They didn’t need to walk long before they found Zeke. His large frame was hard to miss, even as he lay half-submerged in the water.
“Zeke, Zeke, buddy, can you hear me?” Declan dropped to his knees, while Justin remained standing, casting light onto the scene.
The large man’s face was covered in blood, his large beard caked in it. He was breathing, his large, barrel chest rising and falling with jagged, irregular breaths.
“We need to get him out of the water.” Declan moved and took hold of the man under both arms.
The moment he started to pull, Zeke’s eyes open and a gush of blood burst from his mouth like a geyser. He gagged and choked, his eyes filling with panic as the light blinded him. He tried to move and thrash, but he lacked the energy, and Declan was easily able to calm him.
“Easy, buddy, easy, Zeke.” Declan crouched even lower, so his face would come into view.
Zeke mumbled something, unable to speak on account of the blood that was filling his mouth.
“That’s not good,” Justin said, watching as the man made another gargled attempt to talk, which resulted in more blood being vomited onto his face.
“Take a look for any injuries. I can’t move it, and I don’t think it’s just his weight.” Declan strained as he spoke, once again trying to move the man from the water.
Moving around them, Justin kept the light focused on the pair, and as a result, almost tripped over a large rock that was blocking his path. Catching himself at the last minute, he cursed as a lightning bolt of pain streaked across this mind’s eye, blinding him temporarily.
When everything came back into focus, he was where he needed to be and crouched down best Zeke. That man’s breath had increased, each exhalation coming with a grunt of pain. It didn’t take long for Justin to see the problem. A large shard of rock was stuck in the man’s back, and their attempts to move him only served to drive it deeper.
“Bro, stop, stop now,” Justin spat, the words rolling over each other in his urgency to get them spoken.
“What?” Declan asked.
“I think he’s got a broken spine. We can’t move him.” The words were not lost on Zeke who made a terrified whimpering sound and turned his head to look at Justin. His eyes were wide with fear, and the blood-spattered face only served to make him look even more feral.
Declan laid Zeke’s head on the ground and moved beside his brother. He saw the large rock shard piercing the man’s spine and the flow of blood collecting in a pool at its base.
“Fuck,” Declan whispered, his words drowned out by the sound of the cascading water. “What do we do?”
“We have to find a way out and get help,” Justin said.
Declan couldn’t stop staring at the Zeke. “What about him? I don’t think he will survive if we leave him here. The water is freezing. He’ll get hypothermia or something.”
“If we move him, we will do more damage than good,” Justin pointed out.
“Better paralyzed than dead,” Declan offered as a response. “What if we take that rock out, and at least bring him up to Tilly.”
Justin was quiet for a moment, thinking things through. “Alright, we do it quick. You roll and I’ll pull it free.”
Zeke was watching them both intently, his eyes bright and focused on them. While he could not have heard their conversation, it was clear that he understood what they were planning. With his face set, he watched as Declan moved into position and managed to give a nod.
“One, two …” Declan rolled Zeke to his left.
“Three,” Justin grabbed the shard of rock and yanked it free.
The bellow that escaped Zeke’s lungs echoed around the cavern and seemed to grow loud rather than fade away.
“It’s bleeding a lot. Shit,” Justin said, panicked. “But … but I don’t think it was in his spine. It was off to one side.”
“Here, use this.” Declan’s words were followed by a ripping sound. A wad of cloth was thrust into Justin’s hands, and he used it to pad the wound, pushing as hard as he could to stop the flow of blood.
“Give me his belt,” Justin said, as he fought the need to pass out.
“What?”
“His belt, give it to me, I need something to hold the bandage in place,” Justin said, as his arms grew tired.
Declan made quick work of undoing Zeke’s belt, pulling it free. The large leather strap was just long enough to wrap around the man’s body, the wound being just higher than the bulk of his belly. With it pulled tight and fastened, Justin could release the pressure and drop to the ground.
“Thank … thank you,” Zeke coughed out.
His breathing was still heavy, but it seemed more stable than before.
“We need to get you out of the water. It’s not far. Can you move your legs?” Declan asked.
“I think so,” Zeke spoke slowly, his words slurred through the pain.
With a grunt, the big man managed to raise his knee and put his foot flat on the floor. He growled in pain but pushed on. Grabbing Declan’s offered hand, he twisted his body and rolled onto his knees.
It took a little while, but between the three of them, they managed to get Zeke up to a vertical base. He sways on his feet, unsteady, like a tired boxer going into the twelfth round, with nothing left to fight for but his pride.
“I’m good. I’m good,” Zeke said after they stumbled part of the way. “Just keep that light shining straight.”
“You sure?” Declan asked, wary of letting the man go.
“Boy, I’m tougher than a tanned hide. I’ve been through worse stuff than this and come out swinging the other side.” A surge of strength ran through Zeke as he brushed off the brother’s helpful hands and set off under his own steam.
Justin looked at Declan, and in the light of their head torch, he saw his brother looking right back at him. Neither had anything to say at that moment which would accurately capture the man.
“Tilly, Tilly, are you alright?” Zeke called out the moment he saw his wife curled up against the wall. Her face was pale and gaunt, her eyes gazing into the darkness as if blind, incapable of making out anything, so focused on nothing.
“Zeke?” the older woman spoke as if coming out of a trance, following the voice of her beloved as it helped her fight back from the depths to which she had sunk.
“That’s right, honey. I’m here.” Zeke reached for his wife, and against all degrees of logic, he was able to help her to her feet. His back was soaked with a mixture of blood and sweat, but it was clear that he was not going to let anything slow him down.
While the couple embraced, Declan and Justin turned the lights of their helmets away from the water and to the walls of the cavern. They had no idea where they were, but it was pretty evident that they could not go back the way they had come.
A quick look gave them four different tunnels that they could take, each one varying sizes, but all large enough for them to walk through. The entrances were spherical and had a strangely manmade look to them.
“Something made these tunnels,” Justin said as they stood against the opening of the one closest to them. “The finish isn’t machine smooth, but there is no way these happened here by accident.”
“That’s good then. If someone made it this far and carved these tunnels, then they must be a way out somewhere back there,” Zeke offered. He was sweating profusely and looked far paler than he had earlier in the day.
“Maybe,” Declan answered.
“Maybe?” Justin looked at his brother. “Bro, Zeke’s got a point.”
“He does, I’m just saying we don’t know what is down here, or where these things lead. We just need to be careful, that’s all,” Declan stammered, unable to put into words the strange feeling that was tickling the back of his mind.
“Let’s take a moment, decide which tunnel we are going to go down, and make an order to it,” Zeke said, getting as close as he could come to saying he needed to stop for a moment. He wiped a meaty hand across his f
orehead.
They studied the tunnels and agreed that everything they knew totaled up to nothing, and so they took the first tunnel. Declan went first, as he had a working helmet and the least injuries. Zeke and Tilly moved together behind him, while Justin brought up the rear. He also wore a helmet, which meant the group created enough light for them all to see by as they picked their way through the tunnel. They spoke very little at first, the silence of the cave an overbearing weight on their spirits.
The conversation started between husband and wife, talking about their plans once they got back home. It was a stilted conversation, that lacked a great deal of conviction, but it was enough to get the spirits of the group up a little.
“I’m taking those tikes to the store and buying them whatever toys they want. I’m spoiling them rotten every chance I get,” Zeke said, his voice sounding more powerful now that he was up and moving. “What about you boys? You got any family waiting for you out there?”
“I’ve got a wife and three daughters,” Justin answered.
“I bet you’re going to spoil them rotten too, ain’t you?” Zeke didn’t turn around as he spoke, but he didn’t need to for Justin to know he was talking to him.
“For sure. We had a holiday planned already but hell, I think I’m just going to spend the rest of my life on holiday, traveling the world.” Justin allowed himself to be swept away by the image, which gave his spirits a buoyancy that they had lacked.
“What about you, Declan?” Tilly asked, her voice timid and small.
“No, I don’t have a family yet,” Declan answered quickly. “I plan on starting one though.”
“That’s good. A man your age, in his prime, a family is what keeps you going.” Tilly addressed nobody in particular, her voice trailing off as she lost herself in her thoughts.
“I just need to find a good woman that’s willing to take me. I’ve got a bit of a past that many will find off-putting,” Declan said as he stopped walking, sweeping the torch around, even though there was only one way to keep moving and that was straight ahead.
“If you find the right woman, she will love you no matter what, and you will love her the same way,” Zeke added, the big man showing his sappy side as he put his arm around Tilly and squeezed.
“I hope so, I’ve got some baggage that takes a lot of forgiving,” Declan answered, but it was clear, especially to Justin, that his brother was really talking to himself.
“You will be surprised what love can do to a person. Besides, nothing can be so bad that people will run away before getting to know you,” Zeke said, the only one of the group that seemed oblivious to Declan’s voice internal monologue.
“Being the guy that murdered his father is not often a subject that goes down too well with the ladies. Not the sort I want to be around, anyway,” Declan answered before realizing what he had said.
Justin cringed, unsure what to expect from the older couple between them after hearing such a revelation.
They were indeed quiet for a few moments but kept walking at the same pace. “Your father, well, that’s definitely a hard one to bring up in conversation. Did you have a good reason?” Zeke asked, his voice calm and thoughtful.
“He abused Justin and me for eighteen years, and one day, I just had enough,” Declan answered quickly and easily. Justin wondered how often he had sat and spoken with anybody about things that had happened.
Justin knew how much he had spent on therapists and specialists in order to conquer his demons. He had never thought about how his brother had coped with everything, a realisation that carried a great amount of guilt with it.
“Then it sounds to me like it is not as cold-hearted as you make it sound, son.” Zeke’s voice changed, and his paternal side kicked in. “A parent should love their child unconditionally, and how any could hurt their own flesh and blood, in any way, is beyond me.” Zeke stopped talking a split second before Declan brought them to a stop again.
There was no need to ask why. They all heard it.
Footsteps.
Chapter Twelve
“What was that?” Tilly asked, spinning around to peer into the darkness.
Both Declan and Justin also turned, their lights looking back the way they had come. They saw nothing, heard nothing but the thundering of their own hearts. Yet, they all knew what they had heard.
“We’re not alone,” Declan said.
“Maybe it’s a rescue party or another tour group,” Tilly’s hopeful voice spoke up.
None of them believed it. The sounds they had heard were sharp and too soft and fast for human feet.
“Justin, keep an eye out behind us. I’ll keep eyes front. We need to keep moving, but stay alert, something is down here.” Declan took charge, a role he fell into comfortably. It was one that suited him, and once again showed Justin just how much his brother could have accomplished.
“Tilly?” Zeke called as they started to move.
A scream shattered the silence of the cave, conveying a pain that no words could accurately describe.
“Tilly!” Zeke roared, and both beams of helmet light crisscrossed one another as the brothers frantically sought to find Tilly.
They found her sitting on the floor of the cave, her face pale and dripping with sweat as if she had just walked out of a spinning class.
“Oh God, Tilly, are you alright?” Zeke moved to his wife, followed by the brothers.
“Here, we need to keep moving,” Declan said, offering Tilly a hand.
She reached up, slowly, her hands trembling, silent tears streaming from her eyes, their silvery trail cutting a path through the grime, exposing the flesh beneath and serving to make her face even more agonized.
Declan took her and helped her to her feet.
“Oh shit,” Justin said as he stared at Tilly’s belly. The fabric of her shirt had been ripped open, and two puncture wounds were visible, the red stain spreading through the surrounding material.
“What did that?” Zeke asked, reaching for his wife, the strain on his face evident as he took her into his arms.
“There.” Justin pointed with his helmet and the light reflected on a long fissure in the rock face. “I saw something.”
As they watched, a pair of bright yellow eyes appeared, reflecting the light of the torch back at them.
The group jumped, and while none would admit it individually, they all screamed. Tilly groaned, growing limp in Zeke’s arms.
“Tilly!” he cried out.
Declan turned to look at Tilly, while Justin froze on the fissure. The eyes had gone, but he could hear something moving, and he could see movement, black within the black.
“We need to move, now,” Justin said, as the first long, jointed legs appeared, emerging through the small opening like the tentacles of an octopus, forcing its way through an opening far too small for its body to logically fit through.
More legs appeared, and suddenly the bulbous, hairy body followed. The legs dug into the rock as they heaved the body free. Three sets of yellow eyes stared at the group, boring into them, as the rest of the body appeared.
The cave birthed the creature, which scrambled and scratched at the rock, trying desperately to pull itself through.
It looked like a spider, with the number of legs and the general shape of its emerging body. The only problem being, it was as large as a medium-sized dog.
“Jay, I need some help here,” Declan called, snapping Justin out of his freeze.
Justin turned and saw Zeke and Declan holding Tilly, her legs long and limp behind her. Her shirt had ridden up in their unorthodox grip, and Justin could not only see two similar puncture marks on her spine but the blackening tissue around it.
“We need to move,” Justin called, jumping to take over from Zeke, who had picked a bad time to start succumbing to his injuries.
As Justin lifted Tilly’s arm to place it around his shoulder, he heard a wet squelching sound. Tilly threw her head back and screamed as if she were howling at the m
oon.
“Hurry,” Justin urged, certain that the noise he had heard was the creature finally freeing itself from the cave wall.
The brothers quickened their pace, and with a final scream, Tilly grew still and inexplicably lighter in their arms.
“Something’s wrong,” Declan said. “Holy fucking balls of shit.”
His cry startled Justin and both men jumped back, inadvertently dropping Tilly’s upper body to the ground. Her lower half lay a few meters behind them, ripped apart around the middle, in line with the points of the spider bite.
In the panicked light of their helmets, the blood and trail of organs took on an even more disturbing lilt.
“Tilly!” Zeke bellowed, running back towards his wife’s legs. His foot slipped in the slick pool of blood and he fell into a heap, his wife’s insides coating him as he rolled, tangling himself in a never-ending string of bloated, blue intestines.
Justin moved quickly, grabbing Zeke and heaving on his large frame, pulling him through the puddle of gore, just as the dog-sized spider creature reached Tilly’s legs. The creature gave a strange hissing sound before rearing up on its hind set of legs. Large fangs unfurled from beneath the creature’s head. As thick as a man’s wrist at their base, they twitched and grew even longer as twin fleshy appendages, as thin as straws and tapered to a fine point, descended. Striking fast, the creature speared Tilly’s legs, sinking fang deep into the soft, blood-smeared flesh. They could see the fangs pulse and twitch as a hungry sucking sound rang out. They saw the severed limbs bloat momentarily, as whatever toxin the creature released flooded them. The creature soon drank down the rotting flesh to nothing more than the skin sack and bone. The toxin rotted the limb in an instant, as evident by the stream of black necrotic flesh than leaked from Tilly’s severed waist.
“What the fuck is that?” Declan asked, frozen as he stared helplessly as the thing drank Tilly dry.
“I have no idea, but we need to get moving,” Justin growled back to his brother. “Give me a hand.”
The two men worked to free Zeke from his wife’s intestines. The man was in shock, his entire body shaking as his brain tried to process what had happened.
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