“Not yet,” Mary said as she held her hands out toward the flames, feeling the pinpricks of thawing flesh stinging her open palms. “I think they might be in some sort of trouble.”
Sam raised an eyebrow. “Now what makes you think that?”
“I’ve been trying to reach them for two days, just now for a half hour straight. They’re not just refusing to pick up; they’re not there.”
Sam smiled. “Now, Mary, you know how Eddy can get. Work is everything to him. If they’ve made some kind of discovery, you can bet you won’t hear from him for another two days.”
“That’s just the problem,” Mary said with a straight face. “Eddy isn’t in charge of communications.”
Sam closed the book, but left his finger wedged between the pages to save his place. He leaned forward. “Who is?”
“Eve.”
Sam’s face sank and his eyebrows furrowed, creasing his tan forehead. “How’s the weather been up there?”
“Radar shows everything is clear.”
“Maybe a mechanical problem? Atmospheric events?”
Mary shook her head. “No sunspots, and they have Paul and Steve up there with them. I’m not sure what could have happened, but they must be in some sort of trouble.”
The leather chair creaked as Sam leaned back and bit his lower lip. “Weather permitting, we can go check on them tomorrow. They’ve handled bad situations before. I’m sure they’re fine.”
“But better safe than sorry,” Mary added.
Sam pursed his lips and rubbed his eyebrows. “They could just be distracted.”
“I can’t think of anything that would keep Eve away for so long.”
“Maybe she and Eddy finally…”
“Except that. Let’s hope you’re right.”
Sam nodded. “In the meantime, you might want to keep trying to reach them.”
“Unless you plan on sleeping in that chair tonight, I suggest you take a turn in the freeze box.”
Sam stood and let his head bob back and forth to show his aggravation at being disturbed. He handed the book to Mary.
“Where are we?” She asked.
“Chapter ten,” he said. “And you better give me the details tonight.”
Mary settled into the chair and picked up reading where Sam left off. It had been a tradition of theirs for years. While one worked, the other read, and that night, over supper or lying in bed, they filled in the holes for each other, telling the story in their own words and adding personal thoughts. They were planning to grow old together, and neither one wanted to run out of things to say.
But as Mary scanned the words on the page, she realized her side of the story would be lacking in details tonight. Though she saw every word, most of the text faded to the back of her mind, which was occupied by worry for her friends. They could already be dead and frozen solid and she wouldn’t be the wiser. The Arctic was unforgiving like that. Mary knew that better than most people, but then again, so did Eddy.
☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼
Walking in a straight line was all Eddy could think about. His legs were sore and burned with cold. His arms were wrapped tight to his chest and had not moved in an hour. The pulling pain on his back and shoulders was due to the backpack he carried, but it was necessary, the key to their success. Doing his best to move quickly, Eddy had become exhausted but maintained his pace, spurred on by Eve’s last words. He wanted to save the world. Who wouldn’t? But he was more concerned about seeing Eve again, and telling her the truth.
Eddy moved his right arm for the first time in a long time and felt a stab of pain in his wrist. He knew he should move his arms, shake them around to keep the blood circulating, but the effort it took seemed extreme. He reached into his pocket and looked at the GPS screen. He was only a half mile from his objective. Almost there.
The thought spurred him on. His feet quickened across the snow with the hope that Eve and the others would be waiting with the warm Sno-Cat, ready to heat his frozen bones. He hadn’t taken in his surroundings in some time. Moving in a straight line was easier if he didn’t look around. He glanced to his left. Snow. He glanced to his right. Ice. Then, with a groan from his muscles, he turned around and stopped.
Eddy’s arms fell to his sides as he looked back through his tinted goggles. Perhaps a football field away, four objects moved—running straight at him like linebackers from hell.
Running was the only thing Eddy could think to do. But if Steve’s calculations had been correct and these Inuit—these Ferox—could run at thirty miles per hour, Eddy was in trouble. In his current quasi-frozen state, Eddy would be lucky to outrun an Arctic seal. But he had to try.
One foot hit the ice, then another and another. In moments, Eddy was up to speed and—whump! His foot caught the pant leg of his other leg and sent him sprawling toward the ice. But when he hit, the ice was soft, just a few inches of snow covering a round hole. At first, Eddy feared he’d landed in a breathing hole created by seals, but the icy cold water never hit. He began to slide, headfirst, through a glowing tube of blue ice.
Eddy was too tired to resist the pull of gravity, which pulled him ever faster through the tunnel that nature had constructed like a water slide, twisting and turning. He felt the walls of the slide disappear and air on all sides and nothing below…until he hit the rock solid ice floor, which was polished smooth like an ice rink.
The air was knocked from Eddy’s lungs, but he felt nothing break; all the padding provided by his many layers had spared him from a snapped rib or two. He slid across the surface of the ice cave and stopped when he slammed into a pillar of ice that connected both ceiling and floor.
Eddy crawled to his hands and knees and worked his way onto his feet. He was battered, confused and now lost, but he was still very aware that the Ferox were bearing down on him. Whether or not they would pursue him into the cave was a mystery to Eddy, but he didn’t want to find out the hard way. He took in the massive cave. Around him were tunnels in the ice, as though they had been carved by some ancient civilization. The cave was lit dimly from above and bright sunlight filtered through the ice roof. Eddy held onto the ice pillar as he looked at the GPS screen, which glowed in the dark cave. He found his bearings and headed in the direction that the GPS indicated. He might be lost under the Arctic ice, but he wasn’t going to stop. If there was a way out of this cave system, he was going to find it.
Eddy skittered across the smooth ice, working just as hard to keep from falling over as he did to move forward. His progress was slow but continuous. As he delved deeper into the cave system, the light from above began to fade some and he used the GPS screen as a kind of flashlight, holding it out in front of him to light his path.
A sound behind Eddy made him jump and spin. It was far away, deep in the cave behind him, but still in the cave. Eddy lost his balance and fell to the ice, doing his best not to alert the Ferox to his position. The cave had been a blessing in disguise. Eddy realized that he should have been dead. If not for this maze of ice hiding him from his pursuers and sheltering him from all the elements save the cold, he would have died at the hands of the Ferox. Eddy slid onto his hands and knees, inching across the floor. He found crawling to not only be more quiet, but also much faster. His balance was much better on his hands and knees and, except for the pain in his kneecaps, the position was easier on the body.
Eddy crawled his way through the cave, stopping every few feet to listen. Then he heard something new, not from behind, but in front of him—water. He slid forward, rounded a spire of ice and came into a clearing where the roof was thin and the cavern was well lit. A hole in the ice floor gave way to ocean water, but what struck Eddy even more was the proliferation of life in the room.
Walruses of every shape and size lounged around the open pool of ocean water. Some were male, with large tusks, like legless saber-tooth tigers. Others were females lounging in groups of five or ten. All had thick folds of brown skin, like fat, very tan, wrinkled, old women. But stand
ing taller than the rest was a massive male bull, with tusks the size of Eddy’s arms and a body that looked to weigh nearly four thousand pounds—the walrus in charge. Eddy smiled as he realized he was seeing something spectacular, an ice cave ooglit, where the massive creatures were known to haul themselves out of the water for rest and copulation.
Eddy had just come one hundred feet through a long winding cave and didn’t want to backtrack. The walrus herd was between him and the next cave, which he hoped headed in the right direction. But the only way through was past the seagoing behemoths and the gigantic king walrus. Eddy didn’t know much about walruses; he’d seen enough National Geographic specials to know that they didn’t eat people, although he imagined the big one was fully capable. Sliding onto his stomach, Eddy started out across the outer fringes of the cavern, doing his best to fit in and not stand out too much. He moved the backpack higher, onto his head, to give him a more authentic shape. He was sure that the first walrus to spot him would either laugh in a walrus way or sound the alarm.
The stench in the room was penetrating, filling Eddy’s nostrils. It was a putrid smell, which he knew was a mixture of walrus dung and urine. While disgusting, he thought it best if he slid his way through some of the muck. Smelling like a walrus might come in handy.
Fighting back the bile in his throat, Eddy squirmed through a chilled puddle of urine and feces. A second later, he feared he had suffered the stink for no reason. He felt the ice shake and a sound like a deformed trumpet reverberated through the ice cavern. Eddy looked up to see the large bull sliding across the ice toward him. Droves of smaller males and females scurried out of the way, diving into the freezing water. Eddy knew fighting would do no good. It could crush him in seconds or impale him with its massive tusks.
He did the only thing he could, curled up in a ball, held his backpack over his face and waited to be crushed. But the attack never came. His heart continued to beat and his lungs continued to breathe the rancid air. A bark, like that of a very large dog filled his ears, drowning out the sound of his own screaming voice. Eddy peered over the top of the backpack and saw a smaller female, perhaps one thousand pounds, between him and the bull. She barked violently at the giant and held her head high.
The bull paused as the female sniffed Eddy from top to bottom. When it reached Eddy’s face, it looked into his eyes. Eddy knew he better think of something. He made his eyes as wide and pitiful looking as possible and lowered his head. He whimpered like any small animal did when it was in danger. The message was clear: “save me!” The female turned to the bull and gave one last loud bark. The bull snorted, lowered its threatening stance, and backed away. The female turned back to Eddy and nudged him. Eddy got the message. “Get out of here before he changes his mind.”
Eddy slithered across the remainder of the ice, keen to keep his head low and his stance unthreatening. He was aware of the bull’s massive head following his progress. Relief struck as Eddy entered a tunnel on the opposite side of the cavern. The bull let out one last bark, warning against any return trips. Eddy leaned his head on his arms and took deliberate breaths. The work of sliding across the room wasn’t difficult, but the threat of the beast looming over his head had taken his breath away.
Then the smell struck again. Eddy, sure he wasn’t about to head back into the Walrus ooglit, shed his outer layers, which were moist with feces and growing colder by the moment. Lighter and energized by surviving one of the most extraordinary encounters of his life, Eddy struck out again, crawling through the cave system.
Progress was quick. Now accustomed to sliding across the ice, Eddy was making quicker time than he had on the outside, and so far, there had been no sign of pursuit. The GPS screen showed that he was a mere two hundred yards away from his goal. Were the others there waiting for him? Would he be able to find a way through the ice? It occurred to Eddy then that both he and the others were carrying the GPS communicators. They should be able to speak to each other, if they were in range and if the ice didn’t block the signal. Eddy held the communicator to his mouth and his lips began to form the first syllable of his words when a sound echoed through the cave system.
He recognized it right away, having heard it only minutes ago. The walrus herd was barking all at once. He could hear the splashing water as they dove into the ooglit pool. Then came the roar of the king. Like a dinosaur, it let out a thundering shout as it charged across the ice. Eddy could swear he felt the ice shake. He’d put an impressive distance between him and the walrus herd since he saw them, but he knew that the large bull was no ordinary walrus and its weight was incredible.
It occurred to Eddy then that the Ferox must still be behind him. Working their way through the ice caves, they must have stumbled into the ooglit. But he knew they wouldn’t crawl through waste to cross the expanse, nor would they cower before the walruses. And there were four Ferox. He imagined that the response garnered from the large bull was even more ferocious than it had been with Eddy.
Perhaps the bull would kill the Ferox for him. They were much smaller and had to be weaker than the beast. Eddy smiled at his good fortune, having made friends with the herd. The bull called out again, sounding furious. Then it was silenced with a loud squeal, the likes of which Eddy had never heard. It tore at his heart, knowing that the king, countless years old and the brave protector of his herd, had just been killed. The four thousand pound, sword-tusked creature hadn’t even slowed the Ferox down.
Eddy wanted to cry for the beast, but now he knew how close the Ferox were and that they were still chasing him. He was nearly to his destination, but feared he would not make it. The Ferox were relentless pursuers, and if they could kill the walrus bull, they would make short work of him. Eddy cursed the Ferox in his mind. They had destroyed his life and the lives of countless others.
Scrambling on hands and knees, Eddy began to make good time across the ice…then stopped when he heard a sound that stabbed a pain in his chest—breathing. Large lungs sucked in air from the cavern just behind him. The Ferox had found him.
22
HAIL
A cacophony of screaming voices behind a static hum burned at Steve’s ears. He couldn’t see anything or feel anything. He felt as though someone was standing behind him, laughing over the voices, but he was unable to turn around. Then he felt the voice had a body and the body was holding a knife…no, knives. Maybe ten of them, or hundreds, but they were about to cut into his back. He tried to run but his legs were frozen in the water. Frozen. A black man with white eyes opened his mouth full of knifes and bit Steve in half.
Steve’s eyes popped open wide and he could feel his body. He knew this was real and not a dream as the black man with white eyes had been, because his body hurt all over. But he felt warm and that was a welcome change from the freezing he experienced in his dreams. It then occurred to him that he didn’t know what he was looking at. In front of him was a brownish blob: hair. Steve became aware that he was in very tight quarters, sandwiched between two very warm objects.
Squinting with suspicion, Steve took the blanket that was draped over him and lifted it up. He peered into the darkness and as his eyes adjusted, his fears were confirmed. “Ah!”
Steve sat up straight as Kevin jolted and fell off the back seat of the Cat and landed on the floor. “What the hell is going on?”
Eve twisted around from the front seat, where she sat behind the steering wheel. “Relax, Steve, you’re still a virgin.”
“That’s not funny,” Steve said with wide eyes. “I can’t believe you just said that.”
Norwood was crushed against the back of the seat, where Steve was pushing on him. “Well, I gather it worked.”
Steve was irate. “What the hell worked?”
“We had to get you warm,” Kevin said as he pulled a shirt over his head, covering his naked body.
“So you molested me?”
Norwood sat up behind Steve. He was naked, too. “You would have gotten hypothermia and died within min
utes. We had to warm you up fast and the hot air from the Cat’s heating system wouldn’t have done the job. Body heat saved your life.”
“Okay, fine. But why couldn’t Eve have done it? I didn’t need to wake up to two men feeling me up!”
“If I had done it,” Eve started with a smirk, “you would have woken up feeling me up.”
Steve smiled. “Okay, you got a point there, but…where’s Nicole?”
Smiles faded throughout the Cat.
“What?”
Kevin looked up, his long johns half way on. “You don’t remember?”
“Remember what?”
“Why you had hypothermia? Why you were wet to begin with?”
Steve rubbed his temples with both hands. “All I remember was this awful dream I just had. This guy, all black, with big white eyes and knives for teeth. It was… It wasn’t a dream.”
Kevin shook his head, no, in agreement.
“She’s gone?”
Kevin nodded, “Sorry.”
“Oh.”
Steve stared straight ahead, looking at nothing. “Do you think she felt much pain?”
“Doubtful,” Norwood said. “Her body would have been numbed by the water and she was already suffering from shock. She didn’t feel a thing.”
“Good,” Steve said. He looked out the windshield. “Where are we?”
Eve looked back at Steve with a worried expression, concerned for his emotional health.
“Don’t look at me like I’m a wounded freakin’ puppy. Just tell me where the hell we are.”
Eve sighed. “Closing in on the coordinates. We’re about a quarter mile from our goal and moving fast. We should be there in about ten minutes.”
Steve nodded. “Where are my clothes?”
“They were too wet to wear. We left them behind.”
“You expect me to go around the Artic with my ass in the wind?”
Kevin let out a light chuckle.
“I’m glad you think this is funny.”
Raising the Past Page 20