Predator X

by C. J. Waller

  ***

  I don’t know if it was the shock of discovering Yuri, or simply that we’d been on the go for over 12 hours, but after that, it was decided unanimously that we needed to rest. Another unanimous decision was that we’d rest outside the tower. Luckily, the ropes were fine (I spent at least half of the 45 minute trudge back up to the hole fretting that they’d been damaged in some way, or worse, had disappeared), and our only major obstacle was Yuri, who in the end had to be tied into the ropes and hauled up manually.

  Still, we’re up here now. Not that ‘up here’ is any better. The tower still looms over us. No one is going to rest with that thing nearby. So, despite our exhaustion, we trek back to the shoreline, back to where there is at least a little bit of light.

  Nothing burns, so we’re sitting in the almost dark, huddled against one of the outcrops that borders the little cove we arrived in. It’s frustrating. The distance between here and the opposite beach is nothing. Nothing. I swim that in the pool everyday, and then some. I could get over there in what, ten minutes? No, less. Five. Then I hear the faint splashing of something breaking the water’s surface, and I’m brought back down to earth. It isn’t the distance that’s the problem. It’s what’s in it.

  Whatever it is.

  We’re still debating. Janos is pretty much stuck on the pliosaur hypothesis, and based on the tooth we had (thanks, Marcus), I am reluctantly with him. Fi is undecided. She says she can’t deny something big and predatory is out there, but won’t commit to any firm theory. Brendan is convinced it is something totally new to science (which in his defence, it might be, you never know. Stranger things have happened. I mean, look at us right now), but the way he talks about it makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. He’s a bit too keen. Marcus, on the other hand, is Brendan’s opposite. He’s adamant we’re all nuts and there’s nothing out there, but when we offer the chance to swim the short distance to the other shore, he’s quick to shake his head and refuse, so we know he’s talking crap and he knows it.

  Then there’s Yuri. We've tried asking him where the rest of his team are, but it's no use. Every time anyone mentions them, his eyes go glassy. The rest of the time, he listens to us intently, his head cocked like a demented pigeon. At first, he doesn’t say anything, but when Brendan the Believer gets into a bit of a verbal sparring match with Marcus the Sceptic, he starts to giggle, this weird, snorty sound that he tries to muffle with his hands. It makes my skin crawl.

  “What is it, Yuri?” Janos asks gently. Out of all of us, he’s the only one who doesn’t seem totally freaked out by Yuri’s complete mental collapse.

  Again, Yuri says nothing, just keeps giggling.

  “What the fucking hell is wrong with him?” Marcus asks. He’s already on edge, and the last thing he – and we – need is this additional madness. “Okay, so he was trapped down here, but it was only for what, a week? Ten days? No one goes this nuts that quickly.”

  “So, what? You think he’s faking it?” Fi asks.

  He steals a glance at Yuri, who is back to staring into space. He shudders.

  “No… no, I’m not saying that. What I am saying is something else must have happened to him.”

  “Like being attached by an alien species from the deep?” Brendan says.

  “Fuck off,” Marcus snaps. “That’s enough of your bull. No. Something else.”

  “Besides, that happened to us, and we’re, uh, okay.” I say, and then wonder exactly how true that claim is when I see the look Marcus gives Brendan.

  Fi must’ve seen it too, because her brows crease and she shoots me a worried glance. She doesn’t have to say anything else. We’re going to have to keep an eye on those two.

  “No, Marcus is right,” Janos says. “Something else has happened here.” He gets up and crouches in front of Yuri, and mutters something I don’t understand in Russian. The effect on Yuri is electric. He sits bolt upright and whispers something back. Tears spring in his eyes, and then he claps his hand over his month. Janos frowns.

  “Well, what did he say?” Marcus asks. Janos holds one hand up, the universal plea for patience. He says something else in Russian – it sounds like a question, but I can’t be too sure. Yuri shakes his head violently and giggles again, his eyes still bright with tears. He whispers something again, but as he goes on, he gets louder and louder until he jumps up and starts yelling. Janos springs to his feet and grasps Yuri by his shoulders, obviously trying to calm him down, but now he is screaming, punching the air in the direction of the water, spittle flying from his lips.

  Then, as quickly as the outburst began, it ends. Yuri crumples to the floor, rolls himself up into a foetal position and refuses to move.

  ***

  No one really knew what to say after that. Every now and again, a whimper would escape Yuri and we’d all jump, just a little bit. Marcus went to ask something, but Fi silenced him with one of her laser stares. Problem was, that meant we had nothing to talk about, and the silence was doing my head in, so in the end, I sparked up a totally inane conversation about what we were missing on TV that night, which didn’t really work considering we’re from all over the place so didn’t have a clue what each other was on about half the time, but it did allow us to focus on something that wasn’t either depressing, terrifying or an interesting mix of both.

  One by one, exhaustion overtook us. Brendan was the first to succumb, followed by Marcus, who snored like a bastard until Fi kicked him. Yuri was still curled up in a tight ball, and we left him there. I mean, what else were we supposed to do? Finally, I gave in to the hot, scratchy feeling in my eyes and lay back, hovering in that weird, floaty place between sleep and wakefulness. I sensed someone sit down next to me, and it took a real effort to crack one eye open.

  Janos.

  “Are you all right?” he asks, his voice barely above a whisper.

  I nod. As badly as things are going, I suppose I'm coping pretty well. I mean, I managed to sleep. Kind of.

  Janos nods back. Now, I may not be the best at reading people, but even I can see something is bugging him.

  “You all right?” I ask.

  He pauses. His jaw works, and he frowns a bit, obviously trying to figure out what to say next.

  “I don’t know,” he says eventually. “Yuri… he is worrying me.”

  You and me, brother. In our exhaustion, none of us really bothered to find out what Yuri had said. Most of that is because we knew whatever it was, it would be madness, but a small fragment is also because we fear he might actually talk perfect sense.

  “Yeah. Me too. Marcus is right. He shouldn’t have gone quite that nuts in such a short space of time.”

  “Especially since he was a member of the Spetsnaz,” Janos says. “He is used to operating under pressure. That is one of the reasons he was chosen over me for the Alpha team.”

  “He was chosen over you?”

  Janos nods.

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “Why would you? It’s not important.”

  “Do you… do you know him well? I know you were both part of the team that went to Bolivia and everything.”

  Janos pauses again. “Well enough to consider him a friend. And well enough to know that this… episode is not normal. He is the sanest of the sane.”

  “Uh, not now, he isn’t,” I say.

  “No, not now, but once he was.” Janos breaks off again and stares in Yuri’s direction. The Russian still hasn’t moved, and for a moment, I wonder if he is dead. Then I catch the almost imperceptible movement of his back, indicating that he is indeed still alive.

  “He says… he says…” Janos stops, struggling.

  “He says what?” I prompt.

  “He says… in that chair… it wasn’t just a chair. He says he was shown things.”

  “Shown things? Like what?”

  “Time.” A soft voice croaks in the darkness. Both Janos and I look back over to Yuri. He’s rolled over and is staring back at us. “I was shown time.”
>
  I frown and glance to Janos, who gives me a tiny shake of his head.

  “What do you mean, Yuri?” I ask.

  Yuri gets to his hands and knees and crawls towards us. I suppress the urge to skitter away from him. I know what has happened to him isn’t his fault, but I can’t help it. He creeps me out.

  He stops next to us and throws a haunted look at the rest of our slumbering party, likes he’s worried he will be overheard.

  “They did it. They built this place. A long time ago. A long, long, long time ago. They came here. Wasn’t suitable. Life not… advanced enough. They tried. Tried to accelerate it. But it didn’t work. So they left. Went back. Back to the spaces in between.”

  “They… left?” I don’t have a clue what he was blithering on about, and I’m not sure I really want to know. It sounds like a mixture of Brendan’s mad alien conspiracy theories and something you might watch on one of the less reputable cable TV channels. “Who are they?”

  Yuri snorts and covers his mouth with his hands, as if trying to cram whatever was trying to get out back in. He mutters something in Russian. Janos leans forward, and Yuri whispers to him furiously.

  “He says…” Janos closes his eyes for a moment and swallows. “He says they are here.”

  Yuri nods, his eyes wide and staring. “Here.”

  “That’s not what I asked,” I say. “And what does he mean, ‘here’? I thought he said they went?”

  “Yes, yes,” Yuri says. “They went. Away. Back. No time there. Can see everything. Everywhere. Every when. I saw. They showed me. Everything.”

  Yuri leaps to his feet, making me jump.

  “I saw it all! The beginning, the end, what lies outside and in!” He is no longer whispering now, but shouting. Everyone else wakes with a start, complaining loudly as Yuri scampers around, babbling in a mixture of Russian and English about stars and atoms and them, those who know, who live, who die; yet do not live at all. Fi jumps up looking furious and grabs him, but he throws her off as if she is nothing more than an annoying five year old playing ‘bundle’. In the end, it takes both Janos and Fi to subdue him whilst Marcus swears and Brendan and I stare in horror at just how damaged Yuri is.

  As quickly as it began, it ends. It’s as if Yuri just gives up. He lies on the ground and mutters something that turns my blood to ice: “That is not dead which can eternal lie…”

  He closes his eyes, and nothing we do can rouse him.

  Janos and Fi hold on to him for a moment longer, just in case, but it’s clear he has entered whatever catatonic state he was in before.

  “We have to get him out of here,” Fi says, running her hands over her shorn head. “We can’t watch him 24/7, nor can we give him what he needs.”

  “He needs to be shot,” Marcus says. “Fucking nut case. What was all that he was yelling about?”

  “He does not need to be shot,” Janos says, angry. “He is sick. He needs treatment. He’s been through something none of us have a hope of understanding.”

  “We don't have a hope? I should coco! You want to understand that? Count me out,” Marcus says.

  “That’s rich, coming from you,” Janos says. “You whined like a child when you were passed over for Alpha team. ‘Oh it is not fair, oh I have all the experience, I'm fit, I'm seasoned, oh I-“

  “Shut up!” Marcus takes a step toward Janos, squaring up to him. “Yeah, I wanted to be part of Alpha team, but I seem to remember you being just as pissed off as me at being passed over, so just shut the fuck up-“

  “Guys,” Fi says, holding up her hands in an attempt at placating them. “Come on”

  “No, Fi – no. I’ve got a wife. I’ve got kids. I am not even going to entertain the crap you lot are spouting. I just want out. I just want to leave. I don’t care if you think I’m a coward, I just want to see my family again.”

  His eyes glisten in the meagre half-light, and I suddenly feel very sorry for Marcus indeed. He might be a blustering idiot sometimes, but he’s right. He does have a wife and kids who love him, and the thought of them stuck back home, waiting for news, any news, as to what might have happened to him makes my throat feel tight.

  “Look, Marcus, no one thinks you’re a coward.” I begin, but Marcus throws a hand up in my direction.

  “No, don’t even say it. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear any of it. I just want to leave.”

  “Okay. Fine. Well, off you go then.” Obviously, Fi isn’t feeling the same sympathy for him that I am. “If all of this is crap and you don’t want to hear anything from any of us – it’s a short distance. Go on. Swim across. Get the radio.” She sticks her jaw out belligerently.

  Marcus’s eyes dart from Fi to me, then to Janos and finally to Brendan, looking for some kind of support. I want to tell him it’s okay, but I find the weight of the moment stills my tongue. His eyes harden.

  “Okay. All right. It’s all bullshit. I’m going.” He stalks towards the water’s edge and rolls his shoulders, as if preparing to dive in. My heart leaps to my throat as he takes a tentative step forwards into the frigid water. It might be my imagination, but I think I hear the slop of disturbed water up ahead, as if something large had surfaced and then sunk back into the depths. If Marcus heard anything, he’s not letting on. Instead, he wades knee high into the water.

  That’s enough to break my paralysis. I don’t care what he thinks, I’m not going to watch one of us sacrifice ourselves simply to protect a bruised ego.

  “Marcus,” I say, and walk towards the shore. “Stop it. Just leave it. No one thinks you’re a coward. We’re all in this ridiculous situation, and we’re all stressed and frightened. So… please. Please. Come out of the water.”

  He pauses. I can feel everyone behind me hold their breath, even Fi. I know she had no intention of baiting him into doing this. As I said, it’s stress. It makes us all do strange things.

  At first, I think Marcus is going to ignore me, but then it happens again. That weird slapping sound, on the edge of our hearing. This time, it’s followed by a snort, as if a large animal was taking in a breath.

  Even from here, I see Marcus’s Adams apple bob as he swallows. He backs off, towards me, into shallower water. Another slap in the distance sends him skittering the last few feet out of the water and back on to dry land.

  “What is it?” he says, very quietly, to me. He seems deflated now, as if all his previous bile and spite has been knocked out of him. I know I said he was a pain in the arse before, but I think I preferred that version of Marcus to this new, subdued one.

  “I don’t know,” I say, because that is the truth. I don’t know. “Come on.”

  “I just want to see my family again,” he says.

  “I know. I know. We all do. See our own families, that is. It would be a bit weird if we all wanted to see your family.”

  Marcus snorts at this, and wipes his nose with the back of his hand.

  “Yeah, that would be odd.” He pauses. “Thanks, Meg.”

  “It’s okay. Let’s just go and get some rest. Maybe things will look better after we’ve had some sleep.”

  ***

  But things didn’t look better after we’d had some sleep. With no sun to guide us, our body clocks are screwed, and so we all felt as tired upon waking up as we did before we went to sleep.

  Food is also becoming an issue, and the less said about the water situation, the better. In the end, Brendan and Fi go off and recover some very dodgy looking shellfish from the rocks that border the lake, which we jimmy open with knives and eat raw. I try to pretend mine is good sashimi.

  It doesn't work.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Fi says, through a mouthful of squishy mollusc. “I think it’s safe to say that, despite our personal reservations, we can all agree that there is something in that lake. Something big. But it isn’t something that can be everywhere at once. One way or another, we’re going to have to find a way off this rock.” She stops short of adding the qualifier ‘be
fore we either die of thirst or starvation’, and I’m grateful for that. No point emphasising the obvious.

  “So, what are you saying?” Brendan asks.

  “I’m saying we need to distract it. The distance between here and the shore isn’t that far. I could swim across that in minutes. I already would have if I knew exactly what it was we’re up against.”

  “Okay, genius – that’s great, but how do we distract it?” Marcus says.

  It might just be my imagination, but I think I catch a glimpse of smugness flit across Fi’s face.

  “I’ve been thinking about my training. Whilst I haven’t had much experience in dealing with monsters from the black lagoon,” she pauses, waiting for one of us to at least chuckle. We don’t. Unfazed, she continues on, “Uh yeah, anyway, I have had some training for diving with sharks. Now I know the chances of this thing being some kind of shark are pretty slim, but I wonder if we could employ the same tactics.”

  “Tactics?” I ask.

  “Yeah. Everyone knows that you can use movement to attract sharks. You know, vibrations in the water. I'm guessing that thing uses similar tactics.”

  No one disagrees with her. After all, hadn’t that thing attacked the boat? How else would it have known we were there? It couldn’t have known to associate the smell of rubber with prey, and it’s pitch black down here so eyesight is pretty much useless – so what's the next thing on the list? Acoustics. Vibrations. It makes sense.

  “That’s fine and dandy, but short of us all swimming across together and hoping one of us survives ‘cos this thing’s going after the other, I don’t get your point,” says Marcus.

  “That’s where I’ve been thinking a little ahead of you,” says Fi, again with the smug look. Marcus bristles, and Janos and I exchange a concerned look. Like we really need this again.

  “Oh, really?”

  “Yeah, really.”

  “Fi? Marcus? Can we please leave the posturing at the door and just get to the point?” says Janos. His voice sounds heavy and tired. I know exactly how he feels.