by Bryan Dunn
Nick looked down. The creature was still coming, its eyes glowing like burning coals as it hauled itself up, hand over hand.
Nick reached down to a pocket, looking for his knife, then realized the pocket was closed. Zipped tight. He fumbled with the zipper, found the pull, and yanked, but it wouldn’t slide. The damn thing was stuck!
The creature was coming. It was right there. Ten feet… five feet… It advanced another foot, and then a scaly arm shot up and a claw clamped around the toe of Nick’s boot, slicing into the leather upper.
Nick kicked hard, breaking the creature’s grip. He tore at his pocket, the zipper split wide, and he ripped out the knife, snapping the blade open with a flick of his thumb. He reached down between his legs and began to furiously saw the rope.
The creature hissed. It seemed to sense what was happening. It reached up, and just as its razor-sharp claws were about to rake Nick’s legs, the rope frayed and then parted, and the creature was suddenly freefalling through the darkness, the severed line still clutched in its hand.
With his lungs heaving, both physically and emotionally spent, Nick watched as the alien’s eyes grew faint and then finally winked out as it disappeared into the void.
Then he heard a tiny voice above his head say, “I’m slipping…”
The next thing he knew, Molly’s feet were on his helmet and her legs were kicking. Just before she lost her grip and fell, Nick caught her around the waist and pulled her into his arms.
Gotcha!
“It’s okay. It’s gone. The creature’s gone.” Nick lowered his head, illuminating the severed line with the beam of his helmet lamp. “See? Gone.”
And then Kylie was on the radio: “Nick? Are you and Molly okay? Nick, are you all right?”
Nick scooped up the radio and keyed the mike. “Kylie, we’re okay. We’re both okay. It’s gone. The creature’s gone.”
“Thank God.” After a quick pause, she said, “Hang on, Nick—there’s been some trouble up here with the rope. Just hold tight. We’re going to get you up in a minute.”
Molly gave him a wide-eyed look and then began excitedly pointing at something.
Oh shit, was the first thing that shot through Nick’s mind. The creature—the goddamned thing had defied gravity and was on its way back.
Nick torqued his head in the direction of Molly’s arm, expecting the worst, expecting to see the creature, but instead, there, just above their position, the beam of his helmet lamp glinted off of something metallic.
A metal cage.
A lift.
With a flood of relief, he realized they’d found the access shaft.
Chapter 39
A half hour later, the group was reunited in the Ballroom, with the exception of Lucas, who had volunteered to go down the opening and rig a zip line to the access shaft.
Nick and Molly had been safely hoisted up and out of the void, and Emmett’s body had been covered and laid in a corner of the chamber to be retrieved after help arrived.
“It’s a miracle,” Kylie said as she knelt in a pool of light, bandaging a cut on Molly’s leg. “It’s a miracle you’re still alive.”
Molly reached out and touched the gleaming white bandage that covered her knee, then looked at Kylie and said, “I don’t know what happened. I heard a blast, and then I was falling, and when I woke up, I was inside the ground. Then I heard that thing—the creature. It was trying to come up the wall. It was awful. And then Mr. Walker was calling to me.”
“Well, I think you’re very brave,” Kylie said, wiping a smudge off of Molly’s cheek. “We’re going to get you out of here safe and sound. Promise.”
A short distance form Kylie and Molly, Nick knelt before a series of Kevlar straps he’d laid out on the ground and was busy mating each strap with a pair of carabineers, one at each end.
Hovering at Nick’s side, Ray held a flashlight, watching as he paired the carabineers to the straps, each becoming a makeshift trolley that they would use to lower themselves down the zip-line to the access shaft below.
“Tell me again,” Ray asked, “how exactly is this supposed to work?”
Before Nick had a chance to tell him what he had in mind, Slade and Major Atwood emerged from the darkness. Slade said, “Yes, Walker. I’d like to know the details, too.”
Nick looked up at Slade and the major. He grabbed one of the straps, rose to his feet, and held it up, making sure they could see the carabineers clipped to the ends.
“See this? One end clips to the climbing harness we’ll be wearing, and the other end clips to the line Lucas is anchoring in the airshaft. After we’re safely clipped to the rope, we climb on, and then, suspended by the trolley strap, we lower ourselves down the zip-line using our hands and legs to the shaft below. It’s steep, but it’s doable.” He panned his eyes around the group and said, “Any questions?”
An awkward silence filled the air as the group exchanged skeptical looks.
“Really? That’s it? That’s the plan?” Slade said. Then he added, “Christ, Walker—it sounds like suicide.”
“Yeah? Well, that’s the plan,” Nick said, giving Slade a defiant look. “It’s a way out, so unless you have a better idea…”
There was a loud clearing of a throat, and Major Atwood said, “Sorry, Mr. Walker, but I’m going to have to agree with Director Slade: it’s too risky. We should wait here. We should wait for the colonel’s team.”
“You’re free to remain here, Major,” Nick said, glancing from Atwood to Slade. “Both of you. It’s your privilege.” He turned to Ray. “No one has to make a try for the access shaft if they don’t want to.” After a quick pause, he added, “But if all goes well, in a few hours, the rest of us will be up top, drinking in the sunshine and breathing fresh air, and you’ll probably be stuck down here overnight, waiting for the colonel, wondering the whole time if the creature is still alive and whether it’s going to find its way back up here.”
“I didn’t say anything about not going,” Ray blurted. “I’m not spending the night down here.”
* * * *
At the same time, five hundred feet below the Ballroom chamber, Lucas was in the access shaft securing the end of the zip-line.
After a few false starts, he had decided to fasten the line to a steel strut that jutted from the shaft’s roof that was used to support the lift.
But there was a problem with that, too. When the rusting metal lift cage was raised, it filled the opening, allowing only those inside the lift access to the shaft.
He ended up deciding to lower the lift so that it hung just below the mouth of the shaft and connect the end of the line to the lift’s support arm so that when someone came down the rope, they would end up directly inside the shaft and not be left dangling over the edge.
After Lucas finished attaching the line, he jumped up, grabbed hold of the rope, and put his whole weight on it, swinging back and forth, making sure it was secure. Brilliant, he thought to himself. It’ll be just like stepping off a ski lift at a fancy resort.
Lucas gave the line one last tug, nodded to himself, and said, “Good to go,” then reached down to his waist for the radio so he could call up and tell Nick to send the first person down.
Chapter 40
Back in the Ballroom, everyone was lined up and ready to go. All of them had been fitted with climbing harnesses, and all of them were ready to make the trip down to the access shaft and the freedom it promised—all of them, that was, except for Major Atwood. After initially refusing to have anything to do with the plan, the major agreed to put on a harness just in case he had to evacuate the chamber, but all the while he made it abundantly clear that he intended to stay behind and wait for the colonel’s team and not risk his life on some half-baked escape plan.
“This had better fucking hold, Walker,” said Slade as he hung from the zip-line like a giant tree sloth.
Earlier, it had been decided that Slade would go first. In fact, Nick had insisted on it, arguing that since th
is was NASA business and he was the director, it was only fitting that he go first. Besides, who better to be the guinea pig? he thought.
“It’ll hold,” Nick assured him. “Just do what I told you, and you’ll be fine.”
Nick had planned to be the first down, but since he had climbing experience and was familiar with the gear, everyone agreed that he should go last, staying behind to make sure everyone was safely tethered to the rope.
Nick gave Slade’s harness a final check, making sure the trolley strap was securely fastened to the belay loop, then tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Ready?”
Hanging from the strap and looking completely miserable, Slade tried to ignore him. “God, what I wouldn’t do for a cigarette right now,” he said. Then he turned to Nick and said, “Here goes nothing.”
Slade slowly descended on the line, hand over hand, the rope clamped between his legs as he slipped into the void.
The rest of the group gathered nervously at the edge of the opening, watching Slade’s descent, watching as his helmet lamp grew fainter and fainter.
Ten minutes later, the Ballroom filled with a static-like sound and Lucas’s voice flooded out of the radio.
“The Eagle has landed.”
Then they heard Slade say, “Give me that!” There was a fumbling sound. “I’m down. I’m in the shaft, Walker. I’m fine,” he said, not hiding his contempt for Lucas’s smartass comment.
Nick was doing all he could to not laugh out loud at Lucas’s ‘Eagle has landed’ comment. Lucas had seen Slade’s office and knew Slade liked to think of himself as a walking encyclopedia when it came to Apollo Moon missions. After Nick got himself under control, he had decided to add his own dig and said, “Roger that…Tranquility Base.”
He couldn’t help himself.
Then they heard Slade say, “Screw off, Walker.”
Like clockwork, one after another, the rest of the group mounted the zip-line and descended to the access shaft.
It was decided that Ray would make the trip with Molly, the two of them tethered together for added safety.
Kylie had been the last to go, and after Lucas radioed up that she was down and safe, Nick turned to Atwood and said, “Last chance, Major. Are you sure you want to stay?”
Atwood didn’t speak. He stared at Nick. His eyes cut toward the opening. “Yes,” he said, after a long pause.
Nick flattened his lips, nodded his head, and said, “Okay.” He went to grab hold of the zip-line.
“Wait.” Atwood surged forward and put a hand on Nick’s arm. “Don’t go. Don’t leave without me.”
Surprised by Atwood’s sudden change of heart, Nick stared at the major, pleased that he’d finally come to his senses.
“I don’t want to leave you,” Nick said, “it’s just the opposite. I want you to come with us.”
The major released Nick’s arm and began shaking his head. In a defeated voice, he said, “I can’t.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m afraid of heights.”
Chapter 41
Over the years, the mouth of the access shaft had been widened to accommodate the lift and the supplies that were ferried back and forth to support the mining operation below. The shaft had been out of use for years, not counting Willie and Lucas’s recent use, and was now littered with empty diesel drums and rusted tools waiting to be hauled to the surface for disposal.
Thirty feet back from the opening, the shaft tapered and the ceiling plunged, leaving a narrow tunnel that zigzagged its way up to the surface.
Standing in the mouth of the shaft, Lucas watched as Kylie glided down the zip-line toward him, her helmet lamp getting brighter and brighter.
Ten feet outside of the opening, she pinched the rope with her ankles, slowed her descent, and entered the shaft. Just before she got to the end of the line, she kicked her legs free and dropped to the ground directly in front of Lucas, like she’d been doing it all her life.
Impressed, Lucas smiled at Kylie, pulled the zip-line down so she could unclip the trolley strap, and said, “Welcome.”
Kylie removed the strap from the belay loop and smiled back at Lucas, her face flushed with excitement. “Wow! That was exciting.”
Lucas nodded and laughed. “No shortage of that around here.”
“Right,” Kylie said, glancing at Molly, who was already safely down.
Kylie straightened her shirt, started toward Molly, but then stopped and turned back to Lucas. “What about Nick? He was supposed to be right behind me.”
Slade looked up from the e-cigarette he’d been trying to coax back to life and stared at Kylie and Lucas. He’d been wondering the same thing; where the hell was Walker?
After Slade’s guinea pig run, they’d decided it was safe to double up and send two people down the line at once.
Lucas shrugged. “I don’t know.” He reached for the radio and prepared to call up to Nick and see if everything was okay.
Ray rushed up, looking rattled and out of breath. “It’s blocked!” he gasped. “The tunnel’s blocked!” Then he doubled over and grabbed his knees, fighting to catch his breath. Ray had gotten antsy waiting for the rest of the group to make the trip down the rope and had decided to explore a short distance up the shaft.
“What are you talking about?” Slade demanded, jabbing the plastic cigarette at Ray. “Blocked how?”
Ray straightened and motioned with a hand to the tunnel. “About twenty yards up the shaft, it looks like the ceiling caved in. The tunnel is filled with rocks and dirt.”
“Jesus Christ,” Lucas said. “The blast. It must’ve caused the cave-in; there must have been a weak spot in the tunnel.” He leveled his eyes at Slade. “And then after some super genius set off the C-4 charges, it collapsed.”
“Shit,” Lucas cursed to himself. He’d been so busy rigging the zip-line, he hadn’t thought to check the shaft to make sure it was clear after the blast.
* * * *
“Okay, Major, now swing your feet up and clamp the line between your legs.”
Atwood looked at Nick, gave a reluctant nod, and, with sweat beading on his face and dark circles forming beneath his arms, he pulled his legs up, looped them over the line, and clamped his ankles around the rope like a vise.
“Good,” Nick said, reassuring him with a thumbs-up. He was about to tell Atwood to start down when the radio crackled and Lucas asked, “Nick, where are you?”
Nick keyed the mike and said, “There’s been a change of plans. Major Atwood has decided to join us. I’m sending him down now.”
“Roger that,” Lucas replied. Then he said, “We have another problem. I’ll tell you about it when you get down here.”
“Swell, can’t wait to hear all about it.”
Nick clipped the radio to his belt, turned to Atwood, and said, “Okay, Major, hand over hand, just like we talked about. Slow and steady wins the day. Don’t look down, just keep your eyes on the rope as it passes through your hands.”
The major nodded. “Okay.”
“Good. I’ll be right behind you. We’re going to do this together.”
Atwood scrunched up his face and, looking like he was about to be sick, started to descend.
Nick watched as the major inched downward, waiting for the him to get clear so he could safely mount the line.
White knuckled and quivering like a bowl of Jell-O, the major continued down the rope. Five feet…ten feet…and then he suddenly stopped. A frozen moment, and then Atwood cried out, “No! I can’t do it.”
In a calm but firm voice, Nick said, “Major, yes, you can. Hand over hand. Eyes on the rope. Just keep doing what you were doing. The harness will hold you. You can’t fall.”
Trembling, Atwood began to shake his head. “No…” And then he was moving again.
The wrong way.
He was trying to come up the rope.
“Major, no! Don’t come up. Wait there; I’ll come to you. Then we can descend together.”
<
br /> The major didn’t respond.
Pulling, clawing, and kicking, he was beyond reason, not even hearing Nick’s voice.
As he bucked and writhed, the makeshift trolley fouled and the strap constricted on the line, stopping him from rising any higher. Atwood panicked with newfound ferocity and then realized the strap tethering him to the line was the problem.
Using his arms and legs, he took the weight off the trolley strap, reached down to his harness, and started to unclip the strap from the belay loop.
Seeing what Atwood was about to do, Nick shouted, “Major, stop! Do not remove that strap!”
On emergency overload, deaf and blind with fear, the major ignored Nick, unhooked the strap, and let it fall away. Then, as he swung his hand back to grip the rope, his legs broke free, and he was suddenly hanging from the line by one hand.
He yelled out, and as he got his other hand back on the line, he started to slip, and the rope began sliding through his fingers.
“Major!” Nick yelled, leaning out as far as he dared. “Your legs—get your legs around the rope!”
But Atwood was beyond help. The rope was racing through his hands, shredding his gloves and then his flesh.
The major screamed out in pain, released the rope, and fell back into the open void, plummeting into the blackness.
Shocked, Nick stared down, watching helplessly as the major’s helmet lamp disappeared.
Chapter 42
Twenty minutes later, Kylie and Lucas watched as the zip-line began to bounce, and a few moments after that, two duffle bags Nick had filled with supplies—explosives, oxygen masks, and extra rope—dropped into the opening with Nick sliding in right behind them.
Lucas grabbed the duffle bags, and as Nick’s boots kissed the ground, Kylie rushed up to help with his tether.
“God, Nick, I’m so sorry,” Kylie said, releasing the trolley strap. “I’m so sorry about Major Atwood. It’s awful.”