Aftermath (17 page)

“We should probably explain it later,” Drew remarked, casting a worried glance back towards the chamber’s entrance. “I’m not sure how long our luck’s gonna hold out.”

“Yeah,” Paige nodded, “can you give me a hand.”

Drew and Paige each grabbed one of Chad’s arms, and helped him to his feet. He stood there for a moment, as his legs adjusted to his weight.

“Can you walk?” Paige asked.

Chad took a small step, wobbling a bit, while Drew and Paige stood ready to catch him. Then another step, and by his fourth step his legs seemed to be functioning.

“So now we get the fun of finding a way out,” Drew remarked.

Paige seemed to be realizing that flaw in their rescue plan for the first time. With the massive entrance to the temple closed, and guards stationed outside, they would need to find some kind of a back exit to this place. That is, if there even was one. Otherwise, she figured their only chance was to wait until the next summons, and try to sneak out when the doors opened to allow the Shamblers in. And that meant facing all of the armed guards outside.

This little rescue plan of hers’ was sucking, to say the least.

“Let’s check around the chamber,” Paige suggested.

They headed off down the row to the wall, then followed it around the chamber. They found the chamber to be more oval shaped than square, but even then there were irregularities in its shape. Apparently these aliens had something against symmetry, Paige surmised.

Chad still had the confused look of someone who had just awakened from a dream.

They also noticed something else. There seemed to be a gentle slope to the floor, with the outer areas along the wall a bit more elevated than the center. Paige thought about it for a second. This was how they built parking lots to flow water into a drain. So maybe there this chamber had been constructed the same way to allow any spilled amniotic fluid to drain.

She wandered down the rows to the middle of the chamber, and there she found a drain, about three feet in diameter, with a grill covering it.

“Hey guys, come check this out,” Paige said. “I found a drain.”

The guys hurried over, taking, a look. “I wonder where it leads,” Drew said.

“Probably the same place every drain leads,” Paige offered. “Some sort of channel to wash everything away.”

“You found us a sewage entrance,” Drew grinned.

Paige hadn’t really wanted to call it that, but yeah. That’s what she was hoping this was.

That’s when a piercing siren went off, seeming to echo through the entire temple. Those phosphorescent stones began flashing, making the chamber feel like an alien discotheque.

“You think that’s us?” Drew asked.

Paige just stared around, her eyes wide with fear. She finally nodded. “I think so.”

Suddenly three guards stormed into the chamber. Fully armed, with rifles aimed at Paige and her friends.

“You three, on the ground!” a guard hollered. Paige noted that he seemed to be the taller of the three.

Paige and friends exchanged a look with each other. It wasn’t so much of a “we’re screwed” look, as it was a “we’d better do it” look.

The three of them kneeled down on the floor, while the guards kept their rifles aimed at them.

“Hands behind your heads, and lace your fingers together,” the tall guard hollered, as they rushed over to Paige and her friends.

Each of the guards raced over behind one of Paige and her friends. Paige noted that the one behind Chad sounded Hispanic, although it was difficult to tell through what looked like ski masks they were wearing.

“This one’s all wet with something,” said the Hispanic guard, gripping Chad’s wrist.

The guards turned, looking around the chamber, and then spotted the ruptured pod.

Paige saw her chance. She leaned back, reaching behind her, then grabbed the guards legs and lunged backwards, coming down on top of the guard.

As the other guards turned, Drew spun around, swinging his leg around, and catching the tall guard behind his ankle. The tall guard’s legs swept out from beneath him. He came down hard, cracking his head on the floor.

At the same time, Chad had used the same maneuver as Paige, and was now on top of the Hispanic guard, wrestling his rifle away.

Paige’s guard, still beneath her, wrapped his arm around her throat. Paige grabbed his arm, leaned her head forward, and bit into it as hard as she could. He released her just long enough for her to lean forward, and slam her elbow back into his face. His head cracked down on the floor.

Paige spun around, and grabbed his rifle, firing a shot into him, then into the other guards.

“Come on, you guys. Help me get this open,” she hollered, scooting over to the grill covering the drain.

She dug her fingers into the grill, and tugged as hard as she could. But this thing wasn’t budging.

“Let’s try this,” Chad said, shoving the barrel of the Hispanic guard’s rifle into the grill. He leaned down on it, till he finally heard a pop. The seal around the grill had broken.

“Give me a hand,” he hollered to Drew.

The two boys dug their fingers into the grill, and pried it off the drain.

“Oh, boy,” Paige remarked, staring down the drain. “This is gonna suck.” She turned back to the dead guards. “Grab the rest of their ammo,” she said, removing a guard’s utility belt, and buckling it around her waist. The boys did the same. That gave them each three more magazines of ammo.

They slung the rifles over their shoulders, and turned back to the drain. “You want me to go first?” offered Drew.

“No, I got this,” replied Paige, as she squeezed through the hole.

The Invaders

As she had expected, the inside of the drain chute basically sucked. It had been carved into a slick stone, and the walls were coated with something slimy.

It was wide enough for her petite frame to fit through easily, but Chad and Drew were going to be a tighter fit.

She scrambled down it, pressing her back against one side, and slowing her descent with her knees pressed against the other.

She’d descended about fifteen feet so far, and it was already taking a toll on her knees. The slimy goo made it slick, but the rock surface beneath it was pretty jagged.

Above her, she could hear Chad and Drew struggling to keep up.

Several more feet, and then her knee missed the wall. She slipped away, and found herself plunging down the chute. It was like a water slide, and she was in free fall. She straightened her legs, and tucked her arms in, bracing for the inevitable impact with the bottom she knew would be coming soon.

And it did. But not like she expected. Paige plunged out the bottom of the chute, dropping about ten feet into an underground river.

She splashed down into the water, quickly pulled along with the current. She paddled as hard as she could for the surface, finally pulling head above it. She was being whisked along, and struggled to keep from going under again.

As far as she could tell, the river seemed to be about fifteen feet wide. But it was difficult to get a look, as the tunnel she was being carried through was dark, and her head kept bobbing beneath the surface.

Keeping her head above water was her only goal at the moment, as the underground river whisked along over rapids, knocking her around. Then as she spun around again, she noticed light coming from up ahead.

***

The river carried her out of the tunnel, and into an enormous cavern. High above on the ceiling were those phosphorescent stones, casting a ghostly pall across the cavern. But at least there was light.

As the river flowed from the tunnel, it seemed to narrow and slow. Paige found herself having to struggle less with the current, and the rapids were gone. Her first thought was to get to the banks.

She glanced to her right, seeing the banks maybe ten feet away. She could do this, she thought, as she started paddling against the current, and slowly pulled towards the shore.

Then her feet felt the bottom. She was almost there, as she continued pushing the water aside with her hands, while trudging along the bottom with her feet.

She finally staggered onto the shore, and collapsed on her back. Still panting, and gasping for breath.

“Paige,” Chad hollered, as he and Drew sloshed out of the river, and collapsed next to her.

“No offense, Paige,” Drew panted, catching his breath, “but the next rescue mission, we come up with a plan that doesn’t include almost drowning.”

“Agreed,” she panted, and couldn’t help but grin. They really broke the mold when they made this guy.

She finally managed to gather enough energy to sit up, and take a look around this place they were in. It was definitely a cavern, as there didn’t seem to be any sort of design behind it, other than the glowing rocks in the ceiling. That meant this river was flowing somewhere on its own, and that somewhere was most likely the ocean. This could be their escape.

Then Drew’s voice came in a hushed whisper. “Everybody stay still.”

“What?” Paige whispered back, not daring to move a muscle.

“Just slowly lower yourself back to the ground.”

She and Chad both did this.

“Look across the river, but keep your head down,” Drew instructed.

Paige slowly turned, looking across the river. It took a second for her eyes to adjust, but then she noticed something - eggs. Hundreds of them, each about three feet tall, and roughly oval shaped.

“Eggs?” she whispered.

Then something moved. At first she couldn’t tell if it was just her eyes playing tricks on her. Then it moved again. Something was moving amongst the eggs, maybe sixty yards away from her.

“Do you see them?” Drew whispered.

“Yeah,” Chad replied. “What are they?”

“I think they’re
them
,” Drew responded.

And then Paige was seeing
them
. The reason she hadn’t spotted them at first, is they were almost camouflaged with the overall coloring of the cavern walls. They were these large spider-like creatures, about the size of a couch, with four legs, two crab-like pairs of pincers, and a long snail-like body and head, with stalks on top that seemed to be acting like “feelers,” or “sensors”.

“Ho-ly shit,” Paige exhaled in a whisper. “It is
them
.”

“And I’m pretty sure we’re in their nest,” Drew added.

“How many do you see?” Chad asked.

“I’m not sure,” responded Drew. “They’re hard to spot. Maybe twenty.”

Suddenly bullets whizzed past, ricocheting off the surrounding rocks.

“What the hell?” Chad exclaimed.

“Over there,” replied Paige, swinging around her rifle. “There’s guards by the river.”

The guys looked over, to where a dozen guards were splashing out of the river. Paige fired off a quick burst of shots, taking down two guards, and sending the others scrambling for cover. She then switched the selector switch from auto to semi-auto, aimed, and fired two more shots.

“We can’t stay here,” said Drew, looking around. “They’ll pin us down.”

Chad looked around with him. “The rocks over there,” he said, nodding to a row of thick stalagmites jutting up from the cavern’s floor.

“Go, you guys,” Paige hollered. “I’ll cover you.”

Paige started firing off shots at the general area where the soldiers had ducked. The boys sprang to their feet, and dashed off across the rugged cavern floor.

A guard rose, fired off a burst at the boys. Paige had him. She fired, nailing the guard in the head. That was three down.

The boys reached the stalagmites, and ducked behind them.

“Paige. Go!” Chad hollered, as he and Drew opened fire on the guards.

Paige sprang to her felt, and bolted towards the rocks. Several shots whizzed past, as she ducked behind the stalagmites with the boys.

“You okay,” Drew asked, as she caught her breath.

“Yeah,” she nodded.

“Where do you think that goes?” Chad asked, nodding towards what appeared to be an opening in the cavern wall. It was about twenty yards away, but from here it looked like a tunnel entrance.

“Oh, shit,” Drew exclaimed, “we need to figure out something fast.”

Paige and Chad followed his look - across the river, dozens of those Invaders were massing. Way more than they originally thought.

“Think they can swim?” asked Chad. But the question was soon answered, as those things plunged into the water, and scurried across it.

More shots came from the guards. Paige and her friends pulled back behind the stalagmites.

“Let’s try that opening,” suggested Chad. The others nodded.

“You guys go first,” said Drew. “I’ll cover.”

Drew leaned around the side of the stalagmite, and fired off a burst. It nailed three of the guards, who had been racing towards them.