“What for?” Kaylin cocked her head to the side.
“I want to make a scorecard, like baseball. I know I’ll kill more of them than y’all.” He elbowed Matt.
“Want to put some money on that? A hundred bucks?” Matt offered his hand to shake on it.
“Hell, Army boy, you don’t even get to be on the scorecard. You’re gonna’ carry my backpack and let the SEALs do the killing.” Laughter drowned Matt’s profane response.
Beyond the pit, the tunnel sloped down and they were again forced to descend in a controlled slide. Dane kept a sharp eye out for more pits or other hazards, all the while thinking that the condition of the tunnel made the whole place a potential booby trap.
Faint light glimmered in the distance and they reached the bottom of the tunnel without incident. Weapons at the ready, they followed the winding passageway toward the glow that grew brighter the farther they progressed.
They emerged in a deep canyon, walled in by sheer cliffs that ran out of sight to the north and south as far as the eye could see.
“No wonder they had to build the tunnel.” Dane looked behind them at the wall of stone. “There’s no way you could climb down that.”
“Speak for yourself,” Bones said. “I am Spider-Man on rock walls.”
Dane rolled his eyes. “And,” he turned back around, “no telling how far this canyon runs. This might be the only way across for miles or more.”
“This place has a weird vibe to it.” Willis stepped forward, looking all around, his eyes narrowed and his jaw set. “It feels like we don’t belong here.”
He was right. The canyon was very different from the jungle through which they had trekked thus far. The trees here were smaller and grew farther apart than they had up above. It was as if the valley had once been cleared, but later left to lie fallow. On the opposite side of the valley, a waterfall poured over the canyon rim.
“It’s like a lost world,” Kaylin whispered.
“Let’s hope it’s not as dangerous as the one from the book.” Dane’s eyes scanned the valley, all his senses alive, seeking out any potential threat, but the silence was complete.
“Looks safe to me,” Bones said. “Should we keep following ScanoGen’s tracks?” He didn’t wait for Dane to say yes, but moved ahead.
They had walked only five minutes or so when they came upon an abandoned campsite. Four tents had been slashed and trampled, and camping gear lay strewn everywhere. Dane noticed a spatter of something dark on a tree trunk, and took a closer look.
“Looks like blood,” he said to Kaylin, who was peering over his shoulder. “Can you tell anything from the tracks?” He called to Bones.
“Only that everyone scattered in a big hurry.” He looked at Dane. “There are about five paths we could follow, and I assume you want to stay together?” Dane nodded. “Good call, I think. So, the question is, which path do you want to follow first?”
Dane pondered the question. They had come to the end of Fawcett’s imperfect map. They did not know the final landmark, which left following ScanoGen, or wandering until they found something as their only choices. The first option was out for the moment and the second was unappealing.
A shot rang out in the distance, breaking the silence, and then another.
“That way,” he said, pointing toward the waterfall on the opposite side of the canyon. He wasn’t sure why he chose it as their destination, except that it would be an easy landmark for everyone to find should they get split up. That, and it just felt like the right way to go. “Everyone stay concealed as much as you can, and be careful.”
Chapter 21
Cy felt like a bumper car as he careened from tree-to-tree in his mad dash for safety. He had emptied his rifle and hadn’t had time to reload before being forced to abandon it. His pistol was gone, dropped in the midst of hand-to-hand fighting with those freakish, silent natives that had swarmed their camp.
They won’t die!
He had put bullets in a half-dozen of them at least, and stabbed one in the gut, but they kept coming! What were these things? Zombies? Couldn’t be, but he had no explanation for how a man could take a bullet in the chest and keep coming. He had seen Kennedy blow the leg off of one and it kept on crawling forward like it hadn’t felt a thing. That’s when Cy panicked and ran.
He could hear the sound of the waterfall somewhere up ahead. His only hope was that Tam had been correct in her assertion that the final landmark would be found somewhere in its vicinity. If he could find it, maybe he could get away from these… things.
A limb smacked him across the face and he reflexively covered his eyes. He stumbled a few steps, and then the ground went out from under his feet. He had only a moment to cry out in surprise before he was enveloped in cold darkness.
Water filled his mouth and nose, and he choked. His feet hit the slimy bottom and he pushed up. He emerged gasping and coughing. He vomited a stream of water, and then blew out through each nostril, clearing them.
Eyes burning, he looked around to see he was in a dark waterway surrounded on all sides by thick vegetation. The channel was straight and narrow, obviously man-made, and he could see that it cut a straight path to the waterfall! His feeling of relief was cut short by a rustling in the foliage.
The jungle growth parted, revealing two of the natives armed with primitive stone axes. They were broad-shouldered with glossy black hair and weird orange body paint with black spots, like a giraffe. What made them frightening were the blank, inhuman eyes that gazed down on him as if he were no more than a fly to be swatted. He heard a sound behind him and whirled to see another of the zombie-like warriors emerge, pointing a spear at Cy’s chest.
Cy slowly raised his hands above his head. There was no fighting, no running, only the hope of surrender.
“Please.” He was so frightened that he didn’t know if he had said the word aloud or not. The native pressed the tip of his spear against Cy’s throat, and Cy felt his bladder release.
Excruciating pain, the like of which he had never imagined was possible, erupted not in his throat, but his groin. He screamed in pain and staggered back, clutching his burning genitals.
Perhaps taken by surprise, the native drew back his spear, leaned down for a closer look at him, and then looked at his companions. Was it possible that a ghost of a smile played across his stony face?
A fragment of a memory flashed through Cy’s mind as his body crumpled down into the water in sheer agony. Something he had learned about the Amazon and its native fish.
Candiru.
Enters the urethra.
Locks its spines in place.
Agonizing death.
He screamed again, staggered backward, and found himself facing the two club-bearing warriors. “Please,” he wailed. This time he was not begging for his life, but for release from this agony.
Still staring at him with empty eyes, one of them raised his club and brought it down in a swift motion. The world fled, and with it, the pain.
Tam ducked down in the shadow of a thick shrub, her Makarov at the ready. Kennedy crouched beside her, his eyes gleaming with the thrill of battle. How had she gotten stuck with him? This would be a good time to put a cap in him, but she probably needed all the allies she could get against this swarm of seemingly-unstoppable natives. Well, that wasn’t entirely accurate. They’d killed several, but they were nigh-impossible to bring down, and didn’t seem to feel pain the way a normal human being would.
“See if you can raise ScanoGen on the sat phone,” Kennedy barked. “Maybe they can get a read on our position and send help.” The tone of his voice said it was futile, but they were in a desperate situation.