Horror Sci-Fi Box Set: Three Novels

by Bryan Dunn

  Nick looked at her, straightened his harness and said “He panicked. The idiot panicked. I tried to stop him. I tried to get to him, but he removed the strap, and then…”

  Kylie gave him a hug. “I’m sorry, Nick.”

  “Not your fault, man,” Lucas said, removing the tether from the duffle bags. “It was his choice. He decided to get on that line.”

  Nick shook his head. “If he had just trusted the harness, if he had left the trolley strap on, I could’ve gotten to him.”

  “Not your fault.” Lucas placed a hand on Nick’s shoulder. “You don’t have to carry that.”

  Nick gave Lucas a nod. Then he noticed Molly huddled in Kylie’s coat, and he realized that Ray and Slade were nowhere in sight.

  “Where are the others? Where are Ray and Slade?”

  Lucas hooked a thumb in the direction of the shaft. “Digging.”

  Nick gave Lucas a confused look. “Digging?”

  “Remember that little problem I was going to tell you about?”

  “No…”

  “Cave in. About a hundred and fifty feet up the shaft.” Lucas held up a flashlight. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

  A few minutes later, they had picked their way back to the collapsed section of tunnel. Kylie and Molly had decided to join them, neither of them wanting to wait by themselves in the shaft opening.

  Ray was at the top of the slide right where it met the ceiling, digging away dirt and rock and salt with a scavenged metal bar while Slade hovered below, chasing a rock around with the toe of his shoe and thinking about the creature, wondering if they still might be able to capture it.

  When Slade saw Nick and the others approaching, he yanked his hands out of his pockets and tried to act like he was actually helping with the digging. He picked up a rock, then tossed it to the side of the slide.

  Nick and Lucas stared at Slade; it was plain to see he was goldbricking. Nick called up to Ray and said, “How’s it going, Ray?”

  “Hang on.” Ray dropped the metal bar, and using both hands, he removed a large rock that was sitting at the top of the slide and let it roll free. He leaned forward, tilted his head, and looked through the hole left by the rock.

  What he saw made his heart leap, and if he’d been able to stand up, he would’ve jumped for joy.

  “We’re through!” Ray shouted. “I can see the tunnel!”

  Molly jumped up and down, and Kylie gave her a hug. Nick and Lucas scrambled up the slide and fell to their knees beside Ray, and then the three of them got busy scooping away handfuls of rubble.

  * * * *

  An hour later, the group was assembled in the lift area, gathering their gear, shrugging on packs, and preparing to make the trek up the shaft to freedom.

  Everyone, that is, but Nick.

  He was going to use the lift to travel to the bottom of the mine and look for Atwood. He felt responsible. He didn’t want to abandon him. He didn’t want to leave the major, not knowing what happened to him. He knew it was a long shot, but if by some miracle Atwood had survived the fall, there was no way he was going to leave him stuck down there at the mercy of that creature.

  Kylie stepped up to Nick, and in a soft voice she said, “You don’t have to do this, Nick. It’s crazy. Wait ‘til help arrives. Don’t go down there alone.”

  “I’ll go,” Slade said, having been listening in to the conversation. “I’ll go with you, Walker.”

  Nick turned to Slade, a look of complete disbelief on his face. Had he just heard what he thought he’d heard? Slade actually volunteering for something that didn’t include cocktails and hors d’oeuvres? What the hell?

  “You?” Nick said, not hiding his disbelief. “You’re volunteering?”

  “That’s right, I’m volunteering,” Seeing the shock on Nick’s face, he added, “NASA business, remember? It’s on me, too.”

  But it was all BS. There was nothing altruistic about Slade’s intentions. When he’d heard Walker was going to go back for Atwood, a plan had formed in his mind. He’d tag along with him, ride the lift down to the bottom of the mine, and when Walker went hot-dogging after Atwood, he’d set charges and seal the mine. If he was lucky, he’d trap the creature. And as far as Nick Walker was concerned…well, he had it coming. What they call in the military ‘collateral damage.’

  There was just one problem: the explosives. He had to get them down there somehow. He had to come up with some excuse for wanting to take that much C-4.

  “You don’t have to do that,” Lucas said, his bass voice filling the shaft. “I’ll go.”

  Nick held up a hand. “No way. This isn’t on you, Lucas.”

  “You know how to run that lift?” Lucas said. Then added, “Besides, I know the mine…I’m familiar with the layout down there.”

  “Fine,” Nick said, turning from Lucas to Slade. “It’s settled. All three of us are going.”

  Slade gave Nick a nod. He was still in. But he wasn’t thrilled about Lucas joining them. It would make it that much harder to execute his plan.

  As he was thinking about the explosives, an empty duffle bag landed at his feet and he heard Nick say, “Fill that with C-4, detonators, and three bottles of oxygen.”

  Slade couldn’t believe his ears. Hell, he couldn’t believe his luck. The idiot just sealed his own fate. It was all he could do not to laugh out loud. Sometimes life just offered up little gifts on a silver platter.

  Slade bent, lifted the duffle bag, and looked at Nick. Pretending not to care about the explosives, he said, “Why the C-4? Why lug explosives down there?”

  “Because that thing down there might still be alive.”

  Hopefully, Slade thought to himself and then moved to where their gear was stacked and began to fill the pack with explosives.

  Great minds think alike.

  Chapter 43

  “Hand me that adjustable wrench,” Lucas said, pointing to the rusted tool. He was standing on a fifty-gallon drum that had been cut in half, his head craned over the top of the lift, checking to make sure the winch was in working order.

  Nick handed the wrench to Lucas, then turned and watched as Kylie, Molly, and Ray disappeared up the shaft on their way to the mine entrance.

  Good, he thought to himself as he saw the light from their helmets disappear. It wouldn’t be long until they were safe and sound.

  “We’re good to go,” Lucas said, hopping off of the barrel. Then he motioned for Nick and Slade to enter the lift. “Gentlemen.”

  Last in, Lucas slid the door shut with a metallic clang, then double-checked the lock to make sure it was securely latched.

  “Son of a bitch,” Slade shouted, gripping the side of the cage as it swayed back and forth.

  Lucas moved to a Honda generator that was sitting beneath a primitive control panel with an up and down lever. The generator was wired to two truck batteries that sent power to the electric winch. Long ago, the batteries had lost their ability to hold a charge, so the generator had to be running for the lift to operate.

  Lucas straddled the generator, gripped the pull cord, and said, “Okay, let’s see if this baby wants to start.”

  Horrified, Slade stared at the fraying wires that ran from the batteries up to the rusted control panel. He glanced at Nick and gave him a ‘what the hell are we doing on this death trap?’ look.

  Lucas yanked the pull cord. The engine turned over, sputtered, and stopped. He tightened his grip on the cord, yanked once, twice, and then, on the third pull, the engine roared to life.

  At the same time, a floodlight mounted on top of the lift flashed and flickered. As the engine settled into a steady hum, it glowed brightly, flooding the lift and shaft with light.

  Lucas patted the top of the generator. He gripped the control lever, looked at Nick and Slade, and said, “Next stop—the basement.”

  He pushed the lever down. A high-pitched whine filled the air. The lift tilted and jerked. Slade yelled involuntarily when the lift dropped and said, “Shit!” And
then they began to steadily descend.

  The lift wobbled again as a kinked bit of cable ran through the winch, then settled back into a steady descent. With the light on top, the rickety little cage looked like some sort of makeshift submersible—something Jules Verne might have dreamt up, Nick thought to himself—as it dropped through the open darkness.

  Slade hung on with both hands, trying not to look down. “Christ, is this thing safe?”

  “I won’t lie to you,” Lucas said, giving Nick a wink, “the thing’s a deathtrap.” Then he pushed the lever all the way down, causing them to drop even faster.

  * * * *

  Four hundred feet below, in a pitch dark corner of the cavern, the creature slotted its arm into a fault in the wall, ignoring the strip of flesh that dangled from its mouth—the remainder of Atwood’s leg—then twisted violently, causing its dislocated shoulder to drop back into place with a loud pop.

  The creature flexed its arm but froze when it heard a sound: the high-pitched whine of an electric motor.

  It snapped its head up, eyes glowing, searching, trying to pinpoint the sound, trying to see what it was.

  * * * *

  “Look,” Kylie yelled as she, Molly, and Ray exited the access shaft. “Light!” And then they were all racing toward the mine entrance.

  Kylie grabbed Molly’s hand, and the two of them followed Ray as they skirted around a large ore car and followed the tracks toward the light.

  “We’re almost there,” Ray shouted, motioning to the conveyor belt, which led right up to the exit, and then out to the mounds of salt beyond.

  A minute later, they burst out of the mine and into the sunlight, shedding gear, hugging each other, and drinking in the beautiful Texas sunshine, all of them thankful to be alive.

  Chapter 44

  “I’m not going.” Slade stood in the lift that was now resting safely on the cavern floor. The generator had been killed and the floodlight remained on, but the light was already dimming as the charge trickled out of the batteries. “That thing is probably still alive, still out there…waiting for us. It’s not worth the risk. I’m staying here. Besides, the chances of Atwood being alive—of him having survived that fall—are zero.”

  Slade stepped out of the lift and continued, “Listen, why not seal this area? Why not seal the mine? Why not take the C-4, set the charges, ride the lift up, seal the mine, and trap the creature down here?” There, Slade thought to himself, that should do it. That should give me time to execute my plan. And I’ve even given them an out, a chance to join me.

  Nick scoffed and shook his head. “Why am I not surprised? Why did you even come down here in the first place?”

  Well, it sure as hell wasn’t to scrape Atwood’s remains off the rocks, Slade thought. “I’m sorry, Walker, but I’m not going. I’m not going to wander out there in the dark and take the chance of being that thing’s next meal.”

  Nick shook his head and removed the two-way radio from his side; Lucas had the other one. He should’ve guessed Slade would fold, that he’d end up being a liability.

  “Fine,” Nick said, pushing the radio at Slade. “Stay here. You see anything, you give us a call. If we find Atwood, we’ll let you know.” Then he added, “Think you can handle that?”

  Relieved, Slade took the radio and nodded yes.

  * * * *

  “Best guess—Major Atwood ended up somewhere around here,” Lucas said, playing his light around the chamber’s floor, expecting to see Atwood’s crumpled body at any second.

  It had taken Nick and Lucas about ten minutes to work their way from the lift back to the hole beneath the Ballroom chamber’s floor. Those had been ten of the most terrifying minutes of Nick’s life. Around every turn, past every slide of rocks, Nick expected to be grabbed by a claw and sucked into the darkness. In fact, the whole way back to the chamber, Nick kept glancing at Lucas, just to make sure he was still there.

  Lucas seemed less distracted. He was a rock, a man on a mission with a ‘let’s get this shit over with’ attitude. Nick figured it was probably due to the fact that he had a 12-gauge shotgun cemented in his hands.

  Shoulder to shoulder, they continued forward, both of them noticing the sudden flow of air as they passed beneath the opening above. Rubble from the blast was everywhere, slowing their progress. Lucas held out a hand. He was about to guide Nick around a slide of salt, and then they both saw it at the same time.

  A light. A helmet lamp.

  Major Atwood’s helmet lamp.

  From their angle, it looked like Atwood was lying on his back, the beam of his light pointing straight up.

  “Major!” Nick shouted as he and Lucas rushed forward, both of them moving across the ragged surface as fast as they dared.

  Twenty feet from Atwood, they slowed, confused by what they were seeing. Atwood’s helmet was there, but there was no sign of the major.

  They continued forward until they were standing directly over the light. Nick’s stomach rolled when he realized what they’d found.

  Atwood’s body was gone, but his head remained, still strapped in the helmet. He’d been decapitated, his neck severed cleanly just below the chinstrap.

  Atwood’s eyes looked up, staring but not seeing. His jaw hung open, frozen in a terror-filled scream.

  Nick knelt, and as he reached over to shut Atwood’s eyes, Lucas’s radio buzzed and popped, and then Slade’s screaming voice filled the cavern.

  “Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ! It’s coming! It’s here, right now. The creature, it’s—”

  They heard a crash and then the metallic sound of the lift’s door opening. And then Slade was screaming again. “Jesus Christ! No!” And then the radio went dead.

  “Son of a bitch,” Lucas said, staring at the lifeless radio.

  Nick and Lucas exchanged looks. Nick surged to his feet, slapped Lucas on the back, and said, “Let’s go!”

  * * * *

  Back in the lift, Slade bolted the door and fell over the generator. With his chest heaving like he’d just run a sprint, he hauled on the pull cord. A moment later, the engine roared to life. As he reached for the control panel, the cage rocked violently and Slade was body slammed into the wire mesh.

  “Fuck me!” Clawing up from the floor, Slade reached the control panel, and using the palm of his hand, he jammed the lever up as high as it would go.

  The generator slowed, and a moment after that, a high-pitched whine sounded and the cage tilted, jumped off the ground, and began to rise.

  Two feet…four feet…and just as the lift passed eight feet, it was slammed sideways. The lift slowed. The generator bogged and then died completely, and the winch ground to a stop.

  The cavern was plunged into silence.

  Slade held his breath, pressing himself against the wire mesh. For a second, he allowed himself to think that he’d made it, that he’d escaped. Then a loud hissing sound filled the air. The door of the lift was ripped off, and as Slade felt his bowels let go, the last thing he saw was a set of razor set of teeth closing around his screaming face.

  Chapter 45

  Nick and Lucas rounded a corner, but slowed when they got a visual on the lift. Both of them surprised to see it swaying ten feet above the ground.

  “Looks like Slade tried to make a run for it,” Lucas whispered, panning his head left and right, searching for any sign of the alien beast.

  Nick cupped his hands around his mouth and called toward the lift, “Slade? Slade, are you there?”

  There was nothing—just the pitch-black darkness beyond the reach of their helmet lamps and the sound of dripping water.

  “Slade,” Nick called out again, but there was still no response.

  He and Lucas exchanged looks. Nick shrugged and said, “Well?”

  “Yeah, yeah…let’s do it,” Lucas said, poking the shotgun toward the lift. “Let’s see if we can find Slade and then get the hell out of here.”

  With their heads on a swivel, they approached the lift, the be
ams of their flashlights raking cave walls and playing across the cavern floor. Twenty feet out, they saw that the lift’s door had been torn off its track and now hung from the bottom of the cage.

  What the hell?

  A few more feet, and then they saw an arm. Slade’s arm. It dangled from the side of the lift, fingers still laced through the wire mesh. The humerus was exposed, and a line of blood dripped from the arm’s ragged end.

  Jesus.

  “Bad call staying with the lift,” Lucas said, staring at the arm.

  Nick gave a nod. “Yeah.” As he examined the damaged door, his eyes locked on something beneath the lift.

  Blood-slick rock.

  And beyond that, a glistening trail where Slade had been dragged away by the creature. Nick traced the trail of blood with the beam of his flashlight, following it until it disappeared around a calcite formation. “Jesus…Jesus Christ. I guess we should—”

  “Slade’s gone,” Lucas said. “There’s nothing we can do for him now.”

  “Right,” Nick said after a long pause. Actually, he’d already come to that conclusion; he just needed to hear someone else say it.

  There was something else beneath the lift. Off to one side, lying on the ground, were four blocks of C-4. They must’ve been knocked out of the cage during the attack.

  Nick followed the beam of his light over to the explosives, retrieved one of the bricks of C-4, and held it up for Lucas to see.

  “Is there a way to seal this chamber?”

  Chapter 46

  Fifteen minutes later, Nick and Lucas were in the condemned side of the Clayton mine—the same area where Lucas and Willie had been working just a few days earlier.

  The electric line that Lucas and Willie had plumbed in was still hot, and Lucas was able to get a string of lights bulbs going.