Below The Earth

by Lucas Pederson

  When all three were done, I managed a handful of water to slurp down. That was it.

  I began climbing into the mech, because, damn it, I was thirsty, when Hannah said, “What are you doing?”

  “Getting more water. I’m thirsty.”

  “We don’t have time for that. You can get more on our next stop.”

  Okay, that did it…

  “Look, you guys had the scoop practically empty before I could even get out of the mech. I had barely a handful of water. I need a little more. So…you can be an ass all you want, but I’m getting my share here too.” She didn’t say anything more as I dipped the scoop into the lake, stepped away, and heated it to boiling.

  I let the scoop cool for an hour and a half, then got out of the mech.

  It was only then I realized no one was on the beach with me…

  “Guys?” I called.

  No answer.

  Their mechs were gone too.

  I drank most of the sanitized water from the scoop, then crawled back inside the mech.

  Not really knowing what to say, I ventured, “Close scoop.”

  Nothing happened.

  “Retract scoop.”

  Still…nothing.

  “Um, where’d everybody go?” I asked.

  Same as the mech, I got nothing back.

  So…it was true then. I was merely a tool to help get them to where they needed to be. Wherever that was. Good actors, the lot of them, though. Had me utterly fooled with joining their group. And now that my usefulness was complete, they—

  “Stay low, Wen,” Hannah said. “There’s something in the jungle. It’s big. Just…don’t move for a while until we figure out what it is.”

  I spotted them lying on their stomachs and wanted to strangle her, though laid flat on my stomach by the others, watching carefully at the thick wall of green no more than 50 yards from me. Fifty yards in the other direction would lead me into the lake. Once more, I felt sandwiched in.

  Hannah said. “To get the scoop returned fully to the mech, you need to say, Disengage Scoop.”

  The moment I said it and the scoop folded into the arm of the mech, the ground moved.

  “Shh,” Megan said. “I think it’s another T-rex.”

  A deep growl ruffled the leaves, though I couldn’t see through the wall of foliage. It was like the damn thing was camouflaged.

  “But I could be wrong,” Megan added.

  “What’s it doing?” Max asked.

  “Watching us.”

  “I think…” I said, “it’s been hunting us for a while. I felt like we were being watched from the moment we left the first beach.”

  “Could be,” Megan said. “It knows we’re here. It’s just waiting…”

  “Waiting for what?” Max asked.

  “I don’t know. Be ready to move, though.”

  The growling grew louder. The leaves and fronds billowed and trembled. The ground shook. Even through the mech I could feel the ground shaking.

  “It’s trying to get us to move,” Megan said.

  “Why?” Max spouted. “Why not come out and get us?”

  Megan fell silent for a moment, then said, “Because it’s toying with us first. It’s…smart.”

  “I say we all use our lasers and cut it down right here. Right now.”

  “Dude,” Megan said. “The moment we say laser, it’ll come through those trees and that’ll be that. We won’t have time. It’s too close.”

  “So…we just lay here until it gets bored? Hey…great plan.”

  “You know, I think I liked it better when you weren’t talking.” Megan sighed. “It has us, and it knows it. It’s just waiting for us to do something. More sporting that way, I guess.”

  The ground eventually stopped shaking and the leaves quit fluttering. Everything dropped to utter silence. Not even the lizards or birds, or whatever in the forest cried out. It was all just…dead silent.

  “Stay put,” Megan said. “Just stay—”

  “Oh, fuck this,” Max said and rose to his knees. “Laser!”

  “Max,” Megan shouted. “Don’t—”

  It crashed through the trees. A massive head of teeth followed by a loud roar which shook me, even through the mech. Branches and foliage rained down around us.

  “Shit,” Hannah said. “Move out! Run!”

  Just as she said it, a blue beam shot out, slicing into the creature’s middle.

  All in vain.

  The lower jaw of the creature split down the middle, creating two lower jaws. It chomped into Max, the top half of him inside the giant mouth of teeth. The lower jaw, although split in two, had a thick membrane of skin connecting the split jaws. It used this like a shovel, scooping Max up and devouring him.

  He screamed. Only once. Then…silence.

  Blood splattered the ground as it shook Max’s body a moment before finally swallowing him partially whole. Then it lowered its large head, amber eyes glimmering at us. Although, it felt like that cold gaze was fixed on me and only me. My heart jack-hammered wildly.

  The three of us backing away, Megan said, “Max…oh God…no. Not Max.” I hear the tears in her words and it drew some of my own by the mere sound alone.

  “We need to hide,” Hannah said.

  I glanced around, but all I saw was…

  “What’s that?” I pointed at what appeared to be a mound of seaweed, but…

  “Lake deposits,” Megan said. “Nothing to—”

  “Is that a license plate?” I asked, squinting.

  “I don’t…”

  “It’s a Jeep,” Hannah nearly shouted.

  “We don’t have time to clear all that shit off it,” Megan said.

  “We need to try,” Hannah said. “If it still works, maybe we can outrun the bastard.”

  “Why is there a Jeep here?” Megan ventured.

  “I don’t know,” Hannah said. “But it is, and we need to try.”

  Because I’m an idiot, I said, “I’ll distract it.”

  “Um…” Megan said. “How?”

  Meanwhile, the mutated T-rex growled, glowering at us. Just waiting for us to make a move.

  “I…don’t know yet. Just, when I say go…go. Okay?”

  “Okay,” Hannah said. “Be careful. You saw how quickly it took out Max.”

  “Right,” I said. “Just…get that stupid thing running.”

  I slowly moved away from them and the creature followed with its glimmering, amber glare. Its attention wasn’t fully on me. Not quite yet.

  Then, a very stupid idea popped into my head. But, it would work. I probably wouldn’t live through it, but at least the other two would make it. Despite feeling like a tool they could use to their will, they were relatively good people. Even if Hannah might or might not be an android. Her actions got weird, but…yeah, I didn’t know. Wish I could have really met them well before everything happened. I got to meet them, but no deep conversation. No true connection.

  Despite this, however, a life was a life. Even if it meant sacrificing my own.

  Because, as I mentioned before, I’m an idiot…

  I continued to slowly move away from Hannah and Megan, backing toward the beach. Honestly, I didn’t have a full idea formed until my feet sank into the yellow sand. I stopped, glanced down, then looked at the creature with its split-in-two lower jaw and glinting amber eyes. A glare that stabbed through the mech and into my very soul, if that was possible. My heart bashed itself against my ribs. My skin rippled with shivers. My stomach churned, and my bladder felt too damn heavy.

  Still, I backed down the beach, and the mutation followed me closer. No longer did it appear interested in the other two. I was being the formidable one. The sport. It wasn’t about food with that thing. It was about killing.

  I didn’t know if that was how dinosaurs acted or if the mutation made it that way, and it didn’t matter because…there I was. Literally facing death. Maybe it was a combination of both.

  It moved in my directi
on. At first, only a step or two. Then, as I increased my speed toward the lake, it came for me.

  I spun around, running without knowing how close the bastard was. I dove into the water, rose up, and turned just in time to move away from the monster’s snapping jaws. It followed me into the water, but how far would it go?

  A game. Not exactly cat and mouse, but similar.

  It snapped at me again, using that thick membrane of skin to try and scoop me out of the water. I dove away, telling my mech to thrust fast. I jetted deeper into the lake, then rose to see where the thing was. My heart sank a bit as it roared and began turning away.

  “Laser,” I said, aimed at its right flank, and squeezed my hand into a fist.

  The burst was small, as I opened my hand quickly. But it struck the creature right where I wanted it too. It reared, shrieked, then dropped and soon found me where I floated. I was only in about 10 feet of water.

  With another great roar, it splashed into the lake after me. I waited, counting down the feet as it sloshed closer. Twenty. Ten. Six…

  It lunged at me and I dove to the right, thrusting away as fast as the mech could. When I surfaced and looked back, I was about 20 feet away. I shot another laser burst at it to get its attention. It shrieked in what I assumed was pain and rage, thrashing around in my direction. I waved my arms to make sure it saw me. When it did, it stomped through the shallows toward me.

  “It starts,” Hannah said. “Wen? You still with us?”

  “Barely,” I said. “Things aren’t going exactly to plan.”

  “Okay. See if you can distract it more, then get in the Jeep. The tank of gas is pretty much full. There’s no way it can run over 160 miles per hour.”

  “Sounds fantastic,” I said, thrusting deeper into the lake as the mutated thing came at me. “But I doubt I’ll make it out of this.”

  After a couple seconds, Megan said, “We’ll wait for you.”

  I smiled, loving her even more.

  Meanwhile, the T-rex mutation splashed closer and closer.

  What I thought might happen, wasn’t happening.

  Time for a different tactic…

  It was about 10 feet away when I dove again, thrusting into water, according to the depth the mech provided, eight feet deep. When I surfaced, the mutated T-rex was up over its back.

  Not perfect, but it would do.

  I shot it with yet another laser burst to show it where I was. It did its shriek/roar thing and started toward me. The water soon came to its neck.

  What I thought would happen, wasn’t happening, so…a Plan B came to fruition.

  I swam out a few yards more. Until its lower jaws were completely submerged, then dove deep and went fast thrust toward the beach. If it saw what I was doing, it could snatch me up at any time and eat me like it did poor Max.

  I didn’t stop the fast thrust until sand scratched against my stomach. Only then did I emerge from the water and run onto the beach.

  The creature shrieked, realizing it had been fooled. I hoped my original plan would come to be, but nope…

  The mini Roofus was apparently too damn busy to be bothered by all that craziness.

  The monster T-rex thrashed, turning itself around. Its head ducked under the water a couple times, then it began moving toward the beach.

  “Jesus, Wen,” Megan shouted. “Get in the Jeep!”

  I blinked, shook my head, and got in. The vehicle was filthy, seats slippery with mold and moss and God knew what else. The moment I was in, Hannah hit the gas, rocking slamming me into the back seat.

  “I think you were right, Wen,” Hannah said as we sped across the beach, tires kicking up a rooster-tail of sand behind us.

  For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what she was talking about at first.

  “It might not be fully created by people, but people were here before us. The Jeep proves that much. Also proves they were fairly established here.”

  Finally, I got it. My thoughts of the supposed “lost world” came to life and I wasn’t sure if I was happy or sad about it. Being right, for once, and yet… I kind of wish I hadn’t been.

  The roar sliced my thoughts in two.

  I half-turned…and froze at what I saw.

  The mutated T-rex was right behind us, split lower jaw hanging, long upper teeth glinting whatever severed as false light in that place.

  “Oh shit,” Megan shouted. “It’s gaining!”

  “The accelerator is on the floor.”

  “Not possible,” Megan said. “There’s no way that thing can run over100 miles per hour. Just no wa—”

  The creature lunged forward, bumping the rear of the Jeep with its horned snout. The Jeep jostled and Hannah barely kept the thing from flipping in all the loose sand. She stopped the fishtailing, straightened the Jeep out, and continued on.

  “We need to get off the beach,” I said.

  “The jungle is too thick,” Hannah said. “We’d get—”

  The monster roared and nudged the rear of the Jeep again. That time not as hard, but enough to send ripples of terror scuttling through me like hundreds of tiny, black spiders. I glanced back and all I saw was that split, gaping maw of teeth. A cavern of death.

  All it needed to do was leap and it’d have us.

  “We’d get stuck or run into a tree,” Hannah finished.

  “How much gas is in this thing?” Megan asked.

  “Half a tank.”

  Megan gave the creature a glance, nodded, and said, “Keep this speed for as long as you can.”

  I didn’t get what Megan meant until I risked another look behind us.

  The T-rex was flagging. Already falling behind a bit.

  “Wen,” Megan said. “When it’s a good 20 feet behind us, cut its head off with the laser.”

  My heart hitched. “What?”

  “If we don’t kill it, it’ll keep hunting us. It’s survival at this point, I think.”

  “She’s right,” Hannah said. “We’ll take samples of things with us, but we need to survive the damn place first.”

  I didn’t mind killing the thing, but why me? Megan could do it just as easily as I…

  Oh, yeah…wait…I was their expendable tool. I kept forgetting that part. No matter how much I wanted to let my guard down, I couldn’t.

  I turned in my seat, facing the monster. Its amber eyes glimmered at me. It roared as it fell farther and farther behind. Maybe 10 or 15 feet. Somewhere in there. Another five or six feet and…

  It came from the right, bursting through the jungle like the monster it was.

  “Oh, shit, there’s two of them,” Megan shouted. “Laser!”

  “Laser,” I said, barely able to breathe as the second mutated T-rex sped in front of the first one, gaining ground quickly.

  “Cut ‘em down,” Megan roared, and a blue beam cut through the air directly above me. It sliced across the creature’s chest, leaving a charred groove, and severed its left arm.

  The second monster shrieked, lost its balance and dropped, tumbling. Sand billowed and exploded into the air, hiding most of what happened.

  “Got him,” Megan said, sounding way too triumphant.

  Still, I kept an eye behind us as she settled back in her seat. I watched, because…

  “It’s not over yet,” I said, rising to my knees on the seat and pointing my arm at the first monster as it emerged from the cloud of sand.

  And somehow, it appeared to gather enough speed to close most of the distance.

  “So kill it,” Megan said off-handedly.

  I frowned. No, Megan was acting different. The one I truly connected with changed to someone harder, colder, not the woman I thought she was. Unless it was a stress thing. How she coped…

  Maybe, but I was beginning to believe something messed up was happening I didn’t know about. Some secret only Hannah, Megan, and the late Max knew about. Could’ve just been my imagination, but…

  I squeezed my hand into a fist and swept the blue beam horizon
tally.

  The creature’s split-jawed head tumbled off its body and rolled into the lake while its body continued on for a few more yards before finally seizing up and crashing to the sand.

  “Good job, Wen,” Megan said. “Now we should be fairly okay until we gather the files.”

  “Meg…” Hannah said in a something near a hiss.

  “Files?”

  “Shit…” Megan sighed. “She might as well know now.”

  “I was hoping she’d be kept out of it,” Hannah said.

  “Uh…I’m right here, guys. What files?”

  “Nothing,” Hannah said. “Never mind.”

  My gaze drifted from Hannah to Megan and back again. “Finding this place wasn’t by accident, was it?”

  Neither of them said anything.

  I let go a breath too heavy to be a sigh. Sweat trickled down my face and all I wanted was to get out of the mech and jump in the lake to cool down. To wash away all that sweat and stink and just float there for a while.

  All things I couldn’t have now because I seriously couldn’t trust Hannah and Megan. Rage exploded through me.

  “What the fuck is going on?” I literally had to keep from pointing my laser at the back of one their heads and squeezing.

  “Wen,” Hannah said. “Just let it go. It’s best you know nothing about why we’re here. Safer.”

  “You bastards…”

  “Are we gonna have a problem here?” Megan turned, pointing her laser arm at me. The barrel still glowed blue.

  I stared at her for a long time, never knowing I could truly hate some more than my ex, but there it was. Megan topped the cake. I shouldn’t have been so surprised, but I was.

  I shook my head and sat back into the seat.

  “Good,” she said. “I really don’t want to kill you. You’re good people, Wen.”

  “And you’re a lying bitch. Both of you.”

  “And just what the hell did you think we were after, huh?” Megan asked. “Seriously. Look how easily all this came to be. Yes, we knew what we were looking for.”

  “Meg,” Hannah growled. “Enough.”

  Megan sighed. “I don’t know why he put you in charge anyway. You’re not leading very well. That whole freak out earlier…I about put a beam through your head myself.”