Buried in the Sky

by Ryan Mullaney

  Iris appeared disheartened without the use of technology to guide them. She trudged along, head down, and said very little.

  Ahead, Vincent consulted with Lincoln. Simone was too far back to hear their conversation, but their pantomime gestures told her there was mild conflict regarding which direction to take.

  At length, Vincent nodded his head and the debate was over. Lincoln had chosen the path.

  Simone pursed her lips and blew at a fly that buzzed in her face. From the corner of her vision, she saw that Warren clutched his assault rifle in his hands as if he couldn't live without it. Perhaps, she considered, he didn't think he -- or they -- could.

  She wondered if he was right.

  With the river far below and getting farther away with each moment, Simone could forget about the monster snake and focus on the task ahead of them instead of dwelling on the dangers they'd left behind.

  But the mountain pass was not devoid of danger, she knew. Other predators called that area home, and some might not take kindly to trespassers. Jaguars, pit vipers, black caimans. She almost regretted her proclivity for studying every element of her destination before each journey, but that was often the habit that had kept her alive.

  The most dangerous thing in her mind was not the predators in the wild, but not being aware of them. A lack of preparation could lead to a swift grave.

  She kept one eye on their surroundings and another on the group itself as they advanced up the mountain path.

  April said almost nothing to Simone that morning, instead electing to remain some distance back from the rest of the party. Simone fought the urge to look back to see if she was still there.

  The seed that had been planted in Simone's head about not trusting the British trio had taken root. She couldn't shake the idea that they weren't all on the same page. Simone remained skeptical of the British, but even more wary of April and whatever clandestine motivations she might be concealing.

  Simone shoved those thoughts aside, if only for the moment. She couldn't think clearly if her attention was ensnared by a theory that had yet to be proven. It was Warren, after all, who saved her life the previous day. And no one from the British crew had told her to go screw herself, in less pleasant terms. If there was one person Simone should not trust, it was the one following her at a safe distance behind.

  Simone turned her thoughts to James Smith. If she made it back to the States after finding and delivering the remaining two meteor fragments, her top priority was not April Farren, but the man who had watched over her sister before her death. Simone knew he had answers to her questions, yet tracking down a man named James Smith who might not even be alive anymore seemed like a taller order than scaling a Peruvian mountain to bring home a lost meteor fragment with monumentally destructive capabilities.

  She nearly laughed out loud at the absurdity of it all.

  The crew hiked several miles up the mountain before pausing for a quick snack, a drink to stay hydrated, and to consider how to approach the next obstacle in their path.

  Lincoln's path had taken the team into thick jungle foliage. The footpath itself became much less distinct, but seemed to point straight ahead to the site of a crumbling stone temple.

  Simone stepped up to the others and gazed at the ancient structure, broken and dilapidated from untold ages of wear and neglect. What was left of it stood five stories high. The footprint was wide and sprawling. There was no way to see how far back it stretched, but nevertheless, it was an impressive feat of engineering.

  "What do you make of this?" Lincoln asked, deferring to Simone's judgment.

  Simone took a breath. "I don't know..."

  Iris shifted a narrow glare to Simone. "You don't know?"

  Simone stepped forward, toward the ruins.

  "Where are you going?" Vincent asked.

  Simone glanced over her shoulder. "To find out."

  "Is that a good idea?" April said, stepping up to meet the others.

  "This is the path," Simone said. "We either go through or find another way around." She looked to Lincoln. "Your call."

  Lincoln chewed the decision over for only a brief moment, as if his mind was already made up but he wanted to be certain he'd considered every option before making the call. "See if we can get through," he said. "And Simone..."

  She held her gaze on his.

  "Be careful," he said.

  Simone nodded and adjusted the brim of her boonie hat. Turning toward the ruins, she advanced with caution.

  Along the overgrown path, Simone approached the sprawling ruins. She noticed how quiet the surroundings had become. Her hiking boots gently sweeping through the leaves at her ankles was the only sound. She glanced down with every step to make sure she wasn't stepping on anything that wished not to be trampled.

  As she drew nearer, an opening in the front face of the structure became clear -- a doorway -- only there was no door. Darkness greeted her, with only the smallest slivers of sunlight spilling in from above.

  From her belt, she drew a palm-sized flashlight and shone 1,800 lumens into the entrance.

  The floor appeared intact. The walls seemed to bear the load of the temple roof -- what remained of it -- well enough.

  Simone stepped up to the opening. Stagnant air surrounded her, like the cold arms of a long-dormant specter. Sweat ran in chill streaks over her goosebumped shoulders.

  She drew a breath and exhaled slowly to steady her nerves. This part of exploration always gave her a rush, a welcome jolt of adrenaline to cast aside whatever fears held her back.

  Without so much as a glance at the others, Simone aimed the flashlight ahead and cautiously stepped inside.

  Dappled sunlight spilled in from breaks in the ceiling above. Nothing moved. Nothing made a noise. Only Simone's footfalls echoing off the damp stone as she chanced a step forward. Then another. And yet another.

  She advanced in a maze-like pattern, circumventing piles of huge stone blocks that had come from either the walls or from above. It was too difficult to tell. The ruin had succumbed to disrepair to such a degree, Simone had to guess where the walls within used to stand.

  Dust floated down, riding shafts of dim sunlight in an everlasting descent to the floor.

  Simone tilted her head up. Blocks of stone that once made up the temple's roof were missing, a dozen or more, fallen to where they lay shattered at her feet.

  Sweeping the light across the scattered heaps of rubble littering the vast chamber, she knew it was ultimately unsafe to be standing where she was. She did not know how long the temple had been standing, nor did she know exactly how stable the structure was at that moment.

  She breathed the damp, dusty air, thinking...

  "Simone...?"

  Lincoln's voice drifted in from a distance.

  Simone opened her mouth to reply, but a shifting sound kept any words from escaping.

  Dust filled the sunlight shafts at a greater volume. She watched small bits of rock fall through the beam of her flashlight and listened to the tiny sounds they made when landing at her feet.

  Her heart quickening, Simone turned her feet toward the entrance and carefully crept toward it.

  The echoes of her boots touching the damp rock mingled with the grinding of heavy stone blocks shifting once again. Dust rained down. Small stones bounced off the brim of her hat.

  Simone halted but her heart beat faster.

  She turned her eyes ahead. The way out, twenty meters away.

  With a gulp, she drew on her heptathlon training and sprinted as fast as she could.

  An apocalyptic rending of the temple roof sounded as Simone pumped her legs. Massive stone blocks rained down behind her, beside her, in front of her.

  Crying out, Simone pushed herself as swiftly as her body would allow, hurdled a fallen chunk of stone, and dove for the exit in a desperate attempt to survive the complete collapse of the temple ruin.

  "Simone!"

  The crew rushed toward the site of the collapse, cou
ghing on the cloud of dust that bloomed from the rubble, Lincoln leading the way.

  "Where is she?" Iris said with a tremor in her voice. "Tell me she made it out..."

  The dust settled. The party stood still, scanning the jungle foliage for any sign of life. The carpet of green covering the path leading toward the ruin was too dense to see if Simone had made it out safely.

  A sudden coughing fit drew all attention to the spot where Simone pushed herself up to her knees, shaking dirt and debris from her body and clothes.

  "I made it out," she said between coughing fits.

  April rushed to help Simone to her feet and brush the dust away. "Are you hurt?"

  They locked eyes. A brief moment of tension between them dissolved just as quickly as it had formed. "I think so." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "I think the temple is a little unstable," she said to inject some levity into the moment.

  Warren stepped up, still wielding his assault rifle, as if it was at all useful in that situation. "Is that how you Americans do things?"

  Simone raised her green eyes to him, bright in contrast to her filthy face. "You mean investigate? Yes, that's what we do."

  "Let's figure out a course of action, okay?" Lincoln said, using his words as a wedge to keep the two from furthering their conflict.

  Warren seemed not to hear. "You brought the whole temple down, nearly on your own head!"

  Calm and measured in her reply, Simone said, "The roof collapsed. I made it out."

  Warren snorted. He turned to Lincoln. "Is this how you lead? Recklessly? Our lives are at stake here, in case you forgot."

  Lincoln stepped up to meet Warren face to face, only the narrowest gap between the two men now. "I put my trust in Simone and her professional judgment, and I will do that again before I ask for your opinion. If you're concerned for your safety, stay out of the way."

  Simone rested a hand on Lincoln's shoulder. "We'll just have to go around." She was careful keep her words calm, refusing to exacerbate the tension between the two teams even as her own concerns about trust grew in her thoughts.

  A moment of inaction burned between Lincoln and Warren until Lincoln turned to Simone. "Vincent went to find a way around."

  "And Vincent says there is no way around." Vincent said as he returned, striding through the knee-high growth. "Unless you're up for a climb. Cliff face goes straight up, sheer and flat. Other route goes down, much the same way."

  Warren turned his attention to Vincent, as though he only wished to listen to members of his own crew. "What are you saying?"

  Vincent stopped when he stood next to Lincoln and Simone. He pointed to the pile of boulders that used to be the jungle ruin. "I'm saying that's the way to go."

  "Through that?" Warren said in utter disbelief.

  Simone shook her head. "Over it."

  Nodding in agreement, Vincent said, "We either go straight up and over, or we spend thrice as much time attempting to scale our way up the cliffside."

  "With limited climbing gear," Iris interjected.

  "We're not going to waste any more time." Lincoln turned his gaze from the pile of rubble to Simone. "Do you think we can traverse the ruin safely?"

  Simone exhaled heavily, pausing to consider their options. "Well, we don't have to worry about it collapsing on us. It already seems a lot safer than before."

  "We can do it," April interjected. "We've gotten through a lot worse."

  Warren eyed the three Americans. "Alive and unharmed." He made no effort to hide the sarcasm in his tone.

  Simone strode toward the site of the collapse, passing Warren as she said, "I'm sure we can handle it, if you'd prefer to head back."

  She didn't look back to see the smoldering glare he leveled at her. She just kept walking toward the gargantuan pile of stones.

  The former temple looked as if it had been picked up and dropped haphazardly where it once stood. Where the path once led to an entrance, there now stood a roadblock of stone eight meters high.

  Simone listened to the others following behind her. As she hoisted herself up from one massive stone block to another, she came to a vantage point that proved Vincent correct. To the east, the mountain went straight up. To the west, the opposite. A precipitous drop. It was as if whichever ancient people had built the temple had done so with the purpose of blocking the only pathway over the mountains in that particular area. For what end, Simone could not gather. She kept climbing.

  Sweat dripped over her brow and into her eyes, cascading down her dirty cheeks like salty tears. Pausing to clear her vision, Simone then glanced back to spot the rest of the party -- including Warren -- scaling the temple ruins behind her.

  It took little time for Simone to reach the highest point of the heap of stone. The real challenge would be traversing the ruin from one end to the other. Several spires remained standing, jutting up like the remains of a bombing.

  She half-wondered if the temple's collapse had been intentional. A trap meant to prevent would-be travelers from making it through the mountain pass. Collapse by design rather than decay. As she waited at the top for the others to arrive, she contemplated what other features of the trap she had yet to uncover.

  "Something wrong?" Lincoln asked as he climbed up to where Simone stood.

  Off his look, she said, "I hope not."

  The team of six all stood at the edge of the stone pile, gazing across what looked like a field of boulders, treacherous and uneven, like the undulating waves of an angry ocean, frozen in place.

  "Be careful where you step," Simone said to the others. "Some settling could still occur."

  The warning encouraged no one to proceed. Simone knew it was all on her.

  Her throat dry, she swallowed, and took the first step.

  11.

  Chachapoyas, Amazonas, Peru

  Simone's boot pressed down on the nearest rock that was flat enough to balance on. It shifted slightly before settling into place.

  Putting more weight on it, she brought her back foot forward and set it down. The rock held firm. She tested another ahead of her, making sure the next step could be made safely. She moved forward again, then repeated the ritual.

  "It's probably best not to stay still for too long," she said without looking back at the others. "Just keep moving safely. Don't stop unless you have to."

  Simone moved further ahead of the pack, feeling confident in her approach to navigating the enormous pile of stones that used to be an enormous ancient temple. She tried not to think about the purpose of its construction, situated perfectly at the choke point between the sheer mountain face on one side and a sheer drop off a cliff on the other.

  Moving with deft precision, Simone navigated well ahead of the others. Heptathlon training had kept her light on her feet years ago, which translated well into hunting for lost relics once her Olympic dreams had been crushed. Her training in the mountains of Indonesia had brought her to a point where she felt even more confident about traversing the pile of fallen stone blocks than she might have at any time in her past.

  A stone shifting below her foot caused her to halt suddenly. She regained her balance, then glanced back at the others, who were making their way slowly across the pile of rubble from the secluded Peruvian temple.

  She was halfway to the other side when she heard the sound of massive stone blocks grinding against each other. She spun back just in time to see Lincoln disappear in a cacophony of shifting stones kicking up a plume of ancient dust.

  "Lincoln!"

  Simone leaped from stone to stone back toward the others, her own safety an afterthought. April was on her knees, bent over as she reached into a gap in the pile.

  "Help me!" April said through gritted teeth. Her face was as red as her hair, desperate to hold on to Lincoln.

  Warren stepped up before Simone could make it back. He reached down and lifted Lincoln out of the hole along with April.

  Simone stopped herself from going back too far. She stood halfway between th
e five others and the other side of the former temple, watching Lincoln catch his breath as April and Warren helped him to his feet.

  "Close," Lincoln said, brushing himself off.

  "You okay?" Simone called to him.

  He gave her a thumbs-up.

  She nodded, waiting for the others to continue.

  "Go," Lincoln said to her across the distance. "We have to keep moving."

  "Be careful!" Simone said before she turned back around and made her way back toward their goal.

  More cautious now, Simone advanced more slowly than before, knowing that one false move could mean the end. She could fall into a gap in the stones, be buried alive, be crushed by falling blocks. She kept her thoughts on getting to the other side.

  But it was hard to keep her focus with all the buzzing insects flying about, flying right into her face. She swatted them away only for them to return to pester her once again.

  Almost losing her balance, she steadied herself, wondering if she had anything in her pack to ward off the flies.

  She swatted again, this time backhanding something much larger than one of the flies in her face.

  Curious, Simone glanced about, wondering what she had hit. Maybe a bud that had fallen from a branch above. It was certainly not a fly.

  The buzzing persisted, and Simone decided the best thing to do was to just get to the other side, climb down, and wait for the others. She considered that the collapse of the temple ruin might have stirred up a swarm of jungle flies or something of the sort.

  She was almost to the edge now. Only about four or five more long strides from rock to rock.

  Stretching her long legs, she leaped closer to the edge. When she was sure her balance was good, she glanced back to see how far off the others were.

  They were gaining ground quickly, perhaps spurred onward by the near accident with Lincoln. It appeared that no one wished to stay still too long.

  Turning back, Simone came face to face with a huge buzzing insect coming straight for her face.

  She gave a quick involuntary shout and ducked before it could hit her.

  "What's wrong?" Iris called from the back of the pack.