Kraken Rising

CHAPTER 48

Alex launched himself from the tree line to appear before the colossal soldier, so fast it probably seemed he simply materialized. He caught the huge stump in mid-drop and stood, legs spread over Casey.

“Yeah!” Rinofsky yelled, straining at his bonds.

Alex had never seen a human being so large, and the strength in the giant’s arms was insanely strong. Casey groaned underneath him, and the giant tried to wrench the log free, obviously wanting to continue the job of crushing the downed soldier.

Alex took it all in: his captured HAWCs, Casey broken at his feet, and Aimee pale and bound. He looked back at the giant, the man’s wide-spaced eyes moved from surprise to glaring with anger. He bared huge yellow teeth, and then jerked hard on the log, trying to tear it from Alex’s grip.

Casey groaned beneath him, and Alex felt the urge to do more than just disarm the man, and there was nothing now constraining him. He wrenched the log from the soldier’s hands, and smashed it into the large head, once, twice, and then three times, the third blow splitting his face from brow to chin.

The giant blinked in confusion as the gash ran red. Alex held the log in one hand, and grabbed the huge soldier’s collar, pulling his face down and close to his own. He stared into the wide spaced eyes, almost nose to nose, and Alex had no words for him, just a low growl. Alex could see something deep in the man’s black eyes, pain, confusion… and fear.

Behind Alex, someone was yelling orders, and one of the other PLA ran at them. Alex heard the sound of a blade coming free of a sheath, and Alex spun, throwing the log at the man with enough force to knock him backwards; the sound of cracking and splintering came from inside the man’s body, not the wood.

Alex then turned back to the giant, his hands gripping the front of his uniform. The soldier had reached up to encircle Alex’s neck with hands that fully wrapped around his throat. His forearms bulged with the pressure he exerted, and his gap-toothed grin appeared once again, but this time his huge mouth was full of blood from his facial wounds.

The huge man’s powerful arms and hands strained, as he dragged Alex closer. His bloody mouth began to open, and Alex guessed he planned to take a piece from his face, probably his nose. In close quarters combat, debilitating the bridge of the nose, around the upper septum, made the eyes water uncontrollably — it would blind him.

The bloody mouth opened wider as the giant dragged Alex closer. Alex straightened his arms, pushing the big man back, one inch, two, a foot, and then he paused momentarily to grin into the broad face, before yanking him forward, fast, headbutting him so hard the huge soldier fell back like a tree trunk, out cold before he even hit the ground.

Alex looked down at Casey. The female HAWC was barely conscious. “On your feet, soldier!”

Panicked orders were screamed from all around him, and he turned to see a senior officer looking bewildered and Aimee, Aimee Weir, staring, and sinking down to be in a sitting position on the ground, her face white.

The senior Chinese officer reacted fast, pulling his revolver and firing. The bullet struck Alex’s shoulder, knocking him to the ground. The PLA captain then moved quickly, dragging Aimee to her feet, and grinding the muzzle of his gun into her temple.

But instead of rising, Alex stayed down, and he turned to the near impenetrable mad tangle of plant life. He stared just beyond the hanging foliage, beyond the physical wall of the jungle, and he knew it was too late, it was coming. He could sense its approach like the feeling of static in the air when a huge storm front is building.

He couldn’t see it yet, but he followed his instincts until he came to a darker alcove among the hanging fronds. A figure silently appeared.

Blake also stared for several seconds. “I don’t fucking believe it.” His voice sounded incredulous. “Hagel… fucking Hagel. That’s impossible.”

To the group it looked like the young HAWC — same uniform, height, and features. Just a hint of a wet sheen glistened over his face and body. But Alex saw past the camouflage. He saw the deadness emanating from it — there was no mammalian warmth, just the coldness of a creature that belonged deep in an ocean trench or even deeper in his nightmares.

Alex spoke without turning. “Franks, when I give the word, get the others free. For now, don’t, move, a muscle.”

Casey nodded slowly, her eyes fixed on Hagel. Blood covered her face, and her wounds probably stung like a bitch, but she remained calm and immobile. Alex just hoped the bindings of his team would also keep them in place, because he knew the one sure thing to trigger an attack was movement.

The PLA captain let go of Aimee and began to scream orders to his giant soldier, Mungoi. The huge man got groggily to his feet, as guns came up, but it was like the silence of the strange jungle became more intense, building energy, as if they had all been dropped into the eye of a cyclone.

“Oh, god, no.” Aimee started to back away from the figure that stood motionless in the dark. Soong reached out to grab her, and used a small knife to slit the bonds at her wrists.

The Chinese captain raised his gun again and fired twice into the Hagel figure. There was no response, or even any apparent wounds. To the senior soldier, he couldn’t have been sure if he missed, or whether the greasy looking HAWC had body armor. He turned and yelled at his huge warrior, and urged the man on.

Mungoi spat blood, and then wiped one arm up and down over his split face. His glare went momentarily to Alex, who he really wanted to rain hell on, and then back to Hagel. He grunted, his unnaturally large jaw jutting. He staggered forward, his bear like arms outstretched and fingers flexing. When he had only taken a few steps, Hagel shot forward — not leaping forward, or running or diving, but instead it was if he were on a spring, a projectile being fired at the huge soldier.

Hagel smacked into Mungoi, knocking him back a few feet. The dull, wet thud was loud in the small clearing. The huge soldier didn’t go down, Alex knew he couldn’t have if he tried. He seemed glued to the figure. Mungoi brought one arm up and put it between himself and Hagel, and pushed. His split face went from shock to horror, as up close, he must have realized what he was really attached to.

Mungoi strained with all his colossal strength, but sticky strands of the substance the creature exuded engulfed his arm as well. The pretense of the Hagel figure was dropped as the creature’s attacking club revealed itself. The human shape dissolved into a six-foot pad covered in baseball-sized suckers. Mungoi struggled even harder, his expression bordering on madness, but then his face went momentarily slack, before he began to howl in pain.

Alex knew exactly what was happening — the second part of the snare was now being used. Hook-like tusks emerged from the center of the suckers that appeared over the front of the pad. Mungoi thrashed in agony, as the eight-inch daggers entered his body, and the curved hook held his flesh tight. Now that he was locked tight to the pad, he began to move forward.

Mungoi braced his colossal legs, but Alex could now see the fleshy column trailing from the back of the once Hagel-like figure, and into the jungle behind them. This appendage was one of two tentacle clubs of a monstrous creature. Its long tentacles now flexed impossible muscle that the insignificant Mungoi had no hope of resisting. In the next second, the huge Chinese PLA soldier was yanked off his feet and into the foliage.

There was silence for a few seconds, and the group stared in disbelief and horror. Then, Hagel reappeared. As before, his form was perfect as that of the silent, motionless soldier, standing just inside the jungle’s edge.

The Chinese officer reacted, screaming orders, his face blood-red from fury. His men attacked the figure, charging and firing with everything they had. But as soon as they got within a half dozen feet, more tentacles emerged from the slimy jungle. These were not the mimic clubs, but the tips of the other appendages, these ones just used for fighting, grasping, and feeding. They lifted and coiled, swatted, and crushed the small human bodies like insects.

The captain’s face drained of color, and he started to back up.

Alex turned to Casey Franks. “Now, move it — untie them, and then head to the cliff wall.” He was up and sprinting, snatching up Aimee, quickly going to Jennifer Hartigan, and ripping her bonds from her wrists. He pushed them both towards the far side of the jungle.

“To the cliff wall.” He then spun. “Cate… Cate Canning.” He yelled over the fury and chaos in the clearing, the sound of the screaming soldiers either fighting to the death, dying in agony, or worse — being hauled away like netted fish to be consumed alive.

Cate appeared from the jungle line. Alex pointed. “Go around that way.”

Cate looked from Alex to the maelstrom of madness in the clearing. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes glassed over. She was transfixed, as surely as if she was captured by the creature herself.

“Cate!” Alex roared her name. She jumped and turned, shocked into action. She then nodded and threaded her way through the far side of the jungle.

“Fuck me.” Jackson’s hands were now freed, but he stood transfixed too, his expression blank. He began to back up, looking above their heads.

There was a sensation of coldness against Alex’s spine. He didn’t need to turn to know that the creature, the monstrous orthocone mimic, was rising up as he and Casey finished ripping rope from the last bound men.

“Run.” He herded them to the jungle, and then turned to witness his nemesis. He felt a thrill of horror run through his body like an electric current. A mottled green and black mountain was rising up over the jungle. At its top was a huge pulsating sack with unblinking goat-like eyes the size of train tunnels. Beside it, tentacles rose and fell, undulating and almost graceful in their sinuous movements. In some of them, small human bodies screamed and wriggled, but were soon handed down beneath the mountain to where Alex knew the giant mouth resided — the massive maw, behind a horned beak that would crush and render flesh and bone down to pulp.

Alex backed away, careful now not to make too many darting movements. Though his instinct was to sprint and propel himself far from this place. He knew he might have been able to outrun it, certainly he would outpace his team, but then they would be overtaken by the questing tentacles that could unfurl a hundred feet, or pursue them through and over the jungle using its boneless form to flow like a river of pure hunger.

Alex eased back into the jungle where Aimee was standing, waiting, refusing to leave, her expression a mix of anger, confusion, and a thousand questions.

Alex grabbed her hand, dragging her. “Not now; soon.” They were out of the clearing and running. His team and some of the Chinese sprinted beside him, bashing soft, wet fronds out of the way, and sidestepping fallen trunks and hairy, column-like boughs.

Behind them, they could hear its approach. It was fast, crushing everything before it as it flowed over or through any obstacles. There was no need for stealth now, just a need for furious running. The cave wall loomed up before them, its top now lost in the dark blue gloom above them, and its far edge just touching the edge of the vast underground sea.

“There.” Alex pointed as he let go of Aimee. He half turned. “Stay away from the water.” He accelerated, leaving the others behind.

There was an opening in the cave wall, multiple openings, but one in particular demanded his attention — it wasn’t created by geology or erosion, it was a carved entrance.

Alex sprinted inside, quickly checking for danger, and then came back to urge them on, grabbing people and pulling them through. He felt the hair on his neck rise, as the glistening mountain surged towards them.

“Don’t look back. Get inside, faster, faster!” Alex watched the thing bear down on them, fascinated and repelled at the same time. Its mottled hide now pulsated with color as its excitement grew. In one of its tentacles, Mungoi thrashed and struggled, pounding against a monstrous muscular limb he had no hope of escaping.

“Get back. Everyone away from the cave mouth, now.” Alex backed up, holding his arms wide like a barrier. Outside the blue tinged light from the glow worms was shut off, and he spun.

“Blake, Rhino, take the lead and scout ahead. We need to get as far from this opening as we can.”

“Won’t make any difference,” Aimee said. “This thing will either tear the cave wall open, or just squeeze in. All we can do is stay ahead of it.”

Alex knew she was right, and thankfully, she was one of the few keeping a clear head. “Move.” Alex pushed Shenjung, Soong, and Cate, urging them further in. The few remaining flashlights came on, and the group moved deeper into the smaller tunnel, staying calm, even though apprehension came off them in waves.

“Faster.” They ran along some flat and even ground — too flat for natural geology. Alex could see the remains of tiles beneath his feet. They rounded a corner and found themselves in an alcove, and they slowed to a halt.

From behind them there came an enormous thump as something hit the mouth of the cave. Dust rained down, and Alex alone edged out to look back at the opening. The weak light that had been seeping in had now been totally extinguished, but even in the blackness, Alex could make out the tip of a questing tentacle as it silently eased its way in.

Alex knew the power of the thing, and Aimee was right — the creature had the ability to stretch and flatten itself to be able to squeeze into impossibly small places. Down here, it had grown large, but it had also evolved an ability to hunt within the narrow, twisting labyrinths of the cave systems.

He half turned, still backing up. “It’s coming in.”

Alex looked around at the cave structure, noting its areas of strength and weakness, and wasn’t happy with what he saw. The powerfully long tentacles could tear the side of the cave open, inching in, and then flexing with a striated muscular strength that could rip apart iron sheets like paper. A rock wall would be like clay to it.

They needed to be further…

The scream jerked his head around. He saw Shenjung and Soong engaged in a tug of war. One of the tentacles had stretched out, rope thin now, and the tip had snagged Shenjung’s sleeve. While Alex watched the coils started to wrap around his forearm and then thicken. Shenjung dug his heels in, his eyes wider than seemed humanly possible. Soong held on to him, but already his feet began to slip.

Alex had seconds. When the hooks in the tentacles engaged, then the man would be jerked from the cave like a cork from a bottle. Alex sprinted and dived, grabbing Shenjung around the waist. But the tentacle didn’t break or release its grip, instead it simply stretched. Alex turned and gripped the now wrist-thick limb and yanked hard — too easily it released the Chinese scientist, but then like a writhing viper, the thing whipped back to coil around Alex’s arm.

Alex pushed the Chinese couple away, and then used his enormous strength to pull back. The elasticized flesh refused to break. There came a burning pain as the suckers engaged, and then the first sensation of sharpness.

Aimee ran towards him, but he held up a hand. “Get back!”

Alex drew a small knife and hacked at the limb but when he pressed down, the flesh would give a bit, and not allow the blade to bite. He felt the thing began to pull at him; he needed to brace himself, and he turned and tried to walk back further into the cave. Each step was impossibly hard, and the thing simply brought more and more power to bear on him, canceling out his effort. He knew it had been playing with him. The force on his arm increased, and he began to slide backwards. The tusk began to dig through his cave suit. The game was obviously over.

Then a sharp pain ripped through Alex’s head, and suddenly the pressure on his arm was gone. He brought his hands up to his ears, grimacing.

Aimee was beside him in a second. “What is it?”

“Something… a sound.” Alex moaned. It felt like an icepick being jammed into the center of his brain. He went to his knees, and then buried his forehead to the ground, groaning.

Aimee followed him down. She looked up, then around. “I can’t hear anything.”

“Ultrasonic.” He lifted his head, his eyes streaming, and blood at his nostrils. Behind him the questing tentacles had begun to quickly withdraw.

After another few seconds they were gone, the sound shut off, and with it went the pain. Alex eased back up, and took his hands away, blinking.

“The sound, it’s gone.” He looked around. “And so is the creature.”

Aimee helped him to his feet. “This is no ordinary cave.” She turned. “And maybe whatever that sound was, scared the orthocone away.”

“Maybe.” Alex looked down at his arm. There was a ring cut from the tough material of his suit, and his skin was raised and raw. He lifted his head. “And maybe it just knows another way in.”