by Greig Beck
There were also more images of men and women, some bound by the wrists and neck. Some of the people were tied to stakes, and all presented as offerings to the snake god. To be close to one of these monsters would have been gut-wrenching, but being lashed in place, knowing you were going to be eaten alive by the beast, would have been a terrifying way to have your life ended.
“Bastards,” he muttered.
Drake shone his light inside one of the vestibules and then entered. The room was filled with stacked urns, and shining his light inside one of them, he saw a brownish crust in the bottom—blood? he wondered.
“Hey!” Andy’s shout brought his head around.
Drake backed out of the room. “Where are you?”
“Here.” Andy stepped out of a room on the other side of the temple. “Got steps leading down inside.”
The group crowded in, and they found a room only about 30 square feet, this time with statues of warriors seeming to lunge from the walls. At its center, there was a dark square.
Andy stood at its edge. “Goes down to another floor, I think.”
“Down is good,” said Ajax. He lifted his gun and placed a foot on the first step.
“Wait.” Emma crouched by the dark entrance.
Ajax frowned down at her. “What?”
Emma turned to Helen and Andy. “Smell that?”
“Yeah, it stinks; probably some goddamn mold,” Ajax said. “So what?”
Helen settled beside Emma. “I smell it.” She looked up at her brother. “Snake.”
“Yeah, snake musk,” Andy agreed. “Don’t know how I missed it.”
“Ah, fuck.” Ajax backed up off the step.
“I’ve smelled it before. Last time I was here. Like heady cat’s piss; a mix of body odor and ammonia.” Emma backed up a step. “We need to get out of here.”
“We do,” Drake said. “But we also need a way down. And if this is a possible way down, then we need to check it out.”
“You know what I’m thinking?” Andy asked.
“No, but let me guess; you’re scared shitless.” Ajax grinned as he stared down into the dark.
Andy chuckled. “Yeah, I absolutely sure am. Anyone with a brain would be. But I’m thinking that the reason that pack of theropods outside stopped chasing us and peeled off was not because we overwhelmed them with firepower, but because they smelled something that scared them off. Something coming from in here.”
“Or they already knew what lived in here,” Emma said.
“Well, that doesn’t spook me at all.” Drake shook his head. “To hell with it.” The soldier reached into a pouch and pulled out a flare.
“Everyone stand back. Ajax, on my ready.” He punched it down onto his thigh and ignited the pyrotechnics. Immediately, a brilliant red light illuminated the room, making everyone squint or hold up hands in front of their faces. He tossed it down the steps.
He and Ajax crouched, guns up, waiting for a moment, seeing if anything made an appearance. After another full minute when there was still no movement, the pair headed down.
Emma half-turned. “Stay here.” She followed them.
*****
Emma marveled at how the Special Forces soldiers moved: walking forward, legs braced and guns up, sweeping the barrels left, then right, up, down, and then back again. They seemed to move like machines and miss nothing.
The flare cast a hellish glow over the interior of the room. Underfoot things crunched and though now the room was filled with the smell of burning chemicals from the flare, she could still detect the vinegary sourness of the snake. It made the hair on her neck stand on end.
Drake turned and saw her and waved a hand forcefully, indicating she stay behind them. She had no problem with that. She held the SIG Sauer handgun in a double-handed grip, tight, and as she’d spent countless hours training with the weapon, she trusted it more than any other.
She swallowed, her mouth now bone-dry. It was a labyrinth down below, and the further they moved down a dark corridor, the further back they left the light of the flare. Underfoot things still crunched and looking down, Emma now understood why.
“Guys…”
“What?” Drake hissed over his shoulder.
“That isn’t gravel we’re walking on.”
Drake looked down, and then half-turned to Ajax. “Bone fragments—this must be their nest.”
“Kill room,” Ajax muttered.
The soldiers continued to move forward and Emma followed closely. They turned into a large room, and she noticed that the doorway had been abraded on either side. Drake reached a hand to it, running his fingers up and down along the smoothed edges.
“Something big passed by here, often; wore it down,” he said. “One guess.”
“Jesus, this doorway is six feet wide.” Ajax grimaced.
Emma felt it first—the breeze on her face—and she straightened. “Something up ahead.”
“Hey, what are those things?” Ajax pointed his barrel light into the corner where there was a jumbled pile of objects that looked like leathery footballs, all broken open.
“Exactly what they look like—eggs,” Emma said.
“All hatched,” he replied. “But they look old.” He nudged one with his boot and it fell to pieces. “Very old.”
At the far end of the room, there was a coal-black hole in the wall, with a carved surround.
“There,” Drake whispered.
They eased cautiously toward it. The surrounding stones had been ornately carved with glyphs, and what could have been letters or words, but were impenetrable to the trio.
“Wish we could decipher it,” Drake said, lifting his barrel light a little higher to shine inside the portal.
“I know what it says,” Ajax said, chuckling. “It says, this way home.”
Just past the ornately carved surround, they could see that the worked stone was only on the outside; inside, there were raw stones and a dark shaft leading on well beyond their light beams.
“A natural cave mouth, and there’s airflow,” Emma said, feeling her spirits soar. She sniffed. “But also might be home to something.”
The large portal was also abraded, and the ground smoothed by the constant rubbing of something big.
“Wanna take a look?” Drake asked.
“Not really,” Emma replied, chuckling nervously. It was her turn to pull out a flare and followed Drake’s example by jamming it down on her thigh—it freaking hurt.
“Put it further in,” Drake whispered.
Emma nodded and then leaned in to launch it in through the portal. The flare sailed in and never even got to bounce as the snake that was lurking just inside burst out at them like it was on a spring. The foot-wide head and glinting eyes caught the glow of the flare as it shot forward, making them blaze like it was a demon rising from Hell.
Emma screamed and fell back. But Ajax and Drake stood their ground and responded with the calm reactions of professional killers. They fired long bursts into the head and body.
The M4 rifle’s medium-caliber shells punched through the armored scales, but the snake still managed to rear up, ignoring the dozens of punctures. It started to pour into the room and the two soldiers continued to pile it on before finally they shredded the neck, nearly severing the head until the thing thumped down dead at their feet.
“Fuck you,” Ajax said. “We’re king of the jungle here.”
Drake held out a hand and Emma grabbed it, hauling herself up. “Jesus, that just scared ten years out of me.”
“You and me both.” Drake turned back to the dead snake. Then gun back up, peered past it into the portal where the serpentine body disappeared for dozens of feet. “You’re right, these guys are huge.”
Emma looked down at the length. The head was a foot wide, the body thicker around than hers. But given its girth and how quickly it was tapering inside the hole, she bet it was about 30 to 35 feet.
“A juvenile,” she said.
“Say what? It’s ju
st a freaking kid?” Ajax’s mouth dropped open and he kicked at it. “Thing’s gotta weigh a thousand pounds if it’s an ounce.”
Emma looked into the hole. The flare still glowed and she could see the remains of bone fragments, plus the tell-tale sign of the white, chalky packages of their droppings.
“The nest.” She looked back at the eggs. “Don’t know how many are in there. Or whether Mom is home.” She shook her head. “Shit.”
“What?” Drake asked.
“That might be our way down.” She leaned in a little further and turned her head, trying to listen for movement, but all she heard was the hiss of the flare. She took a chance and leaned in a little more, reaching for Drake’s flare. Her fingers extended, and she had the unsettling sensation of being watched.
Emma grabbed it and then tossed it in even further than her own. She looked up and froze. Eyes, lots of eyes, glinted red in the dark. “Guys…” She eased back. “I think…” She backed up and out of the portal opening. “We need to get the hell out of here…now.”
Suddenly, the airflow stopped, and she heard a sound coming up from deep down inside the cave—it was something heavy and coming closer.
“Oh crap; I think its Momma.” She grabbed Drake’s arm. “Let’s go, move it!”
“Oh yeah?” Ajax loaded a grenade into his M320 undercarriage launcher. “How about I give this asshole an enema—clean ‘em all out at once.”
“No,” Drake said forcefully. “You might collapse the tunnel or bury us all.” He grabbed the young soldier’s arm and backed up. “Right now, we poked the hornet’s nest, and the hornets are angry. We’ll make a plan and finish this later.”
The three of them backed up to the steps and ran up to meet the group. Drake led the way.
“Okay, people, we are leaving.”
“Find a way out?” Andy asked.
“Maybe,” Emma said. “Just one problem—there was somebody home.”
Juan groaned and Camilla wrung her hands as she knelt beside him. “I don’t think we can travel much more. He’s sick.”
“Leave him here, then,” Ajax dictated.
Camilla got to her feet. “Can we both not stay, and maybe…” She looked at each of the soldiers. “…maybe, Fergus can stay and guard us.”
Emma walked toward her, her eyes hooded. “Still think it was me that killed Ben? Still think I made this all up now?”
“I never said that,” Camilla pleaded.
“You didn’t have to.” Emma’s jaw clenched. “If you stay behind, you’ll be dead within the hour. Your call.”
“No, they come. Get him up.” Drake motioned to Juan, and Ajax went and dragged the Venezuelan cameraman to his feet.
Drake joined Fergus at the door. “Anything out there?”
“Nada. Everyone’s gone home.” Fergus turned. “You guys got a bit noisy down there—all good?”
“The residents didn’t like us poking around in their bedroom. So we’re giving ‘em some space…for now.” Drake let his eyes run over the green wall and then pointed. “2 o’clock; that space between the two big tree trunks. That’s our entry point.”
“Got it.” Fergus watched the jungle.
Drake turned. “Okay, people, let’s clear out.”
Emma joined him. “We’ll need to come back.”
He nodded. “But not right now. We can’t fight these snakes in a small space; we’ll need to draw them out first.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, I have a plan. First, let’s find Ben.”
Emma nodded. “That’s what we came here for.”
“Damn right.” Drake looked past her. “Okay, people, same as before, my men will take flanking positions, everyone else stay in the center and keep up. We move hard and fast.” He turned back to the jungle, taking one last look. “On my 3, 2, 1…go.” He sprinted out.
CHAPTER 29
The rest of the day was spent darting, hiding, crawling forward a few feet at a time, and then scurrying to the next place of concealment. The humidity and heat sapped their strength as much as the constant tension and fear sapped their mental acuity.
At one point, they emerged from the miasmic jungle into a vast open area of primordial forest. Emma recognized the smell, but not the shapes. “Like pine.”
“It is. Or will be one day,” Helen observed.
The stand of huge pine-like trees had waxy, flaking bark, and large, heavy wood cones. It was like a land of giants as everything here dwarfed their tiny bodies. Later, they also had to skirt around a herd of brightly colored and crest-headed dinosaurs, that each stood about 12 feet at the shoulder.
“Hadrosaurs,” Helen said.
“We suspected they fed off the pinecones.” Andy grinned. “And now we know for sure.”
Fergus scoffed. “Jesus, how the hell do you eat a pinecone? Like eating a freaking rock.”
“Dinosaurs like hadrosaurs, which we know as duckbill dinosaurs, had unique jaws with thousands of rows of teeth adapted to grind up the tough cones. Think of the cones as super big and hard nuts,” Andy said. “In these Cretaceous forests, marshlands, and swamps, everything is food.”
“Including us,” Ajax said over his shoulder.
“Got that right.” Emma wiped her face, feeling the grime. There were twigs in her hair, and the odd tiny bug wriggling in the rivulets of salty water pouring from her.
They’d need to reapply their repellent soon. It was an odorless form of DDT—supposed to keep everything at bay, but Emma wondered whether it being odorless to them was the same as being odorless to things that had the sense of smell of bloodhounds.
“It’ll be sundown soon,” Fergus said and swigged from his canteen.
“So what?” Emma shot back. “We continue to search all night. We can sleep when we’re home.”
Drake turned. “I agree. We’re on the clock, so we continue the search. But we’ll need to recharge, so we’ll be taking rests every three hours. If there was ever a place where we need to be sharp, it’s right here, right now.”
“Another hour,” Emma shot back.
“No, we need to rest now,” Camilla said softly. Beside her, Juan’s face looked like it was shaped from wax, and his bandage had already turned several different shades as his arm now seeped a yellow fluid.
Emma grunted her annoyance. She knew Drake was right. But, so was she. They only had a small window to find Ben, and then get the hell out. She’d just make sure the rest stops were as short as possible.
“Fine; rest, eat, drink, recharge, and then we continue.” She turned away.
“Anyone else hear that?” Ajax asked. He lifted some glasses to his eyes and scanned the foliage.
“Insects,” Andy said.
“Yeah, there’s always insects, you putz. But not like this…listen.” Ajax turned back.
Emma focused; there was something over and above the constant background hum, click and chirrup of the Cretaceous bug life—there was a constant drone, like one of those kit airplanes the enthusiasts fly in the park on weekends.
“Flies,” Drake said. “Lots of them.”
“Yep, and that means death,” Fergus added. “Just up ahead, I think.” He turned to Drake. “Take a look?”
“Not all of us,” Drake said and turned. “Emma, we’ll do a quick scout.”
She nodded and turned back to where the noise was coming from. The ancient conifers were smaller here but tightly packed together.
Drake set off, rifle ready, and eased around and between the spiked limbs and trunks. Emma followed as he burrowed through the living barriers of young pine, bracken stalks, and eased around the odd hairy tree trunk. In another few minutes, the buzzing became loud enough to drown out everything else.
“There.” He pointed with the barrel of his gun.
“I see it,” Emma whispered, even though she didn’t need to.
There was a cloud of insects swirling madly over something on the jungle floor. The surrounding ferns and grasses had been trampled into a m
at, and many of the larger remaining fronds were splashed and shining—blood, and not old blood—as it still retained some hues of glossy scarlet. It was these fresh areas that excited the vermin.
“Last few hours. Fresh kill.” Drake eased upright. “Stay here.”
He walked slowly forward, crouching, his eyes never stopping as they moved over the jungle. Emma took her M4 off her shoulder and covered him.
She knew that the hunters had camouflage and an ability to remain motionless that rendered them nearly invisible. Plus, they were fast, and deadly. If one attacked, she might have time for one shot, so she needed to be ready.
She watched as Drake stood in amongst the remains of whatever had taken place there, and then he craned forward as he spotted something in the ground. He darted forward to retrieve it, and then took a few more seconds to examine the area, looking in along the jungle line.
Emma couldn’t make out what he had found, but after another moment, he rose, quickly looked about again, and then backed away, returning to crouch beside her.
His expression was grave as he grabbed her arm. He then held the thing out to her. “I’m sorry, Emma.”
She stared—it was an old rusted knife, lashed to a broken stick. She continued to stare, her brain at first not understanding what the implication was.
Drake continued to hold her arm. “Something was killed there within the last few hours. There are no remains, but plenty of blood, and this.” He turned the knife over. “That’s a military-issue jungle knife…or used to be.” He sighed heavily. “Like the type Ben Cartwright would have been using.”
She got it then. “No way.” She shook her head, violently. “No way. You think that Ben would survive ten years in this hellhole place, and get himself killed the damn day we arrive? No. Fucking. Way.” She glared, and was too forceful, she knew.
Drake just looked away for a moment and sighed again. “We can talk to the group. But I think you have to face the fact that our mission might be over.” He let her arm go. “Come on.”
The hell it is, she thought.
