It was stupid, silly banter, but I needed it. The weight of the stone pressed down on me, and an urgency burned in me. I can’t really explain it, but it felt like I was looking at an hourglass as the last little bit of sand slid through. It felt like something was going to explode, and I didn’t know if I’d be able to withstand the blast.
Chapter 15
“What is that?” Sam asked. She was up front with me. Our positions changed around as we walked, and she maneuvered her way up to me. Zach and Emily seemed to be sticking together and, of course, Jacob and Madison were joined at the hip. Rick was here mainly because he was my mother’s friend, so they were together, too, leaving Sam to join me up in the front where it was most dangerous. She was my best friend, after all. Tyler brought up the rear, tapping on the walls like they were a drum set.
“What is what?” I asked.
“That, right there.” She pointed to something up against the wall, barely visible in her headlamp beam.
I swept the area with my light, checking for any creatures hiding in the shadows. We went over to the shape. It was a jacket. One of the security guard jackets, with the American flag on one arm and an eagle on the other. The name embroidered on it with light blue thread was Derek. It was the first evidence of people we’d seen since we got into the natural caves.
“What is it?” Mom asked.
“It’s one of the security guards’ jackets,” I said.
“Is there blood on it?” Rick asked.
“No.” I turned it over, looking at it carefully in my headlamp. There were no stains of any kind on it.
“Is there any kind of alien slime on it?” Tyler asked, poking his head over my mom’s shoulder. Jacob’s hand slapped the top of his head.
“Ow,” Tyler cried. “I was just asking. You never know, you know.”
“What does it mean?” Emily asked.
“I’m not sure it means much of anything,” I said.
“I think it means we’re on the right track,” Rick said. “We know at least one person is this way.”
The words were barely out of his mouth before a dark shape landed on top of him, bearing him to the ground. Light from headlamps flashed wildly, and in that light, what seemed to be a dozen shadows made flesh leapt at us.
I spun in time to mostly evade the creature trying to tackle me. It skipped off my staff and landed hard on a rock protruding from the wall next to me. Two hard blows with my weapon later, it lay unmoving.
The world was a maelstrom of flashing lights and shadows as everyone flung their heads around trying to see what was happening. The cavern was large enough to move around in, but still cramped with all the bodies shifting, lunging, dodging, and fighting in it.
A gunshot rang out, followed by a pained scream. I hoped my mother didn’t shoot one of us by accident. I thought of telling her that, but two shapes came at me, and I only had time to try to keep from being killed.
The shadowling attacked differently than before. Before, they mostly tried to grab us, take us away. Now, they were using their claws, slashing at us. I knew I didn’t want to be cut by those wicked looking nails.
I back-stepped, spinning my staff to smack away the claws coming at me. These creatures were so fast, I was nearly hit several times but somehow got my weapon up in time to block or parry the blows. The two in front of me seemed to be working together, another new thing.
They also had different styles. One was faster, striking at me and moving like a boxer so it didn’t present an easy target. The other one, well, I would have considered it a bruiser. I’d fought many of those, opponents who tried to knock you out in one punch, moving slowly but with the force of a tidal wave. Strange that none of the other creatures we’d battled had showed differences like this.
I breathed and calmed myself. Fighting was familiar to me. I had to think of it as sparring, not life or death. The creatures’ large eyes reflected my lamplight back at me as I swung my head. When the beam shone in those orbs, the shadowling flinched, even if just a little. It gave me an idea.
I took one more step back and ran into something soft. I twisted to the side to evade one of my assailant’s claws and threw a look over my shoulder. It was Madison, standing stone still with her hands over her mouth, eyes wider than I’d ever seen hers. She was useless. I thought of luring one of the monsters fighting me to attack her as a distraction, but immediately rejected the idea. She’d be killed, and it would be my fault. I might feel bad about that. Eventually.
One of the creatures swung at me, and I saw an opening. I jabbed at its face with the end of my staff, cracking bones in its nose, and spun to the side where my other foe was, the boxing one. It leaped toward me, both claws out, ready to slice me to ribbons. I tilted my head just enough to shine the headlamp in its eyes. It blinked and shook its head, its momentum stalling. I took the opportunity to swing the end of my weapon up as hard as I could.
It connected with the creature’s crotch.
I hadn’t been sure if it would work, but as the force of the blow lifted it off its feet a couple of inches, the monster howled. Their anatomy was not that much different than ours, then, it seemed. I couldn’t really tell with the pants it was wearing. I thought had seen a few of the creatures with breasts, which this one did not have, so I thought maybe they reproduced like humans. Apparently, the point I struck was a vital area, like with us.
I shifted my momentum, dropping down into a lower stance and rotating my hips to redirect the energy and strike the other shadowling with the same end of my staff. The satisfying crack as it came down on its head told me it would be out for the time being. Glancing at Madison, standing a few feet away from me, I shook my head and looked for my next opponent.
Sam didn’t really have any weapons—something I needed to remedy—but she was smart and cool-headed and seemed to be doing more than some of the others. As Zach and Emily swatted away claws coming at them, Sam had brought out that flashlight she was so proud of. It was billed as a digital torch, and that was a good name. I had felt the beam when it was on a medium setting, and it was hot. Very hot. It was as bright as a spotlight. Sam was using it to blind the creatures, having figured out their sensitivity like I had.
Zach was back-stepping toward a wall, swinging wildly with his bat, trying to keep from being sliced by the claws whirling in front of him. Emily was striking at the creature attacking Zach, not noticing the one coming up around on the other side of her, ready to pounce. If I called, it would only panic her, so instead I sprinted the few feet and lunged at the shadowling sneaking up on her.
At the same time, Sam brandished that laser-like flashlight and hit Zach’s attacker in the eyes with the beam. It stumbled and Emily’s cudgel struck a glancing blow off its head. Zach planted his feet and brought his baseball bat around, hitting the creature on the shoulder. The two of them fell upon the beast, raining blows on it as it hunched down to protect itself.
I had reached the other shadowling, swinging out low with my staff to knock its legs out from under it. It crashed to the ground, rolled, and came back up, murder in its eyes. It bared its teeth at me, fangs glistening with saliva in the light of my headlamp.
It jumped.
I was barely able to get my staff in front of me as its claws came toward me while it angled its head to get the perfect position for tearing out my throat with its teeth. This thing did not want to take me prisoner; it wanted to kill and eat me. I hadn’t seen this type of ferocity before.
Catching its attack on the wooden weapon held in both hands in front of me, I rolled backward, kicking my feet up into its abdomen and pushing it upward. It flipped through the air, carried by its own momentum and my little boost, and struck a large rock formation behind me, head toward the floor and feet high. It grunted as it bounced off the rock and fell, but scrambled back to its feet in an incredibly short time.
I got to my feet at about the same time it did. I thought it had showed hatred before, but what I now saw in its face burne
d much hotter than what I had seen earlier. It spit and hissed, then made some kind of sound I’d never heard before, sort of a clicking, screeching sound. Was it cursing at me?
The shadowling crouched low, scuttling like an insect. The movement reminded me of a spider. When my mom’s gun went off again, I jumped a little, but it didn’t. It was focused completely on me. I could see in its eyes it wanted to kill me.
The creature sank lower, readying itself to spring. I’d seen the same movement, the same tense muscles, the sense of an impending explosion, in cats as they play fought with other felines. I shifted my grip on the staff, preparing to defend.
Just before the shadowling bounded at me, a loud chittering filled the corridor. My attacker’s eyes flicked toward the source of the sound, and I shifted my gaze toward the same area. The creature, the one who was slightly different than the others, the one that had been watching us, was making the same types of sounds my current foe had earlier. It must have been their language.
It continued to click and screech at my opponent. The tone of the tirade was that of command. Was it their leader?
The shadowling in front of me continued to move side to side as it screeched back at the other which, I could see now, perched on a high rock formation overlooking the battle. The two exchanged words in their strange language, and my adversary seemed to get more and more frustrated. It hunkered down again, ready to leap despite apparently being told not to.
The leader chittered even more loudly, and all the other shadowling disengaged from the fight and disappeared into the darkness. All except the one in front of me.
It screamed and jumped at me, so fast that even though I was expecting it, it caught me unaware.
I saw the claws coming at me, the mouth opened wide to tear at me, the teeth flashing like sharp, little white daggers. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to keep all three of its weapons from me this time.
The world slowed down, reduced to only the darkness, the hurtling form illuminated by my headlamp, and myself. A dozen movements flashed through my mind, ways I could keep from getting injured or killed. I discarded all of them immediately. It was already committed, too close for me to have time to react. I didn’t even think I could twist out of the way in time. Was this how I would die?
A loud bang echoed through the cavern.
The creature twisted to the side as if it had been pushed while in mid air. It was enough to upset its trajectory and allow me to move just enough to the side to evade the strike. It landed hard on the stone floor, scraping across the grit there, bouncing and rolling, then sliding to a stop. I shone my lamp light onto it and saw what I knew would be there. Blood flowed out of a hole in the side of its head.
I slumped, leaning on my staff for support.
I looked over to see my mom, just a few feet away, drop her arm, the gun barrel trailing a wisp of smoke in the combined beams of our headlamps. She exhaled loudly.
And then she started to cry.
A few seconds later, I joined her.
Chapter 16
“What was all that about?” Sam asked several minutes later, when we had searched the area for more shadowling and determined that we were safe. “All that screeching?”
“It’s their language,” I said. I had regained my composure, as had Mom. I think it was the emotional weight of the situation. I’d felt the same thing when I won the state championship in sparring. “I think that other one, the one that’s different from all the others, was scolding that last one and telling it not to kill me.”
“Language?” Sam said. “Are you sure?”
“Not completely, but they have to have some way of communicating, right? They were arguing at the end there. I’d bet on it.”
“Do you realize what that means?” Rick said. “For some reason, that other one didn’t want us killed. Or, at least, it didn’t want you killed, Dani. I didn’t see it interceding with anyone else. At the very end there, it actually called off all the others, leaving that last one to die. In effect, it pulled back its front lines and left that one all alone. That shows a lot of intelligence. These things aren’t just crude beasts.”
“Yeah,” I said. “And that’s what is probably scariest of all. It’s also sad, because we have to kill them to survive.”
We spent a little time inspecting everyone to make sure no one was seriously injured. Zach had a minor scratch and a bruise from when he’d fallen down earlier. Jacob had a line of parallel gashes along one arm where sharp claws ripped through his sweatshirt and cut his skin. Rick had some bruises from the creature that had jumped on him and crushed him to the floor, but luckily no slashes. The others, including me, had no injuries to show for the battle.
“How many were there, anyway?” I asked. “I was too busy trying to keep from being killed to get a good count.”
“Ten or twelve,” my mom said. “Rick kept them back from me so I could take aim and shoot at them.”
“They’re upping their game,” I said. “No more small groups. Apparently, we deserve more resources now.”
“I have a question,” Emily said, raising her hand. I chuckled at that. Good old unassuming Emily, treating it like we were in school.
“What is it, Em?” I said.
“That one you’re calling the leader, what makes you think it’s in charge?”
“Mainly it’s because of how it tried to call off that other one when it looked like it would try to kill me. The leader seems more intelligent than the others, sitting back and watching instead of coming at us.”
“Maybe it’s just a coward,” Emily said. “How can you even tell if it’s the same one you saw before? All those things pretty much look the same to me.”
I thought back to the times I’d seen it, trying to pick out the details. “I think it’s a different color or maybe taller than the others, though it had those same torn pants as the others seem to wear.”
“I’ve seen it twice now,” Jacob said. “At least, I think it was the same one. I’m with Emily, though. It looks the same as the others. None of them really have a color. They blend in with any dark surroundings.”
“It’s the same one,” Rick said. “I’ve caught glimpses of it, too. It isn’t color or shape or anything like that. It’s the thing’s bearing.”
“Bearing?” Emily said.
“Yeah. It stands like it’s in charge. The others sort of skulk around, moving as if they don’t want to be noticed, even when they know they’ve been seen. That one, though, it holds itself like it’s a king or something.”
I thought back, picturing it. “You’re right. That’s what it is. I couldn’t place it, but that’s why it looked so different. I’m sure it’s in charge, and I’m sure it was trying to keep the one that got mad at me from killing me. But why?”
“Maybe they like to eat their food alive,” Tyler said.
Three different hands reached out and slapped his head.
We continued walking for less than an hour, until we got to a place where the tunnel widened into a cavern. We had been traveling all day. It was nearly eight o’clock at night, and it was obvious we wouldn’t be getting out anytime soon.
“I think we should stop for the night,” I said as we all came to a weary halt. “We’re too tired to go on. If we run into more of the shadowling, we may not be able to fight them off.”
The cavern was a large, pear-shaped space, strange rock formations on either side of a clear center. Three openings aside from the one we came through lined the wall. One was obviously a continuation of our route, another seemed to keep going in another direction—I scouted it but didn’t want to go too far from the others to check it out—and the third was a narrow tunnel that led to a wider area, a kind of room where we could all fit easily with enough space to move around. There was even a little sheltered portion separated from the rest of the chamber by a large, fan-shaped stone formation. There were no other entrances. It was perfect.
“We can sleep here,” I said. “Two people
can stay awake in shifts to guard the group and make sure we’re not attacked. If we are, the creatures will have to come at us one at a time because of the narrow entrance.”
“I can’t sleep here, on the ground,” Madison said. She had been quiet for the last couple of hours, silently dragging her feet next to Jacob. She was making up for it now.
“That’s fine,” I said. “You can take the first watch then. If you can’t sleep, you might as well guard us.”
She sputtered, but couldn’t come up with anything to say.
“Okay,” Jacob said tiredly. “She and I will take first watch. Who do I need to wake up for the next shift, and when?”
I nodded to him, thanking him for helping to shut down Madison’s whining. “Sam and I can take the next watch. Wake us in a couple of hours. After us…Mom, do you and Rick want to take the slot after that?” She nodded. “Good. Then Emily and Zach can take the last watch.”
“What about me?” Tyler said.
“Oh. Do you want to join Jacob and Madison?”
“How about I take the watch with Emily? And that other kid.”
“The name is Zach,” Zach said.
“Nice to meet you, Zach,” Tyler said. “I’m Tyler. We’ll be on watch together.” He smiled at Zach and found an area to curl up to sleep. Zach shook his head.
“Right,” Emily said. “So we’re going to get stuck in here for the night?”
“Yes,” I told her. “You’re on last watch, so you can get some sleep now.”
“Great.”
As I went to sleep, I heard Madison asking Jacob if there were spiders or snakes in the cave that would bite them as they slept. The last thing I remember is feeling a smile grow on my face at how much fun I could have with that.
Jacob shook me awake at around 11:00 pm. I was groggy, but as soon as I realized it was his hand touching me, I went from asleep to wide awake in two seconds. I liked the way his strong hands felt on my shoulder. I sighed and got up.
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