The Mountain

by Richard Turner

  Dazed, Shaw saw the beast step over him. He tried to bring his rifle up, but the creature was too close. Suddenly, from out of the shadows charged Sangdrol. With his ice axe raised above his head. He barreled straight into the side of the creature, knocking it down. Without stopping, Sangdrol dropped to one knee and brought his axe down onto the beast’s head, cracking it wide open. Blood and gore spilled out onto the ground.

  Amrit fought back the tears in her eyes. She watched in horror, as Ortega died a death that no one should ever face, eaten alive by a carnivorous beast. She was about to crawl back to safety when she saw a dropped submachine gun lying on the ground less than a yard away. With a cry on her lips, Amrit jumped up onto her feet and ran over to the weapon. She picked it up in her hands, flicked it to automatic and then screamed at the top of her lungs at the beasts that had killed Ortega.

  With blood-soaked faces and hands, the creatures turned and looked over at Amrit.

  Amrit fired at the beasts. Like the Grim Reaper, she scythed down the four creatures, their bloodied corpses tumbling to the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, Amrit saw a beast charging at her and mercilessly cut it down.

  Shaw didn’t have time to thank Sangdrol. He stood up, took aim, and fired the last round in his rifle into a creature trying to climb the rocks. When he saw the empty chamber of his rifle, Shaw swore and angrily threw the useless weapon to the ground.

  “Here, take this,” said Choling, handing Shaw his pistol.

  Shaw nodded his thanks to Choling. They were locked in a fight to the death in which every second counted. He turned to look over at the monsters. Shaw could see the look of savage hate in their eyes. Unbelievably, they wouldn’t stop. They crawled over the dead and dying bodies in front of them. The beasts snarled and howled madly as they fought to get close enough to kill the intruders.

  Shaw soon emptied his pistol’s magazine.

  Amrit yelled in frustration and then threw her empty submachine gun at the frenzied mob of creatures before running back over to Shaw’s side.

  Shaw glanced over his shoulder and realized that they would never make it to the tunnel and safety before the beasts were on them.

  “Now what we do?” asked Amrit, grabbing hold of her ice axe.

  Shaw didn’t know what to say; they were out of ammunition and there was no place for them to run to. They were trapped.

  He put a hand on Amrit’s shoulder and looked down into her eyes.

  She reached up and placed her hand over the top of his. Amrit gave Shaw a sad smile. She knew the end was near.

  Suddenly, a stick of lit dynamite, followed by two more, flew over their heads and landed on the other side of the rocky wall.

  “Down,” yelled Choling.

  Dropping to their knees, Shaw and Amrit had barely gotten under cover when the first stick of dynamite exploded with a loud boom, quickly followed by two more thunderous blasts. The force of the explosion tore those beasts closest to the blast apart. Flying rocks and debris killed and wounded many more.

  A cloud of dust wafted up towards the roof of the cavern.

  Shaw opened an eye, looked about, and saw that he was still in one piece. With his ears ringing from the explosions, Shaw stood up, walked over to the rocky boulder he had been using for cover and peered into the dusty cloud covering the field of battle. A few moments later, the haze began to dissipate. The sight, which awaited him, was one he would never forget. At least ten beasts lay in a bloody heap, their broken and torn bodies all jammed together. Farther back, several more bodies riddled with bullet holes lay silent on the cold cavern floor.

  Shaw was relieved to see that the other beasts had fled. He helped Amrit up off the ground. “Looks like we’re all alone, for now.”

  “What happened?” asked Amrit, looking about.

  “It would appear that Choling knows how to use explosives,” said Shaw, looking over at Choling as he jammed several sticks of dynamite from his pack into his jacket pockets.

  “Where’s Adler?” asked Choling, looking out at the heap of dead animals.

  Amrit said, “He’s gone. He made a run for it and left us to die.”

  “Bastard,” swore Choling.

  “Come on,” said Shaw. “We won’t stop him standing about.” With that, Shaw removed the flare pistol he had in his pocket, loaded a flare, and then with a flick of his wrist, he snapped it shut.

  “Amrit, you stay close behind me. Choling and Sangdrol, bring up the rear and be prepared to use that dynamite should we bump into any more creatures,” said Shaw.

  He paused for a second and then said, “Does anybody have any questions? Now is the time to ask them because from here on out, we are going to be running as fast as we can until we catch Adler.”

  No one said a word.

  Shaw made his way to the tunnel entrance and began to jog. He gradually picked up his pace. Driven by his anger at Adler and his desire to stop him, Shaw was a man on a mission. In the next hour, he knew one of them would be dead, and he didn’t intend it to be him.

  Chapter 26

  Mount Naraka

  A couple of minutes into the chase, Amrit called out. “Slow down, James, please slow down.” She struggled to catch her breath. Her lungs ached. Her head felt dizzy. If they didn’t take it easy, she knew that she was going to blackout.

  Shaw looked back over his shoulder and saw that his three companions were having a hard time keeping up with him.

  “Sorry, I just don’t want Adler to get away,” said Shaw, slowing down to a shuffle.

  Amrit said, “None of us do, James, but we’ll be no good if we’re all exhausted before we ever make it up to the surface.”

  “Ok, I’ll cut it back from now on,” replied Shaw, suddenly, feeling somewhat light-headed himself.

  “Well, before you do that, you might want to take a look around the corner. I think we’re about to come out into the cavern where the beasts were sleeping.”

  Shaw turned off his light, edged up to the corner of the tunnel, and peered into the dark. If there was something there, it could be mere feet away from him, and he would never see it before it was too late. He gritted his teeth, switched his flashlight on, and shone it all around.

  The path ahead was open.

  “Let’s go before they get back,” said Shaw.

  They had barely gone fifty feet before Adler, like a demonic Jack in the Box, suddenly shot up from behind a boulder and emptied what was left of his submachine gun’s ammunition into Shaw’s party.

  Trapped in the open, they had nowhere to go.

  Bullets tore through flesh and bone.

  The instant his weapon was empty Adler threw it to the ground and hurried off into the darkness.

  Shaw stood there; he could hear his heart beating in his ears. He couldn’t believe that he hadn’t been hit. Several bullets had passed through his clothes but miraculously, he was still on his feet.

  “James,” said Amrit.

  Shaw turned his head and saw Amrit looking down at a blood-soaked hand. A bullet had passed straight through her stomach. A second later, her legs buckled, and she began to fall to the ground.

  “No!” yelled Shaw as he grabbed Amrit in his arms.

  “It’ll be ok,” said Amrit, looking up into Shaw’s eyes. “Don’t you worry about me. You have a job to do. I’ll be gone soon.”

  He brushed her hair away from her face and struggled to control the desperate feeling of loss building deep inside his aching heart. Her face was losing its natural color. Her skin felt clammy and cold to Shaw’s hand.

  “You promised me that the device would never leave here. I expect you to keep your promise,” said Amrit with a weak smile on her face.

  Shaw nodded his head.

  Suddenly, an unearthly howl tore through the cavern.

  The creatures had heard the shots and were coming for them.

  Shaw looked over at Choling and swore.

  Sangdrol was cradling his friend in his arms. Blood trickled from
Choling’s mouth. He had been hit several times in the chest. He wasn’t going to make it either.

  Carefully laying Amrit down, Shaw walked over to Choling’s side.

  “They are coming, Captain,” wheezed Choling. “Leave me and get out of here while you can.”

  “Tell Sangdrol to carry Amrit,” said Shaw, his feeling of loss instantly replaced with white-hot anger and a thirst for revenge.

  Choling quickly passed on what he wanted Sangdrol to do.

  The sound of clawed feet running on the rocky ground grew louder by the second in the stygian darkness.

  Shaw suddenly realized that he had forgotten about the flare gun. Quickly digging it out of his pocket, he aimed it up into the air and pulled the trigger. With a loud whoosh, the flare shot up into the air. Hitting the top of the cavern, it exploded in a blazing shower of white light.

  With howls of pain, the beasts scurried for cover from the blinding light.

  “Take this,” said Shaw as he handed Choling the flare gun and three more flares. “Use it to buy us some time.”

  Choling nodded his head. He then reached into his pockets and pulled out a lighter and several sticks of dynamite. Keeping them tight in his hands, he said weakly, “Go, Captain, before they work their way around us and cut you off.”

  Shaw patted Choling on the shoulder, stood up, and turned about. Sangdrol stood there with Amrit cradled in his powerful arms; her breathing was ragged and pained.

  “Come on,” said Shaw. Using his flashlight to light the way, Shaw began to jog. All he could think of was killing Adler. The man had cost too many good people their lives and Shaw was going to put an end to Adler’s.

  Bruce was growing worried. As far as he was concerned, everyone had been gone for far too long. He knew that it would soon be dark outside. The last thing he wanted was to be trapped in a cave all by himself with who knew how many ravenous creatures lurking about in the dark. He began to nervously pace back and forth at the tunnel entrance. He was certain that something terrible had transpired. Bruce couldn’t wait any longer. He was about to go and see what had happened to his friends, when he saw a dark shape run out of the dark straight at him.

  Bruce brought up his submachine gun and then said, “Oy, who goes there?”

  Suddenly, Adler burst from the shadows with a murderous look on his face. Before Bruce could react, Adler plowed into him, sending him flying to the ground. Bruce felt his weapon fly from his hands. He never saw Adler bring a clenched fist down onto the back of his neck, knocking him out cold.

  Adler stopped for a brief moment to catch his breath. He looked around. When he saw Zaro and two beasts lying on the floor of the cave, he knew that he was on his own. Calmly, he walked over, picked up Bruce’s discarded weapon, checked that it was loaded, and then reached over for the bottle of oxygen lying on the ground. Adler took a couple of deep breaths to feed his tired and aching body. He took one last look over his shoulder. He wasn’t sure how many of Shaw’s people he had hit when he ambushed them. Hoping that he had killed or at least injured Shaw, Adler turned about and did one last thing before he began to make his way towards the tunnel entrance. With fatigue setting in, he kept telling his tired mind that all he had to do was make it to their camp below the glacier before night fell, and he would make it.

  Shaw quickly scurried over the rock bridge and then shone his light back on the path so Sangdrol could see where he was going. Without looking down, Sangdrol, with Amrit in his arms, strode straight over to Shaw.

  “Ok, we’re almost there,” said Shaw, knowing that Sangdrol couldn’t understand him. Somehow just saying the words brought Shaw reassurance that they were out of danger.

  Sangdrol simply nodded his head and looked back over his shoulder as if expecting to see Choling somehow miraculously following them to safety. Instead, there was only darkness.

  A weak moan escaped Amrit’s pale lips.

  “We’ll be out of here soon,” said Shaw as he gently patted one of her cold hands.

  Suddenly, the roar of a massive explosion raced up from below.

  Both men knew; Choling was dead.

  Shaw resumed the lead. He knew they were only minutes away from the cavern where he had left Bruce. He wasn’t sure what to expect. If Bruce had met foul play at Adler’s hands, then he was going to make the man suffer before he snuffed out his life.

  A throbbing pain filled Bruce’s head. He slowly sat up and realized that he was on the cold cavern floor. Bruce struggled to remember the last thing that had happened before he blacked out. In an instant, it all came back to him. He looked about for Adler.

  The man was gone.

  Bruce cursed the man as he got up on his feet. In the dim light of the cave, he saw his flashlight lying on the ground near his pack. He walked over, picked it up, and turned it on. It was then that he heard a strange hissing noise coming from the tunnel entrance. Bruce cautiously stepped towards the noise. His stomach did a back flip when he saw that both fuses had been lit and were burning down.

  He dashed over, grabbed the nearest fuse, and pulled it out from the stack of dynamite it was attached to. Like a sprinter, Bruce turned on his heels and ran over to the other fuse. He saw that it had seconds left until it reached the explosives. He dropped to his knees, reached for the fuse, and pulled it on it as hard as he could. With perhaps two seconds of fuse left, the cord came free and burned itself out in Bruce’s shaking hand.

  “Why can’t you just stick to photography?” said Bruce to himself.

  In the dark behind him, he heard the sound of several people running towards him. He swiftly raised his axe above his head and turned his flashlight in the direction of the noise.

  “Jesus, sir, you nearly scared the life out of me,” said Bruce when he saw Shaw coming towards him. He looked like he had just been to hell and back. Behind Shaw, Bruce could see Sangdrol carrying Amrit. She looked weak and frail.

  Shaw stopped by his friend, sadly shook his head and then turned about. He took Amrit from Sangdrol’s arms and gently laid her down on the ground. Shaw used a discarded pack as a pillow for her head. He could feel a lump in his throat when he looked into Amrit’s glassy eyes. The sparkle that had once been there was quickly fading.

  Amrit weakly reached up with her right arm, placed it around Shaw’s neck, and pulled him down towards her lips. Turning his head, so he could hear her, Shaw took a breath and waited.

  “Remember your promise,” said Amrit, barely above a whisper.

  “I haven’t forgotten,” replied Shaw.

  “Good. Now leave me with Duncan and stop Adler.”

  Shaw delicately removed Amrit’s weak arm from his neck and stood up with a fire burning in his eyes.

  “Duncan, do you have any weapons?” asked Shaw.

  “Only this,” said Bruce, holding up his axe.

  “Give it to me,” said Shaw. He took the axe and looked up the tunnel leading to the surface. “Stay here with Amrit. I’m going to kill Adler.”

  Sangdrol made a move to follow.

  Shaw raised his hand and shook his head. Pointing at Bruce and Amrit, Shaw said, “You have to protect them until I get back.”

  Sangdrol hesitated for a second and then nodded his head. He understood what Shaw wanted him to do.

  Without saying another word, Shaw spun about on his heels and raced up towards the snow-covered surface of the mountain.

  Chapter 27

  Mount Naraka

  The sudden blast of frigid air was a shock to Shaw’s system. It was like stepping naked out of a sauna into a freezer. He had been sweating under his many layers of clothing.

  Shaw quickly bundled up and looked down the icy slope. In the fading light, he could see Adler making his way down the snow-covered slope. With only one thought in mind, Shaw took off after Adler but soon found that it was near impossible to move quickly in the knee-deep snow.

  In the cold, biting air, Shaw found that it was hard to replace the oxygen he expended chasing Adler. He didn
’t want to, but he had no choice.

  Shaw was struggling not to black out. He was pushing himself too hard. A couple of minutes later, he stumbled into the dead Germans’ camp. He stopped for a moment and looked for Adler. Shaw could see that the SS man was nearing the edge of the glacier. In a couple of minutes, he would be over the side. Shaw couldn’t understand how the man could keep going without oxygen. Quickly rummaging through the first destroyed tent, Shaw swore when he didn’t find what he was looking for. He moved over to the next one and found exactly what he needed. Shaw pulled a bottle of oxygen, turned it on and then placed the mask over his mouth.

  Nothing came out. It was empty.

  Shaw swore as he threw the bottle aside. Quickly finding another one, he turned it on. He could have yelled for joy when he felt the air coming into the cold rubber mouthpiece. Shaw took in several deep breaths. Instantly, his cloudy mind cleared. His muscles no longer ached and burned for oxygen. He took a few more long breaths before dropping the bottle down into the snow.

  Looking down at Adler, Shaw let out a deep cry.

  Adler stopped in his tracks and looked back up at Shaw. He had seriously underestimated his opponent’s tenacity. Adler brought up his submachine gun, aimed it at Shaw and then pulled the trigger.

  As Shaw expected, all of the rounds fell short. Adler hadn’t compensated for the angle of the slope.

  With Adler disarmed, the odds were now even.

  Running, he knew, would just exhaust him. So he dove forward and landed face first on the ice. Quickly rolling over onto his back, he began to race like a sled down the slope straight towards Adler.

  Adler couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw Shaw coming at him. He turned and ran for the safety lines they had left in place over the side of the glacier. He could hear Shaw growing nearer by the second. For the first time in years, fear and doubt seeped into his heart.

  As he closed in on Adler, Shaw realized that he was going too fast. He reached out with his ice axe and tried to slow his descent. With chips of ice flying into the air, Shaw fought to control his speed. It was a futile gesture. A couple of seconds later, he smashed right into Adler’s legs, sending him flying up into the air.