“Get over here!” called Orthon.
I looked around, confused in the darkness. I wondered why he couldn’t be more specific, considering the place was pitch black. Mike had just been speaking to me, but suddenly he was gone as well. I thought maybe they’d turned off their flashlights to hide from the Greys, or maybe their lights were just covered in mud like mine. The thick brown clay pulled at my sneakers as I trudged forward; it was like wearing cement shoes. “Guys, am I going the right way?”
There was no answer. Another shaft of light swooshed past me, and I ducked. My heart lurched.
* * *
I had survived a twenty foot fall into the mud only to be shot at with red laser beams by what appeared to be aliens—real live aliens I had seen with my very own eyes. Guess Orthon wasn’t lying after all when he told me about the Greys on the walk to the cave. I desperately searched for Mike and Orthon in the darkness. From somewhere behind me, Mike grabbed my hand and pulled me behind Orthon. We stood there for a while, barely breathing as we listened. Eventually, the sound of pattering feet grew fainter in the distance, and I dared to move, pushing my wet locks out of my eyes to look around.
I nudged him playfully. “Thanks for the mud bath. Too cheap for the real deal at the spa? What kind of date is this anyway?”
He laughed. “Your favorite—Sci-fi! Wasn’t laser tag a blast? Too bad we didn’t have laser guns too.”
“Yeah, I’d definitely say the aliens had the advantage.” I unhooked my flashlight from my shirt collar and wiped the mud off; a beam of light instantly bounced around the walls.
Mike snaked an arm around my waist, pulling me against him. He blew out a breath. “That was freaky, huh?”
“Totally.”
“Did you get a good look at them up there? Are they, like, E.T.’s or something?” His voice rang through the cave.
“Yep! One look at those things, and I was down here at warp speed.” The image would be forever seared into my brain.
“Dude, what did they look like?” asked Mike, eyes wide and shining with curiosity.
“They were little green men.” I tried to keep my hands from shaking. Never in a million years did I ever think I’d have a close encounter of my own. “They had giant eyes and bald heads, exactly like aliens in pictures or movies.”
“Man, that’s wild!” he said with a burst of excitement.
I rested my cheek against his strong chest, listening to his racing heart. I hugged him tightly, and then broke away. I moved a step forward, barely able to keep my balance. The mud made me feel as if I weighed five hundred pounds, and that was not an exaggeration.
Orthon wiped off his lens with his sleeve. “Something is wrong, I fear. It is not like the Greys to give up their pursuit so easily. We must proceed before they come back.” He re-holstered his weapon away and trudged past us as if the mud weighed nothing, calling over his shoulder, “Follow me.”
Mike and I clambered after him.
Orthon guided us forward through the waist-deep mud. “I am positive their guns were set on stun. They want Casey alive, for now, but they will intensify their attempts if need be. They will kill anything and everything that gets in their way in order to take possession of her.”
“Little green men wanting my DNA. I feel so loved,” I mumbled.
“That’s the price of being popular, honey,” said Mike. “You might as well get used to it. I know I did, and look how well I’m handling it now.”
I smacked his arm. “Popularity sucks.”
Scanning the semi-dark cave, I sighed. The place smelled damp and earthy. A soft breeze blew across my face, so I was sure we couldn’t be far away from the surface. Several times, I stumbled on shattered rocks as my feet caught on big slabs of limestone. As we walked into the next chamber, the mud receded, from my waist, to my knees, and finally to my ankles.
A low hiss, like that of an angry cat, echoed from the right. Mike tilted his head toward me and whispered, “What was that? Sounded like water sizzling on a hot stove.”
The thought of it made me long for a nice dinner, like my mom’s spaghetti and meatballs. My mouth watered at the thought, but I knew there was a fat chance of that happening anytime soon. “Maybe it’s steam escaping through one of the narrow openings.”
Orthon shone his flashlight into the dark crevice ahead and then removed a small cube from his belt. I craned my neck to get a better view. “This will scan for life signs, using body temperature,” said Orthon.
Fussing with a button on the side, he set the tiny, silver cube down on the cavern floor. A brilliant burst of white light shot up into the air forming a floating 3D hologram, like that of a big screen TV. With a single flick of the finger, Orthon touched an upside down triangle in the center of the hologram screen. All kinds of weird shapes and symbols popped up as I peered closer. Orthon pressed an upside down black triangle, a set of concentric rings, a squished circle, and an octagon with wavy lines running through it. A series of beeps sounded and then the screen started to scroll and speed through hundreds of images, maybe even thousands—all pictures of wildlife from tigers to bears.
“Whoa!” said Mike. “Do you see that? It’s like a high-tech computer floating in the air. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
My mouth gaped open. “Yeah, this is Sci-Fi at its finest. It’s neat how it can search through its database like that.”
Another loud hiss echoed through the darkness. My lips twitched nervously. “More aliens?” Orthon didn’t respond. I shot him a sideways glance, wondering why he was always so hesitant to answer our questions.
I raised a hand to touch his arm and then stopped myself, not daring to disturb his concentration. “I don’t see a way out, and we can’t leave the way we came because those roots are twenty feet above.”
The cube on the ground whirred and beeped steadily as a picture of a green serpent with red eyes froze on the hologram screen floating in mid-air. I felt the blood drain from my face and I wished I could read the strange language underneath the image. I knew a little French and some Spanish, but when it came to “alien” I was clueless.
“I’ve got a reading. Both of you walk to the opposite wall behind me and hide.”
“Yeah, we saw your reading. It’s a freaking snake! And with my experiences here in Agartha, I’m going to guess this thing isn’t little.” I grabbed Mike’s hand, ready to dash at the first opportunity. I was sure Orthon wouldn’t make us hide if it wasn’t necessary, but obsessing over how many snakes could be lurking in the shadows wasn’t an option. I couldn’t afford a heart attack, and I most definitely didn’t want Orthon to give me any kind of alien mouth-to-mouth if I passed out.
Mike peered ahead, his eyes wide. “What’re we going to do?”
I could tell from his tone that he was just as terrified as I was. If we’d learned anything since that shipwreck, it was that anything was possible in that place, and Mike knew as well as I did that we had to expect the unexpected. There could be one creature, two, or a whole platoon of them. Don’t even go there, Casey, I told myself.
Mike started to pester Orthon with the same question over and over.
“What kind of snake is it?”
“Shhh! Let him concentrate,” I said, though I doubted he could hear me over his own labored breathing. He sounded like he was straining to breathe through a straw. My lips trembled as the cave walls rumbled and the hissing grew louder. Whatever that thing was, it was getting closer. I sucked in a large gulp of air.
Orthon whipped out his ray gun and turned a few dials. “I’m increasing power, but it will take a minute to get the settings right.”
I had no idea what he was talking about, but as long as he knew what he was doing, all wasn’t lost. “Do whatever you need to do. Just get us the heck outta here.”
“I don’t think we have a minute!” yelled Mike.
I waved my flashlight toward the corner to which Orthon had pointed and pulled Mike with me, focusing on my step
s. “Hide! Something’s coming,” I whispered, as I continued wading through the mud until I hid behind a white slab of rock. Peering out, I noticed a shape moving in the ominous shadows of the cavern, creeping closer until it rose out of the darkness.
A creature that could only be described as a giant serpent slithered across the cave floor toward them. I knew that snakes in tropical places like South America could devour a whole pig or even a deer, but we weren’t in South America. Green and iridescent scales shone in the light beams from our flashlights. The thing’s head had to be at least three feet in diameter, and I had no idea how long it could possibly be—maybe even longer than a couple of school buses, for all I knew. What I did know was that it wasn’t the average garden-variety serpent.
I wondered if it was some kind of mythical creature from ancient times. The Fiji tour guide had told me about a giant snake that measured sixty feet long and lived in a cave. I had laughed at the time, but now it didn’t seem quite so funny. A gasp escaped my lips as I placed a hand against my mouth to stifle my scream.
Orthon appeared beside me. “This thing is supposed to be dormant. Those Greys have woken it up with all that firing. No wonder they did not give chase down here.”
“Oh my gosh. It’s freaking huge!” I forced my attention from the giant serpent to Mike’s hand; he had a death grip on my shoulder, to the point that his knuckles were turning white. I knew if he didn’t let go soon, I’d have no shoulder. The serpent was a good fifty feet away from me, and I was hidden behind a towering rock. Still, that didn’t exactly put me at ease.
The giant serpent hissed, and its body tensed and curled up into a coil, as if it was ready to strike. Orthon aimed and fired. I clapped a hand over my mouth as the red laser beam hit the serpent; the humongous thing didn’t even flinch or blink one of its fire-red eyes.
Orthon fiddled with the dials, and I could have sworn fear registered on his face. There was another beep, and he gripped the instrument tightly. “We need more power!”
I blinked. “Why didn’t you just put it at maximum the first time?” Duh! It doesn’t take military training to figure that one out.
His gaze never wavered from the device. “This place has already had one cave-in. Do you want another?”
“Let me try to distract it.” Mike took a step forward, armed with nothing but a thin, powerful flashlight and his giant ego.
“What? Are you crazy? Don’t you dare go near that thing!” I knew the words were futile before I even finished saying them. Mike never listened to any of my warnings because he was absolutely, chronically, arrogantly reckless. Even so, I had to admire his courage and bravery. He was only trying to save our lives the best way he knew how.
He waved the beam in large arcs toward the snake’s face, and its pupils narrowed to vertical slits. I wanted to help him, but I wasn’t sure how. Looking around, I noticed large clumps of clay on the ground. They weren’t exactly my weapon of choice, but I’d have to make do. I grabbed a few chunks and started hurling them at the snake’s eyes, shouting, “Stay away from us!” If the clay didn’t do the trick, then I hoped maybe my scratchy voice would.
The serpent reared back and hissed again and then rose, raising its head and spreading out flaps of skin on its neck to form an intimidating cobra-like hood. I leapt back as the snake towered over us, swaying back and forth. A long, pink tongue slithered in and out of its mouth, and giant fangs flashed in the light. I could feel droplets of sweat rolling down my face as red eyes stared at me, glowing like burning coals. The creature was beyond furious at having its territory disturbed, so maybe attacking it hadn’t been such a good idea. The snake’s jaws stretched wide open, revealing the dark pink lining of its mouth. It let out a horrific hiss, and pools of saliva dripped from its jowls.
“C’mon!” I said as Orthon fumbled with the dials on his laser gun.
The creature’s forked tongue slithered out and coiled around Mike’s foot. A scream tore from his throat; he thrashed his arms and kicked his legs violently as he tried to pry himself free.
I gasped. “Hold on, Mike!” I ran forward and kicked the snake’s tongue over and over, with every ounce of might I had.
“Almost there!” shouted Orthon, frantically adjusting the settings. “This weapon is our only chance.”
It was so reassuring to know Mike’s life depended on some sci-fi plaything. I wondered if it was malfunctioning from being covered in mud. Adrenaline flooded my body, and I pounded my fists like a jackhammer on the snake’s cold, spongy tongue. My hands became slippery, oozing with slime.
In an instant, Mike lost his balance, falling face-first into the mud.
“Mike!” My hand shot out for him as the snake dragged him a few feet back.
Mike squeezed my hand and looked back at me with terror-filled eyes, too horrified to scream again.
I held on tightly, my other hand moving along the stone wall to find something to hold on to. Apart from loose debris, I found no anchor. “Orthon, hurry!”
The serpent lurched back, and I screamed as Mike’s fingers slipped away. The monster dragged him up in the air, toward its dripping fangs. Mike dangled upside down like a dazed bat. He let out a bloodcurdling screech, his arms and legs flailing in the air.
“Shoot it!” he said.
I yanked on Orthon’s arm, my entire body trembling. “Do something!”
The gun beeped twice, and Orthon thrust his head up. He tore his arm from my grasp. Standing in a wide stance, he aimed his weapon and fired several times.
The creature hissed as red bursts of light struck its eyes, and then it dropped Mike into the mud. I scrambled to help Mike to his feet. “You okay?” I asked in a panic.
He shook his head, clutching my hand, as his gaze darted about. “Sure. But let’s get outta here…NOW!”
Loud shrieks from the serpent continued to echo throughout the cave. It seemed paralyzed by pain, giving us a quick minute to figure out an escape plan.
Orthon reached for his flashlight and wiped brown goop off the lens. Instantly, a yellow beam shot across the room. Frantically, he scanned the cave walls. “Step back!”
“What’re you doing?” I yelled.
“Look straight ahead. See that small hole? I can blast it and make it big enough for us to climb through.”
“Man, that’s a brilliant idea!” said Mike.
A spark of hope ignited inside of me. “An escape route.”
“Yes. Now please shine your light while I start blasting.”
I clenched my fists, just in case his plan didn’t work and I had to do some serious butt-kicking. There was no way I was going down without a fight. Even though my heart pounded like a jackhammer, I nodded nonetheless, eager to let someone else decide how to deal with the angry anaconda.
Orthon stuffed his flashlight into his pocket, pointed his weapon, and fired a narrow bolt of red light at the opening. The room hummed from all the vibrations. The ragged hole Orthon had blasted was just big enough for each of us to fit through, single-file.
I jerked my head to the right and gasped. The serpent slithered closer, and a chilling sense of dread swept over me. “It’s coming after us!”
“RUN!” yelled Orthon.
* * *
The snake slithered in my direction, its jaws snapping open, allowing its forked tongue to flick with grotesque strings of saliva draping off of it like crepe paper streamers. The snake might have been as hungry as I was, but as far as I was concerned, this kitchen was shut down. Shoving my flashlight into my pocket, I dragged Mike toward the gap Orthon had created in the wall.
Orthon shone a strong beam in my direction, illuminating the stony, muddy path.
Without him, I probably would have ended up tripping and becoming a snake snack—a rare treat for a creature that typically feasted on rats and creepy-crawlies. Zigzagging through the big slabs of rock dotting the room, I threw a glance over my shoulder. The snake, trailing close behind, raised its head with open jaws.
My side hurt, my breath coming in gasps. I kept running, my attention focused on getting to the opening, my sanctuary. A sound like crashing thunder pierced my ears. The snake hissed behind me, its long body seemingly tangled between two huge slabs of rock. Yeah, it wasn’t going to be sinking its fangs into prime rib anytime soon.
Mike reached the opening first and scurried in. “It’s not a tunnel. It’s like a slide or something.” He glanced over his shoulder. “C’mon, Casey! I’m waiting for you!”
Orthon’s voiced echoed throughout the chamber. “Go, Mike!”
“Not without Casey!”
“You’re blocking our way,” hissed Orthon.
“I don’t care if I’m holding up traffic. I’m not leaving her behind.” Mike let out a startled scream as Orthon gave him a shove, sending him barreling down the slope.
Kneeling down, cool rock grazed my skin as I crawled into the hole and positioned myself like a kid on top of a slide. Something wet and slimy touched my neck. My heart pounded as I wondered if I’d just been tasted by a slithering tongue.
Suddenly, Orthon quickly scooted in behind me. He pushed me forward, and we both spiraled downward through the dark passageway like an Olympic bobsled team. Whether I liked it or not, Team Agartha-Cali was going for the gold.
The shock of cold, tumbling water ran over my body, jolting me like one of those water slides at Soak City. Unfortunately, I’d lost my bathing suit and goggles out at sea. My back bounced painfully off the slippery rock as I slid down every twist and turn. I couldn’t help wondering what terrors would befall us at the bottom.
Mike’s voice boomed from somewhere to my right. “Oh crap!” followed by a groan and a Mike-sized splash.
I tumbled in midair, performing a back double-somersault with a two-and-a-half twist, landing with a giant splash in a pool right behind him. I kicked my legs and propelled myself upward to the surface. If it really was the Olympics, I’d have gotten a ten for perfect execution and technique, but I didn’t hear any applause or see any judges holding up signs. My breath shot out of my lungs, and I gasped, trying to regain it.
Trapped in the Hollow Earth Novelette Series Omnibus Edition (Books 1 - 4) Page 30
