by Greig Beck
Jane’s reply had everyone looking back at the ruins in silence.
“Look.” Albie Miles switched on the high-beam lamp. Immediately, a few more hundred feet of the ruins and surrounding landscape was revealed.
“Skeletons,” Loche said. “And by the look of the size, I’d say whales.”
“Normally, if a whale dies and sinks to the bottom, it’s devoured quite quickly by isopods and a number of other abyssal scavenger species. Even the bones are broken down in just over a matter of months,” Matt said. “But these bones look intact, and some are old.” He squinted. “All look like they’ve been chewed, like by a large predator. And there seems to be several carcasses all jumbled together.”
“Whales don’t have a communal graveyard, you know, like elephants, do they?” Janus asked.
Loche shook his head. “Nope, something brought these here.” He swung to look at Mike and Jane. “Something big enough to grab a whale and bring it back for a snack.”
“Lots of whales,” Matt added.
“We’ve seen enough,” Janus said. “Captain, prepare to take us into the rift.”
“Wait a minute,” Matt urged. “We need to see more here. There could be vital clues for dealing with the Dagon entity.”
“Matt, we’re in tin cans, six miles down, and with limited oxygen. You’ve got your pictures. Work with those,” Janus replied flatly. “Captain.”
“Yes, sir.” Loche ordered the pilot to swing around toward where the hole in the ocean floor was meant to be.
On their way, they moved along a wall of colossal proportions.
“Look, wait, wait!” Matt jumped up. “Ah… pan to starboard.”
The pilot looked to Loche who nodded, and the man slowly swung the craft around. There was the huge glyphic writing style again, and this time there were carved images.
Jane saw Matt’s lips moving as he took in the eon’s old language.
“Can you read it?” Jane asked.
“Some of this, yes,” Matt said without turning. “And I’ll know more as I study it.” He took in more of the fifty-foot-high inscriptions and images.
“Beyond, beyond, and below,” Matt whispered as he translated. “Beware to those who dare wake the slumberer beneath.”
“That’s uplifting,” Captain Loche said.
“There’s more… can you …?” Matt asked the pilot.
“Sure. I’ve been recording it. Do you want hard copy, or the entire image thread?” he asked.
“The thread—send it to my device.” Matt gave him the address, and the pilot forwarded the entire wall image scans. “Thank you. Thank you.” Matt sat down, staring at his tablet.
In seconds more, they were hovering over a massive dark hole in the bottom of the ocean trench. There were rocks floating over its dark void just as they’d seen up in the command ship.
The group sat in silence as they collectively stared into the stygian dark nothingness of the massive hole.
“Abandon hope all ye who enter here,” someone whispered.
“Stow that talk,” Loche ordered.
“From Dante’s Inferno.” Jane snorted. “But Hell is right; just wait until you see the sky.”
The two craft hovered over the dark entrance to the gravity well and Loche sat back. “Mr. Anderson, your orders?”
Janus took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is why we are here—to defeat two monsters: one is cancer, a disease that has plagued mankind forever. The other is to confront an adversary that is the nemesis of global shipping.” He strapped himself in. “Captain, lead us in.”
“Yes, sir.” Loche half smiled, perhaps at the little man’s bravado, and then opened the mic to the other craft to gave them final instructions. The pair of vessels then approached the massive hole in the ocean floor with several rocks and other debris hanging over it like a kid’s helium-filled balloons at a birthday party. They nosed through them.
“All clear on sensors, sir,” Miles said.
“That’s what I want to hear, Mr. Miles.” Loche leaned forward. “Hang onto your hats, people. All ahead, slow.”
The pair of craft entered the dark void and then the rush of acceleration took them.
CHAPTER 11
Kapitan Viktor Zhukov held up a hand as they entered the larger cave. The group gathered around him.
Sobyanin quickly wiped his greasy brow with a forearm and then held the tracker up. The glow from its tiny screen painted his face in a ghoulish, green tinge as he panned it around.
“Mr. Sobyanin?” Zhukov asked.
“I think close by, but…” He bobbed his head from side to side.
“We have multiple routes forward. Give me a bearing,” Zhukov ordered.
He looked up briefly, then back down, frowning at the small device. “Strange. It says Chaika is here. Right here.”
“There must be a malfunction,” Vlad replied.
Sobyanin nodded. “Maybe, but when I switch to group, everyone else shows up. With our missing Mr. Chaika included.”
Zhukov cursed under his breath. “Spread out, in twos. Eyes and ears open. Doctor Valentina, with me. Double-time.”
The groups quickly paired up and spread out in the cathedral-sized cavern. Its roof was out of sight in the darkness above them, but it wasn’t a dry cave, in that they heard water dripping from somewhere away in the darkness.
The larger cave had multiple exits, some at ground level and some of the side caves forty feet up from the cave floor. Zhukov stared up at one, contemplating if they’d need to climb and investigate every hole big enough for their missing man to fit into.
“Can you smell it?” Valentina asked.
“Yes, methane,” he replied without turning.
“It’s possible that methane is naturally occurring. We know that volcanoes, vents in the ocean floor, and methane hydrate deposits that occur along continental margins are an example of natural methane. Especially at this depth.” She lowered her voice. “But I don’t think they are the primary source here, do you?”
He turned to her. “No, because I can smell shit as well.”
“Me too.” She turned slowly. “And that worries me.”
Zhukov clicked his fingers. “Mr. Sobyanin…”
“Got something,” the man said, and quickly crouched. “I think.”
The team started to converge. “Stay alert,” Zhukov ordered and the team went back to scanning the cave mouths.
Zhukov approached the man. “What have you got?”
Sobyanin didn’t respond but just shone his wrist light at the ground. Zhukov and Doctor Valentina crouched beside him.
“Could that be what I think it is?” Sobyanin asked.
“The tracker.” Zhukov sighed. “That was inside our man.”
There was a blob of blood and mucous, and in among it a tiny, pill-shaped object. Zhukov rose to his feet. “Look for a blood trail, and everyone be ready for anything.”
“How did this happen?” Sobyanin rose to his feet. “Chaika was a big man. He would have fought back, hard.”
“We’ll soon find out,” Zhukov replied.
The team started to move out and around the cave.
“Here.” Fradkov had his gun light pointed at the ground. He slowly lifted the muzzle, tracking something. “Goes that way.”
“Let’s go, people, while the trail is fresh.” Zhukov organized his team, sending the huge Andripov out to point.
They moved across the floor of the huge cavern until the blood trail led to a cave about five feet up from the ground and little more than three feet wide.
Zhukov peered inside, and beside him Vladimir Ustinov pointed a motion tracker into the hole. After a moment, he shook his head.
“Cold as a witch’s tit.” Vlad pulled the device back. “Small cave—how big were these creatures supposed to be?”
“The report said around human-sized,” Zhukov replied.
“Could it be their nest?” Fradkov asked.
Zhukov’s mouth turned down momentarily. “Maybe it is. Maybe this cave has an exit or they liked the small size because it’s defendable.”
“Defendable? Down here? Against what?” Vlad asked.
“Who knows. We have to go in, but I don’t want us strung out.” Zhukov turned about. “I’ll take Fradkov, Andripov, Igor, and Doctor Valentina. You, Serdyukov, and Sobyanin keep our exit open.”
His second-in-command nodded. “Remember, our communications are limited down here. Once you pass through a few twists and turns, we’ll lose our link.”
“I know.” Zhukov smiled flatly. “But our man was taken in there, or what was left of him. We have to see.” He turned. “Mr. Fradkov, Andropov, take the lead. Doctor Valentina, behind me, and dear comrade, Igor, bring up the rear. Let’s go.”
***
Outside the cave, Anatoliy dropped his arm holding the tracker. “Lost them. Must have gone around a bend.”
“We expected that,” Vlad replied. “But keep watching and keep that movement tracker on. I want to know the second anything moves in there.”
He looked about in the massive, dark cavern. “Lev, keep your eyes on this cave. Nothing creeps up on us today, yes?”
The soldier nodded.
“And your first task… cover me while I take a piss.” Vlad moved off about a dozen feet along the cavern wall and unzipped his fly.
He pissed long and hard, the smell of his urine finally masking the strange animal scent in the air.
Vlad zipped up and paused, tilting his head. He turned to Lev who still covered him with his gun. “You hear that?”
Lev turned away to listen for a moment and then shrugged. “Just heard you pissing. Sounded like the fire department.”
Vlad concentrated. “No, after that.” He was sure he heard a low sound, like someone dragging a sack or heavy rug across the ground. He shone his light about for a moment before giving up.
He hoped the kapitan wasn’t long, as everything about this mission unsettled the shit out of him.
***
“Getting tighter,” Andripov said from deeper in the cave.
He had to get down on his hands and knees, his large shoulders only just making it through the narrowing tunnel.
Zhukov prayed that they moved into a more open space soon, as it was now only large enough for them to move in a single line, which was a terrible defensive proposition. But they had no choice.
“Keep talking,” he said into his mouthpiece. Normally, he’d have ordered and respected radio silence, but if the reports were correct, these things hunted by sound and smell so probably already knew they were coming.
“Opening up a little more just up ahead,” Andripov said. “Holes in the walls, cracks. Stinks even worse up here.”
After another few minutes, they began to pass by the holes or side caves, some only inches across and some over a foot. The men leaned away from them, as inside the smell was miasmic.
When Fradkov was passing by one, he stopped, spun, and pointed his light inside.
“I heard…” He squinted into the dark.
Help me.
“There. Did you hear?” He turned back to Zhukov, his eyes bulging wide.
“The woman?” Zhukov asked.
Fradkov shook his head. “Yes, no, like when Chaika was taken.”
The young soldier turned back to the small side cave to listen again and leaned closer, just as a grotesque head appeared from within it.
Fradkov had an impression of a gargoyle-like face, with flatted nose slits, sightless eyes, and large ears running up the side of its head. The being was greasily pale to the point of being transparent.
It lunged forward, mouth open and displaying a set of sharp, chisel-like teeth that fixed on the young Russian’s shoulder.
Fradkov screamed and beat down on the head, which worked furiously for a moment before pulling away in a spray of blood. It vanished backward into the hole like some sort of foul jack in the box being rewound into its tin.
Fradkov howled and covered his shoulder.
In the glare of his light, Zhukov could see a chunk of flesh missing from the shoulder and thick blood pulsed between the man’s fingers. He had no time or room for panicking, and they still had another man missing.
“Shut up,” he ordered.
Fradkov grimaced, eyes watering, but clamped his mouth shut.
“I must tend to that,” Valentina urged from behind him.
“Not yet.” He turned back to the young soldier. “Patch that. We’ll see to it when we pull back.” Zhukov slid forward to grab the man’s boot and tug. “Understand, soldier?”
From up front, Andripov cursed and fired several deafening rounds, as from the small side caves, clawed hands shot out, grabbing clothing, flesh, anything they could dig their talons into.
Zhukov knew they were in a kill box and strung out so much they couldn’t get into a defensive position. His soldier’s instinct was to fight or die with and beside his men. But then he remembered what he had been told and quickly reached for the small box on his belt, slipped the cover off, and depressed the button.
Immediately, an ear-piercing shriek filled the claustrophobic cave, beating at his ear drums and making his back teeth hurt. But the effect on the creatures was as instantaneous as it was dramatic—they clawed at their heads, writhed in pain, and then they pulled back into their tunnels, abandoning their attack.
Zhukov waited a few more seconds and then switched it off. Silence reigned for another moment.
“Sound off!” he yelled.
Thankfully, his team were all there. He looked back at Valentina who grimaced but nodded.
“I think I lost some hair.” She touched a red spot on her scalp. “I guess they were our dog people.”
“Orders, sir,” Andripov yelled from the front.
“Continue on. Their lair must be up ahead.” He looked past the doctor. “Igor?”
“Yes, sir. All clear back here.”
“Good. We move, and…”
“He-eeelp.”
Zhukov turned back.
“It’s those tricking bastards,” Fradkov said through pain-gritted teeth.
“I’m here. I’m Ally… help me,” the voice said again. But this time, weak and strained.
“No, not this time,” Zhukov said. “Andripov, move quickly. Find that voice.”
The big man elbowed forward, and the group struggled after him. In moments more, they emerged into a cave that was so foul it made their eyes water.
“This must be their nest,” Valentino said and held a hand over her lower face.
“Seems our sonic blast cleared them out in a hurry,” Zhukov replied. He lifted his head. “Helloo!” he yelled in English. “Where are you?”
“Here, help me,” came the reply.
He pointed to a small side cave. “In there.”
Andripov hunched his shoulders and kept his gun barrel up as he charged into the smaller cave.
“Valentina, with me. Fradkov, Igor, you stay alert out here.” Zhukov quickly followed the big man with the female doctor on his heel.
There came a scream from up ahead.
“Here!” Andripov shouted.
They burst into the smaller cave and saw the woman staked out on the ground. She was in a terrible state, naked, lying in excrement that had long dried, and had festering wounds all over her dark brown skin. And her hair was like a halo of mad wire around her head.
She screwed her eyes shut.
“The light,” she gasped.
“Point them away,” Zhukov said and knelt beside her. “Are you Ally Bennet?”
She nodded and tears began to run down her cheek. “Is this a dream?” she whispered.
Zhukov pulled a knife. “No, we were sent to rescue you. Can you move?”
He cut the binding, and she slowly pulled her limbs in. She nodded. “They took me out for exercise. I’m weak, but I can move.”
Zhukov helped her sit up, and she held onto hi
m. “Give me a second.”
She drew in deep breaths, and Zhukov tried hard not to be repelled by the smells coming off her.
“Up you get, Ms. Bennet. We need to go, quickly.”
She got unsteadily to her feet and rubbed the raw marks on her wrists. Doctor Valentina draped a thin blanket over her shoulders and Ally held it closed.
“What day is it? The date?” Ally blinked but kept her eyes as slits.
“December 15. You’ve been missing for eight months.” He remembered what the report said they would have kept her alive for. “Are there… are there offspring?”
She shook her head. “No, I can’t have children due to a childhood accident.” She faced him without opening her eyes but gave him a brown-toothed smile. “They would have killed me soon when I didn’t produce. Then eaten me.”
As they eased her out of the small cave, Fradkov’s mouth dropped open.
“Fuck… she’s alive.” He frowned. “Barely.”
Zhukov growled. “Shut up, fool.”
Valentina began to press the American woman’s arms and feel her pulse.
“No time for that.” Zhukov clicked his fingers at Fradkov who turned quickly and then grimaced from the wound in his shoulder. “The spare clothing, quick now.”
Fradkov shunted his pack to the ground and pulled free a drawstring bag which had a caving suit, like the ones they wore, as well as boots. They’d already known her size from the American notes. But Zhukov knew with the weight she had lost, it would still swim on her.
“Get this on, quick now.”
“Wait.” Valentina quickly pulled a face-wiping rag from her pack and doused it in water. She quickly wiped the woman’s face, under her arms. “Turn around,” she said.
Ally did as asked, and the doctor splashed more water on the rag and wiped her bottom and backs of legs free from most of the dried excrement.
“That’ll have to do.” Valentina flung the rag away.
“Thank you,” Ally said softly as she took the suit. She began to slide a leg into it. “I want a gun as well.”
Zhukov tilted his head. “Are you sure you’re—?”