Subterrestrial (35 page)

Skree!

The creature retracted its neck in an effort to get the light out of its eyes, but Calder matched its movement. As long as she shined the beam directly into its good eye, it wouldn’t be able to clearly see what she was doing.

Its haunches descended beneath the water and its tail spread across the surface. She’d seen these monsters in action. One flick of its tail and it could cover the distance between them in a heartbeat.

Something bumped her ankle and she nearly came out of her skin. She glanced down, then right back at the creature. Cringed as she nudged Nabahe’s remains away from her.

Why wasn’t it attacking? The light wouldn’t deter it in the slightest if it came at her from underwater, yet still it remained where she could see it, inching closer with movements so subtle they generated no ripples. She mirrored its every move, which she was beginning to think was its intention. She’d watched these things attack with reckless abandon. The only time she’d seen one hesitate even for a second was when she’d been pointing the flare gun at—

Suddenly everything made sense.

Calder scooted sideways until she felt Nabahe’s flank against her ankle. She transferred the flashlight to her mouth, clenched it between her teeth, and did her best to keep the beam aligned with the creature’s face as she slowly knelt and fumbled with the strap on Nabahe’s helmet.

The hatchling whipped its tail against the water and screeched. She tightened her grip again and the adult took exception.

Skree!

She rose with the helmet and seated it on her head with one hand. Buckled the strap. Switched on the headlight. Let the flashlight fall from her mouth. She was going to need both hands if she had any chance of surviving the next few minutes.

The creature had moved a good five feet closer without her noticing. It was well within striking distance now, but if she truly understood its nature, it wouldn’t attack. At least not yet.

Again, Calder knelt and ran her hand along the dead man’s side until she found the air tank on his hip. She removed the entire belt and nearly screamed in frustration as she attempted to buckle it around her own waist while the hatchling flailed in her grasp and drew blood with every slash. The blood pattering the surface of the water only seemed to fuel its frenzy.

Err-err-err-err-err-err-uhh-uhh-uhh-err
.

The creature was so close that she could see the muscles in its shoulders bunch. She retreated a step, but if she took another, she wouldn’t be able to reach the recess to her right.

The eggs in the nest had been laid over the course of multiple generations and in such a manner as to ensure they would hatch under the right environmental conditions or remain in a state of diapause until they could be individually hatched in one of these holes with a source of both heat and food. As an apex predator, the creature’s numbers were dictated by a delicate relationship with the availability of prey species, especially in a closed environment like this one. Too many of them would decimate prey populations, which, in turn, threatened their own existence. With their inherent savagery, they could easily hunt themselves into extinction. They’d evolved the perfect way of managing their own numbers while simultaneously being prepared to take advantage of the ideal conditions for rapid expansion the moment they presented themselves.

That was why the creature had braved the fire to save the eggs. They represented the totality of its breeding efforts, the very future of the species. This animal had attempted to smother the flames with its own body. It had been willing to sacrifice itself for the good of the species, and, failing at that, it had subjected itself to horrendous physical pain in order to save however many of the eggs it could hold in its mouth.

Its tail wavered faster, betraying either its impatience or its intent. She couldn’t wait a second longer.

Calder darted to her right and grabbed the egg sac from the recess.

Skree!

In her hands, she now potentially held the future of the species. Maybe she was wrong and there were hundreds of other nests hidden in the tunnels and this merely represented a single bloodline. Whatever the case, this was the only card she had to play.

“You want these?” she shouted.

Skree!

The creature alternately tracked the hatchling and the egg as she raised them over her head. Calder felt the current against her legs before she realized it had halved the distance between them.

She prayed there was a way out behind her, because she’d be completely at its mercy underwater, unless . . .

Unless she showed it that she was willing to do whatever it took to survive.

The creature lowered its head into the water until all that remained above the surface were its eyes and the spiked crown on its skull. Its body vanished. She could positively feel it tensing under there, coiling like a spring, preparing to strike.

It was now or never.

Calder swung the hatchling toward the wall. Its neck snapped with a grinding of bones she felt as much as heard. Blood spattered from the impact.

Skree!

She turned and started a three-second countdown in her head. Swam as far as she could, as fast as she could.

Three
.

Two
.

One
.

Stopped, flipped over and faced the creature again.

Her light reflected off its wet scales, limning its outline. It nudged the carcass floating on the water, which kicked in circles with one leg until it finally stilled. The creature rounded on her and rose to its full height.

Skree!

Calder held up the egg sac as she backed away. She’d opened the gap between them to maybe twenty-five feet, which wasn’t nearly enough to outswim it. She sloshed backward so quickly she nearly tripped over the uneven ground.

It watched her with what she could only describe as sheer malevolence, a trait she couldn’t even ascribe to the most vicious species of shark during a feeding frenzy. It was an emotional response beholden to a higher level of cognition, an ability to reason and respond to a specific situation or set of stimuli. This was no mere animal, nor was it a mindless killing machine.
It was a predator unlike any the modern world had ever seen, one they could never allow to find its way out of this earthen prison, no matter the cost.

Calder raised her feet and quietly swam backward. She could no longer see the creature in the darkness beyond the reach of her headlight. She listened for the slightest sound to herald its impending attack, but she knew it had been hunting under these conditions for far too long to give itself away so easily. It held every advantage, except for one.

She tucked the egg under her wetsuit, against her chest. The embryo sensed her warmth and started to squirm. She suppressed the urge to scream by biting the inside of her lip. Inadvertently hatching the creature was the least of her worries right now.

Err-err-err-err-err-err-uhh-uhh-uhh-err
.

The sound echoed from all around her, making its origin impossible to pinpoint, although it was definitely closer than she expected.

Her head struck stone and she let her feet settle to the ground. Her toes grazed a rounded ledge and continued deeper, forcing her to tread. The current was subtle, but unmistakable. There was a passageway beneath her. She prayed it was large enough.

Err-err-err-err-err-err-uhh-uhh-uhh-err
.

Closer still.

Calder seated the mask on her face, cranked the air, and dove.

The ground wouldn’t hold still. Hart fell, but Payton pulled her to her feet and shoved her ahead of him.

Clack-clack-clack-clack-clack
.

Payton’s light shrank against the seamless cavern wall. He swept it from one side to the other so fast it was disorienting. Fifteen feet and they’d have nowhere left to go.

The water rose over the ledge and washed past her feet. Their own splashing footsteps masked the sounds of the creature gaining on them from behind.

Whaah!

The sound came from somewhere ahead of them. Payton’s beam flashed wildly across the wall in search of its origin.

Nothing.

She glanced back. A shadow separated from the darkness, streaking low to the ground and moving with frightening speed. She screamed and urged her legs to run even faster.

Whaah!

The beam from Payton’s headlamp knifed upward through the darkness and swept across the shrieking face of the dominant male she had begun to think of as Alpha before settling back on him. He was easily eight feet up the escarpment and inside the mouth of a tunnel that was barely wider than he was.

Ten feet and closing.

Skree!

They weren’t going to make it.

The water rose past her ankles, slowing her progress. It was all she could do to remain upright. Her head still swam from the aftereffects of nearly drowning, and a profound level of fatigue had settled over her body like a lead drape.

Whaah!

Five feet.

The tunnel was so high up. Too high. There was no way on this planet she’d be able to reach it.

Payton jumped before he hit the wall, braced his right foot against the limestone, and launched himself upward. He caught the ledge and pulled himself up to his elbows.

Alpha screamed and pulled on him as he scrabbled up the wall into the hole.

Payton was a good eight inches taller than she was and he’d barely made it. What hope did she have, especially in her weakened physical state?

His light dimmed dramatically. The darkness rushed in from all sides and she caught one last glimpse of the wall before she jumped toward the dimly lit hole.

Her right foot struck the slick stone, but not with the traction she expected. It slipped and she slammed into the rock. Her hands slapped a good foot below the lip. Payton’s beam streaked out from the orifice and shined directly down into her eyes. He caught her by the left wrist and she swung sideways along the wall.

“Use your feet!”

Wheet!

Payton clasped her forearm with both hands and pulled so hard she feared her shoulder would dislocate. She raised her knees and planted her feet against the escarpment.

Crack!

The creature struck where her legs had just been. She lost traction and her feet hung mere inches above where it scrambled to right itself.

It whipped its head around on its serpentine neck, and its eyes locked onto hers. The pupils narrowed to slits and its scaled lips peeled back from rows of interlocking teeth.

Hart screamed and looked up at Payton.

“Pull me up! Pull me up!”

She grabbed onto him with her right hand and planted her feet against the wall.

He shouted with the effort. She rose several inches.

Skree!

She planted her feet as firmly as she could and propelled herself upward.

The creature struck at her and missed its desired target, but the crown of its head struck her ankle and knocked her sideways, robbing her of her momentum.

Payton pulled her up to the ledge even as she was certain she was going to fall right back into the water.

She braced her elbows and kicked at the limestone. He freed his right hand and grabbed her by a tear in the back of her wetsuit. Dragged her into the narrow tube beside him until her entire torso was safely inside.

“Keep going,” he said. “I’ll be right behind you.”

Skree!

The creature hurled itself against the stone below her. Over and over. Striking the smooth rock just as she and Payton had. Its claws carved deep gouges into the soft stone but were unable to secure purchase.

Hart squeezed past Payton and crawled into the pitch black. She felt hands on her cheeks, then fur on her face. Alpha drew her to his chest and hooted softly into her ear.

“Okay, okay. I’m all right.”

He spun and bounded ahead of her. She followed on her hands and knees. Payton’s light shined past her and cast her shadow onto Alpha’s back before he scurried beyond the light’s range. His traveling calls spurred her onward toward where more screeches and high hoots echoed from the darkness, defining the size of another cavern, only there was something odd about the intonation.

Freezing water raced past her legs and bit into the bare flesh on her hands, spurring her to crawl even faster. If the water had risen to the mouth of the cave, then the creature could easily reach it, too.

Skree!

The shrill cry was deafening in the confines. It was right behind them and better equipped to handle the rising water, which only served to slow them down as it rose to her elbows, then to her chest. The current shoved her forward and slammed her into a pile of jagged stones, like a wave upon breakers.

Payton’s light flashed her in the eyes a heartbeat before he collided with her.

“It’s right behind me!” he shouted.

Skree!

Hart climbed out from beneath him and up the pile of debris. Payton’s light swung frantically behind her, illuminating sporadic swatches of rubble all around her and throwing her shadow up into the darkness. At first she thought it was granite, but even granite wasn’t this smooth, nor was its coloration such a uniform shade of gray. It wasn’t until she saw the sharp lengths of rebar protruding from it that she realized what it was.

Concrete.

They had to be near the surface.

The riot of simian screams grew louder as she crawled over a rugged section of fractured concrete and tumbled to the ground. It was smooth and rounded and obviously manufactured.

Payton crawled from the hole behind her. His light reflected off the siding on the bed of a toppled heavy hauler. The trailer was on its side, its cargo of boulders spilled out and blocking their way. Its tires stood at odd angles from the broken axles.

The water fired upward from the rubble and splashed down around them. It ran like a river over the rocks and into the distance.

A roar behind her.

She and Payton both looked in that direction. A veritable wall of water sped toward them through the remains of the tunnel.