Return To The Center Of The Earth

by Return To The Center Of The Earth (epub)

  “Good idea.”

  He tied the other end around her wrist.

  “There,” Mike said. “You’re not getting away from me again.”

  The pair went and stood underneath the gravity well and could feel the charge in the air. Mike leaned down to her and Jane lifted her chin. He kissed her gently on the lips.

  “Whatever happens, it happens together,” Jane said. “We’re going to make it.”

  “And only a few thousand more miles to go.” He smiled.

  “Is that all?” Jane grabbed his hand and then bent her knees. “Count of three, two, one…”

  They jumped.

  CHAPTER 35

  Dreams of endless blue water, golden sunshine, and the smell of freshly mown grass. Chocolate ice cream at the beach, glasses of chilled wine with beads of condensation running down their sides. Bunches of white roses in antique blue vases, full moons and shooting stars.

  Jane smiled in her sleep and felt more content than she had in months. It was only the tug on her arm that roused her, and for a while she refused to let go of the wonderful dreams, moaning her displeasure.

  “Hey, get ready,” Mike whispered. “Something’s up ahead.”

  “Huh?” She snapped fully awake, remembering where she was. “Shit.” She fumbled for the small box containing the bug. Mike undid their hands, but held onto her.

  Up ahead, there was a growing blue glow, and in the next seconds they began to slow, and then stopped to hang in space above the dark hole of the gravity well.

  There was blood everywhere. Fresh blood.

  There were also clothing fragments, shattered crystals, and some wooden possessions. Some of the items looked only months old and others looked centuries old.

  Mike and Jane swam to the side. Mike sniffed. “Cordite.”

  “What happened here?” Jane held her gun and panned it around.

  “I can only guess based on the gun smoke still in the air and fresh blood. The clothing and possessions must have belonged to the older red people who ascended to what they thought was their heaven to meet up with their spiritual ancestors. Instead, they had their real-life ancestors waiting for them, and they didn’t get the welcome they expected.”

  “Horrifying. They found themselves in a nightmare instead.” She turned to him. “These things, Harris’ dog people, learned to wait here for a free and easy meal.”

  He nodded. “But then Harris and Ally turned up, a much more ferocious and formidable species. By the amount of blood, I’d say they put holes in dozens of them.”

  “But no bodies,” Jane said. “And no Harris or Ally.”

  “No, and I hope that means Harris and Ally scattered them, and maybe later more of the creatures returned to carry away their dead.” Mike did a quick walk around, picking up some of the larger crystals. “We’ll use these while we can. But remember, now we’re away from the interior, they’ll start to fade. So we have to try and save our flashlight batteries.”

  There was only one cave exit. “We need to start climbing and look for a way up into the Gadime cave system.”

  Jane turned to the dark cave mouth. “One more climb, one more climb.” She turned and her lips were pressed flat for a moment. “Did I tell you I damn well hate caving now?”

  “You and me both.” Mike took her hand. “Come on.”

  Inside they immediately smelled the rank odor of acrid urine and knew what it meant.

  They didn’t want to, but both of them used their flashlights as well as the crystals, shining them in every nook, cranny, and crevice of the cave. Just until we get out of this danger zone, Mike promised himself.

  Both Mike and Jane crept along, as silently as was humanly possible. They knew this was next to useless against something that hunted using sound and vibrations. But what it did do was allow the pair to pick up the faintest noises. And just ahead there was a skittering sound, and then the sound that filled Mike with dread.

  Tock.

  He grabbed Jane and they both froze to the spot. “Up there,” he mouthed.

  Jane turned to him. “We can’t go back. No choice.” She lifted her gun and put one foot in front of the other as she continued on.

  The cave narrowed in a choke, and then the hollow echoes told them the cave probably opened up. It would be the perfect ambush spot.

  “They’re waiting in there; I know it,” Jane said and pulled out the tiny wooden box that contained the bug. She placed a hand over the top momentarily.

  “Please be alive,” she said softly. And then lifted the lid.

  The sonic squeal smashed out into the cave, and from inside the large cavern ahead of them there was an explosion of noise and movement. They heard dozens of bodies scrambling and falling over one another.

  “Come on, while it lasts,” Jane said and ran forward, holding out the shrieking beetle.

  *****

  After two more days, the beetle had died, even though they hadn’t used it for many hours.

  Then after four days, their crystals began to fade, and so too their halo of light.

  Next day their food ran out, and their remaining water was now just a warm dreg.

  On the route they’d chosen, they saw no more signs of the translucent, dog-like creatures, the ancestors, and worryingly, no sign at all of Harris or Ally passing this way.

  Mike and Jane stopped momentarily when they thought they heard something like distant gunfire. The soft thundering went on for ages, but it was so far away and so defrayed by the billions of tons of rock and countless miles of labyrinthine tunnels that there was no way of knowing whether it was up, down, ahead, or behind them.

  On the sixth day of ascending they came across a stream, clean and clear, and drank their fill. In its black depths tiny, blind fish like tiny neon lights flitted back and forth. With their food long run out, Mike’s stomach growled. They were too small for a meal, and he couldn’t yet bring himself to try and catch one of the living jewels.

  “Look.” Jane pointed.

  There was something like a large cockroach with extremely long legs poised at the edge of the stream, also watching the fish.

  She snorted softly. “Damon Diadema, the whip scorpion.” She grinned. “Predator species; they live in caves, but, not always.” She looked up at him. “Do you know what that means?”

  Mike shook his head. “Something good I hope,” he croaked.

  “Oh yeah.” She nodded. “They don’t stay in caves, so we must be close to an exit.”

  Mike looked back at the weird thing all covered in spikes and with stilt-like legs. He pointed at it. “Count yourself lucky, buster. I was about to eat you.”

  They continued on, heading ever upward, along narrow paths on the edge of towering cliff walls, crossing stone bridges over bottomless dark pits, and through holes that narrowed so much they needed to wriggle on their bellies.

  Soon their crystals were totally exhausted and only Jane’s flashlight carried a weak orange glow. But they experienced something that they hadn’t in months: a cool breeze.

  Jane closed her eyes and filled her lungs. “Smell that?”

  Even in the near-total darkness, Mike saw her broad white smile. He grinned and returned the smile. “Yeah, I do; smells like freedom.”

  After edging around a massive cliff drop, they followed another small cave stream for several more miles until it ended at a wall of rock that was dangling with long translucent pearls of some sort of lichen or waterweed.

  “Shit,” Jane said. “Dead end.”

  Mike came closer. “Lift up the light.” Water seeped from behind it, but when Mike held up his hand, he felt the coolness of a breeze on his fingertips. “There’s something behind here.” He used the butt of his knife to pound against it. He turned to her. “Got any dynamite?”

  She turned about. “We didn’t come this far for nothing.” She found what she was looking for: a stone the size of a bowling ball.

  “Who needs dynamite?” She handed Mike the flashlight and the
n bent to pick it up and shakily lift it above her head. She then slammed it into the cave wall. It impacted and broke apart.

  Jane nodded, satisfied by the dent it made. “Your turn, Hercules.”

  Mike found an even larger rock and used his upper body and shoulders to slam it forward so hard, it struck like a cannonball.

  The rock wall dented and also cracked at the seep lines. More water flowed.

  “Well done,” Jane said. “Just a few more.”

  After several more, Mike held up a hand and turned back to the dark cave behind them. He waited and listened for a while after the echoes of their rock strikes died down. Was there the sound of furtive movement? he wondered.

  After another full minute, he shook his head.

  He lifted another boulder, slammed it against the wall, and then lifted another. He staggered a little. “Phew, I’m about beat.”

  “Want me to take over?” Jane asked.

  “Nah, I got this.” He turned away and closed his eyes for a moment to settle himself. After days of no food and general fatigue he didn’t have many reserves left and he felt dizzy as all hell.

  Mike shifted the rock in hands that were now rough and abraded. “We better be careful; there might be water behind there,” he said and hefted the stone to his shoulder.

  He threw boulders again and again, and on Mike’s fourth throw, the wall exploded out at them, followed by a wall of dark water.

  The freezing torrent pushed them back to skid and slide down the tunnel for hundreds of feet before its surge abated.

  Mike thought that whatever waters were behind the cave wall must have come from a fairly shallow pool, and thankfully not a river. Otherwise they could be washed for miles, or over one of the towering cliffs they had just scaled.

  “Jane,” Mike said softly. He still had her flashlight, meaning she was somewhere in total darkness. “Jane!” Mike shifted, becoming panicked. “Where are you?”

  She coughed wetly. “Here.”

  He turned the flashlight to her voice but the light was too weak to pick her out. He jumped to his feet and headed to where he thought she had called.

  “Keep talking,” Mike said. “And don’t move.”

  “Here,” Jane said again.

  Mike found her just twenty feet from the dismal drop-off they had skirted not more than an hour ago. If the water’s surge had been a little stronger, or Jane a few pounds lighter, she would have been washed over the edge.

  Following his light, she came to him and held on for a moment. She was cold and wet, and shivered. She looked up at him. “Give me some good news; what did we break through into?”

  “Let’s find out.” He held her hand and they quickly went back to the seeping cave wall. Now it was a gaping hole, and through it they could smell a faint odor of ozone; some sort of old arc lighting.

  “Nearly there.” He pulled her with him.

  In another hour they found an ancient cage elevator usually used for mining, but still in use at the very bottom of the Gadime cave system.

  He laid a hand on it, rubbed the rusting steel and then turned to her. “It’s real.” He lifted the cage door. “After you, my lady.”

  She entered and turned to him. “Top floor, please.”

  He closed the cage gate. “Going up; next floor, women’s hosiery, haberdashery, and silk pillows.” He pressed the button, and the elevator clunked and then responded by lifting off.

  It ferried them to the upper levels of the Gadime, where tourists are usually allowed. Exiting, they continued by foot, and then in mere hours more they were walking up a neat, stone pathway.

  The upper level of the Gadime cave was known as the Marble cave, and enjoyed by tourists during the summer months when it was accessible. Mike and Jane climbed the concrete ramp and came to a pair of glass doors, which seemed incongruous after what they’d been through after so many months.

  Jane stopped before it. “It doesn’t seem real,” she breathed.

  “It is.” Mike pulled it open. “Your carriage awaits.”

  Jane laughed and went through. Inside the well-lit room there was a man in his fifties with salt and pepper eyebrows, probably a tour guide sitting at a desk. His eyes widened as he saw the unexpected and very disheveled pair of strangers emerge from the cave.

  His mouth hung open momentarily as he looked them up and down; they were nothing but a pair of skin-and-bones strangers emerging off-season from the cave, dressed in rags, covered in dirt and open wounds.

  Mike and Jane slumped into chairs, and Mike turned to the guard. “Two cheeseburgers and coke to go. Plus a couple of bus tickets.”

  The man’s frown lightened a little, and the Kosovan obviously spoke a little English. He straightened, still confused, but ever the professional.

  “Ah, did you enjoy our cave tour?” he asked.

  Mike and Jane looked at each other and then began to laugh. They continued laughing until tears ran down their cheeks, and then they simply leaned forward to hug each other, and continued to let the tears flow.

  EPILOGUE

  There came a single sob from deep within the impenetrable darkness.

  Ally’s arms and legs were broken, but still tied and spread wide. Raw meat had been stuffed into her mouth a while back and she immediately vomited it up knowing what it was.

  “He-eeeelp! He-eeeelp.”

  She sobbed again. But knew no one would come. She and Harris had been set-upon and besieged, for hours, until their ammunition had been exhausted. They had run and tried to hide, but the things found them. Probably the smell of their fear alone had been like a beacon in the darkness.

  Eventually, Harris had gone down under the weight of their final attack, and then she was brought down, using her blade to slash one way and then the other at the pale and greasy bodies that flew past to strike and scratch at her, though just tormenting her, and not wanting to kill her.

  But it was different for Harris. They had fallen on him with tooth and claw, and then dragged them both back to their lair.

  She was stripped, hobbled, and bound, and then she was forced to listen to Harris’ screams as he was torn limb from limb. The sound of ripping flesh, tearing tendons, and then breaking bones had sickened her soul. But it was nothing compared to when she heard the feasting begin.

  Over the fetid smells of ammonia, body odor, and shit, she smelled the coppery tang of fresh blood.

  They tried to stuff more food in her mouth but she kept her teeth jammed closed and turned her head away. She just thanked God she couldn’t see.

  How long would they keep her alive? she wondered. Until she gave birth, again and again, she knew.

  “Kill me.” She screamed. “Kill me-eeee!”

  She heard them coming back and she called out for Mike and Jane, pleading with them to come for her, and begging forgiveness for not waiting for them.

  Finally, she just called for her mother.

  Another of the slimy beasts fell upon her to begin its frantic rutting. Ally wanted to die. But she knew her time in Hell had only just begun.

  END

  Read on for a fee sample of The Lost Island

  Chapter One

  “Honestly, I thought it would be colder,” Lerner said.

  Eccleston snorted. “What part of ‘we’re able to explore the Arctic Circle easier because the ice caps are melting’ didn’t you understand when we were going into this?”

  “Don’t be a smartass,” Lerner said from behind the tight scarf over her face. The two of them were standing on the deck of the Deacon, a research ship owned by the Skurzon Corporation, and despite Dr. Rachel Lerner’s observation, they were both chilled to the bone. But despite a cold that was many times deeper than any of the winters Dr. Bruce Eccleston had experienced growing up in southern Iowa, he knew exactly what she was talking about. The Deacon was on a surveying mission in the Arctic, investigating areas where the general warming trend around the globe had opened up new passages in the ice, and consequently new places
where the Skurzon Corporation could drill beneath the sea for oil. While most of the people on the ship were general hands and direct employees of Skurzon, Lerner and Eccleston were part of the science team, with Lerner as a geologist and Eccleston as a biologist. Lerner’s reason for being on the ship was obvious, while Eccleston was honestly just there so the Skurzon Corporation could say they did their due diligence in making sure local wildlife wasn’t harmed as the corporation raced against others to tap all the freshly opened resources of the region. This wasn’t the first time he’d been paired with Lerner, and they worked well together. It also wasn’t the first time he’d been on a vessel in the Arctic Circle, and he had to admit something felt odd about the trip this time around.

  “You’re right,” Eccleston said. “Something feels off about this area. The temperature, if I had never been here before I don’t think it would seem strange.”

  Neither of them had much to do at the moment, and during these downtimes they often went for a walk on the deck no matter how cold it was. It was better than being cooped up in their cabins when their scientific expertise wasn’t needed. They did it often enough that other members of the crew joked that it was their version of dates, but neither of the two scientists had any romantic interest in the other. They weren’t alone on the deck at the moment, with several ship hands going about their duties, as well as Captain Ernest Nest and Skurzon representative Lyle Gruber quietly discussing something between themselves not too far away. Eccleston liked Nest a fair amount, but he hated Gruber. Gruber, along with his assistant John Macklemore, were basically just on the trip as pencil pushers making sure that no one spent more of Skurzon’s money and resources than was absolutely necessary. He had no idea what the two of them were talking about, but Nest had a pained and long-suffering look on his face that often happened to anyone that Gruber bitched at to pinch pennies tighter.