The Lost Level (20 page)

CLICK–CLICK…CLICK–CLICK…

More of the creature’s body emerged from the lake. It reared up on
its segmented back legs and swayed back and forth, studying us. Water streamed
off its blood–red shell. The monster emitted a warbling sort of hiss from its
beak–like mouth and then rushed forward, splashing toward the terrified
Anunnaki. The serpent man turned away. Maybe he meant to retrieve his spear, or
perhaps he’d simply intended to flee. Whatever the case, the lake monster was
faster. It caught the snake man just as he reached the shoreline. Looming over
its prey, the creature plunged that horrific stinger into the Anunnaki’s back.
We watched in revulsion as the tail pulsed and throbbed, pumping some type of
venom into the hapless victim. The Anunnaki thrashed helplessly, writhing in
pain. His lidless, serpentine eyes rolled back into his head.

The monster clacked its claws together again, making that
deafening
CLICK–CLICK…CLICK–CLICK…
sound. Its eye–tipped stalks tracked
Kasheena as she hurried over to where Bloop and I stood, but the creature didn’t
pursue us. Instead, the beast kept its prey pinned on the shore, pumping more
venom into his thrashing form.

I heard a hissing sound. Seconds later, the Anunnaki’s scaly skin
began to bubble and blister as if he were being microwaved from the inside. The
snake man screamed soundlessly as the pustules swelled and then burst.
Thrashing in agony, the Anunnaki’s forked tongue lolled as it vomited a grisly
mix of blood, bile, and steaming chunks of what appeared to be its own
dissolving internal organs.

“My God,” I whispered. “He’s melting.”

The wind shifted as the Anunnaki vomited again. The stench was
atrocious, and my eyes watered.

Bloop closed his eyes and turned away from the horror.

Kasheena clutched my shoulder. “We should go, Aaron. It is still
distracted.”

I nodded, but made no effort to follow. Instead, I merely gaped
as the beast yanked its tail free from the victim’s back. Gore stained the
creature’s stinger. The Anunnaki’s squirming grew weaker and spasmodic, and
then ceased altogether. The snake man’s flesh smoked and sizzled, sloughing
from his bones in a wet, soupy mess as the acidic venom continued to liquefy
his body. Using its claws, the lake monster shoveled the glistening, still–steaming
pool into its mouth with greedy, slurping sounds.

“Aaron,” Kasheena repeated, her tone more insistent. “Bloop. We
need to flee! Come along.”

The monster stopped feeding at the sound of her voice and turned
its attention back to us. Hissing, it slowly clambered over the rocks and waded
further onto shore. I quickly surmised that despite its ponderous bulk, it was
fast and calculated that we would be in reach of that deadly stinger and those
snapping claws before we could hope to escape.

Bloop must have reached the same conclusion. With a savage roar,
he brandished both swords and charged headlong at our attacker. He swung one of
the weapons in a powerful arc, but the monster seized the blade in one claw and
ripped it from Bloop’s grasp. Steel buckled and bent as it squeezed the sword.
It tossed the useless weapon aside and jabbed at Bloop with its tail, but Bloop
dodged the attack and slid beneath the behemoth, slashing at its insect–like
legs. It seemed to have no effect on the beast.

I ran over to the corpses of the Anunnaki that Kasheena had
killed and grabbed the fallen pistol, still clutched in one severed reptilian
hand. Freeing the weapon, I turned back to face the monster. Bloop was no
longer in sight, lost somewhere beneath its underside. Kasheena had moved to
the creature’s right side and was jabbing at it with her sword. Each time it
scuttled toward her, she backed up out of striking distance of its stinger and
claws. The beast raised its pincers and clacked them together in frustration.

CLICK–CLICK…CLICK–CLICK…

“Kasheena,” I shouted. “Stay back!”

Standing with my feet shoulder–width apart, I extended my arms,
took aim at the creature’s neck, and squeezed the trigger. The gun kicked in my
hands, and my aim was true, but the bullet, like Bloop’s sword, had no effect
on the armor–like carapace. The monster turned to face me, hissed, and then
clicked its claws together again.

CLICK–CLICK…CLICK–CLICK….

I lined up my second shot, aiming this time for its mouth, but
when I squeezed the trigger, the pistol clicked. I pulled the trigger four more
times in rapid succession, but the gun was empty. Cursing the Anunnaki, I
tossed the pistol aside and moved to recover my sword as the monster charged
me.

“Aaron,” Kasheena screamed. “Run!”

I did just that, seizing the hilt and scurrying backward, unable
to take my eyes off the doom rushing toward me. I held my sword out in front of
me as if to ward the creature away, but I had little doubt it would do any
good. It was like trying to fight a tank with a toothpick. The beast swiped at
me with one giant claw, attempting to knock me off my feet, but I managed to
avoid the blow. Seconds later, I accomplished the task for myself by tripping
over a large stone jutting up from the mud behind me. I fell to the ground, and
my sword slipped from my hands and clattered on the rocks. I lay there sprawled
on my back as the crab–thing reared above me. A bead of noxious–looking venom
dripped from the tip of its stinger. Its pincers clacked together with a
maddening racket.

CLICK–CLICK…CLICK–CLICK…CLICK–CLICK…CLICK–CLICK…

I shuddered, expecting that terrible cacophony to be the last
sound I ever heard.

Suddenly, the creature flailed, waving its claws as if in pain.
It shrieked—a high–pitched, liquid sort of sound that made me wince. As it
reared up higher on its back legs, I saw the source of its obvious distress.
Bloop clung to the underside of the monster’s belly, using his hands and feet
to hold tight. His tail wielded his remaining sword, which was buried up to the
hilt in a groove between the shells protecting the beast’s abdomen. Bloop sawed
the blade back and forth, working it deeper into the soft tissue. Black blood
welled around the sword handle, and when Bloop yanked it free, the trickle
became a gush.

Furious, the crab–thing dropped to the ground, trying to crush
Bloop beneath its bulk. As it did, Kasheena jumped onto a boulder and then
leaped atop its back. She wobbled unsteadily, desperately trying to maintain
her balance on the slippery carapace as our foe thrashed and shook. Then, she
sat astride it, wrapping her legs around its neck as best she could and swiping
at the antennae–like eye stalks with her sword. Unlike the rest of the
creature, this part of its anatomy wasn’t armored. The sword cleaved the
appendages like a scythe cutting wheat. The effect was instantaneous. The beast
screamed, a sound so loathsome and horrid that to this day, I still
occasionally hear it in my sleep. Its frenzied and violent thrashing increased.
Kasheena struggled to hang on, but the monster shook her off, throwing her as a
wild bronco tosses its rider. She landed nearby, close enough to be trampled
beneath its feet should it turn toward her.

Unable to tell if she was conscious or not, I screamed her name.
There was no response. I grabbed my sword and sprang to my feet. As I ran
toward her, I heard a cracking sound from beneath the creature. The beast gave
one last squeal and then toppled to the ground—dead.

I ran to Kasheena’s side, shouting her name, certain that she was
dead. My relief was overwhelming when she sat up and pushed me aside, assuring
me that she was okay.

“Bloop?” she asked. “Did he—?”

From beneath the creature, we heard a muffled response. “Bloop….”

“He’s alive,” I said. “Hurry. Let’s get this thing off him.”

The two of us placed our hands beneath the creature’s carapace
and tried to lift it with all our might, but the dead thing wouldn’t budge. We
tried again, panting and straining until the tendons stood out in our necks and
shoulders. Still, we couldn’t move the carcass.

“Bloop,” Kasheena called. “Can you hear us? Are you okay?”

There was no response.

“We need a wedge,” I gasped, wiping the sweat from my brow with
the back of my hand. “The tree line. Help me find a limb we can use!”

We started toward the forest, but before we’d gone three steps,
we heard a cracking sound behind us. I turned, apprehensive, expecting to find
the monster moving again, and indeed, it was. However, the movements were tiny,
a quivering that seemed to come from the center of its mass. That was also
where the noises were emanating from.

“Inside,” Kasheena whispered. “A parasite, perhaps?”

I nodded, envisioning a monstrous tapeworm bursting from the
thing’s back, or perhaps a brood of young hatchlings erupting from their dead
mother. The carapace began to splinter and crack. Kasheena and I stepped back,
weapons at the ready. The hole widened, and a moment later, the tip of a sword
blade poked through the carapace. The hole grew larger still, and something
furry and covered in gore thrust its head from the wound. It was our companion,
so matted with the creature’s innards that we didn’t recognize him until he spoke.

“Bloop.”

Kasheena and I rushed to the carcass while Bloop struggled to
free himself. He spat and sputtered, grunting as he managed to squeeze more of
his bulk through the crack in the shell. The stench wafting from inside the
creature was horrific, and unfortunately, Bloop stank of it, as well. Every
inch of his body was slick with gore, and his fur, normally full–bodied and
luxuriant, was now greasy and stiff and pressed flat against his body. He
glistened in the sunlight, wet and sticky and reeking like a slaughterhouse.
Laughing, we helped him free. I’m sure all three of us were a terrible sight.
Bloop plunged into the water and bathed himself as best he could, shaking like
a dog when he was done. Kasheena and I washed the gore from our hands and then
cleaned our wounds.

When we’d finished, I suggested we leave the area with some
haste, lest another lake monster emerge. The others agreed with me. We gathered
what weapons and gear we could. We were unable to find and recover any of the
items they’d taken from our campsite, but we did find Kasheena’s pistol. In the
end, we were each armed with a sword. Plus, I had my dagger, and Kasheena had
her handgun, which contained three unfired rounds.

Exhausted, we limped into the forest, retracing our steps. I risked
one glance back at the lake, but its surface was calm. Already, a few scavenger
birds circled the creature’s carcass from high above. I wondered how long it
would take them to strip the flesh from the lake monster and the Anunnaki, and
felt a great sense of relief when the lake faded from view.

“We are not far from my village,” Kasheena promised. “The worst
is behind us now.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“I am.”

But she was wrong.

“SO, TELL ME
WHAT HAPPENED?”
I asked Kasheena as we renewed our hike. “How did they
manage to capture you again?”

“When you and Bloop were carried away by that…what did you call
them? Robots?”

I nodded.

“I ran after you,” she continued, “but the robot moved too
quickly. I could not keep up with it. I tried calling out to you, but by then
you were too far away. So, I returned to our camp, intent on stowing our gear,
arming myself, and then rescuing you both. But before I could do so, the
Anunnaki ambushed me. They had been lying in wait. I don’t know how long they
were tracking and spying on us, but they must have decided to take advantage of
our separation. I fought back, but their numbers were too many.”

“You managed to kill several of them,” I said. “Don’t be too hard
on yourself. That was pretty impressive.”

“Bah!” Glowering, Kasheena pushed aside a low–hanging branch and
spat. “I should have been able to kill them all. And had I not been preoccupied
with rescuing the two of you, I would have.”

When she saw me grinning, she stopped walking. Her frown
increased, and when she spoke again, there was a distinct edge to her voice.

“You find this amusing, Aaron?”

“Not at all.” I held up my hands in mock surrender. “I just think
you’re remarkable.”

“How so?”

“Just…here you are, a beautiful princess. According to the stories
on my world, I should be the one rescuing you from danger. But clearly, you don’t
need any help in that regard. If anything, it’s you who’s been keeping me safe
all this time. Bloop and I both owe you, Kasheena. You are a remarkable woman.”

“Are the women of Earth not warriors, as well?”

“Oh, they are,” I admitted. “But it took our society a long time
to see them as such. Too long, in my opinion.”

“What did your women do, if not fight?”

“Well, for a long time, women didn’t have the same rights as men.
They were viewed as second class citizens. Do you understand what I mean by
that?”

“They were deemed not as important as the men.”

“Right. We pretty much only saw women as caretakers. They were
supposed to raise our children, cook our meals, and keep the house looking
clean. Those attitudes passed in time, at least in most of our society. But
even with those attitudes gone, and even after women made great strides in
equality, we still managed to sexualize them before considering any of their
other attributes. Even our warrior women had a sexual component to them.”

“All living beings require sex,” she said. “It is natural to
notice the sexuality of another.”

“Yeah, but this was different. Sex shouldn’t be the first thing
you notice about a woman.”

“You say I am beautiful and pleasing to your eyes. Was that not
the first thing you noticed about me?”

I shrugged. “It was, but only because we hadn’t spoken yet. I
hadn’t gotten a chance to know you—the person you are inside.”