by Greig Beck
The group surged forward and some of them got down on their bellies to watch Casey descend. Aimee crushed her eyes shut, feeling her stomach flip and her head spin. Heights – she hated them. She blinked again and tried to focus just on Casey and not the hundreds of feet drop that she’d also be expected to scale down any minute.
Aimee brought one arm up to wipe her forehead. In another few seconds, Casey was already close to the end of the rope, and started to use her legs to push herself one way and then the other until she began to swing and run across the face of the wall. Just watching it made Aimee feel ill, but in another moment, the female HAWC stretched out and caught hold of the side of a new cave, and then pulled herself in.
Casey reappeared to lean out and give them a thumbs-up. Rinofsky stepped forward, and then turned to Ben Jackson, the equally big McMurdo soldier.
“That means you’re up next, big guy. We’ll need your long arms down there.”
Jackson simply nodded and walked to the edge, picking up the rope, turning, and then walking backwards. The rope popped and strained, and Rinofsky laid a hand on it, feeling the tension.
“All good.” He sized up the remaining team members. Still to go was the wiry Dawkins, Blake, Soong, Aimee, and Jennifer, and …
“Hey!” Rhino yelled as Hagel leaned out, and then disappeared around the outside of their cave. Aimee looked across to see the young HAWC just using his fingers and toes to scale the sheer face. He looked back and grinned.
“Haven’t got all day, losers. See you down there.”
“Break a leg,” Dawkins whispered, his mouth turned down, his chipped tooth resting on his bottom lip. They watched Hagel clamber out and across as if he was only a few feet from his back lawn.
Rhino gave him a minute, and then motioned to Jennifer. The woman grimaced, and Rhino removed a length of material from his pack, and tied one end of the material around the rope in a looping knot. “This is an arbor knot.” He tied the other end around Jennifer’s wrist. “You should be able to climb down by yourself, but if you slip,” – he tugged on the material and it immediately tightened and gripped the rope – “then this will catch you. You can’t fall. You’ll be fine, okay?”
She nodded jerkily. Rhino grabbed her and looked into her face. “Just concentrate on the rope, the rock wall, and Lieutenant Franks … and nothing else. Got it?”
Jennifer nodded and he pushed her out. It took ages, but she eventually made it level with Casey. Then it was Soong’s turn and then Aimee’s.
“You’re up, Doc.” Rhino held out one big hand.
Aimee exhaled and got to her feet, but felt her legs wobble. Rinofsky looped the slipknot over her wrist. He placed large hands on her shoulders and looked into her face.
“Just on the rope, just on the wall, and just on me – nothing else.”
And then she was over the edge – one hand after the other, concentrating on the rock face. She noticed the fine grain in the rock, the spots of lichen and mosses like tiny corals embedded in tiny cracks. In a damp pocket, there was something that looked like lice that scurried in and out of the moisture. She focused on the rock wall as she descended, one hand after the other, over and over. There was a piece of crystal embedded in the rock, or maybe it was diamond. A crazy thought of stopping to dig it out entered her head. Forget it, keep going, and don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop, she kept repeating.
Her shoulders screamed and her hands were becoming slick. Aimee chanced a look back up – Rhino was just a dot above her now, but he had started to swing her. Her stomach flipped as she yawed against the cliff face.
“Reach out … nearly got you.”
“Huh?” Aimee spun her head. Casey was only a few feet away, reaching out. Aimee pushed with her legs, one way and then the next, until Casey grabbed her and dragged her in.
Casey slapped her on the back, and Aimee staggered away from the edge to sit down. Jennifer held out a water bottle that she took gratefully.
In another few minutes Blake swung in, followed by Rhino.
Ben Jackson stuck his head out. “Yo, Dawkins, hustle it up.”
John Dawkins, the smallest, was the last to go. He nimbly started down the rope.
Jackson grinned as he continued to watch his smaller friend. “Hurry up, Dawks … no time for sightseeing.”
Still fifty feet up from the new cave mouth, the McMurdo soldier just seemed to hang for a moment, his head tilted upwards as if watching something. Then, while they watched, he lifted back up a few feet.
“What the hell?” Casey leaned out further.
“What’s he think he’s doing?” Big Ben Jackson turned to the group and then leaned out past Casey. “Dawkins, John, you okay up there, buddy?”
The man just hung on, his neck craned as he stared up the rope.
Jackson shook his head. “Something’s up, he wouldn’t freeze. He knows how to climb, and he ain’t scared of heights.”
Aimee hung onto Jackson’s arm and peered around him. Unbelievably, Dawkins started to rise.
“Is he climbing back up?” Jennifer rose up on her toes, trying her best to see.
“Fuck no, not again,” Rinofsky said softly.
Casey Franks turned to glare at him for a second, before watching the McMurdo soldier rise slowly on the rope.
“Is it the Chinese?” Jennifer asked.
Casey edged out further, lifting an arm and looking like she planned to try and make a leap for the tip of the rope.
“Don’t.” Blake grabbed her and held on.
Dawkins suddenly seemed jolted into action, and began to climb down as fast as the rope was being reeled in. But in a few moments he came to the end, and hung on, looking across at the sheer granite wall, searching for something to grab onto. There was nothing, and no choice but to let himself be pulled to the upper cave mouth.
Dawkins soon reached the lip and stuck there, staring for several seconds, seeming to look deep into the cave, and then he simply pushed backwards, into space, and just … fell.
The soldier didn’t make a sound, but as his body passed them, gathering speed, the split second glimpse of his face showed wide eyes and teeth grit in a rictus of pure terror.
They watched his body plummet to the ground. Casey blinked several times, her mouth open. “He fucking jumped?” She shook her head. “Why the fuck would he jump?” She backed up, her fists balled.
Aimee saw that Hank Rinofsky had turned away, one fist held up to his mouth. She looked back down at the jungle that had swallowed Dawkins’s body. There was no trace. After another moment, she turned away.
“He jumped because he decided it was better than facing what he saw in the cave.” Aimee felt ill. The cold knot was in her stomach again. “God help us.”
“Dawks is no coward.” Ben Jackson grimaced as he stared down into the vegetation hundreds of feet below. “No way would he kill himself.”
“Yes, he would. Anyone would … anyone.” Aimee folded her arms tight against her body, and shut her eyes. “You guys read the report, but didn’t actually learn a damned thing, did you?” She turned to look at Casey. “This is no dumb animal. It’s playing with us. It’s probably known mankind for years, maybe hundreds or thousands of years. The people who used to live here had a name for it. They called it the Qwo-to-oan.”
“I think I heard of that,” Hagel said.
“We need to wake up, real quick,” Aimee said, looking at each of them. “Because this thing is big, smart, and we’re right in its home.”
“Jesus Christ.” Hagel glared at Casey Franks. “We’re fucked.”
“Shut the hell up.” Casey glared right back.
“Oh, okay, we’re all fine then.” Hagel’s face twisted as he walked away shaking his head.
Casey’s face was furious, but it relaxed and she exhaled long and loud. “So, this is our job. This is what we do. We’ve had to deal with worst case scenarios before.” She looked along their faces. “And this is one of them.”
�
�I musta missed that briefing,” Ben Jackson said. He sighed and shook his head. “Fuck it, we’re all in the same boat now.”
The group, bar Hagel, crowded in tight, all eyes focused on Casey Franks. Aimee looked over their heads and into the cave depths. There was no light, and no end to its impenetrable darkness. For all she knew there was something back in there, edging forward, sliding silently, its leviathan strength compressed, coiled, and waiting to flex out and then snatch them up.
“Let’s get out of here,” she said softly.
Casey looked from the group to Aimee, and then into the tunnel depths. She nodded. “Blake, tie us off again. This time, I go last.”
CHAPTER 41
“Stinks down here.” Blake had his gun up, scanning the dense undergrowth.
“Creepy as hell,” Hagel added, sighting along his rifle in the other direction.
“I heard that, brother,” Blake said. He’d been in plenty of jungles before, from Colombia to the Congo, but this was like nothing he’d ever seen. Strange boughs, gnarled and twisted, dripping with slick mosses, all looked less like trees and more like some sort of elongated mold growths. Others were just hairy trunks rising three stories in the air, with bulbous pads like tongues on their ends. The only real characteristic they shared was that where they touched the ground, they all looked like they were trying to break free, lift their roots out, and then go marching, triffid-like, off on their own.
But the thing that bothered Blake the most was the silence. Jungles weren’t quiet, unless something made them go quiet. He sensed life all around them, but nothing chirped, croaked, or whistled. It was like a dead forest, but not. His gut told him that the predator knew they were there and was watching them – he hated it.
Blake half turned. “You know, a lot of civilizations, old and new, think that hell is under our feet. Looks like they were right,” Blake said, his gun moving along another quadrant of the jungle.
“No way, man. This is home from now on. Get used to it. Cause we ain’t got enough rope to climb out anymore,” Hagel added.
Blake shook his head, keeping his eyes on the silent jungle. “We needed it to get everyone down. What would you have done, smartass?”
Hagel put his gun on his shoulder, and turned. “We were given a job by Hammerson – find that sub. That’s our priority. We could have scaled down without the rope.” He bobbed his head. “I’d have left the civs behind. Send a rescue party back for them later.”
“Yeah right, what rescue party? You mean leave ’em to die.” Blake knew Hagel meant every word he said.
“Look, Blake, all I’m saying is, butchy boy is burning through our resources far too quick.” He shrugged. “We could also track down the PLA, take their resources. Improve our chances.”
Blake scoffed. “We’re doin’ okay so far. I suggest you lighten up, as you’re starting to piss me off.” Blake looked squarely at the younger HAWC. “Hey, why don’t you share your views with Franks? I’m sure she’ll enjoy having a chat – just the two of you.”
“I’m not scared of Franks. She’s just …”
Rhino appeared out of the undergrowth. “Can’t find Dawkins.”
“Huh? I don’t get it.” Blake’s brows went up. “That kid fell straight down. We all saw it.” He looked up, calculating. “Should be around here, and as he was no superman, I don’t see him walking away.”
Rhino shrugged. “I’m telling you there’s nothing, not even an impact mark. Guy never hit the ground.” He tilted his head to the towering tops of the growths that had odd, stubby heads, looking like massive undersea tubeworms. “Maybe he’s caught up in the canopy of one of these suckers?”
“Maybe,” Blake said, unconvinced.
“Yeah, maybe.” Hagel grinned. “And maybe we only imagined he fell. Maybe we’re all asleep and this is a dream.” He chuckled. “Assholes.” He pushed his rifle up over his shoulder and walked off to rejoin the group.
Rhino watched Hagel for a moment before turning back to Blake. “I’m telling you, it’s like he never hit the ground.” He grimaced. “This place is all fucked up.”
“You think?” Blake exhaled. “Hold it together, big guy. We’ll all be fine if we all just keep clear heads.”
“Clear heads.” Rhino pushed his weapon up over his shoulder. “Yeah, sure.”
*
Aimee was lost in her own thoughts. How did I get here again? she wondered as she pushed aside stubby fronds. Some people are just programmed to make bad decisions, she answered. She looked up towards the roof of the giant cavern – tiny blue lights twinkled like stars – bioluminescent glow worms. Attached to the ceiling, huge multibranched trees of lichens hung down hundreds of feet, almost looking like a mirror image of the ground. Things flew in and out of the lichens. Some looked like mere dots, but others she knew were probably the size of small airplanes. Up there, it’s another world, in yet another world. She smiled at the paradox.
She sighed. Another few miles or so above that clinging ceiling was another world again, her world, frozen, and perhaps now engaged in a tense nuclear standoff … or worse. A sudden image of Joshua screaming as he was caught in a nuclear inferno ripped across her mind, and she shook her head to clear it away.
Idiot, she whispered with enough venom to lash her own conscience. Jack Hammerson had said he wanted a scientific negotiator with experience, someone who could be their guide. She had been vain enough to suck up his flattery, but now thought that if she was the best they had, they were all doomed. She ground her teeth. Some people will continue to make stupid decisions until one eventually kills them.
Aimee stumbled from fatigue, and tried to remember when it was she last really rested – too long ago.
She exhaled long and slow, looking over her shoulder to the cliffs they had just scaled down. The thing she feared the most was in there – a thing that could squeeze its monstrous boneless bulk down, and then spring at them from any crevasse, cave, or dark space. It could mimic their form, seeming to be like one of them until it was close enough for you to realize you had made a horrible mistake, and by then it was too late, as it was in reach and able to grab you, and steal you away, to … she grimaced, not wanting to finish the thought.
They were leaving the caves behind, but in the open, are we any better off? she wondered. She slowed and watched as Hagel remonstrated with Casey. She was half a head shorter than Hagel, but Aimee bet the female HAWC was a dozen times more deadly. She caught up to Ben Jackson, and the equally big Rhino, who was looking over his shoulder at the small device he had in his hands. He pointed at the screen, showing the McMurdo soldier what he was looking at. Aimee craned to see.
“Signal here is long and strong, and about 4.4 klicks.” Rhino turned and recalibrated the device and pointed it into the distance. “This cave is too big for a signal bounce – has its own horizon, and beyond.”
Blake and Casey also joined them, Blake holding out a different small box. He whistled softly.
“What is it?” Aimee asked, looking down at the small screen as a wave pulsed out and showed up a smattering of dots, some large and some pinpricks.
“Standard movement tracker,” Blake said, looking up and then along at the walls of jungle around them. “This place is near tomb silent, but there’s a helluva lot of movement out there. Too much for the tracker to fully untangle, but basically, we’re surrounded by things as small as a mouse and as big as a freakin’ bus.” He pointed. “About a hundred feet that way, there’s something the size of a truck right now.”
Casey leaned back. “Moving away from us, thank Christ.”
Soong peered down at the screen and walked off a few paces with Blake and Rhino, just as Jennifer came into the group, her arms wrapped around herself. Casey tilted her head towards the dark haired medic. “How you holdin’ up, Jenn?”
Jennifer shrugged. “I’d rather be back in the rec room, with a cold beer, getting ready to shoot some pool.”
Casey grinned and reached out to grasp o
ne of her shoulders. “I heard that. Maybe when this is over, you and I can catch up. Share a beer and rack up a few.”
Jennifer’s cheek dimpled. “I’d like that.”
Aimee smiled as the two walked off. You go girl, she thought with a half smile.
Within an hour, they came to a small depression, like a fifty foot bowl in the soft lichen mats. Casey held up a hand.
“Rest. Thirty minutes, sleep if you can. Might be the last opportunity we get.”
“We should keep going,” Hagel said, continuing to walk.
“We could continue, but the group needs rest,” Casey said, turning away.
Hagel paused, his eyes going from Casey to each of the HAWCs, trying to gain support – he got nothing. Casey turned back to him.
“I’ll do first watch. Then seeing you’ve got so much energy, you can take over in thirty minutes. Happy now?”
Hagel smiled, but there was little humor in the lift of his lips. He turned and muttered all the way over to a pile of rocks where he sat down, back against it, and covered his eyes.
“Wake me in thirty, mommy.”
The group collapsed, the HAWCs lifting the belts and straps of packs and weapons off their shoulders and laying prone. Aimee lay down, and Soong lay close to her.
“This is not a good place,” Soong said.
“No.” Aimee had few words of comfort for her, so she just smiled, and reached out to squeeze her arm. “Rest now.”
Aimee turned away and shut her eyes. What seemed like seconds later, she was being shaken awake.
She sat up and saw Hagel talking rapidly to Casey and pointing off into the undergrowth. He stood over her, giving her grief, the man as usual not amused by something out in the jungle. Give it a rest, twerp, she thought and went to sit forward. She groaned, sore all over.
“Hey, who’s fucking around?” Rhino was on his feet, walking in a circle, kicking plants and debris out of his way. “Where the fuck is my cannon?”
Casey Franks turned away from Hagel to glare. “You better find that weapon, mister.”
