by Ian Woodhead
“Wait. Have I missed something here?” asked Bradley. “Just how is our continued existence a good thing?”
“Somebody has gone to some considerable trouble to bring us all together.”
“I’m still not buying it, Dane.” He glanced over at the girl before shaking his head. “It’s more likely that we’re to be held for ransom by a group of guerrillas, desperate for money.”
“They can’t that that poor,” replied Nelson. “Not if they have the capability to take down our plane with a surface-to-air missile.”
Dane looked over at Benedict. “If it had been anyone else other than him, I might have agreed. But don’t you think it’s just a little too coincidental to find ourselves with another scientist who is involved in our line of business?”
The older archaeologist chuckled to himself. He joined Dane directly under the hole. “I never knew you cared.” Benedict tilted his head back and gazed towards the light source. “Still, it does seem rather over the top. I mean, if they wanted our help, couldn’t they have just asked us?” The man’s gaze then shifted. He took one step back and studied the cavern ceiling. “Shit.”
Dane almost fell forward when the older man patted him hard on the back.
“I hope you’re right, my friend,” he whispered. “If not, then we really are in trouble.”
He followed Benedict’s gaze and noticed for the first time that something resembling wet cotton wool totally covered the cavern ceiling. “Is that what I think it is?”
“If you’re thinking that the ceiling is covered in spider silk, then yes.”
No matter how much Dane wanted to believe his own theory, Bradley’s notion that they were walking bags of money for some half-crazed bunch of maniacs in camouflage refused to let go of his brain. “Pay now or they get eaten by spiders.”
“Dane, are you okay?”
“Me? Sure, Nelson, never better. Come on, chaps, let’s see if we can find a way out of this place.”
“There is no way out,” replied a loud voice from the shadows.
“Show yourself,” growled Bradley.
“Over there!”
Dane followed Benedict’s pointed finger and could just about make out another man at the far side of the cavern. He stepped out into the dim light, saw Dane, and scowled. Unlike the others, he carried a thick wooden pole, sharpened at both ends.
“You! This is all your fault, scientist.” The man stopped a few feet from Dane. “I ought to stick you with this.”
The archaeologist stood his ground. The man looked more frightened than angry. Even armed with the wooden stick, Dane was sure he’d be able to disarm him without causing the stranger too much harm. From the corner of his eye, he saw Bradley tensing. “Friend, I’m sorry that you’re upset with me, but I’m sure we can resolve it. Look, why don’t you drop the wooden pole, and then we can talk.” He took one step forward, his eyes never leaving the stranger. “Perhaps we can all find a way out of here together?”
“There is no way out!” he hissed.
The man lunged at Dane. He neatly sidestepped the stranger, then brought his fist down on the back of his neck. Bradley had scooped up the weapon when the howling man crashed onto the floor. Dane dropped onto the man, pulled his arm around, and held them behind the man’s back. “Now, let’s start with why you appear to have a beef with me?”
“I ain’t telling you nothing!”
“If you give me that pole,” said Benedict, “I’m sure I could make him talk.” The other archaeologist grinned at Dane. “I could have him singing like a bird in seconds.”
Dane shuddered. “Nobody’s torturing anyone.” He slowly climbed off the man’s back, then released his arms. “Perhaps we can now talk like civilised men?”
The stranger rolled over and hissed at Dane before scrambling onto his feet and running back into the shadows.
“Or perhaps not.” Dane sighed to himself. Perhaps he should have allowed the older man to have a word with their new guest after all? He ran after the man, who had now taken up position against the damp wall. He pushed his fingers into the man’s shoulder and spun him around.
“What?” spat the man.
His tone reminded Dane of some brash teenage boy, yet underneath all that bravado, he was clearly terrified. The fear didn’t stem from Dane or any of the others within this cavern. Dane bit his bottom lip. He knew that if he wanted to learn the source, he needed to alter the man’s priorities.
“You are going to tell me what I want to know, friend.”
Judging from the sneer now plastered across the man’s face, he failed to notice, or just ignored Dane’s hidden threat. The man’s look of sneer soon changed when Dane cupped the stranger’s testicles. He slapped his other hand over the man’s mouth, then gave the delicate balls a single vicious squeeze.
“It’s nice to see your arrogance has vanished.” Dane knew his words were wasted as his victim had something else to focus on; namely the wall of agony that had just slammed into his brain. He counted to five before removing his hand. The other hand stayed where it was.
“One more hint of insurrection out of you and I will squeeze again. This time, I won’t stop until your bruised sac contains two crushed grapes. Do you understand me?”
“I was only supposed to undo the ropes and make sure you lot were safe.” The man was now openly sobbing. “They said they’d come back for me once you had left. They promised!”
“Wait, slow down. Who did this?” Dane removed his other hand. All signs of resistance had totally vanished. “Please, start from the beginning, you’re not making any sense.”
He wiped his hand down his face. “What’s to tell? They lowered you all down, one by one, through that big hole, starting with me. None of that matters though. Nothing matters. You see, there is no way out of here. I’ve walked around these walls over dozen times!” He slivered along the wall. “You’re not going to hurt me again, are you?”
Dane shook his head. He already felt so guilty for being so savage in the first place. Despite the dire situation and this pathetic figure left him no other choice, Dane still felt like he’d just been caught kicking a puppy. “Please tell me who did this,” he repeated. “Who’s responsible for putting us down here?”
Instead of responding, the man slipped past Dane. He raced across the cavern floor, pausing once to scoop up the dropped staff. Dane resisted the urge to run after him. The archaeologist took his eyes off the shivering figure, he scanned the cavern, his gaze picking out each remaining face. They were all looking directly at him, including the girl. Just for that moment, he was tempted to see how she fit into this picture.
Practicality got the better of him. The reason didn’t take priority. He allowed his gaze to dart towards the cavern ceiling. He shuddered. How long did they have before the inhabitants of those webs lowered their large hairy bodies towards their heads? They had to be nocturnal, meaning they didn’t have long to figure out another route out of here.
“Benedict, got a moment?” The older man moved away from the young girl and made his way over. Dane wasn’t keen on asking the creep for anything, but what other choice did he have? The man might have the morals of a donkey, but his brain was specifically wired for this kind of predicament. He just needed a suitable enticement.
“Did you get anything out of him?”
“Fragments, nothing concrete.” Dane rubbed his stubbled chin, then leaned a little closer. “There’s a door out of here, my friend.” Dane looked past Benedict’s shoulder.
“I almost turned him into a girl.”
Benedict chuckled. “Yes, I heard. So much for not using torture.” He smiled. “You’re such a hypocrite. Okay, so a door. What else?”
“That’s it, there’s a door in here somewhere, and we need to find it as soon as possible.”
“No, there’s something else you’re not telling me. Come on, spill it.” Benedict’s smile slowly faded only to be replaced by greed. “It’s treasure, isn’t it! Hidden go
ld.” He nodded to himself and rushed over to the wall, muttering to himself.
Dane shook his head, then walked over to the others, vaguely wondering what drove a man to care more about material wealth than saving his own skin. Still, whatever worked. “Nelson, our friend was told that there is a way out of here that doesn’t involve growing wings.”
“Who told him?” asked Bradley.
“Our intimate conversation wasn’t quite as detailed as I’d hoped.”
“You should have hurt him again.”
“Sorry, Bradley, I couldn’t.”
Nelson patted him on the shoulder. “You did the right thing,” he said. “Even if it does end up getting us all killed.” He looked up. “I saw you looking earlier. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what lives in here.” Nelson took his leave and joined Benedict.
Bradley had already left him, preferring to comfort the girl than to keep Dane company. He walked over to the end of the cavern, trying to keep his temper under control. Would the pair of them had given him the hard time if he’d come down heavy on the girl instead? Like he needed an answer to that one.
“The next time you disturb me in the park, old friend,” he muttered, “it’ll be you who’s going to be nursing a pair of sore testicles.”
He flattened the palms of his hands against the rock and slowly felt his way along the surface, looking for any grooves or change in composition. Dane turned his head and saw Benedict and Nelson were doing the same.
“Do you think there is a door out of here?”
Dane tried not to jump; he hadn’t realised that the bodyguard was standing behind him. He continued with his search, deciding not to answer the man.
“I mean, this is the sort of thing that you’re good at, right?”
He turned around. “Are you doing this on purpose?”
Bradley grabbed the front of his shirt. “Thing is, Dane, for once, I agree with the old bastard. This really is your fault. I spent hours following you about. Have you any idea how tedious that is? Most of the time, though, you had no idea I was there. That’s because I’m good at my job.”
Dane felt something sharp pressed against his stomach.
“Yeah, that’s right. I don’t want to die down here, Dane, but, if that is the case, you won’t be around to witness it.”
“Move the knife, Bradley.” When the bodyguard failed to comply, Dane took out his own knife and pressed the tip against the man’s bladder. “I won’t tell you twice.”
Bradley grinned. “Mine’s bigger.”
Dane stepped back. He slipped his knife back into the sheath before pushing Bradley out of the way. He walked over to the hole and stood directly under it. He then got down on his knees and swept his hand through the sandy soil. It took him seconds to discover a flat surface beneath the dirt.
“What are you looking for?”
“There you go with the questions again, Bradley.”
The bodyguard dropped to his knees, next to him. “Come on, what is it?”
“I’m looking for an arrow.”
“You’re shitting me. Like they are going to leave an arrow pointing to the way out.”
“It’s not a way out, it’s a way in. We’ve just come through their front door, now we are in the hallway.” He looked into Bradley’s bemused face. “Living room, kitchen, reception room, secondary way out. They’ll all be here.”
“You don’t know that.”
Dane’s fingers found the beginnings of a groove. “Yes, I do.” He pushed away the remaining soil to reveal a line of seven circles, etched into the rock, pointing towards the rock face. The smallest circle, closest to him, was about the same size of a coin. The other six increased in size. Dane lowered his head and blew the sand out of the grooves.
“You are one big-headed bugger.”
Bradley looked down at the pattern. “I’m not even going to ask how you knew.” He pointed his arm parallel to the line of circles. “So, according to that, the door is right there.” He ran over to the section of wall, stopped, and called Nelson over.
Dane watched the two older men hurry over to Bradley, while keeping an eye on the girl. It didn’t escape his attention to find a slight smile had now appeared on her face. Before he could question her, she walked over to the other three.
He turned ninety degrees and began removing the loose soil again. It didn’t surprise him to discover another line of geometric shapes pointing to the wall. Dane repeated the action twice before standing. He now had four lines of circles, squares, triangles, and ellipses. “One in four,” he whispered. A shiver climbed up the base of his spine. Something told him that he was missing a vital part of the puzzle.
The strange man sat, cross-legged, watching the other four quietly. The staff lay across his thighs. Dane walked over to him. “Did you bring that with you?”
The man took his gaze away from the others and stared at Dane. “You promised you wouldn’t hurt me again.”
“I don’t have time for this.” He stooped down, snatched the pole, and walked over to the centre of the cavern. He heard the excited noises coming from Benedict. Dane guessed that he had found one of the doors. “One in four,” he said again.
He held the pole by one of the pointed ends, then carefully raised the pole until the other end brushed against the ends of one of the webs.
“Stop it!” shouted the seated man. “Don’t do that, don’t wake them up!”
Dane ignored him and continued to push the tip of the pole into the thick silk. Something he dislodged tumbled out of the web. He dropped the pole in shock. Both the pole and the object hit the ground at the same time. “That’s not good,” he said, picking up half a jawbone. He twisted it around his fingers. It was human. Dane picked up the pole. Still, it did prove one thing: those webs were empty. It meant that they were either abandoned or the owners were out in the jungle, hunting.
“It’s opening!” shouted Benedict. The man spun around. “Come on, don’t just stand there!”
He watched all four of them take a single step back as a perfectly circular section of the wall recessed inwards before rolling to the side. Dane’s heart skipped a beat when he saw movement within the dark interior. The bottom of his mouth dried up. The ceiling was alive with movement. None of the others had seen it yet!
“Get back over here,” he shouted.
The girl shrieked as two spiders, each one the size of a dinner plate, crawled out of the opening and scurried up the wall. Bradley took her wrist and dragged her over to Dane, closely followed by Nelson and Benedict.
“Into the light! Get into the light.” Dane pulled the two older men closer to him as the opening exploded with hundreds of long, black, fur-covered arachnid legs. “Get over here!” he yelled at the other man.
The remaining individual took no notice of Dane’s frenzied shouts. He shrank back against the wall, shrieking as the horde of spiders ran over to the man and covered his body and head. Dane had to look away after he saw one of them had managed to crawl into the man’s open mouth.
“And the Goddess, Ah Caax, takes her first sacrifice.” The girl disentangled herself from the arms of Bradley. She hissed at Dane before running out of the circle of light.
Dane grabbed Bradley’s arm to stop him from following her as she ran to the other side of the cavern.
She looked back once before placing both hands against the surface. In seconds, an elliptical part of the wall slid inwards and moved away.
“We need to go after her!”
Dane kept his grip on the bodyguard. “Don’t be a fool! Christ knows what could be waiting for us in there.”
The girl had already disappeared, and the wall had slid back into place.
“So, what, Dane?” spat Bradley. “We wait for those spiders to attack us next?”
He heard the man’s accusation but refuse to rise. Dane was too busy searching through his memory to try to remember where he had heard the name Ah Caax before. The spiders had already started dissecting t
he poor man, starting with his fingers. Three of the arachnids were already crawling up the wall, each one holding a bloodied digit in their oversized fangs.
“Calm down,” said Benedict. He pointed to the floor. “We still have another two doors to choose from.” He grinned at Bradley. “Let’s just all wish that the next door doesn’t hold scorpions.”
Chapter Five
Dane stopped walking for a moment to examine the markings on the wall by his left. He couldn’t stop his mind from thinking that this was another dead end, another trap. The group had been walking through this narrow passage now for at least ten minutes, and apart from Bradley jumping at the sight of a single spider, their journey had been uneventful. Even Benedict had chosen not to speak. Even so, Dane still believed that opening up the triangle door was a bad idea.
What made it more maddening was going in this direction was his idea. Despite his prior warning, the others still wanted to follow the girl, their argument being that it was bound to be safe as she obviously knew this cavern’s dark secrets.
“It doesn’t fit with any Pre-Columbian script.”
He turned his head to find the older archaeologist peering over his shoulder.
“Do you not find that a little strange, Dane?”
Benedict squeezed past him and walked a little further along the dark corridor.
“Where’s he going?”
Dane shrugged. “No idea, Nelson.”
The old man’s torch light skipped from both walls until it settled upon the floor directly in front of him. “I think you might want to see this, chaps,” said Benedict. “I think we might have a problem.”
Dane rushed up to him, keeping his own torch light fixed on the floor. He skidded to a halt, just behind Benedict, his mind agog at the sight. There were four large eggs in front of Benedict, each one the size of a child’s football. One of them had already hatched. He slowly lowered his knees. Dane extended his arm and shined the torch against the shell. “There’s something in there, I can see it moving.”