Drake watched him for a moment before examining the arched doorway. Then he noticed what was scattered about on the ground.
“This opening had a door once, I think.”
On either side of the framework, huge blocks were tumbled away. Also, what looked like to have once been wooden logs. There were signs in the rotted wood that they had been lashed together, but they fell to dust when he touched them with his boot.
Emma crouched. “I don’t think this was a door. More like a barricade.”
Ajax snorted. “A barricade? Well, didn’t work, did it? Whatever they tried to keep out just came on in anyway.”
“Last stand,” Fergus said ominously.
“Yeah, well… ” Drake attached a flashlight to the barrel of his M4. “Whatever went down happened a lo-oooong time ago.”
“There are no remains,” Helen said. “Maybe they got away.”
“Or maybe they got eaten, whole,” Ajax replied.
“Those blocks have gotta weigh at least five hundred pounds each. Whatever pushed them in probably wasn’t the size of a brush turkey, right?” Fergus said. “Or even the size of those things that took a run at us.”
“Yeah, had to be something real powerful,” Drake agreed. “But the doorway isn’t that big.”
“Maybe not big, but long,” Andy said from the dark interior. “Look.”
Everyone turned toward him.
“They worshipped them,” Andy said, standing before a statue in an alcove.
“Jesus Christ.” Drake felt a chill in the pit of his stomach.
The statue was of a giant snake, 10 feet high, leering down on them. Its eyes glittered green in the light of their flashlights.
“Hey, shit, are they emeralds?” Ajax crossed to the statue and stared up at it. He pointed, grinning. “I think they’re emeralds; big as damned golf balls, man.”
“Leave ‘em,” Drake said.
“The hell I will.” Ajax pushed his gun up over his shoulder and drew his blade. He turned. “Hey, Fergus, gimme a leg up.”
“Nah, man. I’m superstitious. Leave me out.” He turned away.
“Fuck you then; more for me.” He went around the back and scaled up the body of the snake and crawled on the neck out toward the head. He pulled his blade from its scabbard and reached forward to dig into one of the eye sockets for a few seconds. The gem popped free and fell to the ground. He did the same with the second eye.
Camilla picked one up that had rolled toward her.
“That’s mine,” Ajax said quickly as he slid off the statue and dropped to the ground.
“You’re welcome to it.” She held it up, turning it in the beam of her flashlight. “I’ve got good news and bad news.” She faced the young soldier. “The good news is, it is a gemstone.” She tossed it to him. ‘The bad news is, it’s not emerald. I think its aquamarine, and quite common in South America. It’s a good one though.”
“So, worth something then?” Ajax refused to be put off.
“Sure; the big ones, I’m guessing a few hundred dollars, maybe even a few thousand.”
“Damn.” He shrugged. “Better than nothing.” He tucked them into a pouch on his leg. “At least I’ll have something to show from this hell jungle.”
“One person’s heaven is another person’s hell,” Andy said, staring up at the carvings in the wall. He turned. “The natives found a way to ascend to heaven, here, to pay homage to their gods.”
Emma joined him. “In the previous temple we found, it depicted human sacrifice. I think they were trying to buy these creatures off.”
Andy nodded as a few of the group crowded around. “This temple is already thousands of years old and looks abandoned for maybe that much time again. But just imagine it.” He scoffed. “Them finding this place. It would have confirmed all their prayers, legends, and fears.”
“And nightmares,” Helen added. “The Mayans, Aztecs, Olmecs, many of the ancient races of this area had sophisticated calendar systems. They would have been able to predict when the time was right to ascend.” Helen folded her arms. She turned to them. “One more thing. A lot of these ancient races also thought Heaven was down, and Hell was up. So maybe it wasn’t gods they were trying to appease.”
“But demons,” Andy added softly, staring up at the wall. There were images of small figures kneeling on the ground. A monstrous snake was bending to consume one. Andy blew air between his lips. “I’m guessing here, but it looks like at first, they gave themselves over willingly.”
“Perhaps it was an honor,” Emma said.
“Some honor. Poor saps.” Andy frowned. “I’m happy just getting a participation ribbon in the 100 dash.”
The next image showed the figures setting fires and the beasts being driven back. “The beautiful relationship came to an end.”
“Feeding them just brought more to the dinner table,” Emma observed. “So they finally decided to keep them out of the house. Or try to.”
“Then they must have tried to seal the entrance; tried to stop them coming into the temple.” Drake turned back to the tumbled blocks. “But they got in anyway. And when they did, looks like they were pissed.”
“They walled themselves into their own tomb,” Camilla mumbled. “So sad.”
“Maybe not,” Emma said, as everyone turned to her. “Maybe they were just trying to protect their way home.”
“So this could be a way home?” Ajax grinned.
“I didn’t say that,” Emma added quickly. “But it’s possible.”
Drake turned again to the front door. “Okay, ladies and gentlemen, we got work to do. Fergus.”
“Yo.” The redheaded man’s head snapped around.
“Watch the door. Helen, take a look at Juan’s arm and redress it. Emma, you know what we’re looking for in the shape of some sort of escape hatch.”
“Vent or what we call a chute,” she replied. “Could be just a crack in the floor or wall. Might be air movement.” She sighed. “But basically, we’re looking for anything that looks like a natural opening.”
The group spread out, and Helen sat Juan down. The Venezuelan man held his still seeping arm and grimaced — not a good sign, Drake knew. She began to unwrap the bandages.
Drake went and put a hand on Fergus’ shoulder at the doorway. “You see anything move, even a freaking bug, you let me know. If there’s no other way out deeper inside, then this place… ” he said evenly, “… is either a fort or a kill box.”
“Got it, boss.” Fergus kept his eyes on the jungle outside.
Drake joined the group as they began to investigate the ink-black interior of the temple. There were dark alcoves, doorways with heavy slabs of stone lintels, and carvings of all manner of great beasts, some he recognized walking on two titanic legs, all head and teeth, and others on four with long necks. But the dominating theme, and that must have been their preferred deity or demon, was the giant snake.
There were also more images of men and women, some bound by the wrists and neck. Some of the people were tied to stakes, and all presented as offerings to the snake god. To be close to one of these monsters would have been gut-wrenching, but being lashed in place, knowing you were going to be eaten alive by the beast, would have been a terrifying way to have your life ended.
“Bastards,” he muttered.
Drake shone his light inside one of the vestibules and then entered. The room was filled with stacked urns, and shining his light inside one of them, he saw a brownish crust in the bottom—blood? he wondered.
“Hey!” Andy’s shout brought his head around.
Drake backed out of the room. “Where are you?”