Beneath the Dark Ice

Thirty

“They’re coming to get us. In less than ten minutes there’ll be three staged thermite blasts that’ll hopefully burn a hole right down to our door. The blast and burn will be all over in twenty-one seconds and then we need to be back at that door breaking through any remaining ice before the runoff refreezes. We’re nearly there, guys.”

Alex looked at Aimee who gave a wearied smile showing teeth darkened by grit. Matt, however, exploded.

“Ten minutes? That’s not enough time; we’ll never find her in ten minutes. Can they hold off for a while? What if they drop down and send in some more soldiers to help with the search? Ask them, please ask them.”

Alex felt for the young man. They would need to pass close to where Monica disappeared on their return to the door, but the odds of finding her now were small. The tunnels were silent now, and he should have been able to pick up her soft breaths or even her racing heartbeat; but there was nothing. How could he tell Matt that he couldn’t find her; she had either travelled well away from her initial position, or she was dead. Alex knew he didn’t have the time to negotiate; if Matt tried to slow them down, Alex was prepared to carry him, conscious or not.

“Sorry, Matt; we can look out for her on our way back, but that’s all. If we don’t make that opening before the refreeze, we’ll all die down here.”

Aimee put her hand on his shoulder. “Please, Matt.”

Matt turned to Alex with red-rimmed eyes as if he was going to say something before changing his mind. He took off his helmet and threw it hard into the dark, then ran dusty fingers through sweat-slicked hair. He took a deep breath and nodded.

Thank God, looks like he’s still with us, thought Alex.

They moved cautiously, Matt and Aimee straining to hear and see past the weak beams of their light. From time to time they stopped still to listen — the only sounds came from their own breathing. Alex checked his watch — six minutes remaining. This was not good, time was running out too quickly.

They had made their way back to where they became separated from Monica. No longer was there a large ancient tunnel splitting into sub-tunnels; now it was a yawning chasm falling away into inky blackness. Alex could not see or sense anything in the pit in front of them, but getting across to the side tunnel on the left where Monica had disappeared was going to be impossible. Over to the right was the way back to the original tunnel that led to the ice door and the coming blast zone. That way offered a hazardous but small chance of passing, but at least it was a chance. There was a line of single stones still attached to the wall, jutting out about a foot and acting as a narrow shelf — they could make it back if they held their breath and acted quickly. Alex was conscious of the fact that they needed to be away from the blast zone, but close enough to punch through before it refroze. If they looked for Monica, they’d never make it. His choice was simple: lose one, or lose all three.

“How are we going to get across?” Matt looked at both Aimee and Alex waiting for an impossible plan to cross the black pit and rescue Monica. He must have known that the chasm was impassable, but by now he had come to believe Alex was capable of anything. Given enough time, perhaps Alex could have managed to scale his way across. However, time was not something they had now. Aimee looked down at her feet so she didn’t have to meet his eyes.

“We need to get back to the ice door, now. We don’t have much time.” Alex spoke quickly while keeping his eyes on the gaping pit in front of them.

“What about Monica? She’s just over there.”

“Once we’re in the main chamber, we’ll see what we can do.” Alex hated misleading Matt, but he needed to get them on firm ground and into the main chamber. The last thing he needed was to end up having to wrestle with Matt on the edge of a near bottomless pit.

Alex quickly checked the remnants of his equipment, then turned to Aimee and looked to see if there were any loose straps or equipment hanging off her that could snag on the wall or trip her up. He turned to Matt next, but he was brushed away as Matt moved in close to Aimee and asked her to check his suit.

“You’ll help me find her, won’t you? She must be petrified in the dark by herself.” Matt was keeping his voice low and looking into Aimee’s eyes with an intense gaze that was bordering on mania.

“Help’s coming, Matt.”

Aimee began fiddling with her belt webbing so she didn’t have to look into his face and tell a lie. She also didn’t think that Monica could be alive now that the creature was almost among them. It had stopped chasing them, but she knew it hadn’t given up so she figured that meant only one thing — it had gone after Monica.

“Aimee, you’re going first. Matt, you after me.”

Aimee knew this way Alex could keep them both in arm’s reach. They edged along the precipice with the stone holding firm under their feet. From the pit below there was an odour of ammonia and ancient decay. Thankfully, no sound rose from the darkness.

“Very good, Aimee, keep moving and looking ahead, just a few more feet.”

With one hand Alex held on to Matt’s shoulder; Aimee bet he would drag Matt if he had to keep him moving forward. Matt’s eyes were fixed on the empty tunnel across from them; Aimee knew why. If Alex let him go and he could manage it, he would disappear into that tunnel, charging blindly into its depths and calling Monica’s name. Part of Aimee wanted to do the same, but she knew deep inside herself that to leave Alex now meant certain death. She remembered the emaciated skulls in the lower tunnels and shivered; she wanted to see the sun again.

Aimee stepped off the ledge onto the main tunnel floor and knelt down to draw in breaths; the strain on her already fatigued calf muscles had been enormous. Alex was next, followed by a still reluctant Matt.

Ping. Alex’s comm unit signalled an incoming message.

“Arcadian, this is Lieutenant O’Riordan in Blackbird One overhead, we will be commencing drop in three minutes and counting down from two. Expect communications to be down from ignition and for approximately five seconds afterwards. Good luck, sir.”

Alex knew he didn’t expect a response; things were in motion now. The size of the chemical blast would scramble communications as the incendiary coupled with an already magnetic environment.

“We’ve got three minutes till they begin the burn. Let’s go.”

“No, wait. I thought I heard her. Monica! Monica, it’s us!” Matt stepped back to the edge of the pit and screamed at the top of his voice towards the side tunnel. Her name bounced off down into the chamber and was echoed back again and again.

“Monica! We’re here. Can you hear us?”

All that came back after the echoes died down was the sound of small rocks falling; then of something large shifting.

“That’s her.” Matt’s eyes were bulging out of his head and he strained to see inside the far tunnel.

“I don’t think that’s Ms. Jennings, Dr. Kerns. We need to leave here, right now.”

Alex reached out to get hold of Matt so he could drag him away from the edge of the pit. The smell of ammonia was now growing and Alex could perceive massive movement below them; his senses were making him tingle all over. Pushing a bow wave of air pressure before it, the creature exuded a sense of power, hunger and deadly intent.

More rocks bounced to the tunnel floor and fell away into the pit’s darkness and dust once again started to rain down on them. Noises were coming now from both the pit in front of them and Monica’s side tunnel.

Ping. “Two minutes, mark.” The countdown had begun. They needed to be closer when those blasts started to occur — they were still much too far away.

“We need to go now. That is an order. Dr. Kerns, that is not Ms. Jennings.”

Alex started forcibly dragging Matt backwards when a figure appeared in the mouth of the side tunnel.

“Monica!” Matt looked like he was about to leap across twenty feet of gaping blackness to reach her. Even Aimee broke out in a smile.

“She’s alive!”

Monica stood there, just out of reach of their fading torch lights. She stared ahead and remained unresponsive to all Matt’s shouting.

Alex’s unique senses were going into overdrive, even without his infrared equipment he could tell that the figure of Monica was even colder than its surroundings. A normal human figure generated a slight orange to yellow warmth aura, however, Monica appeared totally blue-black — as cold as a fish, or a corpse.

Alex’s whole body was screaming to run and he reached for Matt just as Aimee happened to look down into the pit before them. At first it looked like the floor of the pit was rising to meet them until the torchlight brought detail to a single emotionless eye, as large as a Buick, that swivelled to focus on them. Aimee screamed.

It all happened very fast from there, the orthocone’s giant feeding tentacles burst from the pit and slammed down onto the tunnel floor. They lifted huge blocks of the stonework out from in front of them, creating a deadly shower of massive debris. Alex lifted Matt and Aimee and pushed them forward up the tunnel towards the ice door. His movement triggered activity in the figure of Monica and it flew forward as if fired from a cannon; its mimicry fell away and turned back into a lethal, hooked and sticky tentacle club. It struck with unnerving accuracy — onto the centre of Alex’s back.

The pain was unbelievable. Alex’s backpack and armoured suit protected him from the full extent of the lethal, dagger-like talons that erupted from their sheaths to impale him. However, he was stuck fast in the biological adhesive that the creature used to ensnare its prey.

“Run! Get back to the ice door and take cover.” In one fluid movement, Alex removed his full-sized blackened ka-bar blade and slammed it down with enough force to spike four inches into the ground between two of the ancient flagstones. He needed to anchor himself, for even with his superhuman strength he was no match for a creature that was hundreds of times his size and bulk.

Ping. “Sixty seconds to first drop.” The final minute countdown had begun.

The creature, sensing that its prey was somehow caught, moved up closer to use more of its bulk and bring its feeding tentacles into play. Another two elephantine tentacles slammed down just short of Alex’s feet. He knew that if the creature got more than one of its tentacles on him he would simply be torn apart like an overcooked chicken. The six-inch talons were working their way through Alex’s armour and his knife was starting to bend. Its toughened blade would hold against an enormous amount of torque but eventually it would shatter like glass, leaving him holding nothing more than a handle; he needed a Plan B now.

With his other hand he reached into his belt and removed a small curved folding blade. It was a modified Spyderco Manix, one of the few folding blades in the world that could be easily opened with one hand and locked securely. Alex flicked it open and ran the razor-sharp blade with as much force as he could muster from his wrist up his arm and across his chest just below his neck. He could only get as far as his other shoulder before mobility stopped him going any further. Blood welled up along the cut marks, he needed to cut hard enough to slice open the hardened caving suit without slicing any veins or tendons. All this fast and delicate work while some monster from a sailor’s worst drunken nightmare was trying to tear him apart.

It did the trick. With a sudden ripping noise the top half of his suit was ripped away from the tentacle club and disappeared into the pit. There was a brief spray of blood as the talons raked his back before they lost their shallow grip on his flesh; but he was free. In the blink of an eye he was on his feet and sprinting down the tunnel. It was like a bomb went off behind him as the creature realised its prize was escaping.

The colossus hauled itself up from the abyss, tossing large rocks out of its way like pebbles. Its rage could be heard above the smashing of stone in an ear-splitting squeal.

Ping. “Five-four-three-two-one…”

There was no sound. Or at least nothing that could be heard over the maelstrom behind him. Alex was only a minute from the ice door and he increased his speed. He could easily out-sprint the creature as it could only move so fast in tunnels that were never meant for something its size. Alex mentally counted off the seconds to the next blast — three-two-one. This time there was a slight tremor and blue light flared in front of him, only fading after a few seconds. The ice door had lit up like a homing beacon. At least the charges were going off in the right place, he thought.

Alex could now see Aimee and Matt standing in front of the door. He reached them and in one fluid motion picked them both up, one under each arm and kept moving quickly into the side alcove.

“Three-two-one”… this time there was an audible whump, and dust and grit poured down on their heads with some larger stones also dislodged from the walls. Once again, the tunnels lit up. However, this time it was a yellow light that hurt the eyes and stayed bright as the thermite continued to burn even under the ice and water. It was doing its job and continued to vaporise the ice down towards them.