“Stay calm,” she said softly to Desmond. “Do nothing that appears aggressive. We have to lead them away from the cave and hope they don’t already know your friends are there.”
The tourist suddenly shouted. “Lenny and Xavier, do not acknowledge that you hear me. We have company, and we don’t want them to know where you are. Stay quiet.”
A barely-audible “Oh shit!” came from below.
Infinity glared at Desmond, although she realized he’d done the right thing.
The creatures on the hillside looked at each other and began talking. Or at least it seemed like talking. They went back and forth with rapid whistles, squawks, chuckles, and clicks. Most likely, they were surprised and confused. This confusion was good, but only if she and Desmond acted immediately.
“We’re going to start by slowly leading them away,” she said to Desmond. “They’re going to follow us, whether they’re aggressive or just curious. We’ll walk straight away from the river to divert them from the cave.” She picked up the four sharpened stalks. This act might have appeared aggressive, but she wasn’t going anywhere without them.
They began walking. The creatures followed, as expected, angling toward them and still chittering at each other like a flock of 100-pound parrots. They descended the hill as it gently sloped away from the river. The rocky hillside offered no cover, and the tree line was several hundred yards away.
She cursed herself again for not making the tourist get in the cave.
He was starting to get ahead of her, glancing over his shoulder like he might run at any second.
“Slower! Show confidence.”
He slowed his pace. “Easier said than done. Besides, they can’t know what human confidence looks like.”
Still talking to each other, the creatures began spreading out. Infinity gauged the distance to the trees again. The bird men were walking faster now, and she could see that they would surround her and Desmond before they could reach the tree line. This was bad. The creatures needed to be lured farther from Lenny and Xavier. Even if she couldn’t save Desmond, at least the other two would be safe until bridge-back.
“We’re going to run,” she said.
“Are you sure that’s wise?”
She looked at Desmond’s feet. They were bleeding, which made his running ability unpredictable. “Follow me. Keep up and do not get separated.” She took one more look at the approaching bird men. They were continuing to spread out. The time was now.
“Now!” She took off for the tree line with the tourist right behind her.
The creatures’ chattering erupted into ear-splitting squawks. Infinity glanced over her shoulder. As expected, the bird men were now running. She glanced again and saw that they were quickly catching up. She and Desmond would make it into the trees before being overtaken, but not much beyond that. Several plans ran through her mind, none of them pleasant. The plan she chose would depend on the creatures’ behavior and the terrain once they reached the forest.
They broke through the brushy tree line. The forest floor was uneven and cluttered. Fallen trees and low vegetation would make all-out running impossible. Infinity looked back at their pursuers. The creatures were no longer spreading out. Instead, they were funneling into the forest at the spot where the humans had entered. Only one of her plans would work in this situation. But first they would need more of a lead.
“Faster!” she said. She jumped over logs and plowed through thick vegetation.
“I’m trying!”
Ahead was a particularly thick jumble of brush growing in and around a fallen tree. It would have to do. She headed straight for it. Ten yards out she turned to the tourist and said, “In a moment you’re going to do what I say. No questions.”
He was panting and starting to limp. “Okay.”
They rounded the side of the brushy tangle, and she put on the brakes, sliding to a stop on her side. “Get down!”
The tourist skidded awkwardly to the ground beside her.
She pushed him toward the pile. “Get inside. I’m right behind you.”
He crawled into the brush. “I’m in. Come on—there’s room for both of us.”
She tossed three of the sharpened stalks in after him and kept the other. “If you move one muscle, you die. Stay here!” She got up and ran before he had a chance to protest. She angled away from the pursuing creatures. As she ran, she began talking loudly between gasps for air. “If you’d gone… to the goddamn cave… like I told you to… I wouldn’t be trying… this stupid plan… to draw these… butt-ugly birds… away from you.”
She paused and turned to the creatures. It looked like the entire flock had angled toward her, following her voice, which was what she had hoped for. She started running again and poured on the speed, ducking, dodging, and jumping. All she had to do now was lose them and then return for the obstinate tourist and take him to the cave. And this time he was getting in, even if she had to render him unconscious.
But the creatures were gaining on her. She couldn’t run any faster over this terrain. She weighed possible plans again. They were still too close to the tourist for her to stop and hide, fight, or surrender. If the creatures had any brains at all, they’d search the area and find him. This left few choices—her first priority was to lure them farther from the tourist.
She stumbled and nearly fell as she pounded through a low muddy spot, but she quickly recovered and headed up the next hill. She ducked behind a large tree at the top of the hill and looked back. The creatures converged on the low area and came to a stop. They were looking at the ground rather than up at her, which meant they had lost her. One of them pointed at the mud with its tiny hand. The others looked at the spot. It was exactly where she had passed—they had found her tracks. At once they all looked up the hill, directly at her.
She cursed and took off again. She ran to the crest of the hill and across the open grassy summit. Suddenly she was out of space. Before her was a dizzying drop to the river. She had thought the river was far to her left, but apparently a large bend brought it around into a U shape.
She heard the creatures running up the hill. They were seconds from coming into view. On the ground to her left was a jagged notch in the crest of the cliff. She darted over to it. It turned out to be more than a notch—it was a deep crevice, disappearing into darkness. She threw herself onto the rock surface and slid into the crevice, thrusting out her hands and knees to keep from slipping too far down and getting wedged in. The jagged edge of the rock cut into her skin, and her sharpened weapon fell from her hand, tumbling out of sight.
A whistle came from above, followed by cackling and clicking. The creatures had arrived. If they came near the crevice, they would definitely see her. She slid down the rock a few more inches, scraping her palms and knees. She barely stopped herself from grunting aloud from the pain. She couldn’t stay in this tortuous position for long. She looked around. Her eyes had adjusted somewhat to the darkness, and now she noticed an even darker area a few yards to her left, near where the crevice opened to the space above the river. It was a cavity where a large chunk of rock had fallen out—a possible hiding spot.
The bird-like chattering above got louder as more of the creatures arrived. As silently as possible, she inched her way toward the cavity, scraping skin from her knees and back. She reached the edge of the cavity and pushed herself into it. It was shallow, but it might work as a hiding spot as long as the creatures didn’t stare down into the crevice for too long.
The chattering seemed to draw nearer. Something above cast a shadow over the crevice and hovered there. Infinity glanced up and saw that one of the creatures was peeking over the edge, looking down. She held her breath, shrinking back into the cavity as much as possible. A few seconds later the shadow pulled back and was gone.
Unable to do anything else, she listened to the creatures cackling. It was so frantic and complex she couldn’t imagine how they understood each other. Gradually, some of the voices drifted away.
More shadows passed by as several of the creatures leapt over the crevice. If they were to look down from the other side, the angle might give them a better view into the cavity. But they continued on their way. A minute or so later only a few voices remained, and then it was silent.
Their scattering suggested they had split up and were still looking for her. The area wouldn’t be safe until they had given up. Since they weren’t even close to being human, it was impossible to guess how long that would take. She tried to maneuver into a more comfortable position and eventually gave up. There was nothing to do but wait. As long as the tourist had stayed where she’d left him, there was still a good chance of getting him to the safety of the cave with the other two. Assuming the bird creatures hadn’t already found the cave.
Minutes passed. She tried counting seconds but grew weary of it after three hundred.
A shadow moved over the crevice. She glanced up. One of the creatures stood on the opposite side of the crevice’s mouth, staring down. She could see its eyes, which probably meant it could see her. Suddenly she realized how helpless she was in this hiding spot. Climbing out would make her vulnerable, and she wouldn’t be able to fight until she climbed out.
The creature turned its head, looking from one end of the crevice to the other. Abruptly, it lowered its head to look closer. It was staring right at her. For several seconds it didn’t move. Then it threw its head back and let out a high whistle, no doubt alerting the others.
In a distinctly non-human motion, it used its forearms to pull something hanging from its neck up and over its head. The object looked like some kind of slingshot or crossbow, and Infinity realized she needed to act quickly.
She held her hands out and spoke softly. “I’m not here to hurt you. Please don’t hurt me.”
It paused and gazed at her. It then held the device out with both hands as if offering it to her. But Infinity knew better. She could see that the device had a fletched arrow resting in the flight groove of a center shaft pointed directly at her. The creature grabbed the fletched end of the arrow with its beak and pulled back, bending the tension limbs that protruded from each side.
Infinity shrank back into the cavity as far as she could. “Don’t do it, shit-bird!”
She heard a snap and felt a burning in her hip. She threw her hand over the spot. The arrow had passed almost all the way through the flesh of her right hip. She moved her hand to the exit wound, where the arrow was protruding. The arrow jiggled easily, which meant it wasn’t lodged in her hip bone.
She looked up at the creature, furious. It removed another arrow from beneath the weapon’s center shaft and began putting it into place. She screamed with rage, pulled the arrow the rest of the way out, and launched herself upward, lodging her body against both rock surfaces above the cavity. She ignored the pain and began frantically working her way up, focusing all of her thoughts on killing the creature with her bare hands.
But it was taking her too long. The creature had gotten the arrow in place and was holding the weapon out with both hands, clamping its beak onto the bowstring.
Infinity, still several feet below the crevice opening, realized she was going to take another hit, and this one would be much worse.
The bird pulled back, aiming at her, ready to release the arrow.
“No!” she cried, tucking her head below her arms to avoid being shot in the face.
She heard a dull thud, and then a heavy weight crashed onto her head and shoulders, knocking her several excruciating feet back down into the crevice. The heavy object rolled off her and became wedged into the tighter space below. It began grunting and struggling, but it had little room to move. It was the bird creature.
“Grab hold!”
She looked up. Desmond was kneeling above her, extending one of the crude spears down for her to grab.
9
Mud
Desmond waited, holding his sharpened stalk out for Infinity to grab. She didn’t look so good. Her eyes were wide, the first time he had seen her display any hint of fear. Her blood was smeared on the rock faces on either side of her, and more blood was dripping from her thigh onto the creature wedged into the crevice below. The thing was barely struggling to free itself, obviously dazed. Desmond had hit it upside the head as hard as he could with his stalk.
“You should hurry,” he said.
She grunted and grabbed the stalk while using her legs to keep herself from falling deeper. Desmond leaned back, straining to pull her up. She scaled the edge and sprawled on her face on the rock surface beside him. Blood was still dripping from her hip, already forming a puddle.
“That looks bad,” he said, pressing his hand against the hole on the back of her hip to stop the flow. He then realized blood was also flowing from the front of her hip. “Jesus, it went all the way though.”
She got to her feet, grimacing in pain. “We have to go. The others are coming.” She took a step and stumbled.
Desmond put her left arm over his shoulder, and she didn’t protest the help. They headed for the nearest tree line. At ten yards from the forest, one of the bird people emerged from the brush directly in front of them. The thing saw them and stopped, apparently surprised.
“Maybe this one will be friendly,” Desmond whispered.
The creature whistled loudly and reached for the crossbow hanging from its neck.
In a flash, Infinity grabbed Desmond’s spear from his hand, hefted herself from his shoulder, and closed the distance to the creature with startling speed. At the last second, she used her good leg to launch herself into the air, spun completely around, and kicked the startled creature in the neck. The creature crumpled to the ground. Infinity landed on one foot, still spinning, and raised the sharpened stalk above her head as she completed the second circle. She grunted and drove it through the creature where its neck joined its body. The thing started flailing around, so she pulled the spear out and stabbed again and again until it was still.
She stood above the bird man with her eyes closed, taking slow, deep breaths to cope with the pain she had inflicted upon herself. A few seconds later, she opened her eyes and held her arm out toward Desmond. “Let’s go.”
Desmond stared at her for a moment, trying to process what had just happened. He snapped out of it and rushed to her side. She put her arm over his shoulder again, and together they pushed their way through the brush and into the forest.
A whistle came from somewhere to their left. It was answered by another straight ahead. Infinity pointed to the right, and they headed that direction. As they moved through the forest, Desmond noticed out of the corner of his vision that Infinity kept glancing at the trees above.
“Wait,” she whispered. When they had come to a stop, she nodded upward. “There.”
He looked. “More climbing?”
“We have no choice.”
He helped her to the base of the tree, which she’d apparently chosen for its immense height and accessible branches. He waited for Infinity to start climbing first and then followed her up. He heard her whimpering softly each time she pulled herself higher.
Desmond said, “They’ll be pissed when they see what we’ve done to two of their companions.”
She paused and looked down at him with a finger pressed to her lips.
They continued climbing until they came upon two thick limbs growing side-by-side from the main trunk, one slightly higher than the other. Infinity straddled one of the limbs with her back to the trunk, and Desmond sat on the other limb. They were a good fifty feet above the ground, with enough branches and bubble leaves below to provide at least some concealment.
Infinity pulled her legs up and rested them in front of her on her limb. She tapped Desmond and nodded at her legs. He lifted his own legs onto his limb, although he had to cross them to prevent them from sliding back off. The strangely-soft covering of the trunk and limb almost felt like skin against his body.
They waited.
Over the next several minutes a fe
w whistles came from different directions. Desmond glimpsed one of the creatures walking below, making its way back to the rocky summit of the hill. It would likely find the bird man Infinity had killed at the edge of the forest, as well as the injured one in the crevice at the summit.
Things were quiet for several more minutes. But then they heard a cacophony of squawks and whistles in the distance as the bird creatures gathered. No doubt they would intensify their search.
He turned to Infinity. To stop her blood from dripping, she was pressing one hand to the wound on the front of her hip while pressing her other hand to the wound in the back.
She noticed he was staring at her. “I told you to stay where I left you,” she hissed.
He raised his brows, cracking the last of the mud still coating his forehead. “You’re welcome.”
She exhaled and pressed her head against the trunk behind her, trying to ignore the pain. But she managed a nod. “Thank you.”
“We have to stop the bleeding,” he said.
She nodded again. “I need to climb to the ground. To get what I need.”
“I’ll go get what you need.”
She gazed at him, thinking. “Sunset is close. An hour, maybe. Our best option is to stay here. But I won’t last if I can’t plug this up.” She quietly listened for a moment. “They’re still talking. I agree—you should go.” She glanced at her hip and sighed. “I’m a liability now.”
“Just tell me what you need.”
“A handful of pliable mud. And several fresh, flat leaves, each at least three inches across. From a tree, not from the ground.”
Desmond looked at the bubble leaves around them. Several were within reach, so he plucked one off. Like all the others, it was green-tinted and full of air. He popped it with his fingers and then tore it in half. He held up the two halves.
She nodded. “Should work.”
He looked down, surveying the area below. “Okay, I’ll be back as quickly as possible.” He slid his legs off the limb and started climbing down.
Bridgers 1_The Lure of Infinity Page 9
