But the creatures kept coming. With a series of loud cracks, another hole appeared above Infinity, and the entire ceiling sagged under the creatures’ weight.
“Don’t wear your arms out,” Razor said, his voice much calmer than Infinity’s. “Aim and thrust, aim and thrust.” He shoved his weapon in rhythm with the words, each thrust wounding another predator.
The tourists followed his lead and slowed their pace. But Infinity could see it was a losing battle. The predators weren’t easy to kill, and they didn’t give up when injured. She looked around frantically, her mind racing to come up with a new plan. But besides defending their quickly-failing shelter, the only other option was to climb the trees. That’d already proven to be imperfect, but they had to do something. The creatures were still concentrating their attack on one side of the shelter, leaving the backside clear. She could see no other option but to lure the predators away long enough to give the tourists a chance to get up into the trees. She couldn’t outrun the creatures, so it was probably a suicide move. With any luck, the flesh of her own body would keep them busy long enough. All she had to do was get all of them to chase her at once.
“They’re coming in!” Xavier cried. He and Lenny were desperately stabbing at a predator that was halfway through an opening it had created. It caught Lenny’s stalk in its beak and ripped it from his hands. Razor pushed his way between the tourists and skewered the predator’s neck while Lenny grabbed one of the last remaining weapons.
They were out of time. Infinity pushed her way into a gap in the shelter’s backside and started crawling out. A hand clamped onto her ankle and dragged her back in.
“The hell you will,” Razor snarled. “I’m already weak. You’ll be more useful to them.” He moved to the gap and started through it.
She grabbed his arm. “I’m not letting you—”
He turned on her viciously. “No, fuck that! You know I’m right. It’s my move. Make it count.”
She gritted her teeth but then nodded and handed him the last sharpened stalk. “Kill as many as you can.”
“Damn right.” He took the extra weapon and crawled through the gap.
Suddenly the predators stopped attacking.
Lenny said, “Are you guys seeing this?”
Infinity turned. The predators were all frozen in place, staring at three approaching creatures. These animals were larger—much larger, each of them the size of two or three adult grizzly bears. Like the smaller predators, they walked upright on two bird legs, and they were covered in brown fur or perhaps feathers. Their diminutive forelimbs were the size of Infinity’s arms, and their heads were larger than a horse’s, with massive serrated beaks. All three of the beasts stopped and gazed down at the frozen predators with huge, round, unblinking eyes.
“Everyone freeze,” Infinity whispered. She then realized Razor was still pushing himself out through the logs behind her, unaware of what was happening. “Razor,” she hissed. “Get back in here.”
He turned to look.
One of the giants walked around the shelter. It stood above Razor, staring down at him, its head shifting back and forth as if trying to see better.
Suddenly all hell broke loose. The shelter’s roof crashed inward. The dead predator with its head hanging down was mashed into the ground between Xavier and Lenny. It was then yanked upward and pulled completely out of the destroyed shelter. Infinity saw movement from the side as another of the giants lunged forward and grabbed one of the smaller predators by the neck. It shook the creature, instantly killing it. The remaining predators scattered.
Infinity turned to Razor. He was holding perfectly still as the third giant, still above him, watched the chaos, swiveling its head like it was trying to decide which retreating predator to chase. But then it turned its attention back to Razor. It leaned forward, extending its massive beak toward him.
Infinity lunged into the tangled branches, trying to get close enough to stab at the giant with her weapon. Several branches cracked, drawing the giant’s attention, but she couldn’t get through.
Razor took advantage of this distraction and started pushing himself back toward the shelter’s interior. This movement caught the giant’s eye.
Infinity screamed at it, struggling to get through the tangle with her weapon.
The creature crashed its beak through the branches and grabbed Razor’s head. It started walking backwards, pulling his struggling body out of the shelter.
“No!” Infinity screamed.
The giant’s beak clamped shut, crushing Razor’s skull. His arms and legs stopped flailing.
“God almighty,” Xavier said, and then he started retching.
Infinity stared in disbelief at her dead partner, his body now lying ten feet from the shelter. The giant put one foot on Razor’s body and began feeding. She turned away. No time to grieve now. The other two giants were busy feeding on their own prey. And the smaller predators were gone.
She turned to Desmond. “We’re moving—now. I got Xavier.” She pulled Xavier to his knees. Without bothering to check if the giants were coming for them, she fought her way out of the shelter. She reached back in. “Your hand!” Xavier took her hand and she pulled him out, cracking some of the smaller branches in the process. He grunted in pain but didn’t scream—definitely tougher than he looked.
Seconds later Desmond was at her side and they pulled Lenny out.
Infinity glanced at the giants. They were still focused on their meals. She made the mistake of looking at Razor’s body, which was now half-consumed. She sucked in a lungful of air and bent over to lift Xavier in a fireman’s carry.
“Just hold me up,” he whispered. “I’ll hop.”
She put his arm over her shoulder, and they took off as fast as Xavier could move, followed by Desmond and Lenny, hopping along in the same way.
The terrain was still forested but had become rockier in the last few hundred yards, with more ups and downs. But still they hadn’t found any natural structures offering safety from predators. They were now resting while Infinity inspected a tree she thought would support the weight of all four humans.
“I don’t want to go up in a tree again,” Xavier said between wheezes. He had been hopping along on one foot for at least half an hour. He and Lenny were showing signs of exhaustion. Soon they’d have to be carried.
“Doesn’t matter what you want,” she said. But silently she agreed with him. A tree would be a last resort. Besides, she had glimpsed a tall bluff ahead. Maybe they’d find refuge there.
Infinity appraised Lenny, who was standing on one foot, supported by Desmond. If not for Lenny’s mangled leg, Infinity wouldn’t have been able to tell them apart. A quarter of a mile back they had crossed another small stream, and they’d taken a few minutes to cover themselves in thick mud. With the mud and their bald heads, the three tourists now looked pretty much the same.
“I’ve been watching,” Desmond said, still panting from assisting his friend. “Haven’t seen predators. Flushed some birds. A few smaller ground animals.”
Lenny sagged against Desmond’s side. His shredded and mud-coated foot was still dripping blood. “Gotta sit down, Des. For a few minutes.”
“No,” Infinity said. “Stay on your feet. There’s a cliff of some kind ahead of us. You gotta make it to that. If there’s nothing better there, we’ll get you into a tree. Then you can rest.”
Lenny raised his head and tried to focus, looking through the trees for the cliff. “Okay, I can do it,” he said, although Infinity doubted he could even see it. Lenny turned to look at Desmond. “Sorry man, but I gotta say, this vacation sucks.”
Desmond started walking, dragging his friend with him. Infinity walked behind them, dragging Xavier.
“And why does Xavier get the girl?” Lenny said. “I love you, man, but I’d rather—”
“Less talking, more walking,” Infinity snapped.
As they approached the rocky bluff, Infinity spotted something that gave her a
sliver of hope. Several dark, gaping holes were visible on the cliff face, one of them easily large enough that they could fit inside. The good news—it was on a vertical cliff, safe from predators, at least from those they’d seen so far. The bad news—it was on a vertical cliff. The cavity was about ten feet from the top of a solid-stone bluff that was at least fifty feet high.
She stopped and pointed with her free hand. “That’s it. That cave is where we’re going.”
“Whoa, Nelly,” Lenny said.
“Impossible,” Xavier said. “Not only impossible—insane.”
She ignored them and stared at Desmond until he met her gaze. He frowned, cracking some of the mud drying on his face. But then he nodded slightly.
“She’s the bridger,” he said. “We gotta trust her.”
“Suck it up and let’s get moving,” Infinity said. They all started walking again.
“Impossible and insane,” Xavier muttered.
“Less talking, more walking.”
They emerged from the trees. Before them, flowing along the base of the cliff, was a river. The water on their side was clear and shallow with a rocky bed, but it dropped off to a deep channel below the cliff.
Infinity glanced at Desmond. He was watching her, and so were the other two.
She looked up and down the river. Downriver the cliff gradually sloped until it was not much higher than the water, a couple hundred yards away. They could cross the river there, walk up the slope, and figure out a way to drop down to the cave. It would be dangerous, but less dangerous than staying on the ground or in a tree.
“The river changes nothing,” she said. She nodded toward the cave. “We’re still going up there.”
7
Rope
Crossing the river would be less of a problem than Desmond had thought. He was standing in the deepest part, and it was barely to his waist. The most difficult part was slogging through the mud beneath the slower-moving water of the channel. That, and walking barefoot on the rocks of the shallower water. He made his way back to the shore.
“It’s not that deep,” he called back to Lenny and Xavier, trying to sound positive. “We can do this. Infinity and I will take you across one at a time.” He moved to Lenny’s side and then waited for Infinity to help. But she was staring upstream.
“Don’t move,” she said.
Everyone froze. Her low tone could mean only one thing. Ever so slowly, Desmond turned his head to follow her gaze. Less than a hundred yards upstream, four creatures were silently walking from the forest toward the edge of the river. More followed behind them, appearing one at a time in single file. Their coats were brown with diagonal streaks of black, no doubt to facilitate blending into the shadows and shafts of sunlight in the forest. Like most of the other animals Desmond had seen in this world, these walked on two legs, with tiny forearms protruding from their shoulders. Their legs and necks were thinner, and their heads proportionally smaller, than those of the predators. On their faces were blunt, sparrow-like beaks.
Desmond relaxed. Everything about these creatures suggested that they were timid herbivores, not predators. And the way they paused every few steps to survey their surroundings indicated they preferred to avoid conflict rather than seeking it out. As the creatures arrived at the river’s edge, they lowered their heads and began drinking. Soon nearly fifteen of them were lined up by the water, taking turns drinking and watching for danger.
“Those aren’t predators,” Infinity said, and she moved to Lenny’s other side.
One of the creatures spotted the movement. It let out a shrill whistle and stamped one foot on the rocky ground. The other heads shot up to look. And then they all ran, disappearing into the forest.
“Infinity,” Lenny said as they guided him into the water, “you need to figure out how tourists can bring cameras through the bridge. Those things were wicked-cool, like this world’s version of deer.”
As they moved into the deeper water, Lenny looked down. “Man, still bleeding.” The water had washed the layer of mud off his leg and mangled foot, and spirals of dark red were swirling away in the current.
“Don’t focus on it,” Infinity said. “You’re not losing enough to die before 7:00 PM tomorrow.”
Another movement in the water caught Desmond’s eye. A mass of flashing silver moved toward them, apparently following the trail of blood—a school of small fish. They shot forward the last few feet, swarming Lenny’s foot.
“What is that?” Lenny said. “Ow. They’re biting!”
“Move, tourists!” Infinity picked up the pace, practically dragging them both.
Lenny began jerking his leg back and forth. “Ow! Ouch. Hurry!”
As they pulled him up the far bank, Lenny actually snorted out a laugh. “The little shits are wicked-vicious.”
They set him on his butt, and Infinity inspected his leg. She plucked off a three-inch fish that had refused to let go and held it up between her fingers for them to see. It was similar in structure to the fish of their own world. It obviously had feeding habits similar to a piranha’s, but it was longer and thinner, like a minnow with teeth.
“I’m not getting in that water,” Xavier called out from the other shore.
Infinity tossed the fish aside. “Yes you are.” She started back across.
Desmond followed her. “Don’t worry Xavier, you won’t be in long enough for them to hurt you. Just be glad your crotch isn’t bleeding.”
Xavier complained a bit more, but they hauled him across, but this time the fish didn’t show up. When they were all together on the shore, they re-applied mud to their bodies.
As Infinity finished covering her scalp and face, she said, “Listen up. We need to make a length of rope. We need long plant fibers: grass, reeds, long leaves, stems. Or animal skin, tendons, or guts. Anything long. We’ll collect what we can as we make our way up the slope to the cliff ridge.” She eyed them for a minute. “Everyone understand?”
Sitting on their butts in the mud, Xavier and Lenny nodded.
Desmond said, “How are you doing, Infinity? Razor is dead and you haven’t said a word about it.”
She gazed at him, but her expression was hard to read beneath the layer of mud. “He’s not the first partner I’ve lost. Doesn’t help to talk about it. What matters is that you three are alive. Because of his sacrifice. That’s what bridgers do.”
They were all silent for several seconds.
“Here’s to Razor, then,” Lenny said, and he held up an imaginary glass.
“To Razor,” Desmond and Xavier said. They leaned in and touched Lenny’s hand with their fists. The three tourists turned to Infinity to see if she would join them.
She nodded without holding her hand out. “Damn right.”
As they approached the crest of the hill, they found several varieties of grass-like plants that Infinity said would suffice for making rope. They pulled some but couldn’t carry much while supporting Xavier and Lenny. By the time they arrived at the spot directly above the cave, they had dropped half of what they’d gathered.
As Desmond lowered Lenny to the ground, he noticed there were no trees or protruding rocks to anchor a rope—one more factor casting doubt on Infinity’s plan. But he decided not to dampen the mood by bringing it up. He and Infinity gathered the grass they had dropped and the rest of what was growing in the area, but it wasn’t much. They carried it back to Xavier and Lenny.
“Move back from the edge,” Infinity said. “You’re visible to predators coming to the river to drink.” They scooted back, and she sat on the ground between them, the pile of plant fibers in front of her. She picked up a few of the stems and pulled on them, testing their strength. “Watch carefully. I don’t want to have to show you twice.” She laid a bundle of the grass on a flat stone and pounded it gently with another stone, starting at one end of the bundle and pounding her way to the other end. “This makes it flexible. Don’t hit so hard it cuts through the fibers.”
She then
extracted about twenty stems from the bundle, tied them all in a knot at one end, and separated the loose end into two bundles of about ten stems each. “Watch what I do with my fingers.” She twisted one of the bundles of ten several times and then passed it over the second bundle. She did the same to the second bundle, twisting it and then passing it back over the first. “Twist the bundle one direction, then wrap the twisted bundle around the other bundle in the opposite direction. This way it’ll bind tighter under a load.” Her fingers sped up, twisting and wrapping, twisting and wrapping.
Seconds later only a few inches of the fibers remained unwrapped. “When you get to the end, splice another bundle into each strand.” She picked up another bundle of ten and demonstrated the splicing. “Keep doing this until your cord is about twenty feet long. How long, Xavier?”
“I heard you. Twenty feet.”
“Good. When you’ve made at least twenty of those twenty-foot cords, we’ll braid them together in the same way but on a larger scale. That’ll shorten the whole thing to about fifteen feet. Desmond, why do we need fifteen feet?”
“Because that’ll be long enough to reach the cave below us.”
“Lenny, why not make it longer than that?”
“Uh, because we can’t waste any time?”
“Good.” She got to her feet. “You make cords. I’ll go look for more fibers. If I don’t come back, get it done anyway. Your best chance to survive until bridge-back is to get in that cave.” She turned to leave.
Desmond got up. “Wait. I should go instead of you.” He nodded toward Lenny and Xavier. “If something attacks, you can protect them better than I can.”
She frowned at him. “You’re right. You should go. But listen. Predators will either hear you, smell you, or see you. Be aware of that. Move silently. Keep your eyes open, especially downwind. Anything smells you, that’s where it’ll come from. You can’t avoid a predator unless you see it before it sees you. Understood?”
Bridgers 1_The Lure of Infinity Page 7
