by Perrin Briar
Before she knew it, the roar was full in her ears, echoing, loud and deafening. She was right on top of it. But where was it?
Then something lurched out of the darkness. And Zoe screamed.
10.
THE MONSTER was hot on Bryan and Aaron’s heels. No matter how fast they ran, how many corners they took, the creature was always right behind them. And they needed to keep changing tunnels, Bryan knew. It was their only advantage against a beast as large as the one chasing them.
Out in the open, the monster would outpace them with ease. But constantly changing direction gave Bryan and Aaron the edge they needed to stay ahead.
That was, until the monster changed tactics.
The creature’s footfalls slowed, becoming faint. Bryan and Aaron slowed in accordance with it, allowing their lungs to refill to their full capacity. But they didn’t stop.
“Do you think it stopped chasing us?” Aaron said.
“It’ll never stop,” Bryan said. “But he might slow down for a while.”
“How does it know which way we’re going?” Aaron said.
“Our shoes,” Bryan said. “It must be able to hear the sound of them bouncing off the walls.”
Bryan slowed to a stop and bent down to pull his shoes off.
“Take off your shoes,” he said.
“What for?” Aaron said. “There are sharp rocks down here. We’ll cut our feet open.”
“Better sharp rocks than the teeth of a monster,” Bryan said.
Aaron wasn’t so sure, but he didn’t argue. He slipped his shoes off and carried them in his hands. Bryan led them down the tunnel, replacing speed with stealth.
The tunnels were deathly dark, silent as the grave. Bryan pulled to a stop. He held out a hand and gently pressed it against Aaron’s chest. He stopped.
There was something strangely familiar about this situation. The deathly silence, so quiet it seemed like the world had its beady eye focused intently on the scene taking place. Bryan stepped back, pressing his back to the wall. He gently pressed Aaron back too.
They waited.
Bryan’s senses were on overdrive. He sensed danger out there in the darkness, but his senses were too weak to give him enough information. He had learned to trust his gut, and waited. What did they have to lose by waiting a little longer?
Bryan’s arm still laid across Aaron’s chest, keeping him back. Bryan forgot it was placed there. Aaron began to lean forward. Bryan pressed back, soft but firm. Aaron grew tense. It took a moment for Bryan to realize why.
Something was in the darkness. And it was moving.
It was hard to say how they knew something was there. There was no light, so there was nothing to see. The tunnel was silent, so there was nothing to hear. It was the smell, Bryan realized. That underused sense in humans. It was the stench of rotting flesh and dried blood from the scorched bodies. That was what their senses had picked up on, their conscious minds slow to realize.
The creature had somehow managed to sneak ahead of them, cutting off their escape route. It had gone into stealth mode and waited for them to present themselves. This was an expert hunter. It was clever, smart, and knew these caves, its domain, like the back of its stunted claw. Furthermore, it had its sharpened skills to hunt.
If Bryan didn’t know better, he would have said the creature was enjoying itself. The majority of its meals were fed to it, coming in the form of dead bodies. Now it had live meals and was able to utilize the weapons and instincts its ancestors had developed over millions of years.
It was close. It was going to get them. If Bryan put out his hand, he was certain he would have felt the scaly skin of its hide.
There was a pair of screams from deep in the cave system. The monster grunted, and then slowly, very slowly, like something that did not want to leave this place, began to withdraw itself. Soon the space returned to normalcy, the creature taking its stench with it.
Bryan and Aaron remained silent, listening to the darkness. Then the monster gave up its stealthy pose, its footfalls once again heavy on the rocky floor.
“That was lucky!” Aaron said. “Now, let’s get out of here!”
“Not so lucky, as it turns out,” Bryan said.
“Why?” Aaron said.
“Those screams,” Bryan said. “Didn’t you recognize whose throats they came from?”
“No,” Aaron said. “Why?”
“It was Cassie and Zoe,” Bryan said.
11.
ZOE RAN as fast as she dared, lifting her knees high to avoid any potential traps and things that might catch her feet. She needed to find the others. She hated being alone. She held out both her hands to feel along the walls. She turned to look behind her as she rounded another corner.
A flash of white, a hard thud to her forehead, and Zoe screamed, on her ass. She hesitated only a moment before getting to her feet and turning around to run in the opposite direction.
“Look where you’re going!” a voice said.
Zoe had to double take to make sure she wasn’t imagining the voice.
“Cassie?” she said.
“The one and only,” Cassie said.
Zoe helped Cassie to her feet. She wrapped her arms around her tight. Cassie was unprepared, and her arms flailed out to either side. Zoe pulled back.
“What are you doing here?” she said.
“I’m on a scavenger hunt,” Cassie said. “What do you think I’m doing here? I’m trying to find the way out. As I’m assuming you are too. I’ve got bad news for you if you’re hoping to find the exit that way. There isn’t one.”
“I wasn’t looking for the way out,” Zoe said. “I was looking for you, and the others.”
“Well, they’re not this way,” Cassie said. “I would have seen them.”
Cassie paused, her eyes drifting back down the tunnel she had just emerged from.
“Do you hear anything?” she said.
Zoe listened.
“No,” she said. “Why?”
“Because until a moment ago there were loud footsteps of a monster chasing after me,” Cassie said.
Zoe smiled.
“I made the exact same mistake earlier,” she said. “I thought someone was chasing me, but really it was just my own footsteps echoing behind me.”
“If those were my footsteps I need a serious diet,” Cassie said.
“Sounds reflecting back at us can take on all kinds of abstractions,” Zoe said.
“Roars too?” Cassie said.
“No,” Zoe said. “I heard them too. That’s what I was working my way towards.”
“Wait,” Cassie said. “You were heading towards the big bad monster?”
“It’ll be chasing something,” Zoe said. “Or someone. As I’m here, why wouldn’t it be Bryan, Aaron or you?”
“It was definitely chasing me earlier,” Cassie said. “But it’s gone quiet now.”
“Predators don’t suddenly stop pursuit of their prey,” Zoe said. “Unless they’re resigned to the fact they’ve lost it.”
“Or begin getting close enough to stalk them,” Cassie said.
She turned to look at Zoe. Both their faces had drained of color. They turned to the darkness in either direction. Zoe hadn’t been afraid of the dark since she was a child, but right then all those night terrors filled her heart at the same moment.
There was a soft intake of breath, so soft they both almost missed it. They shared a look. Whatever it was, it was right beside them. They needed to run, and run quick. Staying still wasn’t going to help them. They needed to move.
The intense heat began as a single intense spark, but it quickly ignited, and grew to a voluminous cloud of fire that bellowed and raced toward them.
Zoe and Cassie ran, pumping their legs as hard as they could, entering the darkness without checking where they were going. If they knocked themselves unconscious while running, at least death would be less painful.
12.
BRYAN AND AARON slowed, pantin
g and out of breath. Aaron bent over, then lay on his back, exhausted.
“You should stand up,” Bryan said, tugging on Aaron’s arms. “You need to expand your lungs and use your muscles as a pump to get the blood moving.”
“I can’t,” Aaron said. “Let me lay here. I’m okay.”
“You won’t be,” Bryan said.
Aaron grunted and let Bryan pull him up onto his feet.
“Wait,” Aaron said. “Do you hear that?”
There was a light slapping noise, like a pair of hands clapping. It was getting louder, closer.
“If it’s the monster, just let it come,” Aaron said. “It can eat me. I can’t take another step.”
“It’s not the monster,” Bryan said, squinting at the darkness to make out what it was.
Shapes danced in the dim light. It was difficult for Bryan to make out who—or what—it was. It wasn’t small. And then the figures became clearer suddenly, lit by an intense light that nearly blinded Bryan. He threw up an arm to protect himself. Arms and legs pumped in unison, the figures haggard and drawn.
Bryan’s heart swelled. It was Zoe and Cassie! They were alive! And then he saw the expressions on their faces. They looked pained. And terrified.
“We need to get moving again,” Bryan said.
“I can’t,” Aaron said. “Go on without me.”
“If you don’t run, you’ll be going on without your head,” Bryan said. “Come on!”
Bryan and Aaron ran alongside Zoe and Cassie as they beat a trail down the tunnel. There was a burning smell that accompanied the girls. Bryan pushed it from his mind and focused on placing his feet.
“Why don’t you have your shoes on?” Zoe said.
“To camouflage the noise our feet made,” Bryan said.
“Did it work?” Zoe said.
“Not if we’re running with people still wearing theirs, no,” Bryan said.
13.
“IN HERE!” Bryan said. “Quick!”
The doorway was large, a little too big for Bryan’s liking but there was nothing for it. Everywhere else in this place was only tunnels. This was the first room they had found. They filed inside.
The creature attempted to follow them, burying itself up to the neck in the doorway. It could not squeeze through, its head and body moving side to side to gain every inch it could through the doorway. It had something strapped to its back, what appeared to be some kind of metal armor. It was the family’s saving grace, and kept catching on the doorway.
The monster threw back its head and a stream of fire leapt from its blackened lips, sending out a spray like a flamethrower up at the cavern’s ceiling.
“Woah,” Aaron said.
Bryan glanced at Zoe, and then double took. He slapped at her back.
“What?” Zoe said. “What is it?”
“You’re on fire,” Bryan said.
“The fire must have gotten closer than I thought,” Zoe said. “You don’t think he can get in here, do you?”
Bryan looked the situation over. The monster was jammed in there pretty tight. He was still struggling to get through, straining his gigantic muscles.
“He might,” Bryan said. “But not yet. We have a little time. What happened to you, anyway? We all woke up in the same room.”
“I woke up early, I guess,” Zoe said. “The rest of you were asleep too?”
“Asleep?” Bran said. “It didn’t feel much like sleep to me.”
“I’m not so sure,” Zoe said. “Maybe we were all exhausted and our bodies were recovering themselves.”
“Maybe,” Bryan said. “Some of the things I saw did remind me of dreams, the way they looked and felt.”
The monster pulled itself backward through the door. It glared at the family, at its lost meal. Its footsteps headed away.
“It’s gone,” Zoe said, stepping forward.
“Woah, woah, woah,” Bryan said. “Cool your jets there, partner.”
“Why?” Zoe said. “You heard it leave.”
“I heard it walk away down one tunnel,” Bryan said. “There’s no telling where it really went. It could have looped around, waiting for us.”
Zoe smiled.
“You’re overestimating him,” she said.
“No,” Bryan said. “I’m not. He cut me and Aaron off, knowing ahead of time where we were going to be. A dumb animal doesn’t do that.”
“Bryan’s right, Mom,” Aaron said. “This monster, whatever it is, is smart.”
“Then how do you suggest we get out of there?” Zoe said. “It’s a dead end.”
Bryan turned and appraised their location. It was a large area with two dozen curved shapes sat shrouded with cloth. To the right was a pool of still water. Bryan approached it and peered into its depths.
“It’s an underground pool of water,” Bryan said. “It looks like it goes down a long way.”
Cassie crouched and put her fingers into it. She shivered as she stood up.
“It’s freezing cold,” she said. “I saw a waterfall on the way here. Maybe this is part of that system.”
“Maybe,” Bryan said. “Was it a steep drop?”
“Yes,” Zoe said. “We’ll never survive it.”
“Then maybe this might help,” Aaron said.
He stood beside one of the cloaked shapes and had pulled part of its tarpaulin off.
“There are twenty-five of them,” Aaron said. “They look like some kind of transport. They’re on rails.”
“What do you suppose they are?” Bryan said.
“Only one way to find out,” Zoe said.
She moved to the vehicle beside Aaron and tugged the tarpaulin completely off. The cover fell away. Those assembled gave a sharp intake. It wasn’t that it looked so out of place hidden here in the mountains, the shiny metal making warped reflections of the inner cave, but the fact they had all seen this thing before.
“It’s the submersible,” Zoe said.
“The what?” Aaron said.
“The submersible,” Cassie said. “We came across it while you were aboard the Mary Celeste. You saw it too, under the sea when it attacked the Mary Celeste.”
“We spent all that time in the nest at the top of the mountain,” Aaron said. “Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?”
“I guess it must have slipped my mind,” Cassie said.
“It’s well and truly fastened there now,” Aaron said. “What’s so special about it?”
“Nothing, so far as we know,” Bryan said. “But what is it doing here?”
Zoe moved to the next covered vehicle and pulled the cover off. It was an exact replica of the first. As was the third, and the fourth. They didn’t look at any of the others. They didn’t need to. It was obvious judging by their shape. They were all the same.
“How did they get here?” Zoe said.
“The same way we did, I suppose,” Bryan said.
“Yes,” Zoe said. “But… how?”
“Anything I say will be a guess at best,” Bryan said. “Who knows?”
“Someone clearly does,” Zoe said. “Someone in this world.”
ROOOAAARRRR!
The whole cave shook at the monster’s booming bellow. Then there was the rushing thump of heavy feet on the cave floor.
CRUNCH!
The family could make out the powerful hind legs of the creature as it slammed itself and its immense weight into the doorway arch.
“Looks like someone got tired of waiting,” Zoe said.
“Judging by the falling rocks, it doesn’t look like he’ll need to wait much longer,” Bryan said.
Huge great cracks appeared above the doorway like the lines in an old woman’s smile. Rocks were already beginning to fall, shattering on the floor. The monster took a step back and slammed its weight into the wall again, dislodging more rocks.
“We need a way out of here,” Cassie said.
There was nothing they could use inside the room.
“The only way out is thr
ough the door,” Aaron said. “Or the pool of water.”
“Veto the door,” Cassie said.
“I second that motion,” Zoe said.
“The water it is then,” Bryan said.
“You’re forgetting we wouldn’t survive five minutes in there,” Zoe said.
“Not by ourselves, no,” Bryan said. “But we could with the latest in submersible technology.”
It took a moment for Bryan’s meaning to crystallize in Zoe’s mind. She turned to the row of submarines. Of course. It was obvious. But then, the best ideas were always simple, and this was about as simple as they came.
14.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
The slamming of the monster’s weight against the front wall was the countdown the family didn’t need.
They moved behind the first submersible and pushed. It was already loaded onto twin metal tracks and slid easily into the water. The family jumped on board and pressed and pried at the smooth glass surface.
“Any ideas guys?” Bryan said.
They scrambled across the surface to locate the door handle, but couldn’t find it.
“Here!” Aaron said.
His hands had located a small recess. He slipped his fingers into it, pressed down, felt a click, and then pulled up to open it. He wasn’t strong enough. Bryan grabbed it and heaved.
“We should take one pod each,” Cassie said.
“No time,” Bryan said. “Everyone get in.”
They piled inside, Zoe and the kids wrapping themselves around the back of the driver’s seat. Bryan jumped into the seat and pulled the door closed behind him. It clicked, latching into place.
Bryan grabbed the joystick and pressed all the buttons he could see, and flicked all the switches for good measure. A series of lights came on, flashing, but for the life of him, Bryan couldn’t locate the on switch.