by Skye Knizley
Rylee picked up a discarded crowbar and pried the top off one of the crates. She tossed it aside and rummaged inside, coming up with a handful of familiar brown-wrapped chocolate bars.
“Want one?”
River shook her head and poked around another crate, which looked suspiciously like antique military rations. “Those things expired when Reagan was still in office.”
Rylee put some in her pocket then peeled back the wrapper on another and took a bite.
“It’s chocolate, bish. Chocolate never expires. Seems weird that a research station built into a cliff would have cases of chocolate laying around, though.”
River kicked the box she was standing next to. “Rations. Whatever they were doing, they were in it for the long haul. Let’s see what else is in here.”
They passed more crates of preserved food and boxes of discarded blue coveralls with the Sentinel logo sewn on the shoulder before reaching another door. This one had a simple lever beside it with a red-painted arrow indicating up and down.
The metal was cold, even through River’s gloves. She grasped the handle and raised it until it slotted into place with an audible clack. At first, there was nothing, then a steady hum and the grinding of gears as several tons of steel rose into the ceiling. Safety lights flickered to life in the chamber beyond and River stepped through. She didn’t know what she expected to find, but a full-bore laboratory buried inside a mountain wasn’t it. Glassed-in chambers on either side of the corridor were illuminated by fluorescent bulbs that coughed to life or died entirely as power coursed through long-dormant igniters. It was difficult to tell what was inside, the glass was covered in green mold and condensation. Rylee wiped a hand over the nearest one and cupped her hands to her eyes, trying to see inside.
“What were they studying?”
“Howard didn’t say,” River said.
A noise from inside the nearest chamber made the glass shake and River reached out to pull Rylee away. “Be careful!”
Rylee shook her off. “It’s fine, babes, just some mold. It hasn’t done anything in thirty years, I doubt it is going to eat me now.”
She pressed her nose into the glass. “I think I see something, can you bring a light over?”
River pulled her light out of her jacket pocket and handed it to Rylee, who directed the powerful beam into the room beyond.
“It’s a skeleton collapsed by the door, and there is another one by the computers… Oh my God!”
She looked at River. “I think they were locked in there, buried alive. Someone left these people to die!”
There were nineteen bodies all together, spread between six lab rooms that were locked and welded shut from the outside. River couldn’t open the doors if she wanted to, not without a cutting torch and time, the doors were at least three inches thick, plate steel with bullet resistant windows.
At the end of the corridor was another steel blast door marked with the Sentinel logo. This one opened to reveal a large cargo elevator that went deeper into the mountain below. Old bullet scars and blood covered the back wall and the floor was tinted black with old blood. River had seen similar scenes in Iraq, walls where prisoners had been executed, their bodies riddled with bullets until they were nothing but meat and broken bones.
“My God, what happened here?” Rylee asked.
River stepped inside and pressed the down button. Rylee made a face, but joined her inside. The ride to the next floor was long with only a view of naked stone to keep them company. The elevator moved through a shaft cut into the mountain and reinforced with steel girders that were beginning to rust from exposure to the salt air. Runny rust dripped down the walls and spattered on the floor as they descended.
River estimated they were almost a hundred feet below ground when the elevator finally stopped and the blast doors opened on another corridor cut from rock. There was evidence of a fire fight, bullet scoring in the walls, blood on the floor and discarded brass cartridges from what River guessed were M16s. The stench of cordite mixed with salt water and age still hung in the air though it was obvious the fight had occurred long ago.
The corridor made a wide descending curve that passed three heavy steel doors and dead-ended into a rock-fall. Piles of rock on either side of the corridor indicated that someone had tried to clear away the cave-in, but had either been stopped by more falling debris or were the very people who had been executed.
“Dead end,” River muttered.
“Not entirely,” Rylee said. “These doors aren’t welded shut.”
She turned the switch beside the nearest door, which slid open with a hiss of compressed air. The chamber was a control and observation room with banks of computers down one wall, complete with the expected tape reels and green-lit displays. On the other side were control panels that looked more like they belonged at NASA than in a cave deep beneath the earth. Mummified corpses in pale blue lab coats still sat at their stations, some with hands still on controls or tapping keyboards that were long dead.
“Jesus,” Rylee breathed. “The room was magnetically sealed, it preserved them…”
Broken glass crunched under River’s boots as she moved through the room. She felt somehow as if she’d seen this room before, which was impossible. She’d been three years old when Sentynil had shut the place down. But still the nagging sensation remained.
At the far end of the room she pushed one of the corpses aside as gently as she could and pressed a series of switches on the dustless console. Glass tinkled in the distance and steel shields rolled back to reveal the broken observation window.
Rylee joined her at the console. “How did you do that?”
River shrugged. “I have no idea. I just knew what buttons to push.”
“That’s weird, Riv.”
“You don’t have to tell me,” River said.
She turned from the console and looked out the observation window. Below was a large round chamber of stone. The walls were carved with the same Celtic symbols that were on the tablet Howard had showed them only an hour or so before. Though the walls were rough-cut, the floor was polished smooth and dished in the middle, where a black pit yawned. The sodium-vapor lights above reflected off the floor and illuminated a figure in a pale blue hazardous materials suit. He lay on his side, one hand outstretched. The other still clutched at his throat.
The far side of the chamber had once been accessed by a steel blast door, and the remnants were still visible on the floor and embedded in the wall, but the opening was now blocked with tons of scorched rock and debris.
“It looks like he died in the cave-in or the explosion that caused it,” River said.
Rylee shook her head and pointed at the cable that extended from the back of the suit. It had been cut a short distance from his body and now snaked off into the pit below. “I don’t think so, I think he suffocated in the suit. That cable should have carried oxygen and anything else he needed to survive. Whatever was down there was hazardous and he paid with his life.”
River looked back into the chamber below and knew that Rylee was right. He’d died choking on his last scream, begging for help. She could almost hear his screams, see his face swelling as he fought for breath. She shuddered and turned away. There was nothing but death waiting here, death and memories she didn’t understand. It was time to leave.
“We should go,” she said.
Rylee finished photographing the scene below and turned to pull the last reel of tape off the computers. “What about the other rooms? Shouldn’t we finish searching the place?”
“No, we can leave them. My curiosity died with the guy who suffocated,” River said.
She waited for Rylee to shove the tape into her bag then led the way into the corridor. It felt colder than it had before and there was a strange tang in the air, a mix of the coppery scent of blood and the odor of rotting flesh. She unslung her sh
otgun and slowed, walking in a military-style side step that presented a small profile to anyone approaching.
Rylee drew her own pistol. “What is it?”
“I don’t know. Just…something,” River replied.
She rounded the corner with Rylee close at her back and stopped. The door just a few yards away, a door she’d known was locked tight, now stood open. The scent of death and blood was coming from within.
“That was closed, Bae,” Rylee said.
“I know. Stay behind me.”
River crossed the hall and pressed her back against the wall beside the door. There was no sound from within, just the stench of old death. She turned and glanced into the room using the doorframe as cover. The room inside was smaller than the observation room, but still larger than it had any right to be this far below the earth. Stone slabs like ancient sarcophagi were lined up in neat rows that stretched some forty feet into the distance and the walls were carved with the same strange symbols they’d seen before, runes that predated the Vikings by at least two thousand years.
On the floor were the decaying remains of three corpses, all dressed in lab coats and blue coveralls. Two had fallen deeper into the room, while the last looked as if it had been leaning against one of the slabs. It came dislodged and clattered to the floor when the door was opened and air rushed in.
River beckoned to Rylee and entered the chamber, shotgun at the ready. There was no sign of anyone, but the door hadn’t opened by itself.
“I don’t think this is a very good idea,” Rylee said.
River couldn’t argue, but something told her they needed to look, that the door had been opened for a reason and their lives might depend on something within the chamber.
In the middle of the room she stopped beside one of the slabs. It was identical to the others, roughly six feet long, two feet wide and three feet tall. Runes were etched into one end, perhaps four inches below the top surface. She knelt beside the slab and ran her hand over the runes.
“This means ‘Where the Water Flows,’” she whispered.
Rylee sat on the slab. “How do you know that? Do you suddenly speak ancient gibberish or something?”
River raised her eyes. “I don’t know. But these runes mean Where the Water Flows.”
The whispers rose in her ears and she looked back at the slab. In her mind’s eye she could see the runes lighting up in order and her fingers moved of their own accord, touching parts of the runes in a sequence that seemed random, but was not. The runes glowed green beneath her hands and Rylee stood up in surprise a moment before the slab split down the middle and separated along an invisible seam.
“What the hell?” Rylee yelled.
“I opened it,” River said. Her voice sounded like it was miles away.
“I see that, but how?”
River didn’t answer. She was looking at the empty space inside what she now realized was some kind of coffin. There was no body, no bones, nothing but a piece of ancient cloth and a pendant made from black stone so deep it looked like the very heart of outer space. It was hung on a silver chain that showed no hint of age or tarnish. She picked it up with the cloth and ran her thumb over the stone. It was cold to the touch, so cold it felt as if the pad of her thumb was frozen.
“You’re scaring me. How did you open the…the…whatever it is?” Rylee asked.
River almost couldn’t take her eyes off the pendant. She turned with some difficulty and met Rylee’s eyes. “I don’t know, Rye, I just did.”
“That’s just creepy, baby. What else do you know? Can you read any of the other runes?”
River looked at the nearest sarcophagi. Something about the runes was familiar, but she couldn’t read them. She said as much to Rylee, who hugged her tight.
“It’s okay, baby, maybe God was looking out for us just this once. What is the necklace you found?”
River held it up. “Some kind of stone. It’s cold, damned cold and doesn’t look like anything I’ve ever seen before. Have you?”
Rylee let go of River and looked at the stone. “It looks a little like obsidian, but I have never seen one that deep before. You could almost fall into it.”
She let go and River wrapped it in the cloth then put it inside her bra near her heart. It wasn’t what she’d planned, but once it was there it felt right, safe.
“If you’re done feeling yourself up, we should get the hell out of here,” Rylee said.
River smiled and kissed Rylee’s cheek. “I can’t argue with that, love. Let’s bail, we have friends to save, the mystery can wait for another day.”
Seconds later they were back in the elevator. They hadn’t seen a sign of anyone all the way back. No footprints in the dust, no sounds, no nothing. River tried to put it out of her mind, maybe it had opened by itself, a short circuit or something. The cynical part of her brain called bullshit, but she forced it into the back of her mind. Dwelling on it wasn’t going to save Jody and Richie and she’d wasted enough time in the caves as it was.
The elevator rose slowly, foot by laborious foot until it stopped at the main floor. She was looking at Rylee and saw her lips form an O of surprise when the doors started to roll back and her peripheral vision caught sight of black uniformed men standing in the hallway. She grabbed her shotgun and spun, but she knew it was too late. She felt the sting and helplessness of a Taser dart and fell into the wall. Her shotgun fell from fingers that wouldn’t obey and she grit her teeth, trying to stay conscious.
Across from her, Rylee was fighting to draw her pistol. One of the men aimed his weapon at her while the rest covered River. The last thing River saw before the blackness claimed her was a tall man dressed in the same uniform as the sec-men. Unlike them, however, his face was bare. He stepped forward and grabbed Rylee’s arm.
“Stop, Ms. Hunter. Stop or your wife dies!”
CHAPTER TEN
River dreamed. She knew she was dreaming because she’d never worn so little and so much at the same time. Silken cloth wrapped around her waist and formed what must be a skirt because it was too long to be called a belt, but not by much. Another strip of the same cloth wrapped her breasts while circlets of black metal and stone were wrapped around her wrists and ankles. Her feet were bare and she stood on a metal floor that was warm to the touch and seemed to vibrate beneath her feet.
She was standing before a wide observation window that looked out upon a city like none she’d ever seen before. It was majestic and frightening at the same time, with spires of black metal that shone beneath a red sun and buildings of stone that absorbed the light and looked like they were painted with blood.
“River? Can you hear me?”
River turned, but there was no one there. She was alone in her chamber with nothing but the window and a glass of wine to keep her company. She blinked and turned back to the window. The sky outside was darkening with an oncoming storm. Green lightning arced across the sky and the building shook with the peel of thunder.
“River, come on baby, open your eyes.”
River blinked, and blinked again. Reality came crashing back accompanied by searing pain in her ribs and head.
“Fuck me,” she moaned.
Soft lips kissed hers. “Maybe later, baby girl. Can you move?”
River looked at Rylee, who had a bruise on her cheek and looked like she’d been crying. “Rylee?”
Rylee smiled. “Yeah, it’s me. Come on, let’s get you up.”
River let Rylee help her into a sitting position and she leaned against a metal wall that was uncomfortably cold. All around were armed sec-men, their faceless helmets staring at nothing. They were seated on long benches on either side of the chamber. River realized they were in the back of a Typhoon and made a face.
“Shit.”
Rylee hugged her. “They got the drop on us, hoochie, but we’ll get out of this. We’ve
seen worse, right?”
“When? If you’re thinking about the time we got arrested in Tijuana, the cops had pistols not body armor and submachine guns,” River said. “Which one of these fuckers hit you?”
Rylee touched the bruise on her cheek. “The boss. His name is Lindsquist, all these douchebags listen to him like the sun shines out of his ass.”
River stood, drawing the attention of the sec-men, who reached for the MP7s hanging beside them. She waved them away with one hand. “Relax, boys. I am not jumping out of a moving vehicle. Where are we going?”
“Remain seated while the vehicle is in motion,” the nearest guard said.
“What the fuck? Dude, this isn’t a ride at Disneyland,” Rylee snapped.
River stretched and looked at the one who had spoken. “I don’t want to sit, standing helps shake off the effects of the Taser. Where are we going? Ravenstein?”
The sec-man gripped his weapon. “That information is classified. Sit down or you will be restrained.”
“Oh please, we’re going to find out where we’re going when we get there. Why not just spill the beans?” Rylee asked.
The sec-man’s head turned to face Rylee and that was when River moved. She kicked him in the space between ear and collarbone with the toe of her boot. His collarbone snapped under the impact and he began to choke on the shards now lodged in his throat. River snatched at his weapon, but was unable to draw it before another of the men had the cold muzzle of his pistol pressed to the side of her neck.
“Lindquist told us to watch out for you,” the man’s filtered voice said. “Sit down!”
“Or what? You’ll kill us? I doubt it, you went to a lot of trouble to find us,” River said.
The guard shook his head and pointed his gun at Rylee. “Not you, Hunter. Your wife. Sit down or I put a bullet in her head and toss her out the airlock.”
