Evolve, page 26
part #2 of Logan Reed Series
Logan closed his eyes and waited for death.
It didn’t come…
Fayng yanked him to the left, just out of reach of the giant as its forward momentum carried it careening into the adjacent wall. The floor shook violently, sending Logan and Fayng to the floor. Logan landed with Fayng on top of him face-to-face. Then, two crescent-shaped talons slammed into, and then pierced the stone on either side of their heads.
For a moment, they just laid there and stared at one another. The shock didn’t last, though. Goliath pried its claws free and raised them for another strike. But like lightning, Fayng jumped to her feet and pulled Logan into a sitting position as the talons returned, splitting the floor. The explosive force shot forward, snaking directly under them, breaking further. Logan yelped and leapt to his feet as the splitting stone grazed his ass crack.
They bolted for the women’s settlement, hoping and praying Goliath would lose interest as they moved away from its domain. As the giant got to its feet and pursued them, hunching over as it did, Logan and Fayng’s wishes were quickly extinguished.
“The smaller tunnel will slow it down,” Fayng said, pulling Logan along. It was much too dark for him to see by at this speed and he was once again appreciative of her help.
“Why are you still helping us?” Logan asked.
“I made a deal with you,” she replied.
“That’s not all of it,” he said.
They slowed to a fast walk and caught their breath.
“I…I see you and her…and it reminds me of Udan and myself.”
“Your husband?”
She nodded. “We were from different parts of the jungle, coming from completely different backgrounds. While we were both a part of the Ru’kan, we had little else in common besides that. After we first met, we instantly knew we would be together forever.”
“Until the Nazi’s came along,” Logan said softly.
She didn’t answer.
“If we make it out of here, I promise you, we’ll go after them. I lost a lot of good people because of those assholes. I want answers.”
She eyed him as they approached the vertical shaft of stone. From this angle, Logan could see the ultra-slick walls. The Nsanga wouldn’t be able to grip the worn walls, giving the women living there a natural buffer away from the creatures. Unfortunately, Goliath wouldn’t be turned away so easily.
Fayng stopped and cupped her hands, lifting and then throwing Logan up the twenty-foot divider. He caught the edge and lifted himself up-and-over, quickly turning over and grasped Fayng’s wrists as she leapt into his arms. Before Logan could drop her, she quickly climbed up his body, using his vest for hand and footholds.
The passage shook around them, announcing Goliath’s approach from beneath. They both got to their feet and entered the normally peaceful encampment. Soon, it would be decimated beyond recognition and them along with it if they couldn’t find another way out.
“The tunnel,” Logan said pointing, seeing it was higher up than he remembered. “Think we can make it up the wall?”
A tremor got them moving. They’d at least try. If not…
They quickly waded through the shallow stream, halting Logan in his tracks. He looked back towards—
“The dam!” he shouted, rushing forward to the opposite bank. Sloshing through the freezing cold water slowed him down but the shock of it on his skin focused him. “If we can break it, the water from above will charge down here and flood the chamber below.
“What of us?”
He pointed left, to the thicket of trees lining that half of the river bank. “We hang onto those and then ride the incoming water up to the tunnel above.”
She nodded but frowned. “How do we destroy it. It’s made of wood, but built well.”
“With this,” he replied, holding up his two remaining flashbangs. “The explosion is white-hot and should be able to burn through the first few layers of wood, hopefully igniting the rest.”
“The dam would surely break once weakened enough,” she replied, speeding up.
“In theory, yes, it should,” Logan added, “But flashbangs aren’t exactly designed to do so. We’ll need something to make it burn hotter, and if at all, delay our friend.”
They hurried as Goliath continued to holler behind them. It’d be on them shortly and once inside, Logan and Fayng would be done for.
Fayng smiled and ran for the settlement, leaving Logan alone halfway to the dam. “I think I know of a way to burn the fire hotter.”
Logan allowed a smile to form. This may just work. He then took off, racing after her.
36
“No!” Kiani shouted as she watched Goliath lumber after Logan and Fayng. Seeing the beast again brought a deep fear back from within her, something she hadn’t felt since—
She grabbed her head in pain, seeing darkness and death, it was so real that she could almost taste blood. No, she thought, remembering such visions from her youth. After the missionaries administered the drug cocktail, the nightmares subsided but didn’t completely disappear. Every few nights she’d wake up screaming. Then, it was every few months. She hadn’t had an episode like this in some time. Years, in fact.
Not since the night with the German hunters, she thought, trying to force the visions of death away. During that fear-induced attack is when she lashed out and injured one of them. It has to be the stress of everything. Fight it, push it aside.
She growled, making the others around her back away. They never saw her like this before, very few others had. Besides the aforementioned Germans, only her mother had ever witnessed her in this state before. She described it as a manic sleep terror. Only, she wasn’t asleep during them sometimes.
Like now.
“What’s happening to her?” CJ said, watching as Kiani snarled and grunted like a savage beast.
“I’m…fine…” Kiani said between snarls. “I’m…” Then, it was gone, dropping her to her knees. “…fine.”
CJ caught Kiani and held her while she curled into a fetal position, tears streaming down her cheeks. The two of them just sat there, everyone watching in silence.
“What happened, Kiani?” CJ asked, stroking her shaved head like a toddler.
“Dreams of death,” Kiani replied, staring through the wall, eyes wide. “Suffer from terrible…” She didn’t finish, shrugging out of CJ’s arms and standing. Holding onto the nearest wall, Kiani closed her eyes and caught her breath. “When I was younger, I was sick. No one knew what was wrong with me. I had dreams—visions. They nearly drove me mad.”
“You started acting like one of them,” Ares said, staring at her. “You looked just like one of the Ru’kan hunters.”
Kiani just shook her head but didn’t have a rebuttal against the man’s description. “There were never any sightings of the tribe around my village. We only heard stories of them but that was from visitors who swore they’d seen them. My mother…” She stood taller, “…she said the same. Just stories. Not real.”
CJ looked at Fitz who shrugged.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” CJ asked.
Kiani turned, looking back in control of herself. “Yes.”
Fitz stepped forward and put himself in front of Kiani, blocking her view of anyone else, including Ares who was still gawking at her like a freak show attraction. “I need you to help me find Logan and Fayng, groovy?”
Kiani’s saucer-sized eyes narrowed and focused on Fitz’s. She softly bobbed her head up and down. Then, she bent over and retrieved her gun, holding it at the ready.
“Anyone have an idea where they went?” Fitz asked.
After a second, he got an answer.
“Yes,” replied a voice in Swahili.
He looked past Kiani and found the medic, standing a few feet further down the tunnel, guarding the younger girls with her body. She looked frightened and in shock, as did the nurse.
“Where?” Fitz replied.
She pointed and started walking. Fitz followed close behind, staying within reach of Kiani and CJ as the two women continued to converse softly. They talked more about her childhood and other strange events that took place. With every word muttered, Kiani seemed to come back to Earth. It seemed that talking it out with someone was helping her come back down.
Don’t need another space cadet, Fitz thought, looking over his shoulder at Ares. The man was still eyeing Kiani with a creepy infatuation. He snapped. Luckily, not entirely, as he still had the wherewithal to help his unit’s commander.
Zeus looked alright, just uncomfortable as he walked.
“How’s the leg?” Fitz asked.
“Besides hurting like a bitch?” Zeus replied, laughing. “It’s been better. One of the bigger ones caught me from behind and slashed my calf pretty good. Can’t bend it without crying like a baby.”
Fitz knew what he meant. He once wrecked a hunk-of-shit three wheeler while on vacation. When he crashed, the foot peg sliced the back of his leg. The cut wasn’t major, didn’t even need stitches, but it swelled so bad that the calf muscle wouldn’t flex. If he tried to walk on it, it felt like someone was sticking a hot poker in it. He laughed when he got his jeans off and saw that the wound only needed a butterfly Band-Aid.
Sometimes the tiniest of physical wounds can cause the most damage. He looked ahead to Kiani and CJ as they continued their conversation. She looked completely back to normal now. Some wounds you can’t even see. But when you do…
He blew out a long breath, trying to forget the sight of Kiani’s feral side. The woman could’ve attacked them and Fitz would’ve been forced to do something he knew he’d regret, fight Logan’s girl.
“Any idea where they’re taking us?” Fitz asked.
CJ glanced back. “From the looks of it, back to the Ka village. Fayng and Baird must’ve gotten separated in the side tunnels we saw earlier and that’s where they’re headed now.”
Makes sense, he thought.
“Wish we stayed with ‘em, you know?” Fitz said. “Maybe Baird would be alive.”
“Don’t do that, Gray.” Kiani turned and stopped. “Fayng and Baird knew the danger better than any of us. Didn’t you see the shape he was in? We would’ve been slaughtered if he didn’t hold them back like he did.”
Fitz tried to argue and say that they could’ve done something different, but he came up with nothing. She was right. “I can see why he likes you.” Kiani smiled softly. “Not only are you a freak in the sheets but you’re also one outside of ‘em apparently.”
Kiani just turned and walked away but muttered her response just loud enough for him to hear.
“Bald prick.”
CJ almost snotted as she tried to hold in her laugh, letting out one quick guffaw before scampering away from him. She also got the ‘stink eye’ from Fitz but just flicked her eyebrows and spun on a heel, catching up to Kiani.
I can see why he likes you, he thought again, approving of the woman. I just hope whatever is going on in your head is gone, buried deep again. Fitz would hate to see Logan’s face the next time Kiani went crazy. His friend was already on thin ice mentally. That would destroy him.
“We need to move faster,” Ares said from behind. “We need to get Dave off his feet and call in Night-1 pronto.”
CJ conveyed the message the best she could in Swahili. Thankfully, the medic understood the basics of the language. “Quickly” meant just that. “Move your ass quicker.”
Fitz hung back and waited for Zeus and Ares. “I got him, Pete. Take a break for a bit.”
Before Ares could answer, Fitz slung Zeus’ free arm over his shoulder and stopped until Ares walked away. “I’m worried about him,” Zeus said softly. “Pete has never been this distracted before.”
“Me too, mate,” Fitz replied. “We need everyone at their best for the last leg.”
“What do you think did it?”
“Not sure, but Kiani’s little episode seemed to have knocked something loose up here.” Fitz tapped his temple with his free hand.
“Speaking of that…” Zeus whispered.
“No friggin idea,” Fitz quickly answered. “Either way, keep an eye on both of ‘em, just in case.”
* * *
“You sure this is going to work?” Logan asked, watching as Fayng slathered a goopy mixture of something nasty all over where the dam attached to the cave wall. The construction was actually very basic but unique at the same time. Large logs were laid on their sides, glued in place with something that resembled the stuff Fayng was using. They were piled on top of one another like a log cabin’s siding with just enough space left open at the top to let the water flow over in a mini waterfall. The pressure building up on the other side must have been intense.
“Yes!” she yelled, not offering any more information than that. By now, he knew not to question the woman. She was three-hundred-years-old after all. She literally knew a lot about the world around her.
“Okay,” Logan shouted from the rear of the room, “just tell me when.”
“Soon!”
Fayng had one of the flashbangs in her waistband, while Logan held the other, waiting to lob it down at Goliath. For that last couple of minutes, all he heard was a grinding sound, like the monster was rubbing against an elephant-size cheese grater.
Probably his skin against the tunnel walls.
Logan didn’t like the sound someone’s fingernails made on a chalkboard. Knowing what he was hearing now was probably the giant’s skin peeling off, it gave him goosebumps just the same. He also hated the screech of Styrofoam too.
“Almost ready!” Fayng called out.
Logan leaned out over the twenty-foot fall but couldn’t see anything until a hand reached up for him. He dove backward, nearly being impaled by one of Goliath’s talons.
“We need to go now!” he shouted from his ass as he backed away, crab-walking. The hand gripped and he watched as the monster began to pull himself up the makeshift bottleneck.
Fuck it, he thought, pulling the pin on the top on the canister, hurling it down the shaft. He stood and ran, covering his ears as he did. If the idea went as planned, the bottle would fall halfway down and explode directly in front of its—
The detonation and subsequent squeal told him he scored a direct hit. Whatever vision Goliath still had left would be all but gone now.
Then, a similar flash and explosion happened in front of him, causing his open eyes to dance a little. Thankfully, he was far enough away for it to cause him any real damage. The worst that could happen was his already pounding headache would continue well into the next month.
Fayng was already running towards the middlemost tree, moving quickly. It sat directly under the tunnel opening, the same one they’d climb and ride the wave up too. Forty feet, maybe? Logan guesstimated as he ran. A crack of wood caught his attention as did another burst of light. Only…it wasn’t an explosion. It was the goop igniting and burning like the fires of hell.
Hot damn, it worked! The dam burst and let loose nature’s cleansing wrath. It worked a little too well! Logan still had a little bit of ground to cover.
Seconds later he was forced to high step through the fast moving, churning water as it began to fill the chamber, flowing directly into the raging face of Goliath as it stood, jamming its broad shoulders into the square cut chute.
Logan and Fayng both leapt onto the odd feeling tree and hung on for dear life. Its bark felt like peach fuzz, centering his thoughts on it instead of the chaos ensuing around him. The skin used on my arm? At the time he could have sworn it was an animal hide. Then again, where would the medic get an animal skin from?
The water was rising quick now, already approaching their waists. Logan and Fayng wouldn’t be able to actually climb its trunk since there were no branches. The smooth bark was something of a problem too. The plan was to just hold on and let the rising water do the job for them. They’d float higher and use the tree as a guide.
The garbled roars from Goliath lessened as the creature was quickly drowned, standing upright and stuck. He’d only be able to somewhat block the onslaught of water racing directly for him, but not all of it. The outlet of water must have originally run that way in the past. Its present path was minute in size compared to the one the Nephilim giant was lodged in.
As the cold water flowed up his sides and to his armpits, Logan gave himself a moment to relax. All they had to do was hang on and let nature take its course. He looked up through the thin canopy of trees and spotted the tunnel entrance.
“Um, Fayng?” he asked, an awful thought entering his mind.
“Yes?”
“What happens when the water reaches our exit? Won’t it just force us back down to its lowest point?”
“It will,” she replied, gripping the tree harder.
Logan knew where that was.
“The nesting grounds…” He met her gaze. “When we get up there,” he flinched as the icy water flowed over his shoulders, “run like hell.”
37
So far, scaling the tree wasn’t the hardest part of their escape. Once they made it to the top of the pole-like trunk, Logan got terribly tangled in the branches. He was forced to dive underwater twice in order to find an easier way through.
Now, sitting atop the bushy canopy, Logan took a moment to catch his breath, soaked. He looked up and found the opening just out of reach, ten feet higher.
“I can boost you up,” Fayng said, teetering on the flexible branches.
Logan stood and tried to step into Fayng’s hands but couldn’t without losing his balance. The roiling current was pushing the tree trunks in every direction, making it impossible to execute the move properly.
After a second failed attempt, Logan sat back down. The water was almost upon them again, slapping against his rear. “Save it,” he said, “conserve your strength for the next phase.”
She nodded, taking in one deep breath after the other. “What about you?”
He looked up at her. “What about me?”
“Are you going to be able to make it back to the village?”
