“Then how do you explain those rather inhuman eyes?”
She looked at the orbital rims surrounding the eye sockets, which were so large that only an eye of great size could fill the socket’s void. “Craniofacial neurofibromatosis,” she said. “It’s a deformity of the bones surrounding the orbital region of the skull. What you see is a clear result of that facial defect.”
Everyone stared at the body. It did appear less than human. Vets like Savage and Aussie and Butcher Boy had seen worse in the field but that was after the bodies had been mutilated. This body was different.
“Cranial…”
“Craniofacial neurofibromatosis,” she said.
“And that’s what you truly believe? You have no other theories?”
“Hall, there is nothing otherworldly about this, if that’s what you’re alluding to. There is a plausible explanation for everything. And I have given them to you.”
Nevertheless, Hall was intent on having this as part of his display. He had found the Holy Grail of all finds, of all relics or artifacts; the bodies of Adam and Eve.
The crypts of Eden would be safe after ordering the executions of Alyssa Moore and John Savage. The location would only be known by him and two others, Butcher Boy and Aussie. He would seal the entrance, hide it, and then return with a well-equipped team more than capable of handling anything natural or otherwise. He would also bring the necessary gear to hoist and haul away as much of Eden as he could, leaving nothing behind but naked warrens.
“Open the second pod,” Hall said evenly.
Aussie maneuvered the knife in the same manner as he did with the first pod, in between the seam until it was wedged tight, and worked it until he breached the access. As the small entry panel pulled back, the pod drew air into its void in what sounded like someone sighing.
“Now pull the panel back,” said Hall. “But gently.”
Aussie did, pulling the door to its widest point.
Inside the pod was a facsimile of the other. It had brown and waxy skin, fingers that were long and tapered, a head that was bulbous and elongated, and the orbital bones of facial deformation. The only difference was that its breasts had diminished to leathery folds of flesh against its chest. Something the other body lacked.
“Eve,” commented Hall. His collection was looking grander by the moment. “This is more than I could ever have imagined.” His face lit up with the look of someone enamored; of someone in love, but the only thing Obsidian Hall ever loved besides himself were the material goods he surrounded himself with.
“You’ve done well, Ms. Moore. You got us to the hub of mankind’s beginning, which is all I could ask for. Unfortunately for you and Mr. Savage, you’ve both exhausted your worth to me and to my team. Since the tripwires have been initiated, then I assume the return trip to the surface will be a quick and safe one.”
“You’ve forgotten one thing,” said Savage.
“I’ve forgotten nothing,” returned Hall. “Those lizards, like most creatures, are drawn to blood. You and Ms. Moore will be here, in this chamber, bleeding out slowly and drawing those things to you, while the rest of us make an exit to the surface.”
Aussie removed his knife slowly, the sound of the metal blade sliding along the scabbard a long draw. “The missy is mine,” he said. “You promised her to me, Hall.”
“And you shall have her as agreed upon. But I can’t allow you to kill her.”
“Don’t worry about that, mate. I’ll cut her up with a thousand little slits — make ‘er bleed real slow.”
“And then cut the Achilles’ on both of them,” added Hall. “I don’t want either one of them to leave this chamber.”
“It would be my bloody honor to do so,” he said, smiling with anticipation. Savage swept Alyssa behind him. “And what’s this?” said Aussie, turning the knife over in his hand. “You playing the ‘ero to the bloody end, are you?”
In fluid motion, Savage quickly got to a bended knee and removed the knife lodged in the behind him and the knife wedged by his ankle, and took a stance with a KA-BAR in each hand.
Aussie and Butcher Boy appeared caught off guard by this as well as Hall, who pedaled a few steps away from the strike range.
“You stole those bloody knives from Red and Carroll, didn’t you? From dead soldiers you did. ‘Ow bloody low can you get?”
“Let’s just say I borrowed them,” he said. “I promise I’ll give them right back to you. Is putting them in your chest, okay?”
“You think you’re that good, mate?”
“Better.”
Butcher Boy hooted like a cowboy. His MP-7 leveled at Savage. “This is gonna be fun.”
“Are you neutral?” Savage asked Butcher Boy. “You plan to cut me down with your MP, or are going to let two big boys go at it?”
He lowered his weapon. “I still got five rounds, Savage. But I don’t think I’ll need them,” he said. “I know for a fact that you’re highly skilled with the use of double-edged weapons. But what you don’t know is that Aussie is just as skilled. There’s nothing more primal than watching two men kill each other. There’s a certain macabre fascination to all this, don’t you think?”
“And if I should win?” asked Savage.
“I won’t kill you,” he retuned firmly. “But I will take you out at the knees and leave you for those things as Hall suggested. Either way, Savage, your time is up.”
“Except it appears that Mr. Savage ‘ere ‘as the bloody advantage, since he has two knives and I only got one.”
“Then let’s even the field a bit, shall we?” Butcher Boy removed his KA-BAR and slid it across the floor to Aussie.
Aussie picked it up. It felt good in his hand. “Now it’s even,” he said.
“John…” Alyssa was terrified.
He spoke over his shoulder to her in words barely above a whisper, words beyond the earshot of anybody but them. “When this goes down, I want you to escape through one of the drainage holes.”
“They could be deep.”
“They’re not,” he whispered. “They drop about ten feet into rushing water. The water has to flow somewhere, right?”
“Let’s go, mate. Or are you going to bend Ms. Moore’s bloody ear all day long?”
“Go,” he finalized, then took an aggressive stance.
“What about you?”
He didn’t answer. The man who was sent to assassinate her was now standing his ground to protect her. She backed away, but not far from the watchful eyes of Butcher Boy or Obsidian Hall.
Aussie circled Savage, moving one knife in his hand a pattern of figure eights, the motion to draw Savage’s attention and focus away. But Savage was seasoned and maintained a steady eye.
Aussie immediately struck out and slashed with killing blows, but Savage met his strikes with blinding speed, deflecting the knives, the contact coughing up sparks as the blades pounded against each other as metal struck metal. Alyssa’s mouth dropped in amazement as she watched her champion ward off deadly blows with fluid effort.
With uncanny skill, Savage’s motions became faster, his circular motions repelling the blows that seemed to come faster and with far more brutal force. By inches, he pushed Aussie back, the Australian losing ground, the strikes coming to the point where their arms were moving in blurs and blinding revolutions. Sparks radiated in numerous pinpricks of flame before dying out. And then came an opening.
With surgical precision, Savage drove the edge of his blade across Aussie’s bicep, slicing the muscle. The man screamed in agony, took a knee, then ambled back from the battle line after dropping the knife.
Aussie stood there looking less confident. And he appeared deeply winded.
From the corner of his eye Savage could see Butcher Boy raise the barrel of his MP-7. Aussie raised his one knife.
The message was clear. Savage evened the field by tossing one of his knives aside, the blade skating off somewhere deep into the shadows.