The sight made her weep.
51.
Taylor and the rest of his team had gone through a long list of ideas on how to deal with Dejah’s lack of shoes but in the end decided she’d just have to walk barefoot. If the group encountered too rough of a terrain, the team would take turns carrying her until she could walk again. The team had also discussed the best way to deal with her lack of night or thermal vision.
“We can tie a rope around her,” Drake suggested.
“Like a leash?!” Nickerson scarfed. “Jesus, girl. You really don’t like kids, do you?”
“So, we should all just hold hands then?” Drake countered.
“We’ll use flashlights,” Taylor decreed. “We’ll rotate through usage to conserve batteries.”
“Do you think we’re going to be down here that much longer?” Pearce asked.
“No,” Taylor responded. “I doubt those monkeys…”
“Agartha baboons,” Drake corrected. “I named ‘em, I get to enforce proper name usage.”
“I doubt these monkeys…” Taylor continued.
“Really?” Drake jokingly barked.
Taylor smirked and continued.
“I don’t think Drake’s new species would travel too far underground to get to a hunting area. There’s bound to be multiple entrances to down here. We’ll find one soon.”
“Then let’s get to it,” Hunter exclaimed. “Let’s get back to the top. That beer don’t drink itself.”
“And find my mom,” Dejah both interrupted and reminded.
Taylor looked to the child and the innocence and hope she wore upon her face.
“Gonna do our best,” Taylor promised.
Dejah smiled and stood, watching as the team gathered their gear, tightened their straps, and made themselves at the ready. Taylor led them along the tiny stream in the cavern until it disappeared into a crack in the wall. He skirted the wall and soon found a tunnel he believed was the one animals had been using then sighed at the size of the passage.
“Another tight one,” Nickerson complained.
Taylor nodded.
“You sure this is the one?” Nickerson continued.
Taylor studied the ground inside and out of the tunnel and said, “Afraid so.”
Taylor eased into the five-foot-tall by three-foot-wide passage and shined his light forward and into the void.
“Looks like it opens up again in ‘bout 20 yards or so,” Taylor announced from just inside the tunnel. “We’re just gonna have to hunchback it again.”
Dejah walked into the tunnel and next to Taylor.
“I only have to tilt my head down a little bit,” she observed.
“Blessed are the short.” Pearce laughed.
A few in the group chuckled then returned to silence as Taylor led them into the cramped passage. The going was difficult, and it took them almost a half hour to cover a distance of almost 20 yards. There, the passage opened up slightly to reveal a split in the tunnel, as well as a shaft that went straight up.
Taylor, Hunter, Drake, and Dejah cramped together under the shaft and studied the sides of the chimney with their flashlights.
“They’ve been going up that way,” Taylor decreed before turning his attention back to ground level. “And down both these tunnels.”
Hunter wiped the sweat from his brow then spit and said, “Which tunnel down here ‘cause we ain’t climbing up that thing. We don’t have the gear and even if we did, Drake and the kid here would be the only ones that could fit.”
Taylor returned his gaze to the split before him. He peered into each of the passages in study then declared that the smaller of the two was the correct avenue.
Hunter nodded in his friend’s direction and announced, “You heard the man. Let’s go.”
Given the confines of the tunnel, all but Dejah had to walk sideways and lean over or to the side to maneuver through the passageway. The progress they made was extremely slow and all were annoyed at where they found themselves.
“God damn do it smell in here!” Nickerson complained. “Like straight up ammonia.”
“Animal piss,” Drake corrected.
“What?” Nickerson countered.
“The ammonia smell,” Drake explained. “It’s animal piss.”
“From your monkeys?” Nickerson continued.
“Most likely,” Drake offered. “And that smell is most likely why Taylor here chose this tunnel. Am I right?”
Taylor ignored the question directed at him and instead announced in a heavy whisper, “Big cave up ahead. Maybe five yards.”
Taylor led the group through the arduous task of moving forward until the tunnel gave way to a vast opening. He stepped out from the tunnel and cast his flashlight beam outward and to the interior. What he saw shattered his stoic demeanor and sent a shiver up his spine.
“My God,” he whispered.
52.
Megan hadn’t moved in hours. She had sat behind the shelter of the cedar tree in isolated fear. The first sign of dawn gave her some but even there, in the growing light, she was still frightened of what she’d seen and of what she feared might come.
As the light grew, she came to realize that she wasn’t actually that far from camp. She couldn’t see the camp, any of the tents or vehicles, but could see in the distance the scrub oak tree that she and Tom had camped under. This realization turned her thoughts to Tom.
Was he still alive?
Still there in the area of the fire pit?
Was he hurt and unable to move?
Or was he dead like those she had seen?
She didn’t want to think about the latter.
The sun continued to rise, bringing with it the Texas heat and a better view of the landscape between her and camp. Megan stood, stretched, and slowly made her way through the brush that she had plowed through the night before toward camp. She stopped at her tent and crawled inside. She downed a half liter of water and ate a granola bar. She exited the tent and moved cautiously toward camp. She had almost reached the tree that she’d hid behind the night before when a small kit fox darted through the brush before her. She jumped back from the sight and grabbed her chest in fright. She paused a moment to collect herself then walked the remaining distance to the tree from where she’d seen the massacre.
The sight she witnessed beyond the branches she stood safely behind was horrifying. There were bodies and pieces of bodies everywhere. The ground was soaked with blood and the area was already swarming with flies. The faces of the human dead had been mangled and torn beyond recognition, and the clothing that could have identified the remains were shredded and cast aside. Megan put her hand to her mouth and pulled it away as fast as she could and retched. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and then wiped away the tears streaming from her eyes with the other.
She circled the brush that surrounded the fire pit, trying not to see any more of the hellish landscape that it had become, and made her way to the path that led to the clearing where the vehicles were parked. She climbed into the cab of Tom’s truck, locked the door behind her, and sobbed. She banged the steering wheel with gripped fists and screamed then calmed herself enough to think.
She opened the center consul and dug Tom’s keys from the mess within, brought the truck to a roar, and punched the gas.
53.
Taylor studied the cave in disbelief.
He ignored the team as they pried themselves from the tunnel behind him and instead shined a light over and up the walls of the cave, noting the multiple ledges, the grass and limbs strewed upon them, and the honeycomb of passages that led in almost every direction.
“What the…?”
Taylor didn’t let Hunter finish.
“Nests,” Taylor declared. “This is where they’ve been bedding down. This is their home.”
“Or one of them,” Drake added. She too was staring at the latticework of bedding areas. “We don’t know how many troops live down here.”
“
Troops?” Pearce asked.
“Baboons travel in troops,” Drake explained. “In groups as small as five to groups of over 200 in number.”
“Two hundred?!” Nickerson exclaimed in disbelief. “I ain’t got but maybe 150 rounds.”
“Like you’d be the only one shooting them.” Jordan laughed.
Nickerson’s and Jordan’s joking was interrupted by a shrill bark.
The team swung around to see a fawn-colored baboon perched upon a ledge some 15 feet up. The monstrosity growled and stomped its front feet in anger. Taylor raised his AR until the green laser sight upon it projected a small dot on the beast’s head and squeezed the trigger. The baboon’s head exploded outward in a spray of red and gray matter. The rifle’s report echoed across the cavern, and the animal fell to the floor below with a resounding thud. The team surrounded the oddity and Dejah pushed forward for a closer view of the dead animal.
“Back away from it, honey,” Taylor warned.
“Awwwww,” Dejah cooed. “It’s a monkey.”
The cavern suddenly exploded into a symphony of violent screams and howls. Dozens of baboons appeared on ledges, in pockmarks in the walls, and in the entrances to other tunnels.
“Playtime, motherfuckers!” Nickerson roared as he unleashed a torrent of gunfire toward a wall climbing with monkeys.
“Behind me!” Taylor screamed as he grabbed Dejah by the shoulder and flung her behind him.
“Nickerson. Pearce. Jordan,” Hunter commanded. “Your three and six. Taylor, Drake, and I have nine and noon.”
The team split down the middle to cover their respective areas and released a barrage of gunfire at the advancing primates.
The cave reverberated with gunfire and danced in the strobe lighting of semi- and full-auto muzzle flashes. Green sighting lasers pierced the darkness and traced across the cavern in search of targets.
“Lights!” Taylor screamed over the melee. “Lights on! Blind them!”
Flashlights ignited and the beams they projected pierced the darkness.
Dejah fell to her knees and covered her ears, screaming in confusion and complete fear.
The baboons were too many and too fast.
They zigzagged through the darkness, dancing around gunfire, jetting in and out of the light, and under and over sighting lasers.
A monstrous bull baboon weighing well over 120 pounds plowed out of the darkness and into Nickerson’s chest, knocking him to the ground. The sudden blow caused Nickerson to strafe his rifle upward as he fell. The animal came to rest on Nickerson’s chest and violently slashed at his face and neck with talon-like claws. Nickerson pulled his knife from its sheath on his flak jacket and plunged it into the creature’s side. The animal howled in surprise and pain. It reared back in agony then attacked Nickerson’s neck with berserker speed and tenacity. Nickerson pulled his knife from his attacker’s side then stabbed it into the beast’s flesh once more. The baboon shrilled then ripped Nickerson’s trachea from his throat. Nickerson grabbed what was left of his neck to feel his life pouring forth.
Pearce rushed to his fallen comrade with machete in hand. Pearce swung the blade into and through the primate’s neck, decapitating the animal. Nickerson smiled in response to the action then faded into darkness.
A mob of eight baboons of many sizes surrounded Pearce. He brought his machete blade down and into the skull of the first animal. The beast wobbled then collapsed with the short sword still lodged in its head. Pearce raised his rifle and fired into the remaining seven animals, dropping two and wounding another three. The smallest of the remaining group leapt for Pearce’s face only to land at the end of his rifle barrel instead. Pearce jerked the trigger and the animal was almost halved by the blast, falling to the ground in two barely connected pieces.
Another animal made it to Pearce’s face. Pearce wobbled backward at the impact. He pulled the creature from his face by the scruff of its back and slammed it to the ground. He stepped on the beast’s neck, dropped his rifle to point blank against the animal’s face, and shot it. Pearce raised up to enter the fight once more but was overrun by three baboons that launched themselves into his chest all at once. Pearce was knocked to the ground and the baboons combined on his face and neck with such tenacious force that it ensured he would never rise again.
54.
Taylor didn’t have to give the command.
Didn’t have to say a word.
Hunter and Drake were well aware of the situation and they understood its gravity.
Their team was being overrun.
The attack that had begun with a single animal, turned into a charge by a few dozen, was now an overwhelming, marauding force of more than 50 animals. The scourge had taken out Nickerson, devoured Pearce, and was currently taking the last bit of life from Jordan.
“That one!” Taylor exclaimed over the frantic turmoil, pointing with his chin to a tunnel to his right.
Hunter and Drake responded with actions rather than words.
They fired into the wave of attackers as they pivoted with Taylor and Dejah into a slow retreat toward the exit.
“Out!” Drake ripped, letting her rifle hang at her side by its sling. She pulled her pistol, grabbed Dejah, and led the child into the passage. The tunnel was larger than the last few passages had been at almost seven feet high and was wide enough to allow Drake and Dejah to stand side-by-side with no issue.
“Reloading!” Hunter yelled over the rampage to Taylor.
“Into the tunnel!” Taylor countered. “Go!”
Hunter entered the tunnel and dropped the magazine from his AR. He slapped another one in, chambered a round, and made his way to Drake and Dejah who stood just a few feet inside the passage.
“Where’s Taylor?” Dejah questioned in fear.
“He’s coming,” Hunter assured the little girl.
“Good, ‘cause I’ve got something for his friends,” Drake said, swinging the flamethrower from her pack.
Hunter cracked a smile and covered the entrance to the tunnel.
Taylor backed into the passage, still firing at the unseen outside the tunnel.
“Go!” Taylor commanded, looking over his shoulder. “Go!”
Hunter, Drake, and Dejah barreled forward and down the tunnel. Taylor backed further into the passage firing as he went.
“How far?” Taylor asked into his radio.
“Twenty-five yards in and waiting,” Hunter replied over the radio.
Taylor backed further down the passage, firing at the hostiles before him as he did. He pulled an M84 stun grenade from his tactical vest, armed it, and tossed it before him. Baboons swarmed into the passage. Taylor fired thrice more then ran down the tunnel. The animals followed. The lead primate came to a halt at the thrown circular object on the ground and smelled the area.
The sudden detonation of the grenade unleashed a blinding wave of seven million candela and the percussion of 170 decibels.
The tunnel shook, and loose earth and gravel on the floor jumped.
55.
Hunter pulled Dejah close to him and said, “Get ready.”
Dejah nodded and held tight to Hunter’s waist. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She heard the explosion and then felt the faint remains of the shockwave as it traveled down the tunnel and into her, Hunter, and Drake. Dejah opened her eyes and asked, “Is that it? It’s over?”
Hunter ignored the question, gently pushed Dejah off of him, and got into a crouched position with his rifle pointed before him.
He raised from this position only a moment later when he saw Taylor jogging toward him.
“Never get used to just how loud those things are, do you?” Hunter joked.
Taylor stuck his fingers in his ears then laughed. “Huh?”
“All gone?” Drake asked Taylor.
“Doubt it,” Taylor admitted.
“Nothing at our six,” Drake continued.
“Then let’s go that way,” Taylor said.
“But is it
a way out?” Drake queried.
Taylor walked past Hunter, Drake, and Dejah and further into the tunnel. He studied the floor and walls with the aid of his flashlight. He saw evidence of plenty of comings and goings on the primates’ part, and he explained such to the remainder of his team. He took point and led Hunter, Drake, and Dejah further into the passage and away from the carnage behind them.
56.
“Buzzards,” Agent Andrews announced from behind his binoculars. “A whole bunch of them.”
“You mean flock,” Agent Carter countered from behind his own pair of binoculars.
The two agents were standing atop the roof of their SUV, studying the early morning sky. Agent Carter turned to face the same direction as Andrews and reiterated his coworker’s earlier declaration.
“Yep, that’s one big flock.”
Agent Andrews lowered his binoculars and turned to Agent Carter.
“I used the collective noun ‘bunch’ because we’re in a casual setting and as such formality is not required.”
“I understand,” Agent Carter countered. “I was only trying to help you.”
“Then you should have corrected me with ‘wake,’ as it’s the correct collective noun for buzzards,” Agent Andrews corrected. “Also acceptable are ‘venue’ or ‘kettle.’”
“Kettle? Really?”
“Yes. And venue.”
“I had no idea.”
“Now you know.”
The two men ceased their discussion of buzzards and the collective nouns associated with the birds and stood upon the roof in silence studying the area surrounding them. A sudden cloud of dust on the road below the circling buzzards caught their eye. They trained their binoculars on the abnormality and Agent Andrews asked aloud, “What is that?”
The Tunnel Page 11