Primeval Waters
Page 18
Catalina asked, “Rain coming?”
“It doesn’t feel like rain. Maybe it’s just heat lightning.” Another flash lit up the canopy of trees.
Faye fidgeted for a second, feeling something warm in her pocket. Then she felt the vibration and remembered the fragment she’d grabbed. She muttered, “Uh oh, it’s talking again.”
Micah asked, “What’s talking, honey?”
“It’s the—”
A gruff voiced shouted, “Get up!” in Portuguese.
A man wielding an assault rifle emerged from the brush. Micah pulled Faye close, shielding her. The man walked forward, his rifle trained on Micah. Two more armed men stormed out of the brush to their left and right.
Catalina’s hand slid toward the pistol. Then she felt a machete blade pressed against her throat from behind.
Javier shouted, “Get up real slow and don’t try anything.”
Holding Faye close, Micah said, “It’s okay, we’re not armed.”
“I know that, I’ve been watching you ramerrãos for ten minutes.”
Faye pressed so close to Micah that he could feel her trembling.
Then Micah recognized the armed man. Forcing a smile, he said, “Hey, I remember you. You’re Umberto’s buddy, right?”
“And you’re the bastard that killed him!”
“That’s not true … technically.”
“Did you think you could betray the queen and live?”
“I didn’t betray anybody. I just had to get to my daughter.”
Shoving the gun barrel against his chest, Javier shouted, “You killed Boiúna!”
“That was an accident. But he’s a god, so he’ll pop up again. You know, gods love that death and resurrection stuff.”
“Oh, he’ll return, once the queen sacrifices you and that brat!”
Catalina stood up slowly, the machete blade pressed under her chin. The man holding it reached around, cupping one of her breasts. She tensed but didn’t protest. She was pretty sure she could take her handsy attacker down but elected to play along for now. Being groped was degrading, but it kept him from frisking her properly and finding the pistol in her pocket.
Javier saw what his man was doing and shouted, “Hey, cut that shit out. I told you she’s mine!”
Lightning flashed again, this time with a sharp crack. Micah caught a whiff of ozone and the hair on his arms bristled from the static electricity. Glancing upward he saw the violet glow of St. Elmo’s fire dancing among the tree branches.
The chorus of frogs suddenly fell silent.
Micah thought, That ain’t normal.
Leering at Catalina, Javier said, “You’ve got a pretty lady, Lucky Man. I’m going to enjoy her,” while grabbing his crotch for emphasis.
Catalina said, “Unzip those pants and you’ll leave here shy a few parts.”
Javier was about to make an obscene comment when something landed behind him with a loud thud. He spun around, rifle at the ready. There was nothing there.
Micah saw something dark drop from the trees behind them. A long, brown shape scuttled across the ground at blinding speed—heading straight for Javier’s leg.
Javier jumped into the air, kicking, as it scrambled up his leg and onto his back. With a scream he spun around. A huge centipede was locked on to his back, its pincers embedded in his rucksack.
Micah had seen plenty of centipedes but nothing like this. The thing was at least four feet long and thick as a man’s forearm. Its brown-and-black mottled exoskeleton gleamed like armor, surrounded by dozens of tan, spike-tipped legs. A vicious set of red pincers sprouted from beneath its head.
Javier dropped his rifle, grabbing the centipede with both hands. Luckily it had only bitten into his rucksack. He pulled it away and threw it.
Micah saw another land a few yards away. The creature was coiled up into a basketball-sized sphere. It rolled a few feet on impact then sprang open, already on the move.
Micah yelled, “They’re dropping from the trees!”
Catalina saw two more, racing straight for her. The man with the machete was staring up at the trees, paralyzed with fear. She jabbed her elbow back hard while slamming her foot down on his, knocking him off balance. Twisting her body, she shoved him forward, right on top of the approaching centipede. He screamed, his body spasming as if from electric shock, then rolled onto his back. The centipede was locked around his throat, its massive pincers already burrowing into his flesh.
Thrown off balance, Catalina fell to the ground while drawing the pistol. The second centipede was only inches away when she fired, blowing it in half. She saw at least a dozen more centipedes, all converging on their group.
One of Javier’s men opened fire on full auto, blindly tearing the ground apart.
Micah dropped down on top of Faye, shielding her body. He rolled left as bullets shredded the earth around him. Thankfully one of the panicked shots killed an attacking centipede.
The terrified man kept firing until his rifle clicked empty. As he fumbled for a magazine, a centipede attacked from behind. It raced up his calf, its head disappearing into the leg of his baggy shorts. With an ear-piercing squeal he toppled onto his back. Another centipede dropped from the trees overhead, landing next to him. It reared up, latching its pincers on to the screaming man’s tongue.
Micah scooped up the fallen machete. Faye screamed as a centipede slithered up her leg.
Micah pushed her onto the ground, yelling, “Don’t move!” then pressed the blade flat against her chest. The centipede scrambled up her torso. As it crossed the blade, Micah jerked up hard, launching the creature into the air.
Another of Javier’s men went into panic mode, firing at the ground just inches from Catalina. She rolled left while snapping off a single shot into the man’s kneecap. He dropped, howling in pain, clawing at his bleeding leg. The blood and noise were like a magnet to the centipedes. Micah saw five scrambling up the man’s chest. Two latched on to his face with their front pincers, their spiked legs coiled around his head. Grabbing one with each hand the screaming man yanked them off. But their pincers and legs held fast, peeling off his face like a rubber mask. His skeletal visage kept screaming.
Another one tried to run up Micah’s leg. He swung the machete, severing its antenna. The blinded centipede reared up, latching its pincers around the machete blade. Micah held it up high then flicked his wrist hard, launching the centipede into the fire. Its body crackled as it writhed in the flames. Micah was trying to grab Faye when needles of pain shot up his spine—moving spiked legs.
Faye shouted, “It’s on your back!”
The centipede burning in the fire gave Catalina an idea. She grabbed the stick she’d been roasting piranha on, jamming it into the fire and spearing the hunk of burning plastic explosive.
Shouting, “Hold still!” she jabbed it like a branding iron against the centipede on Micah’s back. The centipede twisted wildly then dropped off, flaming globules of plastic explosive clinging to its back like napalm.
Micah grabbed his own stick but discovered there wasn’t any more explosive in the fire. Catalina kicked the satchel by her feet. A thick chunk of plastic explosive landed near Micah. He speared it and stuck it into the fire’s burning embers. It ignited like a Roman candle.
Faye pointed to the ground, shouting, “Look out!”
Micah swung the flaming torch onto an oncoming centipede then pulled the stick away quickly. Dripping plastic explosive clung to the centipede’s exoskeleton, roasting it alive. Micah swept the torch low over the ground, brushing it over another centipede. It squirmed, a sheen of burning liquefied plastic explosive painted onto its shell.
Micah heard more dropping from the trees—it was literally raining death.
Javier was back on his feet and running full tilt for the marsh.
Micah saw him and yelled, “He’s got the right idea, go for the water!”
Catalina shouted, “Form up in a circle, Micah on point!”
Micah
saw a bright flash of light to his right. Faye had speared another chunk of Semtex and lit it up.
“Good girl!”
Catalina snatched up the half empty satchel of explosives and heaved it into the fire. A second later it ignited into a brilliant, six-foot pillar of flame.
Her gambit worked. Centipedes, being nearly blind, were attracted to the sudden heat and light. The bulk of the dropping centipedes zeroed in on the dancing column of fire.
The trio shuffled toward the marsh, Micah in the lead, their outstretched torches sweeping the ground in front and behind. Micah cautiously steered them away from the overhanging trees. The dripping plastic explosive left a trail of tiny fires behind them. Progress was painfully slow, complicated by centipedes charging them in kamikaze attacks.
Walking backwards gave Catalina a glimpse of what was coming, and it wasn’t good. The ground around the campfire was now a writhing mass of four-foot centipedes. But the creatures had figured out that there was no potential prey at the campfire. The swarm was turning to pursue them, propelled on a million legs.
Micah shouted, “We’re there!” and stepped into the marsh water.
Javier was already wading deeper into the marsh, noisily splashing through the maze of Queen Victoria lilies covering the surface.
The oncoming mass of centipedes were only twenty feet from Micah when they suddenly swerved, making a beeline for Javier.
Micah said, “It’s okay, they can’t swim.”
Catalina watched the swarm for a moment and said, “They don’t have to.”
She was right. The centipedes leapt onto the closest Queen Victoria lily and, using it as a bridge, moved to the next. A procession of at least thirty scrambled towards Javier, who was using a lily to stay afloat.
Seeing the inevitable, Micah said, “We need to make for the stream!”
Catalina saw that the stream was only forty yards away, but getting there meant running a gauntlet of low-hanging branches crowded with writhing centipedes. She said, “We’d get nailed by those paratroopers before we got halfway.”
Her stick finally burnt through. The flaming mass of plastic explosive plopped to the ground. Faye grabbed a bamboo stalk and tossed it over. Catalina managed to spear the burning mass and jammed it into the face of a charging centipede.
The centipedes reached Javier, forming a circle on the lilies around him. The desperate man dove under, trying to swim beneath the enormous water lilies. But the lilies weren’t floating freely—they were connected to the marsh bed by a web of stalks. Finding himself entangled he shot to the surface. The centipedes were waiting. In the brief instant he was above water, three of them bit down, injecting toxic venom that coursed through his body like acid.
Micah muttered, “Think, stupid, think,” until an idea struck him. He handed his burning torch to Catalina and waded into the marsh, machete in hand.
Catalina yelled, “What’re you—”
Micah dove underwater before she could finish.
The nearest Queen Victoria lily shook on the water then rose straight up—Micah was standing underneath, holding it over his head. He waded to shore, flipping it onto the ground. The normally underwater side was honeycombed with curved, needle-sharp spikes.
Grasping the smooth side, Micah hoisted it over his head again, shouting, “Get underneath! Catalina, you work the ground in front!”
As soon as they were under he started jogging towards the stream. Catalina ran her torch along the grass, burning any centipedes in their path.
They could hear the steady thump of centipedes landing on top of the pad.
Catalina yelled, “They’ll crawl under!”
Breathing heavily from his burden, Micah replied, “They can’t. Those curved spikes will bind up their legs or tear them off.” He bent his knees then jerked the pad up sharply. Three centipedes fell to the ground behind them—one missing most of its legs. Micah kept soldiering on.
Hearing his labored breathing, Catalina yelled, “Hang in there, the stream’s only a couple yards away. Coming up in fifteen seconds, fourteen, ten—”
There was a steady drumbeat of landing scorpions as she counted.
Micah finally felt the cool water on his ankles. He kept going until he was waist high in fast moving water then started walking against the current. Faye pressed herself tightly against his back, her head barely above the waterline.
Catalina threw away her torch and reached up to take on half the load. She was amazed at how heavy the ten-foot lily was.
“How the hell did you haul this alone?”
“Strong motivation.”
They heard more centipedes dropping from the overhanging branches above them.
After a deep breath, Micah said, “When I say bounce, bounce the lily up and back. Three, two, bounce!”
Together they jostled the lily sharply up and back. Centipedes tumbled into the water behind them, only to be swept away by the current.
Catalina asked, “What if some drop down up ahead and swim back at us?”
Micah said, “Hey Faye, tell us what has a hundred legs but can’t swim?”
The little girl yelled, “Centipedes! Plus they don’t have lungs. They breathe through pores under their legs, so they drown super-fast. See!”
A lifeless four-foot centipede floated past them.
They kept moving, their legs straining against the current.
Catalina asked, “How far should we go?”
Micah said, “Till we don’t hear the patter of a million tiny feet,” and pressed on.
Chapter Twenty-One
After twenty minutes of marching against the current the sound of falling centipedes gave way to the patter of raindrops.
Micah said, “We’ve got to stop, I’m dead.”
Between heaving breaths, Catalina said, “Me too.”
To their right he saw a break in the trees. “Over there.” He steered them to the stream’s edge. “On three we toss it—one, two, three!”
They flipped the Queen Victoria lily onto the water, spike side down, ensuring any trapped centipedes would drown.
Micah dropped down onto the muddy bank, panting like a dog. Faye huddled next to him.
Catalina sprawled out a few feet away and said, “If any more monsters come just let ’em eat me, ’cause I’m too beat to fight.”
They lay there, too exhausted to move or even speak. The rain came down harder. Catalina let it wash over her. Micah stretched his throbbing arm muscles and felt something odd. He tapped at the ground next to him, muttering, “That’s funny.”
Catalina asked, “Funny ha ha or funny gonna eat us?”
“Just weird. I’m lying next to a slab of cement.”
“That’s impossible, unless the Red Menace have figured out how to make Redi Mix concrete.”
“They’re the Red Death.”
“Whatever.”
Micah dug the flashlight out of his pocket, relieved to find it still working. He played it across the ground and said, “Yup, I’m right, it’s old and overgrown, but it’s cement. It looks like there’s more of it. Like an old sidewalk.”
“Should we follow it?”
“Yeah, but I want to check something out first.”
Micah waded into the stream and flipped the floating lily over. Two drowned centipedes were tangled in the network of curved thorns. With a Herculean effort he pried one loose. He tossed the four-foot creature’s body onto the ground and bent down closer.
Faye looked at it, fear in her eyes.
Micah said, “Relax, honey, it’s dead.” Inspecting it closer, he muttered, “This thing’s incredible.”
Catalina and Faye peered over his shoulder.
Catalina asked, “So this isn’t an everyday critter out here where even the frogs want to kill you?”
“No, the biggest centipede on Earth is maybe ten inches long.”
Faye said, “I bet it’s prehistoric. Way, way back, the world had more oxygen, so everything grew super big.”
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Poking at it, Micah said, “That makes sense. It’s just like the Megapiranhas and the Titan ants.”
Catalina laughed. “Please, nothing we’ve seen makes sense, even the stuff that’s true.”
“The thing is that centipedes are pretty solitary, so a swarm like this doesn’t fit their behavior.”
“Okay, before you start getting all Nutty Professor again, I’ve got an idea.”
“What’s that?”
Catalina picked up the dead centipede. “I say we ditch this hundred-legged turd and follow that cement trail to wherever it goes.” She lobbed it into the stream. “Who knows, maybe there’s a 7-11. I could do with a big gulp right now.”
Faye added, “And a burrito!”
Micah watched the centipede being carried off by the stream and said, “I bet you city folks will want me to find a Starbucks after that.”
With a grin, Catalina said, “Would you? A latte would be super refreshing.”
And they set out.
The light rain escalated into a downpour, dark clouds blocking the meager late afternoon sun. Occasional flashes of lightning shot across the sky, but otherwise it was black as night.
Micah studied the ground as they walked, saying, “There are definitely slabs of cement, like an old walkway. Most of it’s sunk, but it’s there.”
Something caught Catalina’s eye. “Hey, Micah. Look straight ahead at roughly three o’clock.”
“I can’t see anything.”
“Wait for the lightning.”
They stood patiently until a flash of lightning cut across the sky.
Micah stared ahead, muttering, “What the heck?”
Up ahead of them, hidden among the trees, stood a five-story steel tower.
Catalina said, “Shall we?”
After five minutes of walking they came to a complex of decaying buildings. Broken concrete foundations dotted the area. The wooden buildings they’d supported had long been reclaimed by nature. In the center stood a three-story, warehouse-sized building of brick and steel. To its right was a five-story steel lattice radio tower. The tower’s peak had collapsed, but the rest had survived, becoming a giant garden trellis for hundreds of vines.
Despite the vines, they could still make out four-foot-high, steel letters welded to the tower. The lightning flashing across the orange sky lent the complex a gothic tone. In that brief flash of lightning, they were able to read the letters.