The Lost Level, page 19
And she was standing in it.
“Kasheena!” I screamed.
The creature uttered a ferocious croak and zoomed toward her. The wind created by its passage whipped my face and ruffled Bloop’s fur. At the last moment, Kasheena sidestepped its strike and swung her blade, hacking off one of its great black talons at the tip of the toe. The monster shrieked in surprise. Wheeling, it turned away, blood jetting from its wound like rain. Its flight became erratic as it thrashed in agony.
I stumbled to my feet and glanced around for my fallen sword. Above us, the enraged dinosaur circled around for another attack, still raining blood.
“I will not go to the temple,” Kasheena said, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on our attacker. “Not for a foe like this. I can beat it, if you will not.”
“Maybe you can defeat it,” I protested, “but what about Bloop?”
Before I could say more, we heard a new sound—the diminutive cry of a tikka–bird, almost lost beneath the furious squawking of the injured pterodactyl. It was answered by several more similar cries. Then dozens. Within seconds, the air was filled with the calls of tikka–birds. Then, we spotted a small black cloud buzzing toward us across the plain.
Kasheena’s entire demeanor changed in an instant. The color drained from her face, and her arms and legs trembled. Gone were her courage and insistence, replaced by a deep and abiding horror—a terror of something that overrode even her fears and concerns regarding the foreboding temple. When she turned to me, her eyes were wide, and I saw that she was on the edge of full–blown panic.
“We shall go to the temple, Aaron. We must hurry.”
The injured pterodactyl had noticed the piranha–birds, as well. It spun away from us and headed for the forest, apparently trying to seek shelter. Blood fell to the ground in large droplets as it tried to escape. The ravenous black cloud changed course and zipped toward the fleeing beast, trying to cut it off.
I hollered at Kasheena to take my sword, and then lifted Bloop off the ground. I ignored the pain in my arms and back and forgot all about the acid burn on my leg. Instead, I focused only on running as fast as I could toward the dubious safety of the nearby structure.
As we neared it, I noticed moss and vines clinging to the temple’s outer walls and pillars. Up close, the condition of the building was even more remarkable. It looked old, certainly, but seemed to be in sound and sturdy shape. We dashed up a short flight of broad stone stairs and passed through the stone columns, where we encountered an open door. The doorway had apparently been built by or designed for human beings, as it was of what I considered to be normal size and height. Indeed, there was no way the pterodactyl would fit through the opening. Without stopping, I charged through the entrance and into a large chamber.
The interior was shrouded in darkness. I noticed dust and debris scattered around the floor and what appeared to be several large passageways and a massive stone stairwell near the rear, wide enough that six people could have ascended it side–by–side. I also spied a few skeletons, none of which were completely whole. Before I could examine them further, Kasheena called my name. Her voice trembled.
When I turned around, I was alarmed to see Kasheena hovering outside the doorway. She glanced at me, her eyes fearful, and then back out onto the plain. She bit her bottom lip. I laid Bloop down gently on the cool stone floor and then stepped toward her.
“Look,” she said.
I did, and what I saw still chills me to this day.
The tikka–birds swarmed over the pterodactyl in mid–flight, attacking their prey before it could even land. By the time it plummeted to the earth, the dinosaur was already a red, glistening, quivering mass of exposed muscle and nerve endings. It screeched once, a horrible, agonized warbling sound, and then was still. The swarm devoured their prey with mind–boggling rapidity. In just a few seconds, I saw the gleam of bone as they stripped the flesh away with horrifying precision.
I took Kasheena’s hand. “Come on. We’ve got to figure out how to close this door.”
Her eyes didn’t leave the carnage. “But Aaron….”
“Kasheena, at the rate they’re going, they’ll have him completely eaten in another thirty seconds. Then they’re going to turn their attention to us. We’ve got to seal this door off, now.”
“But my people—a flock of tikka–birds so close to my village. We must warn them!”
“We’ll never make it across the field in time. And besides, if anyone from your tribe was out tending the fields, then they probably heard the pterodactyl and saw what happened from a distance. They’ll know about it already and can make preparations. Now, please. We need to do the same.”
Nodding, she allowed me to lead her inside, albeit reluctantly, judging by how she shuffled her feet. She stood next to Bloop, glancing around with unease, while I examined the doorway. I found a stone slab to the side of the opening. It was hooked up to a series of lead weights and metal pulleys. After examining it for a moment, I was able to figure out how to slide the slab into place. I triggered the device. The stone rolled slowly, grating across the floor and stirring up a cloud of dust that made me sneeze. The pulleys squeaked from what I presumed was disuse. Then the slab slid into place with a loud click, sealing the door—
—and extinguishing our only source of light.
The rumblings echoed throughout the chamber with a sense of finality.
“Shit….”
After so much time spent in the Lost Level’s eternal sunshine, the darkness seemed truly overwhelming. My breath hitched in my throat, and my mouth went dry. My ears rang. I sneezed again as the dust swirled around me. Somewhere close by, I heard Kasheena gasp. Then she began to hyperventilate.
“It’s okay,” I said. “We’re all right. Just stay where you are, Kasheena. Don’t move.”
“I cannot see, Aaron. I cannot see!”
“I know. Neither can I. Just stay still. I’ll come to you.”
It occurred to me that Kasheena might have never before experienced such an encompassing darkness as the one we found ourselves standing in. After all, having been born in the Lost Level, she had never known a moment without sunlight. I was sure of it. We’d talked before about the caverns, tunnels, and other subterranean features that were part of this dimension’s geology, but she’d never mentioned venturing inside any of them and seemed ignorant of their contents. What effect was this first exposure to true, utter darkness having upon her psyche? I fought against my own rising panic, hoping to reassure her.
“Aaron…?”
“Kasheena, I’m right here.” I stretched out my arms in front of me and took a cautious step. “Just talk to me, so I can find you. Okay?”
“Yes, Aaron…I hear you…I am here.”
“That’s good. Just keep talki—oww!”
“Aaron? Are you injured? Have the tikka–birds—”
“No, I’m okay. I just stubbed my toe. I’m fine.”
My fingers brushed against her hair, and she screamed, lashing out blindly. Before I could react, she punched me in the mouth. I recoiled, tasting blood. I felt the air whoosh by me as she struck out again.
“It’s me, Kasheena! It’s me. Stop it!”
“Aaron?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
We embraced tightly. Her body trembled as she sobbed against me. I stroked her hair and her face, trying to calm her.
“Did I hurt you?” she asked.
“I’m okay. You just gave me a fat lip, is all. It will be fine.”
“Fine? Aaron, we should not be here. We are in terrible danger. The curse….”
“Kasheena, this is just darkness. That’s all. I know you’re frightened, but it’s going to be okay. I promise. This is something new for you, and I understand how scary it must be, but on my world, this happens every day. The sun goes down, and it gets dark. This is what nightfall is like.”
“Your people must live in constant fear. This is terrible.”
I grinned in the dark, grateful that she couldn’t see me. “We’ll be fine. We just have to stay here, and stay together. Don’t go wandering off.”
“I wouldn’t move right now even if the tikka–birds themselves entered the temple.”
“Good. We’ll stay here until it’s safe to move on. Then we’ll go to your village.”
We sat down on the floor, blindly brushing debris out of our way, and I held her until she’d calmed down. I cursed the Anunnaki once again for losing all of our gear. The fire rocks that had been in my pack would have been more valuable than gold at that moment. I leaned forward and patted the ground until I found Bloop. He was only a few feet away from us, unconscious again, but breathing. As I crawled back to her, my hand came in contact with a long, dry rod. After a moment of experimentation, I realized it was a bone. I tossed it away in disgust. It struck a wall in the darkness and echoed sharply.
“What was that?” Kasheena asked, her voice on edge again.
“It was just me,” I said. “Don’t panic. I just checked on Bloop.”
“Is he alive?”
“He’s still breathing, so that’s good.”
“We should go,” Kasheena repeated, but her voice had lost some of its insistence.
“In a while,” I said. “The last thing we want to do right now is open that door. If that flock of birds is waiting outside, they’ll swoop right in here. I saw what they did to the pterodactyl. I can only imagine how quickly they’d finish us off. What are their normal behavior patterns? Once they’ve eaten, do they move on? Or do they tend to roost in the same area?”
“They move. Always, they are on the move. That is why you must always be listening for them. They eat, and then they fly on to their next meal.”
“Well, let’s hope their next meal is some Anunnaki, preferably far away from here.”
Kasheena laughed, and the sound made me happy.
“Our voices sound so strange in this place. It makes me…uncomfortable. We should not speak, if we can help it.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “This place echoes, for sure. But keeping quiet is a good idea. We don’t know….”
…what else might be in here with us, I started to say, but then thought better of it.
“Know what, Aaron?”
“We don’t know how long we’ll have to stay here. Let’s just try to get some rest.”
“I will not sleep in this place. I cannot tell the difference between when I open my eyes and close them.”
“You don’t have to sleep, then. Just rest.”
I’ve no way of determining how long we sat there, listening to the darkness all around us, but eventually—amazingly—I realized that Kasheena had indeed fallen asleep. Despite her protests, despite her fears, she snored softly against my shoulder. I stroked her hair some more and held her close, listening to her breathe. The sound was interspersed with Bloop’s own breathing, as well. It was more labored than hers, but I was just grateful he was still alive after all we’d been through.
“Soon, buddy,” I whispered. “We’ll get you help soon. I promise.”
Kasheena moaned softly in her sleep. Bloop made no sound at all, other than that harsh, stilted breathing.
At some point, my legs went to sleep. I stretched them out, trying to get rid of the numbness and tingling, but couldn’t find much relief. I thought about standing up, but I didn’t want to disturb Kasheena. More importantly, I didn’t want to lose my place in the dark. I knew that the door was still directly behind me, and I was confident that when the time came, I’d be able to find the pulley system and get it to open with some ease, but that task would become markedly more difficult if I couldn’t find the door at all.
That led me to wonder about the rest of the temple. Obviously, there were other halls and chambers, and I had to assume given its height and the presence of a stairway, that there were floors above us, as well. It seemed odd to me that there would be no other doors or windows, but we hadn’t seen any upon our approach, and there were no hints of light to be found. I also wondered about the scattered bones and where they’d come from. Had they belonged to the temple’s original inhabitants, or were they the remains of travelers like us, who had sheltered inside? It occurred to me that perhaps they’d been from Kasheena’s tribe. Hadn’t she mentioned that some of her people had ventured in here, but were never seen or heard from again?
Several times, I thought I heard something in the dark, but the sounds were so faint that I decided they must have come from outside. The first was an odd sucking sound, like a boot might make when sloshing through mud. The second was a quick rustling noise, but so quiet and brief that I couldn’t be certain I had heard it at all. When it wasn’t repeated, I relaxed again.
So much, in fact, that I fell asleep, too.
That is something for which I have never forgiven myself for, in all the years since. I have made many mistakes during my time in the Lost Level, but that was one which haunts me still. I carry the guilt to this day, and I wish there was not enough room left in this notebook, so that I wouldn’t have to write about it.
But there is, and so I will….
My first sense that something was wrong was the return of the slurping sound. It was much louder this time. Indeed, it seemed to be coming from right in front of us. The room was filled with a dank, fetid odor that reminded me for some reason of mushrooms and mildew. Alarmed, I felt about on the floor for my sword. My fingers closed around the hilt. I was about to prod Kasheena awake, when I felt her fingernails dig in to my arm.
“Aaron,” she whispered. “What is that?”
“I don’t know. Lean forward and check on Bloop. He’s right in front of you. I’m going to scoot back and open the door. We need light, and those tikka–birds have to be gone by now.”
In truth, I knew no such thing, but the unknown sound had magnified my own unease and fears. Worse, I felt the distinct presence of something in the chamber with us. Though I couldn’t see it, my instincts told me that we were no longer alone. I’d just begun to inch backward when Kasheena shrieked. I heard the blade of her sword clatter across the stones.
“What is it?” I shouted. “What’s wrong?”
“Something is there. In the place where Bloop should be there is something sticky and cold.”
I stretched out my free hand and fanned the air. Then, my fingertips brushed against a solid, gelatinous mass. That fetid stench grew stronger. The object seemed to pulse and swell beneath my touch. I cried out in dismay and jerked my hand away. My fingers were coated with something wet and sticky. The substance had the consistency of mucous and smelled revolting.
Still clutching my sword, I scrambled backward and found the door. Then, as I frantically searched for the pulleys, Kasheena shouted again.
“Aaron, I cannot find Bloop! He isn’t here.”
“Hang on, Kasheena!”
“What is that smell? Where is Bloop? This darkness….”
My hand came in contact with the lever, and I activated the pulleys, willing the door to open. It obliged me, albeit slowly. As it ground to the side, sunlight trickled into the temple through the opening doorway, and then flooded the space as the stone slid all the way back. I blinked at the light’s brilliance, and colored spots swam in my vision. Shielding my eyes with my free hand, I turned back to the fray, just as Kasheena screamed a third time.
This time, I joined her. Our cries echoed throughout the room.
A giant, whitish–grey slug had engulfed Bloop, and indeed, much of the chamber in front of us. The thing was easily the size of a full–grown buffalo, if not bigger. Two stalks protruded from its quivering mass. Two obsidian eyes the size of baseballs sat perched atop them. Rather than fear, I felt a deep and all–consuming loathing for the monster. The creature’s physical appearance and the stench wafting off it were nauseating. Its jellied flesh pulsated and jiggled as the sucking sound continued. There was no sign of Bloop. Judging by the slug’s proximity, he was directly beneath the thing.
The sight enraged and repulsed me. Poor Bloop—first he’d been underneath the robot, then the crab thing that had emerged from the lake, and now he was buried beneath this foul monstrosity.
The door finished its recess and clicked into place with a loud boom. More sunlight streamed into the chamber, glistening off the slug’s wet form. When the light hit the beast, the slurping noises abruptly stopped, and the abomination began to crawl away, apparently disturbed by the sudden lack of darkness.
Kasheena and I thrust our swords at it simultaneously. She struck the tail and I hit at its midsection. The sensation was like sliding a knife into butter. Neither blow had any discernable effect. The creature shuddered slightly, but continued to retreat, leaving a trail of slime on the floor in its wake. I tried to clamber atop it, intent on cleaving its eye stalks from the rest of its body, but I couldn’t get purchase on the slippery, quivering surface, and I slid back down.
“Aaron,” Kasheena cried. “It is Bloop!”
He lay on the floor, covered from head to toe in clear, foul–smelling slime. It appeared at first glance as if he had lost weight. I assumed it must have been a visual trick caused by his wet fur. The same thing had happened when I used to give my cat a bath as a child. Dry, the cat’s fur was puffy, and he looked like he weighed twenty pounds, but when I stuck him in the bathtub and his fur was wet, he looked emaciated. But then I saw the wounds on Bloop’s torso, and I realized in horror what had really happened. The slug had sucked him dry. It had fed on him in the dark, while we slept only a few feet away. Had he awoken, or cried out, and we just hadn’t heard him? Or was the attack so sudden that he couldn’t move beneath the crushing weight? Had his last thoughts been hope of rescue, a surety that we, his friends, would see what was happening and come to his aid? Had he died with those hopes?
I’d promised him. I’d promised him that I’d save him, that I’d get him to help, and now….
