The Lost Treasure Map Deluxe Book Collection (2017 Edition)

by V Bertolaccini

  Marple arrived above and appeared over the edge of the hole, with his face examining what he could see of me, over the abyss below, and I knew he would be considering a different method of getting the archeologists, scientists, and equipment down.

  In seconds the rope wildly jerked and I went downwards, and the faces above vanished into the swirling dark, as I spun uncontrollably around, and a surge of blackness engulfed me, like falling into a black hole.

  When it slowed I was left in nothingness, and the hole above became a spot of light, which gave little light down to me, and I realized how deep it was, with confusion, and I gasped at what McMurdo had been through, and that he had arrived there on his own, with little knowledge of anything.

  A white radiance blasted down from Marple’s torch and it shifted to specific calculated positions, illuminating a dreamy sight above me, showing the hidden cavity walls, and I gasped at its immensity and the danger of it collapsing down, and wondered how dangerous it was, and realized that at least the railway line was not over it, and it was over solid ground.

  As my eyes adjusted to the dim light above I watched it probing its way about, scattering beams through clouds of silky dust; and it occasionally blew near me, and I continued on down, inhaling in enough air.

  At the bottom of the shaft I was again left in darkness, and released the rope from me and dropped down onto the ground, and tried seeing about me in the dim light, and sensed something buried deep in its depths.

  There seemed to be rubble everywhere, and boulders, some firmly fitted together in the ground, and I stood saying nothing, and watched Marple above checking what he had.

  What the hell was the cavity? It never looked like an artificial structure, and I wondered how it was formed, and examined rocks at my feet, and I knew it had to have been something as McMurdo would not have been wrong, and I shivered seeing its deep dark regions, where anything could exist.

  I wondered if McMurdo had fully reported it to the train company, as if the whole surrounding area collapsed down, and other areas like it there, they should think of filling them in.

  By Marple’s frantic reactions, as he attached the rope and got ready to come down, I sensed that he might have found something, and I knew we might find something, and realized that we must be under streets I knew above the railway tunnel and I tried to work out the exact location.

  It was strange as there had to be something deadly there and I could not grasp what and where, and tried going over what McMurdo had said, and I realized he had hardly said anything, and I wondered how I would get back up to the top, and I watched Marple come down and knew he had something, and was not saying anything at the moment, but I could not quite grasp what.

  I wondered why someone would want to go to such lengths to build the cavity, and realized it had to be a natural cavity, and I started exploring an area nearby.

  Water dripped down from somewhere overhead and I cleaned it from my face, and whished I had taken down the torch they had, but it would have left them all in darkness, but in my pocket I had matches if I needed them, and lit one to see if I could see anything, but it was too faint, and I saw a cloud of dust spraying down, and I covered my eyes.

  While I walked away I listened to vague hollow surges come down from above, and I caught glimpses of people watching me in the hole above, while Marple came down below them.

  At the front of me I saw the cavity wall and mechanically tried to place my hand against an area of it, trying to feel what I could not see.

  I expected to find stone but all I found were thicker webs, covering something, where an area of stone had crumbled down and collapsed over the ground.

  As I shifted forward a flicker of dim light overhead grabbed my attention and I felt thick cobwebs crawling over my face and hands, and I heard murmurs of archaeologists, excited about coming down, and I wondered what we were doing there.

  I felt about, still unable to grasp anything, desperate to get answers, and find something, before the others got down, and I felt jagged rocks under my shoes, and further along felt rocks pile up across my front; and I blindly touched shapes, embedded in others, and felt something strange directly ahead, and jerked my hand away, realizing it was some form of deadly life form.

  Chapter 12

  The Hidden Chamber

  The visitations by the Santa formation stopped after the encounter and I returned to the cavity to check how the archeologists were getting on, and what they had discovered.

  While climbing down their rope ladder to the bottom I was surprised at the difference there, and the amount of archaeologists and scientists now below, and the place with so many powerful lights, and I examined the size of the cables going down below, and watched them all over the cavity animatedly working, not just doing normal work, but digging out ancient things, and examining small discoveries.

  They had dug away massive chunks of the ground, deep into the ground, with powerful drills and other equipment, and I was fascinated by the dead creature and its remains I found there, which nobody had yet recognized, and I knew it was too ancient and decomposed, with little to identify it, but I knew it was something different, of unknown origins.

  I knew they had to be onto something big, and tried to see what, and I then examined them for people I knew, and to see what they were doing.

  Near the bottom I realized how big the cavity actually was, with some surprise, and wondered why it was not in danger of collapsing, and examined it for anything they might have used to reinforce it to prevent it occurring.

  There were many scientists, of especially from the exploration association, and they were everywhere examining and setting up equipment, with archeologists excitedly excavating large and small regions, and I climbed onto the ground and examined equipment nearby for clues to what was generally happening, and I recalled reading about some of their work in a science magazine, and I watched Oswald and Higgins at work, and sensed they had recently had a discovery or major discovery.

  Their determination was roaring and unbelievable and they had proven there were occurrences centered there, and they had brought in all the scientists, paranormal scientists, and members of the exploration association, and I realized it was their biggest discovery, and that it was perhaps their greatest chance to prove the existence of theories to the world, and science world.

  It was incredible as when they realized they never had all the evidence they needed they withdrew telling me anything, which was a major factor of why they never told much.

  What was there confused me, and when I thought of McMurdo I was left astounded, and it sent a deep chill through me, as I thought of what it could do.

  I recalled our investigating the killer Santa in the woman’s living room, when they were monitoring it with their equipment, and I recalled seeing it in the living room, and realized it was there, and jumped back startled, and my heart leapt, and saw its dark red figure shifting into the room, which shifted out of nothing and the darkness of the corridor, and I watched a scientist activate cameras and equipment, he had been adjusting.

  I suddenly recalled all the data they had collected, and wondered if they had found anything from it since, and asked Oswald about it and he nodded that they had.

  “Did you get a proper photo of it?” I quickly asked, wondering why they had not sent a photo, for us to use to identify it, and give the police to identify it.

  “Okay!” he replied, and searched through his case and looked through a group of photos, and eventually handed me one, to my surprise, and I stood with my mouth open.

  The photo was unbelievable as in my recollections of it I only saw energy formations, and I wondered if I had imagined it now.

  “When was this one taken?” I asked, curiously.

  “Just before it left!”

  “Have you any earlier ones?”

  “Not any longer! I eventually threw them away! They showed little, and no face or anything could be seen! Including on all the stuff we got!”

/>   I studied the photo again, and tried to realize what it looked like again, and held it away from me, and again realized it looked like an ancient drawing I had once seen of the devil, and gasped when I recalled what McMurdo had said.

  What confused me was if it was evil, or doing something else, and why it had killed people it had visited, including the boy, and had left his bones.

  Even though it was dark it looked like Santa when I had seen it, and I had watched its strange figure move and make sounds like Santa, and I realized again how similar it was to a department store Santa, and I tried to grasp what it was doing there!

  There was something strange I just could not grasp, from everything it did, and how it had moved and did things far differently than anyone or anything I had seen, and I was shocked at how lethal its appearance was. It was like there was something there that should not be there!

  I stared at where the scientists were at work, as a distant train rumbled away in the distance, and shook the roof slightly, and dust blew about from it.

  “Did you get anything else about it?” I asked, curiously.

  “Yes! As we told Marple! We discovered it was transmitted there!”

  “What?” I gasped, wondering what he meant.

  “We discovered something else later!” he continued, walking away. “It was transmitted there from somewhere underground!”

  I was left confused, wondering what he had meant, and if they had proven what they had found.

  Chapter 13

  The Press Conference

  When I arrived back there a few days later I was surprised to see reporters from a major newspaper in the train tunnel, and entering the cavity, and I saw the entrance into the cavity had been increased in size, and had been fitted with a cable elevator.

  From above I saw people from the media, from all over the globe, and they were holding a press conference, and members of the exploration association and other scientists were giving them details of an important discovery, and I gasped and wondered what had happened to the deadly occurrences there, and looked about to see any signs of it, and was surprised to see Oswald looking worried about something, and knew it had to be something new!

  For some reason I hesitated about going down, and wanted to see what happened from there, where I could see everything.

  I realized the scientists had given them information of an occurrence, which left me moderately confused, as all we had was their investigation, and the remains of human sacrifices discovered there, and skeletons embedded in the ground all over it, and small amount of discoveries the archaeologists and scientists had made.

  Even though I was sure they had been hiding stuff, and from one another, which I was sure was only temporary, until they fully uncovered all of what they discovered, which added up to little the last time I had been there.

  I sat back and listened below, while I examined the elevator they had cleverly constructed, and was amazed to hear someone shouting, and I immediately looked below and saw someone grab a microphone off one of them and start shouting into it.

  I examined him and realized it was McMurdo, and he was slightly disguised, and had a large jacket with a hood covering him, and removed it and showed them his identity, and they all looked at him strangely, wondering who he was, and I wondered what he believed he was doing or if he was genuinely hiding from someone, and I wondered why.

  Then I realized his face still had a pale complexion and he was still badly shaken by his encounter, showing he had encountered something beyond his comprehension of an immensely deadly diabolical nature, and he shook and shuddered in terror, and was barely able to speak at times, and looking seriously ill, and the audience surrounding him was silenced by him, and stood staggered, waiting for something to happen.

  It was incredible! It was building up to something, and I never had a clue what!

  Suddenly I realized the lighting had dimmed, and I realized it had to be the power supply, and the dimness.

  Was he now crazy? Was he doing something else now?

  “Down there is something so deadly it could destroy mankind!” he shouted, and shuddered. “It’s been there from the dawn of time, waiting to be revived …”

  “What did you see down there?” a reporter gasped, in horror, at what he was suggesting existed, and the deadliness of the place.

  “I saw its face!” he muttered. “It’s hideous! Its existence goes back far further than the human race, and far beyond it! It’s trapped down there …!”

  They stood frigid and staggered at the danger, and started to comprehend what they might have been missing, and some of them had been suggesting!

  A woman screamed and shouted something, silencing everyone completely, and pointed at something, in an area of darkness.

  I wondered what the hell it was, and stood staring there, and was staggered had how powerful it could be, and if they had freed it from its imprisonment!

  McMurdo screamed out, “The Romans who settled here worshipped it as a god down here! It was dormant, waiting to be revived, and has remained undetected by our modern sources …”

  I knelt down, realizing the mistake we could have been making, and what the outcome of what was occurring could be, and by trying to handle something of its nature, which could categorically destroy everything!

  What if such things as gods and demon gods had existed, and were dormant, and could be revived!

  Suddenly the ground shook violently, and boulders fell from the cavity wall, and everyone started trying to escape, and I sat watching on amazed, and was amazed it had a form of powerful presence, and I believed something was buried away below, and I detected that McMurdo had found something, which they had not, and I thought they were getting close to discovering it!

  Chapter 14

  The Roman Remains

  When I arrived back there with Marple a few days later I was surprised all the archeologists were at work down in the cavity, working away as though nothing had happened, and I recalled what had happened and the whole of the media had come out with, and the story had changed to it being an earthquake.

  It amused me to see a few reporters with startled appearances appear behind us, in the train tunnel, and check down in the cavity, confirming what had happened no longer existed, and leave, and we entered the elevator and went down into the cavity.

  Below I saw archeologists and scientists energetically working away, and that the media had gone, and I wondered if they would dare hold a press conference there again.

  Members of the exploration association and other scientists were discussing something important, directly below, and I followed Marple’s staring eyes and realized what they were up to, and I gasped and thought of the deadly occurrences there and looked about to see any signs of it and was surprised to see Oswald at the site, instructing archeologists digging out objects, and I knew it had to be something new and big!

  For some reason I hesitated about it when I got out the elevator, and sensed danger, and saw damaged done by the earthquake, but I really wanted to see what would happen, and what was there, and a conclusion to everything.

  McMurdo’s words went through my mind as I approached Oswald, and left Marple, who went to investigate something else.

  Could the future of this world be at stake from something, and was there such things that could destroy mankind?

  I realized the train company would now extend how long they could work there, when they finished the train line, as the publicity it was getting was incredible, and the archeologist dig was important.

  It was fascinating as the archeologists were digging up Roman graves, and some were as perfectly preserved as they could be, and I saw all the fascinated onlookers about them, and not just because what was occurring there but because they were far better than virtually anything I had seen being discovered in London.

  It was incredible when I arrived at where Oswald was I sensed I had timed it perfectly for something, and I also realized that all their communications to t
he outer world had vanished, as the archeologists dug deep into the central point of the cavity, and scientists moved expensive and fragile equipment into the area.

  What was incredible was even with all the technology and experience of the scientists, and all their discussions, nobody knew what they had found, and the theories gave too little or were too fantastic, and too far from the truth to believe and be true, but the main discover was there was something else below, beneath the graves, and the archeologists were close to finding it, and I for one thought someone had for some reason never wanted it to be found, and it was hidden away under the graves.

  It was incredible someone had put the graves over something, and I wondered why people of that era would do it, and I started seeing carved drawings of a Roman god in most of the graves.

  Chapter 15

  The Monster

  We all stood staring in disbelief as an archeologist dug away the muck from what we believed was a Roman statue, and another began washing away the muck from its massive head, embedded in the ground below a grave, and the amazing lifelike features of something strange became visible.

  It was the head of some strange life form, which features seemed in perfectly preserved condition, and I actually checked if it moved, as it was so lifelike, and the more muck they removed the more confused the scientists and archeologists became, and nobody had seen the likes of it before.

  In the hollow silence, from the now silenced surrounding cavity, they dug it out, with archeologists trying not to damage it, and I wondered if they could, as my close examinations of its surface showed it had a far harder surface than normal, and I listened to two scientists behind me breathing gently and giving small details about it, occasionally glaring at the giant creature’s head shocked, especially after what occurred there days before.