The loud crack that accompanied the shaking ice signaled the tunnel’s collapse.
Jack stared at the large chunks of ice sliding down towards him. “You have got to be kidding me.”
With no way to avoid the oncoming avalanche, Jack let go of the rope and prayed for a soft landing. When he shot from the opening and dropped, he glimpsed foliage below a split second before he was amongst it. His hands grabbed at the thin branches he crashed through and he groaned when a larger branch halted his plummet. He bounced before coming still and stared at the ice pouring from the tunnel mouth. When his brain informed him it would be a good idea to move out of its path, Jack groaned from aches and bruises as he rolled onto his knees and crawled along the thick limb.
The ice slammed into the branch behind him, swaying and bouncing it forcefully. Jack slipped to the side. He grabbed hold of the branch to halt his fall and held on. He glanced down at the thick branch beneath his feet and dropped onto it. He swayed unsteadily before regaining his balance.
A scream alerted him to Jane’s position. He snatched the weapon slung over his shoulder and aimed the light in the direction the scream had come from, but the trunk of the tree opposite blocked his view. He moved to the end of the branch and crossed to the other tree. When he moved around the trunk he saw Jane one tree away and the small but vicious Alien Squirrel creeping towards her. Jack put the weapon to his shoulder and aimed at the creature. A single shot echoed through the jungle. The creature lurched backward in a spray of blood. Jack moved through the trees and knelt by Jane.
Jane smiled at her saviour. “You took your time.”
Jack grinned. “I was waiting for the most opportune moment to make my heroic entrance.” He ran his eyes over her body, noticing a few rips in her clothes. “Are you hurt?”
“A few more scrapes and bruises to add to my extensive collection, but nothing serious.”
Jack peered through the foliage at the sounds of things moving through the trees. The glimpse of another Alien Squirrel prompted him into action. “We need to move.”
Jack helped Jane to her feet and led her along the branch and onto the next tree.
Jane glanced below. “Where are we going? That one-eyed Hunter is down there. It came down the ice tunnel after me.”
Jack glanced behind. A group of Alien Squirrels jumped from branch to branch. “We may not have much choice if we run out of trees. The tunnel collapsed.”
Jack fired off a couple of shots, killing one creature. It made the others cautious, but didn’t halt them.
By the time they had crossed from tree to tree and reached the end of the room, the vicious squirrels had increased in number and were converging around them.
Jack pulled aside a branch and gazed at the rock wall and the waterfall pouring from an opening at the top that looked big enough for them to take refuge in. He pointed it out to Jane. “If we can reach it the creatures will only be able to attack from one direction and will give us a better chance of defending ourselves. Maybe when I’ve killed a few, the others will give up and leave us alone.”
Jane admired Jack’s optimism as she stared at the dark opening. Though she wasn’t keen to be trapped in a space with only one exit, the squirrels had the advantage in the open. She studied the cliff the branch led to. It was rough with plenty of hand and foot holds. It would be an easy climb. “Let’s go.”
The branch sagged with their weight as they moved to the tip and stepped onto the rock. A short climb brought them to the cave. Jane entered first, stepping into the cold water pouring over the lip. She pictured the creatures in the pool below looking up at her, urging her to slip and fall into their world. Jane disappointed them when she moved to the back of the six-foot deep passage where a pipe fed water into the cave. Jack followed her inside and aimed the weapon at the opening.
The creatures weren’t about to be kept from their food so easily. They had numbers on their side. Attacking en mass had worked before on larger creatures when hunger necessitated the riskier attack method. They climbed the rock and swarmed into the hole.
The weapon in Jack’s hand sprayed bullets at an alarming rate at the creatures highlighted in the weapon-light and muzzle flashes. They shrieked and squealed when bullets tore into them. Their small bodies, shot back by the force, slammed into those behind and knocked them out of the cave. Some splashed into the pool below and were quickly dragged into its dismal depth by the amphibious predators happy to receive them.
Jane clamped hands over her ears in an attempt to block the deafening gunfire that exploded through the small cave and shrunk back in fear of the creatures pouring into the entrance. The bullets that currently saved them from being devoured wouldn’t last long at the rate they were being used. Jack seemed to reach the same conclusion, as he changed to firing short, controlled bursts.
Jane glanced around for something she could use as a weapon; perhaps there was a loose rock or a piece of metal she could pry loose. Spying nothing on the ground, she examined the walls and then the ceiling. Her gaze paused on something set in the rock―a rusty hatch. Her hands reached for it and pushed. It didn’t budge. She put her shoulder to it and shoved. It moved slightly. She pushed harder. The hatch opened with a loud protesting screech and tipped back on its hinge.
She tapped Jack on the shoulder and when he glanced behind, pointed at the opening. He nodded and when Jane had climbed through he backed towards the hole while still firing. The last bullet shot from the barrel. Jack dropped the weapon, grabbed the flare gun from his pocket and fired the last flare at the vicious squirrels. As the bright light exploded and the creatures sizzled and screeched, Jack dropped the pistol and pulled himself through the opening. As soon as his feet were clear, Jane slammed the hatch shut.
CHAPTER 20
Jaws
LUCY BACKED AWAY from the monster’s staring eyes, stumbled, and crashed into the door she had just come through, causing the monster on the door’s far side to screech and bang upon it. The amphibious creature only eight-feet away from Lucy, blinked all six of its eyes, three set in a row down either side of its monstrous head. All that separated them was the thickness of the twenty-five-foot high transparent wall that formed the circular aquarium that almost filled the room. The four, short, three-clawed arms that surrounded the monster’s mouth, scratched at the transparent barrier as if trying to penetrate it to grab the prey it eyed hungrily.
Lucy altered her gaze when she noticed movement. Something, parasitic in form and about a foot long, moved atop the creature. Its head was surrounded by triangular growths of varying size; some had small spikes on their tips. It had no obvious sign of eyes, but when it halted its nibbling on the creature’s skin, looked straight at her and spread its mouth, Lucy had no doubts it had detected her presence. More of the parasites fed on whatever it was they found so appetizing on the amphibious monster’s large body.
When the Leviathan tapped its snout against the side of the tank, Lucy’s eyes darted to the water trickling from the crack in the aquarium wall a few feet away as the increased pressure forced the fracture to spread with a splintering sound.
As if curious as to what had emitted the sound, the amphibious monster backed off and stared at the crack for a few moments, as if calculating the discovery for the first time. When it turned away, Lucy stared at its long, sleek body, which shimmered blue, red and green in the beam of her flashlight when it swam by. Some of the large parasites dotted over it body, turned their heads in her direction and opened and closed their beaked jaws menacingly. Two spiked-fins were attached to the Leviathan’s back. Ribs of bone ran the length of its forked tail and protruded past its skin to form thin, sharp spikes. Lucy thought it to be about twice the size of a great white shark. After a few flicks of its tail, it vanished into the gloomy, green water.