“How is this possible?” she whispered. “It makes no logical sense for this to be here.”
She rubbed her hand across what she recognized as ancient Egyptian symbols.
“There’s more, Cait. These pictures tell a story,” said Drew, pointing further down the wall.
“Egypt is more than a thousand miles from here. There’s never been any evidence of Egyptian culture in Italy. I don’t understand,” she said, more confused than before.
Drew once again gently grabbed her wrist, leading her farther into this new chamber. He took the time to relish the softness of her skin upon his as he guided her toward a larger wall. Antonio shone the light, and the vivid images appeared before them. Cait carefully studied them in stunned, overwhelmed silence.
“Oh my God!” she exclaimed as she absorbed the enormity of the discovery.
“You see what these images are depicting!” said Drew with uncontrolled excitement. “I can’t translate the writing, which is why I need your father, but the pictures tell their own story.”
Drew led her to what he’d determined was the beginning of this ancient tale.
“Look here. Egyptian slaves being forced to work by this depiction of the same creature we saw outside,” he said, pointing to the dark figure on the wall. “Moving giant blocks to build something at his urging.”
The pictures depicted slaves working as the beast towered over them, looking on. Several images showed fire coming from the creature’s hands, striking down slaves who had fallen.
Cait once again appeared shaken and began to fall into a trance as she stared at the creature. The haze of confusion surrounded her as she felt his presence in every part of her being. It was stronger than before, and she knew this was more than just a dream. His spirit was there somehow, in the physical world. She wondered for a minute if he would betray their secret and she’d have to describe in detail to Drew exactly what she’d been experiencing. It was as before, she felt more than just fear in his presence. The entity seemed to understand her desires and deepest sorrows because he too suffered the same loss and loneliness.
“What’s wrong?” asked Drew as he softly placed his hand on her face. For a moment, she looked at him in confusion and disorientation. Gradually, her senses returned as she looked in his eyes.
“I’m okay. This is incredible. I was just overwhelmed.”
Drew wasn’t buying it, but he didn’t have time to argue.
“It gets more interesting,” he said as he signaled Antonio to move the light farther down the wall, exposing more of the ancient pictures and writing.
“Look here,” said Drew, kneeling in front of the carving and passing his hand over the imagery. “They were building a giant pyramid.”
Cait studied the images for a few minutes, collecting her thoughts. “That’s not exactly unusual for ancient Egypt. I don’t understand. You said something about a giant cover-up?”
“Look farther,” he said, pointing deeper into the tunnel while Antonio shone the light.
As she walked along the wall, she suddenly began to understand.
“The creature is holding the hand of a woman, maybe a queen. It’s hard to tell from this, but she appears from her attire to be a powerful woman.”
“Yes!” said Drew excitedly. “And look farther. They’re forcing these slaves to build the pyramid to cover up this immense passageway. It also looks as if the slaves were all entombed after construction of the pyramid was finished. They were left for dead apparently, but they must have survived and traveled through this large underground passageway to end up here, a thousand or more miles from Egypt, where they documented their journey on these walls.”
“How can that be possible? How could they possibly survive such a journey underground for months to arrive here? The depth of the Mediterranean Sea would surely prevent such a thing.”
“I agree, it doesn’t sound plausible. The Med is at least a mile deep. If there were tunnels that deep, the question is: how did they get there and how could they survive for so long a journey? Look here, they answered that too.” Drew nodded to Antonio to move the light. The gruesome depictions of humans eating other humans filled the walls. “It was the horror of the living eating the dead to survive as they traveled through the cavern that led them to their inevitable end. Trapped below the earth, they used the clothing and skin of those who died to burn as torches to light their way.”
“I don’t understand,” Cait said with growing frustration. “Why would they need to cover this passageway, and why did you call this a cover-up?”
“I recognized the dimensions of the structure they were forced to build. There is only one pyramid that fits those dimensions,” said Drew as he pointed to the ancient writing under the image of the giant pyramid.
“Oh my God! The Great Pyramid of Giza!” she exclaimed, feeling giddy with excitement. She understood why Drew thought this was of such significance. There was never any concrete evidence found to explain why the greatest of all of the pyramids was created. Many in the archaeological field always thought it was more than just a tomb, but were never able to prove it.
“Yes. It has to be, but I need your father to translate the entire story to be sure. History tells us that the pyramid was built for Khufu, a pretty unremarkable king, from what I’ve studied. We’d always assumed he was just a narcissist and wanted the most spectacular structure ever built to be his memorial. What if there’s more to the story, like many seem to think? These pictures say there is. According to this, the pyramid is hiding the immense passageway that leads here.”
“If it leads here, then what’s the big mystery?” asked Cait. “Why would they build such a magnificent structure to hide a dead end?”
“Look here,” said Drew, pointing to another drawing of the tunnels on the wall. “There’s another branch which, according to the pictures, heads almost straight down. The slaves came upon it early in their journey. See these pictures here?” He pointed to the crude imagery of the massive abyss.
Cait followed the light as Antonio continued slowly illuminating the rock face to expose more of the ancient puzzle. These images showed the immense passageway, and just below, a large creature spewing fire from its mouth and burning people alive. Bodies were depicted falling into the giant beast’s mouth as it ripped others to pieces with its jagged, razor-like claws.
As the final pictures came into view, Cait’s blood ran cold. Goosebumps covered her entire body and she began to shake as she took in the terrifying imagery. It was a representation of the planet Earth, with a twisted labyrinth of dozens more of these tunnels rising menacingly from the core. And in each of them, one of these insidious creatures, their giant claws outstretched as they neared the surface.
“We found one more thing,” Drew said. “I need you to prepare yourself; this is pretty gruesome.”
Drew once again nodded to Antonio. He acknowledged somberly and expanded the light far into the endless cavern. As the beam of light shone outward, Cait gasped as she saw the horror laid out before her. Thousands upon thousands of human skeletons littered the cavern as far as she could see.
“Don’t you see?” asked Drew. “This confirms that the story on the walls is true! These poor souls made it here and died horrifically, trapped underground, escaping this demonic monster only to die of starvation.”
Cait turned away from the tangled web of bones, visibly shaken, as Drew put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“This is terrible. They must have suffered horribly,” she said.
“Yes, but the question is why? What is this creature, and why were they hiding this passageway?” asked Drew.
“Are you insinuating that this is the passageway to hell? I think we are a little smarter than that. That’s religious nonsense.”
Cait knew she was trying to convince herself as much as Drew. She’d had a strict Catholic upbringing
and was afraid to face the possibility that the legend of heaven and hell could be more real than she’d ever realized. She’d given up on faith after Tom died and had no use for what she felt was silly, religious paranoia.
“I’m not insinuating anything,” said Drew. “I’m just saying that this is more than just a story on a wall. Whatever happened in 2560 B.C. was real enough for these people to document it and pay with their lives.” Drew estimated the date based on the archeological estimates of the completion date of the Great Pyramid. Cait always found his encyclopedic knowledge of history either amazing or annoying, depending on the context.
From the entrance, they began to hear shouting and footsteps approaching.
“Damn! I thought we had more time,” said Drew, nodding to Antonio, who ran off toward the approaching voices.
“What’s going on?” asked Cait.
“I was informed an hour ago that the Italian military is taking over the dig site, and we need to leave immediately.”
“Why would they do that?” she asked angrily. “How could they have found out about this already?”
“I’m pretty sure they don’t know yet. As soon as we started to see and understand the significance, Antonio sent the rest of the crew home so we could keep it secret for now. I was speaking with a friend who works in the geology department at Polytechnic University of Milan, and he said some strange seismic anomaly was detected, and he notified the authorities just in case it was the beginning stages of an earthquake. I don’t know much more than that—other than that the origin of the anomaly is, guess where?”
“Underneath us?” she asked, suspecting she knew what the answer was going to be.
“You got it. In the very heart of where these tunnels must lead, according to these images.”
Drew could now hear Antonio arguing with someone as a group approached the entrance to the newest chamber. They’d agreed that Antonio would buy some time while he showed Cait the entire story. Apparently, whoever he was trying to delay had lost patience and was almost to the entrance of their newly discovered chamber. As Drew’s attention was directed toward the approach of the unwanted guests, the ground began to shake below his feet, slowly at first, then much more violently. Rocks and debris began to fall from the narrow ceiling, stunning them as they both began to sprint for the small opening that led to the larger part of the original chamber.
“Cait, hurry. We have to get out of here!” shouted Drew urgently as he followed her toward the small opening. Suddenly, a large piece of the crumbling ceiling struck him in the back of the head, knocking him to the unforgiving earth. As she ran, Cait could hear the sound of his moaning as he struggled to get to his feet. She turned quickly, but could no longer see him clearly through the cloud of falling sand and debris. She ran back toward where she’d seen him last, dodging several large falling rocks and found Drew crumpled on the stone floor.
“Drew, get up! Please, you have to get up!” she pleaded.
He struggled to find his footing and staggered as he desperately tried to stand up. Cait swung her arm around his waist, helping him steady himself as she pulled him toward the opening. As they reached the rapidly closing entryway, she was able to rouse her strength for one desperate push, swinging Drew’s arm and forcing him through. She looked again at the opening, which was now totally obscured due to the flowing sand and dirt falling like a steady waterfall over the rocks. She took several steps back, knowing this was her only chance. She ran full speed toward where the opening had been and dove headfirst through the flowing earth, landing violently on the hard, cold floor on the other side.
Stunned, she looked around and saw Antonio already helping Drew to his feet. As the room spun, a stranger lifted her up and began to carry her out of the catacombs. She looked into his piercing green eyes as he ran, taking her to safety. She felt something inside that she’d only felt in her dreams. His eyes were hypnotic and drew her into another place. His arms were strong as he cradled her against his firm chest. There was no more pain or fear, just the flowing energy of his strength of will upon her. She was in another world, in his world, totally open to whatever would follow. She regained her senses for one brief moment as she took one more look in the eyes of her rescuer, trying not to forget his face. She heard the voice before she blacked out, but his lips never moved. As her vision and thoughts spun into a spiral of faint lights and eventual darkness, she heard it again—“Sleep.”
Chapter 3
Halfway around the world, in the deepest shaft of Don Brazzo’s small Pennsylvania mining operation, the Earth tremored violently in synchronous motion.
Gene Luntz stroked his slightly graying beard as he studied the seismographic print-out intently. He entered the small office that sat at the base of a massive coal breaker and was immediately greeted by the boisterous ranting of his portly boss and best friend, Don Brazzo.
“How are we looking in the east shaft, rock star? I haven’t seen anything but a trickle out of that crew in a week,” barked Don. Gene promptly threw him the finger, hating it when he referred to him as rock star or occasionally, when he really wanted to piss him off, teen spirit. His rugged good looks and scruffy blond hair did make him look a bit like an older Curt Cobain.
“Cool your jets, Soprano,” Gene retorted, claiming Don looked like a shorter, fatter, and extremely less cool version of Tony Soprano. “They claim they’re onto something big. They’re deeper than any crew and claim they’re close to a large vein of quality Anthracite. You might want to let it play out and see what they come up with.”
“Quality my ass,” he said, as he grabbed his newsboy cap from the coat rack and placed it over his balding black hair. “If they don’t have something spectacular to report by tomorrow, I want them pulled to the north shaft. We’ve at least got smaller veins we can work with for now, just to keep things moving. It’s my ass on the line if we can’t meet the demands of the few clients we do have.”
“There’s something else I forgot to mention,” said Gene, handing the print-out to Don. “We’re getting some really strange seismic readings. They were low-level at first, but consistent. I had them put seismometers down there so we could keep tabs on whatever is going on. Looks like whatever it is, it’s growing in intensity.”
“That is strange. Could we be picking up the vibrations of the natural gas drilling going on north of here?” asked Don, intrigued by this new mystery.
“I thought the same thing, so I studied the readings for a few days. Oddly enough, the disturbance is coming from deep underground. I really can’t explain it, which is why I took a few days to be sure before I mentioned it. I’m no seismologist, but this doesn’t jive with what readings would look like from anything industrial.”
Don intently studied the printout from the seismometer and was silent for more than five minutes. Gene had learned long ago not to interrupt Don when he had that look on his face. He finally put down the paper, his large brown eyes glimmering with intensity. Gene recognized this look and knew that it usually led to more work for him.
“I want you to keep crew number one in the east shaft for a while longer,” he said. “This is really strange. I want you to personally oversee their progress and make sure they do everything by the book on this one. I don’t know what the hell this is, but they’re getting closer to the origin of whatever is causing this disturbance. I need your eyes down there, Gino.”
Gene shook his head, realizing he was correct in his assessment of more work coming his way. He’d long ago raised himself up from having to do the manual labor that inevitably came with coal mining, foreman or not. In deep coal mining, there was no place for someone who wasn’t going to contribute to the team, so he knew what this meant.
There was no one better than Gene in terms of underground mapping and navigation. He’d taught a class for years at the university on underground survival techniques. Every mining outfit on the East Coast was
required to attend Gene’s class, and for good reason. There’d been three major mining disasters resulting in casualties, and it was giving the companies involved, and coal mining in general, a bad name. Gene had become famous in mining circles after he had successfully led all of his men out of a cave-in and gas explosion. It took twenty-one days for them to escape, and from all accounts, they would have had no chance if it weren’t for his skills and knowledge. He attributed it to his time in the Special Forces, where survival skills made the difference between life and death. After he left the military, he chose to work in his hometown in the fading mining industry. He and Don had been close as kids, and it was a natural choice for Don to bring Gene into the business. With Gene’s soldier’s sense of duty, Don knew he was the best man to oversee this mission.
“I’ll grab my gear and start heading down this afternoon,” said Gene.
“Keep me posted on any new developments. I’m going to see if I can find any more information on what this could be.”
“You got it. I expect a nice steak dinner when I get back,” said Gene as he turned to walk out.
“Gino!” barked Don. “Watch your ass down there. A few of those guys are hot dogs and might be tempted to cut corners. Let them know the boss is a patient man; tell them to do it right.”
Gene laughed at the comment.
“You? Patient? I’ll be sure to tell them, but I know they’ll ask what the hell happened to Don Brazzo, and who’s the new boss.”
“Okay, smart-ass. Just come back in one piece, and you’ll get that steak dinner.”
“I always do, Donnie. By the way, lay off the pasta while I’m gone,” said Gene, poking Don’s stomach. “You’re looking a bit bloated. The stress of this place is gonna kill you someday.”
***
The small mining train moved slowly through the manmade tear in the earth as it headed for the farthest depths of the east shaft. The light from the front of the train illuminated the tunnel, exposing its narrow, serpentine turns. Gene sat alone in the cockpit, which was barely big enough for two men. His gear sat beside him in a large brown backpack, while his other equipment, water, and rations rattled along behind him in the second car of the small train. He found himself lost in thought, as he often did during these long trips to a deep dig site. He knew his friends and family found it strange that he had made this choice in career. He could have done so many things after leaving the Special Forces, and why he chose this line of work was a mystery to them. It was no mystery to him—this solitary time under the earth had become a healing experience.
The Awakening Page 3
