Evolve, page 14
part #2 of Logan Reed Series
The path concealment and now this. It gave credence to Logan’s earlier hypothesis. These aren’t just mindless creatures. He peeked over the edge of the topmost platform, looking deeper into the upside down, hollow pyramid, seeing a large fire at its core.
“Bollocks.”
“What is it?” Kiani asked. She then crawled unmolested next to him and placed a hand on his, seeing what he did.
The fire was filled with bodies tied to stakes, looking very much like the ones they saw circling the hunter’s altar aboveground. And there weren’t just human bodies either… Animal bodies joined those of the human victims as did—”
“You’re kidding me?” Ares asked.
“Nope,” Logan replied.
“Are those Nsanga down there too?”
“Yep,” Logan replied again. “Probably bigger than the pups Kiani and I ran across earlier too. Not as big as the mother, though.”
Three charred lizard-shaped bodies were dead center in the fire, roasting like pigs on a spit. There were even men turning them like you did at a pig roast. It was the most hellish barbecue any of them had ever seen—even worse than the scene at the altar site. The fact that these Ka could take down not one but three adolescent Nsanga was mindboggling. They each had to be the size of a large croc, maybe bigger.
“This is incredible,” Kiani said, wide-eyed. “A lost civilization beneath the jungle populated by cavemen with supernatural strength.”
“Incredible wasn’t the first thing I thought, but whatever,” Ares said, shaking his head. “I was thinking I was about to piss myself and cry like an infant from fright. Anyone got a binky handy?”
“I agree with both of you,” CJ said, keeping her voice down. “This is both unbelievable and ghastly.”
“Remember that those are human beings down there,” Logan said, disgusted, “not cattle. Innocent lives have been lost and their blood spilled.”
“I don’t think it’s that easy, Logan,” Kiani said. “You’re looking at it like a hate crime. I think you need to approach it like it's natural selection—like any other species killing to survive. I don’t even think the Ka are human, let alone, cannibals.”
“But there are people down there getting shish kebabed,” Ares retorted.
“And it’s terrible that they’re there, yes,” Kiani replied.
“Like a croc taking down a woman washing clothes in the Nile,” Zeus said, speaking for the first time. “It’s horrible that it happened, but it was a beast that acted on instinct and attacked. We hunt the creature down if we can but we don’t condemn the species as a whole.”
“Exactly,” Kiani said, “the Ka are just trying to live. They aren’t killing for revenge or for hate. They’re killing for the same reasons people hunt.”
“Still don’t have to like it, though,” Ares said.
She looked at him. “No, you don’t and neither do I. Innocent lives have been lost here and that is never okay.” That…they all agreed on. And if their hypothesis was true, they could be next on the Ka’s menu.
“Plus,” Ares added, “some people hunt for sport and not necessity.”
“Like the hunters,” Kiani added.
The group went silent for a moment.
“Should we have Kiani ask them what they intend to do with us?” CJ asked.
“No,” Logan replied. “Let it play out and react if necessary. They don’t seem to be actively violent like the ones we met earlier.”
“Or Momzilla either,” Ares added.
A shrieking sound startled everyone as the Ka guarding them leapt into motion. The leader—the one that manhandled Logan earlier—started barking out orders to the others around him. Weapons appeared—all very large clubs, crude in design—but all deadly looking and covered in brown stains.
Dried blood, Logan thought as he watched them mobilize.
Without notice, he was grabbed from behind and hauled back towards the river skirting around the enormous dwelling to its right—the river’s west bank. Thankfully, he wasn’t the only one. The rest of his team was likewise in tow, right behind him. Whatever had spooked the Ka had them moving quickly away from the treeline they entered through, but also away from the pyre below. Why? Facing away from the water, Logan peeked over his shoulder and saw what looked like a sloping shoreline and a fast-flowing river. The river they saw earlier apparently made its way back to the Ka village.
Once they were within thirty feet of the river’s edge and a hundred from the upside-down step-pyramid, the Ka leader let go of the back of his tactical vest and dropped him. He landed hard and felt his lower back pinch in protest, tipping him over on his side. From his awkward vantage point, he saw the female Nsanga rear up out of the water and bellow into the air. If it had been a breaching whale, it would have been a sight to behold. Not this, though. Logan knew what seeing the creature again meant…and it wasn’t good.
Its front legs slammed down onto the rocky shore but it didn’t pull itself up any higher. It just laid there waiting for…
“Son of a bitch,” Logan said, realizing what was about to happen. “They feed the damn thing. It’s a pet.”
Cursing and grumbling erupted from everyone in the group as the largest Ka walked up to the Nsanga, hands raised in worship, speaking in his strange tongue.
“He’s speaking to it like a god,” Kiani said, “I think they worship them.”
“Like Clash of the Titans and the Kraken,” Logan added. “This is their god but also their executioner.”
“But they eat her young,” Ares said.
No one had an answer. Things were just all sorts of strange here.
Kiani didn’t understand the earlier movie reference by the look on her face and Logan wasn’t going to push it. “They gave the monster sacrifices to appease the beast but they also used it as an executioner.”
“And we’re the next sacrifice,” Apollo said, speaking up for the first time since being captured. Logan glanced at him and saw he was shaking head-to-toe in fright. His eyes were wide too, lost in the mania the terrible setting was causing.
Logan had nothing to say to the man. He was right, after all. They were the next sacrifice to be made. He had no way to sugarcoat it.
Logan reached a hand out to Kiani who took it and smiled. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I really am.”
“Me too,” she said. Her eyes lingered and Logan knew she meant that their short time together was what she was sorry for. She wanted more time with him just like he wanted with her.
Figures…
Kiani began to plead with the Ka, shouting at them, her voice cracking in desperation.
It didn’t work. One by one, the team was shoved towards the Nsanga queen. Its elongated neck snapped out but caught nothing. They were still a dozen, or so, feet away. Then, it launched at them again.
Bad eyesight? Logan thought. It didn’t really matter, though. Soon they’d be in range and all it would have to do was sniff them out. They had no weapons and weren’t as strong as the Ka. Defeating the monster and escaping the clutches of the ritualistic tribe seemed all but impossible.
But an unexpected shout from above gave the Ka pause. It also gave Logan and the others hope. He could have recognized that voice anywhere. And the fact owner’s voice was slinging insults like clockwork made Logan even happier to see his old friend. With him back in the fray, anything was possible.
“Fitz…” Logan said, looking up, “well I’ll be damned.”
18
Fitz fell like a bomb, straight towards the cavern floor. At first, he, Fayng, and Baird traversed down an ultra-steep vertical tunnel through fifty feet of solid rock. Fayng wasn’t sure how the entrance was originally constructed, stating it was probably from erosion like the valley below.
The steep climb leveled off a bit, allowing them to regain their footing. Cracks in the corridor’s surface were used as handholds as they continued on for another twenty feet, coming to a second hole, presumably the exit. Fitz knew that when this was over with his fingers would be shredded.
No worries, mate. Time heals all wounds… Sort of.
The last leg was thankfully a horizontal one, needing to be negotiated on hands and knees. It also gave them the ability to regroup a little before finally descending into… What exactly? Fitz had no idea what he’d find when he looked.
Not wanting to alert anyone to their presence, Fitz quietly crawled to the five-by-five opening in the L-shaped shaft’s floor. What he saw was incredible. It was the only time he was thankful for being where he was. His bird’s eye view of the settlement below would be extremely useful if and when they made their escape.
Logan would be doing the same too. Fitz knew that for a fact. He’d bet Logan already had a plan mapped out in that head.
The only problem with Fitz’s perch was that it was a good fifty feet above the ground with no rope to climb.
“How do we get down?” Fitz asked.
“You underestimate our abilities, Fitz,” Fayng replied. “The Ru’kan can do more than you’ve seen.”
And with that, Fitz was picked up and slung across Baird’s broad shoulders like a kid riding piggyback. Next, they fell, dropping like a missile towards their destination.
“Um…” Fitz said, seeing where Baird was aiming.
They fell towards the massive Nsanga female.
Fifteen feet from the ground, a thick hand reached around and grabbed Fitz by his vest. He was then yanked from his backside perch and thrown away like a Frisbee. He sailed through the air in an almost horizontal angle, quickly landing and sliding on the slick floor. The water from the river had soaked the smooth rocky shore upon the monster’s arrival, creating an abrasive, but usable, Slip ‘N Slide.
As Fitz found the drier portion of the ground, he rolled, trying to keep his eyes on Baird and Fayng. They both tucked their heads and slammed into the beast, shoulder first, driving it back into the water.
He was afraid that his new friends were done for once they entered the water, but as soon as they went under, they quickly launched out of the surf and landed only feet from Fitz’s final resting place.
“Gray?”
Laying on his back, Fitz tilted his head and found the upside-down faces of his missing team. Logan was sitting not ten feet from him, looking like he’d been through hell and back. Everyone was accounted for except one of the Delta men.
Damnit, Fitz thought, trying to get to his feet. He failed but was hauled up by someone, not in his original team. The mammoth Baird reached down, and with one strong arm, lifted up the much smaller Fitz, setting him down gently on his feet.
Logan and the others just stared at the two men in awe, not understanding the alliance that had obviously been formed.
Fayng then stepped into view and began pounding her chest and barking to the Ka, backing them up a few steps. She was more than half the size of the smallest tribesmen, and yet, she appeared to intimidate the hell out of them. She turned and quietly said something to Baird who headed back towards the upside-down step pyramid's edge. Fitz leaned around Logan and grinned as Baird picked up the team’s confiscated weapons.
Logan did the same and quickly turned back to Fitz with a stunned look. He looked up at the older woman accompanying them but couldn’t form a proper question. Logan was utterly confused by the two Ru’kan helping his friend—and them.
He opened his mouth but was cut off with a “later,” from Fitz.
Logan agreed. The information could wait. They needed to run while they could.
A large group of the Ka formed a ring around Logan and the others, slowly closing in on them. Their shock had worn off and they were now reclaiming some of their gusto that'd been stolen. They stopped when Baird came back into view. He dropped the bevy of guns at the team’s feet and they quickly rearmed themselves. Doing their duty, the three remaining Delta operators formed a protective ring around the others, shouldering their rifles with a newfound sense of hope.
“We need to leave.”
Logan looked at the older woman and was stunned that she spoke English. Thankfully, Fitz filled him in.
“Logan Reed, this is Fayng of Ru’kan Nua, a less threatening sect of the Ru’kan people. She’s a three-hundred-year-old bird with a terrifying mean streak about her. She speaks English and is stronger than the two of us combined on our best day. Don’t piss her off.”
Logan observed the woman as her muscles tensed. Immediately afterward, the blood pumping just beneath her skin flickered green, on and off. He guessed the light show was a form of intimidation between tribe members. Then, he glanced at the mountain next to Fitz.
“That’s Baird, he’s Fayng’s boy. He’s the strong, silent type and is basically the Incredible Hulk in real life. Don’t piss him off either, he’s not as compassionate as his mum.”
“Right,” Logan said, nodding, “Hulk smash.”
Fitz smiled at the like description of Baird’s physical prowess. It was the same as his upon meeting the giant.
Like two peas in a pod…
“Gray!” CJ yelled, hugging him hard. Fitz groaned and grabbed his side, getting an apology out of her.
“It’s fine,” he said, breathing in hard, “between him,” he motioned to Baird, “and the Nsanga, I’m—”
An explosion of water turned everyone around, including the Ka, announcing the Nsanga’s arrival once more. It rose out of the churning water, but instead of staying put in the shallows, it clawed at the slick stone and slowly inched ashore.
“Now what?” Logan murmured, looking around for options. The fire below may keep the creature at bay but it wouldn’t deter the Ka in the slightest. He looked at the water behind the inbound Nsanga and saw a bridge to the left. It spanned the river disappearing into the misty darkness beyond. Crossing the water wouldn’t have been his first choice, especially with a creature like the Nsanga after them. But…
The beast roared, its raspy vocalization echoing around the cavern, bouncing back and forth off the bowl-shaped construction. Everyone took a step back, including the Ka. They may have worshiped the monster but it was also clear that they feared its wrath.
Fayng, Logan, Kiani, and Fitz were the closest to the behemoth, the latter three aiming their weapons at it. Fayng just stood there, claws out, a calm and calculating look on her face. If she was frightened, she was a master at masking it.
It advanced on them again but stopped as a chorus of shrieks filled the chamber. It reminded Fitz of the video of Adam Savage squeezing a bunch of rubber ducks at once. Only, these were high-pitch and shrill and not, well, duck-like. A cluster of smaller Nsanga came screeching out of the tree line…followed by something else.
“Well, shit…”
Logan felt Fitz’s disparity as a group of two dozen Ru’kan hunters appeared next. And they were covered in blood… Blood belonging to the Nsanga younglings.
The ferocious Ru’kan tribesmen stepped forward, sneering. They were all hunched over a little, claw-tipped fingers at the ready, spread wide. Roaring again, the Nsanga mother turned away from Logan and his team and faced the new threat. Apparently, even these beasts felt a feeling close to revenge. She wanted to annihilate the ones that killed her offspring first.
Then, us, Logan thought, still looking for a backdoor.
The surviving young huddled around their mother, screeching and twitching like agitated cats. There were about a dozen left and they were…scared. It reminded Logan of the time he’d seen a rabid fox. It was cornered and pissed, ready to attack at any moment. He watched as their crocodilian tails snapped back and forth too.
A good old-fashioned turf war stare down. He was amazed at the complexity of the happenings going on. Originally, they thought they’d only come in contact with a brainless, heartless tribe of cannibal cavemen. But now…
It happened faster than Logan’s brain could process. The Nsanga female sprang into motion, followed by her young and the various Ru’kan. The only humans in the cavern, along with Fayng and Baird, stood still and watched until they themselves were attacked.
Logan unloaded six rounds into the nearest charging Ka as Fitz and Kiani took down two of the leaping Nsanga youngsters. CJ stood by, unsure of who or what to shoot, she’d never been in a firefight like this—none of them had. The closest thing to it was when they fought the Nach out in front of the SDF headquarters.
But we had the Rhino and a shit ton more ammo, Logan thought as he targeted a crimson-bathed Ru’kan. It went skyward over the thrashing Nsanga female, dropping directly toward him. As it fell, he calmly raised his weapon, found it in his sights, and pulled the trigger.
Nothing.
“Shit!” he yelled, ejecting the spent magazine.
Time was up as the demonic creature landed atop him, driving him hard into the ground. It then opened its fang-filled maw and growled, snapping its jaws closed tight…on Baird’s forearm.
He came out of nowhere, barely reacting to the smaller Ru’kan’s bite. Baird grunted, grabbed the other one by its shoulder, and in one quick, jerking motion, snapped its neck, rotating its body completely around.
The hunter died a foot off the ground, its teeth still locked onto his arm. Then, like nothing happened, Braid shook the dead man free and turned to the next thing stupid enough to go against him.
Logan’s eyes were wide and he couldn’t move. Until the Nsanga female turned her attention to him, that is. It then violently slammed its most recent kill to the stone floor. Logan recognized the dead man’s uniform.
“Apollo…”
Mourning the death of one of their own would have to wait, though. He climbed, slapped a new magazine in his rifle, and climbed to his feet. Not wasting another second, he opened fire as the monstrous beast charged him.
19
Kiani’s shotgun boomed across the Ka’s village, reverberating through the mayhem. Her weapon was the only unsuppressed firearm in the group, making her cringe every time she fired. But pulling its trigger was a necessity and she’d have to make-do with the potential consequences later.
