IN NATURA: a science fiction novel (ARZAT SERIES Book 2) (8 page)

  Mot set down his torch and got to his belly, preparing to give him a lift up. Just as he did, there was a rapid popping and the entire staircase began to fall way. The noise was maddening as the metal structure totally collapsed and screeched down the shaft.

  Mot watched as Tom’s torch fell away, disappearing into the dark hole. A strong wind swirled back up the shaft, blowing dust and debris through the landing. He had to close his eyes from its pressure.

  Then, just as suddenly, everything became quiet.

  “Wanna pull me up now, Mot?”

  When Mot opened his eyes, he could see through the dust and the dying light of the torches that he still held one of Tom’s arms. To the Arzat’s great delight, it was quite apparent that Tom the Pilot, son of Richard, was still attached to it.

CHAPTER 10

HIDE AND SEEK

Za’at ran over to the area where the
uman
had been sitting. He flicked his tongue and sniffed the air, cursing his bad luck, cursing the Great Creator, cursing Baa, and cursing himself for not having simply killed the female when he had first laid eyes on her.

  Kak! I will not make that mistake again,
he thought.

  One thing was for sure: the little female couldn’t have gotten far, and the strong scent she would leave with every step she took would eventually lead him to her.

  Za’at looked out into the dark night and began concocting his revenge. On the edge of the horizon near the mountains, he could see the shadows of morning light beginning to form behind them.
Good,
he thought,
Qu’aa
is about to rise, which will, if anything, help shorten the hunt.

  “All of you,” he commanded the Arzat Hunters, “fan out and find the
uman
!”

  Za’at took another good sniff of the early morning air, determined the direction the female had probably taken, and set off to find her himself. More than anything, he wanted to find her
himself!

* * *

She needed to reach the water. Maria thought that if she could manage to cross the small creek by the camp, she just might be able to throw the lizards off her trail.

  While she had no way of knowing just how keen a sense of smell the monsters possessed, she had seen them snorting and flicking their tongues like snakes. The first one had sized her up, seeming to use his nose as much as his eyes in evaluating her. Later, she had noticed the others doing much the same. Obviously, simply hiding wasn’t going to work. The lizards would simply sniff her out.

  She ran almost blindly, unable to see much of anything—despite the slight graying of the eastern sky-- sure that one of the beasts would appear like a ghost from the night and grab her at any moment. When she finally reached the water’s edge, she did not hesitate. She plunged in, planning to run for the opposite shore and cover. But the water was moving faster and was far deeper than Maria had imagined. The strong current quickly swept her off her feet and she was suddenly fully immersed. As she tried to swim, she realized that her hands were still bound in front of her.

  The early spring water was freezing cold and powerful as it pushed her back toward the light of the campfire, exactly in the direction she least wanted to go, practically drowning her in the process. Maria rolled onto her back to catch her breath. She kicked hard with her legs and managed to reach the shore where the creek bent and slowed, but it was the wrong side for escape and just below the camp.

  With her head barely above water, she clung awkwardly to the branches of a small bush that had grown by the creek’s edge, the leather straps on her hands mercifully loosening a bit from the soaking she had given them. She listened, but it was hard to hear anything clearly over the rush of the stream and the pounding of her own pulse. She was too scared to raise her head to try and look around. Then, her body began to shake, the freezing water ripped through her skin like thorns.

  Just as she started to pull herself out, unable to bear the cold another moment, she heard a sound above her. She dared to look up and could see the dark silhouette of one of the enormous creatures, looming over the edge of the creek, just steps from her position. Another joined moments later.

  Despite the tremendous cold, Maria willed herself not to move or breathe. She could vaguely hear the creatures’ deep and raspy voices above the noise of the water as they conversed in some unknown language.

* * *

“Where can the
uman
have gone?” Mek said to Baa.

  Both of the Arzats scanned the creek and flicked, each of them perplexed that they hadn’t found the female immediately. They had somehow completely lost her scent.

  “She must have made the other side,” said Baa, exhaling, unconsciously scratching at one of the scales on the back of his enormous head. His entire body was still aching from the beating Za’at had given him.

  “See where Za’at and the others are? That’s probably where she crossed,” said Mek. He pointed across the creek and further up it. He could see the other Arzats already standing on the other side, examining the ground. “Come, Baa, let’s go and join them.”

  Za’at had followed the female’s strong scent to the water’s edge and had easily forded the stream’s strong current. He was sure that she had made it to the other side. But when he got there, he noticed no tracks and could detect no further scent. He flicked his tongue and sniffed vigorously. Nothing. His eyes narrowed as he looked both ways up and down the edges of the water. It was impossible that she could have simply vanished. He glanced at the other hunters who seemed equally confused.

  When Mek and Baa approached, Za’at questioned them. “Did you carefully check all along the shoreline?”

  “Yes, Za’at, but we could find no sign of her,” Mek replied. “We lost her scent at the water’s edge.”

  “She has to have come out somewhere. She must be further up.” Za’at was perplexed. They should have found the female instantly.

  “Mek and Baa, stay on this side and walk against the flow, we shall go back to the other and do the same. She cannot have gotten far,” he said.

  “Yes, Za’at,” Baa replied, also sniffing the early morning air, flicking his tongue to get the full flavor of it.

  Like Za’at and the others, Baa was surprised they had not immediately found the missing
uman.
He was about to suggest that it was possible that the female had been swept up in the current and drowned and that they should check downstream first since there was no sign or scent of her on this side of the water, but he blocked the thought from Za’at, afraid to offer any advice.

  Za’at looked over at Baa. He wanted more now than ever to kill him, but his obsession with finding the
female was far more pressing. Now he was totally confused. He knew he should have easily been able to sniff her out from a half a day’s walk. Even if she had left no physical scent on the ground, he should have been able to smell the female just from the air moving around her as she traveled. He squatted and placed his palm to the ground, trying to sense movement, and then tried again with his nose and his tongue.

  With the mistakes that had been made so far, Za’at knew his standing with the entire clan would be in jeopardy and even more so if he had truly lost the female. Now, he was more determined than ever to find her and take her to the caves as a prize—something to show for all of their efforts and hopefully save him from the wrath of the Elders. He absolutely could not imagine that she could get away, and it caused him to make another mistake: he ordered the hunters to head in the wrong direction.

  The Arzats made their way swiftly along the stream—covering more distance than any
uman
could have reasonably traveled even at a full run—constantly checking for tracks and scent along the way. Finally, Za’at paused. He flicked his tongue and tested the air, but there was still nothing in it of the female.

  “She must be the other way,” he finally said. “It is impossible she could have come this far this quickly.”

  Za’at turned his group around and began heading back downstream toward the camp.

* * *

By the time the lizards had finally moved on, Maria was beginning to suffer from the extreme cold. Lizards or no, she knew she had to get out of the water, and even though her hands were still bound, she managed to drag herself from the stream by pulling on some exposed roots. Maria curled up on the bank, shivering uncontrollably. She tried to rise, but her mind was suddenly foggy and she found it more and more difficult to move. She was just about to lose consciousness when she heard the inviting sound of a fire crackling in the camp just above her.

  I have to get warm or die,
she thought, gently working the leather loose from her shaking hands. After considerable effort, the straps finally came free, and she shook them to the ground.

  Maria pushed herself up and managed to stand. She carefully climbed the bank, step by painful step, and gradually picked her way through some dense undergrowth. Her leather clothing and moccasins, heavy with water, made progress even more difficult.

  When she finally reached the edge of the camp, she could see that the fire had burned down to nothing more than coals, but it was still kicking out heat. She carefully surveyed the area. Mercifully, it appeared that all of the monsters had left.

  Maria cautiously stepped out from the tree line and approached the fire’s edge. She bent down over the flames, held her hands out, and basked in the warmth. Her body was still shivering uncontrollably and she fought the urge to simply submerse herself in the hot coals. As she looked into the dying flames, she was almost certain she could see the outline of one of the lizards among the glowing embers.

  The sun was rising and had begun casting orange beams horizontally through the forest. Maria looked around and discovered that she could suddenly see the camp clearly in the early morning light. In the trees just above her, the bodies of her party, flayed and gutted, hung from the branches, eerily swaying as if there might still be some life in them. Below and to the side, a huge pile of skins and entrails littered the ground. It was a familiar hunting scene she had witnessed countless times in her life, but for the hideous shape of the carcasses and the sickening pile of remains on the ground. As her eyes examined the bloody mountain of flesh, she realized that scattered within it were the severed heads of her party. Some of the eyes were open, blankly staring back at her.

  Maria wanted to vomit, but just as she was about to, she heard the snapping of branches and the strange note of the lizard men’s voices. The creatures were returning.

CHAPTER 11

IN NATURA

Mot pulled Tom up from the dark hole and gently rolled him onto the landing.

  “That was close,” the Pilot said, between breaths.

  He and Alex were both lying on their backs, still gasping from the climb, trying to get some clean air out of the dust that was still wafting up from below. The two Arzats squatted close by, holding torches and patiently waiting for their two human companions to recover.

  “I’m glad you were ready, Mot. That’s another life I owe you. I really wasn’t sure if any of us were going to make it.”

  “It was nothing, Tom Pilot. I would do it again for you at any time,” Mot said.

  “Well, I think you are soon going to have plenty of opportunities, my friend.”

  Tom was worried. The bulk of their equipment was lost. The weapons he’d hoped to use . . . the first aid kits . . . virtually everything they would need to survive was pulverized a thousand feet below them. Their access to the ARC was permanently lost. The only thing he had managed to save was a ten-inch knife. He patted his belt to make sure it was still there and looked over at Alex.

  “Are you okay?”

  Alex was just regaining her breath. Her knee still hurt, but other than that, she thought she was uninjured. “I’m all right. I just wish we could have managed to drag those supplies up.”

  “I’m sorry, Alex, but I didn’t think we would make it.”

  “No, Tom. You made the right call. We wouldn’t have,” Alex said, giving a nervous look toward the hole they had just crawled out of. Another wisp of dust crept onto the landing. “Anyhow, I’d be way more worried if I weren’t in the company of two Arzats and an ex-Army Ranger.”

  She tried to wink at Tom in the dim light. Just then, she noticed that the remaining torches the Arzats held were about to burn out. “We’d better get the rest of the way out of here before we lose the light.” Alex stood up, looked around, and spotted what she thought was the exit. “Oh, my god, I hope this door isn’t electronically operated
too
,” she said, giving the ancient door a nudge.

  “No, but wait a second Alex,” Tom said, jumping to his feet.

  He was too late. Alex had already hit the bar on the door. It groaned for a second, and then it completely toppled from its hinges into the passage on the other side. Tom instantly smelled the distinct odor of guano.

  There was silence and then a massive flutter of wings. Suddenly, there were bats flying in all directions—dark spots darted in and out of the dying torchlight. There were hundreds of them, disturbed from their slumber by the unexpected intruders. In the tight confines of the tunnel, the bats were unable to fly and avoid the strange beings that had suddenly invaded their home. They collided with the humans and the Arzats, hitting them from every direction.

  Ara and Mot were just as surprised as Alex and Tom, but they were better at snapping the creatures away from their faces than the humans were.

  Tom ran to Alex and placed his body over hers, covering his own head with one arm. “Just try and stay still, Alex. We startled them. They’ll probably calm down in a minute.”

  “What kind of creatures are these?” Mot asked, easily flicking several of the flying rodents away from his face. “They have a very unpleasant smell.”

  Ara was similarly engaged with the small creatures. She snapped one from the air and sniffed it, thinking enough of them might do for dinner, but she was also overwhelmed by the strong smell coming from the creatures’ droppings. She let it go with one hand and continued to swat others flying by, utterly disgusted with their odor.

  “We call them
bats
, Mot,” Alex said. “They won’t hurt us. We just walked into a swarm of them. Be as still as you can and they should settle down.”

  “We had creatures very similar to these in my world,” Mot said, continuing to swat at the flying rodents, “but they were much larger.”

  Alex was startled but not overly worried. She had been in plenty of caves with bats before. Unless they carried some nasty disease, there was little danger. Certainly nothing like the giant pterosaurs she knew Mot was referring too. The smell of the bats’ guano, however, was nauseating. She reached up and pulled one of the flying rodents loose that had lodged in her hair and tossed it back into the dark.

  “I thought we were at the surface, Tom,” Alex said, still clinging to him.

  “I think we only have one more short tunnel Alex. We built the exits about a hundred feet from the landings and angled the entrances so they were less likely to become blocked with debris. There should be a corner somewhere up ahead and then we’ll almost be there.”

  The torches had burned down to nothing. They were in the dark again, but the bats were finally settling down.

  “Mot, can you see anything?”

  Mot adjusted his eyes and realized that there was still plenty of ambient light in the tunnel to see even without the torches. That meant that there had to be light coming from somewhere else. He took a few steps ahead. It looked as though the tunnel made a sudden turn to the right several steps down. He flicked his tongue. Despite the pungent smell of Tom’s bats, he could definitely smell fresh air.

  “Yes, Tom, I can see. We must be only a short distance from the surface. I can already smell a difference in the air.”

  Ara flicked and sniffed as well. Her mate was correct. The air
was
different, despite the tremendous odor coming from the small flying animals. She looked forward to being above ground and away from the smelly creatures. Ara glanced at the roof of the cave and noted with great surprise that many of them had landed there and appeared to be perched and hanging upside down.
That’s odd, she
thought, unconsciously shaking her reptilian head.

  She made her way to Tom and Alex and gently touched them. “Come, I will lead you out. Mot, will you go ahead?”

  “Yes, Ara.” Mot could smell the clean air outside and was just as eager as Ara was to get there. He knew his mate wanted him to lead so he could check for more danger.
I must find something to make a suitable weapon from at the first opportunity,
he thought to himself. He moved slowly, trying not to disturb the little flying creatures.

  When they rounded the corner of the tunnel, Tom and Alex could see sunlight coming through an opening thirty feet or so ahead of them. A small passage was all that remained of the full corridor that had originally lead to the exterior landing. Alex and Tom easily climbed out, but the Arzats had to squeeze their much larger bodies through. They emerged somewhere on the top of a small hill. The sun was just rising in the east over what had probably been the Rocky Mountains. The mountaintops appeared to be much lower than he remembered them.

  Tom looked around to see if there was any evidence of the large plateau that had once held the equipment and all of the construction housing for the ARC. He was surprised to find, in the place where he expected to see the remains of his construction site, an actual lake. He took a deep breath. The morning air was fresh and clean and there was only a slight night chill left in it. The weather was clear with only a few white clouds lurking around the mountaintops, and the day promised to be warm and sunny
. Obviously, we have awoken sometime in the spring, whatever in the hell year it actually is,
he thought. Regardless, it was like stepping into heaven.

  “Well, I certainly didn’t expect this,” he said, glancing back at Alex, her face smudged but with a look on it that Tom found impossible to describe.

  Tom noted that Mot and Ara were also gazing out, sniffing the air, and studying their new surroundings, apparently as amazed as he and Alex were at the sight before them. When he looked back at Alex again, there were tears in her eyes.

  He walked over to her, put his arm around her waist and stood with her, taking in the amazing view. “Well, whaddaya think, Doctor Moss?” Tom asked.

  Alex continued to stare out at the landscape. “It didn’t hit.”

  Tom looked at her. “What didn’t hit?”

  “The second asteroid. It . . . It must not have hit. There is no . . .”

  “No what, Alex?”

  “Shhh . . . Listen . . . Do you hear that?” She looked up into the sky.

  Far overhead, a large bird was soaring several hundred feet above them. It cried out and then swooped down and disappeared over the small hill.

  “It didn’t hit,” Alex said again, repeating the words as if she herself could not believe them, her eyes tracing the direction of the bird. She turned back to Tom.

  “Tom, there is no way that the second asteroid hit. The bats and that eagle—or whatever it was—would
never
have survived. Hell, I can’t believe they survived the first one. We all saw it, right?” she said, shaking her head as if she no longer believed it herself.

  “Yes, the first one hit. We all saw it,” Tom said. “Remember, it even poisoned the air in the ARC.”

  “Well, the effects must not have been as dramatic as I imagined they would be. I didn’t expect to find much of anything in the way of air breathing animals up here. Maybe some fish or something . . .” Alex’s voice dropped off again. “I mean, if bats have survived, and birds have survived . . .” She continued to gaze off into the distance, her mind trying to fathom what her eyes were seeing.

  The sun was gaining altitude in the sky, and the day was becoming even more spectacular. Mot sniffed the air again deeply, then flicked. He squatted and placed his palms on the ground, checking for vibrations. He cocked his head to the side and stayed motionless for some time.

  “There is more here than just birds and bats Alex,” he finally said. “I detect a large group of animals not far from us, four-footed, and moving in this direction. Exactly what kind of animal is not known to me, but they are large.”

  Ara slid to the ground as well, placed her palms to the earth in the way Mot had done, and took her time to evaluate the ground vibrations, just as Mot had done.

  “You are correct, Mot, son of Url the Great Hunter,” she said, looking over to her mate.

  Tom could have sworn that she was smiling. “How many animals?” he asked.

  “A great number. Like the stars,” Mot replied.

  Tom looked around, as did Alex. From their vantage point, they could only see the lake that had once been the site of the ARC.
It’s a miracle the ARC didn’t flood,
he thought, remembering the earthquake. There had to have been many of them over the course of their sleep.

  Behind them, a slight hill rose just above the area where they had exited. The four of them walked up to the top of it and peered over. Far below, perhaps a mile or two away, on a flat area of high desert plain that seemed to stretch to the mountains, an enormous group of individual dark objects were slowly moving across the land.

  Mot sniffed deeply. “What are those animals, Tom, son of Richard?”

  Covering his eyes from the morning sun so he could see better, Tom looked at the silhouettes. The hair rose on the back of his neck. Before him, a large herd of animals grazed. Their enormous heads and pronounced humps were a dead giveaway as to their species.

  “Buffalo, Mot,” Tom said, as if he himself couldn’t believe it. “Hundreds and hundreds of them.”