Primordia 2: Return to the Lost World

by Greig Beck

  Ajax straightened to his full height. “Your behavior leaves me no choice. I’m assuming command.”

  “Bullshit you are,” Fergus growled.

  Ajax momentarily pointed the gun at him. “I know you agree with me.” He swung back to Drake. “We’re all going to head to the temple.” The gun was at his side again.

  Drake could see the man was agitated, knew he was impulsive. Right now, he was unpredictable. Worst outcome was one of them killed the other. Ajax was right about one thing—they needed all the firepower they had.

  “So what’s the plan?” Drake lifted his chin. “You disarm me and take me hostage? How’s that gonna work?”

  “This is stupid,” Andy said, peering around from behind the young soldier. Andy tried to sidle around him, and then reached out, just touching his elbow. “Ajax…”

  “Fuck off,” Ajax half-turned and growled, his gun hand coming up.

  Big mistake, Drake thought. He moved fast, stepping in close, grabbing the young soldier’s wrist, pushing down and to the left. Then, before Ajax could fully react, Drake snapped his other elbow back to the right and along the man’s jaw. The crack of elbow tip on bone was like a gunshot going off as Ajax’s teeth clacked together.

  Ajax dropped his gun but lowered his head and recovered fast. He threw out two rapid blows, both aimed at Drake’s face. But they were slow due to his disorientation and Drake easily blocked both. He then flattened his hand and struck at Ajax’s exposed throat. His fingertips dug in at Ajax’s Adam’s apple.

  Drake pulled the blow; if he wanted to, he could have crushed Ajax’s windpipe. As it was, it still would be a painful blow and cut off his air for a few moments. Drake wanted the fight over, but he didn’t want him dead or even permanently incapacitated.

  Ajax’s eyes bulged and he gripped his throat. Drake finished him with another blow to the cheekbone. Ajax went down onto his hands and knees.

  He stayed down, one hand gripping his throat as he made coughing noises.

  “Take it easy, son. Breathe in slowly through your nose.” Drake retrieved his gun and stood over him. “Feel better now?”

  Ajax coughed again and his head stayed down.

  “Fergus will assume command in my absence. Got it?” Drake stared down at him.

  Ajax finally nodded. Drake held out a hand, and Ajax reached up and gripped it. Drake pulled the man in close, almost nose to nose. “When the other guys lose their heads, we keep ours. We are sanity in chaos. Got it?”

  Ajax nodded again. “I just wanna—cough—get the fuck outta here.”

  “Yeah, we all do.” Drake handed him back his gun, and Ajax took it, but Drake held onto it for a second, looking into his eyes. “We good?”

  “Yeah, yeah, sorry, boss. Won’t happen again.” Ajax reholstered his gun.

  Behind Ajax, Drake saw Andy fist pump. Drake turned to the entire group. “Like I said, I’ll be going for Emma and Ben. In six hours, I hope to be back. You can wait for me or not—your choice. Fergus will take it from here.”

  “Ah, shit.” The redheaded soldier shook his head.

  “Whatever; long as we get to bug out,” Ajax said.

  “I’m staying too,” Andy said.

  “What?” Helen rounded on him. “No, you’re not.”

  The young paleontologist tilted his head. “Helen, you know they’ll need my expertise. Besides, you’re the only one of us with medical experience, not me. You need to look after Juan. Without you, he’s dead.” He shrugged. “Sis, my mind’s made up.”

  “Your funeral,” Ajax said.

  Fergus didn’t look happy, but gathered himself in. “Boss, six hours, be there, or we gotta be on our way.”

  Drake saluted then turned to Andy. “You don’t need to come. In fact, best if you don’t; you might just slow me down.”

  “Don’t you worry about me; you provide the brawn and I’ll provide the brains. Together, we might just find her.”

  Drake chuckled. “We got six hours, Mr. Brains; so let’s go to work.”

  He and Andy melted back into the undergrowth.

  CHAPTER 31

  Ben jerked upright, spun one way then the other and quickly rubbed his face to full wakefulness. He tried to judge the time by the lengthening shadows—it had to be late afternoon. He only had tonight, and maybe a few hours tomorrow morning to find a way off the plateau and back to his own time, and maybe also find Emma if she was here.

  He felt the breath catch in his throat at the thought that she might actually be on the plateau right now, somewhere out there, maybe even looking for him. He wanted to yell. He wanted to cup his hands on each side of his mouth and call her name. But he knew instead of bringing Emma, he would only bring the hunters. Making noise invited death.

  Ben tried to get in her head, to think like her—if she were here, she would search for him. But where would she start her search? He smiled; she would be trying to think like him, just as he was trying to think like her. Would she start at the last place she had seen him? He knew both of them didn’t have too many times they could guess wrong—he either found her, or he missed her, and this time, it’d be forever.

  He decided. As good a guess as any, he thought.

  Ben struggled to his feet and worked hard to stifle his groans. The salve had worked to keep his wounds clean and they were already scabbing. But the pain on and in his chest was like being wrapped in white-hot iron cables.

  He waited a few more seconds until the throbbing eased. He needed to find her, and quickly. She’d been here before, but there was much she didn’t know. He’d found out things about the plateau that he needed to tell her and warn her about.

  CHAPTER 32

  Ajax watched as Fergus had lain Juan down at the trunk of a tree. The guy was like a boneless sack, and though he still breathed, raggedly, he was just dead weight.

  The big soldier peered between hanging vines and three-foot-wide tongue-like fronds that dripped with moisture. Helen and Camilla crowded in behind him. The light was fading fast, and he knew that in less than an hour, it’d be dark.

  He looked back at the even darker portal that was the open doorway of the temple. He didn’t want to go back in there, as every Special Forces alarm was ringing in his head. But then again, he didn’t want to be out in the open in this godforsaken place either.

  He knew it was a Morton’s Fork decision—two choices, both of them shit. But one at least had a chance of escape, so…

  “See anything?” Helen whispered.

  “Nothing,” he said without taking his eyes off the ancient stone building.

  Fergus had his binoculars up to his eyes. He half-turned. “Okay, stage-1, we go in, clear the main floor, and then do a quick recon. Stage-2, we secure the environment, defend our position, and lay low until Drake gets back.”

  “Nah, not happening,” Ajax said. “We’re not waiting. We don’t know how long it’s going to take us to kill those snakes, or to climb down, or to even make sure we’re climbing down the right tunnel.” His mouth turned down. “My gut feeling is we won’t be seeing Drake, or anyone else again.”

  “Drake asked for six hours; he’s still got five more. We can give him that.” Fergus lowered his glasses.

  “I second that,” Helen said. “We wait.”

  “I vote for leaving now,” Camilla said. “Look.” She pointed at Juan. “He needs emergency help. I’m sorry, but we cannot wait.”

  Ajax snorted. “Yeah, well, I gotta tell you, lady, your buddy is pretty much a freaking corpse already.”

  Camilla’s mouth snapped shut and her eyes blazed.

  “We’re taking him back,” Fergus said.

  Ajax’s grin fell away. “You mean you’re taking him back. You’re in charge, so you can be in charge of him.” He turned away. “We’ve been paid, so I don’t plan on putting my life at risk for some asshole I don’t know from Adam.” He jerked his thumb toward Juan. “Just remember, these two nobodies muscled their way in on our little adventure. Serves �
��em right.”

  Camilla gathered herself up. “I’ll have you know—”

  “Shut the fuck up, you whiny bitch.” Ajax rounded on her. “Or I’ll leave you both right here.”

  “Hey, what’s your—?” Fergus grabbed Ajax’s arm.

  “Don’t.” The big young soldier just scowled. “I am not in a good mood right now.” He motioned to the three civilians. “As far as I’m concerned, they’re expendable.”

  The Venezuelan woman looked like she’d been slapped. Ajax scoffed and then turned left and right, scanning the undergrowth for movement. “Can’t see any of our leaping lizard buddies, so we go hard and fast for the front door. Helen, you’ll be going in first, me next, then you two can bring sleeping beauty.”

  Fergus’ jaw clenched, but he seemed to bite it down.

  “On my ready.” Ajax pulled his M4 and held it tightly. “3, 2, 1, go.”

  Helen took off across the clearing, Ajax following with his gun up, and Fergus and Camilla dragging the now limp form of Juan.

  In just a few minutes, Helen got to the doorway, paused, and then darted in, followed by the rest. Fergus lay Juan down and snapped his flashlight onto the barrel of his M4.

  “I’m taking right flank.” He started to scan the temple’s main room to the right side.

  “Yo, got it.” Ajax did the same at the other side.

  Helen and Camilla tended to Juan, but there was nothing they could do now, as they couldn’t even get the near-comatose man to sip water.

  Both of the Special Forces soldiers met at the dark entrance to the downstairs rooms. Fergus crouched.

  “I still think we should wait for Drake and the others. If he comes back with Ben, I want to be here for that.”

  Ajax nodded. “That’s fine; I’ll head on down. But while both of us are here and armored up, the first thing we need to do is clean those fuckers out of the caves, right?” He raised his eyebrows. “You gotta admit, it’s certainly gonna make it easier for everyone, if when the guys arrive and if they’re short of time, that they don’t have to try and fight the dragon then, huh?”

  “Yeah, there’s that.” Fergus stared down into the dark. “We can’t use explosives.”

  “Yeah, I agree we can’t deploy grenades when we’re in the tunnels. But if that thing is as big as we think it is, we might need those explosives. The M4’s might do little more than piss it off.”

  “We need to lure it out then,” Fergus observed.

  “Yup.” Ajax rested on his haunches, staring down into the darkness. “When I was a kid, we used to go fishing for moray eels on the rocks at the seaside. One of us had string with some meat tied on it, and he’d dangle it just outside the eel’s home, while another of us held the spear ready. When old Mr. Eel smelled the meat, out he’d come, mouth open, those razor-sharp teeth ready.” He laughed cruelly, as if relishing the memory. “What he got instead was a five-pronged spear in the neck—we never missed.”

  Ajax stood. “So, to draw out our giant eel, we need some bait.”

  “We go hunting?” Fergus asked.

  “Nope, I got a better idea. C’mon.” Ajax went and crouched by Juan, and looked at both Camilla and Helen. Fergus stood behind him.

  “Ladies.” Ajax saluted with two fingers and smiled warmly. “Listen up; to get home, we’re going to have to flush that big bastard out of his, our, cave. When it comes, we’ll need every ounce of firepower we got—that means you two ladies blasting away as well.”

  “You mean downstairs, in the dark?” Camilla’s voice was small.

  Ajax nodded slowly.

  “I’m ready,” Helen said.

  “That’s the spirit.” Ajax looked down at the comatose Juan. “And your boy’s gotta play his part as well.”

  “What?” Camilla frowned. “How?”

  He looked up and into her eyes. “Well, we need something to tempt the snake out of its hole. Juan’s the only one that can’t fire a gun right now, and…” He grinned. “…won’t run away if something makes a lunge at him.”

  “You…want to…use him as bait?” Camilla’s eyes were wide, and she began to shake her head. “What kind of monster are you?”

  “The kind that wants you, and all of us, to live.” Ajax continued grinning, his silver tooth glinting in the fading light. “Do you have a better plan?”

  Camilla put her hands to the side of her head. “No, no, not happening.”

  Ajax twisted his features into mock concern. “Oh, so you want to take his place? Are you sure?”

  “That’s enough,” Fergus said. The redheaded soldier leaned his head back for a moment. “Look, it’s a shit option, but it’s the best shit option we got. We can protect him.”

  Camilla spluttered, and Helen turned to the men and spoke through clenched teeth. “I don’t like it either.”

  “Me either,” Fergus said. “But it’ll probably work. And we’ll be there to blast the shit out of anything that comes out. It’s the only way to maximize our firepower while the snake is focused on something else—I think we’ll need to try it.”

  The group fell into silence for a few moments, and then Ajax looked at each of their faces. The half-smile was still on his lips as he spoke.

  “Good, team meeting over. Help me get our boy up so we can begin.”

  They dragged Juan up, and between he and Fergus, they carefully pulled him down the steps. Helen and Camilla followed, guns drawn, but Ajax thought that both of the novices would more than likely shoot him or Fergus than hit the freaking snake no matter how big it was, so they were instructed to keep their weapons pointed down, and not to fire until told.

  But what he really needed the women for was to add to the noise and confusion when the thing came out. All he needed was for the monster to be disorientated for two seconds—enough time to line up a kill shot. Also, having four targets for the snake to potentially attack meant the odds of him being killed went from 50-50 to one in four—much better.

  They crept down, just using their flashlights. It was how they remembered the large room, with the portal opening at the end. The rocks were polished smooth by something about eight feet wide continually rubbing against them.

  “Keep your eyes on that freaking hole, man,” Ajax said to Fergus.

  “You got it,” Fergus replied.

  Ajax grabbed a large block of stone and dragged it about 15 feet to be right in front of the hole. Then he took Juan and slid the unconscious man across so he was sitting up with his back against the stone, facing the dark hole in the wall.

  “Just like he’s home watching football on television,” Ajax said, sniggering.

  The man’s head lolled, but he stayed in place.

  “And now, we ring the dinner bell.” He pulled out a flare, holding it tight, but turning first. His grin had fallen away. “You ready for this?”

  Fergus nodded, the stock of his rifle in tight against his shoulder. Helen and Camilla were too frightened to even speak.

  “Let’s boogie.” He jammed the flare against his thigh and waved it inside the tunnel.

  “Hey!” he yelled. His voice echoed away into the stygian depths. “Hey!” he yelled even louder and waved it twice more. “Come and get it.”

  Ajax then dropped the flare between Juan’s feet, and they all retreated back into the shadows, guns pointed at the large hole in the wall.

  Ajax licked his lips. “Hold fire until that big asshole comes out.”

  They waited, with just the sputtering noise of the fizzing flare and its infernal red glow. Ajax wished the stupid flare was silent as it masked the approach of anything from within the cave-tunnel. But at least it lit up the first 10 feet of the interior, so as a trade-off, it was justified.

  He’d positioned himself the furthest back of the group, and he tried to visualize how it would play out. He saw several scenarios; one of them, unfortunately, was the snake coming out fast and overshooting Juan. Then, either Camilla or Helen would probably start firing wildly as they tried to follow i
t with their guns. That’d mean they’d probably be firing across at the opposite side of the room, where Fergus was. Being at the back, he put himself behind that. He hoped.

  Ajax looked briefly over his shoulder, reconfirming his bearings. He’d also put himself close to the stairs in the event everything went to shit. He wanted to be the first one out. Live to fight another day was his motto.

  He looked across to Fergus. He was the only guy he could count on to score a hit every time. The man had his gun in hard at his shoulder and his eye down on the barrel. If Ajax could take one person with him down the chute, Fergus would be the guy.

  Ajax planned on letting the others pepper the thing with the SIG Sauer’s standard bottleneck rounds, and hope they did the required damage. But he knew if it pushed through that and came outside of the portal, then boys and girls, cover your fucking ears, ‘cause he was going to lay down some fragmentation shit and end the argument right there and then.

  He waited, his nerves begging to stretch. He looked up off his gun sight. “Hey, maybe no one’s home,” he said.

  “Maybe,” Fergus replied. “But we don’t know how deep it goes.”

  The flare sputtered down and then went out, leaving them in total darkness. Four flashlights came on as one. Camilla’s beam was shaking like she was having convulsions, and Helen’s wasn’t much better.

  Ajax grabbed another flare from his thigh pouch. “Last one, then we’re going in.” He ignited it and tossed it in front of Juan again.

  The room bloomed with the Hadean red glow once again. The group waited, their nerves stretching to breaking point, and their eyes focused hawk-like on the smoothed portal opening.

  After another few more moments, Ajax ground his teeth and cursed. It should goddamn be working; they had a body, still alive and warm. The light and heat from the flare should have drawn any hunter in the area. It should fucking-shit-goddamn work.

  No choice now, he guessed. They were going to have to go in. Ajax sniffed, his eyebrows coming together. Just floating over the top of the flares pyrotechnic stink, he thought he could detect other scents. Something more acrid. Was it here when they came down? he wondered. Musta been.