his eyes. He was roughly pulled into the maw and just as a sickening crunching began, there was an explosive whump from beneath the sand. A small ripple of shock-waves ran across the sand that made Aimee and Matt fall to the ground.
The dim bluish biological light in the cave immediately went out and left them in absolute darkness.
“Be patient and quiet. Wait for it. Wait.” Sure enough the lights started to wink back on. A small patch to the right, then larger, then to the left, then all back on. “I don’t think these ancient glow-worms or whatever they are down here are used to loud noises.”
“Them and me both,” replied Matt with an ashen face.
“What the fuck was that? What was that thing?”
Tank was clearly distressed at losing another of his buddies and began pacing at the edge of the smoking hole. Alex looked around; the team was gathered down near the water’s edge, except for Silex who had remained far up the beach with his hands over his face.
> Silex heard Tank’s questions and came stalking down the sand. “What is it? It’s our punishment, that’s what it is. We’re all dead and in hell, don’t you know? We must have died and now we’re stuck in hell and are nothing more than bugs in a giant spider’s web waiting to be devoured. We’re going to be pulled to pieces and eaten bit by bit. Ask that imbecile soldier.” Silex’s cracked lips had begun bleeding. With his chalky white face and the gloom of the cave, his appearance had taken on that of a mad clown.
Alex had taken a step towards Silex without even realising. He too was shaken by the loss of Takeda and one of his hands had formed into a fist which vibrated from the enormous pressure. Aimee stepped in front of Alex and gave the scientist a sharp slap across the face. He staggered for a second and gave her and Alex a look of such murderous intent that the furies in Alex screamed out to accept the challenge. Silex noticed Alex’s large bulk drawing silently near and burst into sobs. “We need to go, we need to go, we need to go.” With his hands up beside his face he lurched up the beach, repeating his plea to himself.
Alex knew that Dr. Silex was becoming a liability to the group. Normally, he would simply sedate the scientist and carry him out, but circumstances made that option impossible. His behaviour was creating an added burden — he would have to be watched and kept under control. Usually, Alex would send one of his men after Silex to return him — against his will if necessary. But given the scientist’s fragile state, he was liable to go screaming down the black beach if Tank went near him. And if it was Alex who went after him… well, best if he stayed away from the man for a while. Alex looked at the small group; Matt Kerns looked the most harmless, he could go. He’d have to be quick, though; they needed to be under cover and Alex figured things would probably get a lot worse for all of them before they got better.
Alex’s senses prickled. Since the small explosion he knew they were being watched by a thousand eyes. If they thought they might have been able to sneak along the shoreline undetected before, they had announced their presence with a loud ringing bang now. He hoped it wasn’t a dinner bell. He looked down at the smoking hole one last time. Blood and gore had begun to ooze to the surface and wash down towards the water. He knew what that meant.
“Everyone move, double time.”
Aimee felt like she was floating, disconnected. Tom and his party seemed to have run down into these low caves and they still hadn’t found any trace of them. If this place could kill the HAWCs, how could Tom have survived down here? He was no outdoorsman and she doubted he had ever slept rough in his life. Her eyes were beginning to blur from tears when Alex came up beside her and spoke softly.
“So, what do you think that thing was?”
Aimee pushed thoughts of Tom out of her mind and tried to focus again on where she was. Wondering where he was and what happened to him wouldn’t get any of them out of this alive. “Impossible to know exactly. Nothing like that exists up on the surface, and as far as I’m aware nothing in the fossil records indicate anything like it ever has. It could be some form of tubeworm below the surface of the sand with a modified fan that acts like a trap across the surface. In effect it was like a giant tongue spread over the sand that was triggered by the sea scorpion and Takeda stepping on it. One thing I do know, it was a very large ambush predator designed to catch very large prey.”
Alex expelled a breath through his lips. “Hard to tell people to keep a look out when we don’t know what to look out for. I could sit on a rock that turns out to be some creature’s nose.”
“You’re absolutely right — and in a way Silex was also right about the spider’s web. Down here we’re not top of the food chain; we’re just something else to eat. I don’t think it’s going to be very long before all of us are screaming like Silex that it’s time to go home.”
“I know; nearly to the ledge. Let’s have a rest and something to eat and make plans for getting us the hell up and out of here.”
Borshov had been walking for hours. The cave he had chosen had at first narrowed and descended to what he could only assume from the readings from his resonator was a rushing river given its size and movement. However, the cave had quickly started to increase its upward slope and now he found himself climbing up into darkness.
The blood was congealing on his cheek, but it continued to dribble thickly into the back of his throat. He swallowed; he needed the liquid, and the protein.
Borshov cursed once again every one of the American HAWC’s descendants all the way back to Adam and Eve as he tried to focus his mind away from the miserable throbbing in his head and face. He didn’t know how the hated Captain Alex Hunter had been able to defeat him so easily, but he knew there were other ways for an assassin to execute a foe.
Borshov rested for a minute on the steep rock face and spat a gob of gore into the void. He would not underestimate him next time.
Twenty
Tank climbed to the ledge and surveyed its interior. After several minutes he appeared at the edge and called them all up, adding, “Might be something you’ll find interesting up here, Dr. Kerns.”
The ledge was shaped like a platform roughly fifty feet long and about the same in depth. The back half of the ledge was sheltered by an overhang making a shallow indentation in the rock face. It gave the team better shelter and a feeling of more security, and for the HAWCs it meant they didn’t have a 360-degree defensive field to maintain. Monica and Aimee set to portioning the last dried food packets for each of the team members.
Tank took Matt to the rear of the small cave and showed him the far wall, just over a mound of stones. It had some small glyphs similar to those they had seen on their descent.
“It’s another message from the brothers. No, wait; I think it’s a farewell to one of the brothers from the other.” Matt ran his hands over the slightly raised markings on the wall and spoke softly. “Little brother. The gods rejoice at your bravery in battle. Your name will sound in the halls of Aztlan forever. I cannot hope to defeat Qwotoan and must climb back to the light to give my warning to the sun king. The Deceiver will not stay in Xibalba. It finishes with the sign for Hunahpu.” Matt looked down at the pile of stones. “Holy shit, this must be the grave of his brother, Xbalanque. It wasn’t a legend after all, it was all real!”
Matt dropped to his knees and began carefully lifting away the larger rocks and then the smaller stones until he was left to brush away pebbles. After a while he uncovered a small fossilised skeleton, no more than five feet long. Lying across the ribs was a small dagger made of a golden metal and what was once a short thrusting spear, it was now little more than a stain line of powdered wood and brown rust across the mineralised bones. Under the skull at the base of the neck were coloured stones and small pieces of gold that must have hung around his neck at one time. His arms and hands would have been folded across his chest, but it was obvious that his was no peaceful death. His left arm was sheared off above the elbow, leaving a splintered mess of his humerus. His left foot was missing and his skull showed multiple depressions — the tiny warrior’s death must have been a brutal one.
“Amazing, he made it all this way with just a sword and spear,” said Monica.
“Made it! He looks like he was hit by a fucking train. I hardly call that making it.” Silex was again working himself up to a state of high agitation.
Matt responded as calmly as he could to Silex’s fury. “Well, his brother had the strength to cover him up and write his death story. I figure Hunahpu headed back to the surface and we need to follow.”
“I think your stupid little Indian has probably been long digested over 10,000 years ago, and the trail will probably lead to nothing more than another pile of chewed-up, fossilised bones somewhere.”
Alex stepped quietly forward. “That’s enough, sir, this isn’t helping. You’ve got to pull yourself together or you’re not going to make it.”
“I’m not going to make it? What does that mean — you’d leave me here? Shoot me in the leg, is
that it? You’re going to try to cast me off so you have more food and water for yourselves. I’ll tell you something, it won’t be me that dies next.” Dr. Silex’s stare was that of a man unhinged and dangerous. Alex put his hand on Silex’s shoulder, turning him round so he could bring his face very close to the scientist’s so that only he could hear. “Dr. Silex, my job is to keep you all safe. But if you look to endanger the rest of us, then I will no longer regard you as part of the group and my protection duties for you will cease. Do you understand me, sir?”
Silex spun out of Alex’s grasp and briefly turned to hiss something inaudible, then retreated to the back of the cave. As Alex watched him go, a small flame burned within him. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and pictured a golden beach with sparkling water and crashing blue waves — it all seemed a lifetime ago.
Several miles out on the black sea the water lumped as something large broke the surface. It stayed there for a few minutes, hanging in the water, its enormous body supported by fluid-filled sacs providing neutral buoyancy at any depth it chose. It had sensed the blood trail and felt the compression waves from the explosion. It could not yet detect the source of the scent but could sense movement on the water’s edge. The opportunity to feed close to its home and not have to hunt in the upper caves was too attractive; it slid silently below the surface and propelled itself swiftly towards the beach.
After scanning the surrounding walls for several minutes, Alex called the group together. Silex refused to join them and sat at the back of the small cave, watching the team from under his lowered brows.
“OK, there are multiple caves all around us — one or more must lead back to the surface. I figure we don’t have too many opportunities to make a wrong choice and double back. So, how do we narrow our search and make a higher value choice the first time?”
Monica was the first to respond. “Should be simple really; there are two indicators we can use. The first is change in temperature. The further we descended the warmer it became. Therefore, we should choose a cave that seems cooler than the rest, signalling that it leads to more topside Antarctic surface temperatures. The second, unfortunately, runs counter to the first. Warm air rises. We need to find a vent that is channelling warm air to colder temperatures. It will be like a wind tunnel. If the wind is strong, this will mask any colder air we could detect at this level.”
