37 Days In A Strange World

by Dave Hazel

  “Mykal, can you hear me? Please do not leave me in this place,” she cried out but he didn’t respond. “Are you hurt? Help me. I am not as strong, as I thought I was,” she sobbed.

  “I’m afraid too,” he admitted. ‘Any movement will bring it back,’ he thought and suddenly he shivered. His mind pictured the monster pouncing on him from behind before getting very far. Freezing to death couldn’t be a better alternative.

  “Leave now,” she cried. “Hurry! Before it is too late.”

  “It knows I’m here. I need to wait a little bit.”

  “Mykal, please, I can not leave this place without you.”

  Her soft crying voice tugged on his heart. He felt terrible leaving her stranded there.

  Something had to be done. Slowly he reached down, pulled the .357 magnum from the holster, ready to shoot. ‘What good will it do?’ A sudden blast of cold air reminded him he couldn’t stay there much longer. ‘How could I allow this thing to keep me terrified like a wimp?’ Anger took control of his thoughts and emotions. He needed a militant attitude, a fierce warrior’s mentality to face the monster.

  “I’m coming,” he said in a calm controlled voice. “I want you to move back slowly,” he advised.

  “I can not move. I am too frightened. I will not leave without you,” she sobbed. “I do not have the strength to go on my own. I need you, Mykal from another world.”

  It crushed him to hear that. He knew the best thing to do was to run as fast as he could, but he couldn’t make his legs work. He took one side-step at a time and hoped urgently the monster wouldn’t notice. Mykal moved as gentle as possible. Deep inside, from his experience with spiders as a child, he knew this wouldn’t work.

  At the half way point between from where he started and where Doninka stood, he saw two long white fur covered legs appear over the ledge of the bridge. They curled up over the broken wall. They tapped the ground, searching by sensation for movement. He almost wet himself again. It returned. It wanted him. The sight of the long white furry limbs feeling for his position made him want to vomit. ‘Why didn’t I run!?’

  “Please Mykal, you must hurry,” she cried.

  He took another slow soft step. Several legs appeared all at once which moved the beast a little closer. It continued to tap the cold floor to discover where the vibrations originated on the frozen web. He watched this activity many times as a child. He regretted all the insects he tossed into spider webs. He clearly heard his older sister’s voice from way back then, “How’d you like it if a giant bug put you in a spider’s web?” He’d love to laugh with her about this one day.

  With another gentle step he watched the large body appear over the broken wall of the bridge. He guessed it to be blind; living in constant darkness, but it seemed to look right at him. It would only be another step or two and the ugly thing would pounce on him. The two front legs were up in the air in its attack mode. Two other legs tapped for vibrations to find his location. He imagined Al in a silk cocoon under the bridge. He didn’t want to be the creature’s second meal in a matter of minutes. Did everything he battle through for the past two weeks come to this? Did Towbar save his life only for it to end like this? ‘No! Hell no!’

  “It has returned,” Doninka shrieked. “I will distract it for you,” she said and pulled out her sword.

  “No don’t,” he yelled but she already started to hit the icy web with her sword and suddenly the large spider moved toward her distracting tactic. The thing came between them making it impossible for him to get by it.

  Mykal moved again and the monster sensed his movements. It turned and darted to him, stopping some twenty feet from him. It stayed focused on him and ignored her misdirecting tactics.

  One last option. “Screw you,” he yelled as loud as he could and fired all six rounds of his .357 magnum into the center of mass to what he thought would be the head. He aimed at the clump atop the cephalothorax. He remembered learning as a child that most spiders have four pairs of eyes. He assumed it would be true for this monster as well. The rapid fire shots felt ear shattering. He sensed the explosions echo through the halls, but his ears filled with a deafening ring.

  The first two rounds drilled into the hard shell of the cephalothorax. The third round ripped into the center where the eyes were. It seemed to be a painfully sensitive area for the creature, whether the eyes were used for sight or not. It flinched and backed away. While backing away the fourth slug punched into one of the hollow fangs, the chelicera, it sprayed liquid from the venom gland. The fifth shot blasted into one of the front legs at the joint between the tibia and metatarsus, nearly breaking it off. The damaged limb dangled before the creature. It turned just as Mykal fired his sixth round into the large bulbous abdomen, shooting a thick gooey gel into the air.

  Mykal knew he couldn’t reload fast enough, but thankfully the thing rushed away. He expected to hear a loud high pitched piercing scream like he had always seen in old horror movies, but the Snow Spider didn’t make any noise at all. It scurried away to escape the pain that suddenly struck.

  Mykal didn’t wait to see if the giant spider would change direction and return. He ran as hard and as fast as he could and didn’t care what vibrations he sent through the icy web. He holstered his pistol while running. When he ran near Doninka he grabbed her arm and pulled her with him, almost dragging her. They didn’t stop until back at the four way intersection where they left the unconscious Klacken. The giant spider didn’t show.

  They plopped themselves down on the cold cement beside Klacken. Mykal turned the flashlight off and they sat beside each other. They enjoyed the closeness and safety of the other. Though she couldn’t take Al’s place as a big brute warrior, Mykal was glad that he wasn’t all alone. He wondered who or what may have heard the gunshots and would they come to investigate?

  “Are you okay?” Mykal whispered while he emptied the spent casings from the revolver to quickly reload.

  “Yes. I was so scared,” she whispered back and started to cry again. “I have never felt such fear.”

  Mykal placed a reassuring arm around her shoulder and she quickly pulled close to wrap her arms around him. She buried her face into his chest and sobbed uncontrollably.

  He felt bad for her and wished he could take her away from here. She should never have come along. “Everything’s gonna be alright,” he promised in a whisper. He wrapped both his arms around her. “We’ll get outta this. I don’t know how, but we will and I won’t let anything happen to you.” He felt he just lied to her but it was all he had to offer.

  “How did that thing get here?”

  “You’re asking me?” Mykal shook his head. “I just got here two weeks ago, remember? But other people do live here. Those four snow things were actually dead people wrapped in the spider web. Plus there were arrows in the belly of the spider. So we gotta be on the watch for people who live inside this mountain. I’m just baffled that you, your father, Towbar or anyone doesn’t know about these people.”

  “I am greatly surprised and at a loss for words. That thing attacked so quickly,” she said and cried into his chest.

  “I can’t believe Al’s gone. He didn’t stand a chance. Me and you need to be thankful though,” he tried to comfort her. “That could have easily been either of us.”

  “What should we do?” She asked when she stopped crying.

  “I’m not really sure, but I think we should get going,” he said as he turned on the flashlight.

  Together they carried Klacken who hung limply between the two of them. They traveled straight from their original location. They obviously moved much slower without the help of Al Capone. They grew tired easily. The dead weight of Klacken dragged them down.

  Thirty minutes had passed when Mykal heard a sound that Doninka couldn’t hear. He quickly turned off the flashlight and pushed the two of them against the damp wall. He whispered for her to remain silent while he strained for sounds.

  Some thirty to forty feet ahead of th
em they could see a faint flicker of light approaching from another direction. It came from a side passage. The light grew stronger and brighter. Mykal heard the sound of several muffled voices but they were talking in a language he never heard. The voices and light slowly moved closer to them.

  Unsure of who they were and what they would do to them, Mykal’s fears soared again. Since they were uninvited they would be looked at as trespassers and he didn’t know how serious of a crime that would be. Mykal hoped there was a four way intersection or a T intersection ahead of them so the approaching band would take a different direction. If the traveling party turned into their direction Mykal knew they could never outrun them unless they left Klacken behind which he didn’t want to do. He had no way to know if they’d be friendly, neutral or hostile.

  His mind raced with ideas should they be forced to flee. Straight back they would be trapped at the cave-in. One option led back to the giant snow spider. Mykal would rather face two hundred Sosos than that creature again. The last option would lead to the unknown. ‘Why is this day so friggin hard?’

  From the sounds he heard he deduced there were several men speaking though he couldn’t understand a word. The weight of the world lifted from his shoulders when the people walked straight and never noticed they were in the area. There were at least eight of them. He couldn’t see them clearly but they all carried weapons and most carried a torch or a lantern. They traveled a casual pace so Mykal guessed they weren’t aware of intruders.

  “That was close,” Mykal whispered into Doninka’s ear.

  “Yes it was. I am scared.”

  “I don’t want to leave him behind, but if it comes down to it we’ll drop him and run. If that happens, you follow me.”

  They waited several minutes to see if the roving band would return or if others would follow. They crept to the intersection shaped like a T. Though in the dark Mykal saw clearly, he only saw old stone walls. The group must have turned into another side passage or maybe they entered a room. The unknown increased Mykal’s anxiety.

  Mykal looked to the right and the left. “If we go left we follow those people carrying weapons. If we go to the right we go to where they came from. There could be more of them.”

  “I do not know which would be best.”

  “I don’t either,” he whispered and feared making the wrong decision. “It could be dangerous either way.”

  “I will trust your judgment Mykal.”

  “I’m glad you do cuz I don’t.” With the flashlight on, they started to the right where the armed men came from.

  6.

  They traveled forty-five minutes down the long corridor. It should have taken about a third of that time, but carrying the dead weight of Klacken hampered their progress. The corridor ended at a heavy wooden door that stood less than six feet high and almost five feet wide. The door had been reinforced with heavy bands of steel near the top, bottom, and down the sides.

  “Do you wanna go through this door?” He whispered to her.

  “I will do whatever you suggest,” she replied weakly.

  “If there’s anything that’s bad we drop Klacken and you follow me. We’ll go back the way we came.”

  “I will follow you,” she said with increased fear.

  Mykal just wanted to get this over with. “I’m tired of being afraid of every little noise,” he whispered. “I’m fed up with all this running and thinking of all the freakish things we could run into.” How he longed to be at camp with Kurt waiting for Sosos to attack.

  Slowly he pushed the heavy door and the door creaked when it opened. Mykal held his pistol in hand in preparation, but the reveal of another long corridor was anticlimactic. Only the flickering of light assaulted them from the torches lined along the walls. The passageway was a continuation of what they traveled. It seemed longer, but the corridor curved slightly which prevented view of the entire length. They were bathed in dancing light as they nervously made their way along.

  “What is wrong?” She asked, glancing at his apprehensive expression in the flickering light.

  “All these damn lights.” He whispered and pointed to the crude lighting system along the walls. Torches and lanterns lined the long corridor. “It’s starting to get that lived-in look around here. Let’s go, there’s really nothing else to do. How is it that you, your father, and Towbar know nothing about these mountain people? How’d you never have contact with them?”

  “I do not know. This is just as strange to me.”

  They followed the passageway around the curve and it straightened out for another long distance. About every thirty feet or so there set some form of lighting. Some of the torches were burned out and had not been replaced with the many unlit torches on the floor below. Passing the curve in the corridor they came upon a door about every twenty-five to forty feet. The doors all looked like the one they went through. They were sure they entered a populated area though they hadn’t seen any more people. Mykal wanted it to stay that way.

  After they passed the fifth door they heard a great deal of noise coming from the sixth door. It sounded like a party of some kind. They clearly heard loud laughter, talking and growl like singing to a strange sounding music that reminded Mykal of Greek bouzouki style with heavy drums. Doninka never heard the strange tongue and Mykal couldn’t even compare it to anything he ever heard back in his world.

  They moved quickly and quietly. “Damn it,” he whispered, pointing to the blood trail on the floor. “Wherever we go, they’ll find us.”

  Mykal wondered if it was worth the energy spent to bear Klacken’s weighty form. The blood droplets were leaving an easy trail to follow. Klacken may die of blood loss or of infection after gangrene sets in. They all may die if the mountain people catch up with them. Mykal considered leaving him there, but then he placed himself in the injured man’s shoes and would want someone to protect him and get him to help if he was incapable of doing so on his own.

  They entered another four way intersection. Doors to rooms or other corridors were all around them. Mykal didn’t want to make any more decisions, but now so many choices lay before him. While Mykal looked to the left Doninka hit his arm to get his attention. He looked to see her finger pressed to her lips and her eyes wide open in fear. She pointed to an open door to her right side. The door was open almost a foot and a half wide. If they made any noise they could possibly be heard by them.

  Mykal nodded and pointed to let her know he wanted to inspect the open door. They peeked into the room but couldn’t really see anything helpful inside the little room. He pushed the open door further and suddenly they heard the sound of at least four voices in a drunken laugh moving toward them in the corridor.

  They looked at each other and the horror etched in each of their eyes shared they needed to react quickly and quietly. If they stood there they would be discovered in this underground civilization and that could possibly mean danger. Without a second thought Mykal made the decision to duck inside the open room and hoped for the best. He closed the door behind them.

  An odd thought struck him in such a peculiar situation. He remembered back to his childhood and he could never understand how spies in old spy movies could so easily sneak around without a concern. Sneaking around, trying to go undetected made his heart race out of control. He wanted to yell out his toe curling angst and give up so he could quit being on pins and needles. Mykal couldn’t live the life of a spy.

  Reacting to the sound approaching in the hallway didn’t give them the luxury of inspecting the room before they entered. They closed the door behind them. Suddenly Mykal’s nostrils were filled with a scent that created more fear. It reminded him of a wet dog. An awful smell of urine and feces filled the room. There seemed to be some kind of animal and the way things had been going he feared it had to be some sort of guard animal that would attack trespassers.

  His fears were realized when he looked across the room. His heart pounded rapidly when he saw what looked like two dirty, grungy, wolve
s lift their heads from the far side of the bed just six feet away. Just as shocking, he saw a little man leaning back in a wooden chair sleeping at a table. The short man had a long thick blonde beard and long thick blonde hair. His entire face was covered in coarse facial hair. He couldn’t be much more than four feet tall but his frame looked stocky and thick.

  Mykal’s eyes focused on the Dwarf like character sleeping at the table when the wolves jumped atop the bed to stare down the intruders. “You gotta be friggin kiddin’ me,” Mykal moaned. The animal stood on the bed revealing both heads were attached to the same body. The vicious looking two-headed animal bore long fangs in each snout that were a sickly looking yellow. The two sets of icy blue eyes stared them down. Any other time the eyes would be beautiful to gaze upon, but these eyes screamed threats and danger. The animal’s mangy coat was a dull black with patches of brown mixed throughout.

  The little man woke to the growl of the two-headed beast’s detection of the intruders. When he caught sight of Mykal and Doninka he fell over backward in his chair. From the floor he quickly rubbed his eyes and shook his head to ensure he wasn’t dreaming. He looked at the empty mug on the table as if the vision may have come from the drunken stupor he put himself into. He jumped to his feet and his 4’2” body ran from the room through another door before anything had been said between them.

  “No, wait, wait, wait,” Mykal called desperately to the man who could possibly be of assistance. The man never looked back, despite bouncing off the door frame and almost falling again.

  The ugly freak of a beast lunged at them from the bed. The body of the hideous creature was the size of a full grown St. Bernard. The two heads, like wild wolves with longer snouts, snapped at both of them.

  “Oh no,” Doninka cried out.

  “Stop!” Mykal instinctively squeezed the trigger twice.

  The two explosions terrified Doninka into dropping Klacken while she reached to cover her ears. The explosive noise seemed even louder in the little enclosed room. It made Mykal feel as though someone had slapped both his ears. The first round ripped into one of the two heads taking the top of the head off with blood, bone, brain matter and animal fur thrown backward. The second shot drilled into the large creature’s chest stopping it in midair. It hit the hard floor at their feet with a thump.