Primordial

Chapter 41

Aston and Slater pulled themselves up from the water onto the rock shelf of the monster’s lair. Bright light flashed into the cave as the camera Aston had set into the far wall registered their movement. Aston stood, offered Slater a hand, and hauled her to her feet.

They stripped off their fins, masks and respirators and stood clutching one another, gasping for breath. Water dripped from the ceiling of the dank cavern, probably filtered down from the storm up above, plinking on the rocks and spattering the smooth surface of the dark water that filled the cave. It was the only sound in the otherwise silent space.

Aston’s breathing began to slow and warmth returned to his extremities. His muscles ached, but his heart still raced. The survival instinct ran strong, and he was nowhere near giving up.

“What the hell do we do now?” Slater asked eventually, looking up at him with a dazed expression.

Aston shook his head. “We need to find a way out.”

Slater pointed at the water shimmering darkly in the bright white LED light. “The only way out is back down there. I’m not too eager to chance that.”

“We’re relatively safe, at least for the moment,” Aston said. “The monster is stuck behind the cage.” He looked around, searching. Could there be another means of egress?

“But for how long? That thing is crazy powerful. It’s bound to smash its way through eventually.”

Aston couldn’t disagree. “Especially now we’ve opened the cage door. That will structurally weaken it, make it easier for the beast to buckle the thing.”

Slater rolled her eyes. “Well, thanks for that!”

“If this is the cave from Old Mo’s story, the one the Nazis found, we know there was a way into it from on land. Somewhere in the hills around the lake.”

“Was being the operative word,” Slater said. “We saw the Nazi knife, remember? It’s entirely possible this is that same cave, but according to the story, the Nazis never made it out again.”

Aston nodded. “But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a way.”

“Maybe.” Slater’s voice betrayed her doubt.

“Besides, if we check around, we might at least find some tunnels or caverns too small for that bloody great monster. After all, we have air up here so we can preserve what’s left in our tanks. Maybe we can hide out somewhere safe and wait for the beast to bust its way through. Eventually it’ll come looking for us and when it can’t find us, it’ll go away. When it does, we can sneak back out, dive the shaft and escape into the lake.”

Slater gave him a flat look beneath lowered lids. “That’s your plan? Wait for the monster to chase us down and the give it the old, ‘Nyah, nyah, you can’t get me’, then we wait for it to leave and hope it doesn’t hang out in the lake waiting for us?”

Aston raised his hands. “I guess so! I mean, it’s not really a plan, more of a worst case scenario. You got any better ideas?”

Slater laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Sorry, no. I don’t. You’re right, our options are pretty slim and maybe you’re onto something. Let’s search and see if there is anywhere to hide. I feel vulnerable as hell standing here expecting that thing to burst up out of the water any moment.”

“It’s too quiet,” Aston said. “We should be able to hear it crashing into the cage, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know. Maybe not. How well does sound travel in a place like this?”

“I guess it doesn’t matter. If we’re lucky, it’s given up for now, gone back out to the lake to see if there’s anyone left up there for it to chomp. That’ll buy us some time.”

Slater winced. “Do you think there is anyone left?”

“Who knows? If nothing else, I hope it eats that arsehole, Laine.”

“Laine,” Slater breathed. “What’s with that guy?”

“I don’t know.” Aston was staring at the dark mirror of the water, eyes narrowed.

“What are you thinking?” Doubt rang in Slater’s voice. “You look like you’re concocting some sort of scheme.”

He turned to face her. “Maybe we should chance it.”

“Chance what?”

“If the thing has gone back to the lake, it might be our only chance to get out. The cage is wedged crosswise, but I think we could squeeze past it.”

Slater shook her head. “I’m not ready. I can’t do it. I like your other idea better. Let’s make sure there isn’t another way out. And if not, we’ll hole up until it comes looking, then when it leaves again we know it’s gone. We know it’s not just lying in wait. Let’s let everything calm down for a while.”

Aston too was reluctant to get right back in the water. “Okay.”

Leaving their equipment by the rock wall, they moved deeper into the cave, searching by the illumination of their head-mounted flashlights. As they picked their way through the jumble of bones that carpeted the ledge, a fetid, sickly-sweet smell twisted Aston’s gut. He knew that aroma — decaying flesh. Clearly, some of these bones were fresh. He glanced at Slater, who held a hand over her nose and mouth, and motioned ahead with the other.

Beyond the skeletal remains, the cave opened out a little, the ceiling rising a few feet higher. Past that, as the rock sloped back toward the cave floor, three dark patches punctured the wall. The smell of decay still hung in the air, but weaker, more tolerable.

“Three tunnels?” Slater asked.

“Let’s find out.”

They started on the far right and found it wasn’t so much a passage as a rent in the stone that only went back about ten feet, like a rock closet hewn into the cave.

“Not a way out, but it might be a good hiding place,” Aston said.

“I dunno.” Slater’s voice was weak, an edge of despair to it. “The monster could easily see us or smell us in there. Does it have a good sense of smell?”

“No idea.”

“I’m not sure it would be much of a safe haven. That thing is huge, but I think it could get its snout in there. That might be enough encouragement for it to keep trying until it got us.”

“True.” Aston shuddered at the mental image of him and Slater splayed against the rock, watching as the snapping jaws came ever closer. “Let’s keep looking.”

They moved to the next opening and this time it was a tunnel — a ragged passage with a rock-strewn floor, and easily big enough for the monster to squeeze into. But it led away into darkness. They followed it for about thirty yards and came to a fork. One passage of equal size swept around to the left while a smaller split in the rock branched away to the right.

“Let’s check the wider way first,” Aston said. “It seems to be part of the main tunnel.”

They moved on, the tunnel curving more to the left, and before they long emerged on a small ledge back into the monster’s lair. They stood gazing across at the pile of bones where they had stood only moments before.

“This is the third tunnel,” Aston said.

“It’s a half loop.” The despair in Slater’s tone increased with each word. “Easily big enough for the bastard to fit right through.”

Aston frowned. “It’s okay. This gives me an idea, maybe.”

“You’d better think quickly! That thing could be back here any second.”

“Let’s go back and check the other way.”

They returned to the fork and took the narrower tunnel. It sloped gently upwards and narrowed further as it went. After about sixty feet, Aston looked back.

“Well, there’s no chance the monster can get up here, the way is far too small now.” He allowed himself a moment of quiet hope. “We can hide out from it, at least. Hopefully we can get a lot further up, just in case it does have a good sense of smell.”

“Do you think this is the way the Nazis used?”

“Must be. If the story is true and this is that cave, it’s the only option right?”

Slater glanced back. “I wonder where the supposed entrance to the Hollow Earth is? Remember Mo’s story?”

“Underwater, Mo said, so somewhere in the vertical shaft leading up here, I guess. If the story is to be believed. Or it might even in the long ocean shaft at the bottom.” He shook his head, amazed at the train of his thoughts. “But seriously, just because this may very well be the cave the Nazis found, that doesn’t mean there’s actually an entrance to the Hollow Earth here.”

Slater shrugged. “Sure. But the legend claims the way is guarded by a leviathan. Do you remember that part of Mo’s yarn? Doesn’t that add to the credibility of the tale?”

Aston paused. The caves, the beast, the legends. It was true that a lot of folklore was based in some kind of truth. Then again, the locals might have simply conflated the legend of the lake monster with the Hollow Earth tale. “Maybe,” he conceded eventually. “Perhaps there are more interesting underwater caverns around, even if they’re not actually access to some mythical other world. But I’ve no idea how people in days gone by would have found the entrance down there.”

Slater nodded. “I really wish now we’d taken the time to look for it. It would have made an interesting extra angle for the show.”

Aston cocked his head. Something had been bothering him, but no time had felt right for clearing the air. Right now, with the fear of death hanging over them, probably wasn’t the best time either, but if Slater was straying off-topic, so could he. If they were going to die, it would be nice if no doubts lay between them.

“Speaking of the show, what’s the real story behind your late-night walks? Holloway said you were uploading files?”

Slater’s shoulders sagged. “I was covering my ass in case Holloway screwed me over. I had a couple potential buyers for the material and I was uploading to my own cloud in case I turned to them in the future.”

“I thought you said you vetted Holloway thoroughly.”

Slater nodded. “I did, but when you’ve worked in the film and television industry as long as I have, you assume everyone’s out to give you the shaft.” She lowered her head, a solitary tear tracing a rivulet down her cheek. “I’m sorry, Sam.”

“What for?”

“Holloway was obviously paranoid. I can’t help but wonder if finding out what I was up to pushed him over the edge.”

Aston circled her shoulders with one arm and gave her a squeeze. “Don’t talk like that. The man was a nutter, and I don’t blame you for having a backup plan. And now, when we get out of here, you’ve got all that footage backed up and no Holloway to worry about, right?” He leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “Let’s go a little deeper. See if we can get out, or see how far in we can go to hide.”

They walked on, shining their lights left and right. The passage continued to rise gently. After another sixty feet or so, their flashlights glinted off a pile of white and red. They stopped and stared.

“What the hell is that?” Slater whispered.