The two girls proceeded to gather whatever they could find. There were notebooks, filled with indecipherable scribbled text, aerial photos, and Lidar imagery, none of which either of them felt competent enough to decipher on their own. They were also able to find a series of hand-drawn maps of the area, and a large red "X" drawn over the location Ruiz must have suspected the ruins of Chi Ubah Kan resided. Or where the next drop off what scheduled for. They couldn't say exactly which.
And that's when they both saw it, amid the carnage, and all of the chaotic clutter. It was the sat phone alright--their only means of calling out for help--dashed against a rock at the clearing's perimeter. Layla reached a trembling hand down to pick it up, and her heart sank as she traced a hand over the smashed screen, a back web of cracks that refused to illuminate, no matter how many times she tried to power it on.
"Well... we're well and truly screwed now, aren't we?" Becca laughed sarcastically.
"Don't say that! We're gonna be okay." Even as Layla was saying the words, she had dropped the phone back into the dirt and was instead fishing Ruiz's handheld GPS unit out of a nearby low hanging branch. She turned it over to check it and was pleased to see that it had not seen a similar fate as the sat phone. As she turned it on and began scrolling through the last used map data, Layla gave a weak smile in Becca's direction, for the first time since all of this had happened. "I... I think I know how we're at least going to get out of here."
"I'm all ears!" Becca replied, picking up and testing the sharpness of Ruiz's machete, which had been lying on the ground amid the rest of his possessions. She carefully wrapped the sharp blade in the remains of a partially shredded bandana, before sliding it into her pack.
Layla nodded in approval, before proceeding to divulge her plan, all the while flipping through Ruiz's notes to confirm. "So, the way I figure it, Alejandro's set to make his supply run for us tomorrow morning, right?" she pulled out the map with the big red X on it, "I think this X here is where Ruiz told him we're going to be. See... And the GPS coordinates he has scribbled here? They correspond to the ones in his handheld Garmin," She flashed the screen of the tiny device to Becca, who seemed impatiently less interested in the details, and more just ready to get on with it. Layla was unphased, and continued anyway, "So, if we can survive the night out here, alone, and if we can make it to this point on the map by tomorrow morning, then there's our ride!" Layla smiled, through gritted teeth, "And we can get the hell out of this goddamn jungle!"
The late afternoon sunlight was beginning to wane and shine in golds and oranges through the thick canopy. The two girls walked on through an unforgivingly hot and treacherous jungle. Knowing that they had no choice. Knowing that reaching the X on that map was their only real chance of survival at this point.
Layla sighed, and looked down at the pulsating point on the tiny screen of the GPS unit in her hand, as she heard the voice of Becca call up from behind. "Are we getting close?" She called up, in an exhausted, panting voice, "are you even sure that bloody thing is working right?"
"I'm pretty sure, yeah. It should be just up ahead," Layla responded, less than confidently, as she zoomed in and out slightly, before recentering on their current location.
"Good, cause I'm so ready to be out of this goddamn jungle!" Becca grumbled, and Layla certainly couldn't disagree.
This entire expedition, it was safe to say, did not go as planned, and at this point, their academic futures and professional experience were decidedly the last things on either of their minds. Layla wiped her brow and fanned the inside of her spaghetti strap top, which was damp with sweat and sticking to her weak and tired body. The heat and humidity had become nearly unbearable and seemed to flood in on all directions, with little in the way of relief. She reached into her pack and fished out her teal aluminum water bottle, shook it a bit to assess how near empty it actually was, before taking a much-needed drink anyway and handing it back in Becca's direction.
"No, I'm fine for now. Thanks," Becca replied to the gesture, giving a weak smile, before that smile again faded away, into the discomfort and despair this God-forsaken jungle had to offer.
Layla trudged on, as she limply returned the bottle to her pack, feeling pretty deflated herself. She turned to look worriedly back to Becca, who seemed to be fading a bit, and said, "y' know, from the aerial maps on the GPS, it looks like the jungle gets pretty thick up ahead. We can take a break if you need to..."
But to Layla's surprise, Becca was already pushing past her, while at the same time unsheathing the machete from her pack, snarling, "oh, screw that shit! I don't wanna be in this jungle another second!" She looked back and flashed that impish smile that Layla couldn't help but admire, "besides, I could stand to slice some shit up anyway!"
Layla laughed weakly and watched the girl take the lead, grunting in a therapeutic release of anger with every swing. She sighed and looked up into the verdant tree canopy. Dammit!... It'll be dark soon...and there's no way in hell I'm trekking through this goddamn jungle again in the dark! But as her gaze fell back to the GPS unit, all that dispelled in an instant.
"Becca, we're here!"
"What?"
"We're here! I mean... we're not here, but we're really, really close! We should be right on top of it!" Layla panned the area around where they were currently standing, and back down at the GPS to get her bearings. "Should be... right... about..." She fanned out her other hand, pointing wildly at the tree line, before finally settling on a point, "there! Right over that ridge, and through those trees up ahead!"
The girls scrambled up the ledge with newfound energy at the thought of their potential salvation. Of their looming rescue and escape from this unfolding nightmare. The rocks were slippery and seemed to give way with the slightest inclination. Still, they endured the treacherous ascent, bracing themselves with roots and vines, and whatever they could seem to get ahold of. As they reached the top of the ridge, an overwhelming feeling of relief overtook them both, as they pushed through the remaining leaves and branches. Not knowing what waited for them on the other side. Not knowing what could possibly be located at the big red X on the map, but knowing that whatever was there, that more than anything, it meant their best chance at salvation. It meant they would be going home.
"When we get out of here, the first thing we're gonna do, is the two of us are gonna hit up the nearest little shit hole Guatemalan dive bar, preferably one that has karaoke, and just get wasted on cheap margaritas and shots of Qutzalteca Especial," Becca joyfully ranted, in between winded gasps to catch her breath, "just a heads up... I might end up making out with you before the nights over, but who can say love!"
The two girls howled with much-needed laughter, and Layla blushed, before turning their attention back towards the ridgeline. "Look, let's just get out of here safely, and then we can go from there!"
However, as they crested the ridge, and Layla pushed the last of the wild vegetation aside, allowing Becca to step ahead and cut a path with the machete, they found that directly on top of the big red X, the trees opened up into... absolutely nothing. And all they were faced with was another empty clearing, that matched the pit in their stomachs.
"I HATE THIS GODDAMN JUNGLE!!!" Becca shouted upward, as she swung the machete angrily at a nearby branch. Her voice echoed through the trees, sending a flurry of birds scattering noisily from overhead.
"But... this doesn't make any sense! I mean we're right at the point on the map, and..." Layla's words were abruptly cut short, as her knees buckled, and she fell prone onto the dirt.
"I told you the man was a bloody quack! Leading us all the way out here for..." Becca was obliviously scanning the remainder of their surroundings, before she turned around and saw Layla on the ground, rushing to her aide, "Christ, Layla! Are you okay? What's wrong?"
Layla couldn't speak. The sweat poured from her temples, as the heat this time was overwhelming. But not the jungle heat. No, it was that terrible, familiar, warm heat, that was even now aggressive
ly jabbing at her from every side. Penetrating and overtaking her with one voice after another, till she felt as if she could hardly breathe. Calling out to be heard, in a language Layla didn't know, but for some reason could still understand.
"Layla? Talk to me, Layla! Are you alright?! Layla!" Becca, clearly terrified, and not knowing what was going on, was doing her best to help Layla get her unsteady footing. She held the girl up and tried desperately to shake Layla by the shoulders vigorously to snap her out of whatever this strange trance was.
"I... I can hear them!"
"Hear them? Hear who?" Becca anxiously asked, not knowing what was going on.
"I hear them... they're crying out to me..." Layla was striving to keep her own mental faculties, as she could feel her will threatening to break entirely, "... oh God, there's so many... so many of them... buried here!..."
"Who?! Who's buried here?!"
"The bodies... the ones they sacrificed for... Him... oh God, what they did to them... it was so horrible!..."
"How... how the hell would you even know something like that?" All of the colors had drained out of Becca's face, and she was backing away from Layla's writhing body.
Layla grabbed her head in her hands, and frantically pivoted and stumbled, panning the space for the source of the cacophony. They seemed to be coming from all around. Pleading, calling out in countless individual voices, all clamoring to be heard. Layla's head was swimming, and as she spun around again, where a moment ago there was nothing, she now saw a lone figure operate out of nothing. A figure she knew, all too well. It was James.
He was pale and stood with an unnatural rigidity. His shirt was torn, and a large stain of blood was centered on his chest, where his heart would have been. His breathing was rapid and labored. And his eyes, locked on Layla's, shone with a look of fear and desperation that shook Layla to her core.
Layla looked over at Becca, who still had a look of concern solely fixed on her, but nothing else. "Becca, don't you see him over there?"
Becca panned her gaze to space where James stood, with a look of confusion and concern. "Who... Who are you talking about? Who's over where?"
Layla was stunned. If she was the only one who could see James, it meant only one thing. Her eyes dropped to her own feet, and her heart immediately sank, as she saw the freshly dug pile of dirt beneath her hiking boots. She grabbed her mouth and winced, to suppress a scream. She didn't have to dig this time. She knew who was buried there.
Once Layla regained her composure, her eyes fell back onto James, who gave a slight smirk, and nodded solemnly. He panned to a large stone object, wrapped in vines at the opposite end of the clearing. His eyes moved from the object, and down to Layla's pack, splayed open where she'd dropped it on the jungle floor. Layla followed James's gaze to the pack, and then back to him, where she found his eyes, once again locked on her, with glazed urgency. James nodded again, and without missing a beat, began to deliver a message to Layla. His voice was hoarse and distorted, and Layla found she had to strain to decipher it, and let each word sink in.
"Becca... Becca, I just need you to trust me on this... I'll explain everything, I promise, just..." Layla's said this, as her gaze never left James, and her legs trembled, as she strained to remain on her feet, "he... they want to give me a message... can you write this down?"
Becca scrambled through Layla's fallen pack, and retrieved her red notebook and a pencil, "okay, fine, whatever... go ahead!"
Layla stumbled forward, and braced herself on the massive stone, which she could now see was a pillar, inscribed with Mayan symbols and more terrifying images of Kukulkan, devouring victims and spreading terror. She pushed the images from her mind and listened closely to the words she was being told. "They said, 'she awakes, 12 baktun, 19 katun, 12 tun, 8 uinal, 15 k'in...'" Becca looked confused as if the girl were speaking in tongues. Layla chided, weakly, "just... write it down... I don't know either." She took a deep, quivering breath, before continuing, " and they said, 'the beast... is locked away, and must never be awakened... Must never be released'... they said, 'the citadel, the entrance to Xibalba lies through the gateway...'" she looked up at the identical stone pillar, hidden and obscured by vines, across from the one she was leaning against, "'this gateway... and directly to the west...'"
And then, suddenly and inexplicably, it was silent in the clearing once again. Layla shut her eyes and grabbed her head, as she felt the unpleasant feelings begin to subside, and the sounds of the living jungle once again flooded back in. When she opened her eyes, she found her and Becca to be once again alone. The terrible and foreboding visage of James was nowhere to be seen. Layla's trembling gaze fell back to the mound of freshly dug dirt a few meters away and knew that this nightmare was more than real, and far from over. She ran her fingers across the glyphs of the pillar, as the setting sun through the web of trees cast an orange glow across the stone.
Giving a weak smirk, Layla though solemnly to herself, Okay, James... I hear you. She gazed absentmindedly out past the gateway, into the mess of trackless jungle, as she directed her words back to an expectant, and confused Becca, "... that's where we have to go, Becca. To the west. To Chi Ubah Kan. That's where all of this can finally be over."
"Layla, look... I'm gonna ignore the fact of your secret psychic ability to speak to the dead... we'll dive into that and unpack after margaritas and karaoke and... wait, is that how you've been cheating at UNO?... sorry, doesn't matter right now, I know..." Becca, who was clearly still working through the shock of it all, had walked over to help brace Layla, and sit her down in the brushy, "but I'm not going anywhere near that damn lost city bullshit! To what... stop some beast? Just because a bunch of dead Mayan wankers or whatever told you to? This has nothing to do with us at all, Layla, and..."
"Becca, this thing, whatever it is... I know it's what killed Lanie! Maybe James, too," she paused, before continuing, "I... I don't think I could ever forget those glowing yellow eyes!..." Layla shuddered, "we just... Becca, we can't let it happen to anybody else. We can't just let Lanie have died for nothing!"
"But she did die for nothing, and...!" Becca locked eyes with Layla's desperate tearful expression, and grumbled, defeated, "ugh!! Fine, whatever... which way do we go, again?"
Chapter 13
Secrets and Theories
Layla was able to eventually regain her faculties, as they stumbled to the west, with Becca feverishly blazing a trail ahead with the machete. With every therapeutic swing of the blade, she ranted on. "Margaritas... lots... and lots... of margaritas... I swear to God... if my name... doesn't end up... on a goddamn paper for all this... I... am gonna raise hell...!" But her ranting was cut short, as with one swing of the machete too many, the girls jumped back, finding themselves face to face with a monstrous, hulking beast, coming out of the jungle, with glowing, yellow eyes.
"Gah! Goddammit, that thing scared the shit out of me!!" Becca stood up, and angrily swung the broad side of the blade with a loud clang, onto what the both of them could now clearly see was another hulking stone statue, of what they now knew to be Kukulkan. Layla walked over to it slowly, remembering the first time she saw the beast, still trapped in stone, and tried to forget the second time. As it was dragging Lanie down to the depths of that cenote. The likeness was so very similar to the one she had stumbled upon the other night, and as Layla gingerly ran her fingers over the intricacy of the carvings, she truly could respect the power of such a creature.
Becca, however, was no longer looking at the statue, in wonder or anger, and instead was attempting to take Layla by the hand and lead her past it. "Layla..." her voice trembled, as she moved aside the remaining branches just past the statue, and pointed a slow and steady finger out, and then, up.
Before them stood a massive stone step pyramid, consumed and constricted by the jungle, though towering nearly thirty meters tall. The images of serpent heads flanked the steep stone steps on all sides, all the way up to the top of the structure, where the sun glinted,
golden and fading, from just behind its apex. On all sides, the pyramid was towered above smaller stone buildings and ruins, all in varying states of decay and disarray, by time and the elements. Still, the majesty of these long-forgotten relics was hard to ignore.
"It's... Chi Ubah Kan...!" Layla trailed off, remembering again why it was she was drawn to archaeology in the first place, "and that must be the citadel!"
Becca, however, seemed far less reverent and patient at the moment. "Oh, d' ya think?! Y' mean the gigantic massive pyramid, just rising up out of the bleeding jungle... that citadel?!"
Layla laughed, in spite of herself, and sighed loudly, saying, "yes, smartass... that one." Realizing she was still holding Becca's hand, she released it quickly, playing off the embarrassment, before pushing through the matter. "Okay come on, we can make it to the top before nightfall..."
"You cannot be serious... you want us to climb to the top of that damn thing?" Becca stammered, her eyes craning skyward, "do I look like a goddamn spider monkey?!"
But Layla had already started her ascent, hand over hand, calling down playfully in between taking breaths, "Oh, come on... it's not that bad... I bet James could do it..."
"Layla... dammit!..." Becca groaned, before finally giving in and shouting, "Gaaahhh!! Fine!!" And beginning to climb as well.
Despite her head start, Layla found Becca had no problem keeping up with her speed and was actually closing the distance, as the two of them stumbled and grappled for the top. The sun had already set, and twilight was beginning to cast long and meandering shadows all around them, giving the massive stone steps the appearance of a powerful serpent, slinking its way down the gargantuan pyramid. The two were no longer laughing. No longer exchanging playful banter. No, with the onset of darkness looming, they seemed anxious as ever to reach the shelter of the citadel's interior, and figure out whatever they needed to do to end this nightmare.
The Dark Spirits Beneath Page 8