Jon F. Merz

PREY

Prologue

Alex Waters brushed a fresh layer of ice from his goggles and looked again.

The opening was there.

Not really a cave so much as a fissure in the frozen rock that jutted out of the barren icescape, reaching up for the overcast sky.

Alex had never seen the fissure before.

Of course, topographical overlays for this part of Antarctica were sketchy at best. Despite the latest advances in satellite topography, the changing snows uncovered as much as they covered. In most instances, yesterday’s maps were rendered obsolete after only a week out of the printer back at base.

“You see it?”

Alex turned. He hadn’t heard Jim come up behind him. But with the roaring wind rushing in his ears, Jim’s shout hadn’t startled him, either. Instead of trying to talk back, Alex simply nodded.

“What do you think?”

Another shout. Alex turned and smiled through the sudden whip of wind that sent a sheet of snow horizontally across his face. “We could check it out.”

Jim smiled back. Of course he did. Jim lives for this shit, thought Alex. The daredevil crazy wanna-be Indiana Jones type of geologist who’d come down to the bottom of the world because he thought it would be cool.

Cool.

Fuck me, this is stone cold, thought Alex. Even my piss freezes inside my dick.

Jim tapped him on the shoulder and gestured behind them. They’d need to use the Snowcat to get closer to the mountain itself. Trying to walk the distance, even though it was just a few hundred yards, would exhaust them and needlessly subject them to the cold.

Alex followed Jim back and climbed into the cab. Jim gunned the engine and then slid the tracked vehicle into drive. Instantly, the caterpillar treads bit into the ice sheet beneath them and found purchase. With a lurch, the Snowcat thundered forward.

Jim whistled in the steamy cab. Alex cleared his throat.

Jim stopped whistling. “You think it might lead somewhere?”

Alex shrugged. “Where could it lead? It’s a mountain. Probably only place it will lead us is into rock a few feet in, if that.”

“Yeah. I suppose.”

“What — you looking for something else?”

Jim shrugged. “Be nice to, you know, find something new.”

“Maybe some cave paintings or something like that?”

“I’m not that naive, Alex.”

“I don’t think we’ll find anything but more rock.” He grinned. “But you’re a geologist anyway — isn’t that what you’d want to find?”

“Looking at rocks gets boring after a while. I’d like to find something that would spice up my stay down here.”

“You’ve got a few more months yet, pal.”

“Unlike you.”

Alex nodded. His stint at the research station was due to end next week. He could hardly wait to climb aboard the specially outfitted C-130 that landed on giant skis and head back to civilization.

Warm civilization.

“What’s the first thing you’re gonna do?”

“Lay out in the sun.”

“You can do that here.”

“I want to feel the sun, idiot. Anyone who thinks it’s cool to put sun block on when it’s minus thirty degrees outside is out of their noggin.”

Jim chuckled. “I’m telling Mayra when we get back you said that.”

“I didn’t mention her specifically.”

“Who the hell else goes out trying to get a tan when the rest of us are trying to stay warm?”

Alex smirked. “Fair one.”

Jim stepped on the brakes. “Here we are.”

Alex peered through the windshield that the wipers swept constantly trying to keep clear. Towering in front of them, the mountain seemed even more omnipotent than it had a few minutes before.

“You think we can get up there?”

Jim sucked his lower lip. “Probably. We gotta try at least. We’ve come this far. We go and give it a whirl. If we can’t do it, we head back.”

“We ought to be heading back anyway. We’ve been out for a while now.”

“Base control is used to us being out for hours on these exploratory outings anyway. They won’t get worried unless we’re not back to cook dinner or wash the dishes.”

“Did you bring the rope?”

“In back.”

Alex hopped out and felt the instant stinging of the frigid temperature. He glanced around. Only the specially coated goggles he wore allowed him to distinguish features in the otherwise white terrain.

Antarctica. Jesus Christ, who would have thought he’d end up here? Certainly not anyone back in his hometown of Boise, Idaho. But then again, none of the people Alex had grown up with had shown any degree of ambition whatsoever anyway.

Even Alex had come to this stage of his life late. Following a failed childless marriage that left him without a house or anywhere to go, he’d gone back to school and studied meteorology.

Maybe he’d come here because it was the furthest place he could go to get away from everything he’d left behind.

All the memories. All the sorrow. All the hell.

As much as he was ready to go back to the relative warmth of anywhere else on the planet, Alex admired the peacefulness of the ever-white canvas that surrounded him. Unblemished, unspoiled, unmarred, it was one of the last places on earth man hadn’t really screwed over.

He’d leave here changed, he decided. No one who came to the largest continent ever went home the same way again.

And that was fine with him.

A sudden shrill whistle brought him back to reality.

“You done meditating over there?”

Alex hurried over to the base of the mountain. Above them, some ten feet off the ground along a thin lip of outcropping, he could see the fissure more clearly. It reminded him of the way a broken zipper looked on a pair of old pants.

Jim was busy hammering in crampons to the rock. It wasn’t much of a height at all, but even a fall from ten feet could be fatal out in the cold of Antarctica.

He glanced at Alex. “Can you rig the rope?”

Alex bent and started running the line through the crampons that would enable one of them to belay the other on the climb up. Once the first man reached the lip, he would then be able to help the other up.

They finished in five minutes. Jim studied the positioning of the crampons and nodded to himself. “I’ll go first.”

He ran a length of the rope through a carbiner belt and handed the slack to Alex who stood some distance back from the base.

Alex watched him place a foot in a pockmarked depression and then search for two handholds. Jim found them and then hoisted himself up, his left foot searching for a fresh support. Alex watched him carefully. He would have to travel the same path in a minute or two.

Jim made it to the lip and signaled Alex up.

Alex ran the rope through his own belt and then studied the rock face carefully, recalling the path Jim had just traveled. He stepped into the first support, found the handholds and heaved off. His breathing felt labored. That was to be expected since he was wearing almost thirty pounds of specially designed clothing that would help keep him warm in the harshest weather Momma Nature could hurl his way.

He felt Jim’s hand grasp his a minute later. He huffed and pulled himself up to the lip with a final grunt.

“Little tougher than it looks, huh?”

Alex sucked some wind and nodded. It had been.

Jim leaned close to the fissure. Alex could see it was roughly five feet high and maybe three feet wide. Just enough space for a man to get through.

Jim looked back at Alex and smiled. “Going for it.”

“Keep the rope on in case you step into a crevasse.”

“A crevasse in a mountain?”

“You never know.”

Jim shrugged and ducked through the opening. Blackness seemed to swallow him up and Alex suddenly felt very alone standing on the lip of the mountain. Even the Snowcat below him looked smaller.

Wind kicked up, making him wobble for a moment. He felt his legs tense up, afraid he might fall. But then he bent his knees and leaned back into the mountain.

The wind passed.

At his feet, the rope’s slack continued to decrease. Obviously, the fissure didn’t end a few feet in. Jim must have found his cave after all.

But there wouldn’t be any paintings, would there?

Alex had heard the bizarre theories for years. Fringe scientists and evolutionists who claimed that a race of men had inhabited Antarctica thousands of years ago. They had no evidence. No cave paintings, no skeletons of frozen natives, no nothing.

But that didn’t stop them from supposing.

And Alex found himself wondering if maybe there was a chance…

A small one.

“Hey.”

Alex almost jumped out of his skin. As it was Jim had to brace him. Alex turned. “You scared the hell out of me.”

“Sorry, pal. You gotta come inside and check this out.”

“Check what out?”

“What’s in here.”

“No rock?”

“Nope.”

Alex looked at the Snowcat. “We oughta call it in.”

Jim shook his head. “Forget it, this is too cool. We can call them later. Hell, once they find out what we’ve got here, they’ll come out anyway.”

“It’s that good?”

Jim smiled and ducked back into the darkness.

Alex waited a moment and then followed.

The instant he stepped through the opening, he felt the change. The roar of wind suddenly felt a million miles behind him. The air felt heavier.

It felt warmer.

It wasn’t hot, but whereas it was well below zero outside the fissure, inside the cave it was perhaps ten degrees,

Ten degrees!

Ahead of him, he could see the glow of Jim’s flashlight bouncing along. Alex stumbled to keep up.

Jim stopped. “You feel the change?”

“Warmer.”

“Yeah.”

“Some sort of thermal updraft?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then what?”

“Let’s keep walking.”

They traveled two hundred yards in to the mountain itself. Only Jim’s flashlight kept them from tripping over the jagged rock edges poking out of the floor. Alex wondered what could have carved out the channel in the mountain itself. He ran a gloved hand over the wall. The edges were sharp. Not done by water, he surmised.

But what?

He bumped into Jim.

He stopped.

Jim squatted. “Look.”

Alex knelt down and removed his goggles. The temperature change felt more pronounced now. It must have been almost 32 degrees this far into the mountain. Balmy by comparison to the world they’d just left behind.

Jim was pointing to an opening barely big enough to get a hand through. Light spilled out of it. Alex put his head down and tried to look.

Green?

He shook his head. Couldn’t be. He looked again.

And now he could make out the green.

Blues. Reds.

Color.

From what?

“Flowers.”

Alex backed away from the hole. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Those are flowers in there. We’re looking down on them.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. There can’t be flowers in there. We’re inside a mountain for god’s sakes.”

“Take another look.”

Alex peered back through. As much as his logical mind couldn’t accept it, he could clearly make out the edges of leaves and petals some distance below him. But how? How in the frozen landscape was this possible?”

He eased back and looked at Jim. “We’d better radio base.”

Jim smiled. “Yeah.”

They started back. Jim leading the way again. “Did you ever hear stories about Shangri-La?”

“Myths,” said Alex. “Supposed to be a place over near Bhutan. At the base of the Himalayas there was supposed to be some tropical paradise. No one’s ever found it.”

“A team from National Geographic found something a few years back. I don’t know what ever happened to the report, though since it got hushed up awful quick.”

“You think we’ve found our own tropical paradise?”

“You can’t argue with the flowers.”

“Not until I confirm what they are.”

“Can you imagine how incredible a find this is? Flora in Antarctica. Incredible! We’ll be famous — you and I.”

Alex wasn’t sure how famous he wanted to be.

“We’ll need more lights.”

Jim’s flashlight beam disappeared.

“Shit.”

“What’s the matter?”

“Batteries must be dead.”

“Didn’t you bring the hand pump one?”

“That thing sucks.”

“Well, it never goes out.”

“Hang on a second. Don’t move it’s rough footing. You’ll break a leg if you aren’t careful.”

“Where are you going?”

“Back to the opening.”

“I can follow.”

“Too risky. I’ve made the trip twice already.”

“I’m connected by the rope. I can stumble along.”

“Forget it. Just hang here a second and I’ll be right back.”

“Jim, it’s goddamn dark in here.”

“Jesus Alex, just chill out a second, okay. I’ll be right back.”

Alex leaned back into the cave wall and sighed. “Go already.”

“Five minutes. No more.”

Alex could hear the scraping of Jim’s feet as he moved off down the cave away from him. From the sound of it, Jim wasn’t as sure-footed as he claimed to be. Twice he heard him stumble and swear loudly.

Alex almost smiled.

The darkness around him seemed absolute. He looked back the way they’d come trying to see the light from the small opening with the flowers but he couldn’t see a thing. He looked toward the opening of the fissure — where Jim had just gone.

He couldn’t see anything ahead of him, either.

He could hear his breathing. Surprised at how fast and labored he sounded, he tried to calm himself down. He couldn’t remember ever being really afraid of the dark. But then again, he’d never really been in absolute darkness before. Most times, he could see shapes and shadows from ambient light.

He couldn’t see anything right now.

But he could hear things.

An odd scrape sounded somewhere ahead of him. Alex frowned.

“Jim?”

The sound stopped.

Alex felt his eyes squinting. As if that would help.

“Don’t dick around with me, Jim. This is not the time or the place for this shit.”

The sudden scream sounded much further away than the scrape. Alex recognized Jim’s wail.

“What th-?”

He started running toward the scream. But then it died as quickly as it had begun.

And once again, the silence loomed heavy over him.

Had Jim fallen? Alex felt his lungs heaving as he tripped and fell down the corridor. He bumped his head off the rock wall twice, smelling a sudden draw of coppery blood. It streamed down his face from the cut by the temple.

He might need stitches.

His shoes felt heavy. Alex could feel his balance going and he lurched forward, crashing into the floor of the cave.

“Goddamit!”

His gloved hands scraped the floor and he tried to push himself off the ground.

That’s when he felt the sudden crushing weight drop on him.

A rock?

Breathing.

He heard breathing.

His own?

Alex’s lungs heaved. The weight felt like it was squeezing him to death. He tried to turn over, tried to dislodge the weight.

A draft tickled his ear.

Warm.

Humid.

And the stench of fetid… Alex gagged.

He scrambled to get onto his back and finally felt enough room to do so.

In the darkness, ensconced in the humid draw of breath, he saw the two glowing orbs above him, maybe ten feet away.

And then saw them rushing in at him.

Felt the crashing weight.

Heard his own choked screech.

And then the blackness swallowed him whole.

1

“Charlie 1–5 calling Howard Base. Come in, over.”

Julia Devereaux looked at the C-130 pilot for the third time in as many minutes. “Still nothing?”

“No response. No, ma’am.”

Julia felt her back slump, a dull ache from hunching over the seat. She couldn’t wait to get out of this damned plane. “Any chance their beacon’s out?”

“Could be. We can’t tell from up here, of course.”

“Weather?”

“Supposed to be smooth sailing the entire way in. We’re in a window right now. Weather station out of Tierra del Fuego says a big storm’s coming in the next twenty-four hours. We get you down and take off again. You guys are on your own down there.”

Julia smiled. “You guys just going to drop the back ramp and shove us off?”

“We might slow down.”

“Thanks for the effort. Keep trying the station. I’d like to have some sort of welcome wagon waiting for us when we get there.”

“Will do. We’re about thirty minutes out.”

Julia ducked back into the cabin. She’d never get used to riding in military transports. The C-130 Hercules was as stripped down as they came. A hollow and noisy interior that consisted of a few cots strung up and a curtained off pseudo-lavatory that she’d tried to avoid using on the way down.

Over Argentina, she’d had to finally give in. She still thought she smelled the harsh chemical residue clinging to her extreme cold weather parka. But she couldn’t let it bother her. Not now. Not here.

She’d waited too long for this.

And she’d worked too damned hard.

Thirty-seven years old and the leader of an exploration team heading down to examine the geological make-up of the Baker Mountain range. Not bad for a gal from Duluth.

But even if she was the official head of the team that consisted of seven other men, she knew there was some strong resentment already rampant in their ranks.

Most of it came from Kendall.

Julia frowned at the thought of his smug self-righteous smile creasing his thin lips and oily skin. At forty he was deep in the throes of a mid-life crisis. The last thing he wants is to take orders from a girl, thought Julia.

Tough shit.

She grinned. There was that side of her peeking out again. She felt as thankful for its presence as she was concerned about it. It had never gotten her into trouble, but it had positioned her in some very interesting situations. It was because of that side of her that she was here — in charge.

She glanced around the interior of the plane again. The other members of her team, including Kendall were wide-awake and bouncing from the turbulence. They looked haggard and travel-weary.

Everyone that is, except for Mick.

He was asleep.

Julia almost grinned. She’d never known anyone who could sleep through the kind of noise the interior of a C-130 made. But it was as if the noise didn’t even matter to Mick. His eyes looked heavy and his face perfectly relaxed.

Despite his being asleep, though, Julia could still see the hard lines etched into his skin. Deep chasms scored his forehead above a heavy brow line. Hard bones framed his face at his cheekbones and jawline. He had the sort of rugged looks that seemed to simultaneously attract and scare most women. He was handsome, Julia had decided a week ago when he’d first joined the team, but there was something else to him. Some sort of veil that surrounded his otherwise open and calm demeanor.

The fact that he’d only joined the team last week seemed odd enough. But he’d been the only suitable replacement after Wilson’s sudden bout with appendicitis had disqualified him.

Mick.

His eyes opened then. A flash of bright blue that seemed to hit her like a laser shot from across the fuselage. She jerked, aware she’d been staring at him a little too long and averted her eyes.

When she risked a look back a moment later, Mick’s eyes were closed again.

Asleep.

Or was he?

“So, Boss, what’s the good word?”

Kendall. And the way he’d placed the emphasis on the word “boss” annoyed the hell out of her. But there was nothing he could do to disrupt this mission. Julia had already vowed to herself twenty times she wouldn’t let that happen.

“Pilot can’t contact the base.”

“Why — is our radio down?”

“Says our radio is working just fine. Might be a problem at the base.”

“But they know we’re coming, right? We’re not flying into someone’s party without being invited are we?”

“Of course they know we’re coming. We confirmed it last week during the normal communication window.”

Kendall nodded. “Well, as long as you’re on top of things. I suppose I can rest easy.”

“I’m relieved, really I am, Kendall. It warms my heart to have all your confidence invested in me.”

“Just so long as you realize this isn’t some shopping excursion we’re on. You screw up down here and people will die.”

Julia sighed. “Kendall. Don’t presume to tell me how to run this operation. I am well aware of where we are and what my responsibilities are. I’d hope you’re as familiar with your own duties on this jaunt as you seem to be with mine.”

“I’m versed in everyone’s.” Kendall smiled but there was no friendliness in it. “Just in case anyone gets hurt and I need to step in to fill the gap.”

“There won’t be any gaps to fill. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to check on our progress.”

Kendall backed out of her way and slumped back into his makeshift seat across the cabin. Julia felt the rise of heat in her face begin to subside. She hoped it hadn’t been too obvious in the darkened interior of the plane that she’s been blushing through her exchange with Kendall.

She made her way up to the pilot deck again. “How we doing?”

The pilot shook his head. “Still no response from Howard Base.” He pointed out the window. Bright sunlight rebounded off the white of snow and ice far below. “We’re feet dry, by the way. We made land ten minutes back.”

“Good. How much longer.”

“Maybe fifteen minutes.” He tapped the instrument panel. “You want us to keep trying the base?”

“Their radio must be down. They know we’re coming, though. I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”

“So you want us to land it?”

“Yeah.”

Julia ducked back down to the cabin and began readying her team. She tapped Wilkins on the shoulder. He peered out of his hood.

“Yeah?”

“Fifteen minutes.”

He nodded. “You want me to get the rest of them ready to go?”

“Yeah.”

She watched Wilkins get to his feet and stomp his boots to get some circulation going. Wilkins was a good man. A dependable number two — family man with a wife of fifteen years and three kids back home in the States. Julia wondered what made him go off for months at a time on dangerous journeys like this. Whatever it was, Wilkins didn’t say much aside from the fact that he loved his job.

He checked on Nung next, the team’s resident technogeek who could hotwire a toaster and receive satellite photography from the Hubbell telescope if need be. He was a former dot-commer who’d decided that creating websites and state-of-the-art technology was too lame for his life. At twenty-five he’d changed course and how was apart of the team.

Wilkins moved on to Havel, over from Russia as part of the joint-cooperative exploration missions the two countries had established a few years back. Most people Julia knew thought the joint-cooperation involved only the space station high above Earth. She knew better. Russians and Americans routinely got involved in every aspect of scientific exploration.

To Julia, it made good sense. The closer the two nations became, the less chance they’d ever revert to their former Cold War enemy status. Plus, Havel was an expert in meteorology, something forever handy to have in the sort of inhospitable land they were about to land on.

Vikorsky was the team’s microbiologist, on loan from MIT where he routinely studied deep bore drillings from five miles below on the ocean floor. He’d brought enough drilling equipment to make the expedition resemble some sort of grass roots oil refinery. But if they took borings at the mountains, Vikorsky would be the one to decipher what they brought up.

Wilkins finally moved down to check on Darren. The rest of the team called him the ladies man. Wherever there were women, Darren would inevitably be in the middle of them, chatting his way into as many beds as he could. How he’d managed to do it for so long without contracting any sexually transmitted diseases was the stuff of legend as far as Julia was concerned. And while Darren might have the pretty boy looks that garnered him sexual favors, he was also a damned good horticulture specialist. Another asset when it came to unearthing possible prehistoric finds at the mountain range.

Mick slid into the seat next to Julia so smoothly and quietly she almost jumped. He chuckled. “Sorry.”

“S’okay. What’s up?”

“You sleep at all during the flight?”

“Not a wink. You didn’t seem to have much of a problem, though.”

“I’ve ridden these birds before. They don’t bother me much.” He nodded toward the cockpit. “How long?”

“Maybe ten minutes.”

“Everything okay?”

“Pilot can’t contact Howard Base. I’m a little concerned.”

Mick frowned. “They know we’re coming?”

“Yes.”

“Might be the weather, eh?”

“Weather’s good right now. It won’t get bad until tonight. Big storm coming.”

“We’ll be down and tucked away safely before then,” said Mick. “I’m sure it’s just a glitch.”

Julia watched him go back and check his equipment. I hope you’re right, she thought.

A red light appeared overhead. Julia pulled a set of headphones on and spoke into the microphone. “What’s up?”

“Still no answer. You want us to go in anyway?”

“Yes.”

“Roger that. Two minutes. Tell everyone to strap themselves in. Ice landings can be kinda rough.”

Julia pulled the headset off and motioned for the team to sit down and strap in. They all did quickly, except for Kendall who seemed content to stretch his legs until the last possible second.

The plane banked sharply and Julia felt a popping sensation in her ears. They were descending fast. She started straining to listen to the landing gear coming out, but since the wheels had been converted to ski skids, it was already down.

She could feel the pull on her body as the plane nosed down toward the earth. She always got nervous just before landings. Take-offs were fine, but landings always made her nervous. She glanced across the cabin at Mick who smiled at her and then closed his eyes.

Was he praying? Or was he going to sleep again?

Julia heard a grinding sound from the wings and figured the flaps were engaging at last.

This was it.

The end of the journey.

The start of her leadership role.

And hopefully… success.

The plane touched down with a sudden jolt that would have bounced her head against the bulkhead if she hadn’t been strapped in tightly. She heard a rushing sound underneath the plane and knew the skids were slipping along the snow and ice.

They were down.

The plane gradually came to a stop. The overhead light turned green and Julia unbuckled and made her way quickly to the cockpit.

“Nice landing guys.”

“I don’t see anybody out there, Ms. Devereaux.”

Julia peered out of the cockpit but the intense white made her blink rapidly. The pilot handed her his sunglasses.

“Glare’s pretty bad, don’t forget to wear your snow goggles or you’ll go blind.”

Julia thanked him and slid the frames on her face. They were too big but she held them on and peered again.

Outside the window, a blank sheet of white as far as she could see. To their left she could make out the cylindrical buildings that made up Howard Base. A lone orange windsock pointed in the direction of the ubiquitous wind.

But otherwise there was nothing.

“You see any footprints?”

“If there were,” said Julia, “they must have been covered up by the fresh snows.” She frowned. What the hell was going on? “I’d better get us sorted out and see what the hell is going on.”

She handed the sunglasses back to the pilot and went back to the cabin again. All the men stood there looking at her. This was it. The first real test. She could feel Kendall’s eyes on her. She supposed he was quietly wishing for something bad to happen that would strain her leadership skills.

Screw him.

She felt Mick’s eyes on her, too.

And that was just fine.

“Here’s what I want to happen. We’re down, but there’s no sign of anyone meeting us. While some of us get the gear off-loaded, I want two of you to check out the base. Volunteers?”

Mick raised his hand. “I’ve got it.”

Wilkins nodded. “Me, too.”

Julia nodded. “Right, the rest of us will unload. Let’s make it quick gentlemen. The weatherman says our good weather isn’t going to last long. There’s a bad storm heading our way and when that hits, we’d better be snug and warm inside or were finished before we’re even started.”

The hydraulic ramp whined and began lowering. A sliver of bright light bit into the dim interior of the plane. Julia pulled on her snow goggles and saw the other teammates doing the same.

The ramp landed with a final thump and then Mick and Wilkins hopped out and headed right toward the base buildings. Julia turned and nodded to Nung who began pushing palettes of gear toward the edge of the ramp. Kendall and Vikorsky helped him. Havel began moving the gear off the palettes and closer to the building. Darren was going over the cabin with a flashlight to make sure nothing had been missed.

Julia hopped out of the plane and felt her boots touch the hard-packed snow. At last.

She smiled. Part of her felt like jumping up and down for joy. She’d dreamed of this for a long time. So very long.

And here at last, the pull that she’d felt since her teen years. The indescribable sensation that she needed to be down here in Antarctica. It suddenly felt so much stronger.

Wilkins and Mick came running back toward the plane.

Wilkins was huffing. Mick seemed fine.

“What’s going on? Did you find them? Where the hell is everybody?”

Wilkins shook his head and tried to speak but couldn’t get enough air. Mick clapped him on the back and looked at Julia, his eyes almost sad.

“They’re gone. There’s no one in the station.” He looked over his shoulder at the buildings and shook his head.

“We’re all alone.”

2

“Alone?” Kendall’s voice again. Julia sighed.

“Relax a moment, Kendall. Let me get this figured out, okay?”

“What’s to figure out? We’re alone. What the hell happened to the station?” He stared at Wilkins and Mick. “Was the inside of the station destroyed? Did something happen to it?”

Mick shook his head. “Inside’s fine. Everything looks normal. There’s just…no one there is all.”

Julia turned away and walked toward the C-130. The crew chief was busy pumping fuel into the plane. It loomed giant above her; the dull green a stark contrast to the white that surrounded them on all sides. She could make out the unit lettering on the tail.

Here five minutes and already problems. Maybe she wasn’t cut out for this after all. Maybe she should have just stayed at the university where everything was safe. Maybe she should have just shut up and never aspired to anything. After all, millions of other people aspired to nothing and lived perfectly happy lives.

Bullshit.

She’d swallowed that bunk from three sets of foster parents growing up. After the death of her parents, Julia had been passed like stale bread from home to home. Never happy. Never content.

Never home.

And all the while, she’d felt something. Something she’d never talked to anyone else about. How would she explain it? She couldn’t reason it out herself.

But despite the confusion, she knew one thing: she needed to be here.

She couldn’t explain it. Not yet. She couldn’t grasp or comprehend the invisible tractor beam that drew her here. But there was something about this land. Something about this place. It meant more to her than she knew.

And so what if the station was deserted? There were eight fresh bodies here now. They could do this.

She could do this.

Wilkins came up behind her. She felt his hand on her shoulder, even through the thickness of her parka. “Chief?”

“Yeah.”

“We’ve got a situation here. We got people looking for a little direction, I think.”

She turned. “That include you?”

He shrugged. “I’ll back you one hundred percent whatever you want to do, you know that. I didn’t sign on to this jaunt to second-guess anyone. Your word is good enough for me.”

“You’re a good man, Wilkins.”

“I try.”

She smiled. “Kendall wants to bail, doesn’t he?”

“Kendall’s real good at giving the impression he wants to run away from everything. It’s bullshit. He’d play the paranoid routine long enough until we got home and then he’d stab you in the back and say you turned tail and ran when you should have stuck it out.”

“How’s the rest of the team feel?”

“They’ve stopped unloading. I think they’re waiting for some sort of cue from you.”

“We could go home.”

“Someone’d have to come back down eventually.”

She smiled again. Wilkins had said it. He really did want to stay after all. Inwardly, she felt relieved. She needed her second-in-command to back her. She felt better knowing how he really felt.

“Give me five minutes.”

Wilkins left her. Julia walked the edge of the improvised runway feeling the hard-packed snow crunch further under her boots. The pull yanked at her stomach. Unseen. The way it had always been.

She looked at the base. What had happened to the members of the research station? Everything inside still intact. That ruled out an attack by penguins, she smirked.

But what had happened?

One thing was certain: she wouldn’t be able to find the answer to that question if she loaded her team back on the C-130 and headed back to civilization.

The answer was here.

As was the source of the unseen attraction to this continent.

And Julia didn’t want to leave either of those questions unanswered. Not now, not after working so hard to get here.

She felt seven pairs of eyes watching her and she turned around. All the men on her team faced her some twenty feet away. She could make out the pilot of the plane having a smoke near the back of it. She walked over to him.

“You heard?”

He exhaled a stream of smoke that vanished in the wind. “One of your guys says there’s no one home.”

“That’s right.”

He shrugged. “You want to come back? Doesn’t matter to me. We’re heading home anyway.”

“You think we’d be crazy sticking it out here?”

“Nope. Not crazy. Might get a little lonely. Might be a little scary. But you’re not crazy.”

“When you get back, you’ll tell them what happened down here, won’t you? Maybe you can arrange for a fresh team to come down?”

“I can pass the word, sure.”

“We’re not really fit to run the station. We were coming down to do adjunct work to their efforts here.”

“I’ll bet they have new folks down here within a week. Provided the weather cooperates.” He ground the cigarette butt under his boot and then bent down and retrieved it. “Which reminds me.” He removed a sheaf of papers from his parka. “Got the latest weather report here.”

“Bad news?”

“Not for us. For you, maybe.”

“The storm?”

“Be here tonight what they’re saying. Going to be a big one, too. You might be snowed in a few days. Or it might pass and leave you unscathed. How’s that for accurate forecasting?”

“I’ve got a meteorologist on the team. The station’s got instruments. We can monitor it and see how it hits.”

“What about food?”

Julia frowned. “You brought some more rations down with you, didn’t you?”

“A resupply, yeah.”

“How much?”

“For the station? Ought to last them about a month, until we can get another flight down here.”

“And the station’s equipped with an emergency stockpile as well.”

“They’ve got a greenhouse in there, I hear. They grow some fruits and vegetables, that sort of thing.”

“I think we should be all set for food then.”

The pilot smiled. “Plenty of water.”

“Yeah.”

“Guess you’re staying then.”

“I guess we are.”

“In that case, I’m out of here. I don’t want to have to fly into that front. As soon as my chief’s got that bird pumped full of gas, we’re out of here. I’ve got a crew to get home safely.” He stuck out a gloved hand. “Good luck, Miss Devereaux.”

“Thanks. Have a safe flight.”

She turned as the pilot hurried up the ramp and into the plane. Havel came over as she continued to walk.

“We will stay, yes?”

“You want that?”

“It is a long time for me to be wanting to come to this place. Now that I am here, I have no wish to depart so soon.”

“I know the feeling.” Julia waved the rest of her team over. “Listen up.”

Kendall frowned as he stepped into the circle. “Bad news, Boss?”

“Not likely, Kendall. Here’s the poop: we’re staying. If we don’t someone else will just have to come down here and sort this whole thing out. We’re here, we’ve got supplies and the expertise to keep things running until we get a fresh team down here.”

Vikorsky cleared his throat. “What about the mission?”

“The mission profile stays the same. We’ve just added a few more responsibilities, that’s all. If we can get to the bottom of why there seems to be no one around this place, we will. If not, then we won’t.”

“Sounds promising,” said Kendall.

“Plane’s right there, if you want to back out of this and go home,” said Julia. She waited for Kendall to say something.

He didn’t.

Julia took her cue again. “I’d prefer you stayed, however. I need every one of you and your knowledge. We’ve got a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it in.”

Kendall bit his lip but said nothing.

“There’s more good news,” said Julia. “We’ve got a storm heading straight for us that’s due to hit within a few hours. It’s going to be a big one. That means we need all that equipment and supplies unloaded from the palettes and stored inside the station. Are we clear?”

All of the men nodded. Julia smiled.

“Right, I need Vikorsky and Nung to get inside and give me a check on the station itself. Check the instruments and communications gear. Make sure the greenhouse is up to snuff. I don’t want us losing fresh greens to this storm. Powdered broccoli makes me sick.”

A few laughs. That was good. “The rest of us will get the gear unpacked and stowed. If we hustle we might even get it done quick enough so we can relax this evening while we’re getting buried alive.

“Well, shit,” said Wilkins. “That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day.” He turned to the team. “Okay, you heard the lady, let’s get the lead out. Kendall, Darren you’re with me and Mick. Let’s get it on, people.”

Julia stepped back and let Wilkins take the lead from here on out. He was better at motivating. She’d chosen him for his ability to instill confidence in the team, among other things.

Mick smiled as he dashed past her. “Nice job, chief. I think you’ll make this work after all.”

“You had some doubts?”

He grinned. “Be lying if I said no. But I’m man enough to admit when I’m wrong. I’m glad I was.”

“Thanks.”

She turned and grabbed Havel. “Come on, buddy. We’ve got work to do.”

The storm hit them harder than anyone expected. A seething swirl of blinding snow and ice that thundered against the pre-fabricated cylindrical units of the station — it reminded Julia of being inside an oil drum and having someone pound on the outside with a hammer.

Peering out of the windows made Wilkins shudder. “Glad we’re in here. Helluva night to be out.”

Kendall snorted across the room. “You scared of a little snow?”

“That’s not snow,” said Wilkins. “That’s Mother Nature reminding us that we’re nothing but tiny pimples on the backside of life.”

Kendall pushed his dinner away from him. “Nifty visual. Thanks.” He yawned. “If no one objects, I’m turning in for the night. It’s been a long a day.”

Julia took a sip of coffee. “Thanks for your help today.”

“No sweat, Boss.”

She watched him go. Wilkins shook his head. “Guy’s a piece of work, that one is.”

“Too bad he’s one of the best damned technicians and jack-of-all-trades I’ve ever seen. I wish to hell we could have left him behind.”

“He’s here just like we all are,” said Nung.

“And why’s that?” Darren spoke around a forkful of spaghetti.

“Because we’re being paid to be here,” said Nung. “Ain’t that right, Julia?”

She smiled. “Sure. I mean, I guess so. Yeah.” She frowned. “Well, maybe it’s more for me.”

“More what? More money?”

“No. No. I meant more than the money for me.”

Wilkins lit his pipe. “Well sure. I mean this is the bottom of the goddamned world. Who wouldn’t want to come down here for a spell and see this kind of natural beauty up close.”

Julia looked at him. What was it about that statement that made her think there was more to what Wilkins had said than just those words alone? She shook her head. “I’ve dreamed of this place since I was a teenager.”

Darren looked up. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. It’s not something that I could really explain, I guess.” Julia sipped her coffee and listened to the wind beat out a discordant rhythm against the research station. “It’s just I’ve always know I’d come down here eventually. I didn’t know what kind of effort it was going to take on my part. I just sort of knew I’d be coming here.” She looked up. “Sounds silly, I know.”

Silence draped the room. Wilkins cleared his throat and exhaled a smoke ring. “It’s not silly. It’s not silly at all. It makes a whole lot of good sense, actually.”

“Thank you.”

Havel put down his mug of coffee. “I too, have dreamed of coming here before this day.”

Julia smiled at him. She felt good the team was rallying around her idea. Maybe they really did believe in her after all. “Thanks Havel.”

He shook his head. “It’s not…agreement. The same thing happened to me. When I was a boy. A dream. And ever since I also dream of coming to this place. Now, I am here. At last.”

“A nice coincidence,” said Julia.

“Must be contagious then,” said Darren. “Because I dreamed of Antarctica a long time ago, too.”

“When?”

“In college.” Darren grinned. “Must have been after one of those late night drink-fests. I stumbled home and had the funkiest dream of my life. I couldn’t really tell you what it was all about, but the thing ended with me being surrounded by snow and ice and cold and shivering like a damned hypothermic case. And somehow, I just knew it was Antarctica that I was at.”

“What was the dream like?” Nung’s voice sounded quiet over the din of noise outside.

Darren frowned. “It’s not important-”

“It IS important!” Nung slammed his hand on to the tabletop. Dishes jumped and clattered back against the steel.

Wilkins came alive and grabbed Nung by the shoulders. “Calm down, buddy. Calm down. We’re just talking.”

But Julia could see Nung’s eyes. She could see the intensity of his outburst. The pounded-down memories prying their way out of his subconscious. She could sense the fear. Her fear. She’d had dreams, too.

Nung slumped back down in his seat. “Sorry.”

Darren leaned back. “Hey, man, it’s cool. If you want me to talk about the frickin’ thing, I will. I just didn’t think anybody’d be interested.”

“I’m interested,” said Nung.

Julia nodded. “Me too.”

“And me,” said Havel.

Wilkins and Vikorsky agreed. Julia looked at Mick who was staring at the ceiling his eyes half-closed as if deep in thought. What makes him tick, she wondered? What’s his story?

Darren got up and refilled his coffee, stirring in a heaping pile of sugar before sitting back down. He took a sip, sighed and leaned back. “Okay. Just don’t think me totally freaked out or anything when I finish, okay? I mean, this is some pretty freaky shit, as far as I’m concerned. I mean, I haven’t even discussed this with anyone before tonight, that’s how freaky this shit is. I shit you not.”

“That’s three shit in a row,” said Wilkins. “You shit any more and you’ll dehydrate yourself.”

A small chorus of chuckles filled the room. Havel smiled. “I like this. Is like a ghost story around the campfire, yes?”

“Well, except for the campfire bit,” said Julia. “Our stove here will have to do.”

Darren took another sip. “The dream starts out with a mess of bright lights. All sorts of colors. It was sort of like being in some funky dance club with all those swirling strobes flashing and blinding you. Almost like those old stop-animation films. A million lights. Blinding stuff.

“The fucked up thing is that I think I’m awake while the dream’s going on. I’m convinced that I’m in my dorm room. That I’m under the covers and the lights are all around me. I mean one minute they’re outside my window and the next they’re surrounding me.

“I never felt as scared as I did that night, you know. It wasn’t like there was some kind of monster attacking me. Dracula wasn’t sinking his fangs into my jugular. But there was something…ominous about the lights. They weren’t friendly. There was no warmth.” He looked into his coffee mug. “They were cold. Cold lights.”

“What happened after the lights?” asked Wilkins.

“The lights never left. I couldn’t see. But then my body felt really light. Like I was flying. I read somewhere about astral travel and how people think it’s like the sensation of flying or being really light. I don’t think I astral traveled that night. Because I didn’t really get the feeling like I went anywhere until the end when I was suddenly standing in the middle of all this ice and snow and somehow just knowing it was down here.”

He sighed and took a long deep drag on the coffee. “I woke up the next morning with the worst fucking headache I ever had in my life. I swore off tequila after that night. I’ve never had another glass of the stuff.”

“So, you think it was just the alcohol?” asked Julia.

Darren grinned. “Sure.”

“You ever have any other dreams like that again?”

“Never as bad as that first one, no.”

“But you’ve had others?”

“Sure. Every few years or so since then. I think I’ve had probably five in total since that first time. I’m never really as scared by them. I feel more like I’m observing something.”

Darren looked up and frowned. “Shit, see? You’re all looking at me like I’m some sort of psycho case. I knew I shouldn’t have mentioned anything. Thanks a lot Nung.”

Nung looked at him. “I don’t think you’re a psycho case, buddy.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“I’m being serious. I don’t think you are.”

“Why so?”

Nung frowned. “Because you just described the exact same dream I had as a teenager.”

“The exact same dream?” Darren shook his head. “That’s kinda far-fetched to think two people could have the same dream.”

“You’re right,” said Vikorsky. “It is far-fetched. And I think three would make it even more so?”

Julia snapped her head up. “You too?”

Vikorsky nodded. “The lights, the weightlessness, the trip down here. All the same. Same order, same amount of subsequent dreams. All the same.”

Wilkins cleared his throat. “Me, too.”

“And me,” said Havel.

They all looked at her. Everyone but Mick who still had his half-closed eyes on the ceiling. Julia swallowed. “Me, too.”

Nung’s jaw was tight. “What the hell is going on here?”

Wilkins shook his head. “We can’t jump to any conclusions about this guys. There’s something weird about us all having the same dream, sure, but we’re here now and we’ve got work to do.”

Nung shook his head. “What if this is something more? After all, we still haven’t figured out where the hell everyone else is yet. What if it’s connected somehow?”

“How?” said Vikorsky. “We’re on one of the most inhospitable land masses on the planet. It’s not like some giant creature came in here and grabbed everyone. There’d be a lot more evidence that something had gone really wrong. There’s nothing. This place is just a ghost town. Whatever happened it doesn’t seem to have been especially violent.”

“Unless whatever happened here was like our dreams,” said Darren. “Weightless and powerless to do anything. They could have been carried off.”

Wilkins snorted. “Christ, by what?”

“I don’t know, “ said Darren. “All I know is it is really freaking me out that we’ve all had the same damned dream. We’ve all got that connection and it’s just really really weird.”

Wilkins shot Julia a look that said she’d better move to restore some calm to the situation. She nodded and pushed her coffee away from her.

“It’s late. We’re all tired. Yeah, we all had the same dreams. We can discuss it some more tomorrow maybe. For right now, we’ve got to get some sleep. Tomorrow’s a brand new day and we’ve got a mission to get underway.”

“Not to mention fifteen staff members too find.”

“Vikorsky!” Wilkins looked pissed.

Julia held up her hand. “It’s all right. It’s all right. He’s correct. Finding out what happened here is definitely a priority also. But we’ve got to maintain our composure.”

She looked at Nung. “How are communications?”

Nung shrugged. “Can’t make much out of the rig right now. The way it looks, everything’s cool. We’ve got satcom and UHF but I couldn’t test either one of them this evening with the storm coming. These snows will drown out the strongest signal I can shoot off. Until this storm passes, we’re isolated. That’s the poop.”

Darren frowned. “Wonderful. Stranded down here without the ability to reach out and touch a rescue team.”

“Calm down,” said Julia. “The pilot said the front wouldn’t last all that long. Once the snows break, we place a call to home base and see if we can get a plane down here ahead of schedule. We explain what happened and that we’re going ahead with our primary objective. Nice and simple.”

She glanced around the room. The faces of five men stared back at her. They looked like they’d bought into her plan, at least for right now. She hoped she’d been able to quiet her own inner concern about the dreams. She hoped it didn’t show on her face.

Wilkins clapped his hands. “Right then, beddy-bye time.”

Everyone rose. Julia looked at Mick who hadn’t moved. “You coming along?”

His eyes rolled over toward her. Even in the diminished light she could see how blue they were. “I might stay up a while.”

“You need some sleep.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Julia looked at him. She glanced at Wilkins who simply waved at her. The other men had already filed out. She waited until Wilkins disappeared down the corridor.

Then she looked back at Mick. “You didn’t say much when Darren told us about his dream.”

He smiled. “That’s right. I didn’t.”

Julia leaned against the table. “So?”

“So what?”

“So, did you have the same dreams as the rest of us?”

Mick leaned in toward her. “If I say no, will you kick me off of the team? I mean, I won’t be the same as everyone else.”

Julia smiled. “I won’t kick you off. I’ve got no place to put you, anyway.”

Mick nodded. “Nice to hear.”

“Of course, if you didn’t have the same dreams, that would be a good thing.”

“How’s that?”

“It means there’s just coincidence in that we’re all here despite those dreams. You not having them means it was just happenstance. Not some sort of divine direction.”

“And the guys on the team would be more relaxed?”

“Exactly.”

Mick nodded. “I wish I could help you out.”

Julia’s heart sank. “You mean?”

“Yeah.” Mick nodded. “I had the dreams, too.”

“Damn.”

“It’s not necessarily bad,” said Mick.

“How’s that?”

“We don’t know if Kendall had the dreams, too.”

Julia grinned. “Kendall’s enough of a nightmare just being around this place. It doesn’t matter much if he did or he didn’t.”

“Good point.”

“What do you think it means?” asked Julia after a minute.

Mick went back to staring at the ceiling. “I don’t know. But a big part of me seems convinced we’re going to find out before too long.”

3

“The most curious thing,” said Wilkins, “is that both the Snowcats are fully gassed up.”

“Meaning what?” Julia stomped her boots into the snow. She didn’t want to have to stay outside in the blazing sun and cold any longer than necessary. The quicker Wilkins finished his explanation, the better.

“The station only has two Snowcats. So, whatever happened to the crew, they didn’t take the transportation.”

“You think they walked?”

“Well, we certainly won’t be able to track them. Not after last night. Besides, we’ve got no idea how long they’ve been gone.”

“Had to be some time between their last radio check-in with Tierra Del Fuego and when we arrived. That gives us — what, a week?”

“Four days.”

“Ninety-six hours is an awful long time to get lost in,” said Julia. “I don’t like it.”

“No one does,” said Wilkins. “Kendall’s still skulking around the place looking for what he calls ‘clues.’”

“What’s he think he’s going to find?”

“Probably nothing. But he’s not really looking for anything solid. He’s looking to spread enough paranoia that the crew loses faith in you and turns to him for guidance.”

“Wonderful.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. We all know what kind of guy he is. I don’t think anyone’s ready to throw their lot in with him.”

“In the meantime, we’ve got our mission to get going.”

“Have you seen the weather report?”

“Not yet.”

“It’s not good.”

“What’s not good?”

“Another storm heading this way. Havel says we’ll be lucky if we can get a twelve-hour window in today before it hits again.”

“Great. Well, we’d better get going then, hadn’t we? If the Snowcats are gassed up, we should be good to go. The range is only forty miles away. Two hours there, two hours back, that leaves us a good solid bit of time to explore.” She looked at Wilkins. “Is everyone ready?”

“Everyone’s up except for Vikorsky. I didn’t catch him at breakfast. He might be sleeping in.”

“Better wake him up. I want us saddled up and ready to roll within the hour.”

“You got it, boss.”

Julia watched him walk away. She turned and started off into the distance. The white horizon ended where the bright blue of sky began. Overhead, the sun gleamed in the sky. The was no sign of last night’s storm that had dumped a foot of snow on the station.

Today.

She’d see the mountains today.

At long last.

Was it silly, she wondered? Was it silly that she should be so focused on actually seeing the mountains that had occupied her dreams for so long?

Kendall would say so, she figured. But then again, Kendall would say anything to make her look bad and make himself look all the better.

To hell with Kendall.

She had her dreams to follow.

She’d followed them this far; there’d be no sense in turning back now.

She glanced back at the research station. Every one of her crew was here following their dreams as well. Darren, Nung, Havel, Vikorsky, Wilkins, Mick, and even Kendall — even if he would never admit it.

Julia figured Kendall’s dreams involved leading the group on some exploration that would uncover a hidden secret thereby granting him untold acclaim and fortune.

But that’s what you’re after, too.

She laughed. At least she could be honest with herself.

After so many years spent trying to please everyone else, at least Julia could please herself.

A cold wind swept the lined hood up against her cheeks. She felt the sting hit the few exposed patches of her skin and smiled. It almost felt like the huge continent was welcoming her.

The prefabricated units that made up the research station seemed so alien here; stark against the backdrop of white snow. And even though the designers had tried to reduce their profile, the rounded half moons arcing up from the ground still seemed almost grotesque.

While the rest of the landscape seemed so virgin.

She turned upon hearing the main entryway open again. She watched a few of the crew come out and begin loading gear onto the two Snowcats. The big transport vehicles had a cruising speed of about twenty miles per hour over the snow and ice. Their thick caterpillar treads could easily carve out a road with little problem. Seating would be cramped given that the vehicles could hold two comfortable and Julia would ask them to double that load.

But what the hell. If they’d wanted creature comforts, they never should have even come here.

The bottom of the world.

It hit her then in a way it hadn’t previously. How bizarre to imagine oneself at the very bottom of the world. Julia grinned. I’m standing upside now, at least in relation to my perspective.

But was there really any true perspective? Gravity made sure no one fell off the planet. But once out into outer space, what was up and what was down? Were those concepts even viable any more?

Nung climbed into the cab of the first Snowcat and turned the engine on. The machine turned over nicely, a deep throaty growl that settled into a smooth purr as the first cloud of exhaust billowed out of its backside and stained the snow behind it sooty gray.

So much for virginity, thought Julia. She walked over and climbed into the cab of the second Snowcat. She pushed the starter button and felt the engine shudder underneath her before smoothing out like Nung’s had.

Julia cranked the heater, although she knew it would take a few minutes before the engine would be warm enough to throw off heat. Still, inside the cab she could at least take her hood off.

Mick opened the door opposite and climbed in. “Good morning.”

She smiled. “Sleep well?”

“Remarkably so, actually. I stayed up a little late watching the storm settle on top of us. I must have fallen asleep in my chair.”

“You slept in the lounge all night?”

Mick shook his head. “Nah. I woke up around four, I think. I stumbled into my sleep chamber and conked out there.”

“Was it still snowing when you went to sleep?”

Mick shrugged. “Don’t know. My eyes were so heavy I couldn’t even see. I think someone else must have been up, though. I thought I heard someone moving around.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, down by the greenhouse.”

“You didn’t check it out?”

Mick looked at her. “I would have, but I was too wasted. My head and back were killing me, those chairs in the lounge aren’t very comfortable.”

Julia nodded. Outside, she watched Kendall climb into Nung’s Snowcat followed by Havel and Darren. That meant Wilkins and Vikorsky would ride with Mick and her.

“It’s going to be cramped in the cab here,” said Mick.

She smiled at him. “I guess so.”

“Will that be a problem?”

Why were his eyes so blue? “Not at all.”

Mick said nothing but just kept smiling. Julia turned away. “What’s taking Wilkins so long? According to Havel, we’re due for another snow storm tonight.”

Mick nodded. “I saw that. You ever heard about this place receiving so much snow?”

“No.”

“Me either.” He cleared his throat. “That strike you as odd?”

“What- the snow?”

“Yeah.”

“Should it?”

“Maybe.”

“You mean given the fact that the former crew has gone missing?”

“I mean that, yeah. Also, last night’s deal with everyone having the same dreams about this place.”

“Got you spooked?”

Mick smirked. “A lot of things spook me, Julia. I’ve seen a lot of shit that would freak most people out.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t give my secrets away that easily.”

“But you do give them away? Eventually?” Julia felt her skin grow warm. Had she blushed when she said that? What was it about him that made her feel this way?

“Not always,” said Mick. “But sometimes.”

Julia started to say something but stopped when she saw Wilkins come running out of the station. “It’s about time.”

Wilkins pulled on the door and opened it. Julia waved him in. “Get in, we’re late.”

He shook his head. “We can’t go!”

“What? Why not?” She frowned. “Where’s Vikorsky?”

“Missing,” said Wilkins. “I’ve looked all over the station for him. He’s gone.”

“Gone? How? That doesn’t make any sense. We saw him last night. Where would he have gone?”

“I don’t know.”

Julia looked at Mick. “You think that’s what you heard last night?”

Mick shrugged. “Could have been. I don’t know.”

“What did you hear?”

Mick looked at Wilkins. “I went to bed late last night. As I was turning in, I thought I heard something down by the greenhouse.”

Wilkins frowned. “You didn’t look into it?”

“He was tired,” said Julia. “Forget about it.”

“Well, whatever he heard, the fact is Vikorsky is gone.”

“No signs at all of where he disappeared to?”

“None,” said Wilkins.

Julia looked out the windshield toward the horizon. They were there. The mountains. She could feel them, unseen over the horizon, pulling her — urging her to drive to them. She felt the pull, the tug, and the stronger yank of whatever secrets they held.

She desperately wanted to drive.

But Viksorksy was gone.

Vanished.

The mountains would have to wait.

“Tell Nung to shut the Cat down.”

Mick looked at her. “We’re not going?”

“We can’t drive off now,” said Julia. “What if Viksorksy is somewhere inside the station? He might be hurt. He might be somewhere we don’t know about. He might need us. Leaving this place for eight hours might even mean his death.”

Mick looked down. “He might already be dead. Did you ever think of that?”

“I’ve considered it,” said Julia. “I don’t want to accept that yet, though.”

“Kendall’s going to have a field day with this one,” said Wilkins.

“Just tell Nung to shut it down. I want everyone inside. We’ll organize a search party and see if we can comb the place over again.”

Wilkins shut the door and hurried to the other Snowcat. Julia watched him pull the door open and begin gesturing with his arms. She could see the disappointment on the faces of the other crewmembers.

Did they feel it, too? Did they feel the inexorable pull coming from the horizon. Did the mountains have some sort of weird control over them?

“Julia?”

Mick’s voice.

Beside her.

Warm.

Soothing.

She turned. His blue eyes bore into her. “Yes?”

“You ready to go inside?”

She nodded. But the only place she wanted to go was to the mountains over the horizon.

4

Julia thanked her guardian angels for including Wilkins on the trip. As soon as they got inside he stood right behind Julia. She could feel his strength and warmth behind her and it lent her the stability she felt she needed.

“Vikorsky’s gone missing. We’re going to find him.”

Kendall’s predictable frown stood out among their faces. “How are you planning on doing that? Remember, the other crew vanished without a trace.”

“We’re not discussing my memory,” said Julia. “The others disappeared before we got here. There’s not much we can do about that right now. What I’m concerned about is Vikorsky. He was here with us last night.” She glanced around again. “Did anyone see him after we went to bed last night?”

Mick spoke up. “Just what I told you a few minutes ago.”

“What was that?” asked Kendall.

“Mick heard some noises down by the greenhouse, apparently,” said Julia. “It was late, he was tired and didn’t investigate. It doesn’t help us much.”

Kendall peered at Mick. “How come you didn’t check it out?”

Mick stared back at him. Julia marveled at his stony expression. “I was tired. I wanted to sleep. Besides, it might have just been a strong gust of wind.”

“It might have been Vikorsky pleading for help, too.”

Wilkins cleared his throat. “I don’t think we’re accomplishing anything debating what might have happened.”

Julia nodded. “We’ll search in pairs.”

“We’re not an even number, anymore,” said Kendall.

“Wilkins, Mick and I will search as one group. The rest of you can pair up. We’ll take the greenhouse. Everyone grab some radios out of communications and we’ll stay in touch that way.”

“Does this mean we aren’t going out today?”

Julia looked at Kendall. “I think we’d all agree that our first priority is to see if Vikorsky is still here. If he hasn’t vanished, he might be hurt.”

“And if we don’t find him?”

“We’ll go out tomorrow. Weather report says there’s another batch of snow headed our way.”

Kendall sighed. “This is turning into one helluva trip.”

Julia smiled. “You can always start for home, Kendall. Provided you don’t mind walking and swimming.”

Kendall frowned and walked out of the room followed by Darren. Julia turned to Wilkins and Mick. “You guys ready?”

Wilkins held up a walkie-talkie. “Already grabbed a radio on the way in. Let’s go.”

He led them down the cylindrical corridor. Overhead, an extensive array of ductwork funneled heat throughout the station. Julia felt like she was walking down a long series of tubes. Behind her, she heard Mick chuckle.

“I feel like I’m in a habitrail.”

At the next intersection, Wilkins bore right. Julia could see the heavy door ahead that kept the greenhouse warmer and more humid than the rest of the complex. Wilkins punched the open button and they stepped inside.

A wave of sticky heat enveloped them.

“Sauna City,” said Mick.

“Has to be this way,” said Julia. “The vegetables and plants do best in this kind of weather.”

“What exactly do they grow here?”

Wilkins moved off from them, already poking among the tall stalks of green that sprouted up from the floor. Julia inhaled the scent of produce. She could pick out the rich scent of soil, the delicate fragrance of flowering buds and an almost ethereal quality to the air.

“The greenhouse grows everything from carrots and potatoes to onions, tomatoes, and broccoli.”

“I hate broccoli,” said Mick.

Julia could see Wilkins ahead some ten feet. “Anything up there?”

Wilkins looked up. “Not a damned thing.”

“What exactly did you hear last night?” Julia looked at Mick.

He frowned. “Wish I was more awake. It sounded like it might have been a thud or something. I mean, there was nothing especially exciting about it. If it had sounded unusual, I would have come down.”

“Well, let’s see if there’s anything here.” She turned right and moved down the narrow walkway. She heard Mick fade off the other direction.

The greenhouse itself was forty feet by forty feet. Julia’s direction took her toward the leafy stalks of plants the station used in horticultural research. She didn’t recognize the varieties, but knew the station had been attempting to study soil conditions hundreds of feet below the surface. One of the scientists apparently believed the conditions would be extremely fertile. The plants had been flown in to test their ability to grow in soil samples retrieved through deep-boring efforts.

From the look of it, they seemed to be doing well.

Indeed, as Julia stooped lower to check in and among the plants, the stems seemed to loom larger around her, almost closing in and shutting out the sunlight that filtered in through the opaque heavy duty roof.

Julia sighed, hoping she wouldn’t find Vikorsky’s body down in the dirt and among the plants.

At the same time, she longed to hear the crackle of the radio informing her that Vikorsky had been found — alive and perfectly safe.

But she only heard quiet.

She moved ahead, dropping now to her hands and knees to peer in the tightly woven stems. She could almost imagine the stalks entangling a human body and slowly devouring it like some type of giant Venus flytrap.

But that was silly.

Wasn’t it?

“Find anything?”

Julia jumped. Mick. Behind her. She breathed.

He smiled. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“That’s okay.” Julia sighed. “You just caught me daydreaming is all.”

“Anything good?”

“Nope.”

Mick thumbed over his shoulder. “There’s noting back that way.”

“Where’s Wilkins?”

Mick turned. “I don’t know. He oughta be up where we saw him last.”

Julia stood and followed Mick back to the main throughway. “Wilkins?”

His head appeared among some corn stalks further up. “Yo.”

Julia relaxed. For a minute she’d almost thought that Wilkins would disappear. That wouldn’t have been good. Not at all.

“Find anything?”

Wilkins shook his head. “Nothing. You guys?”

Mick frowned. “Nada.”

Wilkins nodded and pointed skyward. “What about the roof?”

Julia frowned. “What about it?”

“Those panels up there, they’re individually locked into place. What if one of the is loose?”

“You think there might be?”

Wilkins shrugged. “Never know until we check it out.”

Mick shrugged. “Do we have a ladder?”

“In the corner when we came in. Oughta be a magnesium ladder. Nice and light.”

Mick got the ladder and opened it up. Julia braced it again the wall. “How will you be able to check all the panels?”

“There’s a gridwork up there I can maneuver around on,” said Mick. He glanced at Wilkins. “You stay close in case I fall?”

Wilkins grinned. “I’m touched you want me to catch you.”

“I was thinking you’d break my fall.”

“Get up there.”

It wasn’t that far to climb. The roof itself was only twenty feet high with the gridwork underneath it by four feet. Mick reached the gridwork and left the ladder behind, easing onto the gridwork in a sort-of crawl. Julia watched him move around, slowly checking each panel.

From her vantagepoint, she couldn’t help but appreciate the outline of his body. There was obviously a lot of muscle underneath his clothing. A quick image flashed through her mind and she cleared her throat quickly, chasing it away. Stay focused, she thought.

Maybe there’d be time for that later.

Mick had covered half of the greenhouse roof when he stopped suddenly.

Wilkins exhaled. “What’s wrong?”

Mick looked down. “Panel up here. It’s open.”

“You mean it’s unlocked?”

“Yeah. It’s closed but it’s unlocked.”

Julia frowned. “Can you lock it?”

Mick peered at the panel. It must have been tough contorting his body to examine the panel’s edging. But he never complained. Julia thought it marked him as a real professional but didn’t say anything.

“Lock’s gone,” said Mick. “Looks like it’s been torn off.”

“Torn off?”

“I’m coming down,” said Mick. He eased himself back toward the ladder. His feet reappeared first and then the rest of his body followed.

Julia saw a sheen of sweat coating his face. “Hot up there?”

“Heat rises.” Mick thumbed skyward. “That’s a real funny piece of work up there.”

Wilkins started for the ladder. Mick stopped him. “Hang on. If we’re going back up there, we ought to at least have something we can lock it down with.

Julia looked at him. “You think Vikorsky might have climbed out of the window? That doesn’t make any sense. He could have simply walked out the front door. Besides, even if he did get out on to the roof, he’d have to get down to the ground somehow and that doesn’t make any sense at all — “

“Julia.” Mick stopped her.

“Yes?”

“I don’t think he climbed out.”

“No?”

Mick shot a glance at Wilkins who frowned and looked back at the roof. Mick looked back at Julia. “I think something might have come into the station through the open panel up there.”

“And what — grabbed Vikorsky? While the rest of us slept nearby?”

Mick shrugged. “I’m open to alternate theories.”

“But that would mean someone would have had to climb on to the roof, pry open the roof panel, and then shimmy in through that opening, open the door to the greenhouse and make their way through the station to where Vikorsky was sleeping.” She looked at Mick. “Doesn’t that strike you as an awful lot of work?”

“Sure does.”

“Do you know anyone who could do that sort of thing and not be heard?”

Mick looked away.

Wilkins cleared his throat. “We might be looking at another possibility here.”

“That being?”

“What if it’s not a ‘who’ at all?”

Mick nodded. “That’s what I was thinking.”

“What if,” said Wilkins, “it’s a ‘what’?”

“You mean some sort of…creature?”

“I don’t know anyone who would have done something like this,” said Wilkins.

“Yeah, but do you know of any animals that could?” said Julia.

“No.”

“And besides,” said Julia, “the indigenous animal population of Antarctica is limited to penguins and a few seabirds.”

“Those are the animals we know about,” said Mick.

Julia cocked an eyebrow. “You think there might be a few species we don’t know about?”

“What I’m saying,” said Mick, “is at this point, it looks like something or someone came in through that skylight and snatched Vikorsky last night. Whether they killed him or not remains to be seen. But considering the fact that we’ve found nothing, I’d say we need to stay open to certain possibilities about the nature of this disappearance.”

Julia sighed. “Wonderful.”

“Something else,” said Wilkins.

“What?”

“Since we’re being so open to possibilities, we might also consider the idea that whatever took Vikorsky will come back again.”

5

“So what you’re telling us is that we’re being…invaded?”

Julia sighed. “Kendall, no one’s saying anything right yet. The fact remains we haven’t located Vikorsky yet-”

“You mean his body.”

“No.” She glared at him. The way he tried to command the room by seating himself at the head of the table in the mess hall, it annoyed her. “What I’m saying is we haven’t found him yet.”

Kendall looked about ready to argue with her again when Mick’s voice cut through the air, a welcome edge to it. “This back-and-forth arguing gets us nowhere fast. Vikorsky is gone. We think we may have found the opening through which he either left on his own or was taken.”

Nung glanced up from the microcircuitry he was working on. “Where’s the opening?”

Julia glanced at Mick. He tried to smile, but it didn’t really work. She took a deep breath. “The roof of the greenhouse.”

Nung almost dropped the soldering iron he had. “The roof? That’s almost thirty feet off the ground.”

“It’s twenty,” said Mick. “I was up there today.”

“The roof it was open?” Havel’s eyes conveyed the fear Julia felt building in her own stomach.

“One of the panels was. Yes. The lock had been jimmied open. I don’t know how.”

Wilkins cleared his throat. “Julia, what do you want us to do?”

“We can’t do anything else for right now. We’ve got more bad weather coming in. Tomorrow, we can search outside.”

“Won’t do any good,” said Kendall. “The fresh snow will have erased any of the signs of Vikorsky’s passage.”

“If we can’t find him, then we’ll go on with our primary tasking.” Julia looked at Wilkins. “That sound okay to you?”

“Yep.”

“We’ve still got another night to get through,” said Darren. “I’m not exactly interested in sleeping alone.”

Wilkins grinned. “Be the first you ever did anyway, you dog.”

Darren grinned. “I slept alone last night.”

Mick took a sip from his big blue ceramic mug and then set the cup down. “We’ll post a watch. Two of us on every two hours.”

“A watch?” Kendall laughed. “You must be joking. This isn’t the army, you know.”

Mick said nothing.

Kendall continued. “And what, pray tell, would you suggest we use to fend off whatever might be paying us nocturnal visits? We don’t have any weapons in this station. In case you forgot, we’re a research facility, not a military one.”

“Thanks for the reminder,” said Mick. His eyes blazed momentarily at Kendall who looked away. “You’re right, we have no weapons, per se.”

“Per se?”

“We can improvise.”

“With what?”

Mick shrugged. “Is it too much to reason that whatever might have taken Vikorsky might not like bright lights?”

“Why?” asked Julia. “Because it comes at night?”

“Yeah.”

“I think this whole thing is a stretch,” said Kendall. “I’m going to bed.”

“Sit down.”

The tone in which Mick uttered the simple command made everyone freeze in the room. Julia looked at him and saw something else there. Something brewing under the surface of his calm demeanor. Some kind of intensity unlike any she’d ever witnessed before. When he said it, there was no refuting it.

And Kendall sat back down.

Mick looked at them all. “Going anywhere alone right now is not a safe thing to do. We don’t know what we’re dealing with…yet. We move around here in pairs. Stay in contact by radio. We post two guards every two hours tonight while the rest of us sleep.” He looked at Kendall. “You’re right, this isn’t a military facility, but if you’re dealing with something unknown that appears to be taking people, then I’d suggest we adopt a bit more of a soldierly outlook toward dealing with it. Okay?”

Everyone nodded.

Mick suddenly seemed to remember something and the blazing intensity vanished. He held up a hand. “I mean, that is if Julia thinks we should do this.”

She raised her eyebrows. What was she going to do, contradict him? Not a chance. Especially since his ideas seemed sound.

“It’s fine with me.”

Nung nodded. “You mentioned bright lights.”

Mick took a long drag on his mug. “We’ve got some of those special high-powered numbers don’t we?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you rig them for use in here?”

“You have an idea?”

“We’ll position them in the greenhouse. By where the opening was.”

“Do you really think whatever took Vikorsky will be foolish enough to come back in through that way again?” Kendall sat there with a smug look of satisfaction on his face. He seemed pleased to have rained on Mick’s parade a little bit.

Julia hated him for it.

“We don’t even know if we’re dealing with anything yet,” said Mick. “All I’m trying to do is cover any bases we might have. Close up any gaps in our personal security. If there is something out there with an eye toward taking us, then I think it’s best that we do everything we can to protect ourselves.”

Wilkins nodded. “I find it difficult to swallow that Vikorsky chose to wander out of the facility during the night by climbing twenty feet and going on to the roof. It seems absurd.”

“I agree,” said Havel. “I believe we are being hunted.”

Julia felt the pit in her stomach suddenly grow larger. Her first command and it was going to hell.

“Everyone had dinner already?” It was the best thing she could come up with.

They all nodded. She turned to Mick. “Any suggestions on the watch postings? I don’t have any experience with that sort of thing.”

“We did it in the service all the time,” said Mick.

“What branch?”

Mick looked at Kendall. “Excuse me?”

“I asked you what branch were you in?”

Mick peered at Kendall for another minute. “Air Force.”

“A pilot?”

“No.”

“What then?”

“We don’t have time for twenty questions, Kendall,” said Wilkins. “We’ve got stuff to do.”

“Just trying to get acquainted with our newest comrade is all.”

“The meet-and-greet was last night after you went to bed. Sorry you missed the fun.” Wilkins turned to Nung. “Can you and Darren take care of getting the lights ready?”

Nung nodded. “Sure thing.”

“Okay,” said Mick. “Here’s how we’ll do it: I’ll grab the first watch with Wilkins. That’s nine to eleven. Nung and Darren are eleven to one. Havel and Kendall get one to three. Wilkins and I will come back on at three and go until dawn.”

Julia eyed him. “Excuse me.”

He looked at her. “Yes?”

“My name wasn’t on that list.”

Mick chewed his lip. “Uh…yeah. Well, it’s just that if anything happens, I’m not so sure-”

“That a woman can handle herself?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“It just so happens that I can hold my own against anyone here. Don’t exclude me from the watch just because you might think otherwise.”

Mick looked like he was about to say something but then thought better of it. He sighed instead. “Fine. You and I will take the three until dawn shift. That okay with you?”

“Yes.” Julia quelled the rising heat in her face and pretended to concentrate on the floorplan diagram on the table. It showed the layout of the facility. “Where are the lights going?”

Mick came over and pointed. “Corridors. Here. And here. By the greenhouse door. I want a pair of them aiming up at the ceiling.” He looked up at Nung and Darren. “I’ll go down with you and show you how I want them aimed.”

Wilkins peered over his shoulder. “Seems like a plan.”

“Best one we can come up with right,” said Mick. “Barring a sudden windfall of weapons and reinforcements.”

“You talk like a soldier.”

Mick turned. Kendall faced him again. Mick’s face got hard again, but then a small grin played across it. “Aren’t you tired?”

“You’re evasive as hell, too.”

“What I am,” said Mick, “is annoyed. Stop treating me like a suspect. I’m one of you.”

Kendall grinned. “That I doubt very much. But whatever. Havel and I have an early night. I’m off to bed.”

“We sleep two to a room tonight,” said Julia. “Like Mick said, it’s not safe going anywhere alone.”

“And if I have to take a dump will Havel wipe my ass for me, too?”

“That’s up to Havel. But I don’t think you’re his type.” Julia smiled.

Kendall frowned. “Ridiculous. We should have gone home yesterday when we had the chance. And now we’re here playing soldiers with something we have no clue about. We could all die here.”

No one said anything. Kendall seemed satisfied with the effects of his words and turned. “Good night everyone.” He looked at Havel. “Coming?”

Havel looked at the rest of them and grimaced. Then he left the room.

Everyone sighed at once. Julia kept her head down. Wilkins filled his coffee mug. “That guy is the biggest pain in the ass I’ve ever known.”

“Seemed pretty gung-ho on you Mick,” said Darren.

“Maybe he’s a pacifist,” offered Nung.

“Maybe he’s just an asshole,” said Julia. Everyone laughed. Except for Mick. They looked at him but he was in mid-sip. When he finally set his mug down, his face was grim.

“Maybe Kendall had better hope that whatever took Vikorsky doesn’t figure out a new way in. And grab him.”

“Yeah, that’d be a shame,” said Wilkins.

But they all knew it was true.

6

In the early pre-dawn hours, the entire facility felt as still as a morgue. The air hung heavy with the vague smell of moist lead. Julia shivered slightly from her vantagepoint at the end of the long hallway.

Across from her, Mick’s eyes never left the doorway to the greenhouse.

She watched him, aware that there seemed no ebb in the intensity of his gaze. Despite the fact that he’d had the least amount of sleep tonight, he seemed primed.

Ready.

“Mick?”

He never took his eyes off the doorway. “Yeah?”

“What do you think we’re dealing with?”

He waited a long few seconds before answering. “I don’t know.”

She frowned. Was he telling the truth? Part of her suspected that maybe he knew something more than he was willing to acknowledge. Part of him seemed deeply troubled by the events, but another part seemed comfortable with the idea — the notion — that something was hunting them.

But why?

“What kind of an animal could survive down here? How could they live in this environment?”

“Maybe it’s not an animal at all.”

“Well, it couldn’t be a person. There are no other facilities within a thousand miles of this one.”

He glanced her way, but only for the briefest second. “Julia, do you truly believe that we are masters of this planet? That we know everything there is to know about our home?”

She paused. “We haven’t fully explored the oceans yet.”

He nodded. “Nor have we explored all the regions we claim to have, either. There are still frontiers out there. Places we know little about. And those frontiers sometimes border other frontiers. Frontiers we might only visit in the depths of our worst nightmares.”

“What are you saying, Mick?”

“Just this: don’t discount anything. Keep yourself open to every possibility. Only when you do, will you be able to see things as they really are.”

She nodded and went back to watching the doorway. They’d left the door open so the humidity had spilled out into the hallway. A cool sweat draped over Julia and she simultaneously felt too warm and too cool.

Keep open to every possibility. Mick’s words echoed inside her head like some sort of warning. But wasn’t that why Julia was here in the first place? Hadn’t she kept herself open and found her way to heading up a research team on the last great continent?

And right now, keeping herself open to possibilities didn’t really seem like the greatest idea, either. After all, she might be exposing her team to annihilation if they couldn’t figure out what the hell was happening down here.

“What do you think happened to the others?”

Her voice sounded loud in the hallway. Mick didn’t seem affected by it, though. He simply shrugged. “Probably dead.”

The finality of his statement shocked her. Again she found herself wondering how he could be so detached. So stalwart and unaffected by the implications of what he’d said.

“Who are you?”

He glanced at her again. This time, a small grin crept across his face. “I’m a friend, Julia. That’s all you need to know.”

“I’ve got the feeling that there’s more going on here than I know about.”

“What’s going on here is some type of creature is hunting humans.” Mick gestured to the doorway. “Worse, we’re virtually defenseless here. We’ve got no weapons.”

Julia frowned. “We’ve got the spotlights.”

“Yeah.”

“How come we didn’t switch them on?”

“Because if we did, then whatever this thing is wouldn’t want to come in here.”

“You want it in here?”

“Yes.”

“What on earth for?”

“So we can figure out what it is we’re fighting. When it comes, we’ll hit it with the lights and test out that theory that it’s vulnerable to bright light.”

“What if it’s not?”

Mick grinned. “Then we’re in serious trouble.”

How could he think this was funny? Julia shook her head and wished she could be back in the warmth and comfort of her home. Back in the real world where the only dangers she could remember involved homicides and drug dealers and car wrecks.

“Try to relax.”

She looked at him. “Sorry?”

“Relax. I can smell the fear coming off you in waves. Just let it go. I’m not even sure this thing will even show up tonight.”

“Easier said than done.”

“I know it.”

“You’ve done this before.”

He shrugged. “Some things aren’t all that tough to figure out.”

“You mentioned you were ex-military. What did you do in the service?”

“It’s classified.”

She stared at him. “I don’t think there’s a big danger of someone hearing us and running to the papers, Mick. Level with me.”

He looked at her, this time for longer. “Are you sure you want to open that box?”

“There’s nothing else to do.”

“We could sit here and play word games. We could pretend none of this is real.”

“We’d have to wake up eventually.”

“Yeah.”

She watched him wrestle with it. Eventually he sighed. “I worked in special operations.”

“What — like a SEAL?”

“I was in the Air Force. SEALs are Navy.”

“I didn’t even know the Air Force had special operations.”

“Not many people do. That’s the way we like it.”

“You saw combat.”

“I saw it. Yeah. Hell, I slogged through some of the worst fighting you could ever imagine. House-to-house stuff in Kuwait. Jungle warfare doing drug interdiction down in South America.” His voice trailed off.

There’s more, thought Julia. But how far could she push him?

“I lost a lot of friends,” said Mick. “It comes with the job. Specops is all-volunteer. No one gets drafted into the units. You want in, you know the cost might be your life. We all knew it. But we wanted in anyway.”

“Why?”

Mick shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe some of us are simply programmed for it. Hard-wired for warfare. We know we can’t fit in anywhere else in society so we find the one thing that makes us feel complete. The one thing that no one else can touch or take away from us.” He sighed. “There’s a moment, you know. In combat. When the bullets are flying and you look over at your teammate and you know he’s right there feeling the fear and the anger and the rage and the desire to get it done and over with. You look and see that and you make a vow to never let your teammate down. You carry on for each other. The rest of the world can go fuck itself. You live and die for each other. It’s the most pure form of loyalty there is.”

The air felt heavier. Julia could tell the words Mick spoke were true. He’d leveled with her after all.

He shrugged. “A lot of us paid a heavy price for serving in the units. Doesn’t matter what branch, we all know the same shit. We all know buddies who died defending what we all believed in.”

“How long were you in?”

“Long enough.”

“That’s not an answer.”

Mick smiled. “Julia, I’ve told you too much already. You keep pressing me for information you won’t like the answers you get. Trust me.”

“I trust you.”

“Then let it go. There are some things I won’t talk about. No matter how pretty you happen to be.”

Julia smiled now. “Flattery?”

“Call it what you want.” Mick shrugged again. “I call it like I see it.”

“Unless it’s classified.”

He smiled. “Don’t ruin the moment.”

“Are we having a moment?”

He chuckled. “Why not? We’re on some barren icescape. It’s the middle of the freaking night. And we’re waiting for some kind of creature to show up and carry off one of our teammates. Seems like the perfect time for a moment.”

“That’s good enough for me.” Julia smiled. Despite the pressure of the current situation, she felt even more at ease with Mick now that he’d shared something of himself with her. She felt even more attracted to him.

She just hoped he felt the same way.

She risked another look at him.

But something had changed.

His face wasn’t soft and relaxed any more. The edge of his jaw seemed tight.

Firm.

“Mick-”

He held up a hand to silence her.

His eyes closed and she could tell he’d stopped breathing. What was he doing? Concentrating?

Listening…

He opened his eyes.

And pointed.

Then Julia heard it.

A noise.

From the greenhouse.

Faint at first.

It was growing louder.

7

Julia looked at Mick but his eyes had hardened.

Quickly.

In his right hand, he gripped the remote transmitter that would cue the spotlights. But would they be enough to stop whatever was trying to get back into the greenhouse?

She hoped so.

Mick brought his left hand up to his mouth, urging Julia to remain quiet. The sound grew louder now. It sounded like something scratching at the glass, a fingernail down the transparent pane perhaps.

It sounded long.

Drawn out.

From their position in the hallway, neither Julia nor Mick could see into the greenhouse. Mick had positioned them out here deliberately. When they’d set up the watch position earlier, he’d told Julia it didn’t make sense for them to actually be in the room itself.

“We don’t know what we’re dealing with. I’d rather not have something drop down on me once it realizes it might be walking into a trap. We’ll wait in the hallway and see what happens.”

The only place Julia wanted to be right then was back home in the United States. Safe under the flannel striped comforter that she’d had for five years, the kind where the stuffing had pooled to one edge, regardless of the waffle design. She didn’t love the comforter any less for it; she loved it all the more. And curling up under it on winter days made everything in the world seem…safe.

Instead, she thought, I’m thousands of miles from home. Down at the bottom of the world. All around me is ice. Snow. Cold.

And to top it off, some kind of creature was trying to break into the only piece of sanctuary they had.

There was an abrupt change in the sound from the greenhouse. The scratching stopped.

And a trickle of cold air issued out of the greenhouse door, tickling Julia’s hair, making shivers run up her spine.

It was inside.

She glanced again at Mick but he remained absolutely still.

Listening.

Why doesn’t he flip the switch now? Do it!

Another noise from beyond the door.

A scrape?

Another.

And another.

Julia remembered the scaffolding Mick had had to climb today to see the opening in the greenhouse roof. Was the creature climbing down it?

She stared at Mick. Flip the lights on!

Now!

But Mick stayed still. She wondered if he was breathing.

Julia tried to steady herself. Her heart sounded like thunder in her ears. The air in the hallway had grown colder now. Even with her jacket on, she still felt it.

All that Mick had on was a heavy turtleneck. How could he stand the cold?

There was a sudden thud in the greenhouse.

Whatever was in there, it had found its way to the floor.

Julia peered into the darkness of the greenhouse door. She wanted to cower in the recessed wall where she stood. She couldn’t see anything.

But she heard it now.

Moving.

Toward the door.

Toward them.

Mick never moved.

Julia stared at the blackness beyond the opening of the door. Could it see her? Could it feel them outside? Did it know it was walking into a trap?

When she finally saw the first glimpse of movement, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her because she’d been staring so hard.

It was no trick.

And gradually the head emerged from the gloom beyond the door.

That was when Mick flipped the lights.

The entire hallway and greenhouse lit up like an mushroom cloud had just detonated. The next sensation Julia had was one of abject terror as she winced at the sudden bright light and the simultaneous exposure to the creature.

She saw it full on.

Bathed in the intense light.

It screeched.

Wailed.

The noise filled the hallway. The creature reeled back into the greenhouse, still screaming. One of its misshapen claws came up as if shielding it from the light.

Mick grabbed her by the arm. “Come on!”

Were they going back to the kitchen area?

No.

Mick was dragging them into the greenhouse.

Chasing the creature?

They ducked through the opening. Mick pointed. Thirty feet away, she could make out the creature scaling the scaffolding as easily as a spider. Its long limbs gripped exposed girders and moved its girth up toward the skylight.

And still it screeched.

At the top of the girders, it cast one final look back and wailed once more. Julia closed her eyes and saw a million flashes of memory cascade behind her eyes — she saw the dreams, the images of this continent. They flew across the screen of her mind’s eyes faster than she thought possible.

What was happening to her?

Mick shook her.

“Julia!”

She opened her eyes. The creature was still staring at her, its deep bulbous orbs probing. Finally, it broke the stare and slipped back out of the opening.

On to the roof.

Then it was gone.

The last of its screeches died as the cold Antarctic winds drowned out anything else.

“Oh my God.”

She looked at Mick. His face still looked hard. Determined. She’d never seen him look like that before. Was this some type of warrior conditioning he’d learned in special operations?

“You okay?”

She shook her head. “What the hell was that?”

“I don’t know.”

“The lights — “

“Yeah. They worked.”

“Lucky for us.”

“I don’t know how lucky we’ll be in the future.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Mick shrugged. “Maybe it can adapt to whatever we throw at it. If it knows we know it’s sensitive to light, maybe it has some method of protecting itself from it.”

“Great.”

“Did you see the way it paused at the top there? Maybe the lights only work within a set range. Once it’s beyond that range, it can operate unaffected by it.” He looked at her. “You okay?”

“Yeah.”

“You looked like you tuned out there for a second.”

“It…looked at me.”

“Yeah, it did.”

“I saw things. Memories. Dreams. I don’t know. I felt like it was…almost accessing my mind.”

“Maybe it can.”

She looked back up at the opening. “My God, what was it?”

Mick shook his head. “I don’t think we’ll have any more visits tonight.”

The sound of running feet behind them made them turn around. Julia saw Wilkins duck through the door.

“What the fuck?”

“We saw it.”

“Saw what?” Kendall strolled through the door as if nothing had happened.

“The creature,” said Mick. “It was inside.”

Wilkins nodded at the lights. “They worked?”

“Yeah. Fortunately.”

Kendall frowned. “Sure was a lucky thing that you thought of it, too, Mick. I’d sure love to know how you arrived at the idea they might be sensitive to light.”

“It seemed to make sense since it was coming at night.” He frowned. “How about you tell us why you always speak in plurals when we talk about this thing?”

“What do you mean?”

“The rest of us say ‘it’. You say ‘they.’ You know something about this thing that the rest of us don’t?”

“Of course not.”

Julia searched his eyes but found no sign that he was lying. A scumbag like Kendall, she reasoned, he could talk his way out of anything.

Wilkins leaned against the wall. “Well, what happens now?”

“I could use a break,” said Julia. “I think waiting for that thing to come in sapped the rest of my energy.”

“It’s adrenaline,” said Mick. “Happens like that to everyone.” He glanced at Wilkins. “You want to wake another team up and see if someone else will watch now. I don’t think it’ll be necessary. I doubt very much we’ll see out visitor any more tonight.”

“You mean this morning.” Nung poked his head through the entryway.

Mick grinned. “Yeah.”

“Me and Darren will take another spell of it anyway. Just to be sure.” He thumbed over his shoulder. “The remote work okay for you?”

“Like a charm.”

Nung nodded. “Good. We’ll need it if that thing comes back.”

Havel wandered in drinking coffee. “I made another pot. I thought perhaps people would want some.”

“I could use some sleep,” said Mick.

Julia looked at him. “I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you admit you might be human like the rest of us.”

He smiled. “We’ll need a lot more sleep to take care of what we’ll have to do later today.”

“And what’s that?”

Mick looked back up at the roof. “Find out where that thing is coming from.”

8

By noon, Mick had woken up and rejoined the rest of the team. Julia felt a measure of relief flood her when he walked into the galley area and asked for coffee. Nung handed him a cup and Mick drank it down straight, without even pausing to let it cool.

“Good sleep?” Julia asked.

He looked at her and grinned. “Are you serious?”

“I was.”

“Nice of you to ask,” said Mick. “But it was a pretty hard deep sleep without much in the way of good dreams.” He turned to Wilkins. “Do we have an extensive map of the area we’re in?”

“Sure. I’ll get it.”

Mick waited for him to return and then cleared a space on the main table and watched Wilkins spread the map out. He leaned in close and took his time examining the contour lines.

Wilkins pointed. “We’re here.”

Mick nodded. “The rest of this area seems pretty barren. Just level plain,” his voice trailed off, “until we get to here.” His jabbed at the spot with his thumb. “What’s the deal with these?”

“The mountains?” Julia shrugged. “Supposedly the team here before us was supposed to do some exploring in them. We don’t know, of course, if they were successful or not.”

Mick frowned. “I wonder if…”

“What?” Kendall appeared out of nowhere.

Mick eyed him. “I wonder if the team that explored the mountains maybe woke something up.”

“Are you nuts?”

“I’m open to other possibilities,” said Mick.

Kendall ducked back out of the room shaking his head. Julia watched him go and the turned back to the others. “I suppose we have to consider the possibility.”

“There’s no other place this thing could be coming from,” said Mick. “Unless it can burrow under fifty feet of snow and ice at will, the mountains are the only hope it has of good shelter.”

“Those mountains are fifty miles away, though,” said Wilkins. “You think the creature can travel that distance easily enough to keep coming back here?”

Mick sighed. “I don’t know. It really depends on what the creature is doing with the people it has.”

“What do you mean?”

Mick shrugged. “Well, at the risk of being blunt, how far would you travel to eat if the only restaurant in town was fifty miles away?”

Julia swallowed. Her throat felt thick. “Fifty miles.”

Mick nodded. “Exactly.”

“So what now?”

“We’ve got the two Snowcats still, right?”

“Sure, all gassed up and ready to rock and roll.” Wilkins turned to Nung. “You and Darren go and get them warmed up. We’ll be taking off soon.”

“The weather’s good for it,” said Nung. He slipped out of the room.

Julia squeezed Mick’s arm. “Are you sure this is such a wise idea?”

“Hell no.” He laughed. “But I’m not the type of guy who likes to sit back and wait for the bad guys to come to me. There’s a lot to be said for being proactive.”

“But we don’t have any weapons.”

Another smile crept out along Mick’s face. “I’m not too concerned about that.”

“You’re not?”

“It’s easily fixed.”

Wilkins shook his head. “How so? You planning on doing a Macgyver or something?”

Mick leaned back over the map. “If we leave the station and follow this line east, we should pass by this point here. Beyond that, it’ll be another two hours to get to the mountains.”

“And what’s at that point?” asked Julia.

“Weapons,” said Mick without looking up.

She could feel the Snowcat grinding up the ice and snow with its caterpillar treads. The engine purred, while warm air poured out of the vents. She, Mick, and Havel rode while Darren drove. In the other cat, Nung drove with Wilkins and Kendall.

“What’s the story with these weapons?” Julia glanced at Mick who hadn’t offered up much of an explanation since dropping the bombshell earlier.

“Would you believe me if I told you it’s classified?”

“No. In fact, it would probably annoy the hell out of me.”

Mick smiled. “Can’t have that.” He glanced out of the window. “There were precautions taken that I knew about when I was back in the service.”

“What sort of precautions?”

“Antarctica is supposed to be a neutral zone, politically speaking. Any country is welcome to come down here and research meteorology, geology, that sort of thing. Military outposts were forbidden.”

“Exactly.”

“Back during the Cold War, however, some of the people in charge didn’t see it that way. In fact, both sides did their part to militarize — albeit in a small way — the continent.”

Julia frowned. Hearing about guns and weapons down in the unspoiled beauty of this place shocked and disgusted her. She shouldn’t have been surprised, but she was. “Wonderful.”

“Sure,” said Mick. “We’re guilty of it. But so were the Soviets. We had intel that they’d moved a large cache of weapons down here. Small arms, mostly. A few mortars, but not much more. I think the weapons were primarily intended for a garrison of troops to protect the Soviet science stations, nothing more.”

“And we responded.”

Mick nodded. “Yeah. But we only got as far as placing the cache down here. We never actually moved any troops in. Neither did the Soviets. But the weapons stayed.”

“Wouldn’t the weather have affected them? Made ’em inoperable?” Darren looked at Mick.

Mick shook his head. “The American cache has a solar-powered generator that keeps the interior of the storage trunk warm enough so the workings don’t freeze. They’ve also been packed in grease, which would help cut down on corrosion and environmental bugaboos getting into the works and screwing things up.”

Julia sighed. “Sure is lucky you know about this thing, Mick.”

He looked at her. She turned away. “Just trying to help. And we’ll need every ounce we can get if that thing comes back.”

Darren grinned. “If we’ve got the weapons, we ought to go and kill the sumbitch before it can come back to the station and finish us off.”

Mick nodded. “Agreed. Let’s see what the weapons are like and then we’ll go from there.”

Everyone stayed silent for a moment and then Havel spoke up. “How long are we going to be at the cache?”

“Shouldn’t take too long. No more than thirty minutes. We’ll dig up the container and test fire a few of the guns. Then we’re on our way.”

“What about at the mountains themselves?”

“We could be there longer,” said Julia. “What’s on your mind?”

“Just concerned about our timings is all,” said Havel. “Personally, I’m not all that keen on spending the night in a Snowcat. It seems like an awfully vulnerable position to be in to me.”

Darren nodded. “Good point.”

Mick held up his hand. “Guys, relax. We’ve got plenty of time to get the weapons, do some initial exploration and then get back to the station by nightfall. We’ll batten down the hatches again, post guards, but this time, we’ll be ready for the creature if it comes back.”

Julia looked at Mick. Was he really that confident about things or was he simply trying to bolster Havel and Darren? She certainly appreciated his effort. She felt a little better for his effort.

“It’s going to work out fine,” she said finally.

“I hope so,” said Darren. “’Cause right now, I’m scared plenty about whatever the hell that thing is out there.”

“Me, too.” Said Havel.

“The only way we’ll get over that fear is to find out what we’re dealing with,’ said Julia. “And that means we go to the mountains and do whatever is necessary to ensure our own survival.” She leaned back in the seat, aware of the words she’d just spoken. It felt good hearing that come out of her mouth. Sometimes she marveled at her own ability to sound convincing. She just hoped everyone else thought so.

“Well said.” Mick clapped her on the shoulder. “And you’re right.”

“Let’s hope everyone else thinks so.”

Darren pointed ahead of them. “Looks like we’re arriving at the weapons cache. Nung just slowed his cat down.”

Mick zipped up his hood. “Okay. Let’s do this and be quick. You guys follow my lead if you don’t mind.” He looked at them all. “And when I activate the storage locker, I’d appreciate it if you all hung back.”

Julia frowned. “What for?”

“The combination is classified.”

“Are you joking?”

“No.”

“Who are you afraid of getting wind about it? We’re all alone down here. The closest settlement is almost two thousand miles away. And there are no Soviets lurking in the nearby area.”

Havel smiled. “I’m an American now.”

Mick shook his head. “Humor me, okay? Some of my old habits die pretty hard. Technically, no one is supposed to know about this. I’d appreciate it if we could keep it that way.”

He opened up the side door and jumped down into the snow. Julia watched him go and sighed.

Darren tapped her on the shoulder. She turned. “Yeah?”

“Who is this guy?”

She glanced back out the window as Mick made his way to the other Snowcat. Presumably to tell them what he just told them. She looked back at Darren.

“I wish I knew.”

9

Julia watched Mick from the cab of the Snowcat. He walked across the white ground and stopped every few paces. She thought she saw him reach into his pocket and pull something out, but his back obscured her view.

The other Snowcat sat just out of range as well. Apparently, Mick had been able to convince them to stay inside. She frowned. Part of her resented the ease with which Mick seemed to be able to assume command over the situation.

The team was still hers, after all. And while Mick might be a solider with the experience necessary to survive this bizarre situation, Julia was still in charge.

The problem was twofold. First, she had a thing for Mick. Her heart started hammering every time he even glanced at her. She chided herself for the schoolgirl crush, but dammit, she couldn’t help it. And that made sticking up for herself a bit of a problem.

The second part of the problem was that Mick showed absolutely no real interest in taking control of the expedition. He simply stated the obvious and people reacted to it as common sense. Any attempt on Julia’s part to paint him as some sort of quiet usurper of authority would make her look like the bad one.

And she could definitely trust Kendall to exploit that for everything it was worth.

She sighed.

Darren glanced at her. “You okay, boss?”

She smiled. She liked the sound of that word. “Yes. I’m fine, thanks. Just concerned about what’s going on. And how it will affect the original nature of our mission.”

“I think we all are,” said Havel from the backseat. “I’ve been dreaming of coming here for decades. But when I was dreaming, there was no mention of some type of creature hunting us.”

Julia grinned. “I didn’t have that in my dreams, either.”

She turned back to look out of the windshield. Mick had stopped walking around. He’d bent down on the ground, studying it intently. At once, he dug a gloved hand into the snow and ice. Satisfied, he used a small ice axe to start chopping away an outline in the snow.

Finished with that, he cleared the white covering away and Julia saw some type of dark hole in the ground.

“Whoever designed that hide, they knew how to camouflage something,” said Darren. “I never would have seen that.”

“I don’t think any of us would have,” said Julia.

“We are lucky Mick is with us,” said Havel. “And that he apparently has knowledge of these things.”

Was there a note of suspicion in Havel’s voice? Did he suspect Mick might not be all that he claimed he was? Or that he might be even more?

Mick had withdrawn a long cylindrical gray metal box from the hole. He reached in and pulled out another one. They both measured roughly five feet in length by three in width.

The hole in the ground disappeared.

Julia frowned. “Why did he close it up again?”

Darren pointed. “He’s waving us out. May as well go see what he dug up.”

Julia let herself down on top of the treads first and then onto the snow. Even as she approached Mick, she could already hear Kendall giving him lip.

“— ridiculous why we weren’t allowed to help you remove the weapons from the cache. Why should it be such a secret?”

Mick looked at him. “Are you finished?”

Kendall’s mouth moved as if about to say something, but he chose not to. Mick nodded to himself and then turned to Julia. “Let’s get these open.”

She knelt on the snow and undid the clasps on the first box. A whiff of air that smelled like her uncle’s old auto body shop tickled her nostrils. Inside the box she could make out the almost two dozen rifles and pistols. Each had been packed in grease and then slid into its own bag. From where she knelt, they almost looked like inflatable guns and not the real things at all.

Mick grabbed one of the bags out and tore open the bag. The rifle slid out, still encased in the greasy afterbirth. Mick paid as much attention to it as an obstetrician. He carefully wiped the ooze from the barrel, pawed it off on the snow and then continued wiping it with a cloth he’d found in the case until the rifle shone like new in the bright overhead sun.

Mick grinned and held it up, examining it from all angles. He slid a small button out from behind the trigger guard and quickly disassembled it piece by piece. Satisfied that everything seemed in working order, he reassembled the piece. Then he dropped the magazine and nodded at Nung to open the second case.

Nung looked up from doing so. “Ammo?”

Mick nodded. “Let me have the box marked 5.56.”

Nung handed it to him and Mick felt for some rounds, slipped them into the magazine one at a time, and then popped the mag back into the rifle.

He glanced at Julia. “You ever shoot before?”

“In the Girl Scouts.”

He smiled. “No shit?”

Julia nodded. “Summer camp.”

“Cool.” Mick ratcheted the charging handle back on the M16 and let it kick forward a round into the chamber. He stood and looked around.

“Kendall.”

“What?”

Mick fished in his pocket and came up with a soda can. Go pace out fifty steps and then place the can on the ground between the two Snowcats.

“Why me?”

Mick frowned. “Because you need something to do besides working your mouth.”

Kendall sighed, took the can, and started walking. Mick looked around.

“We have to clean and zero each of these weapons if they’re going to be any use to us at all. I’ll show you how in just a second. For now, let’s make sure this baby still works.”

Kendall finished placing the can and hurried back. Mick waited until he stood behind him and then brought the rifle up into his shoulder, leaned forward just a bit and squeezed off a single round.

The explosion sounded like an atom bomb. Julia groaned inside. So much for the peace and solitude of this place. Man and his guns had forever scarred it now.

The round burst into the snow two inches from the soda can. Mick nodded. “Off a bit.” He looked at Nung. “There should be a small tool in that case. Looks almost like a bit toothpick.”

“Got it.” Nung handed it to Mick who then used it to ratchet the rear sights on the M16.

He stood again and aimed. This time the bullet tore into the soda can and made it jump into the air. It came down with a clank.

Mick let the rifle down. “Okay. Let’s get to work.” He glanced at Julia. “How do you want to divide up the jobs?”

“We’ll all clean and zero the weapons.”

Mick nodded. “Okay.”

For the next hour they worked until they had twelve M16s and twelve Beretta pistols cleaned and in working order. They checked the ammo and then loaded up the Snowcats.

“There’s a lot of gear here,” said Wilkins. “We’ll have to watch the gas tanks and make sure we’re not pulling too heavy. If we are, it’ll cut down on our mileage and we’ll be screwed.”

“Good point,” said Julia. “When we get to the mountains, I want us together as much as possible. If that thing is living there, we’ll want to be together so it can’t get one of us alone and…”

Wilkins nodded. “Yeah. I got it, boss.”

Nung came over with his laptop. “Bad news, chief.”

Julia frowned. “I’m not in the mood for more bad news, Nung.”

“Wish I didn’t have to deliver it, but here it is: we got another storm coming down on us.”

“How big?”

“Big enough to make our lives pretty hellish.”

Julia looked out toward the horizon. She could just see the gray fringe of clouds. They looked dark. Ominous.

Scary.

“How long until it hits?”

“An hour. Maybe less.”

“It didn’t show up on the weather report earlier?”

“Nope.”

She shook her head. “I don’t like this.”

Wilkins sighed. “There’s worse news.”

Julia looked at him. “Are you kidding me?”

“Nope. Right now, that storm is coming straight at us from the direction we just came from — the station. We try to go back and we’ll be driving right into the middle of it. Best we could hope for then is to get stuck and spend one helluva uncomfortable night in the Cats.”

“And the worst,” said Julia, “is that we go off course, get lost, possibly crash, and die.”

“Yeah.”

“What are our options?”

Mick cleared his throat. “The mountains.”

She looked at him. “Go to the mountains?”

“It’s the only place we might find any type of shelter in the area. We get moving right now, it’ll take us about forty minutes to reach the base of them.”

“That only leaves twenty minutes to find something we can batten down under before we get walloped.” Julia sighed. “Not a lot of time.”

“Well, we’re dead if we go back,” said Wilkins. “The mountains might be the only place we can stand a chance of surviving.”

Mick hefted his rifle. “At the very least, we’re armed now. If that thing is in the mountains, we can at least hold our own against it.”

“Unless it’s impervious to bullets,” said Kendall.

Everyone turned. Kendall shrugged. “Well, you never know.”

“I’ll take my chances with it,” said Mick.

“All right,” said Julia. “It doesn’t seem like we have much of a choice. Let’s get going.”

They climbed back aboard the Snowcats and trundled off. Julia kept peering in the rearview mirror. The gray clouds had advanced some. How fast were they traveling? It seemed like they could easily overtake the two Cats.

What was it about the weather that seemed to be permanently against them?

She shook her head. That was her imagination. After all, they were down near the South Pole. Down here, the weather wasn’t against anyone.

It simply was.

And the equally simple fact was that if you forgot that for one second, you would die.

She glanced down at the rifle between her legs. The barrel stared up at her, ready to disgorge an ungodly amount of firepower at whomever she aimed the thing at.

Could she kill?

If she needed to?

The creature presumably had. And Julia wondered how she would feel if she suddenly came face-to-face with it in the darkened recesses of some rocky cave.

Could she bring the weapon to bear in time?

What if other lives depended on her doing that?

They did.

The team was counting on her as much as she was counting on them.

She’d have to kill in order to preserve the team. If it came to that.

Next to her, Mick’s face had resumed its hard look. He, too, kept studying the rearview mirror. Does he find the weather strange, too? Julia smirked. Maybe he was upset he couldn’t control it as easily as he seemed able to control everything else.

His hands seemed relaxed around the barrel of his own rifle. Of course, he’s relaxed, she thought, Mick’s been around guns a lot. He was in the military, after all. He’s probably been in situations like this a hundred times. He probably thinks I’m ill-suited to be leading this venture now.

Maybe he’s right.

No.

This was her mission. Not Mick’s. She’d use what talent he possessed to get them through whatever perils lay ahead.

But once that was done, they’d be back on schedule.

And back to Julia being in command.

She gripped the rifle a little tighter.

I could kill, she decided. If I had to.

10

By the time they reached the base of the mountains, the gray bloated clouds had overtaken them. Howling winds drew a fist of cold across the plain and slammed into each of them as they got out of the Snowcats and dragged out the survival kits with them. Julia glanced at Mick and the others and shuddered thinking about what would have happened if they’d tried to go back to the station.

Mick’s shouts could barely be heard over the gales. “We’ve got to hurry!”

He aimed them at the base of the nearest slope. Mick slung his rifle over his right shoulder and started clambering up.

Wilkins appeared at Julia’s ear. “Does he know where he’s going?”

Julia shook her head. “I don’t know. No one is supposed to have explored these mountains before, but he seems comfortable enough.”

And he was.

After climbing up twenty feet, Mick suddenly turned and waved the rest of them up. “There’s a cave up here.”

Julia glanced at Wilkins and thought she saw a frown come over her number two’s face. She couldn’t blame him. Mick suddenly seemed a lot more comfortable with things than made sense.

Still, they couldn’t very well sit out the encroaching storm front outside. And if Mick had found them a cave, that would be a lot better for their survival. Julia made her way to the wall of the mountain.

Havel had already started up. Nung was positioned to follow him. Julia got in line.

She glanced around and up at the sheer magnitude of the mountain range. She’d never been in so much awe as she was just then. The craggy peaks jutted toward the dark sky, scratching the very heavens.

And it’s all unexplored, she thought. Briefly, she experienced a sense of excitement. This might be a blessing in disguise, she thought. A chance to explore the mountains anyway.

But then she realized that the fact they were armed would presumably discourage any real exploration attempts beyond hunting the creature down.

And Julia wasn’t so sure she wanted to do that.

Nung’s feet disappeared in front of her and Julia slung her own rifle over her shoulder. She grabbed a slippery handhold and found purchase, making her way up in the same way the others had.

When she finally made the first ledge, she risked a look back down. Wilkins was on his way up, followed by Darren and then finally Kendall. Julia saw him looking back at the Snowcats.

Was he thinking about making a run back for the station in one of them? He’d never make it! And worse, if he took one of the Snowcats, half the team would be trapped here.

But Kendall apparently thought better of his idea, if he’d even had one, and started up the mountain as well.

Julia breathed a small sigh of relief and waited for Wilkins to climb up. Twenty feet suddenly seemed a lot higher, looking back down at the ground.

Wilkins drew abreast of her and exhaled a long icy breath. “Whew!”

She clapped him on the back. Climbing in heavy parkas and with a rifle was difficult.

Mick suddenly materialized. “C’mon. Another five minutes and this thing is going to be all over us.” He turned and they followed him toward the opening.

In and of itself, it wasn’t all that big. Maybe three feet wide by four feet. Just enough to squeeze through. But as she ducked into the darkness, compacting her already petite frame, Julia could see that the cave opened up dramatically on the other side of the opening.

Already, the air felt still, compared to the howling maelstrom outside. Mick walked further on and caught up with Nung and Havel who were crouched by a large boulder, rifles at the ready. The cave opened into a tunnel that appeared to go on for some distance.

Where did it end?

Wilkins and Kendall finally got into the cave and all of them huddled a moment to take a breath and relax. Masks came off, and hoods came down. Inside the cave, the air was still cold, but not nearly as bad as it was outside.

Mick checked the opening again and came back shaking his head. “It’s bad out there.”

Nung pointed. “Good thing that opening isn’t any larger. Otherwise we’d still be catching hell from that wind.”

Kendall leaned against the cave wall. “Well, now that we’re here, what do you propose we do?” He aimed a gloved finger at Julia.

“What we’ll do first,” said Julia, “is establish a base camp. We need warmth. Food. Water. Until we get out of here and back to the station, we’re going to have to rough it for a while.”

“I’d suggest that no one go anywhere by themselves, either,” said Mick. “We haven’t determined how far this cave goes on for. And we also haven’t determined if this is abandoned or not.”

Everyone turned slowly to peer into the darkness of the tunnel. Julia found herself staring into the inky blackness wondering what might live down there. And what it might do to them if it knew they were down here.

Vulnerable.

Wilkins cleared his throat. “I hate to be the one to bring this up, but we need a place to go to the bathroom. I’ll nominate myself to find a proper place. That wind made my bladder shrivel.” He hefted his rifle and started off. Darren got up and went with him.

“There’s no wood or vegetation to speak of inside here,” said Nung. “Looks like we’ll have to make do with a fire from the hexanol blocks.”

Mick shook his head. “No fires yet. The last thing we need is to announce our presence to whatever might be in here with us. Our clothes will keep us warm enough. Once we clear some more distance into the cave, we can move back more away from the opening. The air should be warmer back there.”

“We need light,” said Julia. Indeed, in the short few minutes they’d been inside, the ambient light from the opening had gone dark. Their eyes had adjusted, but it was coming on near total dark.

A light blossomed into the inkiness. Another soon followed. The survival lanterns used a slow-burning oil composite that would last for hours. They had six of them in total. Julia figured if they spaced them out right, they had enough to last for at least a day and a half.

Wilkins and Darren came back. Wilkins thumbed over his right shoulder. “Back and down there is a depressed area that should fit the bill.. There’s even some small opening that can act as a drain.”

Mick brought his rifle up. “It’s time we moved further in.” He looked at them. “I’ll take point.”

Wilkins walked over toward him. “I’ll go with you.” He glanced at Julia. “Okay boss?”

She nodded. “I’m going, too.”

Mick started to pretest but Julia shot him a look. “Girl Scouts, remember?”

He grinned. Julia turned to Nung. “Keep an eye on things back here. Two of you watch in the direction we’re traveling. The other two watch the door. I don’t want anything coming in there and taking us from behind.”

She moved off behind Wilkins and Mick. She noticed Mick had his rifle in his shoulder with the barrel aimed down at a forty-five degree angle. A sudden beam appeared from the end of his M16. She could see that he’d jury-rigged a flashlight to the underside of his barrel.

Smart, she thought. He’s definitely been in hairy situations like this before.

Once clear of the rest of the team, Mick turned and signaled Wilkins and Julia to come in close. He spoke in whispers, close to their ears.

“We should try to move as quietly as we can. We don’t know what’s up ahead and I’d rather not let it know we’re coming.”

Julia pointed at the end of his rifle. “What about the light?”

Mick frowned. “Not much we can do about that. We have to be able to see. Unless one of you has some night vision goggles you’ve been holding out on me, I don’t see much of a choice.”

“Looks like we go with the light then,” said Wilkins.

Mick nodded. “From now on, we’ll try to use hand signals only. When I give one, Wilkins will pass it down the line to you Julia so we all know what the deal is.” He went through some of them and then smiled. “All right, let’s move.”

He stood up again and started back down the tunnel. Wilkins stayed about four feet behind him and Julia followed.

As they walked, she couldn’t help but marvel at the jagged interior of the tunnel. Bits of rock jutted out at every angle. The floor of the tunnel underfoot felt like they were walking on an uneven rough surface that could slice them up if they fell.

Bits of moisture dripped down from unseen sources overhead. Julia supposed it was condensation gradually seeping through the rocks. Droplets fell and splashed in the darkness.

They were able to move remarkably quietly and the only echo came from behind them where the rest of the team was still waiting.

Mick’s flashlight beam cut through the darkness ahead, moving smoothly over the tunnel, back and forth, to and fro.

I’m glad he’s on point, thought Julia.

They’d traveled maybe one hundred meters when Julia thought she saw Mick do something with his arm. Wilkins’ arm went into the air soon after.

The fist.

Julia stopped before she bumped into Wilkins.

Up ahead, Mick stayed absolutely still.

Seconds ticked by and Julia felt like her heart was about to crash through her chest. It sounded so loud in her ears! Surely everyone else could hear it. She struggled to get a breath and inhale and exhale smoothly through her nose.

Relax, she thought. Mick’s up there. Anything that comes down the tunnel has to get through him first. And then Wilkins. And then me.

She grinned, but the thought didn’t make her feel much better.

More seconds ticked by. It felt like minutes. What was going on? What was Mick waiting for? For her part, Julia couldn’t see or hear anything that might have indicated danger ahead.

But then again, she didn’t have Mick’s acute senses.

She looked at Wilkins. The family man. Was he thinking about his family now? Was he thinking about how much more he’d rather be with them than here in this dank cave searching for safety while some unseen creature waited to hunt them all down?

The weight of her responsibility for the safety of her team suddenly crashed down on her. Their lives rested on her shoulders. Sure, Mick, was the solider who could protect them all, but Julia’s primary mission was to achieve her exploration objectives and bring her men home alive.

Funny how the appearance of danger suddenly made that responsibility all the more real and all the more overpowering. She took another breath and resolved herself to making sure the rest of them came home safe. She’d mourn Vikorsky later.

Finally, Mick’s arm moved again and they resumed walking. What had he seen? Julia frowned. Part of her wanted to be up front, leading the way. She wanted to see and hear what Mick did.

She grew used to walking on the uneven floor. Her footsteps rolled along, while she maintained an upright posture. The rifle felt a bit heavier than she remembered them being in the Scouts. But then again, she’d only ever fired a small. 22. The M16 was a heavier assault rifle.

The grips even felt a bit slippery, even though she still wore her gloves.

Was she sweating?

Under the coat, she felt warm suddenly. Like she’d just begun to perspire heavily.

A breeze tickled her face.

Breeze?

It was warm.

Something didn’t compute. They were at the South Pole virtually. A howling raging snowstorm blizzard raged outside these walls, and yet…the breeze was definitely warm.

The air around them started to grow almost balmy.

Wilkins had noticed it, too. She could tell from the way he moved that he was trying to figure it out as well. Mick, however, just kept plodding along.

Then suddenly, his arm shot up. And for some reason, Julia could see it clearly. She hadn’t been able to before. But was the cave getting…brighter?

Wilkins and Julia both stopped. Mick signaled them to stay out and then he crept ahead. He moved like a ghost. He made no noise at all. After about five minutes, he returned.

He cupped his hand and whispered to them.

“You won’t believe this: there’s a light up ahead.”

11

“What kind of light?” Wilkins looked incredulous in the distorted light of Mick’s flashlight.

There’s a fissure between some rocks. There’s light coming from the other side.”

“Artificial?” asked Julia. “Or natural?” It was tough to believe there’d be any type of sunlight coming from the hole, given the storm raging outside, but perhaps…

“I can’t tell without prying up the rocks and getting a closer look.” Mick shook his head. “Damnedest thing, though. There’s a warm breeze coming from the other side as well.”

“Is that why the cave got warmer?”

Mick nodded. “It’s steady, too. Like there’s an entirely different atmosphere on the other side of the rocks down there.”

“Different atmosphere?” What could possibly explain that? They were down in the freezing barren landscape of Antarctica. It seemed silly to think about the possibility of balmy temperatures down here.

Mick shrugged. “Just letting you know what I saw down there. I haven’t got a clue as to explaining it, but it’s there anyway.”

Wilkins glanced back in the direction they’d traveled. “Should we get the others? Move them on up here and set up a camp? It’s warmer and even lighter.”

Julia glanced at Mick. “You’re the tactical guy. What do you think?”

“May as well. It’s pretty obvious this is going to be our starting point for exploration. And I’m fairly confident there’s something interesting going on up there.”

“Okay, Wilkins will go back and get the rest of the team. Bring them up here. We’ll wait for you before we do anything else. I want us all situated and secure before we start prying any lids off of boxes. Got it?”

Wilkins nodded and moved back down toward the entrance. Julia looked at Mick. “What do you think it is?”

He smiled. “What — you think I was waiting for Wilkins to leave before I let you in on some deep dark secret?”

“We are at the bottom of the world. Seems as good a place as any to have a secret.”

He shrugged. “No secrets. What I reported is what I saw.”

“What else is in the weapons cache?”

“What?”

“How come you wouldn’t let us help you when you opened it? And don’t give me that bullshit about security and state secrets. It doesn’t wash.”

He smirked. “I thought perhaps there might be something else in the cache. Something that I’d heard about back in the service. It was a rumor, really. Nothing substantial. But those rumors and whispers seem to take on a life of their own when you’re suddenly confronted by a changing reality.”

“What was the rumor?”

He frowned. “That we’d stored small ADMs down here.”

“What’s an ADM?”

“Stands for ‘Atomic Demolition Munitions’.”

“Atomic?”

“As in nuclear. Yeah. They were originally designed to be small suitcase nukes capable of punching a big hole in an urban area. Or a ship. SEALs used to carry them on specialized missions. They never used them, but they did enough training that in the event of war, they could slap on to the hull of a ship and it would go bang and sink pretty damned fast.”

“And you thought we had them down here?”

“When that cache was established back in the early 80s, we had a cowboy for president, remember? Some people thought the Cold War was going to freeze over it got so bad. We were storing crap like that all over the world. Hell, the NATO storage facilities outside of military bases had the things.”

“I don’t get it.”

“NATO didn’t just use military bases for their weapons storage. They had secret places all over western Europe designated hides. Old farmhouses, empty fields, you name it and they were used. The idea being that in case of a massive Soviet attack, the resistance fighters would have a ready store of arms from which to draw and fight from. We stowed a mess of pocket nukes all over the place.”

“Wonderful.”

“Trouble is, some of them went missing.”

Julia swallowed. “I’m thinking there was almost no security on those secret hides?”

Mick nodded. “How could there be? They were supposed to be secret. A security force would have tipped people off to the presence of something besides a farmhouse or shit-strewn field.”

“So we stow nukes all over the place with absolutely no one to watch over them?” Julia shook her head. “Our capacity for stupidity amazes me sometimes.”

“Again, it was deemed necessary to ward off the growing Soviet menace. I’m not pretending to defend it, because I think the whole thing sucks, too. But you need to be able to view it from their position in order to make a fair judgment.”

“If you say so.” She glanced around the tunnel. “Do you think this area is good enough to camp in?”

Mick laid a hand on the rough ground. “It’s not going to be fun sleeping here, but it will do.” He pointed out some larger boulders. “See there? We can hide down behind them. Anything comes down the tunnel, we can pick it off pretty easily.”

“We’ll have to stay quiet.”

He nodded. “Definitely.”

“And tomorrow you want to go and see if there’s really something behind those rocks up ahead?”

“That’d be my plan if I was in charge.” He grinned. “But I’m not. You’re making the decisions here, Julia. Not me. I’m just a dumb soldier who unfortunately has some knowledge you and the others need right now in order to stay alive.”

“I appreciate your input.” Julia tried to smile. “Did you hear any other rumors while you were in the service?”

“Like what?”

“Like whatever might be hunting us right now?”

“Nah.” He shrugged. “I guess we have to remember that any new frontier has within it, the potential to also contain untold perils.”

“I just didn’t expect such a place like this to be one of them.”

“Down here we all expect the weather to be the big killer — the biggest danger we need to always be aware of. And that’s true.”

“But now we’ve got something else to deal with as well.”

“Yeah.”

She smiled at him. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Glad to be here. Wish things were a bit different, though.”

“How so?”

“Well, normally, I like taking a woman to dinner and getting to know her over a fine bottle of Pinot Grigio. I don’t usually consider barren icefields and strange creatures a good prescription for budding romance.”

“Are we budding?”

He smiled. His teeth gleamed in the strange light. “I’d sure like us to be.”

She leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the mouth. She found no resistance. He kissed her back and for a moment, everything disappeared. No more snow. No more ice. No more cold.

Just the warmth that spreads from the heart when you experience that first kiss. Julia caught her breath and wished the rest of her life could be like that tiny microscopic moment in time. So perfect. So peaceful.

Mick broke away suddenly.

Julia frowned. “What’s wrong?”

He searched behind her. “Rest of the team’s coming.”

She looked back. How had he heard anything. Julia searched the darkness but couldn’t detect the slightest noise at all.

“The air shifted,” said Mick in her ear. “That’s how I could tell.”

“I didn’t feel anything.”

He smiled again, but this smile was the kind that an expert reserves for those who don’t know any better. Julia saw it come across his face and got the message to trust him.

She did.

And three minutes later, Wilkins came into the ambient light followed by the rest of the team. They’d lugged the survival kits up with them.

Again, using hand signals, Mick directed them behind the rocks close by. Once they got settled, he moved back up next to Julia’s ear. “Okay, we’re all situated.”

“Have you given anyone their sentry duties yet?”

“Thought I’d clear it with you first.”

She smiled at him. “I guess we shouldn’t stand watch together, huh?”

“We might get distracted.”

“It happens.”

“We can’t take the risk.”

“Yeah.”

Mick took a deep breath. “Okay, so me and Darren will take first watch. You and Wilkins have second. Nung and Kendall can take 3rd and Havel and Me will take four. That sound okay?”

“Reluctantly. But yes.”

“You should get some food and water into you and then get your head down. Sleep’s not going to be the most exciting thing tonight.”

“At least I can dream happy thoughts,” said Julia. Mick moved off and Nung started breaking out the survival kits. Julia watched the cardboard box ration kits start going around. She grimaced. The high carbohydrate and protein meals always made her stomach cramp up.

She sighed and got to her feet. She couldn’t really afford to be picky about this. At least tomorrow they could presumably head back to the station and she could get some fresh vegetables from the greenhouse.

She got a bottle of water and cracked it. The ice cold liquid trickled down her neck and she sighed, realizing it had been hours since she’d taken a drink. Even in the snow and ice, they all had to be careful about dehydration. It could kill as easily here as it did in the jungle or desert.

Kendall scampered over to her. “Are we seriously staying here tonight?”

She looked at him. “You saw the weather. You think we ought to try back for the station?”

“It’s just that these rocks are so absolutely uncomfortable. I don’t know how anyone could even sleep here.”

Julia grinned and pointed at Havel. “He’s already dozing over there.”

Kendall frowned. “I think he’s narcoleptic anyway.”

“I doubt that. The point, Kendall, is that the human body can do amazing things if it wants to badly enough.” She hefted her cardboard ration box. “Take this ham stew for example. I despise this stuff. But I’m eating it because I know I have to. So despite the fact that I will probably be a cranky constipated bitch after, I am eating and adapting to the conditions we’ve got here. I’d suggest you do the same.”

“If I must.”

“Remember, Darwin got it wrong. It’s not survival of the fittest, it’s survival of those who can adapt the best.”

Kendall sighed. “Such a cheerful thought that is. Fancy me being seconded to someone who rewrites evolution when she’s not leading expeditions that get people killed.”

Julia set her spork down. “You’re out of line.”

“Merely stating the facts is all.”

“And you think you’d do a better job leading the team? Is that what you’re saying? Or are you just playing at your usual levels of bullshit again?”

Kendall smiled. “It makes my night just knowing you’re upset now about what I said.”

“You could be a real good guy if you just relaxed a little, you know that?”

“I’m not in any sort of mood to relax. How can I with stalagmites biting into my hindquarters?”

“You could try. Like the rest of us.”

Kendall shook his head and moved away. Wilkins came over and sat down, leaning his rifle against the rocks close by. Mick continued peering down the tunnel. Wasn’t he going to eat?

Wilkins glanced at him. “Strange guy that one. But I gotta admit I’m damned glad he’s along.”

“Me, too.”

Wilkins grinned. “Yeah. I’d say so.”

She looked at him and saw the recognition in his eyes. She turned away. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s nothing…yet. You two get back from this thing, you’d better make a go at it. You seem good for each other.”

“Thanks. But there’s something that’s not sitting with me entirely well.” She sighed. “Probably me just being paranoid.”

“We’re all a little paranoid, Julia,” said Wilkins. “Sometimes for very good reasons.”

Both of them looked up as Mick approached. “Does everyone have their rifles close by?”

Julia nodded. “Why?”

Mick glanced behind him. “Because the light behind the rocks just went out.”

12

Julia suspected that everyone’s natural reaction would have been to panic. Surprisingly, no one did. Instead, Mick simply ordered them all into position using the largest rocks as cover.

They were spread about in a circular style. Three of them across what they’d called the actual path behind some other rocks while four remained on the other side. It wasn’t an ideal situation and Julia knew it. Splitting up the team didn’t make much sense but Mick insisted it be that way so all angles could be covered.

Four of the team members would have the task of covering the approach from the direction of the tunnel that hadn’t yet been explored. The remaining three would cover the rear of the group just in case anything should decide to sneak up on them from that direction.

It was all very quickly organized. And Julia once again marveled at how seamlessly Mick got everything done.

She was one of the members aiming toward the front — where the light had been seen. Mick was close by also aiming in the same direction. Across the path, Nung and Darren were also front men. Wilkins, Havel, and Kendall would act as rear guards.

The silence in the cave seemed overwhelming. Off in the distance, Julia could hear more condensation plopping off rocks from unseen points high up on the tunnel walls. It might have taken hundreds or thousands of years for that water to pass through the rocks until it reached this point. And then suddenly it would travel a huge distance — from the ceiling to the floor — before once again starting another thousand year journey through the rocks.

It seemed so strange to her.

Without her gloves on, Julia felt the grips of her rifle go slippery. She was sweating. But she wasn’t hot. She recognized the signs of an adrenaline rush. She could feel her heart hammering away.

And she wondered if the others were experiencing the same thing.

She couldn’t risk taking a look. She couldn’t take her eyes off the small angle of attack Mick had designated for her.

“Cover this arc,” he’d said. “Shoot anything that enters it.”

A sound from far off down the tunnel bounced off the walls and reached their ears. Julia flicked the safety catch off her M16. It made no sound as she did so. She could have slid it all the way to automatic, but preferred keeping it on semi. She knew that every time she squeezed the trigger, just one bullet would fire.

If things got hairy, she could always use her thumb and slide the catch forward one more ratchet to go full auto.

In her mind, she felt like she was back at Girl Scouts summer camp. She’d gone to one in Pennsylvania. Situated on the side of a mountain and complete with a lake fed by an underground spring, Julia had loved the location. They’d had horseback riding, archery, crafts, and camping skills.

But she’d enjoyed picking up the rifle most of all. She hadn’t mentioned this to Mick for fear he think of her as a tomboy. She smirked. Was that silly? Why should she be so concerned about what he thought of her? He might even appreciate the fact that she could take so easily to a gun.

And besides, they’d already shared a first kiss.

Back at the summer camp, she could remember picking up the rifle. It had felt heavy that day when the sun’s rays had warmed the entire covered range platform. She looked at the simple block of soft pine wood lying next to her filled with twelve rounds of small. 22 caliber ammunition. Each of the bullets fit the block perfectly. It almost looked like some type of puzzle.

She chose to lay down prone and fire from that position.

From her vantage point, she could see the target fifty yards away. Standing up, it hadn’t looked that far, but peering through the fixed rear and front sights, it suddenly seemed miles away.

She concentrated on her breathing. Smooth inhalation and exhalations. She aligned the rear sight first and then brought the front sight up, got the two of them synched up and aligned and then found her target.

Like the instructor had taught her, she didn’t focus on the target, but on the sights themselves. She kept the target fuzzy. Somehow that seemed to contradict the logic of how she’d assumed everyone would aim a gun, but she didn’t argue. Instead, she did as she was told and slipped the safety catch off.

The sudden explosion of a rifle going off somewhere down the line startled her. The gun sounded so loud! More rifles barked in the lazy summer sun. Julia settled down and brought the gun back up, finding her natural breathing rhythm.

She let her trigger finger slide into the trigger housing. She felt the pad of her finger rest on the trigger itself.

She took a breath in.

Held it.

And thought about taking up any slack against the trigger. She didn’t think about squeezing it.

When the gun finally fired, she thought she’d been holding her breath for hours. A slight kick against her shoulder and the gun came back down. But by then, her bullet had already zoomed out of the barrel, raced across the fifty meters, and plunged into the target.

Julia let the rifle tilt, pulled the bolt back and the spent shell casing flipped out and landed next to her. Hot.

She slid another round into the chamber, rammed the bolt back home and positioned herself again.

And kept firing that way until her first block of bullets was done.

The range master called a halt to firing and everyone opened their bolts. The range master walked the line, making sure there were no live rounds still waiting to be fired. When he announced an ‘all clear,’ the girls all went forward to their respective targets.

Julia’s had twelve holes in it. The rounds had pierced the target all over the place.

But there in the exact center, sat two neat holes, almost overlapping.

“Nice grouping.”

She turned. The range master had come up behind her. He smiled. She hadn’t noticed him before. He pointed at her target. “Have you ever shot before?”

She shrugged. “First time.”

“Impressive.” He looked around at the other girls. “Gather round here ladies.”

The other scouts came over and looked at Julia’s target. By contrast, their own targets only had a few holes in them. Some hadn’t even been able to find the concentric circles that made up the actual target.

“Julia’s got some very good form. You can see how her bullets all found the target. She’s got some scattered here and there, but she also managed to get two rounds overlapping in the exact center. Two bulls-eyes.” He smiled at Julia again. “Excellent job.”

Julia had smiled back, but felt a sudden wave of shyness come over her and she lowered her eyes. “Thank you.”

The memory of that summer washed back over her there in the dank cave. What ever became of the range master? She recalled the fuzzy feeling she’d had for him after that first encounter. She remembered spending every free moment of the camp up on the range.

He taught her a lot. And Julia knew that he was the first man she’d ever had a serious crush on. She was just at that age. Fourteen. When the bridge between a girl and a woman doesn’t seem that great, but still spans a million miles of poignant heartache and experience.

For his part, the range master never touched her. Never spurred on her crush. He just remained the friendly man who controlled the shooting area. He taught her some finer points about shooting. So much so that by the end of the summer, Julia won a medal in the inter-camp jubilee competition.

I hope all those lessons weren’t lost on me, she thought.

Another sound came at her ears.

Closer.

Something was out there. In the darkness.

Julia remembered the effect that bright light had had on the one creature she and Mick had seen back at the greenhouse. She wished they had some of those ultra-bright spotlights with them now. All they would have had to do was flip the switch and while the creature was blinded, they could kill it dead.

Still, was that the right thing to do?

As far as they knew, the creature had killed Vikorsky. In all likelihood, it had also murdered the other station crew. But did that give Julia’s team the right to kill it? Were they exceeding their mandate by declaring themselves judge and jury and executioner all in one fell swoop?

Too late for debate on the issue, she decided.

Sure, studying the creature would have been nice. But the danger it apparently posed was too great to risk another life on.

It would have to die.

A scrape sounded further up.

It had to be close now. That sound hadn’t been more than seventy feet away.

Why was it moving so slowly? Julia frowned. Something wasn’t right.

Here they were, in the cave, ready and waiting with enough firepower to hose down a veritable army and the object of their hunt was meandering its way toward them. If it had been relaxed and not suspicious, would it have moved faster?

Probably.

Which means it knows we’re out here. Julia frowned. She wished she could whisper a warning to Mick.

Maybe he already knows, she thought. Maybe he knows the creature knows we’re out here waiting to kill it.

More sounds echoed off the walls of the tunnel.

Closer.

Julia’s hands felt slick with moisture. Come on already, let’s get the show started. The sooner the creature made its appearance, the sooner they could be done with this battle.

Another scrape.

A brilliant beam of light appeared from the end of Mick’s rifle barrel.

The flashlight!

It cut a swath of yellow across the cave.

And instantly, Julia heard the shrieks. Just like she’d heard back in the greenhouse.

And then she saw it.

Them.

On the ceiling.

My god, how many of them are there?

“Aim high!”

Mick’s voice broke in over the shrieks and then he opened up.

And all hell broke loose.

13

Julia jerked the M16 up and at the roof of the cave. Her finger jerked and the gun bucked once sending a round ricocheting off the area above her.

She could see the muzzle flashes of the other guns shooting.

She heard the reports; they sounded like explosions in the darkness.

And all the action happened in a weird strobelike effect thanks to very little light being spread around the area.

Shouts now as team members directed their fire accordingly.

“Front!”

“One o’clock — get him!”

“I’m out, gotta change mags!”

It all seemed incredibly surreal. Julia felt herself shrink into a tight shell. Her vision narrowed and she kept searching for targets and squeezing the trigger. She lost count of how many times she thought she’d gotten one of them in her crosshairs. She fired again and again.

Until she squeezed the trigger one time and it fell forward with a dull click.

Out of bullets.

“I’m out!”

She dropped down under cover of her rock and felt for the magazine release. There! The empty mag dropped and clanged off the ground. Julia pawed for a fresh one and then jammed it up and into the housing, jerked the charging handle back and let it spring forward.

Something dropped down to the cave floor close to her.

She spun.

Brought her gun up.

A face appeared before her, no more than two feet away.

She screamed.

It shrieked.

She fired.

The gun bucked once. Julia kept squeezing the trigger. More bullet casings jumped out of the gun spinning in the strobed light to the cave floor.

Someone screamed.

The face in front of Julia’s disappeared.

Jon F. Merz

Prey

Had she killed it?

Sporadic gunfire erupted from around them now. Fewer shouts called out. Mick had kept his fire disciplined and tight. Squeezing off controlled bursts at his targets. Julia knew others had gone full auto.

She kept on her arc and thought about how miraculous it was none of her bullets had ricocheted back at her.

We could have been killed having a firefight in here, she decided.

“Cease fire!”

Mick’s voice again. And he still sounded as cool as ever. Just another trip out to the range for him. Julia frowned. I have to go to the bathroom.

“Cease fire!”

She felt Mick beside her. His voice stayed low this time. “You okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I think so.”

He patted her on the back. “Nice job.”

“We need some light.”

Julia turned. “Someone get one of the survival lanterns cranked up.” She wondered what sort of a slaughterhouse they’d see materialize as the light blossomed in the cave.

She heard the fizz and poop of the lantern coming on. Dull yellow light spilled across the jagged promontories of rock. And Julia saw…

Nothing.

“What the fuck?”

Wilkins stood. “What the fuck is this shit? There are no bodies here.” He glanced around. “I know I got at least one of those bastards.”

Julia scoured the area. Spent brass casings littered the ground; she could see the impact points where bullets had apparently hit the rocks of the cave walls. But she couldn’t see any blood. And no creatures lying on the floor dead or dying.

Nothing.

She glanced at Mick but he was only staring down the tunnel toward where the light had originated. She came up beside him. “What the hell just happened here, Mick?”

She shrugged. “Wish I knew.” He lifted his rifle. “I shot a whole bunch of those things, whatever the hell they are. I saw them fall down dead. We all heard their shrieks. That didn’t sound like they hadn’t been injured to me.”

“They sounded like they were dying,” said Julia. “I know I shot at least two of them.”

“I’d bet we all shot a lot more than that,” said Kendall suddenly behind her. Julia turned and saw the serious look on his face. “But the fact remains there are no bodies here.”

“Any theories?”

Kendall shrugged. “I wish I had one. When we started firing, I could see them in the flashes of light from the muzzle blasts. They were all around us. Ready to pounce. I think they wanted a sense of surprise.”

“They knew we were here,” said Julia. “I got that impression, too.”

“But where are the damned bodies?” asked Wilkins.

Mick sighed. “This doesn’t make any sense. We had our targets, we found them, we should have bodies.”

“We’ve got another problem,” said Nung.

Julia turned. “What is it?”

Nung chewed his lip. “Havel’s gone.”

“What?”

Mick came over. “What did you say?”

“Havel’s gone. When the firefight started, it was all I could do to keep shooting at those damned things. I heard a scream-”

“I heard it, too,” said Julia.”

“— and just now when we got the lights on, I looked over. Havel’s gone. His rifle is still here. But he’s gone.”

Julia leaned against the cave wall. Another team member missing. And not one indication that their bullets and all that commotion had done one lick of good at warding off their attackers.

Mick let his rifle slide down to his side. “Dammit.”

Julia looked at him. “What the hell just happened here, Mick? Why didn’t our bullets work? What the hell are these things? I need some answers here. I’m missing another team member and I’m not at all happy about it.”

“I wish I had something to tell you,” said Mick. “Fact is, I’m as stumped as anyone else. Way I figured it, we had ourselves a slaughter going on. Even if they did know we were there, we still should have killed a bunch of them.”

“Why did you call a cease fire?”

“I could see them shrinking back the way they came.”

“Shrinking?”

Mick nodded. “Looked like they were retreating.”

Julia frowned. “What if-?”

“What?”

Julia shook her head. “Is it possible? What if it was some type of hologram?”

“You mean the entire attack was just an illusion?”

“Yeah.”

“It could happen I suppose,” he said.

Kendall nodded. “Sure, why not?”

“Seems like the only thing that makes sense,” said Darren. “I’m no Rambo, but I know I brought down some of those bastards.”

“Some hologram,” said Wilkins. “Had me fucking convinced, that’s for sure. I was scared shitless.”

“I think we all were,” said Julia. “I still have to go to the bathroom.”

“So they — whoever they are — do this hologram for what purpose? To make us waste ammo?” Mick frowned. “Strange tactic.”

“Not so strange,’ said Nung. “Actually kind of ingenious.”

“How do you figure?”

Nung sat down on a rock. “Figure they send up this hologram thing. We see it coming, complete with audio and figure it for the real attack. So, of course, we let loose and hose the place down.”

“Which reminds me,” said Julia. “Was I the only one concerned about ricochets?”

“I thought about it,” said Mick. “Not much choice, though.”

“While we’re hosing the place down, convinced as we were that they were all over us,” Nung grinned. “They slip in behind us and grab Havel.”

“So the attack was a feint,” said Kendall. “Smart bastards these things, huh?”

“Why take Havel?”

“Was he reloading his gun then?” Mick looked serious. “If he was, then it makes sense. Grab him while he can’t shoot.”

“Which means the things that grabbed him were here,” said Julia. “But not in the numbers we thought they were.”

“And,” said Mick, “if they were waiting until someone reloaded, it might also mean they are vulnerable to our weapons. That’s good news. If they hadn’t waited but simply stormed in, I might be more concerned right now.”

“Cripes,” said Wilkins. “I changed mags twice. They could have grabbed me just as easily.”

“Me too,” said Nung.

“I had to change magazines as well,” said Kendall.

“We all did,” said Julia. “It could have happened to any of us. Or maybe they had their eye on Havel all the time. I don’t know. I don’t know what makes sense anymore.”

“I’m not sure anything does at this point,” said Mick.

“Well, I’m still concerned,” said Julia. “After all, they’ve still got Havel.”

“Yeah,” said Wilkins. “What the hell are we going to do about that?”

Julia looked down the tunnel at the darkness. “The only thing we can do,” she said. “We go and get him back.”

14

Mick wanted to leave immediately. “Better to hit them now while they think we’re recuperating from their pseudo-attack.”

Julia stopped him. “Does that really make a lot of sense? We’re not even sure how to get to wherever it is they came from. If we make a half-hearted stab at finding them now in the darkness, we might just wind up in some sort of nasty ambush.” She lowered her voice. “And I certainly don’t want to lose another man.”

Mick sighed, his breath spilling over her like a hot wave of steam. “You’re probably right. After that firefight, most of them will need some rest.”

“What about you?”

“I could use a few zzz’s myself.”

Julia looked around. “Are we safe here? I mean, now that they know where we are?”

“Not much of a choice otherwise. If we go back toward the mouth of the cave, we’ll have to deal with the colder air. That’ll make an uncomfortable sleep period for everyone.” He glanced around. “We can either stay here and take our chances or move back. It’s your call, of course.”

“But you vote we stay here.”

“It’ll be easier going when we do wake up if we’re already positioned closer to the spot of the light.”

“You think that’s where they’re coming from?”

Mick frowned. “Let’s just say I’m damned interested in prying up that rock and seeing where that light is coming from.”

“I’d expect we all are,” said Julia. “You want to handle posting the guards? You coordinate with Wilkins.”

“Sure.” He started to turn away and then stopped. “Hey.”

Julia looked at him. “What?”

“You did good back there.”

She grinned. “So, did you.”

His smile cut through the darkness. Julia watched him leave and then leaned back against the rocks closest to her. She was exhausted. The adrenaline spike had supercharged her for the firefight, but the dump was now coming over her like a heavy wet blanket. She felt like she’d just swum a river in all her clothes, dragged down by the extremes in her environment in so short a time.

Firefights with strange creatures weren’t on the programming schedule for this trip. She smirked, but then got serious. And neither were two missing men.

Not to mention the entire other crew of the station. What had happened to them? It would be easy to imagine they’d all wandered off into the barren ice and got swallowed by Mother Nature.

But this wasn’t Mother Nature. Not at all.

And damned if I know what it is, thought Julia.

Wilkins sat down beside her. “You okay, boss?”

She nodded. “Just tired.”

“Yeah, the after effects of being so jacked up on your body’s natural fight or flight response can really take the wind out of your sails. Had it happen to me a lot of times.”

“You’ve been in a lot of firefights, Wilkins?”

He shrugged. “Grew up in Boston. Dorchester neighborhood. Wasn’t exactly white picket fence suburbia. I lived on Corbett Street. You ever hear of it?”

“No.”

“Rough place. One of the worst gangs in Boston’s history took their name from that street. Bunch of drug dealing crazy ass kids who thought the world would cave to them if they waved a gun and a dimebag.”

“That sounds suspiciously like personal experience.”

He smiled. “Damned straight. I ran with ’em. Nearly lost my life more times than I care to remember. Got so bad, I lost five friends in the space of two weeks. Used to be a time in Boston when there were more kids dying under the age of sixteen than anyone else. It was a horrible waste of life. But we didn’t know any better.”

“Most kids don’t.”

“It took a drive-by outside of my house — with me getting about five rounds pumped into my legs, stomach, and back, for me to finally realize there had to be a better way to make a living.”

“Jesus Christ.”

Wilkins smiled. “Well, sure, he helped. I prayed to him every night while I lay in that hospital wishing for a second chance. He gave me one, too, and I never forgot that. I went to live with my aunt and uncle out in Minnesota. Talk about a change in scenery. Whatever. It worked. I got my nose straight, got into the books, and headed to college on a full scholarship.”

“That where you met your wife?”

“Brenda? Yeah. Helluva woman. She’d have to be to put up with me going thousands of miles away from her.” He grinned. “Maybe I don’t deserve it, but I like to think it’s God’s way of patting me on the back for getting straight.”

Julia smiled. “Not bad, Wilkins.”

“Not bad at all. And here I am at the bottom of the world. On what could be a damned important mission.”

“Pretty good for an inner city kid.”

“Yeah, not bad. The problem is, that now I’ve almost come full circle.”

“How do you figure that?”

Wilkins gestured around them. “Look at us. We’re holed up in some cave while a blizzard buries our transportation outside. In here, we’re possibly easy pickings for some kind of creature. And once again — worst of all — I’m holding a gun.”

Julia shook her head. “There’s a difference now.”

“Is there?”

She nodded. “You’ve got a gun in your hand for protection. You’ll use it to save the life of yourself and your teammates.”

“Same as before.”

“No,” said Julia. “It’s not. Before you would have used a gun offensively. You would have taken out someone before they became a threat.”

Wilkins jaw tightened. “Yeah. But you know what? If I had the chance to do these things before they came at us again, I sure would. That doesn’t make me any different than before.”

“You really think you’re being fair with yourself right now?”

He grinned. “Probably not. This cave is depressing the hell out of me.”

“Get some sleep,” said Julia. “We’ll sort this all out when we wake up and figure out our next move.”

Wilkins smiled. “G’nite.”

“Good night.” She watched him scramble over to the other side of the path. He rested his rifle against the rock close by and worked his hand through the strap so it would be within easy reach.

Julia leaned back, feeling the countless bumps press into her back. It felt like a prehistoric shiatsu treatment. Who would have thought she’d be leading such a group like this?

Life sure has a funny way of dealing out the cards, she decided.

She looked up at the top of the cave and let her eyes close. The lantern still cast enough light for them all to see, but Julia preferred listening to the surrounding noises. She felt her body slacken. Her muscles seemed desperate to throw off the last vestiges of the stress of the earlier firefight.

And she let it.

She felt her breathing deepen.

“Julia.”

She moaned and opened her eyes. Mick was leaning over her.

“Yes?”

“You okay?”

“I was about to enjoy some sleep for a little while. I’m losing it over here. Then I was rudely interrupted.”

“Sorry. Just wanted to tell you that the shifts have been worked out.”

“Anything else?”

“Yeah,” said Mick. He smiled. “You can get some sleep now.”

“Oh, gee, thanks.”

He kissed her lightly on the forehead. “Sleep well.”

She nodded and closed her eyes again. She heard him move off toward another position in the rocks. Despite her still unease with whatever Mick said he was, she sure felt better about having him around. She wasn’t particularly certain they would have made it this far if he hadn’t been around.

After all, Julia had been trained to lead a scientific exploration. And the current situation seemed anything but.

Her eyes grew heavier.

Her breathing deepened again.

She heard the water still trickling and falling in places. It dropped and plunked off the cave floor. There was something so utterly calming about it. Julia felt herself surrendering to sleep.

And it felt good to do so.

Her arms slid down beside her. The M16 lay across her lap, heavy in the slumbering haze that was overtaking her.

Images swirled behind her eyes. Sounds filled her ears. Julia welcomed them with open arms.

And finally, completely, totally, slept.

15

Mick nudged her awake a few hours later. Julia groaned softly, annoyed at having to relinquish her sleep, but she knew she had no choice. It was her turn on guard duty.

Mick looked at her. “You slept well.”

“How can you tell?”

He grinned. “Because I know the look of someone in the field who’s enjoyed their sleep. You look rested.”

“I’m still exhausted.”

“We all are. That’s to be expected.”

“Weird dreams, too.”

“What kind of dreams?”

She looked at him. There it was again. A slight shift in his personality. Almost like he was two different people. On one hand, he was the cute rough and tumble guy who’d saved their hide a lot today. But on the other…

Well, Julia wasn’t so sure yet what the other was all about.

“Just weird dreams. Nothing much to them. But I think I dreamed about this place.”

“The cave?”

She nodded. “Yeah, the cave. The tunnel. Us. Those…things.”

“So not necessarily a pleasant dream.”

“Well, the part with us in it was pretty good.”

He smirked. “Wilkins and Nung had a dream about this place, too.”

“Just now?”

“Earlier. When I woke them up for stag duty.” He looked at her. “And now you just tell me you’ve had the same thing happen to you.”

“And you think they’re related.”

He shrugged. “Remember the first night at the station? What you were all talking about? The dreams? How you’d all dreamt about this place for years.”

“You said you had the dreams, too.”

Mick nodded fast. “I did. I did.” He shrugged. “But now that we’re actually here, I haven’t.”

“They could just be a by product of the stress of the firefight earlier. Some sort of post traumatic stress disorder perhaps?”

“Yeah, I suppose they could be.” He sighed. “Wish I’d had the dreams, too.”

Julia smiled. “You feeling left out?”

“I’m feeling like I wish I knew what the hell was going on around here.”

“I think we all feel that way.”

He looked down the tunnel. “The answer’s down there, Julia. Can you feel it? I know it’s down there.”

She nodded. “We’ll get to the bottom of it.” She touched his arm. “What do you think happened to Vikorsky and Havel?”

“And the others?”

Julia nodded.

Mick sighed. “I don’t know. Part of me hopes they’re alive somewhere. I don’t know. Being held captive maybe? How weird does that sound?”

“It sounds like optimism.”

“A bigger part of me thinks that they’re probably dead by now. Used for some reason. Food? I don’t know. It’s gruesome as hell trying to debate the possibilities. The best thing we can do is press on and try to find them.”

“Or whatever is left of them,” said Julia.

“That didn’t sound like optimism.”

“It’s not.”

Mick nodded and handed her the M16. “Time we got to our positions.”

She took one side of the cave and he the other. She kept glancing over at him. Part of it was for reassurance. Knowing that he was in the nearby vicinity made her feel somewhat safe.

Part of it was because she still didn’t completely trust him. Something about him didn’t make sense. She wished she could peel back the layers of his head and reach into his brain to extract everything she needed to know.

But she couldn’t.

Not yet.

Mick leaned against the cave wall with his gun in hand. He kept the butt in his shoulder but the muzzle pointed just below the horizon. Julia recalled seeing a special on the Discovery Channel about special operations commandos and how they used that position. What had they called it? Low-ready? They could bring up their weapon faster than if it was at their side. They could align the sights faster and bring their targets down.

And here was Mick using a similar style.

Julia didn’t think Mick was being completely honest with her. Or any of them.

But why? What was he hiding? And for what purpose?

More to the point, who could Julia trust on her team?

Wilkins.

She smiled. He was her number two man. And she knew he wouldn’t take crap from anyone. He’d back her no matter what. She felt lucky to have him along on the trip.

She glanced up, feeling Mick looking at her. It amazed her how much their eyes had adjusted to the dismal lighting down here. The lantern cast only a tiny amount of light, mainly because they’d turned down the oil consumption to preserve the fuel. But even still, Julia could see Mick pretty well.

And he could see her.

She smiled at him. He smiled back.

That was it.

She turned and stared down into the darkness of the cave tunnel. Further down there sat answers to all her questions. All they had to do was walk down, find their way to the other side of the rocks with the light bleeding through them and then have at it with whatever came at them from the other side.

Julia gulped.

She wasn’t so sure she wanted another firefight.

Especially if this one was going to be real.

But she didn’t have a choice. She owed it to her team. She owed it to Vikorsky and Havel. She owed it to the other staff members who’d gone missing before they arrived.

But most of all, she owed it to herself.

She wasn’t going to let this beat her. She wouldn’t give Kendall the satisfaction of seeing her beaten.

She smirked and tried to imagine how good it would feel coming back from this trip with everyone safe and sound. How good it would feel to be thought of as a hero. Didn’t everyone want to know how that felt? Didn’t everyone wish deep down that just once they could save the day? That they could know what it felt like to stand in the winner’s circle?

Sure.

More doubt washed over her. Home was thousands of miles away. Clear across the freaking planet. Back to the land of SUVs, cellphones, and cutthroat everyday people.

Julia was leaning against the wall of a dank humid cave deep in Antarctica.

Hunted.

She shivered once realizing how that actually felt. For so long man had considered himself the ruler of the world. Except in certain situations. By and large modern man had mastered every domain, beaten back every race and species until none could stand toe-to-toe with mankind.

And now suddenly something down here was threatening that.

But what?

She shifted, wondering how long they’d been standing there. Then she thought better of it. It had probably only been a few minutes. No longer certainly.

She looked at Mick again. “How do you stay awake?”

He grinned. “I’m thinking about all the food I’m going to eat when I get home.”

“Like what?”

“Barbecue. I make a mean set of ribs. Slow cook the things for hours. Drenched in beer, the meat really falls off the bones. We’re talking hours of slow-cooking, but it’s totally worth it.”

“You have one of those oil drums?”

“You mean a barrel smoker?” He nodded. “You bet. It’s the only way to do it right. It’s tough trying to cook them any other way.”

Julia felt her mouth swim in saliva. “I could use some of those right now.”

“What — you didn’t like the ham stew?”

She smirked. “Oh sure. And the tobasco sauce made it all the tastier.”

“We had a saying back in the service: tobasco makes everything taste better.”

She looked at him. “That’s some saying.”

“Yeah. Kinda lame, huh?”

“Just not very original is all.”

“We weren’t paid to be original,” said Mick.

What were you paid for, Julia wondered.

Mick shifted. “It’ll be time to wake the others up soon.”

“Has it been that long?”

“Almost an hour.”

“Really? Feels like only two minutes.”

“Trust me,” said Mick.

I want to, thought Julia. I really do.

But she couldn’t.

Not just yet.

She hoped she’d be able to.

Soon.

16

Mick arranged them in a loose staggered line as they crept forward toward the point where Mick had seen the light behind the rocks. Mick took point and Wilkins came second. Julia took third and the rest fell in after them with Darren taking up the rear.

Whatever they’d come down here for, thought Julia, it sure as hell feels like we’re going off to do battle.

We’re soldiers now.

Mick led them about one hundred and fifty meters further down the tunnel. It widened out considerably down here and Julia could still hear the telltale dripping of condensation that echoed when it struck the tunnel floor. She’d never want to hear that sound again if they ever got out of here.

When, she corrected herself.

Mick’s fist went up and the signal passed down the line. Behind her, Julia knew everyone was scanning the walls and the ceiling. The creatures, even the illusion of them, had shown themselves very capable of scampering along the same places. And no one seemed anxious to have one of them drop down unexpectedly.

Mick got down on his hands and knees and for some strange reason, Julia’s eyes went to his butt. Even though he was wearing a thick layer of winter clothes, she thought it looked fairly admirable from this distance.

Nice way of keeping your head in the game, she frowned.

The tunnel had grown lighter, too. The ambient gray spilled into the remainder of the tunnel behind them and disappeared as the darkness overpowered it like a black hole.

But up here, they could see.

Wilkins kept his gun trained just beyond Mick’s location, ready to fire at anything he deemed a threat.

Mick stopped moving.

They all fell silent.

He turned then and waved Julia up.

She got down on her hands and knees as well and felt the jagged rocks bite into her hand and knees. She made a lot more noise moving forward, but Mick seemed unfazed by it.

He smiled at her. “Not the most comfortable thing to do, is it?”

She shook her head. “Felt a lot worse, but this is no picnic.” She looked down. “Can you see it?”

He pointed. “There. About two meters further on. There’s what looks like a big rock in the side of the tunnel. But you can see there,” he pointed, “and there, where there’s light coming out.”

“Some sort of door?”

He shrugged. “Could be.”

“We’ve got to move it, then, haven’t we?”

“Yeah. If we want our questions answered.”

Julia frowned. “I just hope we like the thing that answers them.”

Mick smirked. “That might be hoping for a bit too much.” He turned and waved on the rest of the group. When they’d gathered around, Mick laid out the plan.

“That rock is the target. We need to get beyond it. There’s a good chance that something behind there won’t probably like us coming through.”

“No shit,” said Wilkins.

Mick smiled. “So, we’ll treat the entire thing as hostile. I want us divided into two fire teams. One to confront whatever is waiting beyond the door and one to protect our asses.” He pointed at Wilkins. “You and Darren will be in charge of moving the rock.”

Wilkins looked at Darren. Julia could see the cool appraisal run through Wilkins mind as he sized up Darren’s approximate strength. He turned back to Mick.

“Yeah. All right.”

Mick nodded at Darren. “All right with you?”

Darren didn’t hesitate. “Sure.”

Mick nodded at Julia. “Me and Julia will be first through the hole or whatever the hell it is. Kendall, you and Nung watch our rear. Once the door’s open, Wilkins will fall in with us and Darren will fall in with Kendall’s group. Everyone cool?”

They all nodded. Mick looked at Wilkins and Darren. “Your show boys.”

Wilkins let his rifle go across his back on a sling. Darren did the same. They both approached the rock. Mick brought his own rifle out and aimed it loosely at the rock door. Julia did the same. Behind her she could hear Kendall and Nung turn and cover them.

Wilkins sized up the rock and nodded at Darren, giving him directions without speaking. Darren got the hang of it soon enough and they both positioned themselves.

Wilkins looked back at Mick who nodded.

Wilkins nodded at Darren.

Once.

Twice.

And on the third nod they both heaved.

Julia heard the rock groan.

More light appeared.

She steadied herself now, raised her rifle more. Mick was peering intently beyond the rock at the ever-increasing amount of light spilling out of the opening.

The rock moved more.

Darren grunted. Wilkins swore softly under his breath.

The fissure widened to about four feet.

Mick gestured for them to stop. Wilkins swung his rifle down and out while Darren stepped quickly toward Kendall and Nung.

Mick moved up, the barrel of his gun sniffing the air like a bloodhound.

Julia followed him. As they got close to Wilkins, she could see the sheen of sweat cascading down his face. He looked to not be breathing hard, but Julia figured the combination of heavy lifting and adrenaline made him sweat more than he normally would have.

Mick peered into the intense bright light. His eyes squinted, trying to process the light and anything he might be able to see beyond it. He looked at them both and nodded.

Then stepped through the opening.

Julia followed.

And Wilkins came on her tail.

The opening branched off immediately once beyond and several things struck Julia simultaneously.

Bright — heat — humid — green.

Jesus Christ — a jungle?

She heard Mick swear.

Wilkins snorted the air and then swore, too.

Around them, lush green plants with leaves the size of palm fronds gently waved in some sort of balmy breeze. Julia felt an instant sweat come on. Mick’s face was already running.

But he kept scanning their immediate environment.

A crude path of brown earth tracked through the underbrush, leading in a looping fashion off into the distance. Mick knelt down and examined the ground.

He looked up and gestured Julia to him.

When she got close, he put his mouth to her ear. “Tracks.” And then he pointed at the ground.

Julia glanced down and frowned. They weren’t human footprints. But there seemed to be two apparently separate sets of tracks leading down the path. But what had made them. Both sets only contained two indentations, meaning the thing that had created them must have walked up right.

But what?

And where were Havel’s tracks?

Julia frowned. Maybe he’d been carried.

Maybe he was already dead.

She heard the other team members come into the opening and spread out, still facing behind them. But she saw the incredulous look in their eyes. A jungle inside a mountain in Antarctica of all the crazy things.

She almost couldn’t believe it herself.

But here it was.

Mick brushed the closest giant leaf and shook his head. “This doesn’t exactly look like the latest generation of this species.”

Julia grinned. “You an expert at horticulture?”

“No.”

She turned and waved Darren up. “Fortunately, we’ve got one of the best.” She pointed at Darren and then at the leaf. “What do you make of that?”

Darren knelt down and examined the leaf closely. He turned it over and seemed particularly interested in the stem running back toward the trunk of the shrub. After two minutes he shook his head and looked at Julia.

“Damnedest thing, boss.”

“What?”

“This plant hasn’t existed on earth for about sixty-five million years.”

She looked at him. Mick turned slightly.

“Excuse me?”

Darren nodded. “It’s a subspecies of the palm genus. The kind that used to litter the planet way back in the late Cretaceous period. Sixty-five million years ago. They evolved into what we commonly refer to as palm trees now, but back then, these plants were a food source for a whole lot of animals.”

Mick cleared his throat. “What kind of animals?”

Darren’s face clouded. “Well, there were the early mammals around back then. Some birds just starting to show up on the scene.”

Mick’s jaw grew firm again. “Anything else?”

“Yeah,” said Darren. “Some species of dinosaurs liked this plant, too.”

Julia heard Kendall sniff derisively. “Dinosaurs? Give me a break.”

Wilkins shot him a look. “Keep your damned eyes peeled, Kendall. I don’t want anything coming at us from behind because you were too busy spouting off your bullshit.”

Kendall frowned but turned back to watch the opening.

Mick chewed his lip. “Well, I don’t think we were attacked by dinosaurs in the tunnel back there. And I have a hard time believing that a dinosaur could be intelligent enough to come through the roof of the greenhouse and carry of Vikorsky.”

Julia looked at him. “Still.”

“What?”

“We all saw the creatures back there in the cave.”

“It was dark, Julia.”

“Not dark enough. I saw a tail at least once.”

“Doesn’t mean it was a dinosaur.”

She nodded. “I think we’d better keep our minds open to any possibility, however.”

Mick nodded. “Absolutely. I just don’t anyone running around with visions of Jurassic Park in their heads is all. It’ll distract us from finding the real source of our problem.”

“You mean rescuing Vikorsky and Havel,” said Julia.

“Yes,” said Mick. “If that’s even possible.”

He turned back to the ground. “These tracks aren’t all that old. Maybe a few hours. We should follow them and see where they go.”

Julia’s throat went dry. Somehow the idea of tracking down the…creatures did not appeal to her much. A wave of fear broke over her confidence and dragged her resolution out into a sea of worry.

Mick must have seen it on her face because he took her hand. “It’ll be okay. Just stick close to me.”

She grinned. “I’ve got no intention of being anywhere else.”

Darren cleared his throat. “It’s damned hot in here.”

Mick nodded. “Seems like some kind of controlled environment, doesn’t it?” He pointed at the ceiling. “It’s still the mountain, near as I can tell, but the roof is almost a hundred feet over our heads.”

“Why would this cavern be so large?” asked Julia.

Mick shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Julia heard a zipper coming down. She turned and saw Wilkins shrugging off his jacket. He smiled at her. “Way too hot in here to keep our gear on.”

She nodded and undid her own jacket. Mick waited until she was done shucking her winter clothes and then did the same. Julia watched his jacket come off and reveal the massive size of his arms. Sweat still coated his skin, making him resemble some type of oiled bodybuilder.

And Julia didn’t mind one bit.

He hefted his rifle and when everyone had stowed their gear under the largest palm shrub nearby, where it hopefully couldn’t be easily spotted, Mick pointed to the path.

Time to follow it and see how far it went.

Julia took a final glimpse back at the cave opening and then turned and followed Mick into the jungle.

17

The trail sloped gently downward, winding as it went, leading them further into heavy undergrowth. A steady breeze swept through the leaves and branches of various shrubs and small trees. Julia marveled at how such an ecosystem could even exist in the middle of a mountain.

Mick never stopped eyeing the path as it led them deeper into the jungle. Julia could feel the tension coming off his body in waves. He was primed, she thought. Ready to explode into action if needed.

They had to keep stopping for Darren who would break ranks and examine every new plant he saw, exclaiming about how rare it was.

“Darren!” Julia said it for what felt like the millionth time. “We have to keep moving.”

Wilkins whispered something in Darren’s ear, which made the young man’s face go pale. He stood, grabbed his rifle and hurried back into the line.

Julia grabbed Wilkins. “What did you say to him?”

Wilkins’ face was stone. “I told him that if he brought down any heat on us from those creatures, I’d kill him myself.”

He turned and continued walking. Julia watched him go and wondered what was happening to her team.

Mick called a halt a few minutes later and they formed up. Mick kept his voice low and soft, but audible at the same time.

“The path forks up ahead.”

Worried expressions bloomed on the faces of the team. Nung cleared his throat. “Please tell me you aren’t going to suggest we split up.”

Mick shrugged. “It’d save a lot of time if we did. We could cover more ground and possibly locate our missing people even faster.”

“And we could blunder into an ambush and get killed off a lot easier if there are less of us to fight,” said Darren. “No thanks.”

Mick glanced at Julia. “It’s your decision.”

Julia looked at her team. She could feel their stares. She could tell they were scared. And she knew that she’d have to go against Mick on this on.

“We stay together,” she said finally.

Mick nodded. “Fair enough. Left or right?”

“Sorry?”

“Which way do you want to go? The path goes in one of two directions.”

Julia shrugged. “How about left?”

“Sounds good.” Mick stood and grabbed his rifle If he was upset that Julia had overruled his motion to split the team, he didn’t show it.

Nung wandered past. “Thanks, boss.”

“Forget it.”

She trailed behind, wondering what they’d managed to get themselves into.

Mick led them left and they walked another couple of hundred yards when his fist shot into the sky and they all crouched low and off the main trail. Mick got down on his hands and knees and slow-crawled ahead.

He disappeared around another corner.

Julia waited.

Where had he gone? Why hadn’t he motioned her forward? She hoped he wasn’t making any more decisions she’d end up overruling. She didn’t want to piss him off too much. She didn’t want to hurt her chances of possibly having some sort of relationship with him when this whole crazy mess was at last behind them.

Mick didn’t reappear after five minutes and Julia felt the pit of her stomach start to ache. Where was he?

Wilkins tapped her on the shoulder but she only shrugged it off as if to say, “how the hell would I know?”

Darren exchanged glances with Nung. Nung glanced at Wilkins who shrugged just as Julia had.

What were they waiting for? What was going on around the corner.

After ten minutes, Julia couldn’t take it anymore. She looked at Wilkins and nodded once. That was all it took. Wilkins crawled past Nung and Darren and disappeared around the same corner.

Julia thought she heard something then. Nothing much, just a muffled sort of movement. Had Wilkins been attacked? No. He would have been able to squeeze of a shot at least. Taking him down wasn’t easy.

So what had happened?

Her stomach ached more than ever. Part of her desperately wanted to find the nearest rock and go relieve herself in the big way. But she couldn’t. Was this one of the joys of leadership? Was this what the pressure did to you? Did it squeeze all the worry and fear into a pulsing globe of hell and push it down into the depths of your bowels?

Sure felt that way.

Nifty, thought Julia. All the way at the bottom of the world and not a bottle of Imodium AD in sight.

Where the hell was Wilkins?

Just as she was about to crawl on ahead herself, she saw Mick come crawling back followed closely by Wilkins. Relief flooded her at the same rate as anger. She motioned for them both to come to her.

“What the hell was that all about? Why’d you disappear around the corner and what happened to you?”

Wilkins held up his hand. “Steady on boss. It’s cool. Mick just got himself something to watch, that’s all. And when I went around the corner, he had to make sure I didn’t do anything to alert it.”

“It?”

“One of the creatures,” said Mick. One of the ones looked like what attacked us back in the tunnel.”

“What was it doing?”

Mick shrugged. “I thought it might be eating the plants. But it wasn’t. Near as I can tell, it was standing guard.”

Julia frowned. “Standing guard?”

“Yeah. But then it moved on. So, maybe it was just hanging out. I don’t know.”

“Wonderful.”

Wilkins shook his head. “Damnedest things. Looks like some weird combination of reptile and…I don’t know what.”

“Reptile?”

“Yeah. Got them long tails, doesn’t it? I could see some spikes on it, too. Real nasty ones.”

Mick nodded. “He’s right. Whatever we do, we’ll have to be damned careful not to end up on the wrong side of those things. One swing and we’d be done for.”

“Tails with spikes?”

“And some kind of beaklike face,” said Wilkins. He shrugged. “I know Darren said these plants were from the Cretaceous period and all, but that thing actually looked a little bit like a dinosaur to me.”

“And to me,” said Mick. “A little bit.”

Julia felt like this was all happening to fast. Dinosaurs? In a jungle? In Antarctica? In a mountain? This had to be a bad dream.

“Well, what else did it look like?”

“What do you mean?”

Julia sighed. “You said part of it looked like a dinosaur. What did the other part look like?”

Mick frowned and glanced at Wilkins. “Uh…”

“I don’t know, boss. Had really long arms and legs though. Those seemed almost human.”

“You think it was a half-human half-dinosaur you just saw?” She almost grinned in spite of herself.

“I know it sounds weird,” said Mick.

“Sounds more than weird,” said Julia. “The only thing that keeps me believing you two is the fact that I saw something in the tunnel. And while the light wasn’t good, I did see a tail. We all did. So against my better judgment — which seems to have gone out the window — I will believe you.”

Wilkins heaved a sigh of relief. “Thanks.”

“So, where’d it go?”

“It left,” said Mick. “Walked off down the path.”

“Still keeping on the same route we are?”

“Yeah.”

“And you want to follow it?”

Mick shrugged. “Well, we don’t have much of a choice, do we? It might lead us to our people.”

Julia nodded. “All right. Pass the word to the others. We’ll follow this…thing and see where it takes us.”

“We’ll have to be damned quiet,” said Mick. “No stopping, no conversation. If it gets wind of us, hell will break loose.”

“Make sure everyone understand that,” said Julia. “I don’t want any cock-ups on this.”

Mick smiled. “You’re starting to talk like a boss now, you know that?”

“Am I?” Julia grinned. “I’m relieved.”

Mick frowned. “It was supposed to be a compliment.”

Julia nodded. “Save them for after this is all through. Then you can tell me how much you like my hair and my legs and anything else that you think will help your cause. For right now, let’s just get this done and then get the hell out of here.”

Mick looked at her a few seconds longer and then nodded. “Yeah. All right.”

The team got up and moved. Julia trailed behind Wilkins again.

They got about ten meters when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She wheeled around, her rifle already coming up, ready to shoot.

Darren held up his hands. “Wait!”

Julia sighed and lowered the gun. “What the hell is wrong?”

“Sorry,” said Darren. “But Nung just did the same thing to me.”

Nung nodded. “Just thought you should know.”

“Know what?”

“Kendall’s gone.”

18

“Where the hell did he go?”

Mick’s voice behind Julia spoke the same words she’d been about to. Kendall. Dammit!

Nung shrugged. “I didn’t hear any commotion behind us. I don’t think there were any creatures there.”

Wilkins cleared his throat. “You don’t suppose…”

“What?”

He sighed. “You think he might have just walked off?”

“On his own?” Julia found it tough to believe Kendall would simply abandon them. “I don’t know.”

“He’s felt from the start this should have been his mission anyway,” said Wilkins. “Maybe he thinks the time has come for him to prove it, if only to himself.”

“How? What’s he going to do on his own that we can’t do as a team?”

“I don’t know.”

Mick frowned. “We have to keep moving.”

Julia shook her head. Her team was growing smaller with every hour. And the thought of facing some type of strange dinosaur half-breed didn’t thrill her. It would have been tough enough with eight team members. Now they were down to five.

Not good odds.

She turned to Mick. “We need to figure out what the hell is going on here and soon. If we lose any more people, we’ll be committing suicide.”

He nodded. “Let’s go.”

They followed the path for another twenty minutes. In the distance, Julia thought she could hear the faint hum of machinery. Machines? In the mountain? Things were getting weirder by the minute.

Mick kept them moving slowly and stealthily toward the end of the path. It forked again twice, but Julia let Mick lead them as best his instinct could. He took them left once and then right.

They heard the low growl a split second before all hell broke loose.

Nung actually fired first, but the dinosaur had come at him through the palm shrubs. The M16 sounded like a continuous explosion as Nung’s rounds ripped through the air and into the green shrub.

The half-breed beaklike face snapped at Nung. Nung staggered back and loosed another volley from his gun.

Another shout and Wilkins began firing at another one of the creatures who had come streaking at them for the left. Wilkins’ bullets found their mark and splanged into the scaly chest of the dinosaur. Bright red blood exploded and the creature dropped.

More growls.

More shouts.

More gunfire.

Mick was firing one shot at a time at two more creatures charging them from the front. Julia saw that Nung had managed to bring down his attacker.

Darren had shot one of the creatures that had attempted to come at them from behind.

Julia hadn’t fired a single shot.

“Look out!”

She wheeled and saw the needle-sharp teeth snap at her neck. She leaned back and brought the barrel of the gun up. Her finger squeezed the trigger and the gun kicked. The sudden noise made her wince.

The dinosaur leaned back avoiding the bullets.

Two more shots exploded close by and the rounds tore through the leaves close to Julia. She spun and saw Mick aiming at the creature that had just attacked her.

Then it was over.

Nung sat down, clutching his right arm. It was bright red with his own blood. His face had contorted in pain. Wilkins rushed to him and examined the wound.

Mick prodded one of the dead dinosaur half-breeds with his gun. He looked at Julia. “What the hell?”

She came over. The corpse resembled part of a dinosaur. So, it was true. But the arms and legs looked…humanoid. And the eyes. Julia shook her head. So pitch black. Big, dilated pupils with hardly any lids.

The back of the head was elongated and almost flattened.

Darren came over. “Looks like a Camptosaurus.”

“A what?”

“Type of dinosaur. Plant eater, though. I can’t imagine them being interested in eating us.”

“Says you,” Nung grunted. Wilkins was busy slapping a pressure dressing on the wound. Nung frowned. “Damn thing tried to rip my arm clean off.”

“You’re lucky you were able to get those rounds off,” said Wilkins.

Nung sniffed. “Yeah, lucky me.”

Mick turned back to the corpse. “What about the arms and legs, though? Nothing prehistoric about them.”

Darren leaned down. “No. No there isn’t. Weird stuff. Looks like it’s part dinosaur and well,” he sighed, “part something else.”

“Human?”

He shrugged. “Humanoid perhaps.”

“Nifty,” said Julia. “What the hell are we on to here?”

Mick shook his head. “I don’t know. But we’ve got a bigger problem right now.”

“What’s that?”

“All that gunfire. It was loud. Shouting. Screeching? It’s probably alerted everyone or everything close by that we’re here.”

“Which would mean?”

“We’re going to have a lot more company than I’d be comfortable with in a very quick time. We need to find some shelter in here and watch what happens. I don’t want us moving around when they send reinforcements. We’d get slaughtered.”

“Where can we hide in here?”

Mick pointed. “They used the shrubs to attack us. I say we use them to hide in.”

“You don’t think they’d look there?”

“Not much choice, Julia. It’s either that or we stay here and fight.” He frowned. “And die.”

Julia nodded. “Everyone into the shrubs. Now!”

They scrambled off the main path. The leaves enveloped them. Julia found a place to squat and felt her butt touch the soft earth. She hadn’t realized how much she’d been sweating during the battle. Now her clothes felt hot. Sticky. She wanted to go to the bathroom again, too.

She could see the others crouching in the undergrowth. At least they’d all managed to find bushes close together.

Mick kept the barrel of his gun aimed out toward the path.

Julia eyed him. Thank God for his presence. Whoever the hell he is.

Movement sounded close by.

Footsteps.

More growls.

Julia’s throat felt tight. Her stomach ached.

She saw the feet go past her hiding spot. Inches away from her nose. She clutched the M16 and felt how slippery the grip had become.

On the path she could see there were maybe ten of the dinosaur creatures. They examined the scene carefully, but didn’t touch their fallen comrades.

What’s going on? Julia wanted to know. Part of her wanted to go out there and approach them. Some stupid sense of curiosity she supposed.

She felt Mick’s hand on her arm. How had he gotten so close?

He pointed.

Julia looked.

More feet.

But different.

Another creature?

She could see the legs were incredibly thin. She could hear the growls and chirps coming from the dinocreatures. But she heard nothing in return communication.

Her head swam with images she didn’t recognize. Pictures played across her mind. She could see the dinocreatures hauling away the dead to some unknown area of this cavern.

She opened her eyes.

The dinocreatures were stooped over their fallen comrades, collecting the bodies and trucking them away. The other set of feet turned and walked the opposite way.

What had just happened?

Mick pointed at the second set of feet.

Julia shook her head. They couldn’t do it quietly. Not now. Not with those things running around already pissed off that we killed some of their friends.

But Mick wanted to follow the second figure.

His face implored her.

She frowned and then finally nodded. She held up ten fingers — ten minutes before he had to come back.

The rest of them would wait.

Was it safe here?

Julia didn’t know. She didn’t think what Mick was doing was safe either, but he was hard to control. Besides, as reluctant as she was to admit it, they needed some reliable information about these…things.

And Mick was the one best suited to finding out what was happening. He could move quieter than anyone else. He had the training after all.

Julia just hoped he’d come back.

Because she couldn’t stand losing another member of her team.

Especially Mick.

19

While Julia sat there waiting for Mick, she tried to reason out what had happened to her head when it had suddenly filled with all sorts of images. And then she’d opened her eyes and seen the dinocreatures doing exactly what the images had shown.

Had she somehow stumbled onto a form of telepathy? Was that how they communicated? She didn’t think the dinocreatures could be capable of it, especially considering they still chirped and growled. That seemed to be their favorite means of communicating.

But what about the second set of feet Mick had seen? She hadn’t heard anything from them. Nor had she seen a tail.

Two races of creatures down here? She felt like she was in the land that time forgot or some other adventure story. It didn’t make sense, after all. How could science explain an entire ecosystem contained within a mountain in the middle of one the coldest places on earth?

Was she missing something? Undoubtedly. They all were.

She hoped Mick would report back and say he’d found something.

She glanced around and saw Wilkins sweating under the canopy of leaves he’d found for himself. She couldn’t see Nung or Darren but could hear someone breathing heavily.

She realized how labored her own breathing had become, especially since the introduction of so much stress over the creatures.

Another balmy breeze sifted through the leaves, bending them and adding more noise to their area. For the first time, Julia also heard the whine of insects. A mosquito landed near her face and she brushed it away without thinking.

Bugs, too?

She shook her head and wondered how much National Geographic would pay for a scoop like this: Shangri-La at the bottom of the world.

Insane.

One of the guys must have been battling a lot of the mosquitoes. They’d obviously sensed the heat from their bodies and carbon dioxide in the air. Julia found herself swatting more of them than she cared to.

Wilkins sat close by, unfazed by them.

He glanced at her and smiled.

Julia leaned closer. “Aren’t the bugs biting you?”

He frowned. “What bugs?”

Julia swatted at another one. “These bugs! They’ve been dive-bombing me on the hunt for blood for about fifteen minutes now.”

Wilkins’ face clouded. “Julia, I don’t see any bugs over there.”

“What?” She swatted at another one. Damn, it was big! “I just nearly got one of them. You can’t see them?”

“No.”

She frowned. The last time this had happened, they’d been back in the tunnel fighting of a hoard of dinocreatures. But that had been a hologram. A trick to get Havel.

Was this another hologram?

And if so, who was the intended target this time?

Julia glanced at Wilkins again. “Check on the others.”

He nodded and slithered off through the underbrush. At once, Julia’s mosquitoes vanished.

Gone.

She glanced at her arms, but found no signs they’d been able to bite her. No red marks scarred her arms. No itchiness.

Nothing.

What sort of technology could these creatures have that would enable them to project holograms of anything they wanted, wherever they wanted? The realization of what they might be scared Julia.

And she didn’t want to think about it anymore.

Wilkins came back. “Darren’s gone.”

Julia shook her head. “Dammit!” She paused. “Nung?”

“Right here,” came the voice to her left.

“Okay,” said Julia. “I want us bunched up nice and tight. I want us in each other’s eyesight all the time. I’m not losing any more of my team.”

Nung squirmed his way through the bushes and Sat close by. Julia could smell the air tinged with body odor. It might have been her own, she concluded. Judging by how extreme the conditions they’d undergone had been, anyone would be hard-pressed to not be exuding a bit of pungent odor.

“Where’s Mick?”

Julia faced Nung. “He spotted another type of creature.”

“Another type-?” Nung’s face fell. “Wonderful.”

“Mick wanted to follow him and see what it was. I gave him the okay and he should be back within about ten minutes.”

Wilkins looked at his watch. “We’re coming up on five now.”

“He’ll come back,” said Julia. “He gave me his word.”

“As long as he doesn’t get nabbed by those creatures, first,” said Nung. “I gotta tell you guys, I’m getting a little nervous about being here.”

Wilkins grinned. “Just a little?”

“Okay, I’m petrified.”

Julia smiled. “I think it’s safe to say we all are, Nung.”

“Mick doesn’t seem to be.”

Wilkins nodded. “Man’s got a point.”

Julia considered this. Mick had mentioned he’d been scared, but his actions seemed to contradict it. He was the first to volunteer for the most dangerous assignments. He always took point, he always went ahead to see what was lying in store for them. Was he just brave or completely insane for doing so?

“I don’t know what he’s feeling,” said Julia at last.

Nung’s face clouded. Julia nudged him. “What’s the problem?”

“It’s just that — well, maybe Mick’s…familiar with these things.”

“Familiar?”

“Yeah. Maybe he’s dealt with them before.”

Julia shook her head. “How could that be?”

“You said he was in the military, right?”

“Yes. According to him, it was years ago.”

“What branch was he in?” asked Wilkins.

“Why?”

“Just tell me, boss, okay?”

“Air Force. What’s the big deal.”

Wilkins frowned now. “You know what he did?”

Julia felt guilty about saying so, as if she was betraying some sort of unspoken trust that she and Mick had developed. But then again, maybe he hadn’t been entirely truthful with her. And she didn’t think revealing what he did would compromise him in any way.

“Special operations.”

Wilkins leaned back. “No shit.”

“I didn’t even know the Air Force had specops,” said Nung.

Wilkins nodded. “Oh yeah. They do. And they keep it really quiet, too. Most people don’t realize it. All they ever hear about are SEALs and Green Berets.”

“You certainly sound like an expert,” said Julia. “How’d you come by all this knowledge?”

“I’m a closet fan,” said Wilkins. “Did Mick ever mention what unit he served with was called?”

Had he? Julia racked her memory but couldn’t think of anything. “No.”

Nung looked at Wilkins. “Why?”

“Well, it’d help pinpoint what he did in the service. We get his unit designator, we can almost determine what he might have been involved with.”

“Well, he seems damned comfortable in a firefight,” said Nung. “Unlike yours truly.”

“Or me,” said Julia.

“I wonder,” said Wilkins.

“What?”

“The rest of us,” he said, “we’ve all pretty much concluded that we were driven to this point in our lives by those dreams we had, right? Those dreams of being down here. At these mountains now that I think about it.”

“Yes.”

“That night in the galley, I didn’t hear Mick say anything that he’d had those dreams. Did he? I mean, did he really have them?”

Julia felt herself grow a little annoyed. “He told me he did.”

“But do you believe him?”

Did she? She sighed. She liked Mick. She wanted to believe him. She wanted to trust him. But was her heart able to see the any potential subterfuge? She doubted it.

“I don’t know.”

“He might just be playing us,” said Nung.

Wilkins nodded. “Could be. Worse things could be afoot, though.”

“Like what?”

Wilkins looked at her. “Like him using us for bait.”

“Bait?”

“To capture one of these things. Bring it back to study. I don’t know. He could be planning anything.”

“That sounds more like something Kendall would do rather than Mick,” said Nung.

Julia felt better having heard him say that. It did sound more like Kendall than Mick. “Good point.”

“I had a buddy of mine who worked in specops,” said Wilkins. “He said the entire force was split into several compartments. You had the guys who primarily did a lot of hostage rescue. You had units good at covert intelligence gathering, military assignments that type of thing. As you got higher you ran into the guys who got ‘sheepdipped.’”

“What the hell does that mean?” asked Nung.

“Means they got pulled out of their units for special assignments.”

“Like what?”

“Like the CIA or DIA using them for real nasty black bag type stuff.”

“Jesus,” said Julia. “You think?”

Wilkins shook his head. “My buddy said there was another level after that. They worked directly for the Space Command.”

Nung’s eyes lit up. “Space Command?”

“Yeah.”

“And you think-?”

Wilkins shrugged. “I don’t know what to think any more. I mean, here we are, down in this frozen shit and we’re in a jungle with dinosaurs? Freaky, man. It’s damned freaky.”

Julia looked at him. “you think this has something to do with aliens, don’t you?”

Wilkins smiled. “I think we all do. I think we’ve all been hiding from that idea for a real long time. It’s easier to dismiss dreams as just that. But what if they’re not? What if they’re placed there or something. By some kind of higher intelligence?”

“Pretty far-fetched,” said Julia.

Wilkins almost laughed. “Boss, look around. We are living in far-fetched!”

Julia sighed. He was right. Things couldn’t get much stranger. “You think these creatures are aliens?”

“I don’t know.”

Nung shook his head. “They look too human to be aliens.”

Wilkins frowned. “Come on Nung, not all aliens look like blobs from outer space. It’s been theorized for years they could look a lot like us.”

“I don’t have a tail,” said Nung.

“Yeah, well, maybe they’re cross-breeding species.”

“This is getting way too weird for me,” said Nung. “Dinosaurs and now aliens. Where’s it end?”

Julia shook her head. “I wish I could say definitively what this was all about — what the hell is going on down here. But I can’t. And so, with that said, I think we should try to keep an open mind. Any of this could be real. Any of it could be nothing but a bunch of lies.”

“Man,” said Nung, “I really miss my old job.”

Wilkins punched him in the arm. “You millionaires are all alike.”

Nung grinned. “That we are.”

Julia jerked her head around.

She heard something.

Mick?

A low rustle sounded close by. She brought up her rifle and waited. It must have been Mick coming back from his reconnaissance. Good, maybe then he could answer a few questions.

Something grabbed her around the waist.

She tried to scream.

Another hand clamped over her mouth.

She heard grunts and struggles coming from where Wilkins and Nung were. What the hell was happening-?

Her mind started to go dark. She could feel herself losing consciousness.

And as she drifted toward the black swallowing her mind, she thought one last time about Mick.

She hoped he’d come back soon.

20

“Boss!”

“Julia!”

She heard the voices dimly, on the fringes of the darkness where she floated without concern of time or place. But gradually, their insisting repetition poked and prodded her until at last her eyes fluttered once and then opened.

She shut them again.

“— bright…”

She heard Wilkins chuckle. “The lights are bright. Yeah. Now try it again, but slowly.”

She did. Squinting at first but then at last able to open them all the way. She frowned. “You could have warned me about the lights.”

“We were more concerned that you were dead,” said Nung.

Julia looked around. “Where the hell are we?”

Wilkins shook his head. “Beats me. We only woke up a few minutes ago. There was no one around when we woke up.”

Julia saw both Wilkins and Nung were strapped into some kind of cylindrical contraption. She looked down and she was pinioned in the same fashion.

“Should I even suggest that we try breaking through these straps?”

Wilkins shook his head. “We’ve already tried. Not sure what the material is, but it’s plenty strong enough to resist brute strength. I can’t even make out where the clasp is.”

“No sign of Mick?”

“None.” Nung gestured with his head. “You see the consoles over there? Pretty fricking high-tech. I’ve never seen anything like them before.”

Julia looked. The interior of the room seemed to be made of sort of composite metal. Shiny surfaces beamed at them from every angle. She could make out large banks of computer equipment, but Nung was right — she’d never seen anything like it before.

“Are we still in the jungle?”

“Don’t know,” said Wilkins. “It’s cool in here, but not uncomfortably so.”

“And no sign of anyone else? No Darren? No Kendall?”

“No.”

Julia let her head droop. She’d come down here with a team of eight. It’d be a miracle if she brought herself home alive at this point.

“This must be Monday.”

Nung grinned. “At least it can’t get any worse than it already is. I’d say we’ve pretty much hit the bottom here.”

“Bullshit,” said Wilkins. “I’d say there’s plenty of room left for some more heinous shit to befall us.”

“You guys are one helluva pep squad,” said Julia. “Now shut up for a second and let me think.”

She studied the room. Overhead the lights seemed to come from some unseen source. She couldn’t detect anything that resembled a lightbulb or fluorescent tube. What she did see, however, reminded her of the small pinhole cameras she’d seen advertised in spy gimmick catalogs.

“You guys think whoever is holding us might possibly be watching us right now?”

Wilkins glanced up. “You think?”

“Possible,” said Nung.

“Should we try to get their attention?”

“Something tells me they already know,” said Wilkins. “They’re probably just waiting to see what we do.”

“What — like study us?” Nung sounded incredulous.

“Maybe,” said Julia. “I’d find it really strange if the ones who captured us are the same ones as are now looking at us.”

“What makes you say that?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Mick said the creatures were joined by another…race. This one didn’t have tails. Maybe those are the ones in charge.”

“Wasn’t Mick supposed to be tracking that one down?”

“Yes.”

“Uh…be nice if he showed up, right now,” said Nung. “I think I can pretty confidently state that I’m done hanging around here.”

“Man, what is this place?” Wilkins looked around the room and shook his head. “This place looks like something out of a bad sci-fi movie.”

“Maybe it’s a flying saucer,” said Nung.

Julia looked at him.

Wilkins looked at him.

Wilkins looked at Julia. “You think?”

She shook her head. “Nah.”

But the thought intrigued her. What if these were some type of bizarre alien species? What if they were responsible for kidnapping everyone?

But for what reason? Why take them? Why…abduct…

She turned to Wilkins. “You remember your dreams? The both of you?”

“You mean about coming here?”

Julia nodded. “Yes.”

Wilkins nodded. “Sure.”

“Yeah,” said Nung.

Julia recalled her own dreams and tried hard to pull out more details. “I can’t recall mine in any real detail except that I always see this mountain. The one we’re in now.”

“So?”

“Well, what if there’s a reason we all had the same dream? What if we’re all connected somehow?”

“Connected?” Nung shook his head. “I never knew you before this trip.”

“Maybe we knew each other and didn’t even realize it.”

“You saying we connected in our dreams?”

“Maybe not even that,” said Julia. “What if we connected somehow in real life? Down here.”

“I’ve never been here before,” said Wilkins.

“That you remember,” said Julia. “But what if you have been here before? What if we all have?”

“You’re really freaking me out,” said Nung. “How the hell could something like that even happen?”

“I think you know,” said Julia.

Wilkins sighed. “You’re talking about alien abductions?”

Julia shrugged. “What if?”

“Sure the accounts of other abductees would confirm similar experiences. And some of them have said it felt like they were dreaming. But don’t they also say something about incredibly bright lights? I don’t remember there being any in my dreams.”

“But you remember snow,” said Julia.

“Yeah, well I was dreaming about this place.”

“And snow when it is in the sunlight can be blindingly white, can’t it?”

“Yeah.”

“So it makes sense.”

“Still seems a bit of a reach for my taste,” said Wilkins.

Nung didn’t say anything.

Julia took a breath. “Look, I’m just trying to make some sense of what’s going on here. I mean, we’re trapped in a mountain with a jungle inside it. We’re in some high-tech room no one can figure out. There appear to be a race of weird dinocreatures wandering around the jungle. And God knows what else. If you guys have any other explanations, I’d love to hear them.”

“Maybe we’re still dreaming,” said Nung. “Maybe this is all part of one big hallucination. We’ll wake up soon, each in our own warm beds and think about how strange it felt but then that will be it.”

Wilkins smiled. “Nung, that’s the biggest load of horse shit I’ve ever heard. If I thought I could wake up, I’d be screaming my ass off right now.”

“Just a thought.”

Julia looked at one wall in the room. A smooth gray metallic sheen covered the expanse but there was nothing else on the wall itself. Was that the door?

She heard a vague hissing sound.

“What was that?”

Wilkins turned. “What?”

“I hear something.”

Nung turned. “I hear it, too.”

“Wish I had my gun,” said Wilkins.

Julia heard another hiss. Was it another door opening? Were they coming for them now? God, she wished Mick was here!

The wall slid up suddenly. For a moment she couldn’t see anything beyond because the corridor outside was draped in darkness.

But then she saw the eyes.

The head.

The body.

Oh my God, she thought. He looks just like all the pictures she’d ever seen. Except for his head which was flattened and jutted out behind his back.

Was this what they’d stumbled on to?

Mick had been right. Two species. This one didn’t resemble the dinocreature except a bit in the skull structure.

Nung whimpered slightly as the creature approached. He stood perhaps five feet tall in total. He walked past them without looking at any of them and went straight to one of the computer consoles and worked several knobs.

Julia watched him. Was he going to communicate with them? Was he going to talk? He had a very small mouth. Perhaps he couldn’t.

Where was Mick?

The creature turned and stared at her. Julia’s mind went blank and then a rush of images surged through her. She could see her dream now. She could see the bright lights outside her bedroom window. She could feel her body go weightless and drift through her window.

Outside.

Up.

Higher and higher.

She was surrounded by some yellow haze that acted like protection for her.

And then she was aboard the craft.

She felt the cold metal table press into her back. She was naked. Lying there exposed. She glanced around and saw other bodies laying nearby. All races. All creeds. All naked.

Then they came for her. More just like the creature standing in the room now. They approached the table and peered at her closely.

Then she saw the metal instruments.

And screamed.

Beside her, Wilkins and Nung screamed at the same time.

The images vanished.

Julia’s head dropped to her chest. She tried to suck in as much oxygen as she could. She was sweating profusely.

The creature considered them for another moment and then walked out of the room.

Wilkins took a deep breath.

Nung shook his head. “My God.”

“Abducted,” said Wilkins. “Motherfuckers.”

“So that’s the connection then,” said Julia. “We were all abductees. All taken together. I saw you guys on the ship with me.”

“I saw you, too,” said Nung. “Can this really be true?”

“I don’t know how it couldn’t,” said Wilkins.

“So, what was that guy doing to us?”

Julia shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe giving us back our memories? So we could understand?”

“Yeah, but why? Why would they do that now? I’d think they’d want something like this to remain a secret for as long as possible.”

“Unless…” Wilkins voice drifted off.

Julia looked at him. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“Spit it out already!”

He took another breath. “What if there’s no need for this to be a secret anymore?”

“You think they’re going public?”

“Not exactly,” said Wilkins. “Maybe there’s just no need for us to be kept in the dark anymore.”

“But — “ Julia stopped. “Oh shit.”

Wilkins nodded. “Guess we might find out what happened to Havel and Vikorsky sooner than we thought.”

Nung chewed his lip. “You were right Wilkins.”

“About what?”

“About things getting a whole lot worse.”

21

The door to the chamber slid open five minutes later. Two of the creatures came into the room. They made no attempt to communicate and Julia found this intriguing. Were they communicating telepathically?

One of the creatures looked at her and a wave of pain swept through Julia’s head. She screamed at the incredible agony.

Wilkins jerked his body. “Stop doing that you fucking bastards!”

Nung tried to get his hands free.

The creatures remained unmoved and seemed mildly amused by the efforts of Wilkins and Nung. The pain in Julia’s head finally waned and she could see through the sweat pouring down her face.

“Oh my God.”

She stared at the creatures. Their heads fanned back and out like their skulls had almost been flattened and spread out like a fan. Was this a sign that they were extremely intelligent? She supposed it was given that they didn’t seem to use their miniscule mouths for anything.

But what did they want? And why had they kidnapped everyone?

Except Mick.

She shut the thought out of her head, scared that the creatures might be able to see him and then raise an alarm for the dinocreatures to go look for him. And right now, he was their only hope of ever getting out of this place alive.

The creatures surveyed each of them in turn. They started with Wilkins and then moved to Nung and then to Julia. When their eyes peered into hers, Julia felt herself go cold. There seemed to be no emotion coming from them. They were without any care. No mercy.

No compassion at all.

She marveled at their long arms and legs and short trunk. Their heads seemed almost too big for their bodies. How had they evolved to this point where they seemed frail and unable to do much of anything that required brute physical force?

Was that what they used the dinocreatures for?

They peered closer at her for longer than they had the others. Julia hoped that was a good sign. Maybe they’d release her.

She almost laughed.

Doubtful.

They moved back to Nung and seemed to confer with each other — again without making any sound whatsoever. One of them walked to the main console in the room and pushed several buttons.

A hiss sounded above their heads and Julia looked up. She could see a clear tube sliding down toward her cylinder.

They were sealing them in!

“Stop it! Don’t hurt us!”

It seemed silly to shout at them. But she had to try. The tubes slid over and Julia felt a vacuum effect in her ears, as if all the sound was being shut out from her. She tried shouting but only heard her only voice.

Another hiss sounded in the tubes and she felt lightheaded.

Gas.

They were putting them out. But what for? Julia tried knocking her head against the tube but only succeeded in hurting herself. The gas enveloped her. It blurred the room they were in.

Julia saw the creatures watching them intently and then everything went black.

When she came to, they were in a different room. This one was gray and metallic like the others but there were several horizontal slabs scattered about the room. Huge machines with long appendages waited.

Julia looked to her right and saw only Wilkins.

His eyes were fixed ahead of him, his mouth drawn tight.

Where was Nung?

She turned and then saw him. On the table closest to them. He was naked and strapped down to the slab. Next to him on another table the creatures had strapped down something that looked like a velociraptor dinosaur. Julia looked at the dinosaur and saw it’s jaws snapping angrily. She could imagine it was screeching or chirping or whatever sound dinosaurs made.

The she saw Nung’s eyes. They were wide open and the fear spilling out of them made Julia shudder. He kept looking at the dinosaur struggling just feet away from him. Sweat ran off his body and pooled beneath him. Or was that urine? Had Nung wet himself? Did he have some indication what the creatures were planning to do to him?

Julia thought about the dinocreatures. Something about them reminded her of the creatures here. Their heads were almost the same. They were…

…part dinosaur and part alien.

My God, she thought. They mean to crossbreed us with dinosaurs? Or with aliens? Or both?

One of the creatures pushed a button on the machine and it moved closer to the dinosaur. A long metal arm emerged from the machine and plunged into the chest of velociraptor. Blood spurted angrily from the hole and dripped off the machine.

Julia turned away for a moment but felt drawn back to the scene.

The metallic arm seemed to be removing the internal organs of the dinosaur and unceremoniously dumping them into a tray nearby. The creatures watched and stayed close to the controls, making minute adjustments.

Nung’s eyes stayed glued to the dinosaur. It had long since stopped thrashing.

Dead.

Julia started crying. She had to do something. She had to get to Nung. She banged her head against the tube again but it just wouldn’t nudge. She glanced at Wilkins and could see him trying his damnedest to break his restraints.

It was no good.

The creatures didn’t even seem remotely concerned about them escaping.

The machine seemed finished with the velociraptor. It moved back and away, blood still trickling from the arm that had gutted the dinosaur.

Julia could see the bright red staining the floor. She spotted a small drain in the floor that was drawing the blood away from the operating table.

The creatures moved over to Nung. One of them prodded him in the chest and then looked at his comrade. Again, unspoken communication passed between them.

They moved to Nung’s head. They put their hands on him. Nung jerked his head from side to side, desperate to get away from them, but he could do nothing. He looked at Julia. She could see his eyes begged and pleaded.

She couldn’t do anything!

Was this what had happened to everyone else? Were Darren and Havel and Vikorksy already dead? Or worse? Were they some bizarre offshoot concoction developed by these aliens? Were they part human and part dinosaur? Or were they something much worse.

The creatures moved the machine closer to Nung. They didn’t even seem concerned about the co-mingling of blood. They made no attempt to clean off the machine at all.

This time though, they operated the machine by hand. Julia could see now that the machine seemed to have some type of cutting device. It sprang to life.

She could imagine the sound it must have made. Something like the high-pitched whine of a dentist’s drill.

Nung screamed. Or at least, it looked like he was. Julia couldn’t hear a thing inside the tube.

The machine came closer.

The blade bit into Nung’s skin by his clavicle. Blood spurted again. The blade moved further down.

Julia vomited in the tube.

Nung’s eyes rolled back white. He’d passed out? Or was he dead already?

That didn’t make sense.

Julia fought to catch her breath, wheezing and retching. No, they’d killed the dinosaur. But they’d keep Nung alive. Wouldn’t they? If they were crossbreeding or otherwise doing something to co-mingle the two species, they’d need one of them alive.

Wouldn’t they?

She prayed they would.

But would it be worse for Nung if he did live as some sort of bizarre half-and-half?

Would he be better off dead?

She shut her eyes again, unable to watch the scene unfolding in front of her any longer. In her mind, she could hear him screaming. She could feel the incredible fear. She could feel the bite of the blade as it cut into his flesh.

Was this how she would die? Was this how they would all die?

She kept her eyes closed and thought about the one chance they had left.

Mick!

He had to be somewhere.

What would he have done once he came back and found them all gone? He’d assume they’d been taken. So that would mean he’d come looking for them. Wouldn’t it?

He would if he was truly on their side and not on someone else’s agenda. Julia didn’t know what to think anymore. All she wanted to do was go home.

Which was when the door to the chamber slid open.

And Kendall walked into it.

Smiling.

He waved at Julia and Wilkins.

Julia passed out again.

22

“You know, it’s very hard for me to have any degree of confidence in someone as a leader when they continually lose consciousness at shocking moments.”

The snide tone to his voice made Julia wince. She kept her eyes closed, praying that she could stay in the darkness. If she just blocked everything out she could almost convince herself that she was anywhere else.

Anywhere but where she really was.

“Open your eyes, Julia.”

It was hard to resist the command. Something tugged at her mind. Forced her to respond.

She opened them.

She was strapped down to a gray metal slab.

Naked.

Nung’s body was nowhere to be seen.

“What did you do with him?”

Kendall smiled. “Nung? Oh I think he’s recovering nicely right now. He had himself quite an adventure here earlier. I think you saw some of it before you passed out. Pity you didn’t have the stomach to see the entire operation.”

“Is he…dead?”

Kendall leaned back. “Good heavens, no. He’s far too important to kill off.” He shrugged. “Now the staff of research station Frederick, the ones missing when we first arrived, well they weren’t all that important. They were used for other experiments. Tragically, none of them seemed able to withstand the demands on their pathetic bodies.”

“You killed them?”

“Not me. I had very little to do with their demise.”

Julia frowned. “Who are you, Kendall?”

He smirked. “I must say you look simply ravishing without a stitch of clothing on. If you weren’t required for so delicate an operation, I might ask our esteemed hosts to allow me a little time to indulge in the fruits of your luscious little body.”

“I’d sooner die than let you touch me.”

Kendall smirked. “As if you have any control over the situation. Trust me, I can do whatever I wish with you.” He ran his hands over her body about two inches above the surface of her skin.

Julia felt like a live wire was being dragged across her. Her skin tingled. She struggled against it, but felt her nipples harden.

Her legs snapped open.

“No!”

Kendall leaned back. The tingling sensations died and Julia closed her legs.

“Pretty interesting stuff, huh?”

“How did you do that?”

“It was a gift of sorts from our hosts. Sort of a quid pro quo. I gave them something and they gave me something in return.”

“Mental powers?”

“Seemed fitting since that’s how they communicate with each other. If I was going to work with them, I had to be able to do the same things they could. Although I suspect they held a few skills back from me. I can’t say as though I blame them. If it was me with all the power, I’d want to keep something in reserve. Just in case.”

“Just in case of what?”

“That I had a change of heart and didn’t feel like keeping up my end of the bargain.”

“Any chance that you have?”

Kendall leaned close and licked one of her nipples. “Not in this lifetime. I like the power far too much to relinquish it.” He licked his lips. “You taste delicious.” He cast a glance down at her crotch. “I wonder…”

Julia tensed her legs. “I wouldn’t Kendall. It’s been a few days since I had a good shower. Things are liable to be a bit…ripe down there.”

He nodded. “Fair point.”

Relieved for the moment, Julia pressed him. “Seeing how I’m not exactly going anywhere anytime soon, would you mind filling me in on what exactly is going on here?”

“You haven’t figured it out yet?”

“I have some ideas.”

“They’re probably wrong. You never struck me as someone who could reason their way out of a damp paper bag.”

“Thanks.”

“It started years ago. For all of us. Surely you’ve read accounts of abductions? Seen the specials on TV?”

“I suppose.”

“Those dreams. The ones we all share. The common bond between us all. That was the indication that we’d been abducted as well. All of us. We’ve been taken by our hosts for many years. Me since I was about eight years old. I think we all started around then.”

“Why?”

“Medical reasons. I’ll get to them in a moment.” He paused and looked at her body again.

Julia wanted to puke.

“When I was eighteen, I grew tired of waking up and finding myself suffering from missing time. You know about that? That’s when people have whole blocks of their lives that they can’t remember. Maybe they’re driving down the road and then they wake up and they’re fifty miles and two hours further along than they recall. Worse, they can’t remember any aspect of getting from point A to point D. That’s missing time.”

“And you had it?”

“My dear, we’ve all had it. You just don’t remember it because you haven’t looked at your life with an open enough mind. You’ve seen your future only in the terms you set for yourself, not the reality of your situation. As such, your vision is rather hazy.”

“And yours is crystal clear, is that it?”

“Actually, it wasn’t. But like I said, I got tired of not being able to remember things. So I hypnotized myself.”

“Self-hypnosis? Wasn’t that risky?”

Kendall shrugged. “Perhaps. But I certainly wasn’t going to go and see a certified hypnotist and risk ridicule over something so many people see as ludicrous.”

“So you realized what had been happening to you?”

“Indeed. And once I did, I made preparations for their next visit.”

“What sort of preparations?”

Kendall smiled. “There are things one can do that would enable them to, shall we say, level the playing field?”

“Trade secrets? I would have thought you’d enjoy gloating about your superior intellect.”

“The fact that I am standing here, free to go and come as I please, while you are strapped down to that cold slab is proof enough of my ability.”

“So these are aliens?”

“I prefer the term visitors. Aliens makes them sound like border jumpers stashed away in some beat-up truck.”

“My mistake.”

“They’ve been coming here for millions of years, did you know that?”

“No.”

“It’s true. Most people believe that it was the end of the second world war that piqued their curiosity with the advent of nuclear weapons. That somehow we’d proven ourselves smarter and that would have been the catalyst for the sudden surge of sightings.” He frowned. “Nothing could be further from the truth. They’ve been here far longer than we ever knew about. Watching, charting, studying, and yes — experimenting.”

“How long have they been here for?”

“You saw Nung’s operation?”

“Part of it.”

“And you saw the other party involved in that procedure? The velociraptor?”

“I saw it.”

“Sixty-five million years, Julia. Since the time when the dinosaurs ruled this planet. They’ve been here that long.”

“They must be incredibly bored.”

Kendall shrugged. “The way I understand it, time means very little to them. Years pass in the blink of an eye. If anything, they might feel like they’ve been here for about a hundred years. Not a bad ratio when you think about it.”

“Fascinating.” Julia felt the cold of the slab seeping into her body. It played havoc with her bladder control.

“The visitors have been cataloging all the species on this planet as part of an experiment with galactic genesis.”

“What the hell is that?”

“The creation of whole galaxies.”

“They’re playing God?”

Kendall laughed. “You still cling to the belief that there’s truly some sort of divine creature who made all of this? You really ought to not be so juvenile in your beliefs. I would have expected more from a supposedly learned scientist as yourself.”

“I’m not stupid enough to think that man could be the most powerful creature in the universe.”

Kendall nodded. “That’s good. Because he’s not. Not by any stretch of the imagination.”

“And your friends are?”

Kendall shrugged. “Nothing is omnipotent, no. But they come very close. You see, it’s no longer about brute force as the means to conquering. Why should it be? Physicality is a self-limiting enterprise. The mind, however, that is where there are no frontiers. It’s as limitless and infinite in growth and potential as the universe itself.”

“I noticed they didn’t talk.”

“Their mouths are an unfortunate leftover from an earlier time in their own evolutionary path. They’ve been speechless for millions of years.”

“What about food?”

“They don’t require much. I’ve seen what they drink. It’s some type of artificial concoction that keep their very basest corporeal attributes functioning normally. In fact, they’ve almost perfected it as a type of immortality serum. They live for so very long.”

“What about those other things?”

“What other things?”

“The dino…the creatures with tails.”

Kendall nodded. “Yes, those are dino-alien hybrids. Amazing aren’t they? They crossbred several species of dinosaurs and then created a mix in a test tube millennia ago. The result was something of an oddity, but a necessary one. For while the mind is the ultimate weapon, the visitors also appreciated the fact that it was sometimes necessary to employ brute force, if only as a means of maintaining their own agenda and secrecy.”

“So those things are their security force?”

“I guess you could call them that.”

“Can they communicate telepathically?”

“Receive only. They aren’t bred to transmit. The visitors can understand their rudimentary screeches and chirps as language.”

“I don’t suppose they eat through straws as well?”

Kendall smiled. “Tragically no. The hybrids require an enormous amount of food. A somewhat bothersome carryover from their reptilian ancestors.”

“Antarctica never struck me as having much in the way of food supplies.”

“No. It doesn’t. That’s why their food supply gets imported from other places.”

“Other places?”

“Not all abductees return home with missing time. Some find their time gone on a more permanent basis.”

“They’re used as food?”

Kendall nodded. “Like I said, a necessary cost to maintain the security force.”

Julia tried to bite back the rise of bile in her throat. It wasn’t easy to do so. “Vikorsky?”

Kendall nodded. “I think he was yesterday’s breakfast.”

“Havel?”

“Served earlier today.”

“Darren?”

Kendall looked at his watch. “I think they’re just digging into him right now.”

Julia retched and a dribble of vomit spilled out of her mouth. Kendall shook his head. “Get a grip on yourself. It’s part of the price of conducting the exhaustive research going on here. You’ve really got to see the big picture and appreciate what they’ve worked so hard to create.”

“What about Nung?”

Kendall shook his head. “I told you, Nung was recovering from his operation.”

“What did they do to him?”

Kendall smiled. “Seems as though they’ve been getting a little impatient with the current generation of dino hybrids. Something about them being a bit bothersome to work with. Small brains and all.”

“So Nung…?”

“A newer generation of hybrid. But this time, it’s a tri-species version: visitor, dinosaur, human. They think it will make a marked improvement over the past generations.”

Julia felt like crying but she wouldn’t give Kendall the satisfaction. “And what about me?” she asked finally.

“You?” Kendall nodded. “I wondered if you’d be brave enough to ask. I’m impressed.”

“Just answer the question.”

“Well, Nung was the experiment as far as cutting and pasting limbs on and off. He was the patchwork experiment. But you, you’re something else entirely.”

Julia bit down on her lip. Blood flowed into her mouth as she heard Kendall speak again.

“You’ll be fertilized. And the gestation period will be rapidly accelerated.” He smiled. “Congratulations, boss. You’ll be the first woman in history to give birth to an entirely new species.”

23

It sounded too horrible to be true. But as she lay there looking up at the sickening expression on Kendall’s face, Julia knew it had to be true. She hated Kendall at that moment more than she’d ever hated anyone else in her life. She never would have thought it possible to so utterly loathe someone. But Kendall fit the bill.

Perfectly.

“How…?” Her words trailed off. She wasn’t really sure how to ask the question. There she was naked on the gurney. Completely vulnerable. The question seemed almost ridiculous.

Kendall was obviously enjoying himself. “Not the way I’d hoped. I volunteered to fuck you with their goop injected into my scrotum so when I came, it would impregnate you.”

Julia fought back another wave of nausea. “How romantic of you.”

“Isn’t it?” He frowned. “They rejected my offer, though. Something about needing the conditions to be absolutely sterile for the injection to take properly. Apparently, their sperm frappe is extremely volatile. Any disturbance could very well kill off all those precious little swimmers.”

Julia frowned. “I’m not ovulating.”

Kendall sniffed. “Bullshit. You are well within your fertile window. Don’t try to lie to these guys, Julia. They know everything about you. Why do you think we came down here at precisely this time? They’ve been charting your cycles for years.”

“And you were the one-”

“Who insisted on this schedule. Yes. You’re absolutely correct. My little contribution to the program. It wouldn’t have done much good to bring you down here during your period.”

“This whole thing was designed to get me down here?”

“More or less. They’ve experimented on other women for some time now, but none of those operations took. The results were rather horrific. The visitors claimed it was because the mothers weren’t stable enough. That’s one of the bad side effects of abductions, you see. People start abusing substances to try and forget the pain of the experiences they’ve gone through.”

“You turn them into junkies.”

“Some. Most of the women the visitors took have become chain smokers. Some drink to try and quell the pain. Others get a bit more hardcore with narcotics.” He smiled. “But every once in a while, they find a specimen that doesn’t cave in. Someone made of a stiffer core than the others. Some type of inner strength, I’d guess.” He pointed at Julia. “And that’s you.”

“Me?”

“Believe it or not, you’ve never dwelled in the depths of despair. And while you might not have been conscious of the fact that you were an abductee, you always had a hole in your life. But never once did you ever think about trying to hide from that hole through drugs or other substances. Not you. You rose above it. And you’ve got a supremely healthy body for all your hard work.” Kendall licked his lips. “You make my mouth water just looking at you.”

“The feeling’s not mutual.”

“No. I suppose not.” Kendall smirked. “Holding out for your solder boy, aren’t you?”

“Who?”

“Mick.”

The tone of his voice made Julia scared. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Kendall shook his head. “Please spare me the theatrics. You two didn’t exactly do much to conceal the fact that you had a thing for each other. I saw the way you looked at him. Naked lust so brazenly apparent on your face. You looked like you’d just crossed a desert of sexless years and Mick was the first oasis you’d come upon.”

“Where is he?”

Kendall shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. If he’s smart, he went back to the base, called a plane to come down, hopped on it, and left you all far behind.”

“He wouldn’t do that.”

“No,” said Kendall. “He wouldn’t. Which is why the visitors have their entire dinocreature force out searching for him.”

“In the tunnel?”

“Tunnel, the jungle, even outside in the snow.”

“How can they survive in those cold temperatures?”

“Part of the hybridization process. They flushed the warm blood out of the dinosaurs and left the visitors’ own circulatory system. Don’t ask me how they did it. Their technology is light years beyond our own. And even an enlightened chap like myself can’t grasp everything they can do.”

“Humility from you? I never would have expected it.”

Kendall leaned closer. “I’d be a fool to think myself their superior intellectually. So would you.”

“I don’t think myself superior to anyone.”

“Nonsense. You’ve thought yourself the best to lead this mission, haven’t you?”

“I was chosen to lead this team.”

Kendall smiled. “No, actually, I’m afraid that was a bit more of my influence on things.”

“You?”

“Clever, huh?”

“But you’ve been dogging me from the start. You’ve resented my leadership every second of this mission.”

“Well, it makes it all the more believable then, doesn’t it? Me, the disappointed wanna-be leader forever heckling you. Who would ever suspect me of manipulating things behind the scenes? No one.”

“How did you ever manage to get me appointed?”

Kendall grinned. “Turns out the chairman enjoys sexual dalliances with very young children. That research trip he took to Thailand last year? A sexual vacation. Lucky for me, pictures of his escapades were rather easy to come by, pardon the pun.”

“You’re a real sick bastard, Kendall.”

“Undoubtedly.”

“And what about when we go home? How will you explain everything then?”

“’We’?” Kendall laughed. “You aren’t serious. Julia, I am the only one going home from this excursion. I can’t very well let you or anyone else get back there and spill the beans on my little adventure, can I?”

“You could wipe our minds clean like you did the other abductees.”

“Not reliable enough. No, I’m afraid your fates are sealed. You and Nung will most likely live out the remainder of your lives, short though they may well be, here or else the visitors may take you to another base.”

“Another base?”

Kendall nodded. “They have a lovely little outpost on the moon, believe it or not. Charming place.”

“And you’ve been.”

“Once. Yes. I think it was a gift for my years of service to their cause.”

“Years of service?”

Kendall nodded. “I’ve been doing this for a long time. I am the most seasoned person on your team remember. I’ve led several Antarctic expeditions.”

“But none of those ever turned deadly.”

“No. But they did provide the visitors with ripe subjects for experimentation. They were doing a type of tag and release program back then. They wanted to see how the abductions would affect the lives of the victims they experimented upon. Quite fascinating.”

Julia found it hard to believe everything he was saying. She found it even harder to maintain the control over her bladder. The steel gurney was so very cold. It tickled the inside of her stomach. It made her desperately want to relieve herself. The warmth of her own urine would at least take some of the chill away, even if only for a moment.

Kendall must have noticed the look on her face because he smiled. “That gurney’s awfully cold, isn’t it?”

“I hadn’t noticed.”

“No? That’s interesting because I could swear you look ready to piss all over the place.”

“I’m not.”

“There’s no shame in it, Julia. You should have seen Nung when he woke up on the slab. The poor lad sprayed so much urine everywhere, the visitors had to stop the operation and clean it up. Terribly impolite of him to do so, too.”

“I’m sure he’ll appreciate the talking to.”

Kendall laughed. “I marvel at your sense of humor even now. Even as you know what’s coming next.”

“I’m just waiting for Mick to get here and kill everyone in this place.”

“Really? You think he’s coming back for you? Do you think your promise of passion after all of this is over is enough to lure him in here? You really think that you have that much allure?”

“Allure’s got nothing to do with it. Mick’s a good man. He wouldn’t leave us all here to die.”

Kendall sighed. “That’s the problem with people. No one’s pragmatic anymore. All this ridiculous emotion certainly musses things up. If people could just see the big picture, they’d realize the futility of their quests.”

“You think a lack of emotion is a good thing.”

“Absolutely. The visitors do, too.”

“That why I don’t hear any laughing?”

“Make a joke while you can,” said Kendall. “The time is fast approaching when you’ll scream for your mommy and daddy to come and rescue you from the twisted fate they have in store for you. But you know what?”

“What?”

“It will be too late. Nothing can help you now. The visitors will see to that. You belong to them now.”

“Don’t count me out yet, Kendall.”

“I already have.”

Julia frowned. “When Mick gets here, I’ll ask him to leave you alive a little while longer so I can kill you myself.”

Kendall smirked. “You don’t have the guts to kill me, Julia. If you did, you’d just be exactly what you despise about me. A cold-hearted killer.”

“I think I’ll be able to live myself,” said Julia.

Kendall looked at her for another second before sighing. “Perhaps.” He looked at his watch. “It’s time for me to leave now.”

“Where are you going?”

Kendall smiled. “Things to do. People to see. Places to go. You know. Very busy being what I am.”

The door slid open behind him and Julia could see two visitors enter the room.

Kendall smiled more. “Besides, I think our hosts want to spend some quality time alone with you. Can’t say I blame them.”

Julia struggled against the straps. “Kendall!”

His smile oozed across his face and he waved at her. “Good bye, Julia. Enjoy the procedure.”

He left the chamber.

The door hissed shut.

And Julia saw the two visitors move closer to her.

She screamed.

24

Their eyes sucked her in.

The deep black pools of obscurity that at once seemed to grow and then shrink within her mind. She saw her reflection in them, stretched out and naked on the cold metal slab beneath her body. She felt herself gripped by such fear and anxiety.

Then strangely, it vanished.

A wave of relaxation slipped over her. She felt her muscles slacked. The tension in her body seemed to melt out of her.

She felt a bit drowsy.

Where had the visitors gone?

She tried turning her head but found she couldn’t.

Her sense of control over her body was gone. Almost as if she’d been so anesthetized that she could no longer control her nervous system.

A small glimmer of fear resurfaced. What were they doing to her? What were they going to do to her now that she couldn’t feel anything? Was it true what Kendall had told her? That they were going to impregnate her and speed her along to birth?

No!

She could hear the sound of a machine running. It reminded her the mail-sorting machine she used to work with back in high school at the post office in her town. That steady sh-shoop sound.

Memories flooded her head. She was sixteen again. Back in the mailroom with the ceiling fans turning in the slow summer humidity. Sweat soaked through her uniform. She wiped her forehead and her hand came away wet.

And next to her, old Bettina Clark, the heavyset Alabama transplant who used to talk to Julia all the time about life, men, and cooking with lard — the only way to really cook.

“This here’d be some fahn weather for smokin’ ribs like my old daddy used to make in the barrel smoker he had made up from an old oil drum he got out of Sked James’ junkyard in Birmingham.”

And Julia would just smile and nod and agree with it all. Bettina had taught her a lot that summer — in her own way of course that Julia had never forgotten. And most importantly, Julia’d learned the preciousness of family.

Bettina would run on and on all day. Long sentences that reminded Julia of translating Cicero would amble out of Bettina’s mouth and hang in the bloated air, full of history, mirth, and a refreshing outlook on life.

And at the end of each and every workday, Bettina would step away from the mail sorter, wipe her brow, say a small word of thanks to the Lord, and head on off home to cook for her grandkids.

Julia would wave and walk home in the evening breezes that dried her uniform shirt. At home she’d wash the shift, hang it out to dry, so it would be ready to wear the very next day.

Again.

Sh-shoop. Sh-shoop. Sh-shoop.

Her mind switched back.

Bettina disappeared.

Julia saw more inky darkness. The visitor eyes swallowed her again.

More images slid on to the screen of her mind. The summer when Julia was nineteen. The first year she’d come back from college.

Heartbroken.

After a full academic year of chasing after Scott Johnson, Julia’d finally secured a date with him. But all Scott wanted to do was hang out, drink, smoke weed, and bang her brains out — not necessarily in that order.

The realization that everything she’d built him up to be fell far short of the reality of who he was, crushed Julia’s heart like never before. And even hearing the soothing words of Bettina telling her that “It’s just a man, baby. Ain’t nothing worth getting yourself all caught up over,” did little good.

Julia came home, dejected.

And that first evening home, she wandered out beyond old man Crawford’s cornfields to the abandoned husk of a barn that had burned partially twenty years previous. Julia had climbed up to the loft, dangled her legs over the side and watched the sun chase the horizon in slow motion while the fireflies danced in the fields far below.

She wondered then what her life would hold for her. Still a virgin. Still unsure of the ways of the big wide world.

Scared.

That’s what it was, she decided. She was scared of life. The uncertainties of what she might become. The reality that this place she’d called home for so long would invariably be left behind and she’d have to find new places to feel secure.

It scared her.

Her mind clicked over again.

Sh-shoop. Sh-shoop.

What were they doing to her? Why force her to relive these memories? What good would it do for them? Were they peering into her mind for some reason? Were they trying to figure out if she was a good mother candidate for their heinous offspring?

No!

The eyes returned. She decided she could find absolutely no trace of emotion in them at all. They seemed utterly devoid of compassion. No mercy.

Just cold.

Like the rain.

She used to enjoy reading those Choose Your Own Adventure books for young adults when she’d been a teenager. What was it about them that she loved so much?

Choice without risk.

She could vicariously live out any desire and never have to fear that she would pay a price she wasn’t ready to pay. If she didn’t like the way things were going, she could simply start over.

Be nice if life was like that, she decided.

Would she still be here?

Or would she have never tried to get this leadership position?

I didn’t get it, she reminded herself. Kendall manipulated the proceedings for his own evil purposes.

A surge of resentment filled her heart.

Kendall.

She had a score to settle with that guy.

And so help her God, she was going to see that she did.

She couldn’t imagine the visitors really needed all that much help from the likes of Kendall. If they were as advanced in their technology and mind control as they seemed to be, why would they need the petty skills of a greedy power-hungry fool like Kendall?

It didn’t make sense.

Something jabbed her.

But it didn’t hurt. Just felt like sudden pressure.

Were they implanting something in her?

She tried to look down. She tried to crane her neck.

“What are you doing?”

Her voice surprised her. She wondered at first who had spoken, but then remembered it as her own voice.

It echoed off the walls and reverberated around her.

“What-?”

Her mind clicked over again and this time, Julia fought it.

“No!”

She could feel the tug get stronger. They wanted her occupied with something else. Julia could remember reading an article about surgeons who used misdirection as a form of anesthesia for their patients. Get them so utterly engrossed in something else, like a challenging crossword puzzle or something that they would concentrate solely on that and on nothing else. In effect, the nerve impulses that sent the pain signals to the brain would not register at all.

But she’d never heard of anyone having the kind of success where they could actually operate on them.

Wouldn’t it be interesting if-?

“No!”

They were so subtle about it. They would take anything. The slightest thought that came into Julia’s mind could be manipulated into a painkiller.

She wouldn’t let them.

She wouldn’t think about anything.

Julia emptied her mind.

She imagined white filling her mind’s eye. Nothing would show up on it. Nothing at all.

She could feel the tugging become more insistent. There almost seemed some urgency to it, now as well.

Did they realize she was battling them?

Julia knew if she could keep her mind from being stripped away, the pain would come back. She didn’t want to experience it, but she also didn’t want to simply wake up and have no idea what they were doing to her.

She would take the pain.

Accept it.

Embrace it.

No matter what.

“Stop messing with my mind!”

It felt good to shout.

She sucked in a breath of cold air. When had the temperature gone down? She could only remember it as being nice and warm. But now she could almost see her breath in front of her face.

And here she was with no clothes on. She hoped they knew about hypothermia, frostbite, and all those other cold weather nastiness.

“No!”

The mist in front of her face disappeared and the room’s temperature returned to normal.

They could do anything!

Julia wanted to give up. She wanted to give in to the desire to yield and let her mind simply expand into the nothingness they demanded of her. It would be so much easier that way, so much easier than fighting.

She was tired.

Tired. Alone. Hungry. Thirsty.

She shook her head violently and felt it snap against the gurney.

And felt the pain.

Yes!

She moved toward it. Embraced it.

She screamed.

More pain swallowed her now. Her lower body felt like it was being cooked in flames. Burning sensations spread from her crotch. Sharp lancing pain seemed to jut out of her abdomen.

What were they doing?

Tears streamed out of her eyes. She felt them trickle down the side of her face. She tasted a bit of the salt.

“No!”

Such pain!

God!

She tried to squeeze her legs together. They were down there.

Working.

Somehow they must have secured her legs in some type of stirrups like at the gynecologist’s office. She couldn’t bring them together. She imagined being on the thigh machine at the gym, the way she squeezed those extensions together with almost one hundred pounds on each one.

Squeeze!

Feel the burn!

The pain got worse.

Julia wanted to give in to the visitors. She wanted the pain gone now!

“No!”

Take it away! Take it away from me!

PLEASE!

More tears. More pain.

Waves of it enveloped her body.

She was blacking out now. She could see the gray fuzz reaching up for her. Ready. It was ready to take her away.

Now.

She dimly heard what sounded like an explosion.

And the gray vanished abruptly.

The pain did as well.

Julia was panting for air.

Gunfire.

Somewhere in her mind she could feel waves of pain and agony wash over her. But they weren’t her own sensations.

The visitors’?

A rough hand touched her on the forehead.

She opened her eyes.

Mick?

He smiled down at her.

“Hey kid.”

She gasped and sobbed and retched and puked at the same time. Mick patted her gently and waited for her to regain her composure.

“You okay?”

Julia looked down, expecting to see some god awful contraption jutting out of her groin.

She saw nothing.

“I…I guess so.”

Mick nodded. “Sorry it took me so long to find you. You wouldn’t believe this place.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “I’d love to explain it all to you now but unfortunately, we’d better get going. I have a feeling we aren’t going to be alone much longer.”

And as he said it, a sudden alarm filled the chamber.

Mick nodded. “So much for surprise.”

Julia tried to grin. “I think the explosives might have ruined that for you.”

“Let’s get out of here!”

25

“Put this on.” Mick tossed her his sweatshirt. He grinned. “Best I can do right now, sorry.”

“I think my modesty went out the window lying on that gurney exposed for all the world to see,” said Julia. “Cripes, I flashed aliens.”

The door to the chamber hissed open. Mick gestured to Julia. “Get down behind the gurney.” He swept the barrel of his M16 up and aimed.

One of the dinocreatures came rushing into the chamber with an awful shriek.

Mick’s gun barked twice. Two holes blossomed in the creature’s forehead.

It dropped dead.

“We can’t stay here!” Mick had to shout over the wail of the alarm. “We have to leave!”

A bright bolt of laser came flashing into the room. Mick ducked as it caromed off the wall and exploded among bits of machinery. Julia looked back toward the doorway and saw two more dinocreatures aiming some type of weapons.

“Watch out!”

Mick swung back and opened fire on them. More shrieks filled the air. Bullet casings flipped out of the ejector port on Mick’s M16 and tumbled to the ground, clanging off the floor.

Julia ran toward him, her feet cold suddenly.

Mick squeezed off another round at the doorway. “Wish I had another gun for you. I could use some help.”

Julia pointed. “What about those laser guns they’re using? Maybe we can get our hands on them.”

Mick nodded. “Worth a shot.”

“If we stay here they’ll pin us down.”

Mick looked at her. “You ready?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll cover you. Run for the area next to the doorway and wait there.”

“Okay.”

Mick popped his head out and back. Another laser bolt zoomed over his head. “Get ready.”

He poked the barrel back out and shot off three more rounds. “Go!”

Julia felt her feet slip on the floor but then she got purchase and scrambled for the side of the doorway. Mick’s gunfire poured past her. She reached wall and stopped, turned and waited for Mick to join her.

She could hear them outside the door. Moving around. She could hear chirps. Were they coordinating their attack? Did they know how to get in there without risking death at Mick’s hand?

A sudden barrage of laser bolts came through the door. Julia winced at their ferocity.

Mick had ducked back down and when the lasers stopped flying past the doorway, Julia saw him fire at the doorway again and then get up and run toward her, continuing to fire as he did so.

He reached the doorway and slammed into the wall next to her. His breathing seemed only slightly labored.

Julia shook her head. “Doesn’t anything faze you?”

He smirked. “You without any clothes on.”

She punched his arm. “What now?”

“First,” said Mick. “I need more ammo.” He dropped the spent magazine down into the cargo pocket of his pants and then slammed another one home into the M16. He jerked the charging handle and nodded.

“Okay. How many do you think are out there?”

“Maybe a dozen?”

He frowned. “That many?”

“I don’t think they’re too happy about you coming in unannounced.”

More lasers shot past them, still aimed at the gurney. Mick smiled. “They still think I’m pinned down there. Good.”

Julia watched him pull out a fist-sized ball from his other cargo pocket. “What is that?”

“Grenade.”

“From the cache?”

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t see any of those there.”

Mick nodded. “Yeah, well, sometimes, it’s better to have a surprise or two, don’t you think?”

“How many other surprises do you have?”

“We get out of this alive, I’ll be happy to tell you about all of them. How’s that sound?”

“Better than dying here. Throw that thing already.”

Mick popped the pin and waited for a brief lull in the firing. He leaned past Julia and let the handle slip off the grenade and then tossed it out in the corridor beyond the door.

He leaned back and hugged Julia close. She could smell the perspiration soaking through his shirt. It smelled wonderful.

The explosion rocked the room. More shrieks filled the air.

Then silence.

No more lasers cut through the air. No more chirps beyond the door.

Mick looked at Julia and held up his hand. He pushed off from the wall, brought his gun up into his shoulder and then eased around the doorway.

After a moment, he motioned for Julia to come out and follow him.

Blood streaked the hallway. The smell of charred flesh filled the air and Julia felt like puking again when she saw the mass of entrails and torn limbs decorating the corridor. Scattered bit of dinocreature littered the expanse of the place.

Mick bent low and picked up what looked like some type of space age gun. He handed it back to Julia. “Watch where you point that thing.”

The gun felt remarkably light in her hands. She brought the butt into her shoulder and she and Mick kept moving down the hall, Mick against the left side of the corridor and Julia hugging the right.

A dinocreature ran across their field of fire and Mick picked him off cleanly with a headshot. The creature dropped.

Julia found her breathing coming in quick spurts now. She felt nervous about potentially hyperventilating. Mick looked over once and smiled at her, which seemed to do a lot for calming her down.

They passed more doors on their left and right sides now. Julia frowned. What was this place? Where were they? All of this built into a mountain? It didn’t seem possible. It was some sort of engineering feat to say the least.

A laser pulse flashed past Julia’s face making her scream. Mick shouted at her.

“Get down!”

Another laser shot over her head. Julia fell to the floor and aimed the laser rifle down toward the end of the seemingly endless curving hallway. She could just vaguely see heads moving about down at the end.

Mick kept firing his gun but the bullets almost seemed to fall short of the targets. Julia found the trigger on her own gun and squeezed.

A bright pulse of laser shot out of the end and streaked down toward the end of the hallway. She heard a loud shriek and saw one of the creatures fall dead.

“Keep shooting!”

Julia took a deep breath and kept finding her targets. One after another she shot and took out each one that came into her view.

“We can’t stay here!”

Julia nodded, shooting another round down. “Where?”

Mick pointed to Julia’s side of the hallway. “There’s a door about fifty yards ahead. Make for that!”

Julia got to her feet and ran ahead. She kept firing, hoping the stray blasts would take out another dinocreature or at least make them keep their heads down. How many of those things were there anyway?

She reached the door.

“Mick! Come on!”

He ran for the door.

A bright laser blast caught him high in his right arm, spun him, and he landed on the floor in the middle of the corridor.

“Fuck!”

“Mick!”

Julia ran back for him, firing another volley down at the end of the corridor. She reached Mick. The laser wound looked like it had already cauterized itself. There was black char on Mick’s right shoulder. The M16 looked useless, blown apart by the laser blast.

“You okay?”

He nodded but she could see his teeth were gritted against the pain. “Just get me to the door.”

She had to use one hand to help him while she kept trying to fire at the other end. More laser bolts came at them now.

“They’re getting closer,” said Mick. “We need to get out of here.”

The door hissed open and they fell through it. It slid shut with an equally sinister hiss.

Julia collapsed. She felt exhausted.

Mick was breathing hard next to her. “Cripes this hurts.”

She looked at the wound. “It doesn’t look all that bad to be honest with you.”

“Lucky I had the M16 up or it would have taken my arm off,” said Mick. “The poor gun took the brunt of it.”

“They’ll come for us,” said Julia.

Mick looked around. There was a lot of sweat staining his forehead now. The pain must have been extreme.

Mick pointed. “Two doors off of this one. You got any psychic inclinations about which one will lead us out of here?”

“Is there a way out of this complex?”

Mick looked at her. “Complex?”

“This place. Wherever the hell we are.”

Mick smiled. “We’re on a ship, Julia.”

“A ship? You mean a space ship?”

“Yeah. Why do you think it took me so long to find you? This thing is huge. It’s the entire mountain.”

Julia’s mind reeled. “The entire mountain? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Think of it as camouflage then. They disguised an entire spaceship to look exactly like a mountain. The tunnel we were in, the jungle, it’s all a part of the greater vehicle.”

“My God.”

“It’s huge,” said Mick. “Took me hours to figure my way around it, and that was only using the main corridors. They’ll have those cordoned off somehow.”

“And you don’t know any other ways off this thing?”

Mick grimaced. “Shit that hurts.” He looked at her. “No. My AAA membership didn’t have a map for this place.”

“Don’t be sarcastic.” Julia glanced around. Two doors. One or the other. One might lead them off this ship and back into the cold of Antarctica or it might lead them deeper into the spaceship.

Some choice.

Behind them, a sudden flurry of noise sounded beyond the door they’d come in through. Mick pointed at the control box next to the door. “Better fry that thing or we’ll have company real soon.”

Julia shot the panel and watched the circuitry pop and fizzle. She turned back to Mick. “I don’t know which one to choose.”

“There’s another reason we have to get off this thing,” said Mick.

“Why’s that?”

“Because if they feel we’re too much of as threat, they might simply lift this thing off and take us home with them.”

“Home?”

“As in other planet.”

Julia pulled Mick to his feet. “I’ve already got a home. And I want to get the hell back there.”

“Which one?” asked Mick.

Julia looked at the two doors. Both of them looked the same. Which one to choose?

More activity behind them made her yank Mick toward one of them. She held him up. “You trust me?”

He smirked. “Only a little bit.”

“That’s enough,” she said.

And then pressed the button to trigger the door on he right.

It slid up and she pushed them both through it, praying it was the right choice.

26

Darkness enveloped them.

“I can’t see a damned thing,” said Mick.

Julia shushed him. Something felt odd about the room. There seemed to be some sense of foreboding about the place, even if she couldn’t actively figure out why that was.

“You hear something?”

Julia listened. Breathing? There seemed to be long inhalations coming from somewhere over on her right side. Should she go to it and see what it was? Maybe she should just shoot the laser rifle and see if that lit anything up.

“J-Julia?”

The voice sounded like a sick whisper. Low. Gravelly. As if someone had coated the speaker’s vocal chords with thick syrup.

“Who’s that?”

Mick tensed next to her. Julia could feel his muscles harden. His hand gripped hers.

“Wilkins.”

Jesus Christ, she’d forgotten all about him in the attempt to escape. But wait — where had Wilkins disappeared to? When Mick rescued her, Wilkins wasn’t in the room anymore. He wasn’t held in the cylindrical tube. Had the visitors removed him? What had happened to him?

And now he was here? In this room? But why?

“Are you okay? I lost track of you when Mick rescued me.”

Wilkins voice sounded stronger now that he realized friends were in the room with him. “They took me out when they started doing things to you. I thought they were going to let me rest or something.”

“They brought you here?”

“Not at first. But eventually.” Wilkins cleared his throat. “Is Mick with you?”

“I’m here,” said Mick.

“Glad you made it.”

“Me, too. Are there any lights in this place? We can’t see shit.”

“I don’t know. I’m strapped down on some kind of table. I can’t move. I can’t see anything, either.”

“But you knew it was us?”

“I…smelled something that reminded me of Julia. Then I heard the voices. I don’t know, I guessed. Hoped I was right.”

“Hang on, pal,” said Mick. “We’ll find some lights and figure out a way to get you out of here.”

“We don’t have a lot of time,” said Julia. “Did you see anything about this room when they brought you in here?”

“I think I was unconscious,” said Wilkins. “When they took me out of your room, I felt light headed all of a sudden. I saw all these memories flash before my eyes. I started…reliving them, I think. It felt so good to be back in them. So far away from this place. So calm and inviting. I don’t know. Then I woke up in here. It’s been dark the entire time.”

“Okay, we’ll find the lights somehow,” said Julia. Obviously, the visitors had used the mental manipulation on Wilkins as well. But what for? What had they done to him?

“Feel so strange,” said Wilkins.

“Keep your voice down,” said Mick. “Those dinocreatures will be looking for us and I’d rather them not know we’re in here with you.”

“..so weird…”

Julia nudged Mick. “Can you take the left side of the room? I’ll search the other.”

“Yeah.” Mick grunted. “Damned shoulder.”

“Don’t lean on it. Just do your best.”

“Yeah.”

Julia pushed off from him and put her hands out in front of her. She walked into a machine of some sort, its hard edges bit into her thigh and she yelped slightly. “Damn.”

“You okay?” Mick’s voice came at her from the other side of the room.

“Bumped into something. I’m okay.”

“I’m at the wall.”

Julia put her hands back up. It felt like she was back home playing two minutes in the closet with Tommy Wilson at the first boy-girl party she’d ever gone to when she was twelve. The way she’d reached out in the darkness for him. The way his hands had groped at her, fumbling in the dark. The way she’d inadvertently poked him in the eye resulting in his running from the closet to the bathroom with a dislodged contact lens.

She touched wall.

“Julia?” Wilkins was talking again.

“What?”

“Did you…did you find Nung?”

“No. I found Kendall instead.”

“Kendall? They didn’t get him?”

Mick’s voice sounded loud. “What about Kendall?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” said Julia. “Turns out he masterminded this whole thing. This whole expedition and everything that’s befallen us was one of his little tricks.”

“How is that possible?” asked Wilkins.

Julia found a panel on the wall. There were knobs and buttons. She stared pressing them hoping that none of them were some type of alarm or location device that would bring hoards of those dinocreatures coming for them.

“We’re all abductees,” she said.

“Abduct-you mean like aliens?”

“That’s exactly what I mean,” said Julia. “Only Kendall figured it out long before any of us. And he made himself genuinely indispensable to our intriguing hosts.”

“How so?” asked Mick.

“He offered them us in exchange for some of their mental power.”

“Mental power?”

“Yeah. They communicate telepathically. Kendall can do that. I think he can do more, too, but he wasn’t exactly into detailing his newfound abilities. He was too busy staring at me naked.”

“Lucky you,” said Wilkins.

Julia sniffed. “Is that luck?” She kept pressing some more buttons. Nothing seemed to be working. “I found a panel over here Mick but I can’t make of these things work the lights.”

“I haven’t found shit over here,” said Mick. “Keep trying.”

“So,” said Wilkins, “if we’re all abductees, then what’s the purpose of this whole affair? To take us forever or something?”

“Near as I can figure,” said Julia, “they want to cross-breed us with members of their race. An alien-human hybrid.”

“How clichZ,” said Wilkins. “That’s been done to death already. Couldn’t they figure out something original?

Julia laughed. “Good to see you’ve still got your sense of humor, Wilkins. We might need some more of it before too long.”

“Glad to oblige.”

Julia bumped into another piece of machinery. “Dammit.”

Mick’s voice came from across the room. “I found a panel on the wall. There are buttons and stuff. I’ll give them a try.”

Julia found a corner and started working her way down another wall. “So, anyway, Kendall there even arranged for me to be placed in charge of this expedition. Can you believe that?”

“Piece of shit,” said Wilkins. “I’d like to kill that fucker with my bare hands. I get a shot at him-”

“You’ll have to wait in line,” said Mick. “I want a piece of him, too.”

“You guys play after I get my turn,” said Julia. “I got shafted the worst. Kendall says the aliens wanted to use me to crossbreed some new strain of them. This one is part-human, alien, and dinosaur.”

“Dinosaur?”

“Yeah. That’s what they did to Nung.”

“Shit,” said Wilkins. “That’s right. I remember seeing them do something horrible to him. What was it, limbs or something like that?”

Julia pushed away the visual reminders flooding her mind. “Yeah, something like that.”

“How the hell are we going to save him?” asked Wilkins.

“One thing at a time,” said Julia. “Let’s get you squared away first. How you coming on that panel, Mick?”

“Nothing. None of them seem to work.”

“Great.” Julia felt her way down the wall toward another corner. How big was this room? There had to be some sort of light switch in here somewhere.

Her fingers stumbled across another panel. “Got another one here.”

Mick’s voice sounded closer to her now. He must have felt his way over toward her. “Where are you?”

“Sounds like you’re close.”

“You feel this?”

She felt his fingers brush hers. “Hey.’

“Hey yourself. I found some clothes and a pistol.”

“Clothes are good,” said Julia. She started pulling them on and then Mick pressed the pistol into her hand.

“Keep it under your shirt, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Uh…” Wilkins cleared his throat. “If you guys are done getting all cozy over there, I’d appreciate some light on the subject.”

“Sorry,” said Julia. She pushed Mick’s hand away and felt the knobs. One of them seemed larger than the rest. “Got one. Hang on.”

She pushed it.

Dim light spilled into the room. But not enough to see clearly.

“Maybe it’s adjustable,” said Mick. “try turning it.”

“Okay.”

Julia turned the knob.

And heard Mick gasp.

“Holy Jesus.”

She turned. She could already hear Wilkins moaning.

“Mother of God, no…”

In the middle of the room, Wilkins lay on a gurney.

Half of him, anyway.

27

“Jesus Christ.”

Wilkins voice sounded small, the fear evident to Julia as she watched him mutter it over and over again, looking down at his upper torso, arms, and little else. An extensive series of tubes ran out of him and into various machines around the gurney.

Mick came over and shook his head. “I don’t know what to tell you. You ought to be dead.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“Sorry. It’s just that, well, shit, this is pretty fucked up. They took pretty much everything except your arms.”

Wilkins sighed. “Guess this explains why I couldn’t feel my legs, huh?”

Julia’s eyes stung. Of all the people to do this to, why Wilkins? She thought about what a dedicated family man he was, about how much he lived for and loved his wife and children. He didn’t deserve this.

Mick looked up at Julia. “We got Kendall to thank for this as well?”

“Apparently.”

Mick nodded. Julia watched his eyes take on that faraway stare again and she knew Kendall was as good as dead the moment Mick caught sight of him. She couldn’t blame Mick at all.

“So, what are we going to do about this, boss?”

Julia shook her head. “I wish I had something good to tell you, Wilkins. Fact is, I don’t have the slightest clue.”

Wilkins looked at Mick. “At least she doesn’t try to bullshit about stuff she doesn’t know about.”

“She’s always impressed me as being very self-aware,” said Mick. “But unfortunately, she’s right. We can’t transport you like this. Even if we had necessary machines to keep you going, there’s no way we could guarantee your safety.”

Wilkins frowned. “These things are probably keeping me alive, huh?”

“Looks that way.”

“But why? Why would they do this and then leave me here?”

Julia turned. Had she heard something?

Mick shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Julia looked at him. She felt pretty sure that they were going to do something similar to Wilkins as they’d done to Nung. Some type of horrible transplant that would no doubt strip Wilkins of the very last vestiges of his humanity.

He’d become a monster.

“Well, obviously, they aren’t finished with me.” Wilkins tried to grin. “Guess that means I’m at least sticking around for the near future.”

Julia tried to smile but it didn’t take. “Yeah.”

Wilkins smiled now. “Hey boss, sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. Don’t sweat it. Besides, there are some pluses to me being like this.”

Julia looked up. “There are?”

“Sure. Imagine the great grades my kids will get when they wheel me in as their science experiment. Easy A’s.”

Julia’s eyes stung even more. “Dammit, we’ve got to do something about this.” She looked at Mick. “Any ideas?”

“Not a one.”

She turned again. Another sound.

This one closer.

Mick caught her gaze. “What’s up?”

“I think we’re going to have company.”

She raised the laser rifle.

Wilkins cleared his throat. “You guys think you could maybe watch where you shoot that thing? I don’t need any stray laser blasts fucking my machinery up. I’ve only had it a short time but I’m kinda fond of it right now.”

There it was again. Definitely outside the door.

They knew where they were.

And when she heard the voice, she cringed and shrank back lifting the gun into her shoulder.

“Julia? Mick? It’s Kendall.”

“Fuck,” said Mick. He looked at Julia. “Shoot that prick the second you see him come through that door.”

“I wouldn’t do that if I was you.”

“That’s only because you’d have something worse planned,” said Julia. “Why shouldn’t I kill you?”

“I’m going to open the door now. But don’t kill me. At least not until you’ve had a chance to hear me out.”

“What could you possibly say to make us not want to see you begging for mercy while we pummel your brains out?” asked Mick.

“Let me come in and I’ll tell you.”

Mick looked at Julia and shrugged.

Julia sighed.

It was up to her.

She looked at Wilkins again and made sure the image of what Kendall had wrought was firmly entrenched in her mind. She thought about his wife and kids again and how they might never see their dad again because of the twisted machinations of a truly deranged psychotic like Kendall.

And when she had that anger locked in place — her heart cold to any please Kendall might make, she turned back to the door to the chamber and took a deep breath.

“All right Kendall. Come on in.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

There was a pause. She could feel Kendall considering the decision. Had he been so sure about Julia that he was willing to risk his life on it?

The door slid open.

Kendall stood there with his arms out to the sides showing he was unarmed.

Mick pointed at him. “Turn around nice and slow.”

Kendall did as he was told. Mick peered closer but couldn’t see anything so he nodded at Julia. “He looks clean.”

“He’ll never be that,” said Julia.

“Are we done?” asked Kendall. He glanced over his shoulder at them.

“Come in,” said Julia.

Kendall put his arms down and walked into the chamber. He looked at Julia and Mick first and then his attention was drawn to Wilkins, laying on the gurney giving him the middle finger.

“That’s not necessary.”

“Fuck you,” said Wilkins. “You’re lucky they took my legs or I would kick your ass from here to next Tuesday.”

“Always such a need to resort immediately to violence,” said Kendall. “That’s the whole problem with the human race.”

Julia aimed the rifle at him. “Keep spouting bullshit and I will fry what’s left of that twisted heart of yours.”

Kendall regarded her. “How are you feeling Julia?”

“Fine.”

That seemed to amuse him. “Really. I guess they’ve gotten better at those operations in recent years. My, you should have seen some of them before. Those poor women would walk out of here — for lack of a better term, that is — and never be able to have children again. Those were the lucky ones. Others developed cervical and ovarian cancer. They never knew why. In fact, I’d be willing to bet a fair amount of money on the fact that most of the cancer cases doctors see today aren’t the result of poor diet or lack of exercise at all.” His eyes gleamed. “But rather they’re due to the influence of the visitors.”

“Great,” said Mick. “So, when we nuke the living shit out of this place, we’ll be helping mankind battle cancer, too. Sounds like a win-win situation.”

Kendall frowned. “Your little boy army antics are so juvenile. You haven’t grasped anything, have you? You don’t have the vaguest notion about how grand this plan is and what it encompasses.”

“Gee,” said Mick, “I guess I was more interested in trying to save the lives of people I consider my friends. Unlike you, I don’t sacrifice everything near and dear to me for some twisted plan.”

“They were never near and dear to me. None of you were. What you were was expendable. Naturally, I didn’t anticipate having this much trouble getting you all here, but then again, I wasn’t counting on our newest bestest pal Mick messing things up.”

Mick grinned. “Glad to oblige.”

“I’ll bet you were,” said Kendall. “Especially given what the nature of this assignment entailed.”

Mick’s eyes squinted. “What are you talking about?”

Kendall grinned. “It’s all coming out now, Mick. There’s really no sense in hiding it anymore, is there?”

“Hiding what?” asked Julia.

“Weren’t you even the least bit curious about how Mick came to join the team? Or were you too enamored of him to question the replacement.”

Julia shook her head. “He filled in when Jenkins got appendicitis. We were lucky he was around.”

“You were about as lucky to get Mick on your team as you were to be selected to head this little jaunt up, sweetie. That is to say you were manipulated. Once again.”

“He’s lying,” said Mick.

Julia looked at him. Mick’s face seemed harder now. She glanced at Kendall. “You’d better explain yourself.”

“Jenkins never had appendicitis.”

“Sure he did,” said Wilkins. “We were all with him when he got the pains. Lucky the damned thing didn’t rupture.”

“You were all out eating wings and drinking a few beers that day, weren’t you?”

“Yeah. So what?”

“Do you remember the waitress?”

Julia frowned. “What does she have to do with anything?”

“She has everything to do with it because of the drug she slipped into Jenkins’ beer. A little dab will do you — it gave him all the symptoms of acute appendicitis. Pains, vomiting, fever — all of it. But it wasn’t legitimate. Just a little drug cocktail cooked up to get Mick here inserted on the team in his place.”

“But why?”

Kendall’s smile reminded Julia of a slimy slug trail. “Because our good friend Mick here isn’t retired from the Air Force at all.”

“He’s not?”

“He’s active duty,” said Kendall. “Isn’t that right, Mick?”

Mick didn’t say anything. He just kept looking at Kendall with murder in his eyes.

“You see, Mick’s unit is several times removed from what most folks would call normal special operations. Mick’s unit is attached to the Space Command. And you know what they deal with? Alien incursions. Mick’s a member of a top-secret squad of alien killers. A real pro, too. I think he’s been at it for almost ten years now.” Kendall smiled at Mick. “Jump in any time and clarify things for me.”

Mick didn’t move.

So he had lied to her. Julia wanted nothing better than to curl up and wish this entire mess away. She wanted to be back home. She wanted to never have met any of these people. Lies. All lies.

Kendall nodded. “You see? The game is up. And you Julia have been duped on so many fronts, it’s a wonder you still have any shred of shame left. Now give me that gun and let’s be done with this.”

Julia jerked the laser rifle up. “So what? That doesn’t change the fact that you’ve killed a lot of people Kendall. In my book, that’s fair cause for me to send you off to the other side now.”

“Do that and you’ll never get out of here alive.”

Something about the way he said it made Julia pause.

Kendall pointed at the door. “You think I would come in here to talk to you without making sure I had a reasonable chance of getting out alive? You think I’d be foolish enough to actually trust you?”

“Make your point,” said Julia.

“Shoot me and this entire chamber will be vaporized by my friends outside. And they can do it, too. You wouldn’t live another second.”

“And what if we do surrender?”

Kendall smiled. “Already thinking a bit clearer, aren’t you?” He nodded. “Give up this foolish charade and you may go free, Julia. You alone. Mick stays here. As does Wilkins. But you’re welcome to leave here.”

Julia frowned. “And why would they let me walk out of here?”

“Because they think they impregnated you with their new hybrid species,” said Mick, his voice cutting through the air.

“But they-”

“— didn’t,” said Mick. “No. I stopped them just before they were able to.”

Kendall sighed. “So that’s why she still looks remarkably well. At least that’s solved.”

“I killed the alien shits doing it to her,” said Mick. He looked at Julia. “What Kendall said about me, it’s true. I’m sorry.”

Julia shook her head. “Whatever.”

“But there’s one thing he neglected to include.”

“What?”

“The reason why it was so important for me to be on this expedition.”

“Why-?”

But then the door exploded inward.

And Mick’s reply was drowned out as the screaming began.

28

Julia brought her gun up on instinct and starting shooting at the doorway. She could see the first dinocreatures duck back as the laser bolts impacted nearby. One of the bolts caught a creature square in the chest, lifted him back and away, and brought him down in a bloody mess.

Return fire came back at them while Kendall screamed at everyone to stop shooting. But the dinocreatures seemed to have other ideas rather than following Kendall’s orders. They kept shooting.

“Mick!”

Julia shouted for him. Even if he’d lied, she’d at least need his help to get the hell out of here.

But what about Wilkins?

She looked up at the table.

And grimaced. One of the laser bolts had caught Wilkins’ body and turned it into bloody goo. Bits of his entrails dripped over the edge of the gurney. His eyes, cold and white and full of death, stared at the doorway.

Julia frowned and turned back to squeeze off some more bolts at the door. She caught another dinocreature in the chest. That was for Wilkins, she thought.

“Julia.”

Mick’s voice appeared in her ear. She turned and saw him crouched down low next to her. “We can’t stay here!”

Julia nodded. “You lead, I’ll follow.”

“There’s a door in the back. Another way through. We’ve got to get the hell out of here. No more stops.”

“Okay!”

Mick tugged on her sleeve and led her back to the doorway. Julia kept aiming the laser rifle at the doorway, but she couldn’t see any more dinocreatures.

Kendall was gone, too.

Wonderful.

Mick triggered the door release and it slid up with a hiss.

“In here!”

Julia followed him through.

Another room almost like the one they’d just left opened up before them. Julia swung the rifle around, expecting trouble to come in through one of the many doors that branched off of this room.

Mick kept tugging her along. “We can’t dawdle anymore. We’ve got to get off this damned ship.”

They ran for another doorway. Mick triggered it and it opened into a long circular corridor. Julia frowned. She didn’t like running down something long and curved, it left them too exposed.

But like Mick had said, time was of the essence. If they could just get the hell off of this ship and back out into the snow, they might have a chance of making it back to the research station.

Then what?

Radio for help?

How long would it take them to fly another plane in?

And what if the weather was awful? It would keep the rescuers out while leaving Mick and Julia alone at the tiny station. They could be attacked time and time again until they were killed.

Or worse, taken back here for…impregnation.

Julia pushed the thought out of her mind and kept running after Mick. The corridor seemed terribly silent. Was something waiting to surprise them?

They got about three hundred feet when they came to a concern. Mick slowed down to peer around it. He looked back at Julia.

“All clear.”

Were they letting them go now? Maybe Mick and Julia had killed all of the dinocreatures. Maybe they’d proven themselves as difficult prey and their captors were figuring it was better to let them just go.

Julia smirked. Yeah, right.

Mick ran full speed down the hallway. Julia tried to keep up with him as much as possible. She kept looking behind her though, making sure no one was coming up on their rear. That was the last thing they needed.

“Mick!”

He slowed down and let her catch up. “Sorry.”

“Keep going!”

Something exploded off the edge of her peripheral vision. She heard screeches now.

Shit.

More dinocreatures.

She could hear the sporadic gunfire from their laser rifles as they tried to aim. She risked a glance back and could see them about four hundred feet away.

She wondered how effective the lasers were at such a range.

In answer, another bolt caromed off the wall closest to her, spraying shards of electricity and wiring out of the wall.

Julia screamed and ran on behind Mick.

“There’s a door ahead!”

She nodded. If they could just make it and get beyond it, they’d have some cover from the dinocreatures.

“Run!”

Mick reached the wall first and jammed the door releases.

Nothing happened.

Julia turned and started firing again as Mick hammered the door release trying to get it to work.

“It must be locked!”

“There’s got to be a way in!”

The lasers were coming closer now. Julia found a target and picked it off. It screeched and died as her laser found it in the chest. Several of the creatures comrades stared at it as it fell, their mouths crying.

Julia fired at them, too.

“Mick!”

“I’m trying!”

She glanced back and could see the sweat pouring off his face. “Come on, dammit! What the fuck does it take, huh?”

Another laser blast came closer than the others. They were getting too close.

“Mick,” shouted Julia. “We’ve got to go!”

He abandoned the door and tugged her. “Okay!”

They ran on.

The corridor curved some more. Laser blasts narrowly missed them. Julia found it hard to believe the dinocreatures could be such poor shots.

Unless…

Mick skidded to a halt.

“Shit.”

In front of them.

More of the dinocreatures.

Only fifty feet away.

And each of them had their laser rifles up into their shoulders. Julia frowned. They had a bead on them. It was no good even trying to pretend otherwise. She and Mick ducked back behind cover.

“That was why the others missed us,” she said.

Mick nodded. “Sending us into an ambush was easier.”

Julia noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Another doorway.

Close.

“Mick.”

“Yeah. I see it.”

“You think?”

“Not unless we’re both extremely lucky.”

“You don’t feel lucky?”

“The way things are going? Not likely.”

“I guess not.”

He looked at her. “I never got the chance to tell you why I came on this mission.”

“Now’s not the time.”

He smirked. “It might just be now or never. I want you to know I didn’t want to lie to you. But these things killed every member of my old unit. I had to come on this trip, don’t you see? I had to get them if I could. For my brothers-in-arms.”

Julia looked at him. “We’re both going home, Mick.”

He shook his head. “I can hold them off while you make for the door.”

“Are you crazy? They’ll shoot you!”

He smiled. “Maybe.”

“I don’t like this idea.”

“I won’t let them do those things to you, Julia. Give me the laser rifle and let me do this.”

She looked at him. The determination in his eyes told her he wasn’t going to argue anymore. She sighed. “I’ll come back for you.”

“Go to the cache.” Mick smiled. “There are some things there that might help you. The code is 6-4-1-9.”

“We should have brought more with us.”

Mick shook his head. “They would have taken everything and we’d be screwed worse than we are now. I knew Kendall was a tricky prick, but I never would have figured him for this.” he eyed her. “Remember the code?”

“I got it.” Julia handed him her laser rifle. “Be careful.”

He nodded. “Once I start shooting, you’ll have maybe two seconds before they can squeeze anything off. You’ve got to be that quick.”

“Okay.”

“You ready?”

“Not yet.”

“Wha-?”

Julia leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. Hard. She tasted him one last time and then pulled away, as much as she dearly did not want to. “Don’t die on me, Mick. Not yet. Not ever.”

He stared at her and then brought the gun up into his shoulder. “You ready now?”

“Yeah.”

“On three.”

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and opened them again.

“One,” said Mick.

Julia focused on the doorway.

“Two.”

She could see the release button.

“THREE!”

She ran.

Like she never had before.

And hell opened up all around her.

29

The gunfire and screeching suddenly stopped when Julia made it through the door. She took a deep breath and then realized where she was.

Back in the jungle.

She spotted a backpack and looked inside. Winter clothing. But whose? It didn’t matter. If Julia was going to head outside, she’d need it. She slung it over her shoulder and then surveyed the area.

The dirt path led away from the cool metallic door in a winding fashion. She studied the ground and could see numerous tracks in the dirt. But she found it difficult to determine if there were human tracks or more of the dinocreatures.

One set of tracks stood out from all the others, however. And that set looked like claws.

She stood. Claws?

She turned around.

Was it better back inside? Was it better to be back there instead of out here in the jungle with God knew what?

No.

Mick was still inside. Nung was, too.

And that bastard Kendall.

She had to get out of here and head for the cache like Mick had told her. She had to get into the cache and find some more supplies she could use to come back here and rescue them.

She heard something low and gravelly somewhere off to her left.

Julia ducked under a nearby shrub, worming her way into the center of the mass and praying silently for whatever had produced that noise to go about its business in a direction far from where Julia sat.

She waited.

Was it moving closer to her? She closed her eyes and willed it to move further away, whatever it was. She didn’t need an encounter with a dinosaur right now. She needed to get the hell out of there.

Silence swept over the jungle. A balmy breeze blew in from her right side, making the leaves rustle against each other. Julia could easily imagine herself in some beautiful tropical resort sipping a fruity drink with a big umbrella poking out of it.

But she wasn’t there. She was down at the bottom of the world.

And most of the people she’d been charged with leading were not going home from this trip.

That fact smacked her hard across the face.

Damn.

But if she dawdled too much longer in the jungle, none of them would go home alive.

She had to move.

Julia poked her head out from the bush and looked around.

She couldn’t hear anything. Maybe the creature had vanished. Maybe it had gone someplace else.

Maybe it was a plant eater.

She hoped.

She got out onto the trail and started walking down it. She didn’t want to have to stick to the well-traveled path, but she didn’t know her way back to the entrance of the tunnel if she bushwhacked her way there. Plus, there was a chance she’d make too much noise. At least if she stayed on the trail, she could stay reasonably quiet.

Another breeze blew in. It smelled moldy. The way a trash can starts to stink in the hot humid air of summer. Julia blanched and kept moving ahead. One foot in front of the other.

That was all she’d need to do.

She kept looking back over her shoulder every few steps. She felt completely vulnerable without her rifle. The pistol she gripped in her hand felt so tiny.

Ineffective.

She wondered if she could even take out one of the dinocreatures with it, if she needed to.

Maybe. Maybe not.

The path curved again and she kept moving. She was sweating profusely. Her shirt stuck to her cracks and crevices, making it feel like she had another skin welded on to hers.

It wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

She was actually looking forward to getting back into the tunnel and then back out in the snow and the ice. At least she’d be cooler.

What had happened to Nung, she wanted to know. And what would happen to Mick? Despite what Kendall had said, Mick didn’t have to do what he’d just done back there. He didn’t have to sacrifice himself so Julia could escape. He didn’t have to do any of it.

Did that make the fact that he’d lied about his past acceptable?

Julia thought it just might.

Of course, unless she was successful at getting to the cache and coming back here to rescue them all, the argument would be over before it got started. No, the time for discussing Mick’s relationship with the truth would come later.

She wound her way down the path. Her lips were dry and she licked them, feeling the saliva go sticky and then evaporate quickly thereafter. Had the climate changed? It seemed truly hot now.

She staggered a bit in the haze. It was almost as if she could see the moisture in the plants evaporating right out of their leaves and stems — a shimmering through which she walked.

Her head hurt.

She needed a drink of water.

She would have broken the survival rules and eaten snow right then if she could have only gotten her hands on some.

Her feet felt like hundred pound weights. She dragged them now as she struggled to get further down the trail.

The air felt like she was pushing through a thick sea of molasses. It cloyed at her, tugging her back toward the ship itself. It dragged at her feet. It made her want to sit down and take a nice long rest.

Maybe a little sleep.

No!

Julia’s body tensed.

Something was wrong.

She looked at the plants close by. They seemed to lean in toward her.

What the hell was going on?

Her mind swam.

Drugs?

No.

But maybe…

The plants. It had to be them.

Had the aliens genetically altered them as well? Had they produced specimens capable of giving off a poisonous gas that could neutralize humans? Were these things planted elsewhere around the planet or just down here in their laboratory?

Maybe the aliens just used them as a type of security system.

Whatever they were for, their effect was fairly powerful. Even as Julia grasped the fact that the plants were making her feel this way, she could still feel the powerful airborne narcotic at work in her system. She’d breathed too much of it in. She had top somehow flush her system.

Get clean air.

She took off her shirt and wrapped it over her nose and mouth. She halfway doubted it would work, but she had to try. She breathed through the sweat-stained fabric. The air felt hot against her skin.

But her head cleared somewhat.

She smirked. That wouldn’t last long. The carbon dioxide would build up and start to produce the same effect on her if she wasn’t careful.

She had to get the hell out of the jungle.

She started to run a little bit. More of a jog, but it was the best she could manage. More sweat poured down her body, soaking her clothes.

But she kept moving.

One foot in front of the other.

A sharp crack to her left made her stop.

The noise was back.

What the hell was it?

She heard the growl now. Low. Sinister.

Julia’s mind was starting to shut off. If she stayed where she was, even though she might be able to hide from the creature making the noise, she’d either die or pass out from inhaling all the plant sedatives.

No, she had to keep moving.

She jogged some more down the path.

Another crack.

Another growl.

Louder this time.

Closer, too.

Julia kept moving. The skin around her mouth burned from exhaling her heated breaths back against her skin. But she tried not to be bothered by it.

Keep going!

Now instead of a growl, she heard something else.

A croak?

No.

It just sounded like that.

It wasn’t a frog, though, Julia felt very confident about that.

A branch somewhere behind her cracked. But judging from the tone of the crack, it had been a thick branch. Which would mean whatever had broken it would be something heavy.

And big.

Big concerned her.

The path wound around again. How much farther was it to the tunnel entrance? Julia kept panting, trying to keep her feet moving. Her hands gripped the pistol, but it felt slimy and slippery in her grasp.

She rounded another corner.

And saw the rock!

Yes!

She was close.

That was when she felt the sudden thundering footfalls behind her.

Julia didn’t stop running.

She just looked over her shoulder as she ran.

Good God!

It looked like something out of the Jurassic Park movies. It was almost entirely a dinosaur. But something was different.

Weird.

The hands?

No.

Oh God. She saw it then.

Jutting out of the chest of the dinosaur.

Nung’s head.

What had they done to him?

And more importantly, what was the dinosaur about to do to Julia if she didn’t make it to the tunnel entrance?

She spun and brought the pistol up, aimed at the dinosaur’s head and squeezed off two shots.

The bullets exploded like cannon fire in the jungle air. Julia watched the rounds smack into the dinosaur’s head. But its thick scaly skin merely bounced the tiny metal slugs away.

Unharmed by it.

It reared up now. It must have been almost twenty feet high. Its head almost brushed the top of the jungle cavern roof.

It looked at Julia now, regarding her like she was some sort of tiny annoyance. Had the gun given it pause for thought?

It roared.

No.

Julia kept backing herself up toward the rock. But she kept the gun trained on the dinosaur. She couldn’t stop looking at Nung’s face peering out of the dinosaur’s chest. Why had they put it there?

Nung didn’t seem to have any expression on his face. Was he even coherent? Was he even Nung anymore?

The dinosaur took another step toward her. With its stride, it could overtake her in two steps.

Julia looked back. The rock was only twenty feet away.

She could see the slit behind it. She could just fit if she ran for it.

The dinosaur roared again.

It’s going to make a run at me, thought Julia.

But what good was the gun?

A thought popped into her head. She rejected it. No! She didn’t want to do it.

The dinosaur moved closer.

Her fingers tightened reflexively and the gun barked twice more.

This time, her rounds didn’t impact the dinosaur’s head, but rather right in Nung’s face.

The dinosaur reared back and screeched.

The howls of pain made Julia wince.

She turned and ran.

She reached out for the rock.

Her hands found it.

She heaved.

Pulled herself through.

Only then did she look back.

The dinosaur lay on the ground, writhing in agony. Blood streamed out of its chest. Julia couldn’t see anything of Nung’s face anymore.

She collapsed back in the tunnel, feeling the cool air wash over her, drying her sweat. All she wanted to do was sleep.

But she couldn’t.

Not yet.

Not while Mick was still alive.

30

She fumbled through most of the winter clothes the team had shed upon entering the humid jungle area and found her own coat and winter pants. She slid those on and found she was still out of breath.

Exhausted.

She pushed herself on. Back down the uneven and craggy floor of the tunnel that threatened to twist her ankles if she was inattentive to where she placed her feet.

Her mind still swam but this time with the images of each of her teammates, starting first with Vikorsky and most recently ending with Nung and Wilkins. She saw their faces, heard their voices, felt their mirth, their excitement, and then their terror. Julia wondered if it would have been easier to just have been killed by the aliens than to have to endure a potential lifetime of knowing she’d led these people straight into hell.

I’m in my own hell now, she thought.

But so was Mick.

His face came at her. His hardened jaw, set firm in that playful smirk of his that bordered somewhere between sarcasm and outright laughter. Her heart swelled thinking about him and it helped to push some of the regret she felt about the rest of the team out of her mind.

The tunnel seemed less threatening now than it had earlier when they’d come in here. How long ago was that, she wondered? How long had they been inside for? She’d been anesthetized to make way for the impregnation. How long did that take? What about the procedure on Nung and Wilkins?

Talk about missing time.

The tunnel curved slightly and Julia recognized the area. She was coming back to where they’d entered the cave the first time seeking shelter from the approaching storms. The tunnel felt colder now. She could see her breath in front of her face.

It felt good to be back in the cold.

It would have felt even better to have everyone with her still.

Well, maybe with the exception of Kendall.

Damn him.

She hoped Kendall would have a particularly nasty ending waiting for him at some point down the road. Perhaps the aliens would tire of him and use him for some type of heinous experiment. He deserved it, having killed as many people as he had.

She reached the fissure and peered out.

Bright sunshine made her wince and duck back inside the tunnel. Her eyes stung. She’d almost blinded herself. Without thinking, she’d gone outside. She slid a pair of eye goggles on over her face and looked out again.

This time she could make out the snowfield below the cave entrance. She could just make out one of the Snowcats. It seemed partially buried by the recent blizzards.

She squeezed back through the fissure and stood once again outside in the Antarctica landscape.

And it felt good.

But she had a mission to accomplish right now. There’d be time for appreciating the frigid cold later.

After she’d rescued Mick.

And destroyed the aliens.

She climbed down from the cave opening and stepped down into about four feet of fresh snow. She slogged through the chest-high frozen morass and made it at last to the closest Snowcat.

I hope to hell the damned thing turns over, she thought as she brushed snow off the window and found the door handle. She climbed inside and pressed the starter switch.

The engine cranked but then died.

Julia frowned. What was wrong?

She shook her head. She had to clear the exhaust or she’d be breathing in carbon monoxide real quick. That would screw her up real bad if it didn’t ruin the engine first.

She fell back down into the snow and tried her best to dig out as much of the Snowcat as she could. She could feel herself rushing to get it done. She started sweating underneath her coat. Her breath came out hot in the air in front of her. Her sinuses dripped.

Julia clawed a path out in front of the cat as well, shoving the snow as best she could out of the way. She felt like she was trying to bench press a house, but thought she’d done a pretty decent job.

At last, she climbed back into the Snowcat and started it up.

The engine turned over immediately and idled with a low growl that reminded Julia of the dinosaur with Nung’s face back in the jungle. She wondered if she’d actually killed it or if it was just wounded.

No time to think, she shoved the transmission into drive. The Snowcat jerked once as the caterpillar treads bit into the soft snow, finding purchase, and at last freeing itself from the snowy coffin it had been left in.

Julia grabbed the wheel and steered the Cat around until she got it back on the proper heading for Mick’s cache of weapons. She cast a wanton eye toward the horizon. The research station lay in that direction. She could just as easily go back there and ring the panic alarm for a rescue plane to come down.

But that would mean leaving Mick.

She didn’t think she could stand the thought of being the sole survivor from this expedition.

She kept on her original heading.

After thirty minutes, she came to the spot where they’d first visited the cache. She shut down the Snowcat and jumped out. The snowfall here seemed less than over by the mountain range, which she was grateful for. At least she wouldn’t have to push more snow out of the way.

She found the cache marker and scraped off the foot or so of new snow.

Her hands touched metal.

Steel?

She scraped some more and found the release catch next to a number pad. She punched in the code Mick had given her and she heard a soft hiss escape, like an airlock being released.

The lid slid back.

Julia peered inside.

She saw more long cases like the ones Mick had pulled out the first time for rifles. Julia pulled one out. She could see other cases clearly marked as ammunition and grenades. She took those out as well.

But it was the dull gray briefcase-sized object that drew her attention.

Some type of fancy script ran down one side of it. What language was that in?

She pulled it out.

In the bright sunshine, it seemed innocuous enough.

But the fact that it was in the weapons cache concerned her. She remembered what Wilkins had told her about. Small nuclear devices.

Was this one of them?

She’d take it with her. Maybe Mick would know how to work it.

She stopped.

Did she really want to set off a nuclear weapon on the continent? Did she really want to ruin this last piece of unspoiled real estate in the entire world?

She frowned. Did she really want to let the aliens live? The nuclear weapon could kill them all and their creatures. Wasn’t that worth a little radiation here?

She looked around. The whiteness of this place seemed so virgin. So proper. So natural.

To ruin that so she could kill the aliens…

No.

She slid it back into the cache and shut the door again. If she was going to kill them, she’d have to do it with the guns and grenades. She felt certain Mick could rig some type of improvised explosive device using the grenades that could take their ship apart piece by piece.

Better that than a nuke unchecked.

Julia had already made some bad decisions on this trip. She didn’t want to be the person who had nuked Antarctica. That would have finished her off for good.

She stood and pulled the long crates back to the Snowcat first. Once there, she broke the crate open and pulled out four of the rifles and checked them over the way Mick had shown them earlier.

There was no time to zero them properly. But Julia didn’t feel too worried about that. It was going to be close fighting. A few inches off at four hundred yards wouldn’t mean squat in the close confines of the spaceship.

She checked the grenades over. There were several different types. Julia brought all of them, tucked in behind the driver’s seat of the Snowcat.

She glanced back at the weapons cache.

An idea slipped into her mind.

She walked back and reopened the cache, peering inside for a longer time now. After a few minutes searching, she came up with four survival kits filled with food and water.

She broke these open and gorged herself until she felt like she couldn’t eat anything else. Somewhat restored, she threw the litter back into the cache, took a few fresh survival kits and headed back to the Snowcat.

She climbed back in and restarted the engine.

It turned over easily.

The sun still shone brightly overhead.

It was time, she decided.

Time to go back to the tunnel.

Back to the jungle.

To the spaceship.

Get Mick out alive.

And to finally dispense some serious justice to the aliens who had killed off her team.

Julia wheeled the Snowcat around, burped once, and trundled off back in the direction of the mountains.

31

By the time Julia got back to the tunnel entrance, the sun had disappeared behind a huge swath of bloated gray and white clouds moving in from the east. The first flakes fell on her as she climbed back up to the ledge and squeezed herself and all the supplies inside.

She took a moment to swig some more water before shrugging off her winter weather gear and hoisting the rifles, grenades and ammunition on her back while she dragged the survival kits to the proximity of the jungle entrance.

Doing so exhausted her even more, but Julia wouldn’t let herself quit until she had Mick back safe and sound.

If he wasn’t dead yet.

The thought had hit her several times during the course of her journey. A huge part of her urged her to simply forget about Mick and get the hell back to the research station. At least there she could radio for help. Raise the alarm.

And if the aliens came for her there, she could probably hold them off.

Probably.

So why risk her life by coming back to this place? Why risk another impregnation attempt by the aliens? Why risk running into Kendall again?

For Mick.

She sighed. Her life had been devoid of anything she could remotely classify as romantic for so long that the prospect of enjoying some quality nuzzle time with Mick had pretty much driven her common sense right out of her.

Did love ever make sense anyway?

She didn’t think so.

What about Mick? Would he take to her the way she had to him? There was no guarantee he’d be enthralled with Julia when this was all over.

She shook her head. Either way, she had to try. And she didn’t much think that anyone deserved to die the kinds of deaths her people had suffered at the hands of Kendall and his alien pals.

There needed to be some payback.

Big time.

At the entrance to the jungle, Julia paused again and sucked down more water. She was worried about dehydrating with all the exertion she’d been putting herself through today. Combined with the multi-climactic settings she’d been walking through and she’d have to be careful she didn’t pass out at some point.

It was time.

She nudged her way through the entrance and paused there.

Waiting.

Part of her suspected they might have set some type of trap. Waiting for her to come back.

But she saw nothing that would indicate such a thing.

What she did see was the body of the dinosaur with Nung’s head embedded in its chest still laying where she’d left it.

Dead.

Nung’s eyes were closed.

Like he was sleeping.

But he wouldn’t be waking up from this one.

She moved further into the jungle and sniffed the air cautiously. But again, there seemed to be nothing to alarm her. The air seemed clear. She took a deep breath, watched for any unusual side effects and could find none.

Maybe Kendall thought she’d run back to the research station without caring about what happened to Mick.

Good.

She paused by the dinosaur, knelt down and touched Nung’s face. She whispered a silent prayer of the kind she hadn’t said in so many years. She hoped he’d find a way to forgive her.

She hoped she’d find a way to forgive herself, too.

The rifles clanked against each other as she walked further down the trail. She followed the curves now more confidently than she had before. She knew where she was going.

And while she kept an ear peeled for possible dinocreatures and other nastiness, something told her she didn’t have much to worry about. She hastened along.

When she finally saw the metallic door leading into the spaceship, she paused. This was it.

She tucked two of the M16s underneath a nearby shrub, along with some grenades and ammunition. Chances were good that she and Mick would need them when they came running out.

She slid her own M16 off her back and held it at ready. She kept the other diagonal across her back for Mick. She prayed he’d be safe until she could get to him.

But where was he?

She pressed the door release on the side of the door and it slid open suddenly with a sharp hiss. Julia took one last glance around and stepped inside.

The door slid shut behind her.

Silence dropped.

Julia stood not moving for a minute, taking in everything around her and letting the ambient noises settle in her ears. If anything changed, subconsciously, she’d notice it.

She could see blast marks on the walls still, evidence of the lasers shot at her and Mick during their escape attempt. She could see smaller scars from the bullets they’d fired as well.

Here and there on the floor, dark stains showed up.

Blood?

But whose?

Julia pushed the idea that it might be Mick’s out of her mind. She had to concentrate on finding him. If there was bad news waiting, she’d handle it when she got to it.

She turned left and headed down the long winding corridor back toward where she and Mick had come from before they got to this point.

The ship seemed deserted.

It worried Julia just a bit. Where was everyone? Where was Mick? Had they gone some place else? Did they have the capability to transport people to places outside the ship? Could they be there now and Julia not even know it?

Anything seemed possible now, after all she’d been through.

But in truth, she suspected they were simply deeper in the bowels of the ship, rather than out here on its periphery. And that was fine with Julia. She’d find them in her own time. And she’d kill every last one of them.

She reached another door and slid into the next closest layer of the ship. There were more doors here. Some lead to examination rooms. Others seemed to lead to storage rooms. Julia hoped she could find a laser rifle to help even the odds, but she had no luck doing so.

More corridors seemed to stretch on and on forever. She avoided them and worked her way deeper into the ship by jumping rooms. She would try to follow the rooms deeper into the ship rather than get caught up winding her way around and around in an endless circle.

By the third room, she could sense something.

They were still here.

She didn’t know how she knew it. She just did. Some part of her instinctive self sensed that they were still in the ship. Were they waiting for her? Were they poised to kill her once she reached a certain point? Or were they eagerly waiting to get in between her legs again?

She frowned. Fat chance she’d allow that to happen. She looked at her M16 and smiled. She’d take her own life before she carried one of their disgusting little creatures to full term.

No way.

She crossed through another room into a corridor she hadn’t seen before. A flash of panic leapt across her mind — she hoped she’d be able to remember her way out of this place. Mick might not be in any condition to lead her out. It would be up to her to remember how the hell she’d gotten this far in.

She glanced back at the doors. Just follow them out as much as possible in a straight line, she told herself.

I hope it’s that easy.

She turned back to the corridor and continued on. Now she could pick out stray noises filtering into her ears. She was too far away to determine what they were, but she knew she was getting closer to another run-in with her bigheaded gray-skinned hosts.

And Julia couldn’t wait.

She kept moving.

The M16s had grown heavy. Their weight seemed to pull at her small shoulders. The grenades in her pockets tugged at her to sit down and rest a while. The extra magazines of ammunition weighed a ton. Julia shook her head. How the hell did professional soldiers carry all this junk?

She was sleepy.

Tired.

What a day.

She smirked. It’d be nice to take a load off. To sit down for just a few minutes somewhere and grab some shut-eye. Maybe one of the rooms she kept passing would be a good place to lay low for a while.

It’d be so nice to close her eyes.

And dream.

Yes, dream.

Her eyes snapped open.

What the hell was going on?

She clamped her mind down and focused instead on the thought of killing as many little aliens as she could. She imagined what their diminutive bodies would look like splayed apart in bright red across the expanse of their ship.

Or maybe she’d do some experimenting of her own on them. Make them into the twisted disgusting creatures they seemed to delight in turning humans into.

Yeah, that’d be nice.

Another wave of fatigue swept over her. This one stronger than the last. Julia almost staggered from the sudden weariness that fell on her.

She leaned against the wall.

Breathe.

Breathe.

She shut her eyes for just a second and saw an image in her mind of an alien with its big eyes peering deep into her soul.

No!

The image vanished.

The fatigue vanished.

Julia could feel a sudden flush of adrenaline course through her bloodstream.

They were trying to get to her through her mind. Just as they’d done when she was lying on the table and they were anesthetizing her using her mind.

She wouldn’t let them this time.

Not a chance.

Julia sucked in more oxygen and tried to flush her system with enough of it. Then she righted herself, slid a grenade out of her pocket and kept it out just in case.

Further up the corridor, she could see a door that looked a little different from the others. It drew her to it.

Julia brought her M16 up.

Reached for the door release button.

Pushed it.

The door jumped up.

And Julia found herself facing an alien ten feet from her. As soon as she saw it, another wave of fatigue dropped on to her. Was this the one who was trying to subdue her mentally?

She could feel the weight on her limbs. The rifle seemed too heavy. The grenade too bulky. She couldn’t stand anymore.

She just had to sit down.

And sleep…

Just for a little while.

“NO!”

Julia jerked the gun up and squeezed the trigger. The M16 chattered three times and the body of the alien exploded as the rounds hit it. Chunks of gray flesh seemed to come off and splatter the nearby walls.

The fatigue vanished again.

The adrenaline came back.

Julia frowned. They must have had the ability to shut down the adrenal glands through their mental manipulations.

So much for that.

Julia surveyed the scene with a detachment fueled by hatred.

Time to find Mick.

She turned to leave and stepped out of the room.

As soon as she did, an alarm sounded from deep inside the ship.

And Julia knew that any surprise she’d had was now gone.

32

She moved faster now, feeling as though time was of the absolute essence. Would the aliens kill Mick if they thought she was on her way to rescue him? Would they set a trap and wait? Or would they dispatch whatever remained of their dinocreature security force?

Julia couldn’t see any video monitors on the walls, and the fact that they hadn’t seemed to know where she and Mick were earlier on, made her feel at least somewhat good about not being observed.

But maybe they didn’t need them.

After all, the aliens had already demonstrated they could easily tap into her mental psyche and manipulate it to their advantage. Sure, she’d fought them off this last time, but was that the best they could do?

And if they could play around inside her head, couldn’t they maybe also know where she was at any given minute? Could they hear her trying to figure out where Mick was?

Too many questions.

Julia found herself longing for an easier life. She wasn’t cut out to be a soldier, but that’s just what she’d found herself becoming. What she really wanted was to make all of this go away. She wanted her team back. She wanted to see their smiles and hear their laughter. She wanted to remember what it was like before the horror of this trip had unfolded.

And she knew she could never go back to that ever again.

She hefted the M16 and kept moving. Another door led out of the room and she moved through it into another corridor.

She heard a screech, wheeled around, and saw a dinocreature aiming a laser rifle at her. She ducked and fired off several rounds.

They caught the alien square in the chest, ripping his sternum open and spraying blood all over the corridor. It fell with a dull thud and Julia moved ahead to another door.

At last, she crossed into another corridor.

Filled with doors.

Everywhere.

Was it an illusion? Was it some type of trick?

How was she supposed to choose?

She had a feeling that time was running out quicker than she wanted it to. Were the aliens leaving? Were they planning to take off and bring Julia and Mick back to their home world with them?

She had to hurry!

Julia started punching the door releases up and down the corridor, trying to work as systematically as she could. First one on the right, then one on the left, then back again.

She kept an eye on the door she’d come from and used it as a marker for her starting point.

But then it got too confusing and she almost forgot where it was. So she fired a single round at the door, watched it scar the metal surface and then turned back to the other doors.

Where would they have put Mick?

She ran down the corridor. “Mick!”

It was silly, she supposed. Shouting would draw them to her. But she thought they might know where she was anyway. They were smarter than her after all.

Or were they?

Had they allowed themselves to develop to the point where their minds simply overshadowed every other aspect of their being? Were they mentally so profound that they failed to grasp the primal any longer?

Perhaps.

“Mick!”

Another dinocreature came running at her from down the corridor and Julia killed him, too.

More brass shell casings littered the floor. Julia dropped the empty magazine and slapped another one home, jerked the charging handle and kept moving.

More doors opened. More empty rooms beckoned.

And still, no Mick.

He has to be here! He has to be alive!

Why would they kill him? Wouldn’t they use him as bait to get Julia back here so they could try to impregnate her all over again?

Wouldn’t they?

She ran to another door. Inside, she saw two gray aliens. They raised their hands at her and Julia felt an incredible wave of pain sweep over her. She wanted to drop the gun, vomit, and scream at the same time.

Her ear filled with a high-pitched whine.

Her eyes watered.

“Mick!”

She brought the gun up and shot both the aliens. They toppled over and Julia thought she could hear their screams mentally. But then the whine stopped and she felt a measure of relief come over her.

She had to find him.

Another room, further down the corridor.

How many more to go?

Hundreds it looked like…

She’d never get through them in time. Even now, she could feel some type of low growl coming from the underbelly of the ship. It felt like they were starting up the engines.

For takeoff?

More doors hissed open.

A few more dinocreatures made a half-hearted attempt to rush her or fire their guns, but Julia felt like she was in some type of weird zone now. She felt cool and collected even as the waves of panic that she’d be trapped here swept over her.

She fired again and again.

More aliens died.

And Julia kept searching.

It was taking too long.

And then she saw another door. Unlike any of the others she’d opened before. This one was blue.

Blue?

She found it weird to see a color in the entirely gray environment. And even thought she wasn’t close to opening it, she felt a strong tug to go to it and open it.

Now.

She ran over.

Pressed the door release.

It hissed up.

“Mick!”

He lay there on a gurney. He was strapped into place, his hands and legs held fast by some type of metallic collars placed at four points. He lifted his head.

“Hey you.”

She smiled and wanted to cry. “I’ve been looking all over for you. We’ve got to get out of here, I think they’re planning on leaving.”

“You feel the engines?”

“Yeah.” Julia studied the collars. “How the hell do these things release?”

“I don’t know,” said Mick. “I’ve been laying here trying to figure that out myself. I think they’re controlled by the computer over there.’

Julia ran to the console and saw the keyboard with bizarre writing on it. She looked up. “Should I just punch some buttons and see what happens?”

“Guess it’s not written in English, huh?”

“Nope.”

“Oh well.”

Julia frowned. Punching buttons would take too long. There was no time left! “Hang on, Mick.”

She jerked the M16 up and sprayed off several rounds into the console’s belly. A massive spark jumped out. Fizzles and pops crackled in the air.

“Shit.”

“Do it again,” said Mick. “I think I felt something tug the collars.”

Julia fired again and this time, a small fire started in the computer console. It seemed to lick at the wiring. Black smoke billowed out.

“Anything?”

“Yeah. They’re gone.”

Mick stood there, smiling. He pointed at the M16 on Julia’s back. “Is that for me?”

She slid it off and handed it to him. “Glad to have you back.”

He grinned. “Time for kissing later, okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah.” She thrust a few grenades into his hand. “I thought you might know how to make this ship go boom if you positioned these right.”

“I see you left the device where it was.”

She looked at him. “I couldn’t do it, Mick. I couldn’t stand the thought of seeing a nuke used on Antarctica.”

He nodded. “Yeah. Well, there’s nothing to be done now except getting the hell out of here.” He looked at the grenades. “I can rig something up real quick but we won’t have a lot of time. Do you know the exact way out of here?”

Did she? She sure as hell hoped so.

“I followed sort of a straight line across the rings of corridors. I used the rooms as crossovers instead of trying to follow the corridors around and around.”

Mick nodded. “Good plan. Okay, let’s do this.”

Julia watched him go back to the computer console and rip out several wires. He knelt under the console and opened up a panel, placed the grenades in there with the wire, did a few things and then stood back up.

“Okay, let’s go. We’ve got maybe three minutes at best before those grenades start going off.”

“You sure it will bring down the ship?”

“Nothing to do but try.” He nudged her forward. “After you.”

Julia opened the door and looked out. A laser blast shot past her face, almost singing her skin.

“Shit!”

Mick ducked out and sprayed the corridor. Julia heard shrieking. Mick pulled her out with him. “Which way?”

She pointed. “Up there.”

“Run!”

They ran for the bullet-scarred door. Once they got through it, Julia felt better. She led them from room to room. Each time they crossed a corridor, they checked to make sure there weren’t any aliens waiting for them. They ran into a few but there seemed a greater sense of urgency now than ever before.

Mick frowned. “Hear the engines? They’re cranking them up. We don’t have much time.”

“How long until this thing blows?”

“Maybe one minute.”

Julia led them back to the last corridor.

Five dinocreatures stood by the door.

Mick shook his head. “Fuck this.” He took a grenade from Julia and lobbed it at the dinocreatures who tried to scramble out of the way. Julia and Mick ducked back as the blast caught the dinocreatures and scattered their bodies like seeds.

They hurried out, almost sliding in the goo staining the floor.

“The door!”

Mick reached it first and pounded the door release. It hissed open and they fell through into the jungle.

“Hurry!”

They ran down the path now, harder than Julia had run so far today. She could see the cloying mist issuing up again from the plants.

“Don’t breathe the mist. Hod your breath!”

They sped past the plants. And then at last Julia could see the rock ahead of them.

Almost there!

She expected to hear more thundering footsteps of dinosaurs running after them, But nothing sounded behind them. Mick reached the rock and hauled Julia through after him. They fell into the cave, gasping for breath.

But Mick wouldn’t let her rest.

“We have to keep moving!”

They scrambled down the tunnel.

And then Julia heard it.

A series of booms from back the way they’d come.

“The grenades!”

They toppled back to the cave entrance. Mick threw her coat at her and scrambled into more of the winter clothing.

“Come on!”

They scrambled out of the cave entrance and Julia almost forgot they were a good fifteen feet above the ground. Mick helped her though.

They fell down into the snow at the base of the mountain. Julia got to her feet and ran for the Snowcat. She prayed it would start up.

Mick hopped into the cab and Julia into the driver’s seat. She jammed the starter button and instantly the Snowcat sprang to life.

Mick pointed at the mountain. “Look!”

The entire top of the mountain seemed to lift off slightly. Julia could see the ship now, shrugging off tons of rock and snow as it lifted out of its carefully designed hiding place.

“They’re leaving.”

The ship tilted, exposing its circular body laden with lights. It seemed to pulse and the underside of it glowed a deep red.

Julia could see smoke. “Did the grenades work?”

Mick frowned. “Doesn’t look like it.”

“You think they see us?”

“I don’t know,” said Mick. “I hope they’re more preoccupied with getting that thing out of here.”

A deeper shade of black smoke poured out of the underside. Then the craft tilted again sharply the other way.

“Oh shit,” said Mick. “Drive this thing fast!”

The ship veered toward them. Was it chasing them? Julia thought there’d be a rush of lasers hitting the ground near them at any second.

Then she heard another deep explosion.

Mick looked back.

“Damn.”

The ship veered again and slammed into the base of the mountain. A giant fireball lifted off the ground and spread out fast.

“Shit!”

A wall of flame seemed to rush at them. Julia could see it coming in the rearview mirror. She urged the Snowcat to go faster.

Faster!

Please!

The flames fell over them. Julia could feel the heat spreading over the cab.

And then they receded just as fast.

And disappeared somewhere behind them.

Julia glanced in the rearview mirror again and sighed.

Beside her Mick exhaled. “That was close.”

“Too close.”

And in the rearview mirror, Julia could see a hulking black mass of metal burning at the base of the mountains. And all that was left of the alien craft seemed to be exploding and melting and disappearing even as the Snowcat took them further away from the hell they’d been a part of.

33

Even after they’d covered miles, Julia could still see the black smoke drifting skyward toward the new bank of clouds that would inevitably bring more snow down on them later tonight.

Mick, sitting next to her, shook his head. “I didn’t think I was going to make it out of there alive.”

“I felt that way earlier.”

“Guess I’m trying to say thanks.”

“We’re even.”

He laid a hand on her knee. Julia liked the sensation of having it there. “I owe you my life.”

“This trip took a helluva lot more lives than it should have.” She shook her head. “I don’t even have the first idea how I’m going to explain all of this when we get home. They’ll never believe me.”

“I’ll back you up,” said Mick.

She looked at him. “How can you do that? You as much admitted that you’re attached to some super secret outfit. How can you do something like backing up my testimony? Won’t that expose you for what you are?”

“Yeah. It will.”

Julia sighed. “I can’t ask you to do that.”

“I’ve been thinking a lot about my career anyway,” said Mick. “You know, lying on that steel table gives you a lot of moments of pause. Anyway, maybe it’s time I looked into doing something else.”

“Like what?”

He grinned. “I don’t know. ‘Alien killer’ doesn’t exactly translate well into job skills that normal people can use to land a good job.”

“Guess not.”

“I’ve got my twenty years in the service. And the government will pension me off well to pay for my silence. I guess I wouldn’t have to find a grueling corporate job. I mean, I could probably move anywhere I wanted to.’

“What would you do with all that free time, though?”

He shrugged. “I could get a part-time job. Maybe work in something nice and stress-free. Like a bookstore.”

“You’re going to work in a bookstore?”

“Maybe.”

Julia smiled. “Now there’s an image.”

Mick frowned. “I’ll have you know I majored in classical English literature for my master’s degree.”

“You have a master’s?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m suitably impressed.”

Mick tapped the window. “Thought I was all about guns and explosives, didn’t you?”

“I’d be lying if I said no.”

He laughed. “At least you’re honest.”

Julia concentrated on driving for a moment before turning to Mick again. “So. This bookstore. Where would it happen to be?”

Mick shook his head. “I have absolutely no idea.”

“You’re not making much sense, Mick.”

He looked at her. “Any bookstores near where you live?”

“Well, sure, there are-” She stopped and looked at him. Mick’s smile spread even further across his face. “Mick-”

“I just thought that maybe, you know…”

“Yeah?”

“Well…yeah.”

Julia smiled now, feeling the warmth spread across her body. She tapped the steering wheel. “I wish this thing could move faster.”

“Me, too.”

They both laughed and whittled away the rest of the trip until at long last the research station finally came into view.

“There it is.”

“Home sweet home,” said Mick. “Cripes, the thing looks buried under a ton of snow.”

“Maybe they got more here?”

Mick frowned. “Take us a while to shovel that out, but maybe we can at least dig a hole to the door. That way we can get inside and work the radio. Get a plane down here as soon as possible.”

“You think they’ll fly in?”

Mick nodded. “I think I might be able to exert some pressure on them to do just that. A top-secret clearance ought to be good for something.”

Julia pulled the Snowcat into a position near the entrance to the station. Mick hopped out and grabbed a shovel from above the door. He started flinging heaps of snow out of the way.

Within fifteen minutes, Julia could see the door clearly amid the dense piles of snow. Mick put the shovel down and walked over to her side of the cab.

Julia opened the door. “You must be exhausted.”

“What about you?”

“I’m wasted.”

Mick held out his arms and Julia crawled into them. Mick carried her in through the entrance of the research station. It was warm inside.

“I’m starving,” said Julia. “And a cup of coffee would absolutely thrill me right now.”

“I could use a shower,” said Mick.

“That’s an even better idea,” said Julia.

Mick looked hurt. “You saying I smell?”

Julia laughed. “We both do, I’d wager.”

Mick kissed her. “How much hot water do you think is stored up?”

Julia nuzzled him. “Maybe enough to last us a good half an hour.”

“Awesome.” He pushed her away. “But first things first. We make the call for help. Then we can get…comfortable.”

Julia followed him to the radio room. “You think you can get a transmission out in this weather?”

“Only one way to find out,” said Mick. He sat down at the console and switched the frequencies until he found what he was looking for. Julia heard lots of static on the speakers, but Mick played with the squelch until he had it where he wanted it.

He cued the microphone. “This is Research Station Bravo calling Delta Fox One, over.”

He paused and they heard nothing but static. Once again, Mick cued the mike and repeated his message. This time, there was a slight pause followed by a new voice.

“Delta Fox One. Go ahead Bravo.”

“We need an emergency pickup down here. Scramble a rescue bird STAT.”

“Are you aware of the weather pattern over your area right now Bravo?”

“Roger that,” said Mick. “Relay this message to MacDill Air Force Base, General Stoner. ‘Alpha One One Five Tango Charlie Foxtrot.’”

“You’re on a civilian band, Bravo.”

Mick keyed the mike once again. “Not anymore, Delta. Relay the message and await Stoner’s instructions. Relay to me once you confirm the message. Bravo out.”

He leaned back. Julia put a hand on his shoulder. “You think they’ll relay it?”

“They have to. Standard orders for them if a military message comes through to relay it according to instructions given by the sender. They’ll get Stoner out of bed for it and he’ll tell them go ahead and scramble a bird for us. They won’t like it, but they’ll do it. And that’s all that counts right now. Us getting the hell out of here.”

Julia nodded.

“Something wrong?”

She sighed. “I was just thinking about the next people to come back down here. I mean, eventually, they’ll have to, right?”

“I’d assume so, yeah.”

“What’s that going to be like? I mean, knowing you’re coming back to a place that was attacked by aliens? It’d weird me out. I wouldn’t be sure if I could ever feel safe again.”

“You were all abductees though according to Kendall. So, it really wouldn’t have mattered where you ended up. The aliens would have found you.”

Julia hugged herself. “And what about now? They can still find me, can’t they? They could still come for me. I’ve probably got some sort of transponder inside my body giving off signals or something. Christ.”

“There’s a difference,” said Mick. “Between then and now.”

She looked up at him. “What’s that?”

He wrapped his arms around her. “Before you didn’t have me around to protect you. Now you do.”

She hugged him. “You mean it?”

“Yeah. I do.” He pulled away from her. “And besides, I think I have some friends who might be able to help you out with that transponder. We’ve know about them for years and we’ve successfully removed them before from other abductees.”

“Really?”

“Sure thing.”

Julia fell into his arms. “Mick, I can’t tell you how glad I am that we made it out alive.”

“I could say the same thing.”

She looked up and kissed him again. “How about that shower now?”

He grinned. “I thought you’d forgotten.”

She eyed him. “Me? Forget about getting you naked and soapy? Not a chance of that.”

He laughed.

“Well, isn’t this just the most darling and nauseating thing I’ve ever seen.”

Julia felt Mick’s body stiffen. She looked around him at the entrance to the radio room.

Kendall.

Holding a pistol.

“I thought you had the good sense to die,” said Mick.

“Not a chance.”

“How’d you get here?” asked Julia.

“You two were kind enough to give me a lift back. Lots of room in the trunk of the Snowcat. Not all that comfortable mind you, but cozy enough. Although your conversation made me want to retch repeatedly. I’m surprised at my own iron will.”

“What do you want?” said Mick.

Kendall sighed. “You two ruined my plans. Seems the least I can do is return the favor by killing you both.”

34

“You don’t want to kill us,” said Mick.

Kendall laughed. “No, in fact, I genuinely do want to kill you both. Very badly, I might add. If you had even the vaguest idea of how much trouble you’ve put me through, you’d understand why I’m so upset.”

“So, tell us,” said Julia.

Kendall waved the pistol. “Nice try. But I won’t fall for the usual bad-guy spouts off on an hour-long diatribe about what his plans happen to be and how he’s going to rule the world. No, I’m afraid it’s just going to be me killing the two if you.”

Julia looked at Mick but he only shrugged. “I’m out of ideas. I don’t know what else to do.”

“There is nothing else to do,” said Kendall. “Except die.”

“You’ve really got us this time,” said Mick quietly.

“Yes.”

“We really underestimated you. How was I to know that you were as capable as this? I mean, I’d heard rumors of humans in cahoots with aliens but I never would have believed it possible for someone like you to care so little about his comrades that you’d sacrifice each and every one of them so you could achieve your goals.”

“My comrades meant nothing to me.”

“That’s pretty obvious.”

“You mean nothing to me,” said Kendall. “As you’re about to see.”

“Pity you have to use that gun, though,” said Mick.

Julia watched him. What was he up to? Why was he baiting Kendall like this? What did he know?

“Why shouldn’t I use the gun?” said Kendall.

“Why don’t you let your hair down, Kendall. I mean, really let it down. Show us both what we’ve been missing for this entire trip. Go ahead.”

Kendall eyed Mick. “You know-?”

Mick shrugged. “Only now. Makes sense though doesn’t it? Vikorsky slept in your room. And judging by the distance it took to get to the mountains, there was no way the dinocreature that came in through the roof that first night when Julia and I were on watch could have traversed the terrain back and forth without freezing to death. No, it had to be you, didn’t it? Made it nice and easy for you to get us all riled up and exert enough influence on us to make the trip to the mountains even when you seemed the least bit excited by it.”

Kendall said nothing.

“So, you outsmarted us all,” said Mick. “I definitely should have suspected someone among the group was up to something, but I think the whole thing seemed so spectacular to me, I just couldn’t see it.”

“But you fought aliens before,” said Julia.

Mick nodded. “Yeah, but not up close enough like what we’ve run into on this trip. The times I battled the suckers, we were decked out in full chemical and biohazard suits. We weren’t up close where you could smell their breath and hear them screech. No, this is different. Much different.”

Julia shook her head. “I don’t know if I understand exactly what’s going on.”

Mick pointed at Kendall. “This is our inside man on the job. He’s not a human anymore. I don’t know if he ever was. Maybe he made some sort of sick deal with the aliens to transform him into one of them. Whatever the case, he’s one of them. He can disguise himself, sure. But underneath it all, he’s a gray-skinned freak.”

“I am not a freak!” Kendall’s words flew out covered with spittle. His face turned red and he shoved the gun at Mick. “I’ll kill you right now you overgrown muscle-bound soldier boy. You watch me.”

Mick’s voice stayed low. Even. “Show us, Kendall. Show us what they did to you. Show us what you wanted them to do to you.”

Kendall took a deep breath and began to change. Julia watched horrified as his face elongated, drawing out the frame of his jaw into an almost diamond shape. Then his skull began to grow like some bulbous entity on its own, stretching back and fanning out like half a sea shell.

She could tell the transformation hurt, too, because Kendall moaned long and low as if his very skeleton ached from its bones being twisted and turned in new directions. His clothes ripped and shredded themselves as his body began to grow and flesh out. At once, his back burst through his coat. And then Julia gasped when a large tail abruptly split his pants.

At the end of the long tail, were six long and seemingly deadly spikes.

But Mick didn’t wait for Kendall to finish changing. As soon as Kendall’s hands became unable to hold the pistol any longer, Mick charged him, knocking them both back and out of the communications room and onto the floor of the corridor outside.

Julia scrambled for the pistol, but it had clattered to the ground underneath the communications console.

She pawed on the floor for it, grasping at anything.

She heard Mick and Kendall grunting. Kendall’s grunts soon resembled screeches and chirps rather than human language.

She turned her hand over and finally felt the pistol in her grip. She yanked it out, turned herself over and tried to aim through the doorway at the writhing mass of reptile and human.

But she couldn’t get a bead on Kendall. And she wouldn’t be able to shoot without fear of hitting Mick.

Kendall rolled off of Mick and was on his feet incredibly fast. His tail whipped around and Julia could see that despite the close confines of the corridor, Kendall might be able to bring it to bear on Mick if the timing and distancing was correct.

She squeezed off a shot over Mick’s shoulder at Kendall.

Mick looked back at her. “Be careful with that thing!”

He turned back and ducked just as Kendall’s tail went sweeping past his head. Julia fired another shot at Kendall and he screeched at her now.

Mick charged in low like he was tackling a rival football player. He impacted with Kendall around the waist and brought them both on to the floor. Julia figured it was a smarter move than allowing Kendall to remain upright where he could use his tail.

Mick used his elbows on Kendall’s chest. Julia heard Kendall screech again and again each time Mick impacted with them. Kendall tried to bring his hands to bear on Mick, but the thin limbs could do little damage.

Julia got up and moved closer.

Kendall was still trying to use his tail and got it close enough once to actually jab Mick in the upper back. Mick reared back and howled as the spikes dug into his back.

Julia aimed the pistol. “Mick! Roll off!”

He didn’t need to be told twice. He jerked himself off of Kendall’s body and Julia saw Kendall’s chest exposed. She fired the pistol.

All the remaining bullets plunged into Kendall’s chest, tearing holes in the scaly skin. Blood jetted out of them followed by bits of yellowish pus and gray skin. He screeched now louder than ever.

His head reared back, his mouth fully exposed.

Julia kept firing until no more bullets came out of the gun.

Brass shell casing littered the ground.

Kendall stopped moving.

Mick moved closer. “He’s dead.”

Julia let the pistol drop to the floor.

And turned into Mick’s shoulder.

Finally, it was over.

35

The sun-baked cherry trees that hung low over the eaves of the farmhouse made it look like all of Mother Nature was devoted to protecting the occupants of the home. The wooden clapboards were in the midst of being repainted and the gables themselves seemed to disappear in the thick branches hanging close to the windows.

A swing bench creaked in time as a warm breeze tickled the porch below. Julia sat with her feet barely scraping the porch floor and drank an ice-cold glass of lemonade while she listened to the buzz of cicadas in the nearby field.

They hadn’t planted anything yet, but Mick said they would come next season. Julia leaned back and watched his tan muscles bulge and undulate as he slapped some paint on the side of the house. If she craned her neck back far enough, she could see where the brown of his flesh met the faded blue denim of his overalls.

She sighed.

Half a year. Half a year since all that cold and death down at the bottom of the world.

Damn, it felt good to be home.

They’d been rescued within forty-eight hours. The C-130 touched down and came complete with a squad of heavily armed soldiers, the likes of which Julia had never seen before.

But Mick had.

They’d welcomed each other like old buddies. And then most of the soldiers went skipping off across the ice toward where the space ship had burned up. Mick had mentioned the need to clean up things so other people wouldn’t find out.

Julia wasn’t sure she believed it was right to keep things like that from the public’s attention. After all, how many other people had been hurt or abducted or even killed by the aliens? Didn’t they deserve something for all their pain?

The truth was, Julia was far more interested in getting home than she was in following up with the aliens. All she wanted was to be far away from Antarctica.

Mick was as good as his word.

Within two weeks, he was out of the Air Force. He was a civilian again. His dress blues, adorned with more medals than Julia believed a man could wear, hung in their huge walk-in closet in the master bedroom.

They’d bought this home with Mick’s savings and decided they’d settle here, where the warm sun would forever ensure that snow and ice wouldn’t come calling. Mick had already relaxed so much that he seemed almost a different man.

A better man.

And Julia, well she’d changed as well.

After all, eating for two had a way of doing that to a woman.

She caressed her belly with two hands, feeling the firm protective womb that encircled her baby the same way the tree branches did over their home. Another couple of months and they’d have their first child.

Mick hadn’t wanted to know and neither did Julia. Surprise, they both figured, would be a nice thing indeed. It would be their way of finally exorcising some of the demons.

Julia no longer dreamed about Antarctica. She no longer desired to go there. All she wanted now was a little peace and happiness.

And it seemed she’d found them both.

Mick came down the ladder and leaned over the porch railing to kiss her. “Is that fresh lemonade?”

She smiled. “Have some.”

He took a sip and sighed. “Good.”

She smiled. “Are you going to work all afternoon?”

“Don’t want our baby coming home to a shoddy place, do you? But I suppose I can take a break if you need me to.”

“I need you to.”

He sat down next to her on the swing chair and for a long minute, neither said anything to the other. This happened sometimes. They’d seen so much together, that there didn’t always seem enough silence in the world to help drown out all the agony of their past.

“Nice to be here,” said Julia.

Mick nodded. “I miss them, too.”

She looked at him. “How did you know I was thinking about them?”

He looked at her. “After all of it, how could you not? I know I think about them all the time, too.”

She smiled. “Well, we’ve got some other things to think about now. I suppose we won’t ever forget them, but maybe we should move on.”

“Time will help,” said Mick. “If nothing else.”

Julia took one of Mick’s gnarled hands and placed it on her stomach. “He’s kicking.”

Mick grinned. “It’s a ‘he’ now?”

“I think so.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Just a feeling.”

Mick rubbed her belly. “Any other feelings you want to share?”

Julia saw the horrible images that had been filling her head at night — the disfigured beak for a mouth, the red slit eyes, the scaly skin, the twisted claws, the long thin spiked tail — she thought about how she’d started waking up in a cold sweat night after night while Mick slept peacefully beside her. She thought about how lately her stomach had hurt more often than not. She thought about how much she’d taken to praying lately that her child wouldn’t be some freak of nature. That the aliens hadn’t successfully impregnated her after all.

She thought about it all, but only smiled at Mick.

“No,” she said.

And then, only to herself, she began to pray.