The Awakening

by Tony Mazzarella

  “Can you manage?” asked Cait as he struggled with the weight of the pack as he slung it over his shoulder.

  “I’ll be fine, Cait. We must all pull our weight now. No exceptions for a rickety old man.”

  Gene continued stuffing the packs until both he and Cait had as much to carry as Kirby.

  “I want everyone to take this and secure it through the harness on your vest.”

  “A safety line?” asked Kirby.

  “Yes. If one of us should fall, hopefully the weight of the other two will save that person. In any case, we’re all in this together. We either make it across together or…well, you know. I’m going to hammer in these climber hooks every so often, and I want you to keep the line in them as you walk along. These sides are too sheer. If anyone slips, there’ll be nothing to hold on to. With these, we’ll have a chance. I only have ten, so we’ll have to use them sparingly. Are you ready?”

  Cait looked at Kirby, who nodded nervously that he was.

  “We’re ready, Gene,” she said confidently.

  “Okay. I’ll take the lead. Cait, you follow me, and Kirby will bring up the rear.”

  Gene slid his feet forward onto the narrow ledge. He removed his hammer and pounded the first hook into the rock wall.

  ***

  As the dust cleared, Drew looked to his right, where Don sat motionless, staring straight ahead.

  “Are you okay?” asked Drew as he gently shook his arm. He continued to stare forward as if in shock.

  “Antonio, are you all right?” he said, looking back.

  “Yes, Drew. I think so. What happened? That thing was right on us. How are we still alive?”

  Drew could see Don start to panic as he began shouting.

  “Maybe we aren’t alive! Maybe we’re dead! We have to be dead!”

  Drew grabbed him by the shirt and shook him to try and snap him out of his rant.

  “Don, stop! Listen to me. We are alive! We aren’t dead, but we will be if you keep shouting! I don’t know where that thing is; you have to keep your voice down.”

  “But how can we be? That thing killed those men and was right behind us. We have to be dead!”

  “While I do not share Mr. Brazzo’s assessment of our situation,” said Antonio, “I have to ask as well: How did we survive that?”

  “Look around. Remember the crevice your Raptor fell into on the way in? I knew it had to be close, and it was our only chance. When we killed the lights, the creature lost sight of us and focused on the others. When we dropped in here, it went right over us, thank God. We were extremely lucky, but I think it was more than that. Something guided me to this spot. I think it was the same force that saved me on the cliff at Valente’s mansion. I think we were meant to survive. And I know something else now too. I have to go back.”

  “Back! Are you crazy? We have to get out of here!” shouted Don desperately.

  “You and Antonio are going to take the Raptor and try to get out the way we came in. I can’t explain why, but I know if I don’t go back, Cait will die.”

  “On foot, Drew?” asked Antonio. “We’re miles away from the others now, and who knows where that thing is. You won’t have much of a chance if it comes back.”

  “Will you, Antonio?”

  “I see your point. I suppose all of our lives are now in the hands of a higher power.”

  “Yes. I would agree. But my intuition tells me that this higher power just might be on our side,” said Drew with new determination in his voice. He began to unload a backpack from the Raptor and fill it with a flashlight, food, water, and other supplies.

  “You two get the hell out of here. Use the winch to pull yourself out and then haul ass. If you make it out of here, you know where to go. Right, Antonio?”

  “Yes, Drew. I know. I hope to see you all again very soon.”

  Drew shook Antonio’s hand and walked over to Don, who was still in a daze.

  “Are you going to be okay? Antonio needs you to pull it together so you can make it out of here. Can you do that?”

  He slowly shook his head affirmatively while still staring straight ahead.

  “Okay. Then good luck,” said Drew as he put on the backpack and climbed out of the jagged tear in the earth. He took one last look at the beat-up Raptor and his shaken friends and hurried off into the darkness.

  ***

  Gene edged farther along the narrow ledge, choosing his footing as carefully as possible. Each step prompted a brief pause to allow the others to follow without putting too much tension on the safety line that connected them. He slid his feet forward as he struggled to hold on to whatever he could on the mostly sheer rock face. Every so often he had to step over the charred femurs, ribs, and arms that still littered the pathway. Cait followed slowly and could hear the labored breathing of her father behind her. She knew this journey wasn’t going to be easy on any of them, but she also knew his age would make it much worse for Kirby.

  “How are you doing, Father?” asked Cait in a voice that surprised even her. It sounded like she was six years old once again. It was the voice she used to have when her father was the whole world to her. She pondered for a moment if the others had heard it, or if it was just in her head. Nothing would ever come between Cait and Kirby when her age matched the voice she just heard. There were no distractions then like personal ambition, relationships, and the inevitable distance that comes with growing up. It reminded her of the deep and undying love she had for him that was still as innocent and powerful as when she was a young girl. But why, she asked herself, was she made to feel this at that point, so close to the end. The answer came abruptly with the unearthly howl that practically shook the teeth out of her head and a violent force that pulled her over the side of the abyss.

  By the smell of the wildflowers in the air, it was early spring in Colorado. Cait played in the field outside her home, chasing the new puppy her father had brought home four days before. It hadn’t been an easy few weeks for her, as her collie, Lady, had been killed by a car as she looked on. Lady was fourteen years old and had been with her every day of her life up to that point. Lady was her constant companion and best friend. When she was ripped away from her, the innocent life she had known up to that point was shattered. She recalled looking up at the only face that could help her try and make sense out of things. Kirby spoke softly in the voice that always soothed her when she was sad.

  “This is a part of life, Cait. There is no explanation I can give you that can make you understand. You have to trust in your heart that God has a plan for all of us, even Lady. It’s okay to miss her and weep for her, but don’t weep for yourself. We have to let those we love go and try to find a way to move on. That’s all any of us can do. I love you, my sweet little girl. Life will go on, and Lady will live on in your memory always. You will see her again someday, just like when she was young.”

  Cait recalled that those words got her through the hardest of times throughout the years, and she thought of them when her Mother and Tom passed. But why now, she thought. Why did her mind go back to that moment in time?

  As her head began to clear, she felt the warmth of the red liquid flowing down the side of her face. She felt as if she was floating as she reached up with her hand to wipe the blood from her right eye. She stared at her hand, feeling disconnected from her body. She once again smelled the wildflowers as she stared at Lady’s crumpled, broken body and her own bloody hands as she tried to pick her up off the road. She looked up into Kirby’s face as he called to her from above. “It’s okay, Cait. It will be okay.” As her thoughts cleared, she knew that this time Kirby wasn’t above her, as the sound of his voice echoed from below. He still tried to ease her pain even now as he hung helplessly above the bottomless void. “Are you okay, Cait? It will be okay.”

  Cait winced as she felt the gash in her forehead, which she thought must have bee
n from slamming off of the side of the rock face. She now realized the full gravity of their situation. She and Kirby hung helplessly from the small hooks hammered into the rigid rock face above them. She could see Gene desperately trying to get a foothold to pull them up, but she knew the weight of both of them would make that impossible. The cavern shook violently as Adrian’s most trusted servant slowly ascended from the depths of the earth’s core. Kirby looked down and could see the bottomless cavern begin to glow red as the demon approached. He knew this was the creature Adrian controlled, the one who would lead the awakening.

  “My diary, Cait. You must take it! It’s starting. There’s no more time!” yelled Kirby, trying desperately to pull it from his pocket as he swung from side to side.

  “Try and stay still! Don’t move!” shouted Gene as he watched the first of two hooks that held their weight gradually working free.

  “Father! Please stay still. Gene will pull us up.”

  “No, Cait. There’s too much weight. You have to take this; it holds the key to your escape from Khaheet’s tomb. Drew will know what to do!” Kirby pulled the tattered book from his pocket and held it out as far as he could, trying desperately to reach his daughter.

  “I can’t reach you. Please just stay still,” she pleaded.

  As the words left her mouth, the first hook snapped from the wall, dropping them several more feet into the hole until the final hook bent sharply and accepted their weight.

  “Gene! Pull her up. Save my daughter!” shouted Kirby in desperation.

  “I’m trying. There’s too much weight,” said Gene, as he tried desperately to pull on the cable.

  Gene and Kirby looked at each other, and both knew what had to happen. Deep in her heart, Cait denied the meaning of her vision back to her childhood and the comfort her father gave her over losing her cherished dog. It was meant to bring comfort for what was yet to happen. In one terrifying moment, Cait also realized what both men were thinking.

  “Father, no!” screamed Cait, the tears now pouring from her eyes. “Please don’t! There has to be another way.”

  “I love you, Cait. See this through. There is no one else who can. You have to take this now!” said Kirby as he tossed the diary into her grasp. “Good girl. You always were a good girl. Don’t weep for me, sweetheart, and don’t weep for yourself,” he said as he had years earlier. “You have to be strong now—more than ever. You have to go on with your life and have nothing come between you and Drew like before.”

  “Please, Father. No! Hold on!” said Cait, sobbing.

  Kirby looked down one last time at the approaching demon and pulled a crucifix from under his shirt. He kissed the cross and smiled, having prepared his soul for what lay ahead and for the one last deed to save his daughter. “I love you, Cait.”

  In one swift motion, Kirby unclipped the latch that held him securely to the cable. She watched, as if in slow motion, as he fell into the abyss. He’d promised to protect her with his last breath before they left, and as he always had throughout her life, he had kept his word. But this time it was with the ultimate sacrifice.

  Chapter 23

  Drew ran for what seemed like an hour before reaching the giant hole created by Corrado’s beast. The rock still glowed molten red in some places from the intense heat the creature used to tunnel through the earth. As he approached, he could see that the Raptor would have never found its way across the void it created. He’d been second- guessing his decision to send Antonio and Don out the way they came and wondered if it wasn’t a death sentence. Either way, if they had all come back, there would have been no passing through there on wheels. That much was certain. Giant boulders had been displaced from the quake and seemed to block everything on either side of the smooth area that was melted away. Guilt for the fate of his friends and desperation to find Cait began to erode away at the small bit of hope he had that this plan could actually work. He wondered if the creature had already killed her and just returned for him and the others afterward. He quickly suppressed his feelings and clung to the possibility that she was alive. He reached for the radio, realizing there was a chance they would be in range if they were still alive.

  “Cait. Cait, are you there?”

  The sound of static echoed loudly off of the cavern walls as he desperately tried to find some sign that she was alive on the other end of the radio.

  “Cait. Gene. Kirby. Anyone! Damn it. Answer me!” he shouted to nothing but the same shrill noise as before. He threw the radio in frustration over the largest of the boulders, expecting to hear it fall off into the void. Instead he heard a hiss in the distance, coming from behind the pile of rocks. As he climbed over the top, he could see the radio sitting on a ledge allowing just enough room to pass around the hole and get him to the other side. He quickly gathered himself and edged around the path that led him one step closer to knowing the fate of Cait and the others.

  ***

  Cait screamed for her father as he fell away into the void. Gene still struggled to keep hold of her weight even with Kirby gone. He could see the red glow that still approached from below, from what he surmised, still had to be miles below the earth. Even at that distance, they could hear the creature’s piercing screams as it approached.

  “Cait, listen to me. He’s gone; you have to let him go. It’s coming! Look down! We have to get out of here, or we’re dead!”

  Gene thought about his words and realized that even if he could pull her up, there wasn’t much they could do anyway. Cait hung lifeless with her head down, sobbing uncontrollably.

  “Cait! I can’t pull you up. I have no leverage. You have to try and help me, or we’re both going over. He did what he did to save you. Don’t let his sacrifice be wasted by throwing your life away!”

  For a few moments, all of the memories she’d had of her father throughout her life swirled in her mind. Memories of her childhood with Kirby teaching her to drive a car for the first time. Visions of him comforting her at her mother’s funeral and Tom’s funeral and by the side of the road as her dog lay dying. All of the times she needed him most in her life came back to her, almost as a reminder that those memories were in the past and she was on her own, but he would always be with her. She looked up at Gene, seeing his mouth moving, but she couldn’t hear the words. She looked down at the beast’s glow fast approaching, and suddenly her mind cleared. Through her sorrow, she knew she had to survive so that these memories of her father could go on. Before she could speak, the ground shook even worse than before as the creature screamed in agony. The red glow was replaced with the gleaming brightness of pristine white light so pure it could only be from one source. Instead of the ascending red glow, there was now a descending glow of the light from the silver box as it chased the beast back to the depths. She now heard Gene’s voice shouting over the beast’s bellows.

  “He did it, Cait! He bought us some time! You have to try and help me pull you up!”

  “I can’t get a foothold, Gene. It’s too sheer!” said Cait as she desperately tried to get her feet to grip the slippery rock wall.

  Gene could see the last hook working its way out of the rock face as Cait swayed from side to side. He knew if it broke, he would have the full weight of Cait and all of her equipment on him alone with no leverage. He knew that was probably a death sentence for both of them.

  “Try dropping some of your gear—anything you can to relieve the weight. Hurry!”

  Cait carefully removed the belt harness, which held a pistol, canteen, and some ammunition, and dropped it into the quickly descending white light, hardly enough weight to make a difference. She struggled to undo the clip that held her backpack secure, but the cable holding her in place obstructed her from reaching it.

  Gene watched in horror as the last hook began to fail under her motion and weight. He braced himself as best he could to accept what would surely be too much weight to handle in his cu
rrent position.

  “Hold on, Cait! The hook is giving way!”

  Cait screamed as she fell another two feet, but once again stopped violently and swung helplessly above the void. She could see Gene struggling to hold the cable and could feel it slowly slipping from his grasp. When it reached the point where there was no more slack, she knew it would pull him over the side and they would both be dead.

  “Gene, release the cable. Save yourself!” she screamed, trying to pull the knife from her belt. She suddenly felt the fear that her father must have experienced when he made the decision to unhook his cable and give his life for her. She was also comforted by the next feeling that entered her mind, that she was willing to sacrifice her life for someone she cared about. While she hadn’t known Gene long, she knew he was a good man, and her sacrifice wouldn’t be an empty one. She also realized that her father must have been at peace with his decision, just as she was. It provided her some comfort to know how he must have felt.

  “We’re in this together one way or another. Nothing else I can do,” said Gene in a muffled voice through the clenched teeth he had from his struggle to hold the cable. Gene muttered what he knew would be his last words in this world.

  “I can’t hold it. We’re both in God’s hands now!”

  As she slowly dropped the final few inches as the cable slipped through Gene’s bloody fingers, the slack tightened and pulled sharply at his harness. She closed her eyes and braced for the inevitable fall. She felt the cable jerk violently and then, instead of falling, she was being slowly pulled up. She opened her eyes and saw an exhausted Gene and Drew pulling her to safety.

  “Cait, hold on! We have you now. Just hold on!” shouted Drew as his voice echoed loudly. He and Gene pulled Cait high enough that they were able to get a hand each under her tactical vest and pull her up until she got her footing back on the ledge. Without any more words, they slowly made their way along the narrow ledge to the other end of the abyss. Gene fell to the ground from exhaustion as Cait sobbed in Drew’s arms for several minutes. It was Drew who broke the silence, afraid to ask the obvious question.