by G. P. Hudson
“It’s getting narrower,” said Jon. Jason was a fair distance behind him, but there was no need to yell. The smallest sound travelled effortlessly through the tunnel. The group spread themselves apart. It was safer not to be bunched together in case something happened.
“Can you fit?” said Jason.
“Yeah, but if it keeps closing in I’ll have to crawl on my belly.”
Jon’s prediction came true. The ceilings and walls closed in on him and he dropped to his elbows, continuing in an army crawl. He fought the urge to shudder as insects with way too many legs crawled across his hands. He wondered how many were on his clothes where he couldn’t feel them. The hairs on the back of his neck rose. The walls continued to narrow, forcing him to tuck in his elbows. He squeezed through the tunnel an inch at a time, groaning with the effort. His flashlight flickered, and he cursed as it went out.
Chapter 18
“Shit,” said Jon, smacking the side of the light with his palm.
“What’s wrong?” Jason asked.
“My flashlight went out. It must’ve been damaged in the fall.”
“Can you keep going?”
“Yeah, I’ll try.”
He pulled himself forward with his elbows, beads of sweat dripping off his nose. Surrounded by total darkness. Constricted by hard, dank stone. Jon felt anxiety creep in.
He tried to breathe, the way his mother taught him. Deep breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth. He searched for his center. Tried to remain calm.
I’m going to die trapped in here, he thought. Paralyzing fear overwhelmed him. It wasn’t the fear of death, but the fear of being trapped in the blackness of this horrible place. I won’t give up, he thought, trying to fight the panic. I can do this.
He tried to move forward, but didn’t budge. I can’t move. The realization sent a spike of cold dread down his spine. His heart beat harder. He struggled to keep control of his breath, but it quickened as well. His hands trembled and it suddenly occurred to him that he might pass out.
No. No. I’m losing control. I can’t lose control.
He tried pulling himself again. Still nothing.
I’m going to die.
Would someone find his skeleton one day? Maybe hundreds of years in the future. Would anybody else ever crawl through this tunnel?
I can’t die in here. I won’t die in here.
He pulled again. His arms burned. Jagged rocks clawed at his ribs. He cried out in pain. But he moved.
He pulled again. This time it was easier. He pulled through until he freed himself.
“What the hell are you whining about?” said Jason.
Jon laughed as relief washed over him. “You’ll see. There’s a really tight spot. It’s a bitch to get through.”
“I told you not to eat so much you overgrown ox.”
Jon laughed so hard his side hurt.
“Not only are you big, but you’re loud too. Quiet down or you’ll cause a cave in.”
“Okay,” said Jon, regaining control of himself. He looked ahead into the darkness and pushed on. The tunnel was still cramped, but it no longer threatened to suffocate him. He had enough room to get back into army crawl. His elbows and knees felt raw, like the flesh was being ripped away each time he moved. He tried to take his mind off the pain and turned his thoughts to the mission. Where had the Chaanisar come from? They couldn’t have been the compound, or else the whole operation would’ve failed. Their intelligence said nothing about Chaanisar. Why were they here?
The Juttari wouldn’t normally waste something as valuable as a Chaanisar soldier in circumstances like this. The Chaanisar were better deployed on the battlefield. The Governor wasn’t that important. He was merely a regional tyrant. He could easily be replaced. It had to be the resistance.
He thought about the meeting with the Diakans. His father had said the movement was growing. We’re hurting them. We’re making a difference. That was it. The Juttari are getting desperate. That’s why they’re deploying the Chaanisar. The realization stunned him. They might actually have a chance. They might actually win.
A sound brought him back to reality. It came from up ahead. He heard it again. Squeaking sounds. His stomach lurched as he recognized the noise. Rats. He suppressed a gag reflex and forced himself forward.
He hated rats. When he was little his grandfather showed him a large one that he had killed. He had pulled back its mouth to show him its teeth. They were nasty looking things. Long and yellow. His grandfather told him that rats had ridiculously strong jaw muscles and could even gnaw their way through brick. A long series of nightmares followed and Jon spent too many nights lying awake in bed, imagining giant rats coming to feed on him.
He pushed on as the squeaking sounds grew louder. Was he crawling into a goddamn nest? Something crawled across the back of his hand and he jumped, hitting his head on the hard ceiling. “Damn it,” he cursed. Was it possible for a goose egg to grow on top of another?
He moved again and wet fur quickly brushed against his nose. He flayed his hands around making contact with more of the critters. The squeaking intensified as the rats raised the alarm. Tiny feet scurried across the top his head. He swatted at the thing, terrified it would climb down onto his face and bite off a chunk of his nose.
They were all around him, darting around in their own confusion. His breathing quickened. His heart raced. He swatted in front of his face, doing what he could to keep them away. He shut his eyes tight, trying to protect them from childhood nightmares. They were all over his arms. He suppressed the urge to scream, fearing that one would climb into his mouth.
At last he felt them scurry away from him. Tiny feet raced off his arms making him tremble with disgust. He tried to calm himself. His mind knew they were gone but his body still felt them. He flinched at the imaginary vermin crawling all over his body.
They’re gone, he thought. Calm down. He focused on his breath and began to get his heart rate under control. His mind cleared.
Wait a second, he thought. The rats are running away from me. There must be a way out. For a moment he wondered if that made sense. Then he decided he didn’t care. There was a way out and that was all there was to it.
An exit gave him a renewed sense of purpose. They weren’t going to die in the darkness. He continued down the long tunnel for what felt like hours. What time was it? Were the Chaanisar still out there, waiting for them? He decided he would gladly face the Chaanisar rather than climb through this tunnel again.
He crawled a bit further and hit a wall. The tunnel had ended. How? Where did the rats go? He still couldn’t see anything, so he used his hands to feel around for clues. There had to be something. They couldn’t crawl backward through the tunnel. They would never make it.
He reached up above his head and felt nothing. Where was the ceiling? He pulled himself up to his knees, ducking his head out of reflex. He reached up again, but still the ceiling wasn’t there. He rose slowly to his feet. Nothing. He stretched his back. It felt good to stand again. Feeling the walls around him with his hands he realized that the tunnel had turned upward.
“The tunnel’s ended,” he called out.
“Is there an exit?” said Jason.
“Not sure. We have to climb.”
Jason muttered something inaudible. Probably a curse. Jason was a good climber, but after crawling through these caves it was probably the last thing he wanted to do. For Jon, climbing was a hundred times better than crawling in the darkness. He stretched out his hand, grabbed hold of some rock and pulled.
Every muscle in his body screamed, but he powered through the pain. Jon figured he’d be in bed for a week if he made it through this alive. He steadily scaled up the wall until his hand found a ledge.
He pulled himself up to his feet and looked around. A cavern surrounded him with long stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Then it dawned on him. He could see. He wheeled around, trying to identify the source of the light. He followed it and soon came upo
n an opening. As he walked through he was bathed in morning sunlight. He was sweaty and dirty, and his body ached all over, but at that moment he couldn’t imagine any better feeling than the sun on his skin.
The peaceful moment was short lived as his instincts kicked in and he began to feel exposed. He dropped back into the cave, out of the sun’s glorious rays, and took a less visible position behind some rocks.
Were the Chaanisar still there? Had they seen him? He scanned the surrounding sky, looking for the vessel that had attacked them a few hours ago. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Just endless blue sky. His eyes scanned the forest canopy. He saw nothing, but anything could be hiding underneath those trees.
“See anything, cousin?” said Jason from behind, startling him.
“Don’t sneak up on me like that,” he said, glaring back at Jason.
His cousin laughed and slapped him on the back. He winced. How much damage had he done to his body?
“No, I don’t see anything,” he said, scanning the trees again.
“We made it.”
“Don’t be so sure,” said his father, approaching from behind with Michael. “They could be anywhere down there.”
“So what do we do?” said Jon. “Stay here?”
“No, we keep moving. The farther away we get, the better.”
Jon sighed. All he wanted to do was sleep.
As if reading his mind, his father said, “If you stop now, your muscles will seize up and it’ll be worse.”
Jon didn’t think his body could feel much worse.
“We can sleep when we get home,” said his father. “Come, we’ve got a long day ahead of us.”
Jon looked outside again, this time scanning the sides of the mountain. There was a small goat path stretching out away from the cave and down the side of the mountain. They could walk down. Thankful for the small reprieve, he rested a hand on his weapon and ventured out onto the path.
He took a few steps and stopped. He whipped around and looked back at the treetops below.
“What’s wrong,” said Jason.
“Nothing. I just felt like someone was staring at me.”
Jason laughed and punched Jon in the bicep. “Don’t worry, cousin. I’m here to protect you.”
Jon shrugged, feeling stupid, and continued down the path.
Chapter 19
“What’s wrong, father?” said Jon.
“Nothing, why?”
“You keep turning, scanning the forest like something’s out there.”
His father cocked an eyebrow at him and gave him an approving nod. “We’re being followed, son.”
“What? Where?”
“I don’t know where, but they’re out there.”
“How do you know?”
“I just do.”
It sounded odd, but he knew better than to question his father’s judgment. “What do we do?”
“We keep walking. What we don’t do is lead them back home.”
“They want to find our base.”
“Exactly, or they would’ve moved in already.”
“I wondered why we were taking this route.”
His father gave him a grim smile. “Let’s see how long they want to play. Are you up for another climb?”
“You’re not joking, are you?”
“Sorry.”
“This day’s never going to end.”
“Listen. These are Chaanisar that are following us. They’re stronger, faster, better than us in almost every way.”
“Doesn’t that mean they can out-climb us?”
“Maybe. They have the physical ability to do so, but do you think they’ve done as much climbing as you have?”
“Probably not.”
“Do you think they know these mountains as well as we do?”
“No.”
His father smiled. “Maybe we can even the odds a little.”
Jon looked back, trying to catch a glimpse of who was hunting them. He saw nothing but trees. He listened, but heard nothing more than birds.
By late afternoon they were trudging up a steep incline through the forest. Jon’s leg’s ached from the effort and his socks felt like they had hardened and glued themselves to his feet. His shirt was drenched with sweat, and he had dirt caked everywhere from the adventure in the caves. When had he last eaten? He had grabbed a few berries a few hours back, but nothing else. His stomach growled. Did the Chaanisar get hungry? Were they tired? The stories said they didn’t feel any pain. Were they true? Could they be killed? They were human, or at least they had started that way. A shot through the heart should work just as well on them as on any human. He wanted to find out.
When they climbed up out of the forest Jon thought he had an idea of what his father had in mind. They had emerged into a narrow mountain pass. They stood on a thin path surrounded by sheer rock faces. He stopped and stared up at the cliffs, his shoulders heavy with intimidation.
“Are you ready for your climb?” asked his father.
Jon said nothing. He felt beaten. Exhausted and hungry, he didn’t know if he had another climb left in him. Was there an alternative? Wait for the Chaanisar to catch up and finish the job? No. He’d let himself fall off a cliff before giving them the satisfaction.
“I’m ready,” he said, grimly.
“Good. What we’re going to do is put those bastards into a crossfire. We each climb one of the cliffs, take cover and wait. When they show up we’ll let them get in between us and then we open fire.” He looked each one of them in the eyes. “Chaanisar are fast. If you’ve never fought them you’ll be surprised at just how fast they can move. Stay calm. We have the high ground. No matter how fast they are they still need to climb to get at us. We’ll have lots of time to pick them off. Any questions?”
Jon shook his head, as did his two cousins.
“Okay, let’s get into position.”
Jon picked his cliff and started yet another climb. He cursed as he grabbed hold of some rock and pulled himself up. As conditioned as his body and fingers were, he suddenly didn’t trust them. Pain coursed through his fingers, up his arms, and into his shoulders. The possibility of falling now became very real.
After what felt like hours, he found himself a decent perch. A man sized chunk of rock jutted out from the rock face providing a small nook for him to squeeze into. His long limbs barely fit in the cramped hiding spot, but he welcomed the opportunity to rest. Jon didn’t know when the Chaanisar would appear, but he hoped they would take their time. So long as he didn’t fall asleep he figured the break would do him some good.
The Chaanisar did take their time and dusk had started to set in. Jo
As if they had heard his wishes, dusk had started to set in with no sign of the Chaanisar. Jon watched the path and worried about nightfall. Could they know about the ambush? Was that possible? They might be waiting for the cover of darkness to make their move. Their bodies had been enhanced, could they have night vision? If so, they could sneak up on their position and take them by surprise. He shook his head, trying to expel the negative thoughts. There was certainly a possibility that his father was wrong. It made him somewhat hopeful, until he tried to remember a time when his father was actually wrong.
The faint sound of a small stone grinding into the earth told him someone approached. He shouldered his weapon and waited. Two figures began to emerge from the forest. Other than the Juttari uniforms, they looked like normal men. He studied them as they walked, looking for signs of technology, but there was nothing. No indication that they were any different than him. They held their weapons ready, slowly moving down the path. They acted like they knew something was wrong. How? They raised their weapons and scanned the rock faces surrounding them.
You’re right, thought Jon. This is a great place for an ambush.
Jon watched as one of them scanned toward his direction. His weapon steadily panned across until it came across his position, and stopped.
“Shit!” said Jon, as the weapo
n fired. He ducked behind the rock as blue energy bolts crashed all around him. He squeezed in tight, trying desperately to keep his body out of the line of fire. How had he seen him?
The sound of weapon fire echoed throughout the pass, but it didn’t seem to be pointed at him. He peeked out from his position and could no longer see either of the Chaanisar. The weapon fire came from his father and his cousins. It crisscrossed underneath him. He followed the direction of the fire, trying to spot the enemy. They were climbing.
He spotted one on the cliff opposite him. Damn he moved fast. Jon joined in the attack, but repeatedly missed the man. Each time he got him in his cross hairs and fired, the man leaped away. Jon had never seen anything like it. The man climbed with the agility of a mountain goat, jumping effortlessly from one location to another, never once losing his footing.
Their tactics weren’t working. The Chaanisar were anticipating their fire and simply getting out of the way. His target would soon be on top of Michael’s position. He had to stop him before that, but how? He would use the Chaanisar’s own tactics against him, that’s how. He jumped out of the way by either knowing, or anticipating, when he was fired upon. Jon would let his cousin fire at the man, and he would anticipate his jump and fire there. He watched as his cousin chased him up the cliff, saw the pattern, and pulled the trigger.
The Chaanisar seemed to realize his mistake in mid-air. His arms and legs shot out, searching for something to grab to halt his momentum. A blur of movement, but only a fraction of a second to adapt. It wasn’t enough, not even for an augmented super human, and he sailed into Jon’s volley. The energy bolts ripped into his back, his limbs found no purchase on the rocks, and he fell to his death. He hit the ground and didn’t move, still Jon followed up with more energy blasts to make sure. This time he didn’t jump out of the way.
The Chaanisar could be killed.
Weapon fire crashed into the rock face only a few meters below his position, alerting him to the coming danger. Jon whipped his gun around and tried to find the other man. He saw movement below him and fired, but didn’t hit anything. Damn it, where is he. He followed the weapon fire and tried the same trick, anticipating the man’s tactics. It didn’t work. He could hear the man climbing now, and began to feel very exposed. He tried shooting again, but only saw his bolts hit barren rock.
