TWENTY-NINE

MAKING SENSE OF the network of tunnels became impossible as Rook charged ahead, no longer caring about finding a way out. Losing the cadre of attackers following them was his top priority. With the penlight between his teeth doing little to illuminate the three-foot-square tunnels, Rook often bumped into walls where he thought an open tunnel was, or crashed through unseen debris that felt and sounded like loose bones.

Knight and Somi managed to stay close behind him, despite their wounds. Fear of monsters in the dark tended to make even the severely injured forget their pain.

Bishop brought up the rear, charging like a bull on hands and knees, slowly catching up to the others, who had a head start. For a large man in a small tunnel, he was fast, but the calls and growls of the creatures giving chase were growing in volume. He wasn’t nearly fast enough. He risked smacking his head on the tunnel’s ceiling again and looked up. Rook’s light veered sharply to the left.

Rook’s voice followed the move. “Left!” He’d been shouting directions in case Bishop lost sight of the light, which was the tunnel’s only source of illumination.

Knight’s silhouette dove into the side tunnel, followed by Somi’s. Bishop prepared to follow, but was snagged from behind. He looked back and saw the faintest outline of a savage face biting down on his boot. The pressure compressing the boot was immense. If not for the steel toe, his foot would have been crushed.

Yellow eyes blinked at him and a growl rose from the beast’s unseen chest. Bishop kicked out with his snagged leg and smashed the creature’s head into the tunnel wall. It shrieked, but held on tight. Putting all of his considerable leg muscle into his actions, Bishop smashed the creature’s head two more times. As he did he saw several pairs of eyes bobbing and weaving behind the flailing creature, waiting for their turn at him, but stuck behind the first in line. With a final desperate grunt, Bishop brought his other foot down, smashing it into the face of the creature holding his foot.

His foot came free and the creature’s eyes closed. He heard its body fall unconscious to the tunnel floor. Just as he spun to crawl away, he saw the eyes of the creature next in line above the fallen beast. It was squeezing past.

Bishop launched himself into the tunnel, following Rook. But he was far behind now and could barely make out the light ahead. Rook shouted something, possibly a new direction, but Bishop was too far away to hear, and the racket behind him grew louder all the time.

Bishop continued crawling as fast as he could, moving in a straight line, praying the tunnel didn’t suddenly come to an end and knock him out cold. But it didn’t come to an end. It dropped away. Bishop shouted as he tumbled forward. For a moment he caught sight of Rook’s light, but it was fading fast. Gravity suddenly took hold and Bishop slid down a steep grade. His hands brushed the smooth tunnel floor that had been designed to function like a slide. His speed grew when he pulled his boots off the floor and stretched his arms out straight. He wanted to put as much distance as he could between himself and the things giving chase.

Then the tunnel spat him out. He fell four feet to a stone floor. He rolled with the impact and got back on his feet. Rook’s hand clasped his shoulder.

“We’ll stop them here,” Rook said.

Bishop looked at Rook. He could see him clearly, cast in a dull green light that had nothing to do with the penlight that was still in his mouth. Somi sat on the stone floor next to Rook, breathing heavily and wincing with each breath. Knight was fighting to stand. He didn’t want to die on his back.

Rook moved to the tunnel exit, holding his two Desert Eagles. He looked to Bishop. “Shotgun?”

Bishop shook his head. No.

A growing howl escaped the tunnel.

“Here they come,” Rook said. He tossed Bishop one of the handguns and took up position in front of the tunnel. “Take them as they come out.”

Bishop understood the plan. They couldn’t miss. He took up position next to Rook and aimed at the tunnel.

When the first creature launched out of the tunnel, it appeared so ghastly in the green light of the chamber that both highly trained men flinched. It hit the floor, landing on its feet, and sprang back up without missing a beat. Rook and Bishop opened fire with two of the world’s most powerful handguns. Rook fired three shots, Bishop two.

The creature, now headless and full of gaping holes, fell at Rook’s feet.

Then a second fell from the slide, hooting and baring its teeth.

Better prepared, Rook and Bishop fired one shot apiece, again removing the majority of the creature’s face and skull. It fell at the feet of the first.

A scraping sound slid from the tunnel. Then it stopped. Hoots, different than before, boomed from the tunnel, but these were less aggressive.

“They’re running away,” Rook said. He stepped over the two dead bodies and aimed up into the dark tunnel. He fired his remaining four rounds. Sparks flew as the bullets bounced off the walls, moving up the tunnel. Then Rook heard the sound he was hoping for. A grunt of pain followed by sliding. Wet sliding.

The third creature fell from the tunnel moments later, its back and left leg shredded by Rook’s bullets.

Rook pushed it over with his boot, looking into its dead eyes.

A distant roar stopped Rook in his tracks. They’d killed three and sent the rest packing. But these things were smart. They’d be back. Probably with reinforcements. He slapped a new cartridge into his Desert Eagle and handed two more to Bishop. “I’ve got two more for myself, but that’s it.”

Bishop nodded and pocketed the cartridges.

Somi spoke, but neither man understood the language. They turned around and found her standing, leaning against what appeared to be a stone statue.

“What’d you say?” Rook asked.

Somi looked back, her eyes wide. “I said, ‘good God.’ ” She turned away from them again. “Look.”

Throughout the action at the base of the tunnel neither Rook nor Bishop had taken in their surroundings or wondered much about the green glow that allowed them to see. The penlight fell from Rook’s mouth as he took in the vast grotto.

Seventy feet across, twenty feet tall, and hundreds of feet long, the chamber was immense, but that was its least impressive aspect. Lining the walls and forming structures throughout, like a city, were layers of bones—glowing green. The crumbled statue supporting Somi’s weight represented one of a few nonbone structures in the subterranean cavern. The rest looked like a scene from Dante’s Inferno, a metropolis built from the dead.

Rook moved slowly toward the nearest structure. He focused his attention on a skull, noting its size, structure, and teeth. “It’s not human.” He looked back to the others and motioned to the dead creatures. “I think it’s one of them. Or something like it, at least. The canines are smaller.”

Reaching out, Rook slid his finger across the forehead of the skull. Its cool surface was coated with a thin layer of what felt like damp dust. The line he traced with his finger ceased glowing, like a scar across the skull’s forehead. His finger came up glowing like the rest of the bones.

“Fungus,” Knight said. “Bioluminescent.” He hopped toward the entrance of a nearby structure and peeked inside. Two steps, built from rows of skulls, led to a five-foot door frame. The dark interior was also entirely constructed from rended skeletons and some kind of mortar. Built into the walls were what looked like long benches with femur tops, almost the size of twin beds. Knight eyed the flat space longingly as his body pulsed with pain. He sat on the top step, leaning his head against the skull-lined doorframe.

“Think it’s dangerous?” Rook asked.

“Probably not,” Knight said. “But I wouldn’t eat it.”

Rook wiped his finger off on his flak jacket, smearing the green glow all over his chest. He shook his head in frustration. This place was more like an alien world than the underside of a mountain in Vietnam.

“It’s a catacomb,” Bishop said. He’d crawled on top of the stone base Somi still leaned on and had a view of the entire emerald chamber. “Generations of their dead must be buried here.”

“Catacombs . . . ,” Rook said. “Like in Rome?”

Bishop nodded.

“But that would make them . . .”

“Civilized,” Somi finished. “And intelligent.”

She reached out for Rook and held on to his arm for support. As he braced her weight against his body a pang of guilt surged through her. She had betrayed this man, who now shared her weight. Worse, she knew they would probably die to save her. She pushed her conscience away, choosing to focus on the dilemma at hand. “But not now . . .”

“Frankly, I don’t give a rat’s ass,” Rook said. “I say we jump ship now.”

“Running blind might not be the best idea,” Somi said. “Understanding them might help us—”

“Knowing is half the battle. I get it. That doesn’t change the fact that we’re being hunted.”

“But look,” Somi said, pointing out the green skull’s canine teeth. “These are small. Almost human in size.” Somi pointed at the three dead bodies. “Those things have huge canines. They’re not the same. And the symbols. What if these creatures created them? What if the Chinese language originated from these creatures? We might be able to communicate with them.”

Rook sighed. He left Somi standing on her own and walked to the three dead bodies. He took the only one that still had a head by the wrist and dragged its body across the floor, laying it at Somi’s feet. “Okay, Mr. Wizard, you’ve got two minutes to tell me something new, other than that these things smell like ground beef in the sun. Then we’re finding a way out of here.”

Somi nodded and fell to her knees. “Your flashlight,” she said, raising a hand to Rook. He picked his flashlight up from where he’d dropped it and handed it to her. She started by looking at the creature’s eyes, shining the light in them. They were yellow and highly reflective, which graced the beast with amazing night vision. Otherwise they looked human. Facial features were a cross between human and ape. Short nose. Domed forehead. Thick cheekbones. But the canines—they looked more like a lion’s.

Reddish-orange, three-inch-long fur surrounded the face and coated much of the rest of the body. Stiff and coarse, the fur felt more like pine needles than anything else. A clearing in the thick body hair caught Somi’s attention and she moved toward it. She pushed away a tuft of hair from the creature’s chest, revealing a tan, smooth-skinned breast.

“It’s a woman,” Somi said.

“Female,” Rook corrected. “That’s no woman.”

Bishop hopped down from his perch. He inspected the other two bodies. “These are as well.”

Somi moved on, feeling the creature’s arms and inspecting its hands. The arms were full of thick muscle. The hands bore hard and sharp fingernails. Not exactly claws, but no doubt deadly. Then she moved on to the bones making up the nearby structure that looked like a small hut. The bones were longer and thinner than she imagined those of the dead females to be. If they were the same species, they’d changed a lot since the catacombs were built. Evolution on that scale took time, even in extreme conditions, which meant that this place was old . . . ancient . . . perhaps older than modern humanity. Making these things what? Our ancestors?

Somi’s thoughts were interrupted by Rook’s voice. “I think we’re going to have to cut your two minutes short. I know why they’re leaving us alone in here.” Rook stood at the small entrance to the structure next to the one Knight sat in. Somi and Bishop joined him.

The inside of the bone-built structure looked like a simple hut. A fire pit had been carved into the stone floor. The bone ceiling above lacked any green coloration, as it was coated in thick black soot. A long pile of leaves and forest debris lay to one side—a bed of sorts. On the other side lay a pile of fresh bones, rotting meat still clinging. Green uniforms littered the area. The remains of a VPA dinner.

“They live here,” Bishop said.

“Time to go,” Rook said.

“I’ll be staying,” Knight said. “For now.”

“Bullshit.”

“I’m not trying to be a martyr,” Knight said. “But I need to rest or I’m not going to make it far. You know me. You know that I can get out of here quicker, faster, and more quietly by myself than with you. No offense.”

Rook wanted to argue, but knew he couldn’t. He and Bishop were big, sometimes clumsy, and often loud. They would attract attention. Being apart from them may actually be safer. And he had no doubt Knight could get out on his own.

“Besides, this one doesn’t look lived in.” Knight scooted back into the building.

Rook looked at Somi. “You want to stay, too?”

She shook her head. “I’ll stay with the big men carrying fifty-calibers, thank you.” She grinned at Knight. “No offense.”

“You want one of the girls?” Rook said, offering Knight his handgun.

“Keep it,” Knight said. “You’ll need it.”

“See you on the outside, then.” Rook sighed, then quickly grabbed Somi and threw her lithe body over his shoulder. Holding his Desert Eagle in one hand and Somi with the other, Rook set out toward the opposite end of the catacombs. Bishop nodded to Knight and followed.

Knight slid inside the bone structure, crawled to the bed, and rolled up onto his back. He was asleep on the bed of femurs before Rook and Bishop were out of earshot.

Rook, Bishop, and Somi passed by a variety of buildings all built from bones, like some city of the dead. Different styles of architecture could be seen in the buildings, which all glowed green with microorganisms, yet were blessedly free of the larger and much more deadly forms of life the called that cavern home.

After five minutes, the opposite end of the cavern came into view. A full-size tunnel awaited them. Rook smiled. No more crawling like mice in a maze. Then he saw the eyes. Two pairs. Staring at him from the darkened exit.

Somi and Bishop saw them, too.

“Put me down,” Somi said.

Rook didn’t argue. His aim would be better. He put her down and pointed his weapon.

Somi stepped in front of them. “Wait.” She held out her hands, showing her palms. She shouted a quick phrase in a language Rook recognized but didn’t understand.

“What did you say?” Rook asked in a whisper.

“Peace, in Chinese.”

The eyes remained unblinking.

Rook inched forward, holding his Desert Eagle in front of his body. “Flashlight,” he said, and held his hand out to Somi. She handed him the small light. He turned it on and aimed it at the eyes. An awful-looking, hair-covered face emerged from the darkness. But its gray color revealed it as nothing more than a statue. Perhaps identical to the ruined statue they’d found at the opposite end of the grotto.

Rook turned the light toward the other set of eyes. But before he got to them they disappeared. Rook fired without pause. He knew the eyes hadn’t simply disappeared. They’d blinked. The creature leaped into the green-lit chamber, hollering and pounding toward them. For its five-foot size it was a monstrous sight. Its orange hair, dull brown in the green glow, rose up like porcupine barbs. The vertical hair bounced wildly, making its body hard to target and its motion a blur. Its bared teeth glowed light green. Its breasts bounced madly on its chest. Another female.

The creature’s sex didn’t stop Rook. He pulled the trigger, firing one shot, confident in his aim. But the beast lunged and the bullet passed harmlessly through its tall hair. Rook fired again and missed as the creature came within ten feet.

Three shots rang out. The beast fell and slid to a stop at Rook’s feet.

Rook looked at Bishop. “Took you damn long enough.”

Bishop shrugged. “Thought you had it.”

“Yeah,” Rook said, unnerved that he’d missed the creature twice. “So did I.”

A swooshing sound filled the chamber all around them. All three recognized the sound. Slides. Lots of them. The creatures were entering the catacombs through slides, just like the one they had used, but they were coming from all directions.

They were surrounded.