It was the chance he needed. Justin tumbled to the floor, riding what he felt had to be the very last of his energy reserves, as he ran towards the women. He had seen a tunnel behind them, one large enough for him to move through at little more than a crouch.
Fat arms reached for him as their screams increased until it sounded as if a herd of pigs had been stuck in the gut and left to bleed to death.
He leaped over two, their bulbous frames preventing them from posting much of a threat, other than their incessant screaming.
The tunnel was close, but one female stood between him, her arms reaching for him, the look on her face not one of fear, but delight. The look in her eyes one of rabid hunger. Drool flowed from her mouth like a river as the mere thought of plunging her teeth into his juicy flesh set her senses on overload.
Justin moved fast, grabbing another one of their young by the leg, swinging him like a mace, its head impacting against the side of its mother’s skull. The small creature fell still and limp, while the mother’s face tore open like damp crepe paper. Her bulk toppled from the impact, and she tottered on one point for a few moments, her panic serving to produce the momentum needed for her to topple over.
Her bulk hit the floor and the cries began anew, louder now. The young had finished feasting on their injured brother and turned on him once more, ready to protect their mothers until the very end.
Cursing his luck, Justin realized the fallen woman was now an even bigger impediment that she had been when righted. Moving as fast as his broken body would allow, he reached her and kicked out, the toe of his shoe catching her in the face, splitting her lips and inflicting wounds that came close to mirroring those gouged into his own face. Using her head as a step, Justin boosted himself over her frame, ignoring the way her skull seemed to give way beneath his foot, the same way muddy ground would when trodden on.
Justin forced his way into the tunnel, pushing through the thick cobweb that hung just over the threshold, like a fine curtain. Disoriented, he flung his arms out, finding support from the wall on both sides, Justin paddled his hands, helping propel himself through the tunnel faster as the snarls of the chasing pack grew louder.
The lighting in the cave continued to increase, and as Justin spilled into the large cavern, he stopped, his breath taken from him by the grand scale of what he saw. He waited almost too long, reacting just at the last moment, diving behind a large boulder that sat to the left of his position.
He couldn’t do anything else, for the cave was full of Crawleigh’s finest residents. Sinking to the floor, pressing his back against the rock to the point of pain, Justin closed his eyes, hugged his knees to his chest and waited for the inevitable.
The creatures would surely see the young, hear of his bloody rampage, and they would come for him.
Justin shook while tears stung his eyes as he thought about his family; about never seeing them again, about what they would think of his not returning. Would his body ever be found, or would he simply rot in the meat locker, surrounded by the bones of those that had also lost the fight?
He heard a commotion and tensed. The young were spilling into the chamber, their squeals echoing around him. Only, they didn’t come for him. They should have already tasted his flesh. He opened his eyes as a series of screams rang out. He flinched, but managed to hold in his own cry of alarm.
As he peered around the boulder, Justin watched as the adults hurried down from the walls, scurrying like ants to face off against their young. Many simply jumped from a savage height, their bodies absorbing the heavy impact, which would have shattered the knees of any normal human being.
One raised a crudely fashioned ax and with a cry brought the weapon down on the head of one of the youngsters, splitting it down to the neck. Pulling the blade free, it licked the brain matter off and appeared to take a moment to savor the taste.
Panic spread fast, and soon the young were hurrying back into the tunnel, speeding towards their mothers. Many made it, but several were not so lucky. Turned on by the adults in their community, they were butchered, torn apart and feasted upon, as if they were infidels caught behind enemy lines rather than the future generation of their society.
With the young driven back, chased away to the safety of their breeding room, Justin watched as the adults returned to the walls. They walked upright, or close to it, their spines seemed to all carry the same heavy curve, giving them almost a hunchback-like appearance. Justin stared as they ascended the walls, which he noticed were covered with ladder-like constructions.
Each rung was made of bone, tethered together against more bone, tied together by thick ropes of hair. From his position behind the boulder, Justin did not have an unobstructed view of the chamber, but he saw enough to know that the ladders stretched up to varying heights, each one rising to a tunnel entrance.
One by one, they all disappeared, scurrying into the tunnels, going about whatever business it was that they saw tended each day.
Once Justin was sure the coast was clear, he hobbled out from behind the boulder and stood looking up at the ladders. He knew that freedom was up there. If he could get up high enough, there would be tunnels leading him outside. Declan was right, they had to be interacting with somebody above ground, otherwise, there was no way they could have survived for so long.
He studied the ladders, aware that he was wasting time standing around and that he would be exposed for the entire time he was climbing, Justin made a decision and started to climb. The bone rungs made for a hard climb, and he almost fell when one step broke as he put his weight down. He bit down and swallowed the scream as he felt a splinter of bone pierce the broken sole of his shoe and the flesh of his foot just beyond.
Suspended in the air, hugging the ladder as if it would somehow offer him more protection, Justin froze. He was running away while his brother was still down there. He had no way of knowing Declan was gone, and he refused to abandon him again. He didn’t say anything when they were kids, not when the cops came, not during the trial. That guilt had eaten away at him for years, and he would not make the same mistake now.
Justin took a second to steel himself before he climbed back down. He hit the floor and looked around. He could hear the grunts and calls of the Crawleigh natives echoing around him. He had to move fast.
He picked out the tunnel the young had emerged from. He did not want to go back down there. He also reasoned that Declan would most likely be in that direction because they had both been moving in the same direction.
He picked the tunnel to the left of him, grabbing a lantern from the wall as he limped on. Unarmed and terrified, he was ready to go down swinging.
The tunnel was empty and opened into another larger chamber with three sub-tunnels sprouting from it. The maze-like conditions were a testament to the people that lived there, for Justin had no idea where they were or from where they had come.
The first thing he noticed as he raised the lantern was that this chamber, and the entrance to the tunnels, was unlike the others they had been in. This was old, and it had been made for a purpose. Wooden jousts and supports had been set into and against the walls, and what looked like the tracks of a mining system could be made out on the floor also.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Justin said under his breath as he looked up onto the wall behind him, completing his inspection of the room.
Three skeletons hung on the wall, their bones dull and yellowed by age. A few thin strips of fabric clung to their bones, while a pile of dust, leather belts lay on the ground beneath them.
That was when Justin saw it. Something caught his eye, on the ground beneath the leather. Justin bent down to take a closer look. He picked the object up and felt as if his odds at surviving had increased. A sword. Not as sharp as it once had been, and a little beaten by age, but it was still a sword. Gripping it, Justin felt a surge of confidence rise up inside him.
It disappeared when he heard his brother’s scream.
Chapter Fourteen
Declan came to and immediately his mind alerted him to the danger. When his body tried to move in reaction, his mind alerted him to the agony that was his wrecked body.
He tried to remember what had happened.
He had been jumped. He remembered the clubbing blow to his stomach. Ice-like pain that had shot through him had now given way to a heavy ache.
He rolled onto his belly, before rising to his knees and eventually his feet, testing each body part as he transitioned from one position to another. The world swam around him, the same way it did after a couple of beers and a shot of something stronger, only Declan knew he had not been drinking. The insanity that had become his life was as real as the burden he carried around on his soul.
This was his just desserts for killing his father. It was a punishment not necessarily dished out by some benevolent deity, but rather by life itself, buried beneath the earth in a hell created for those that did not belong. First, those early settlers, tempted by the dark arts and a curiosity for the macabre, and since then, how many tainted souls had been sent their way, or to any other similar sites around the world? Justin couldn’t believe that such survival was only achieved by one group. He had studied enough at school to know there had always been a global obsession with dark magic.
As he took a step in the darkness, he felt his feet catch on something. As large as a rock but too light to be such, he froze, his acceptance of his fate not strong enough to override the fear that it conjured. He knew what lived in the darkness and had seen its destructive power.
He made it into a crouch, ignoring the pleas of his failing body to take it easy. Declan ran his hands over the floor, quickly finding the strange orb he had kicked. Lifting it from the floor, he winced as the pain in his shoulder erupted like a fire, consuming him. He remembered the bite and was momentarily glad for the darkness, for it meant he could not see the savagery of the wound. The orb carried a little weight, which, while substantial, did not fit with the side of the object he held. Much like the small package that arrives in a large box, offering what appears to be nothing but filling.
With his sight taken from him, Declan did the only thing he could think of. He shook the orb, raising it to his ear as he did. There was something inside that sloshed around, adding to the mystery, until suddenly, the thing broke, shattering in his hands, spilling its lukewarm contents over Declan’s hands.
Even in the darkness, he knew an egg when he felt one shatter. Something solid landed in the palm of his hands and instantly legs appeared and wrapped around him. Shaking his arms, he tried to dislodge the creature, doing so on the fourth attempt. He heard the body hit with a wet splat. He doubted the impact would be enough to kill whatever it was, but he couldn’t spend time worrying about it. Declan knew he needed to move, before whatever it was had the chance to strike again.
He turned back, heading away from the direction he had hurled the creature. He took two steps before stumbling once again, his boot finding another egg, and just beyond it another. His blood chilled as his mind started to multiple the eggs, using the size of the chambers he had seen until that point as a reference. He imagined a sea of eggs, some as large as a small child, each one containing some new beast. His brain painted the eggs in different colors, like horror-filled Easter eggs, faded to a dull pastel by the dark conditions in which they were incubated.
An urgency filled Declan’s movements as he tried to find a wall so that he could at least get his bearings.
The first crack rang out in the darkness, echoing like a twig snapping just beyond a tent, bringing a surge of both adrenaline and fear to the child lying away inside. Declan did not even have time to hope it was a singular occurrence before more cracks sounded, coming in such quick succession they sounded like an echo.
The sound of wet limbs, dripping with whatever slime-like substance served as their amniotic fluid made Declan shudder. He could feel their freshly birthed limbs unfurling as if they were all brushing his flesh as they did. It was a sound unlike anything he had heard before, and he hoped it would not be the last thing he would ever hear.
Declan reached a wall, and reached up, desperate to find a way out of the pit. It surprised him to find the wall soft, a depression carved into to the earth rather than the rock.
It was his change. He dug his fingers into the compact earth walls and started to climb, He grunted as he hauled himself out of the earth as if he were digging his way out of his own grave. His body screamed in pain, and he felt the bite wounds tear open, the warm trickle of blood heating his sweat-chilled spine.
He had no reason to believe that he was climbing anywhere, with no way to see what was around him. But Declan thought he could hear something, something beneath the rumbling cracking of eggs.
Several feet up, suddenly Declan’s reaching hand found empty space. The wall ended, and his spirits rose. He had made it.
A new urgency drove his body, his tired limbs finding that extra reserve to help push him up. Pain shot through Declan’s hand. His fingers were trapped, something was standing on them. Suddenly, hands were grabbing at him, tearing at his hair and flesh. With his body only halfway out, he was unable to fight back as blows rained down on him, clubbing at him in an attempt to drive him back down into the hatchery.
Declan tried to hold on, but ultimately, their assault was too great, and he fell. The few moments he spent in the air, lost in the darkness, held a strange level of tranquility for him, a moment wherein everything was possible.
He had only experienced it once before, and that was in the final few seconds before they opened the prison doors and cast him back out into the world. In those final moments of his incarceration, he was a truly free man. His time was served, and the outside world had yet to judge him. In those moments, as the light appears around the door, like the sun re-appearing after a solar eclipse, anything was possible.
Declan hit the ground, landing on an egg, which shattered beneath his body. His head bounced off the ground, and he could hear the insects scurrying towards him, eager to get the first taste of his meat.
He looked up, into the dark, and thought he saw a light illuminate the ledge he had been thrown from, his mind playing tricks on him. He thought he saw the shapes of three creatures, standing watch over him, making sure he stayed put and allowed their pets to feast.
The first limb reached him, jabbing out inquisitively, poking Declan in the cheek. The hairy leg pushed further, stabbing through the flesh of his face. He cried as he felt others surround him.
His time had come, and while he was not ready, he knew he had no chance of fighting back, and so submitted himself to his fate.
A heavy crash sounded to his left, and Declan felt the creature’s attention get drawn to it as if that offering held the promise of a far sweeter meal. Swiping out, Declan brushed two of the things from his chest. He estimated that each was the size of a house cat.
“Declan?” a strained voice called, and suddenly, a light appeared and filled the chamber, the minerals embedded in the rock ceiling catching the light, amplifying it enough for the sea of horror in which Declan was adrift to come into focus.
***
Justin followed the sound of his brother’s screams, moving through a tight crack in the rock, passing through the wall into another section of the warren that had been dug into the earth.
He could hear water, and the air was moist and damp. Justin jumped as something dripped onto his head causing Justin to raise his gaze. He was surprised to see that he was no longer in the caves, but rather a tunnel built into the earth. Wooden beams supported the old mine shaft, while roots dangled from the ceiling like exposed nerves. He was deep inside the beast of the mountains now, and there could be no more turning back.
He heard something up ahead of him, hidden in the darkness that the lantern he carried could not touch. The light was comforting, but it also brought with it a level of dread, for its power only extended so far, expanding Justin’s range of vision while making him a
target for whatever remained hidden in the shroud.
Nervous, he clutched the sword in a white-knuckled grip, the weight of it burning his already-exhausted arms, Justin pushed on. He could hear something up ahead and raised the lantern higher to try and squint into the lurking gloom.
A figure appeared, it’s back to him, and then another. Justin was sure there was a third there also, but there was no time to ponder it. His light caught their attention and the creatures turned on him.
One charged forward, moving at a lolloping pace, dragging one leg behind it. The limb appeared to be lacking all joints and dragged uselessly along the ground. The creature was naked, it’s body soft and dough-like, covered in a litany of silver scars and open sores, which, at first glance, looked like bullet wounds.
Justin backed up, and adjusted his grip on the sword. He swallowed hard and thrust it forwards. The creature saw it coming but couldn’t change direction in time. The blade pierced its throat and burst out of its neck. The thing continued its advance for a few more steps, biting at the sword as if it believed it could eat its way through. Finally, it went limp and fell, pulling Justin forward before the sword slipped free.
Justin turned back to the others, but he saw their attention was directed away from him. He heard Declan growl and then grunt before the dull sound of a heavy impact finished things off. Justin charged at the pair, his bloody sword raised and a war cry building in his chest, Justin cleaved the first head apart, bringing the sword down with enough force to travel through the skull and into the neck.
The weight of the two halves of the split cranium was too much for the creature’s rotting body to take and so as each half fell to one side, the flesh peeled away, splitting along the spine and sternum, spilling gouts of black blood to the floor. The thing fell backward, disappearing over the edge and into whatever cavern lay beyond.
Cave Crawlers Page 17