by Greig Beck
“It means we just got hunted,” Jane finished.
“So we’ve just been taken prisoner.” Andy snorted. “That first contact thing didn’t go to plan, did it?”
“What do they want from us?” Angela watched them through the wooden bars.
Michael looked at Jane who shook her head. He turned away.
“I don’t know yet, Angela. Let’s just work on a plan for getting out,” Jane said.
“We’re bigger and smarter than those little fellas. We should just break out,” Andy said. “We have all the advantages.”
“Do we?” Jane sighed. “If they’re based on insect morphology, which they certainly look it, then they have superior vision and can see in spectrums we can’t. They have armor plating, are faster, and by the way, they’ll probably be stronger than we are—did you know the average ant can lift 50 times its own body weight? The strongest human can only just lift its own weight.”
“But we have the brains, and therefore the ultimate advantage,” David added. “But only if we use them.”
There was commotion among the huts, as the group who brought them in all congregated outside the large central hive.
Then from the hole in the top, a group of the things emerged dragging something. Something big. It was obscenely bloated and they pushed and pulled the long grub-like thing free.
Once exposed, the beings rushed to lift and comfort it and its true form was revealed.
“All hail the queen,” David said softly.
The huge creature was about 15 feet long and though the front third of its body was the same multi-limbed gargoyle as the creatures that captured them, its back end was a huge, distended sack that pulsed with an unnatural life.
“Put on your best smiles, people. We’re about to be introduced to royalty,” Michael said.
The swarm spent a few moments handing the queen some of the items they had taken from the people, and in turn, she spent a few moments examining each. Her long, fingered claws took many minutes turning them over and feeling their surface, hardness, and composition, and holding them up in front of her multiple eyes.
Finally, the massive thing looked up, and whether a signal was given or not, it was carried closer to the cage.
The group pulled back a little from the front of their prison, as the inscrutable button-like eyes stared in at them. The grotesque head turned, slowly examining each of them—the two smaller women, the skinny and tall Andy, the muscular Michael, and the shorter and stouter David.
After another moment, there was a chattering call from the queen and the swarm surged forward. The door was pulled open and the horde came surging in like a wave of hard skeletal bodies.
The smaller creatures in the pens with them went crazy and screamed in terror as they tried to get behind the people.
“Piss off.” Andy threw one off, and Michael rushed to try and put himself in front of the women, but all of them were quickly overwhelmed, and with so many bodies in the pens, they quickly lost sight of each other.
Even though the creatures were half their size, as Jane had suggested, they were extraordinarily strong and the humans were quickly subdued or held down flat. Michael now noticed the smell was revolting, and he detected something like formic acid and an odor of stale almonds.
The group yelled and struggled, but in another few seconds, the horde started to withdraw. When the cage cleared, they noticed they were one down.
“Shit, they took David.” Michael rushed to the cage door as it was pulled closed.
The doctor struggled and thrashed, being held by a dozen of the small beings as he was pulled up the hill toward the queen. When he was before the grotesque thing, its lumpy body bent so it could bring its upper segments closer, it reached out to feel his body, pressing, prodding, and then it brought its face even closer as it was obviously smelling him.
David was held flat on the ground with many of the things holding each of his arms and legs and body. He stopped struggling and stared back into the inquisitive queen’s face.
“We mean you no harm,” he said with a shuddering voice.
The queen recoiled for a moment, but then sensing no danger, her horrifying face inched closer to David once again. She examined David’s hair, face, shoulders, and then limbs.
She looked about to pull away, but instead shuddered for a moment before vomiting onto one of his arms.
David turned away and grimaced. “Blech.”
He turned back to look. But then his face contorted and he howled in agony. Smoke rose from the mucous-covered arm, and immediately the flesh reddened, softened, and began to liquefy.
The queen was eased forward by her dozens of attendants and the tube-like mouth elongated and fixed on the liquefying flesh of David’s arm. She began to suck it up.
Angela shrieked in horror, and then turned away to throw up.
“Oh God, no.” Jane grimaced.
As if a signal was given, the other creatures began to eject the acidic bile onto David’s other limbs, and the man was literally melting and being consumed alive as a feast.
Michael backed up, going to barge into the gate, but Jane grabbed him and held on. She shook her head. He looked down and saw that her face was wet with tears.
“Please no, we’re not ready yet.”
Michael bared his teeth in anguish and tried to shut out his friend’s pitiful sobs as the creatures worked their way up his limbs toward his torso.
The queen moved grub-like toward his face and stared down with her emotionless insect eyes. As she hovered over David’s pitiful, tear-streaked face, her mouthparts bloomed open once again.
“Noooo.” Michael felt his sanity slipping, not just at the thought of what was to come, but that this would be their fate as well.
David howled non-stop in insane agony and his eyes swiveled in his head. The queen was inches from him with her mouth fully open, just as a shot rang out. A small red hole appeared in David’s forehead and he fell back, silent.
The creatures froze, and Michael and the group swung to the sound. Standing just a few dozen feet away were Harry Wenton and a small group of people.
Wenton fired again, and this time the bullet smashed into the bag-like body of the queen, and with a screeching and flailing of chitinous limbs, she was dragged back to the large domed hive, and then just as quickly pulled up its side and into the hole in its top.
In a few seconds, the field was clear, as the horde had vanished either into the huts or into the jungle.
Wenton and his team ran forward and opened the cage. “So sorry about your friend. Wish we had gotten here sooner.”
“You shot him?” Angela glared.
“And thank God he did.” Andy fell through the gate and ran to David.
They hugged Harry and introduced themselves to the new group. Wenton turned back to the domed hives.
“What the hell were those things?”
Jane also turned. “Maybe in our world they’re ticks, or fleas, or who knows what. Down here, they’re hunters, monsters.”
“And we were all on the menu,” Michael said.
Wenton saw that Angela still glared at him. “I’m sorry to shoot your friend, but…”
“It’s okay, you did the right thing,” Michael said.
“Thank you.” Wenton exhaled and holstered his gun. “We better move. One gun against dozens of those monstrosities is not going to scare them off for long.”
“You’re right,” Michael said and called Andy back in. “We need to grab our stuff.”
“Then we head back.” Jane turned to Michael. “We are not prepared for this, any of this. We go back now.”
Michael nodded. “Agreed.”
“Yeah, about that.” Wenton grimaced. “The cave we came in on, and the one I assume you did too… It’s sort of blocked, now.”
“That sound we heard…that was an explosion and not thunder. That was you?” Angela’s scowl deepened.
Wenton nodded. “An accident, I assure you.”
; “You damn idiot,” Angela wailed. “Now we’re really screwed.”
“Hey, back off.” Maggie jabbed a finger into Angela’s face. “He said it was an accident, because it was.” She then pointed at David’s remains. “And just so we’re all on the same page, if it wasn’t for Harry, that’d be you next.”
“I think that’s enough.” Wenton’s eyes bored into Angela for a moment. “No use expending energy on something that’s already history.” He sighed and then looked about. “So, you seem to know this place, Monroe—what’s our next steps?”
Michael sucked in a breath. “Katya and her team also thought there might be more exits via other gravity wells.”
“Is that what they were? Gravity wells? Cool.” Jamison grinned.
“Who’s Katya?” Wenton asked.
“Doesn’t matter now. Our problem is we need to find one of those exits and ride it all the way to the surface,” Michael replied.
“Just how big is this place?” Maggie asked.
“We think it’s an entire world,” Jane said.
“And in this entire world, we don’t know where those wells are. Well, that doesn’t sound like a needle in a haystack at all.” Wenton rolled his eyes.
“Really, Harry?” Jane scoffed. “We wouldn’t need to search for that needle if you assholes hadn’t blown up our existing route home.”
Wenton grinned. “No need to be rude, Jane. We’re all in this together now.”
“Okay, first thing we need to do is get as far away from here as we can,” Michael said.
“What about David?” Angela asked in a small voice.
Michael shook his head. “Unfortunately, we don’t have the time or can risk trying to bury him, or even take his remains with us. He stays here.”
Angela’s mouth turned down. “Michael.”
He turned.
“I think you brought us to Hell.” Angela walked away.
Michael watched her go and Jane reached out to grab his arm. “She’s just upset.”
“I know.” He sighed. “But she’s right.”
CHAPTER 17
“Lemuriya.” Michael smiled. “That’s what Katya called this place. It was a mythical lost continent.”
“Seems apt,” Wenton agreed.
Michael had the notebook open at a page that held a map. “The interior.” He looked up. “That’s where Katya and her team ventured to—they were following the path of Saknussov. She eventually came back from there with her sister…just her sister.”
“Saknussov?” Wenton chuckled. “Really? That old Russian fable was a real person?”
“Look around, Harry.” Jane waved an arm at the towering jungle banyans. “I think the time for skepticism is long over.”
“Yes, true, but I thought he was an invention of that French author.” Wenton raised an eyebrow.
“He was real, alright. In the late 1400s, Arkady Saknussov had been telling anyone who would listen that he believed there was a world within a world, and he could find his way down here. True to his word, he set out with a team of explorers to prove his theory.” Michael drew in a deep breath. “Katya and her team got access to his notes, and later followed his path. I’m sure they thought it was all just a legend as well when they began.”
“And we followed Katya, and here we are,” Jane added.
“And that French author, Jules Verne, was also a believer,” Jamison said.
Michael nodded. “Yes, he must have obtained some of Saknussov’s notes, or perhaps had been intrigued by the legends he’d heard.”
“Well, whichever, you’ve got to admit his story was amazingly prescient.” Wenton turned to the walls of jungle. “A few have come, and even fewer have returned.”
The group sheltered beneath one of the huge trees whose limbs spread so wide they touched the ground, creating a green cave beneath. Each of them had recovered their spears; Maggie and Jamison had done the same, with Bruno carrying a stout club.
Their clothing was soiled, torn, and Andy’s was acid burned in places. Jane noticed their expressions were haunted and fatigued.
She looked up at Michael. “The interior…is that where she lost the rest of her team?”
He slowly lifted his eyes from the notebook. “Mostly.”
She pulled in one of her cheeks. “I’m guessing she didn’t exactly say how or what the risk was?”
“No, other than writing that it was a land of giants.” He half-smiled. “And there were caves in the column mountain.”
“Another way out?” Angela almost pleaded.
“I think so.” Michael didn’t meet her eyes.
Wenton lifted a finger. “Question.”
“Go.” Michael waited.
“If we do manage to get our expedition out of here, I know some very good publicists. We can all be famous—something to look forward to.” Wenton’s eyes gleamed.
“Our expedition?” Michael snorted. “You came second and then joined us.”
Wenton looked pained. “And you’d be dinner by now if not for us, dear boy.”
“Bullshit.” Michael’s jaw clenched. “And by the way, we could be halfway home by now if you hadn’t closed our front door.”
“Don’t make this ugly.” Wenton squared his shoulders.
Bruno came and stood at Wenton’s shoulder. Andy did the same behind Michael.
“Seriously? You’re going to do this now?” Jane cursed under her breath. “Everyone, take a step back and shut the hell up so we can work together on getting out of here. You guys save the pissing contests for later.”
Michael grunted and sat down; Andy did too.
Wenton waved Bruno down. “Helpful is my middle name.” Wenton smirked. “But I want to see that notebook.”
Michael tossed it to him and with a grim smile watched as Wenton opened the book and after a moment, his brows came together.
“Yeah, that’s right.” Michael’s grin widened. “How’s your Russian?”
“I get by.” Wenton continued to flip pages.
“Ty vsegda byl durakom,” Michael said in Russian and waited.
Bruno chuckled. Wenton glared at him and then snapped the book shut and tossed it back. “I’m a little out of practice.”
“Yeah, sure you are.” Michael opened the book to the map again. “We head inland, skirt around some sort of large body of water, and then find the column mountain.” He handed the book to Bruno.
The stout Russian took it and looked through it. After a moment, he nodded. “This is what it says.”
“While we’re stuck here, we work together.” Michael took the book back. “For now, let’s all just pray there’s another gravity well waiting for us.”
CHAPTER 18
The clearing wasn’t big, maybe 10 feet by 10 feet. The group was walking in single file, some in the footsteps of the person in front, and some meandering a little now that they had more space.
Jane saw Angela veer a few feet to the left and cross a patch of something that looked like white threads spread over the earth.
As soon as the young woman did, the worm came out of the ground so quickly it had Angela by the leg before anyone could even react.
The thing was like a jack in the box, in that it had a trapdoor set in the center of the silk mesh and from within it the muscular creature sprang forward, obviously after it felt the vibrations from her footfalls.
The worm, about 18 inches around, extended six feet to grab her with two wicked-looking red pincers each as long as a man’s finger and curving back toward its feeler-ringed mouth. The rest of the worm was still anchored in the silk-lined tube it came out of.
Michael was first to ram his spear into it, followed by Maggie doing the same. But it was leather-tough and strong, and seemed to be made of solid muscle, and already it was pulling back and taking the screaming woman with it.
“Don’t let it get me in there! Don’t let it!” Angela screamed.
Michael clenched his jaws, pulled his spear, and rammed again. As far
as he was concerned, there was no way he was going to lose another team member, especially not by getting pulled into a hole and probably devoured alive below the earth.
Bruno slammed his club down on its head, but it didn’t look like it even felt it. Jane held Angela as the rest of the group joined in the attack and while they yelled, stabbed, and bashed at it, the worm pulled another few feet back into its hole.
“Shoot it! Shoot it!” Michael yelled.
Wenton ignored him and continued to jab his spear at the worm. Jane then let go of Angela, rushed around behind the creature, and pulled out her bolt gun. With expert hands, she loaded a pin and held it down on the back of the thing’s neck, where she could just make out a thin line of grey running just under the skin like in a shrimp. And fired.
In an instant, the worm simply stopped moving as if frozen. The pincers slowly opened and Angela fell free, crawling away and holding a bleeding leg.
Jane pushed the bolt gun back into her pouch on her hip. “Invertebrates don’t have a brain as we know it, but more a thickened brain stem as a chord. The bolt severed it.”
The thing flopped to the side.
“But I think it’s still alive,” she said.
Andy and Maggie tended to Angela who continued to shake from fear on the ground and Wenton approached the thing, one hand on his revolver.
“You could have shot it, you know,” Jane said.
He nodded. “I could have, but you had it under control.” He turned to her. “Just remember, once the bullets run out, then all the gun is, is a piece of steel. And your boyfriend just finished telling us that the interior is where the real danger lies, yes?”
Jane’s lips pressed into a line, and Wenton placed a boot on the thing’s head.
“Any ideas what it is?” He cocked his head.
Jane looked back down at the monster. “There’s something called a bristle worm that’s carnivorous and uses ambush to catch its prey. But they live in the ocean and only get to a few inches long.”
“The land of giants,” Andy whispered.
Wenton grunted. “Well, there is one upside to this little mishap.”
“Really? What the hell could that be?” Jane’s brows knitted.
