by Greig Beck
Ben’s head swam, and he crawled and dragged himself under a huge palm frond, hoping he was concealed as he spun away into unconsciousness.
CHAPTER 28
The trek was slow, arduous, and hampered by the thick tangle of vines, bracken-like fern fronds, and the occasional hooked thorn that punctured even their tough jungle clothing. It was also slowed by their caution, as Drake would ease through the tangle, rather than hack his way.
Fergus was taking his turn out at point and was first into the clearing. “Ho-oooly shit.” He turned and pointed out the obvious.
“This is bullshit.” Ajax’s lip curled as he also stared. “This doesn’t make sense; there were people back then? I thought that evolution stuff told us humans didn’t appear until only a few thousand years ago.”
“Millions actually. In fact, 4.4 millions,” Andy added.
Fergus turned to Emma. “This can’t be real.”
The building was ancient, massive stone blocks, columns and mighty carvings, but now eroded and beginning to crumble.
“I’m guessing it can and it can’t be,” Drake said. “Just like us being here can’t be real.”
“He’s right,” Emma agreed. “The way we climbed up originally began in a secret passage in a structure like this. The locals, perhaps the Pemon’s ancestors, knew about this place and the wettest season. We think they’d been coming up here for hundreds or maybe even thousands of years and feeding the creatures.”
“Magnificent,” Helen remarked. “Of course they’d feed them, by sacrificing themselves to them. But in their minds, they were honoring them. And if they built this, even the hardest of stones would weather down to nothing by the time it became our present time.”
Once again, on each side of the doorway was the coiled behemoth strangling another mighty creature.
“The gargoyles—the snake and the beast,” Andy said. “Their god of gods.”
“So where are they now?” Ajax asked. “The people, I mean.”
Emma snorted softly. “Ever heard that expression about feeding the crocodile, in the hope it’ll eat you last?” She turned to him. “I’m betting it finally got around to eating them.”
“Are they the same as the ones you encountered on the jungle floor?” Drake asked.
Emma nodded slowly. “The same basic form; the same Amerindian style, part Aztec, part Mayan, part Olmec. But there were also glyphs and carvings that were nothing like either.” She narrowed her eyes. “But these statues are a little more rough-hewn, and that might be because they were constructing them in an environment a million times more hostile, and so might have been a little rushed.”
Helen nodded. “It’s not really my field, but I’d bet money on them being the same.”
“Good,” Drake replied.
They peered out from behind their curtain of foliage across the clearing. Hidden insects buzzed, chirruped, and hummed in the undergrowth and also in the thick canopy overhead. Bars of sunshine threw down columns of light between the trees, and the occasional leathery-winged creature darted from tree branch to tree branch above them.
Drake and Fergus used their binoculars to get a close-up view of the temple structure, while Ajax watched their backs. Emma did the same, but Drake noticed she seemed to be more interested in scanning the treetops.
The Special Forces soldier looked for unusual shapes, colors, or anything out of the ordinary. The problem was, to his modern brain, everything in this place was out of the ordinary.
“I got nothing,” Fergus said, and he did another sweep.
“I don’t like it. Why don’t we just go around it?” Ajax said over his shoulder. “Stay low, stay in cover. We ain’t here for sightseeing anyway.”
“What? No way we don’t look.” Andy looked appalled.
“We’re going to check it out.” Drake lowered his glasses.
“Is it safe?” Camilla asked. “I mean, I’m professionally curious, but have we got time for this?”
“We don’t have time to not investigate it.” Drake turned to Emma. “You said that the ruins on the jungle floor had a secret cave that led up here. Do you think there’s a chance at all that these ruins have a similar cave vent that leads back down?”
“Maybe, why not? For all we know, the Pemon found other ways to the top of the plateau and built their temples over them.” She hiked her shoulders. “But I’m not the expert.”
“That’s good enough for me,” Drake said. “Finding Ben is our mission objective. But staying alive and getting home takes precedence over anything else. So we check it out.”
Something slammed into the treetops over their heads. Guns were immediately pointed upward, and the suspects were flying things that could have been bats that skimmed awkwardly from treetop to branch. Could have been bats, in that their wings were noisy, and they landed clumsily. But that’s where the comparison ended, as they were emerald green, and had long heads with a knob on the back to balance out a long serrated beak in front.
In addition, they didn’t sing or even squawk. These varieties made a tock noise that sounded like metal on a hollow log. They turned their heads sideways to regard the humans with interest, and maybe a little hunger.
“They’re not birds,” Andy said. “Smaller cousins of the thing that attacked our balloon.” He grinned up at them. “Probably scavengers.”
“I bet they taste like chicken,” Fergus said.
Suddenly, the constant background noise of the jungle was shut off as completely as if someone had flicked a switch. The group turned about.
“What just happened?” Fergus slowly lifted his weapon.
“Not good,” Helen spoke softly in a silence where even the insects had gone quiet.
Drake scanned along the jungle’s edge, trying to see in past the first long line of foliage. The group started to bunch up, like a small herd of animals pulling in close to the pack.
At first, Drake could hear or see nothing, but then he began to feel it—like the jungle was suddenly holding its breath. He’d been on a mission in the Congo, when a big cat started to stalk them one night. Same thing happened. It was like the creatures of the jungle shut down, all hoping that it was the other guy being stalked and not them.
“Predators in the vicinity,” Helen whispered.
“Oh, fucking great,” Ajax spat. “I’ve changed my mind; I think we should take a look in that temple thing after all.”
“No, not yet.” Andy’s eyes were round. “Let’s wait and see if whatever it is just passes us by.”
“And if it doesn’t, we’re exposed as all hell out here,” Fergus countered.
“I think defensive cover would be a bonus right now.” Drake pointed. “We should also change Juan’s bandages. He’s leaking.”
Juan looked down and saw that his arm was stained a dark red-brown again. “It itches.”
“Yeah, that’s a good sign,” Ajax said, chuckling.
“Means it’s healing?” Juan asked, hopefully.
“Nah, means it’s probably infected,” Ajax scoffed, but then grinned. “But don’t worry; we have the skills to perform a rapid field amputation if necessary.”
Juan paled and gripped his arm.
“Shut it, Lieutenant,” Drake said with a scowl.
Ajax continued to laugh cruelly as he turned back to peer at the temple ruins.
Emma also looked at the man’s arm with concern, and then back at him with her lips pressed flat. Drake bet he knew why—the smell of his blood would draw predators like flies to crap.
“We move.” Drake eased his head around. “On my word; Fergus, ten feet forward, left flank. Ajax ten feet, right. Everyone else, close in tight, single-file up the center. I’ll bring up the rear. We stay low, fast, and quiet.”
A single twig snapped just a dozen feet out to their left. Then some tree branches shook a little on their other side.
Fergus eased his gun around. “Boss, we’re about to be surrounded.”
“Yep, time’s up. Foc
us on the temple, nowhere else.” Drake took one last look around. “3, 2, 1…go!”
Fergus and Ajax shot out to the left and right, guns up. Everyone else was in the center with Drake behind.
As Drake sprinted, he could sense the eyes on them. He hoped they were nothing oversized but couldn’t help feeling this was like a kill box. Then the jungle exploded around them.
What he at first thought were muscular ostriches came bursting from the jungle on three sides. Except instead of feathers, their skin looked warty and rough, blotched with green, brown, and some red. Their legs were heavily muscled and small arms ended in talons. They were only about six feet tall, but dozens were piling out and moving faster than they were, making a weird hissing rattle in their throats.
“Move it!” Drake yelled.
He turned and let loose a short spray with his M4—his bullets pumped into two of the hunters and they immediately went backward, blown off their feet. The others just accelerated.
“Engage!” he fired again.
Fergus and Ajax lay down controlled bursts, the professional soldiers never missing. The hissing rattle got louder as the theropods closed the gap.
They were still 50 feet out from the wide-open temple doorway, and Drake began to doubt they’d all make it. They were heavily outnumbered, and he turned again, and noticed the creatures were now only a dozen feet behind him. They ran like roadrunners, necks pointed arrow-straight at him as they leaned forward with their whip-like tails pointed out behind them for balance.
Their small red eyes were almost luminous with excitement, and their open mouths showed backward-curving teeth like a band saw. Drake wondered what the bite would be like—would it shred flesh and rip it from the bone, or would the bite be powerful enough to simply sever an arm or leg?
He turned, running sideways, and took out two more that had been so close. He could even hear their ragged breathing. At just 20 feet from the doorway, he turned to fire again, expecting to see them basically at his neck.
Drake slowed. “What the hell?”
The creatures had veered off and given up the chase. His group were now safely inside the temple, and Ajax and Fergus took a position up on each side of the doorway.
Drake stood on the front steps, breathing hard. The pack of carnivores melted back into the jungle. He jogged up the steps, and he turned at the doorway again, gun up and pointed back the way they’d come. Nothing followed them.
Weird, he thought. They basically had them and gave up. He looked inside and saw his people lying on the stones, sucking in deep breaths.
“Yeah.” Ajax grinned. “We kicked their ass, man.” He whooped and lifted his gun. “Don’t mess with modern man, you fucking big-ass lizards.”
Drake let his eyes drift to the walls of the jungle. “I don’t get it. They had us dead to rights. But they gave up.”
“Superior firepower tends to do that to an enemy.” Ajax fist-bumped Fergus.
“They’re not our enemy,” Helen said. “They’re just doing what nature intended.”
“Something spooked ‘em,” Drake said.
“Us,” Fergus added.
“Hey, maybe they’re superstitious.” Andy laughed softly, and moved further inside, pausing at carvings, crouching to examine something here and there, or just marveling at the architecture.
Drake watched him for a moment before examining the arched doorway. Then he noticed what was scattered about on the ground.
“This opening had a door once, I think.”
On either side of the framework, huge blocks were tumbled away. Also, what looked like to have once been wooden logs. There were signs in the rotted wood that they had been lashed together, but they fell to dust when he touched them with his boot.
Emma crouched. “I don’t think this was a door. More like a barricade.”
Ajax snorted. “A barricade? Well, didn’t work, did it? Whatever they tried to keep out just came on in anyway.”
“Last stand,” Fergus said ominously.
“Yeah, well…” Drake attached a flashlight to the barrel of his M4. “Whatever went down happened a lo-oooong time ago.”
“There are no remains,” Helen said. “Maybe they got away.”
“Or maybe they got eaten, whole,” Ajax replied.
“Those blocks have gotta weigh at least five hundred pounds each. Whatever pushed them in probably wasn’t the size of a brush turkey, right?” Fergus said. “Or even the size of those things that took a run at us.”
“Yeah, had to be something real powerful,” Drake agreed. “But the doorway isn’t that big.”
“Maybe not big, but long,” Andy said from the dark interior. “Look.”
Everyone turned toward him.
“They worshipped them,” Andy said, standing before a statue in an alcove.
“Jesus Christ.” Drake felt a chill in the pit of his stomach.
The statue was of a giant snake, 10 feet high, leering down on them. Its eyes glittered green in the light of their flashlights.
“Hey, shit, are they emeralds?” Ajax crossed to the statue and stared up at it. He pointed, grinning. “I think they’re emeralds; big as damned golf balls, man.”
“Leave ‘em,” Drake said.
“The hell I will.” Ajax pushed his gun up over his shoulder and drew his blade. He turned. “Hey, Fergus, gimme a leg up.”
“Nah, man. I’m superstitious. Leave me out.” He turned away.
“Fuck you then; more for me.” He went around the back and scaled up the body of the snake and crawled on the neck out toward the head. He pulled his blade from its scabbard and reached forward to dig into one of the eye sockets for a few seconds. The gem popped free and fell to the ground. He did the same with the second eye.
Camilla picked one up that had rolled toward her.
“That’s mine,” Ajax said quickly as he slid off the statue and dropped to the ground.
“You’re welcome to it.” She held it up, turning it in the beam of her flashlight. “I’ve got good news and bad news.” She faced the young soldier. “The good news is, it is a gemstone.” She tossed it to him. ‘The bad news is, it’s not emerald. I think its aquamarine, and quite common in South America. It’s a good one though.”
“So, worth something then?” Ajax refused to be put off.
“Sure; the big ones, I’m guessing a few hundred dollars, maybe even a few thousand.”
“Damn.” He shrugged. “Better than nothing.” He tucked them into a pouch on his leg. “At least I’ll have something to show from this hell jungle.”
“One person’s heaven is another person’s hell,” Andy said, staring up at the carvings in the wall. He turned. “The natives found a way to ascend to heaven, here, to pay homage to their gods.”
Emma joined him. “In the previous temple we found, it depicted human sacrifice. I think they were trying to buy these creatures off.”
Andy nodded as a few of the group crowded around. “This temple is already thousands of years old and looks abandoned for maybe that much time again. But just imagine it.” He scoffed. “Them finding this place. It would have confirmed all their prayers, legends, and fears.”
“And nightmares,” Helen added. “The Mayans, Aztecs, Olmecs, many of the ancient races of this area had sophisticated calendar systems. They would have been able to predict when the time was right to ascend.” Helen folded her arms. She turned to them. “One more thing. A lot of these ancient races also thought Heaven was down, and Hell was up. So maybe it wasn’t gods they were trying to appease.”
“But demons,” Andy added softly, staring up at the wall. There were images of small figures kneeling on the ground. A monstrous snake was bending to consume one. Andy blew air between his lips. “I’m guessing here, but it looks like at first, they gave themselves over willingly.”
“Perhaps it was an honor,” Emma said.
“Some honor. Poor saps.” Andy frowned. “I’m happy just getting a participation ribbon in the 100 das
h.”
The next image showed the figures setting fires and the beasts being driven back. “The beautiful relationship came to an end.”
“Feeding them just brought more to the dinner table,” Emma observed. “So they finally decided to keep them out of the house. Or try to.”
“Then they must have tried to seal the entrance; tried to stop them coming into the temple.” Drake turned back to the tumbled blocks. “But they got in anyway. And when they did, looks like they were pissed.”
“They walled themselves into their own tomb,” Camilla mumbled. “So sad.”
“Maybe not,” Emma said, as everyone turned to her. “Maybe they were just trying to protect their way home.”
“So this could be a way home?” Ajax grinned.
“I didn’t say that,” Emma added quickly. “But it’s possible.”
Drake turned again to the front door. “Okay, ladies and gentlemen, we got work to do. Fergus.”
“Yo.” The redheaded man’s head snapped around.
“Watch the door. Helen, take a look at Juan’s arm and redress it. Emma, you know what we’re looking for in the shape of some sort of escape hatch.”
“Vent or what we call a chute,” she replied. “Could be just a crack in the floor or wall. Might be air movement.” She sighed. “But basically, we’re looking for anything that looks like a natural opening.”
The group spread out, and Helen sat Juan down. The Venezuelan man held his still seeping arm and grimaced—not a good sign, Drake knew. She began to unwrap the bandages.
Drake went and put a hand on Fergus’ shoulder at the doorway. “You see anything move, even a freaking bug, you let me know. If there’s no other way out deeper inside, then this place…” he said evenly, “…is either a fort or a kill box.”
“Got it, boss.” Fergus kept his eyes on the jungle outside.
Drake joined the group as they began to investigate the ink-black interior of the temple. There were dark alcoves, doorways with heavy slabs of stone lintels, and carvings of all manner of great beasts, some he recognized walking on two titanic legs, all head and teeth, and others on four with long necks. But the dominating theme, and that must have been their preferred deity or demon, was the giant snake.