by Otto Schafer
The lines on Paul’s face deepened into a frown. “What do you mean ‘Paul’?”
“Well, you have super-strength, right? Can you just jump across, or flex across, or maybe He-Man yourself across, or something?”
“I don’t know what He-Man myself across means, but sure, maybe I could jump across. However, I’m not planning to find out by trying to clear a – what? – thirty-some-foot jump over a rat-infested pit of death spikes. Besides, even if I could, that doesn’t get the rest of you across.”
Lenny held up his hands in surrender. “Fair point, bro.”
Pulling the backpack off his shoulders, Paul sat it on the ground and peered inside. “But I have an idea,” he said, pulling a coiled rope from the pack.
“Jesus, dude, is there anything you don’t have in there?” Lenny asked. “And why didn’t we use that to get down the embankment?”
Paul chuckled. “I served in the United States Army – we pride ourselves on being prepared. I knew we could get down the embankment without the rope and that we’d likely need it later. That’s one thing I learned while working on difficult dig sites in remote locations with my father – don’t leave your key gear at the top.” He paused, his smile fading, his thoughts momentarily drifting somewhere else.
Breanne watched her brother’s expression fall and a pang of pain shot through her heart.
Garrett forced a smile and gave Paul a slap on the shoulder. “Well, I’m glad you came prepared because other than a couple cheap flashlights, a screwdriver, and a hammer we’re about as unprepared as it gets. I’m curious though, you aren’t expecting that thin little rope to hold our weight, are you?”
“Of course it will hold us – this is military-grade climbing rope with a working load rate of eight hundred and twenty pounds.” Paul scowled, then yanked the rope in each direction as if to show how strong it was. “It’ll hold at least three or four of us at once, easily.”
David perked up. “I don’t think I like where this is going.”
Paul rummaged some hardware from his pack, quickly finding what he needed. “I’m going to scale the wall high enough to anchor in above your heads, then scale horizontally across the pit to the other side, cross to the other wall, and anchor off near the floor. You guys will then slide across on the rope,” he said, making a swiping motion with his hand, starting at his head and finishing near his waist.
Garrett nodded slowly. “How will we slide across the rope?”
Paul smiled and pointed at Garrett’s black belt. “That belt wraps around you twice, right?”
“Yeah…”
“Perfect – between you and Lenny we can cut enough lengths of belt for everyone to loop it over the rope and use it to slide across.”
“Wait a minute, bro, you expect us to cut our black belts into pieces?!” Lenny said.
Paul smiled. “Yes, that’s exactly what I expect.”
Breanne watched as Paul did something strange. He placed a hand on Lenny’s shoulder like a big brother might do – like Ed might have done when Paul was Lenny’s age.
“It’s just a belt, Lenny. Do you think I am less a soldier because I don’t have a uniform on? The belt doesn’t make you who you are. Take it away and you’re still a black belt, right?”
Lenny sighed then nodded and began reluctantly untying his belt. “Yeah, you’re right.”
“Alright, guys, train your flashlights on the wall and give me as much light as possible.” Paul climbed the wall a few feet, then skillfully anchored a cam into a small fissure and knotted the rope. “Everyone listen up,” he said, jumping back to the ground. “I anchored this only high enough that you should all be able to easily climb to it.”
They looked up at the rope.
“Lenny, cut that belt into approximately twenty-four-inch pieces,” Paul said, passing Lenny a black-handled folding knife. “This is my baby, Lenny – take good care of it and get it back to me when we get to the other side.”
Lenny unfolded the knife, flicking it into place with a soft click. “Did you get this when you were in the military?”
“No, they don’t give you a knife like this one in the service. This one is special.”
Lenny nodded sharply and went to work cutting his belt.
No one else noticed, but Breanne saw her brother’s face sag just a little. Her brother Ed had given him that knife.
“Garrett, you too,” he said.
Garrett quickly untied his belt.
Paul motioned for Lenny to hand him a piece of the belt. “Pay attention, people. You’ll need to wrap one end around your hand, gripping it tightly like this,” he said, holding it in his left hand as he wrapped the belt around it. “Then I want you to loop it over the rope and wrap it around the other hand the same way. You have to do this right. If you try just holding it in your fist, it will slip out no matter how hard you squeeze.” He gazed sternly around at the group. “I repeat, if you don’t wrap it around your hand, it will slip.”
“Um, I was right. I don’t like this,” David said.
“Wait, we’re actually going to zip-line over that pit?” Janis asked.
Without acknowledging Janis’s question or checking for understanding, Paul started his horizontal scale of the wall. “You’ll need to hold on like your life depends on it and don’t let go until you hit the ground on the other side.”
Lenny finished cutting his belt and handed the knife to Garrett.
Paul was already halfway across the pit, making the climb look effortless. “Oh, and you probably shouldn’t look down either. Just shut your eyes and don’t open them until you hit the other side!” He jumped to the ground, crossed the tunnel, wedged an anchor into a crack close to the floor, and tied off the rope. “Okay, let’s do this!”
Lenny took the knife from Garrett, who was finished cutting up his belt, and tucked it firmly into the back pocket of his dobok before tying the staff onto his back. “Paul? Incoming!” Lenny shouted as he jumped up onto a jutting section of cavern wall and looped the segment of belt around over the rope, twisting to create the wrap Paul had shown them as if he had done it a thousand times.
Everyone watched anxiously.
“Careful, bro,” Garrett said.
Because moving at the speed of natural gravity wasn’t enough for Lenny, he kicked off the wall and whooped as he slid swiftly down the rope and across the pit, handing Paul his knife once he landed.
“Show-off!” Garrett shouted across the pit.
“Who’s next?” Paul asked.
Pete went next and everyone else followed – no one as effortlessly as Lenny, but all made it without any issues.
Even David crossed without incident, though he made sure everyone knew he hated every second. Once in flight, he let out a whoop of his own, but rather than mimicking Lenny’s shout of confident exhilaration, David’s came out more a shout of terror. He slid down the rope, landing hard on his ass, but he followed Paul’s instructions to the letter, keeping his eyes closed the entire time and not letting go. Once safely across, he still didn’t open his eyes or let go of the rope. He sat there, not daring to breathe, his hands still fixed on the belt, knuckles white.
Breanne knelt beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, David, you made it.”
David opened one eye, looked around, then let out a long breath.
“Alright, Pete what’s next?” Garrett asked.
“We walk. I’d say we still have a mile or so before we get to the temple entrance.”
“What about traps?” Breanne asked.
“Yeah, one more section, but it should be obvious.”
“How’s that?” Lenny asked.
“We’re going to get to a section that narrows. Lincoln lined the floor of the narrow section with fur traps.”
“You’re shitting me,” Garrett said.
“What do you mean ‘fur traps,’ Pete?” Breanne asked.
Pete lowered his voice as deep as he could to summon the voice of Lincoln. �
��In the narrow crevice, I placed several steel traps of varying size. I bound these traps by stake. As the years have passed, I no longer recall the number of traps I set forth. I know only that there were many. Or some shit like that,” he said, returning to his normal voice.
“Oh! You were doing Lincoln! I thought you were impersonating Darth Vader,” Lenny said.
“Wrong! I was impersonating your mom, asshole!”
“Hey, so how narrow is narrow?” Garrett asked. “I mean since we crossed the pit it has gotten narrower – we’re just a couple shoulder widths now.”
“And what does he mean by ‘varying sizes,’ Pete?” Janis asked.
“And please don’t answer in your Lincoln impersonation voice… ever again,” Lenny said.
“You mean your mom’s voice?” Pete said, punching Lenny in the shoulder.
“Alright, you guys!” Garrett said. “Pete, seriously? I don’t want to go walking blindly into these things.”
“Alright, alright, listen – you’re fine,” Pete said easily. “Lincoln said the tunnel narrows so that a man can barely fit through sideways.” He turned to Janis. “The varying sizes must mean animal sizes. Trappers use different size traps depending on the size of the animal. For example, you wouldn’t use a bear trap if you were trying to catch a rabbit, nor would you use a rabbit trap if you were trying to catch a bear.”
“That actually makes good sense. You don’t think there are big traps, do you?” Janis asked.
“Yeah, I do, but here’s the thing. Lenny has that staff with him so he can just tap it out in front of us as we go making sure it’s safe. I figure any small traps will likely have already been triggered by the ra—”
“Dumbass! This is an ancient weapon passed down from Turek himself. I’m not using it to test for traps!” Lenny said firmly.
Pete rolled his eyes. “Like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, it’s likely small game like rats have already triggered all but the big ones. We’ll just need to be careful.”
Breanne followed behind Garrett, with David and the rest of the gang on her heels, as they hiked onward and noticeably downward for another twenty minutes. At least the smell seemed to get better the further they went – that or they were just getting used to it. Finally, they came to a section in the cave about twenty feet long that was covered in standing water. As they scanned their lights across the glassy stillness, they could see the floor rise up sharply out of the water into a single path that narrowed drastically. But that wasn’t all they could see. On the opposite side, two pairs of red eyes flashed as the light passed across them.
Garrett pointed his flashlight directly at the eyes, illuminating two large rats who didn’t seem to be at all bothered by the light and continued to drink from the stagnant water.
“This must be it!” Pete said.
“What about them?! And how deep you think that water is?” David asked apprehensively.
“David, stay calm,” Breanne said. She could just see this kid freaking out and running blindly into the standing water. No telling how deep it was.
Paul stepped up next to Garrett. “Look, you been leading for a while, so I’ll go first. I’m not worried about a few rats.”
Garrett hesitated.
Paul smiled. “Garrett, a good leader understands that sometimes he has to delegate. Leading doesn’t always mean you go first. Let me take this.”
Garrett nodded reluctantly. “Okay, but listen, you can’t go into that narrow area on the other side of the water without some way of checking for the traps.”
“Yeah, you’re right. We also don’t know how deep the water is. For all we know, it could be a mile deep or a shallow puddle.”
“For all we know, there could be sharpened spears hidden just beneath the surface,” David offered.
Garrett looked at Lenny, who stood with his weight shifted on the staff.
“What?”
Now everyone looked at Lenny.
“It’s invaluable! It’s the last thing Mr. B gave me!”
“Lenny, he would want you to use it to keep us safe,” Garrett said.
Time ticked away as an obstinate Lenny stared back defiantly.
Finally, under the penetrating glare of the group, Lenny folded. “Fine! But I swear, man, if you trash my staff I’m going to be pissed!”
“Look, Lenny, I know your teacher gave this to you and it means a lot. I promise I’ll do my best not to trash it, but here” – Paul held out his special knife – “I know it isn’t an ancient staff, but it has been with me for a very long time. Why don’t you hang onto it for me until I get you your staff back?”
“I’ll take good care of it,” Lenny said in a thick voice as he reached out to take the knife. Then, offering his staff in return, he nodded to Paul.
Using the staff to test the depth and sweep the bottom as he stepped, Paul crossed to the other side and motioned the others across.
As Breanne stepped into the water, one of her father’s favorite sayings came to her. Baby girl, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. The stagnant pool, as it turned out, was just a cigar, nothing more than a low spot where water had collected.
As they crossed, Paul shone his headlamp into the mouth of the narrowed section, calling out that he could see old rusted traps littered with bones. “You were right, Pete. It looks like most of these have been set off already.”
“Well, keep on the lookout for any big ones that haven’t been.”
Breanne watched closely as Paul made his way slowly through the tight crevice, the staff held in his right hand, tapping as he went. About halfway through, the staff made contact with something metal just below the surface of the dirt. So far all the traps had been small game traps, all had been triggered, and all were visible, due to having been sprung and thus pulled from their layer of cover. But not this trap. This trap was still covered, hidden under a thin layer of dirt.
“I’ve got something, guys – stand by.”
“Be careful, Paul,” Breanne said, trying to peer over Garrett’s shoulder.
Breanne’s heart started to pound, and she suddenly became hot as she watched Paul attempt to jam Lenny’s staff under the edge of the trap to flip it up and over, away from him. She could see he was trying his best not to set the trap off on the staff.
“Almost… got it,” he said, heaving the giant hunk of metal over. It was huge. Likely a bear trap. “Guys, there aren’t bears in Illinois, right?” When the trap landed upside down it went off with a loud snap! of cracking metal. The trap lurched upright, its clenching jaws forcing it to buckle upward.
Everyone startled at the sound and Janis screamed, causing everyone to startle a second time. “Jesus! Sorry, guys. That scared the hell out of me.”
“It’s fine, guys,” Paul called back to them. “I just set off the trap. We can keep moving.”
A few minutes later Paul broke clear of the crevice. He stopped there at the mouth, assessing what he saw before him. “Check this out. I think we’re here.”
Breanne and the others crowded out of the crevice behind him. The space opened up quite wide and, as she shone her light forward, she could see the path ahead dropped away at a gentle slope. Several yards out, the path disappeared into an angled wall. The wall was built of giant stone blocks stacked with perfect precision, and in the center was a large rectangular doorway. The wall around it was perfectly smooth and flat. It looked familiar to her, like the many pyramids she had seen all over the world. “It’s amazing! So beautiful,” she said.
But then the stone wall was gone as white haze clouded her vision and something else came into focus from the corner of her eye.
Paul took a single heavy step down the slope, shifting his full weight to his falling foot.
Breanne’s scream was replaced tenfold by her brother’s, when in a horrible instant, rusty metal teeth snapped shut with all the force of a crocodile.
22
Below the Pyramid
Wednesday, April 6 –
God Stones Day 1
Rural Chiapas State, Mexico
Gabi, Itzel, and María shared uneasy glances as Gabi’s interpretation of the mural hung in the air between them.
“Magic?” Itzel said, her face dubious. “Gabi, let’s be logical. Ancient wall paintings tell stories not necessarily meant to be taken literally.”
“Itzel, I think this is pretty clear,” María said.
“Really, María?! You too? Are you going to tell me this mural literally depicts giant stone blocks floating through the air using magic?” Itzel asked.
“No. Of course not.”
“I should say of course not!” Itzel said.
“Not magic, but a technology we don’t understand. Something lost long ago?” María said.
“Oh, come now, I have heard these theories. Objects being lifted with soundwaves or some such nonsense. You can’t be serious!”
“Look at the wall, Itzel,” María said, pointing. “The blocks of the pyramid are just floating into place. How do you explain it? How do you explain a race of giants? Would you have believed they existed if their skulls weren’t sitting here in front of you?”
“No. No, I suppose not,” she said quietly.
The three women approached the wall again, each taking up positions on all sides of the pyramid, their brushes dancing rhythmically as each stirred a tiny cloud of dust.
Gabi was on only the second step of her ladder, dusting underneath the painted pyramid, an area she didn’t expect to contain any secrets, but suddenly something began to take shape. She cocked her head to one side as a chamber came into view. It was circular, with a spiral staircase. That’s our chamber, she thought. Below that chamber was a long tube. Sarah’s shaft, she thought, looking back toward the center of the room where her father and Fredy knelt by the hole.
“Mamá, look at this,” she breathed, barely above a whisper, unsure of what she was seeing. But her mother didn’t hear her. Her own face was creased in concentration as she gazed upon her own work.