“That’s enough,” Hannah said, tone firm, strong. In control. “Wen, I’m sorry for all the deceit, but this is truly for a good cause. It’s not so much for money as it’s to help humanity. What we bring back will cure ALS and every cancer known to man right now.”
I blinked, then chuckled humorlessly. “Yeah…okay…”
“I know you don’t believe me and I don’t blame you,” Hannah said. “That’s okay. Just follow our orders and everything will go swimmingly.”
I rolled my eyes. “So, did Max know?”
There was a long moment of silence.
Megan sighed. “No. That poor gorgeous bastard was just as oblivious as you.”
“Why? I thought he’s been with you guys from the beginning.”
“He was,” Megan said. “But that was after this place was abandoned and—”
Hannah punched Megan in her meched-out face. The force was enough to rock her.
“Hey, what the fu—?”
“You say one more word about this place and why we’re here, I have orders to take you out, remember that.”
“But you won’t,” Megan said. “You need me and you know why.”
Hannah doesn’t say anything, just keeps driving down the beach. Ahead, not too far, the jungle gave way to cliffs and giant outcroppings which stretched into the lake.
It all made sense now, though. How Max fought against Hannah’s decisions and Megan backed Hannah up most of the time. Well, except for when Hannah went bonkers after the Spinosaurus attack. Max didn’t know. Maybe we would’ve been okay risking the lake and cutting our time. Also, he suggested more than once to go back, clear the rocks, and get out the way we came. Every time, both Hannah and Megan told him no.
Yes…now it all made sense.
The two were there for a top-secret agenda. Something about files and saving humanity. Although I took that with a grain of salt. They lied to me enough. And when lies abound, no one ever really knew the truth, except those who created the truth. All the rest was merely dark secrets spun in lies.
Once more, I had to refrain from killing them both with the laser. And could have done it too. Yes. I could’ve blown smoldering holes into the back of both their heads.
Instead… I remained settled and waited.
Right then wasn’t the time. Plus, I was curious to know exactly what they wanted and why. Also, why was I being involved?
A tool, I thought. That’s all I ever was.
I should have never believed them. Should have never taken off in that minisub like I did. What I should have done was evacuate the facility and let Roofus tear it apart. Job be damned.
Should have…
But, like a fool, I believed them. I wanted to save the facility. Not for fame or a pay raise, or anything. Just trying to be a good human being.
The cliffs and outcroppings weren’t far, and Hannah slowed the Jeep to a crawl as we approached.
“We get to the cliffs,” Megan said. “We have a hell of a climb ahead of us.”
“The stairs,” Hannah muttered.
“Oh. Shit. Yeah, I forgot about the stairs!”
I sat, listening and wondering how many communications were being done in private. Probably a lot, and probably I was being paranoid. It didn’t matter. What mattered was…what would happen to me after they got what they came for?
No one knew I was with them…
I could easily be erased.
My guard needed to be heightened. Every little thing they did. The way they moved, everything…I needed to fully aware and take note. When the time came, I might have to take them out. Something I didn’t want to do, but if it meant seeing my little baby boy Venis again, then yes. I’d end them if I noticed anything threatening.
Time was running out…
BREAK: TWO
“This isn’t an overnight break like the last time,” the man in the shadows says. “Are you thirsty? Hungry?”
I try to smile as best I can while my stomach grumbles. “Both.”
“We’ll take a half hour for lunch, then,” says the man. “Just relax and eat your meal.”
I nod, not really sure what to think or feel.
Much like it had been in that fake “lost world.” Although, here…no one has exactly lied to me.
They want the truth of what happened.
I just can’t trust anyone, regardless.
Soon, the large woman appears through the veil of shadows, wheeling in a table with a tray. On the tray is food. Real food. Steak and potatoes, broccoli, and a hearty-looking bun. My mouth instantly waters at the sight of it. There’s also a bottle of water.
The big woman, she gives me a slight smile, unlocks the cuffs, nods, and returns to the shadows.
I scarfed down the food in a matter of minutes and polish off the bottled water in seconds. This is how hungry and thirsty I am. Even if I’m not exactly starving or dying of thirst, it feels like it all the same. And damn right I indulge when I can.
Savoring, right now, feels like wasting time.
Once all the food and water are gone, I sit back and smile. It feels good to eat and drink. Sometimes we humans forget that feeling. We get too caught up in everything and just…forget…
The giant woman lumbers into the light and pushes the cart away. When she returns, she says the first words I’ve ever heard from her.
“Just relax. It’ll all be over soon.”
Then she cuffs my arms behind the chair again and leaves. I don’t think it’s even been a half hour. Maybe 10 minutes…
“Are you feeling ready to continue?” the man in the shadows asked.
Was I? No. But might as well get it over with, right?
This is probably where I’ll die…
“Yes,” I say. “I’m ready.”
“Then…go ahead.”
11
There were indeed stairs cut into the rock leading up into the cliffs, but they were slathered in slick, green moss and crumbling things. The mechs could stabilize balance if thrown off, but if there wasn’t any true footing…?
“I say we try it anyway,” Megan said. “Going back around up the other side will take too long and climbing the cliffs is just stupid.”
Hannah stood away from Megan and me. She gazed over the cliffs and stairs, even into the jungle where I assumed we’d have to hike through to the other side. She didn’t say anything for the longest time.
So long that Megan shouted, “Hey! Hannah! You awake over there?”
“Shut up,” Hannah said. “I’m thinking.”
“Wow…” Megan turned to me, and even though I couldn’t see her face through the mech, I imagined she was rolling her eyes and sneering. “She’s just being a bitch because I told you certain things she didn’t want you to know. But…shit…you’re part of our team, right? You should at least know what’s going on now.”
I glared at her through the mech’s visors. “Max was apart of your team too…”
“Eh, not really. He was a good guy, sure. A smart ass, but a good guy. Yet…we felt we just couldn’t trust him, which was proven the moment we came out of that tunnel back there and—”
“We go around,” Hannah said, tone so firm I nearly felt its force. “Only safe option.”
“The stairs would be just—”
“Too easy for predators to pick us off,” Hannah said. “We’d be walled in by rock. Nowhere to run.”
“So, we slice and dice them with our lasers,” Megan said. “C’mon, dude. It’ll take at least another day to find a manageable slope to climb up. It’d be faster to—”
“How many times do I have to repeat myself, Meg? We go through the jungle. End of discussion.”
“The jungle is just as dangerous,” Megan said, but Hannah was already walking away.
No doubt our leader heard her, she just didn’t care. Because… Hannah was right. We’d be fully exposed and trapped going up the stairs.
I gave Megan a pat on the shoulder as I hurried by her.
I really didn’t know who I should side with, but Hannah seemed like the logical one when it came to decisions. The level head. Despite everything before, right then, Megan was the loose cannon. Maybe she had been the entire time and she just hid behind Max until he died. It just showed me how little I knew about those people. And how much of a thing to be used and discarded I still was.
Part of the team?
No.
I was just there as a shield to keep the other two alive. A dinosaur could eat me while they escaped or killed it. Of course, I didn’t know that for sure, but from the very start I felt it and that feeling never stopped.
I followed Hannah into the jungle/forest. Those tiny lizards or possible birds, whatever, screeched and cried in the trees. The forest floor was spongy. Even through the mech I felt it. A sinking feeling. Like, perhaps, quicksand. Weeds, dead leaves, and fronds blanketed the floor. Even so… I kept feeling like I’d sink if I stayed in one spot.
Hannah surged ahead. A demanding presence.
How had I pegged her as a droid? Droids didn’t act like that. They weren’t so full of convictions and passion. And that’s what I felt from Hannah. A passion of the hunt. A passion to actually help people. She wasn’t there to get rich. Not entirely. She was there to save lives. To find the curses that were supposedly hidden there.
Megan brushed by, showing me she was also in charge. Telling me she was second-in-command, regardless of who I sided with.
The change was so drastic I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Well, very much anyway.
Megan had seemed…perfect. I almost fell in love with her too. Almost…
Kind of glad she showed her true colors before I completely fell for her.
The things in the trees cried and we trudged deeper into the jungle that could also be a forest. Everything was so mixed there. Jungles mixed in with deciduous forests and quicksand-like floors. I just couldn’t get a full grasp on anything environmental wise. Or anything else, really. Mutant dinosaurs under thousands of feet of ocean?
Insane.
But true.
At that point, I really didn’t know what to think or believe. For all I knew, following Hannah could mean my ruination. Same could be said about Megan. And so… I lingered in limbo.
I followed, always keeping my guard up. For all I knew, they were communicating privately. Which would mean, if they were, I was in deep shit. They could be planning out my death as we walked through the jungle. As the creatures in the trees howled and screeched. Any moment, Megan could spin around and shoot a laser burst through me.
We trudged deeper and deeper. The cliffs to the right still far too steep to attempt climbing.
For the moment…it was only us and the tree squealers.
Kind of eerie, to be honest.
We walked in silence.
Sweat trickled down my face and it took all my will not to strip out of the mech and wipe the sweat away. To cool down and breathe and just feel fucking human for a while.
But I couldn’t do that. I needed to stay in the mech for as long as could. It might not stop a laser, but it might give me an edge to at least fight back. Plus, if another carnivore decided to attack—
A low groaning sound stopped me in my tracks. The ground trembled a bit and the foliage shook and whispered to my left.
“Guys,” I said, frozen.
“We’re not stopping, Wen,” Megan said.
“No,” I managed as the leaves and palms shook and the low groan grumbled through the mech.
“Wen,” Hannah said, “I need to keep up. We—”
“There’s something right next to me,” I muttered.
“Huh?” Megan said. “Like what? We really don’t have time for…” She gasped. “Wen, don’t move.”
“Why? What—?”
“Just…don’t move. I’m going to try to distract it with something.”
“Is that what I think it is?” Hannah asked.
“Yup. She’s gotten big, right?”
“Who? What? What’s big?”
They both ignored me.
“Think it still likes apples?”
Megan snorted. “She’ll eat anything, you know that.”
“What the fuck is going on?” I shouted.
Still, they ignored me. No one spoke for the longest time. The leaves stopped shaking. The groaning dried up. I stood, bathed in silence. What was going on? Even as curious as I was, I couldn’t bring myself to even turn my head fully.
Dull thumping, then the ground was suddenly alive again. The leaves shifted and branches split for just a moment before snapping shut again. I didn’t get a chance to see what was behind them.
“There she goes,” Megan said. “Still like a damn puppy. God, I missed her.”
“She’d kill you now, you know,” Hannah said.
“Yeah, but…look at how big she is!”
I sighed and found them standing just beyond a screen of yellow fronds. And when I followed their gaze, I froze again. All the air leaked out of my lungs. I couldn’t find enough air to speak with for a few seconds.
Then, “Is that a…a…?”
“Stegosaurus,” Megan said. “Her name is Gerty.”
“Gerty,” I whispered.
“She was one of the first born here.”
I blinked. “Wait, you two really were here before? This is like some kind of research facility?”
Megan chuckled. “It was actually going to be the real park, instead of that observatory we got stuck at. But…no one expected the mutations to happen…”
“That’s enough, Meg,” Hannah said. “Gerty is preoccupied with the melon. Let’s be on our way.”
As I watched, the Stegosaurus crashed through the woods and cut down small trees with its spiked tail, and I wondered how the tours in that place would work. There weren’t any fences, as far as I could tell. The bluish hue of Gerty’s scales was beautiful, but she was huge. Not as big as the T-rex but would do some serious damaged if it wanted to.
“Bert must be out foraging,” Megan said as we all turned and began walking away.
“Or dead,” Hannah added.
“See, this is why we can’t have nice things. You negative Nelly.”
I smiled a bit. Because, for that moment at least, I heard the Megan I was falling in love with.
“We should check out the plains,” Megan said. “See what herds are thriving.”
“We don’t have time. This place is supposed to die out, you know that. Now, hush.”
“Looks like it’s doing just fine to me,” Megan spouted. “This place is still alive, dude. We could—”
“No. Everyone backed out for a reason. And you know that reason. Let’s just get what we came for and get out.”
“Damn,” Megan said. “I didn’t realize how heartless you got over the years.”
To that, Hannah didn’t respond. She continued on through the lush jungle ahead.
Megan sighed. “See, Wen? This is what I’ve had to deal with for years. All work and no play.”
I didn’t say anything, not that it was required. I still wasn’t used to the sudden shift in Megan’s persona. I felt like a derailed train on a long and empty track in the middle of nowhere. It just proved you never ever really knew a person. Not all of them, anyway.
As we hurried away from Gerty the Stegosaurus, my mind shifted to Venis. My dear, sweet little boy. An almost animated memory of him in his highchair while I pretended the spoon of baby food was a plane and crash landed into his cheek when he turned away, creating a glob of pureed green beans on his face. The memory, the images, made me smile. It shoved all my worries and troubles away. It—
“Hey, Wen,” Megan called. “Where you goin’?”
I blinked, images of my son fading, and skidded to a stop inches before I ran into a massive thorn bush. I gaped at the monstrosity, hating myself for allowing the ghosts of the past to haunt me into a trance. That rarely ever happened unless I was stressed and tired, but when it did, I so
metimes ran into walls like a goof. Luckily, Megan had stopped me from becoming a pin cushion.
“Are you like a zombie now or something?” Megan asked, and I could hear the smile in her voice.
I managed snort. “Just…kinda zoned out.”
“Keep moving,” Hannah said, derailing any sense of humor before it took hold.
“C’mon, Wen,” Megan said. “She hasn’t had her coffee yet.”
I laughed, couldn’t help it. Despite the lies and everything… I just needed to laugh. And you know, I felt a little better after that. A sort of purge of stress, released through a bit of good old laughter. Better than screaming, I supposed.
I got myself under control, watching the other two go on ahead.
A few sticks snapped behind me. Sucking in a sharp breath, I spun around. All was green and lush. Everything was green, and the air was probably green. I stood in a world of noxious green.
After a while, I shook it off as nothing. Maybe Gerty was moving around out there.
I turned and followed the other two, and I could have sworn the ground shook under my feet for a moment or two. There…and gone…
12
The jungle seemed to go on forever and more than once, I thought I heard something behind me. But every time I looked, all I saw was green. Nothing moved. Even the lizards or whatever they were stopped their infernal squeals and shrieks.
Gradually, though, I noted how the slope lessened going up the deeper we trudged.
Sticks and dead fauna crackled under the mech’s feet. Other than that, and my own breathing, everything was quiet. Even the mysterious snapping sticks behind me stopped. Which could’ve just been my weary brain making things up.
Hannah and Megan kept a good 10-foot distance between them and I. Was that a conscious thing, or were they just walking faster than me? Who knew? I closed the distance about five feet and neither appeared to notice.
Ahead, a bright orange post tangled in vines stuck in the ground.
“There’s the marker,” Megan said. “Not far now.”
“Once the trees break, we’ll be exposed,” Hannah said. “Be on your guard. Includes you too, Wen.”
Below The Earth Page 12
