by F. E. Hubert
temple. The sun burned hot by the time they reached the steps that led up to the entrance. Kim sat down on the bottom tread and wiped her face on her sleeve, waving her hat for some cool air. Jake crouched in front of her and offered her a drink from his water flask.
“Gonna be a hot one.”
Kim just nodded. Looking up over her shoulder, she could just make out the stone lintel on top of the doorway.
“I’ll radio the camp if they found him.”
Because then there would be no need for her to go inside again. She read it on his face when he turned to get the military issue walkie-talkie out of his bag. It made her feel warm that he thought of her, even when the real danger threatened someone else.
From his half of the conversation, she quickly picked up that they hadn’t found Hadwick, or any clue where he might have gone. Jake rang off and wiped his face again, frowning up at the stone structure on top of the hill.
Making herself be braver than she felt, she got up and stepped up on the stairs.
“We better go and see if he’s up there then.”
The appreciation on Jake’ face was reward enough to get her up the rest of the crumbling stone slope.
Even though they were still outside, the air around the temple felt cooler. The trees grew up close to it, leaving it in the permanent shade of the dense rainforest. Jake knelt next to his pack, lighting a lamp and checking the oil.
“You stay out here.”
He held the radio out for her to take.
“That would be stupid.” She said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“No,” He shook his head. A moment later he laughed, a guilty grin made his face more than handsome. “Okay, maybe yes. But I’ll be going into parts that haven’t been cleared yet. It could be dangerous.”
“Wouldn’t that make it extra stupid to go in alone?” She cocked an eyebrow, wanting him to have a solid reason for her not to go inside, but at the same time knowing she had to go anyway. Hadwick came to get her when she was lost and now she would return the favour.
“It’s not as simple as that,” He stopped holding the radio out to her, though.
“Cocky as it may sound, I know what I’m doing. You don’t. We can’t afford to get lost in there.” Seeing her stubborn expression, he sighed.
“We have no idea what kind of traps might be set up in the tunnels deeper in, it really could be dangerous.”
“How many of those do we have?” She asked, pointing at the walkie-talkie and ignoring all he said.
“Just the one, why?”
“Just thinking,” She pursed her lips, still thinking. “If we could leave one outside, then they could find us, following the signal.”
“Good plan, except for two things,” He smiled, but it held no amusement. “One, the signal will get so poor once were inside that they will fall over us before they hear us on it. Two, who’s going to follow us? Not my men. And, somehow, I doubt the professor and his mighty sidekicks are up to it. But, good thinking.”
“Okay,” She shrugged. “Then we’ll just have to go in by ourselves.”
“If you insist,” He sounded gruff, but Kim though he didn’t mind she wanted to come with him and help. He started to knot a rope and slung it around her hips, then attached the other end around his own hips. “But you wear this. So I can find you, if I lose you.”
Ignoring the blood that crept up in her cheeks, she gave the safety belt an experimental tug.
“What happens if one of us falls down in one of those traps of yours?”
“Let’s just make sure we don’t. But now that you mention it,” He handed her a gas lamp of her own. “Watch your step.”
Into the Temple
“Left or right?”
The two lamps lit the short entryway, the tunnel led to the left and the right at sharp angles. Black pits welcomed them on both sides. The feeling that something watched her, watched them, from under its cover, was back. She took another sip from the water flask to wet her suddenly dry throat. She took one step into the tunnel, the little bubble of light bobbed inside with her.
“What’s that?”
Jake stepped after her and crouched down, briefly touching her leg. She could feel the warmth of his skin through the fabric of her pants. His lamp illuminated the floor where she stood. By her feet, she saw one of their lamps.
“We didn’t leave our lamps...”
“Seems like we’re going in the right direction then,” Jake shone his light over the floor around the lamp, picked it up and shook it. “Still full. Wonder how far he got without it.” He rubbed his hands on his knees. Kim noticed he did that when he made decisions that took more than instinct. He looked at the two tunnels and rubbed his knees again.
She looked left, to the tunnel they were working in. Would Hadwick go back there for some reason? She turned to the right hand tunnel. Goose bumps jumped up on her arms. Would he go there? Maybe he saw something the day before. If he had a choice in where he went at all. She shook her head to get rid of the image of Hadwick, dragged into the darkness by some invisible horror.
“You sure you don’t want to stay out here?” Jake asked, lifting her chin so she looked up into his eyes. “You look a bit pale around the nose.” He touched the tip of her nose with his index finger.
“I...”
This was getting just too silly for words. He would probably think that she liked to exaggerate. Or maybe that she had a little touch of the old crazy. She took a deep breath.
“I have the feeling something’s watching us,” She raised her eyes to meet his. “It scares me.”
He looked at her with a serious expression and waited for her to finish her story. Warm relief flooded through her veins and now the words came easier.
“I know it’s silly. I saw you guys lift that slab of stone from the entrance with my own eyes. Nothing could have been in here since whenever they put that thing there and still be alive, could it?”
Jake stared at the wall in front of them. She wanted him to say that it was impossible, that of course nothing still lived in this ancient, dead temple. But the look of intense concentration on his face stopped her from rousing him from his thoughts.
“I’m a moron.” He said, and started digging in his pockets. When he found what he needed, he took a couple of steps into the left tunnel. A tiny flame sprang up from his hand. He looked at it for a moment, then shook his head and paced past her into the other side of the tunnel. She followed him in. For a moment she didn’t understand why he frowned at the flame dancing above the mouth of his lighter. Then she did.
“Draft!” She shook his arm to underline what she said. “That means there is another way in.”
“Or somebody left the toilet window open,” He took her hand. “Come on.”
The darkness tried to choke out the light of their lamps. She could feel it nibbling at the edge of the orange light behind her back, but when she turned to look, she saw only the empty tunnel. She didn’t know how long they walked down the tunnel, bend after bend, but she started to wonder how long the lamps would last. And, this she tried not to think about, what would happen if they ran out while they were still inside.
“Should I turn off my lamp?”
“No. I know what you’re thinking, but I don’t want you without a light if we get separated.” He gave her hand a comforting squeeze.
“There’s two spares in your pack.”
She let out a long breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.
“Then we should put one in yours,”
She used their momentum to stop and swing him around to face her. For a moment he looked annoyed, but the expression quickly made space for a smile.
“I brought Hadwick’s,” He stroked a stray curl from her forehead. “I’d rather you have the emergency back-up. Just in case.”
He tugged the rope that held her to him experimentally, when he looked back up, she could see the start of a smile. He opened his mouth to say something, when his
face went slack. She could see it go pale, even in the ruddy light of the gas lamps.
He saw something behind her. She started to turn around to see, but the stark horror on Jake’ face stopped her. She tried to swallow, but her throat locked tight. What could scare her hardy guide like this?
Before her mind could come up with an option or two, something touched the cloth of her shirt.
Jake snapped out of his stupor. Dragging her along, he ran. Corners and hallways followed in quick succession. Until now, Kim counted the turns, now she just ran. Ran as fast as she could. The cold temple air burned in her lungs when Jake finally slowed down.
“What...”
He shook his head. Looking behind them, he turned to a walk.
“Did it hurt you?”
She shrugged.
“I felt something,” She craned her neck to see her back. “Doesn’t hurt though.”
He moved so that he walked half a pace behind her.
“As long as this isn’t your favourite shirt, I think you’re good.”
His relaxed tone forced a laugh from her throat. It had a nasty echo against the wet tunnel walls, but it made her feel better.
“You still know where we’re going?”
She almost didn’t dare ask, because she didn’t want him to say that they were lost. “Well, we’re not going back there, that’s for sure,” He held out his lighter in the tunnel that branched away from the one they were in. The flame danced. “So I say we follow the draft until we find a way out.”
“Maybe we can break it, make it bigger?”
Both their gas lamps had stopped burning almost at the same time. By unspoken agreement,