Trip glanced at Tara. She winced and shifted her weight off of her injured leg.
“Come sit down, Tara.” He waved her toward a low boulder.
“I’m fine,” she snapped.
He sighed, stamped over, and scooped her into his arms. She wriggled and complained as he carried her to the boulder and plopped her down. “Now you’re fine.”
She pressed her lips together tightly, and then her features relaxed. “Thanks, Trip.” Her lower lip quivered and his heart shattered.
He reached into her pack and handed her a bottle of water. She accepted it and drank thirstily.
“Donnie, Trip, come see!” Pinky burst through the brush and waved them to follow her. They crashed through the scrubby undergrowth until they reached Mel. She knelt down and pointed to a small hole in the ridge wall.
“I crawled in. It’s tight at first, but then it opens into a very large chamber. You need to see what I found.” She crawled back into the hole.
“I don’t think I’ll fit.” Trip stooped and looked into the yawning black opening.
“You will. Don’t worry,” Mel called back to him.
They dove into their backpacks for flashlights then dropped the packs around the cave opening. Donnie crawled into the hole, and then Pinky after him. Trip growled, stooped to look into the hole, cursed, and then writhed in. They got through the tight space with little problem. He had more difficulty because he couldn’t bend his arms and legs enough to crawl. He ended up scooting along like a snake, wriggling through the tight space.
He didn’t like it. How can I feel trapped and exposed at the same time?
The snake tunnel opened up into a large cavern, and they cast flashlight beams around the room in different directions.
“Over here.” Mel motioned them over and shined her light down on a small mound of tar droppings. She drew a light trail on the ground. Splats of tar dotted the sandy floor, ending in a large black opening at the back of the cavern.
“You understand what that means?” Mel asked.
“Not really,” he started and then it hit him. “There were no black splotches at the snake tunnel entrance or along the ridge.”
Mel shook her head.
“So that means there is another entrance to this cave from the tar pit.” He pointed to the dark opening.
Mel nodded and beamed. “She could be in these caves, Trip.”
For the first time since he crawled out of the tar pit, he considered Kate might be alive. “Let’s go.” He started toward the black hole.
“Now, wait a minute.” Donnie held up a hand. “You don’t know what’s down there. You don’t even have your sword.”
“I’ll get the packs,” Pinky said and scurried through the snake tunnel.
“We need to get the others,” Mel said. “Corey would want to go.”
“I don’t want to wait while Dirk decides if it is worth it,” Trip groused.
Pinky pushed the packs ahead of her and crawled in behind them. She helped him strap on his sword and hung his pack over his shoulders.
“Thanks. Besides Tara can’t walk, much less crawl through that tunnel and someone will need to stay and protect her from the jackals.”
Mel snorted. “Like she would need our help.”
Trip grinned and shrugged. “True.”
“I’ll go with Trip, you all go get the others and you can decide who stays and who goes,” Pinky asserted and snapped her pack at her waist.
Trip looked down at the spunky jumper. According to the rules, they were on her jump. But so far it seemed to target Kate. “Pinky, I don’t know what we will find down there. It could be dangerous. We might be walking into a trap.”
“Even more reason why you shouldn’t go alone,” she said flatly. “Are you ever going to call me by my name, Trip?”
“Gah, no! Your parents should be horse whipped for tagging you with that horrible name.” He nudged her with his elbow. “We could probably just say your name and the monsters would run away screaming.”
She grinned and rolled her eyes.
“I like it, Eunavae.” Mel frowned at Trip and touched Pinky’s arm protectively.
“Okay, it’s set. Let’s go.” Pinky tossed a never-mind gesture at Mel to let her know it didn’t offend.
“Go with them, Donnie. I’ll get the others,” Mel said and kissed him on the cheek. He swung his pack onto his back and brought up the rear.
They pierced the inky dark of the cave.
QUANTUM PERSPECTIVE SOURCE (QPS): TRIP CARSON
They crept through the dark corridors, keeping their light beams low and scuffles muted. The trail descended, and the odor of sulfur assailed them, stinging their eyes and noses. Pinky took a bandana out of her pack and wrapped it around her nose, but it did nothing to slow the steady stream of tears.
After what seemed like hours going down and down, Trip stopped and held up his hand. Hearing noises ahead, he motioned for them to turn off the flashlights. Overwhelming and absolute darkness closed around them. Pinky and Donnie pressed against his back.
“How are we going to see anything?” Donnie whispered.
“Just listen.”
They stood silently straining their ears ahead of them and heard the soft padding of footfall, a sniff, a whine and a whimper.
They inched forward into an open space. Trip heard the soft sounds echoing around the walls of a larger chamber. Pinky, right behind him, locked her hand on his belt.
Entering the spacious cave, a heavy wet fur odor intermingled with excrement and blood assaulted them. So much stronger than the sulfuric tinged air that they had become somewhat accustomed to, it confirmed they’d just entered the lair of the jackals.
If Kate is alive, she’s here.
Trip refused to engage the jackals with just Pinky and Donnie. He needed Corey and Dirk, and he needed more light. Before he risked a mortal battle in the lair of the enemy, he needed a sign that Kate lived somewhere in this dark cave.
Sniffing and shaking their heavy pelts, the restless beasts started to sense them. We’ve got to get out of here. They have the home field advantage and can evidently maneuver in the dark.
Trip pressed back, and they retreated several hundred feet back into the corridor. Snapping on a flashlight, he motioned for them to be silent. “We should wait for Dirk and Corey,” he whispered.
“There were a lot of them,” Donnie agreed.
“There weren’t any other corridors along the way, so it shouldn’t take the others long to get here.” Pinky spoke in trepidation.
“Corey knows how to track in a cave. We’ve done it before,” Trip said.
“How are we going to fight them without light?” Pinky asked.
“We aren’t.” Trip shrugged. “We’re going to have to blind them, then attack in the confusion.”
“I wish we knew if Kate was in there before we stir up this hornet’s nest,” Donnie murmured.
A flash of light beamed behind them and footsteps rushed toward them. Turning their lights toward the sounds, they found Corey, Dirk, Mel, and Tara making their way through the passage.
“Tara! You should have stayed back,” Trip scowled.
“I’m a big girl, Trip.” She cocked a perfectly arched eyebrow at him. “I can take care of myself.”
Trip fumed at her. Impossible to get Kate out of there alive, now he would be worried about Tara and her injury, too.
“Did you find Kate?” Corey asked.
“We found the lair, but it’s too dark to see if Kate is in there.” Trip shook his head at Tara, frustration rising.
“There are a lot of them, by the sound and smell of things,” Donnie said, watching Mel chew a fingernail. He gently coaxed her hand away from her mouth.
“We need to know if Kate’s in there.” Dirk shoved his fists into his hips. “Ideas?”
“Toss a flare into the center of the room,” Corey said. “The smoke will camouflage our scent.”
“Good,” Dirk nodded. “A
ny others.”
“Blind them with all of our lights before we attack, and Tara stays here!” Trip grumbled.
“Now wait just a minute—”
“Tara, I am not going to argue with you.”
“Trip, you don’t have the authority to—”
“I am only thinking about your leg.”
“What about your hand?”
“My hand? Woman, you know that won’t even slow me down! But your leg—”
“Stop it! You don’t have any right—”
“GRRRRRRRR.”
They all froze, then slowly turned toward the growling sound. Flashlights trained onto the jackal with haunches raised and teeth bared. Trip didn’t give him time to react. He jumped, grabbed his neck and snapped it before he could make another sound.
The team stared at him with mouths gaping.
“I couldn’t take the chance he would alert the others,” Trip explained.
Pinky snapped her mouth shut. Tara had a gleam of satisfaction. Corey seemed conflicted. Dirk, Mel, and Donnie just gawked.
“I’ve never seen anyone move so fast,” Pinky huffed.
The others nodded. Tara gave Trip her way-to-go smirk, then suddenly broke it and looked away with a scowl.
A sound trickled down the corridor from the lair.
“Is that music?” Dirk asked.
Pinky and Corey both turned a startled expression to the other.
“It’s Kate!” Corey breathed her name in reverence.
The sound of her song sent a jolt through Trip. Kate is alive! Kate is whole! He hadn’t really believed it until that moment.
A familiar melody, though Trip couldn’t make out the words, reminded him of kissing Tara on a platform high above a forest. Their eyes met, and he could tell she recalled it too. Her face flushed, and her perfect brow rippled under the assault. The painful expression fled, and her hard emotionless mask quickly replaced it.
“Immortal Song,” Pinky breathed, and her face mutated into sorrow, too. No doubt she remembered countless platform experiences with the husband she left behind in the two century-jump.
This group stood broken. Fractured from the inside out, too many losses, too much sorrow wrecked them. The pain on the faces of his teammates cut him to the core.
“Well, now we know Kate is here,” Dirk said.
As they crept closer, Corey took the lead. He held up his hand for them to halt, and they were able to make out words. Her voice scratched out, as though she had been singing off and on for hours.
“Should we lure them into the corridor and kill them off one at a time?” Dirk suggested.
Corey and Trip both shook their heads. “No, they could catch on and kill Kate for revenge,” Corey said.
“So what, you think the jackals are sentient?” Pinky questioned.
Corey and Trip both turned and gave her a pointed glare.
“Right. Of course they are. Everything else has been.” She pursed her lips and blew away the last vapor of her denial.
Trip scrubbed at his face. What are we going to do? No good plan ensured Kate’s survival.
Her song broke down into sobs and Corey lost it. It took all of them to hold him back. Trip slammed him into the cave wall and leaned against his chest, rumbling into his ear. “Corey, get a grip. If you lose your head now, she’s dead.”
He stopped struggling and nodded. “I’m okay. I’m under control.”
“Just as we planned, got it?” Dirk said. “Flares at the ready.”
They cracked their flares, and threw them into the cave.
“Now!” Dirk rushed forward and the Keepers followed him.
The flares hit the middle of the cavern and bounced. The jackals rose from their beds, startled. Trip, Tara, Corey, and Dirk sliced twenty of them down before they knew they were there. Mel and Pinky ran for Kate as planned.
Kate raised her tar encrusted head. The red light of the flares flashed in her startled eyes. She yanked her arms, chained to the cave wall. Mel and Pinky skidded to a stop and heaved on the chains, but they wouldn’t budge.
“Donnie!” Mel yelled. “Eunavae, get down.” They hit the cavern floor and Donnie threw an axe from across the room that hit the chain and broke it. Trip had never seen anyone with hand/eye coordination like that dude.
Kate fell into Pinky’s arms, the severed chain trailing through the clasps. With Kate dangled between them, Mel and Pinky struggled over the dead jackals and picked their way back to the corridor. Corey sliced through three more jackals before leaping a fourth and running after them, pushing Tara in ahead of him.
Donnie set off the ammonia bomb at the corridor entrance, and the jackals slung their heads, snorted and backed away. “Go, go, go!” he yelled, motioning with his arm.
Trip and Dirk held their breath and leapt through the vapors, before running to catch the rest of the group. Trip held the rear, but the jackals weren’t following yet.
They found the others at the small cave, gathered around Kate.
“Is she?” Trip asked, afraid of the answer.
Corey bent over her, whispering soothing words. Trip couldn’t see her face, but noticed the rise and fall of her chest and felt relief spread through his.
Kate’s alive.
The sphere came.
“The nature of the ‘collapse of the wave function’ is determined by our self-concept stored in the subconscious mind. Our subconscious mind is aware of the ‘many-worlds’ occurring simultaneously and chooses the reality we continue to exist in based on our self-concept.” ~ Kevin Michel, Moving Through Parallel Worlds To Achieve Your Dreams
QUANTUM PERSPECTIVE SOURCE (QPS): KATE WILSON
I hate myself. What a horrible creature I am to cheat on my husband and give false hope to Trip just when he started to move toward Tara. I am…I am just like my dad, a cheating, egomaniac who abandoned us for another woman. I’m a cheating egomaniac. Just like Dad. I hate myself.
They rode in the golf cart back toward First Cabin. Kate sat beside Corey and felt shame at his continued devotion. He held her hand and kissed her as though nothing were wrong, as though she had not betrayed him, genuinely pleased that she lived and sat beside him.
She couldn’t stand it. A great division rose between them, and the more he tried to pull her back, the worse she felt.
I don’t deserve him.
They made it back to First Cabin and Navarro jogged down the steps. “Hey, Keepers!” He flashed a welcoming smile. “I delivered your dinner. Kim sent over a tray of sandwiches and potato salad.”
“I love that woman!” Dirk grinned.
They dragged all of the equipment into the cabin with Navarro’s cheerful company and assistance. Mel restocked the first aid kit and rations, as Tara and Trip sat down to inspect the weapons. Kate passed out the sandwiches, keeping her face down to avoid any scrutiny. She selected a spot on the sofa between Navarro and Dirk. As she nibbled on her sandwich, she glanced across the room at Corey.
He furrowed his brow and considered the empty chair next to him. Kate studied her toes and crammed a bite of ham and cheese into her mouth. Difficult to swallow, she gave up after one bite.
She couldn’t stand his perfect gaze on her. She felt so dirty, so unworthy of his love.
Navarro chatted about their old teammates while they ate sandwich wedges. They just finished dinner, and Tara snapped closed the weapons cache, when another sphere fell.
No rest for the weary.
QUANTUM PERSPECTIVE SOURCE (QPS): MELANIE MARCUS
Good grief! Mel couldn’t believe another sphere fell so quickly. She wanted some alone time with Donnie and a good night’s sleep. Not gonna happen anytime soon.
They landed in pitch black.
She felt solid flooring beneath her boots and reached out to her sides but felt nothing, no one.
“Hey, where are you guys?” Mel’s voice echoed, but no one answered.
“Donnie!” She raised her volume a bit.
Nothing.
<
br /> “Can anyone hear me?” she yelled.
Nothing.
She squatted down and touched the floor, smooth and cool to the touch, like marble or ceramic. She sat down. Nothing to do, nowhere to go, she took the time to rest. She dozed.
Buzzing startled her.
She opened her eyes. Awash in neon lights embedded into the walls, the room glowed. She walked over to the nearest wall and ran her hand along the smooth surface. The lights behind a transparent barrier, bent and weaved into fantastic shapes, swirls, loops and whorls. Turning her face to the ceiling, she followed a strip of blue neon light pulsing along the center. It arrowed through an open door, guiding her into the distant corridor. Curious, she decided to follow it.
She walked along a passage with hands out to her sides. Light reflected off of the black floor and smooth walls. She walked about fifty paces and the light broke sharply to the right down another long corridor. At the end of the hall, a door made of the same shiny black stone barred the passage.
As she neared, it slid to the side and Dirk stood on the threshold.
“Dirk,” she sighed his name and her shoulders fell forward.
“Mel? Have you seen anyone else?” He grabbed her in a bear hug.
“No, just this blue light.”
He snapped his head up. “Mine was yellow.”
“You followed a light here, too?”
He nodded.
“Dirk, I have never seen a jump like this before. Have you?”
He nodded again, mannerisms jerky and wild.
“When?”
“My first year as a jumper, eleven years ago, we came to a place like this.” His face morphed into panic. “Only one survivor. Me.”
Mel’s jaw dropped. “Dirk! What happened?”
“Shhh.” He cocked his head and stepped behind her.
Mel turned around then heard it too.
Click, click, click, scrape, click.
“What is that?” Mel wheezed out.
“That is not good!” He grabbed her hand and jerked her back through the door he had emerged from.
The Keepers Book Two of the Holding Kate Series Page 11
