The back of Andrés’s body stung like the skin had been completely burned off. Perhaps it had. He fought to stay conscious through the pain as he pulled himself onto the platform. He had to get to Gabi and Itzel; he had to make sure they were safe.
The dragon turned its massive, horned head and watched as he pulled himself slowly out of the water. He could feel it staring at him and, though he didn’t want to, he slowly risked a cautious look over his shoulder, careful to move slowly.
The dragon was smiling. And then it spoke in a strange feminine voice he couldn’t understand.
Andrés turned to face her, still on his knees at the edge of the water.
Twisting her thick neck, she lowered her head all the way down to meet the human’s eyes and spoke again.
Andrés shut his eyes up tight, like two guillotines dropping, as hot, rancid breath washed over his face. He groped blindly for the knife he always carried at his side, slowly drawing it out from its leather sheath. The dragon was speaking to him in a dialect unlike anything he had ever heard. It seemed as though there were two separate voices talking at the same time, one high and one low, neither matching the other nor making any sense.
He forced himself to look and instantly wished he hadn’t. The thing’s head reminded him of a massive black iguana but with horns. Only it was so, so much bigger and darker. Its jaws looked strong and its head muscular. The dragon’s mouth was open slightly, showing a row of saliva-soaked teeth. As Andrés looked into its eyes, he realized he didn’t need to understand its words to know what came next.
He forced himself up onto his knees and met the dragon’s eyes, telling himself not to blink. Large orbs swirled with brilliant emerald flecks and starburst of amber that reminded him of fire, and they too stared back unblinking, bottomless with ageless wisdom and an incredible intelligence. There was something else there too. Andrés frowned – what is it? He felt like he could be swallowed by those eyes, that he might fall off the ledge and into a bottomless maelstrom of fire. His whole body began to shake uncontrollably. Above all else, clear and true, he saw the dragon’s insatiable hunger.
Andrés tightened his jaw until it ached. It was now or never.
To his left Itzel screamed out, “No!”
“No, Itzel! Go back!” Andrés yelled, extending his left hand out to the side, motioning her back. In the other he squeezed the handle of the knife as though it were the only thing worth holding onto in the world. With a sudden jerk he raised the knife high above his head and shouted fearlessly into the dragon’s face. “Eres el amor de mi vida! I’ll be with you always, Itzel!”
“Andrés!” Itzel screamed.
Andrés thrust the knife toward the dragon’s eye.
Azazel lunged forward, her mouth snapping shut to chomp down on the upper half of the human’s body. Metal clattered to the stone floor as she drew back. The human’s bottom half sat motionless, still kneeling there on the stone path.
From her right she found the source of the pained cry. Another human sat whimpering. Waiting to be devoured. Hmm, good. As it should be. But that one would have to wait. The queen of queens stretched forward a second time, finishing the lower half of the human. She swallowed, closing her eyes to relish every taste. Stretching her neck, she lapped at the stone with her long, forked tongue, like a hungry dog licking clean the bowl, careful to leave nothing behind.
Azazel sighed, her wide nostrils flaring out as her breath stirred plumes of smoky dust from the walkway. She turned her head to the whimpering one, and again she was satisfied.
She heard another scream. Ah, more humans – and close. This was very good indeed.
38
Not Today
Wednesday, April 6 – God Stones Day 1
Petersburg, Illinois
Lenny caught up to the others at the end of the corridor, where the floor dropped away into the cave. David and Pete had made good time – Coach might even be proud of their efforts considering they both nearly failed his P.E. class – and Paul had kept up with them. Water spilled off the ledge, filling the stretch between the mouth of the tomb and the tight crevice they had come through earlier. They would somehow have to swim it with an unconscious Coach and a wounded Paul.
“Let’s go, guys, we are going to have to swim it.”
“What? With them?” David gestured to Coach and Paul. “And what about Garrett and Breanne?”
For the first time, Lenny turned and looked back down the corridor. “That dick didn’t follow me out!” Lenny slapped the water. “If he doesn’t get himself killed, I’m going to kill him myself!”
“What about my sister, Lenny?” Paul slurred, his body shivering from the cold water.
For the first time Lenny realized Paul’s left arm was hanging oddly and his head was bleeding pretty bad. What the hell did Apep do to him? He couldn’t think about that now. “Look, Garrett’s a big boy. He will get her. You guys are hurt, and we are running out of time. You said it yourself, David, Lake Petersburg is on the other side of that cracked wall. If it goes, how are we supposed to make it out then?”
Even as he said the words, he felt a stab of guilt at the thought of leaving Garrett. But they couldn’t wait. Garrett would get Bre and the God Stones, and he would catch up. At least that’s what Lenny had to tell himself. “Get in the water and I will slide Paul and Coach in, then I will follow, and we will pull them across. Maybe it isn’t over our heads yet.”
“Okay, Lenny.” David’s voice cracked in a way that said this plan was anything but okay.
Pete climbed in without a word, and Lenny began to think the poor kid might be in shock.
A sudden roar from the tunnel caused Lenny to jump.
David shouted and fell backward into the water. He stood up, his feet barely touching the bottom. “What the shit was that!?”
From deep inside the corridor came the sounds of splashing and pained grunts.
Lenny pointed the headlamp down the corridor, illuminating the seated giant pushing himself along with its hands. “Balls!”
“It’s the giant, isn’t it? The godforsaken giant! Lenny, dammit! Tell me it isn’t!”
“It is!”
David screamed, grabbed Coach, pulled him off the ledge, and made for the crevice.
“Go, Pete!” Lenny said as he grabbed Paul by the collar. A sudden, bright golden glow filled the corridor, as if the sun had somehow risen inside the tomb. The grunting giant silhouetted in the glow roared again, redoubling its efforts to escape.
“What the…” Lenny’s words were overtaken by a new sound. It was low at first, but quickly built into a loud rumble – water? The corridor began to shake.
When the wall collapsed, Garrett turned and ran as hard as he could down the slab toward the tomb’s exit. He reached back and sheathed his sword on the run and when he was as close as he could get, he dove headfirst off the slab and into the water. He didn’t look back. He just kicked and paddled harder than he ever had.
Behind him water surged around the slab, quickly swallowing it and reaching high enough on the wall to squelch the firelight, leaving the chamber in total darkness.
The full force of Lake Petersburg’s silty water hit him right as he entered the tunnel. He had no choice now but to fight to stay upright and go with the surge. The water carried him, blind as a bat, down the tunnel toward the crevice. If he could get to the crevice without drowning, he had a chance. Then, over the rushing water he heard deep grunts. The giant?! Oh come on!
Suddenly, he slammed into the beast. Garrett flipped upside down then, and for a terrifying second, he was pushed down beneath it as both rolled in the wave. Garrett kicked in sheer panic, his instinct to survive taking over as he fought desperately not to be crushed underneath its massive bulk. Scrambling forward, he kicked and kicked, occasionally finding purchase, whether on a wall, the floor, or the giant itself.
Unsure which way was up, Garrett held his hands out in front of him, fighting the urge to breathe, when he suddenly slammed into a wall and
was promptly pulled sideways and into a tighter tunnel, where the current pushed him with a newfound force. This has to be it! God, please, this has to be the crevice, he thought. A moment later he spilled out the other side to the sound of voices.
“Look, it’s Garrett!” Lenny shouted.
“Swim to us, Garrett!” David yelled.
“Ah!” Garrett shouted, covering his head as the cavern shook and chunks of the ceiling fell all around him. From the crevice came a gargled roar. The gushing water rose, pushing Garrett forward. The entire lake was pushing its way through the tunnel with fierce relentlessness.
Garrett reached the group. “Go! Go! Go!” he screamed as if there were hope. It wasn’t the giant he worried about. He was pretty sure it wouldn’t fit through the crevice. He just didn’t see how they had any chance of making it a mile with the water rising so fast, and he was sure when the chamber filled to the top the water was going to come even faster. In seconds the tunnel would be filled. None of them could hold their breath for a mile. They would all drown, and then they’d be flushed into the Sangamon River. Their bodies wouldn’t be found for days, if at all.
“What the shit, Garrett!” David shouted.
“The wall caved in! We got to hurry before the whole tunn…” Garrett stopped, gasping, and frowned. The water had slowed like a faucet being turned down to a trickle.
As the water slowed, so did the group.
Lenny glanced back, shining the headlamp into the darkness. “Why did the water slow down?”
“The giant must be stuck where the tunnel narrowed,” Garrett said, trying to catch his breath.
“Oh! Perfect! You think he’ll get through?” David asked.
“Settle down, David. I don’t think it could fit through,” Garrett tried to reassure him.
“But you’re not sure! Jesus, we gotta move!”
“Settle down, Yosemite Sam, you little mustached freak,” Lenny said.
“Don’t you tell me to settle down with a giant on its way to kill us! You settle down, Lenny! You settle do—”
“Enough!” Pete shouted. “It won’t fit through. It’s way too big.”
“Well, hello, Petey!” Lenny said, slapping him on the shoulder. “Good to have you back.”
“Lenny, don’t ever call me Petey again. Janis called me that.”
“Sorry, man. Seriously. I’m sorry.”
Pete nodded. “I know. Thanks, Lenny.”
Lenny spun on Garrett. “What the hell happened back there? I thought you were with me!”
“Lenny, I’m—”
“Garrett, where’s my sister?” Paul asked.
Garrett hesitated, choking on the words.
“Where is she?!” Paul demanded again, his face twisting in anguish.
“She’s gone, Paul,” Garrett said quietly.
Lenny placed a hand on Paul’s shoulder.
“What do you mean, gone! Are you saying she’s… No!” Paul shouted, shrugging off Lenny’s hand. “No! She can’t be… she can’t be…” But he couldn’t say the word. “I’m going back!”
“No! Paul, she isn’t dead, but Apep took her. I couldn’t get to her. I tried. Honest, I tried!”
“Took her? Took her how? Took her where? For what?” His face contorted, screwing up in confusion.
“I… I don’t know. They just vanished in a ball of light,” he said, knowing it would do Paul no good to know what Apep had said. “I tried to get her, Paul.”
Paul sagged back against the cavern wall, unable to speak.
“That must have been the light we saw in the corridor,” Lenny said.
Behind them came another loud roar and the sound of falling stone.
“I knew it! Oh, man! The giant is forcing its way through the crevice! We’re so screwed!” David said, taking off down the tunnel with Coach in tow.
“Let’s just get out of here and then we will figure out what to do. There is no going back and nothing to go back for,” Garrett said.
“I’m going back,” Paul said flatly.
“Paul, this is crazy. I already told you there’s nothing to go back for, and even if there was, that giant—”
“Garrett, listen to me – if that giant pushes through, that whole lake is coming with him. If that happens, we’re all dead, just like that,” Paul said, snapping the fingers of his working hand. “I will stop him, at least long enough for you guys to get out. But you have to promise me. Promise right now, in front of god and your best friend, you will find my sister and you will save her from that bastard!”
“Paul, you can’t! You’re hurt—”
“Promise me, Garrett!” he shouted.
Behind them came the sounds of stones scraping and splashing into water.
Garrett nodded. “If it is the last thing I do, I will find her. I promise I will. I swear it. Whether you make it or not. I swear it!”
Paul thrust his hand into Garrett’s and pulled him into his shoulder, then let go of his hand and pounded a fist on his back. “I believe you.”
“Let me heal you at least!” David said.
“So you can pass out? Sorry, kid, but I appreciate the offer.”
“Paul, come with us,” Lenny begged.
Paul grabbed Lenny next, pulled him in, and pounded a fist on his back too. “That folder I gave you, still got it?”
“Folder?” Lenny asked, then shook his head. “Oh, right, the knife? I do,” he said, choking back a sob. He dug into his back dobok pocket and pulled out the knife, which was clean and free of Pete’s blood.
“Lenny, don’t worry about me. I’ll kick this asshole’s pecker into the dirt and catch up with you boys in a few minutes.” He shoved Lenny’s staff toward him and took his knife and the headlamp. “Now get moving.”
Paul turned away, pointing the headlamp back down the corridor, and started limping down the tunnel. He never looked back, and Garrett wondered silently if he would ever see him again.
The giant had managed to get his massive shoulders free of the crevice by the time Paul approached, which meant the damn thing’s arms were both free. There was no sneaking up on the thing either because if the giant couldn’t see in the dark, he would have at least seen his headlamp as he approached. Paul tried to move his left arm, but it was completely dislocated.
The giant spoke loud and deep, swiping a hand out from the crevice toward Paul.
Paul dodged, flicking open his knife with a click. “Whatever you got to say, you may as well save it, big guy.” He ran forward as best he could with pain shooting through his hip, falling forward into the giant’s face.
The giant roared, reaching back toward his own face as Paul stuck him in his eye.
Paul felt a warm fluid run down onto his arm as the roar escalated into a high-pitched scream, but he didn’t relent, stabbing again and again.
Again, the giant flailed his hand back toward his face.
This time Paul couldn’t get away. The giant wrapped his fingers around him and squeezed, then shoved him underwater. But before the giant could get him away from his face Paul plunged his arm deep into the giant’s eye – as deep as he could. All the way to the back. As the giant shoved Paul under, Paul pulled the big bastard’s face underwater by a fistful of optic nerves. He twisted his fist to wrap the nerves around his own hand, holding on as if they were a lifeline. If he were to lose his grip on the slimy rope of nerves now, the giant would lift his face out of the water, grab a breath, and surely crush Paul to death. Worse than that, he would make it out of the crevice and Garrett and the others would die – and his sister would die. No! Not today!
I’m going to… pull your brain… out through your eye if that’s what it takes!
But the harder Paul pulled, the harder the giant squeezed. He was being crushed to death and he knew it, but he had one thing going for him. He was a warrior. He might not be able to hold his breath longer than his brother Ed, but he could outlast this shitstain – he had to.
Paul did the only thing he cou
ld. He held on and he held his breath. He held it for his mom to make her proud, he held it for his pops and Ed because he never left a man behind. Mostly though, he held it for his baby sister because if he saved Garrett, Garrett would keep his promise – he would save Bre.
Paul released a rage-filled roar and with it all the air he had left. With a final superhuman yank, the nerves that wound their way all the way to the back of the giant’s brain ripped loose.
The giant’s massive body bucked. Wedged in the crevice, his giant eyeball ripped from his head and his face forced under the water, the giant screamed out all of his remaining air, sucked water deep into his giant lungs, and died.
The massive fingers around Paul loosened. He pushed up, breaking the surface of the water, and he breathed. Paul sagged back heavily against the wall and laughed. The laugh turned into a bloody cough. “I told you… Not today.”
Paul knew there would be no leaving this place, not alive anyway, and he had made his peace with it. The water was still rising but only slowly thanks to the giant filling most of the crevice. The important thing was he had given Garrett and the others the time they needed.
He leaned back, closed his eyes, and rested his head against the stone wall. Then he heard something. What the? He stiffened. It was coming from the other side of the crevice, and it sounded like… chewing.
Then he heard a rat squeak.
39
Move
Wednesday, April 6 – God Stones Day 1
Rural Chiapas State, Mexico
Sarah spun toward Gabi, tearing her eyes from her view around the corner. The look on her face was total devastation.
“Do you see them?” Gabi asked.
Sarah knelt down. Tears poured down her face. “Gabi. We have to run. We have to run now!”
“But Mamá and Papá?” she asked, knowing the answer.
“We have to run, Gabi!”
The Keepers Of The Light (God Stone Book 2) Page 27
