by Aiden James
At least it bought me time.
“Hurry, Nick! Run!”
“I’m coming!” I said, after turning around and running as fast as I could along the precarious pathway. “You two keep moving!”
“We are! Oh shit, it’s coming after you—watch out!”
Marie was right...the bastard was pursuing me, crawling on its belly and snapping its menacing jaws at my feet. I felt the warmth of its breath upon my ankles. That spurred me on, and I sprinted blindly along the ledge, nearly falling into the abyss to my left more than once.
Despite Ishi and Marie’s head start, I soon caught up to where they were, a mere twenty feet ahead of me, as we raced along the narrow path that seemed to take us even deeper into the earth. The humid smell of mold and decay surrounded us, and the sound of rushing water grew louder and louder in the darkness further below.
This was a bad place, where horrible events had happened. Intricately menacing glyphs covered the walls around us, revealed ever so briefly in the reflected glow of our flashlights.
But what in the hell good would it do any of us if we ended up as mid-afternoon snacks for the enraged critter keeping pace close behind? That thought became especially pertinent when the path ended abruptly.
And I mean abruptly.
One moment we were running, and the next the three of us were balancing on the edge of a sheer drop. Below, a surging, underground river poured from one dark opening and disappeared into another. More interesting was the fact that the water was glowing slightly green. I had seen this effect before. The green water was lit by the surrounding phosphorescent lichen.
Little good that did us, considering the thing chasing us had just appeared behind us.
“Oh, shit!” Marie murmured.
“Oh, shit, indeed,” said I, casting an irritated glance at her before returning my gaze to the lizard-thing stealthily swaying back and forth. It prepared to launch itself at any of us.
Ishi looked wildly around himself and started speaking loudly in Tawankan. Sounded like gibberish even to me...but for some crazy reason, the critter suddenly backed off. It cocked its head as if mesmerized by Ishi’s tribal mumbo-jumbo.
Hell, if it works, why knock it? Keep the pied-piper act going, little brother!
Meanwhile, we still had nowhere to go...or did we?
Marie aimed her flashlight at the wall and began smiling nervously, and then she giggled.
“What the hell’s up with you?” I demanded. I had no doubt that Barney the Luminescent Dragon would come out of his spell at any moment. “I didn’t sign up for this shit, and neither did Ishi!”
“I think I’ve got it,” she said, looking relieved. “It makes sense when added to what I already knew about this place. I know what to do now.”
“What in the hell are you talking about, now?”
This was getting weirder by the minute, and unfortunately Ishi’s spell on the Minotaur that looked like a lizard was fading. The sucker eyed us dangerously again.
“We’re not far from the first chamber...the door is somewhere close to us,” she said, seemingly unaware of our renewed immediate danger. Her smile grew wider and her eyes almost sparkled with excitement. She looked damned sexy again. “Help me look for a small opening. A door, a lever...something! It’s got to be around here some place...”
And there it was.
“Well, I be damned,” I whispered, reverently looking down into the surging, foaming water. My apprehension melted into amazement.
And then, more appropriately, fear.
Chapter Eleven
“There,” I said, pointing down.
Marie, who had been searching the face of the wall for the doorway, followed my pointing finger. “Where are you pointing to? The water?”
“Look, just below the surface, the dark opening.”
She looked, leaning out over the ledge—started shaking her head. “Oh, no. No way.”
She saw it as clearly as I did. The opening to another tunnel. Except this one was just below the foaming surface of the raging river. A shimmering black maw that awaited us.
“You can’t be serious, Nick,” she said, standing, suddenly pale.
“Hey, I didn’t make the rules.”
“Compadre,” said Ishi, mixing his Tawankan with some Spanish. “You think you might want to give me a hand here?”
I stepped around Marie, who was only too happy to have a little more space between herself and whatever was still bearing down on Ishi.
Not that I didn’t feel like we were moving in a blind panic. Still, a new vantage point allowed me a better assessment of the situation. And what I saw wasn’t good—and it certainly wasn’t natural.
Something new, and this thing creeping towards Ishi along the narrow ledge looked like a nightmare. No, it didn’t look like one.
It was a nightmare.
It had human-enough looking legs and torso. After that, things got really bizarre. It’s chest and arms were decidedly reptilian, and its head was for certain crocodilian. Or, as they’re called in these parts, caimans. Speckled caimans, in fact. Central and South America’s version of the crocodile. But it also resembled something else...something much more familiar.
What in the hell?
“Nick...” muttered Ishi, backing away—and into me.
As I mentioned, the beast was easily a foot or two taller than me, which would put the damned thing at least seven or eight feet tall. A lot of that height came from its extended, scaled neck.
Sweet Jesus.
Marie was suddenly behind me. Apparently, I had backed away, too, and into her. I knew we were all inches away from tumbling over the ledge. Still, the hulking half-man, half-caiman approached us. Its eyes were emerald slits of fire. Unnatural, and yet, could have been enhanced by the ambient phosphorescent light emanating from the river below.
Without realizing it, I had removed my Bowie knife. My cherished weapon that I had completely forgotten about! It felt good in my hand. It always felt good in my hand. I had used it to protect myself from wild boars, rabid dogs and one or two cutthroats in town. I’ve hunted with it and mastered it. It was my preferred weapon and tool of the trade, and as instinct took over, I was glad it was waiting and ready in my hand.
I touched Ishi’s shoulder and my good friend jumped. But I needed my good friend out of the way, as I hate him fighting my fights.
He tore his frightened eyes off the approaching beast and looked at me. I had never known Ishi to be deeply scared—and especially not terrified to the core of his being. Then again, he and I had never faced such a walking nightmare.
I pointed to the knife and he got the idea. Without much room to maneuver in, he allowed me to step around him. Still, he stayed close behind me. Terrified or not, he wasn’t going far. I heard him unbuckle his own knife and slide it free.
“What do you think it is?” he asked, whispering in my ear.
Marie heard him, and spoke behind us as I crouched lower, holding the knife out before me. The crocodile-man-thing paused only briefly, then picked up its speed as it approached.
“Ciudad Blanca is full of legend,” said Marie, her words reaching me almost as an afterthought. I was completely focused on the creature coming at me. “The ancient ones living within these caves have been rumored to have perfected something close to bio-engineering long ago, along with their mastery of darker energies.... I think it’s safe to say that these rumors were true.”
“So this is the result of some ancient ritual gone bad?” I asked over my shoulder.
Her reply reached me distantly as the enraged critter sprinted toward us, its ghastly mouth fully open. “Those within Ciudad Blanca re-designed the human-genome to create hybrid human and animals.”
Good information to know...especially yesterday, or even on the trip down inside this apparent death trap. But right then? Well, it was a little late. As she finished uttering those words, the monster suddenly launched itself into the air, its talons flayed out.
Chapter Twelve
For a moment, I thought my final memory of this life would be of me drowning in the river’s unknown depths. The creature had a distinct advantage—an amphibian advantage, that is. Since it could easily outlast me under water, I didn’t have long before I’d either pass out from holding my breath, or endure the lizard-man’s menacing bite. Which would be worse? Yeah, I honestly asked myself that question, and when I decided I’d prefer to die intact rather than bleeding from a fatal wound, I made one last desperate move.
I relaxed my grip on it’s shoulders, hoping the damned thing would mistakenly think I had succumbed to its natural environment. I prayed like hell that it wasn’t near as cunning as it seemed earlier. The monster reared back in preparation to bite my head off clean from my shoulders, and I pretended to be unconscious. For a moment, my hair drifted over my eyes in the water. But I was far more ready to launch into an attack than I let on. If the sucker really did have any human qualities, then I’m sure a serious moment of shock flew through it’s brain as I deftly avoided its bite and then plunged the Bowie knife deep into its heart. If not for the soft, green glow surrounding us, I would’ve only felt the burst of warm blood spurting onto my arms in the cool depths of the river.
It can’t be a normal reptile if the blood’s warm...holy shit!
Its blood flowed quickly, and a cloud of deep crimson soon surrounded me. As the corpse drifted away, I caught a glimpse of something else moving rapidly towards me from further below. I would never survive another battle if I didn’t get back to the surface first. I thrust myself upward, and must’ve briefly blacked out.... I heard someone calling to me from nearby.
Ishi?
I gasped for air, coughing as I tried to determine where the voice was coming from. Meanwhile, a large shadow passed between the dead lizard-man and me, and the ink-like cloud of blood dispersed as this new menace came within a few feet of my dangling legs.
Ishi called again...along with Marie.
“What? Where in the hell are you two?!”
Maybe I had died after all. When I scanned the ledge above me, I didn’t see either one. But when their unified voices called to me again, I realized they were calling to me from inside the darkened hole in the earth that I had seen earlier. Their voices echoed eerily against the cave walls on either side of me.
“We’re in here!” shouted Marie. “We’re right in front of you, Nick!”
“No...no you can’t be in there and talking—It’s not frigging possible!”
I began to swim over to the river’s edge, intending to try and scale the smooth walls that would get me back on top of the ledge.
“Look, you dumb ass—the river’s running past us. You’ll never make it out of here unless you join us, Nick!”
She sounded angry and at the same time pleading, which brought to mind images of Siren demons that were fabled to lead sailors to their graves on the high seas. Could this be a version of what Sirens are like a couple hundred feet below the earth’s surface?
“She speaks the truth, Nick! I would not believe...but we stand here safe, watching the river flow by,” said Ishi. “I told her to take her own damned chances, but she pulled me with her when she jumped into the hole. I’m sorry I didn’t jump in to save you.”
Not that either one could’ve saved me, since Ishi can’t swim, and our Da Vinci girl doesn’t look the alligator/crocodile wrestling type.
“Nick, you’ve got to trust us!” urged Marie. “Trust us before—oh shit, what is that thing behind you?!”
Well…let me see. It’s bigger than the last critter, with longer, sharper teeth. No eyes—just glowing antennae, but with a mouth that looks as big as our four-wheeler waiting far above us...Hmm, I’d say it’s just what we call a hungry mother that seems intent on taking a huge bite out of my ass, Marie!
“Okay, I’m coming!”
This latest aggressor skimmed toward me along the surface, half in and half out of the water. I suddenly pictured losing everything up to my Johnson if it re-submerged itself. That’s all it took to get me moving again.
I breast-stroked it out of there quickly, wishing I’d given myself a better head start. I soon felt the thing’s tentacles trying to grasp my pant legs. Were they barbed with painful poisonous tips? I sent a fervent prayer heavenward that the answer to that question would forever remain a mystery.
I heard Marie whimper, as if she might actually shed tears if I succumbed to my pursuer. “Nick, please quit screwing around!”
“Hurry up, man!” added Ishi.
“I’m coming! But, this had better not be a bunch of bullshit—Augh!”
As I approached the spot where I had heard their voices, I began to be sucked down into what looked like a whirlpool a few feet below the river’s surface. As far as I could tell, my two options were either being eaten by the creature chasing my ass, or being sucked down into deeper depths. The water was much, much colder than where I had swam from. Of worse concern was the fact I couldn’t see anything in the darkness ahead—not a damned thing. The luminescent creatures apparently liked the frigid water as much as I did.
The current suddenly pulled me under. This happened right after I cast an anxious glance over my shoulder at the big mother closing in from behind. It hovered close enough to where a sudden lunge would end my debate as to whether or not I’d find out if Ishi and Marie were still among the living.
Two pairs of hands grabbed my arms.
“Hold on Nick!”
The shrillness in Marie’s voice sent an unpleasant ring through my right ear. In the next instant, I was lifted out of the water and then fell backward. Actually, it was more like being thrown into some sort of slimy foliage that resembled seaweed—at least the texture reminded me of the kelp beds I once played in when my dad briefly taught anthropology at UC Berkeley.
“Thank God you’re okay!” She poked me in the darkness, and I realized she couldn’t accurately determine where I was—despite the advantage she and Ishi had for their eyes to adjust to the darkness. “I really thought we’d lose you back there!”
So she really did weep, huh? At least a little bit.
“I’m fine, I think. That was close.” True. But no broken bones, and my ass was still intact, despite the ache from when I had landed hard on the ledge during my battle with the lizard-man. “This is one jacked-up expedition you rooked us into, little lady. I think my retainer just doubled.”
“Sounds good to me!” enthused Ishi.
“Always conniving, huh?” Marie sounded slightly amused, somewhat frightened, and a whole lot of annoyed. “Sure, I could pay you that...but it would reduce your take on the treasure, once we find it.”
I couldn’t see her clearly enough yet, but pictured her smirk. I detected the outline of someone standing where I heard her feet kick away rocks and the weird kelp-like shit lying in abundance around our feet.
“I don’t suppose your map is going to help us anytime soon. Do either of you still have a flashlight?”
“Mine fell into the river,” said Ishi. “I was trying to catch your leg when you slid off the ledge. It fell out of my hand.”
“How about you, Princess D?”
Marie’s silence told me she was in no mood to kid around. Yes, things were looking grim, but I’ve always found that in the bleakest moments laughter inspires ingenuity.
“Mine quit working shortly after we left the other level.”
“You shouldn’t have bought them at K-Mart.”
“There isn’t a K-Mart here in Honduras, smart ass!”
“What’s K-Mart?” Ishi sounded confused.
“What they don’t have in Honduras,” I said. “Apparently, finding a good flashlight in these parts is like finding a woman
with an agreeable temperament.”
“I suppose that’s supposed to be funny?” Marie sounded even less amused.
“Yep...just not in—”
“Don’t say it, Nick!” Her voice was closer, as if she had just walked back toward me. “I’m starting to freak out a little...this is supposed to be where my father found the secret passage. But without a light we’ll never find it. Shit!”
She fished out her cell phone from her front pocket. It was one of those smart phone deals that had lots of gadgets, none of which were protection from water.
“It’s ruined!” she lamented.
I should’ve anticipated this happening at some point. Marie hadn’t come across as a female prone to panic. But, the rising tension in her tone told me it was coming soon.
“Are you expecting a call?” I asked.
“Don’t be such a jerk, Nick. My phone had everything. GPS, maps, satellites...hell, even a light.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“It’s our loss. Shit, shit, shit!”
“You’re right,” I said. “What will we do now without an iPhone to guide our way?”
“You’re working my last nerve, Nick Caine.”
I chuckled and so did Ishi. Neither of us used such phones or gadgets. Sure, I had an old cell that worked half the time. Other than that, we used maps, compasses, flashlights, and even firelight, if need be. I said as much to her.
“I like my phone,” she said. “It’s better than your old-fashioned way of doing business. I feel safe with my phone.”
“It sounds like you and your phone might need some time apart.”
Something loud and sharp filled the small cavern. The noise, amazingly came from Marie’s throat...and her frustrated scream was soon followed by something else.
“What in the hell’s up with you now?”
Now, she was working my last nerve.
“I’m...I’m...hype...hyperventilating.”
“Because you ruined your iPhone?”