Primordia_In Search of the Lost World Page 17

  Ben turned back to the collapsed cave and then faced Barlow. “You want to say any words for Bourke?”

  Barlow nodded and faced the cave. “Goodbye, fool.”

  Ben snorted. “Touching; let’s go.”

  *****

  Emma was first to be at his side. “Creepy.”

  He nodded. “Jungles always are. But this isn’t just another jungle, so we better stay on edge. Priority now is staying alive until we can find another way down.” He sighed. “In 1908, Benjamin mentioned in his notes they found an inland lake that had caves at its edge. The lake has got to be what was fueling that waterfall we saw back on the ground.”

  She nodded. “Caves mean passages, and passages might mean more chutes.”

  “And a way down,” he added.

  “We’ll need to find a suitable campsite,” Barlow said. “With protection from the elements and the beasts: failing that, we can always stay close by here, maybe try and dig open the entrance again.”

  Ben grimaced. “We’d need earthmoving equipment to shift that. And then we won’t know if the shaft has been compromised until we’ve spent several days digging – that’d be a damn poor investment in energy and time.”

  “Then assuming we’re going to be here a little longer than expected, shelter is the priority. And a cave would be ideal as sleeping out in the open might be a little risky.” Barlow’s brows went up.

  “Hey, I’ll tell you what might be a little risky; sleeping in a cave,” Steve bristled and jabbed a finger at the man. “Just ask your buddy Bourke.”

  Janus Bellakov came and stood between Steve and Barlow. The bigger man glared at Steve.

  “It was my fault,” Jenny said. “I suspected that cave was inhabited; I should have said something.”

  “Very good; I’ll send your after-the-fact admission of guilt to my dear friend Mr. Bourke’s family.” Barlow touched the brim of his hat. “They’ll be comforted, I’m sure.”

  Bellakov smirked.

  “It’s no one’s fault, Jenny,” Dan shot back. “Don’t talk like that. Besides, you tried to warn us.”

  “Much as I hate to admit it,” Ben said, “a cave is the best and most defendable form of shelter. If we need to clear one out, we will.”

  “Ben and I were just talking; these Tepuis are riddled with caves,” Emma said. “They’re eroded by water. So, our best bet is to find the water.”

  “My ancestor referred to caves by the lake.” Ben pointed. “We’ve got no GPS or even compass. But I estimate the waterfall was tipping over the edge about a half-mile back that way. If we head towards it, we should find the stream and then track that back to the lake. The watercourse should also make it easier to get through that tangle.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Steve said.

  Ben pointed at one of Barlow’s men. “Koenig, was it?”

  The big, bearded man nodded.

  “Good, your hunting skills will come in handy, so I’ll want you at the back for rear security. Okay?”

  Koenig turned to his boss who gave him a small nod. Barlow then turned back to Ben. “He agrees…and I’ll just fit myself in somewhere towards the middle.”

  “Of course you will.” Ben turned away. “Jenny, I’d like you close by me if you feel up to it. Your expertise will come in handy.”

  “Yeah sure; ringing ears, but I’m fine,” she replied and felt the back of her head. Spots of blood smeared her fingertips. She grimaced either from pain or from recognizing that the blood and gore was not her own.

  “Everyone stay vigilant.” Ben nodded to the wall of tangled green. “Let’s find that stream.”

  The team formed into a basic line of two by two, so it wasn’t too strung out. Leading them out was Ben, Jenny, and Emma, followed by Barlow with the fearsome-looking Janus Bellakov at his shoulder. Then came Andrea, Nino, Steve, Dan, and bringing up the rear was the now morose-looking Walt Koenig.

  Just as Dan suggested, the cloud began to rise, but there was still the ever-present cover overhead. It trapped the moisture, and though it seemed to be only around 90 degrees, it was easily that in humidity so their perspiration never dried, and they were all quickly drenched in sweat.

  Surrounding them, the jungle had slowly come alive with sound. But oddly, not the bright sounds of parrots squawking or chattering monkeys. Instead, it was filled with hidden creatures that hissed, hooted, and roared, and even with Jenny’s zoological expertise, they refused to be identified.

  From time to time, just above them and out of sight in the cloud cover, large leathery-sounding wings beat overhead. From the heavy sounds, the things must have been of considerable size.

  Jenny sped up to walk beside him, and her expression was still troubled.

  “What’s up?” he asked.

  “We’re making too much noise.”

  Ben looked down at her, seeing the real fear in her eyes. She alone had already been subjected to the horrors of this place, and he knew her fears weren’t misplaced.

  “Agreed.” He stopped and turned, allowing everyone to bunch up before him. “Listen up; we’re basically in a place that potentially has predators like we’ve never encountered. In fact, like no human has ever encountered since 1908…and they didn’t survive. We need to be silent as ghosts if we’re going to stay alive.”

  “These predators will hunt by sight, sound, and scent,” Jenny added. “From the fossil record, we know that many dinosaurs had poor eyesight.”

  “Good,” said Dan.

  “Not really,” Jenny responded. “They still had the telescopic binocular vision of a hunter. But that weakest of senses is bolstered by hearing that will be far superior to ours. And I can only guess what their sense of smell is like, but assume its hundreds of times better than ours.” She felt the back of her head and looked at her fingers. “We stink of fear, sweat, and most of all blood, and that scent will be carried on the breeze and attract predators.” She held up her bloody fingers. “We need to find shelter, soon.” She briefly crouched, grabbing a hand full of dirt, and came up to smear it over the blood in her hair. “And we need to mask our scent as much as we can.”

  Ben let his eyes shift to Andrea who had the bloodstained bandage on her leg. It looked like the bleeding had finally stopped. He pointed. “We should change that, quickly.”

  “I’ll do it,” Steve said and dropped his pack to pull out the small med kit they all had.

  “Bury the old bandage,” Jenny said. “Deep, or something will track it back to its source. And that…”

  Andrea looked up sharply and Jenny’s lips clamped shut, biting off her thought. “Just bury it deep.” She turned away to tend to her own head wound again.

  Ben could also see that Nino had a streak of blood from each ear – the blast must have perforated them, and he bet the guy’s hearing was well below normal. He occasionally moaned his discomfort.

  After another few minutes, they were ready. Ben had his rifle cradled in his arms now, Steve also held the shotgun, and also Koenig and Bellakov had their weapons ready. Dan and Emma drew their handgun, but Ben held up a hand.

  “For now, no handguns. Everyone else, no stray firing unless there is a clear and immediate danger. Okay?”

  Dan immediately reholstered his gun, and Emma also reluctantly did the same but didn’t clip it down.

  *****

  They continued on in silence. Ben had even convinced the walking wounded into stifling their smallest moans of pain and distress – he’d told them as politely as he could that it didn’t help and might attract something a lot worse than the snake. He didn’t know what, but he didn’t want to find out.

  As the heat increased with the late morning, so came the insects. Huge things that flew at them, or hung down from the tips of ferns to try and cling to them as they brushed past. All were voraciously hungry and found the humans full of fluid, and soft – perfect for them.

  He regretted now having everyone leave behind their netting, but there was no use lamenting what ifs.
He had allowed only a small covering of repellent for each of them, as he was keen for them to preserve it; he knew night would be the worst time for bugs. Also, the way they were sweating, anything they added would be washed off in a matter of minutes. The final concern was that the spray was an alien odor, and up here might be very attractive to scent hunters.

  As if to damn his decision, something alighted on his neck and stuck there – he slapped at it. He was horrified to find it the size of his thumb, and a combination of shell-like carapace, spikes, and bulbous abdomen that both stuck in his hand but also squashed in a burst of green goo before it could bite him.

  “Yech.” He flicked the remains from his glove, and Jenny glared at him for making so much noise.

  She reached out to put a hand on his arm. “We might have a problem.” She kept her voice low.

  He half grinned. “No shit – only one?”

  She bobbed her head. “We need more repellant, or something like it.”

  “We’ll need it more tonight. I’ve been in jungles after dark – the real bloodsuckers come out then.” He remembered what it was like. “Even with repellent, I’m still not looking forward to it.”

  She nodded. “Me neither. But it’s not just the blood drinkers that worry me. There are also parasites, ones that actually preyed off the dinosaurs; even the T-rex was vulnerable to infestation. To these things, we’re just walking bags of blood.”

  He nodded. “What do you suggest?”

  “If, when, we find the water, we cover ourselves with mud.” She exhaled through her nose, looking miserable.

  Ben snorted and looked down at her. “Can I tell Andrea, or do you want to?” He laughed softly, but knew Jenny was right; on jungle missions, he’d done it himself.

  CHAPTER 22

  Nino’s head still throbbed with a dull pain, and his ears rang. His hair was singed and he knew there were wounds all along his neck, scalp, and down one side of his face. He also knew he was near deaf and had to watch the lips of the group to see if they were talking; being in near silence scared him. Added to that, his bandages itched, and the insects tormented him every step of the way.

  He shook his head and then swiped at something big that landed on his scalp, nipped, and felt like it was trying to dig in before he brushed it away. He cursed under his breath, wishing he had never responded to the opportunity to work as a guide for the westerners. They had promised him a bonus; he’d damn well make sure the bonus was so big that he’d never have to work again.

  He continued to grumble – if not, then he’d either sell the location to this secret place, or report them for buying illegal weapons – something the government would take great interest in when foreign nationals were involved.

  In another hour, Nino became aware of the strange noise, but maddeningly, it seemed like it was coming from inside his head. It reminded him of someone eating an apple – crunch, crunch, crunch – it never seemed to end. Just like his torment.

  *****

  The fly larvae had hatched almost immediately where it was laid just beneath the skin. The prehistoric ancestor of the botfly wasn’t used to finding flesh so soft and accommodating, and the grub immediately set to borrowing deeper for both protection and nutrition.

  For larger animals with hides covered in scales, armor plates, or leathery skin, it usually meant burrowing down several inches to find the nutritious muscle mass. But in Nino’s head, the first thing it encountered was the bone of his skull, and its powerful, chitinous mandibles immediately set to work, grinding it away.

  In an hour, it was through and then it continued on into the protein-rich cranial matter.

  CHAPTER 23

  Ben held up a hand and the group stopped. He waved them down. Walt Koenig eased up beside him and crouched.

  “I hear it too,” the hunter whispered.

  Ben nodded. “Just up ahead. Let’s take a look.” He turned to his friends and put a finger to his lips, and then mouthed: wait. He crept forward with Koenig right behind, and he slowly parted a curtain of hanging vines.

  Koenig exhaled in a soft laugh. “Well, holy hell.”

  There were half a dozen small animals roughly the size of hogs, and just as barrel-shaped. But that’s as close as the similarity got as their necks added three feet to their bodies that were striped in orange, brown, and red. The creature’s eyes were large and liquid looking, like those of a cow, and their short faces ended in a horned beak. The most amazing thing was along their necks and tails there seemed to be a line of quills that might have been tiny feathers.

  Ben turned and pointed to Jenny, waving her forward. The woman scurried fast and laid her hands on Ben’s shoulders to use them as a perch. Ben heard her sharp intake of breath.

  “Oh my God…they’re…” she pointed, “…they’re dinosaurs. Real dinosaurs.”

  From behind his other shoulder, he heard the whine and click of Dan’s camera as he edged forward, aiming and shooting over and over.

  “I told you; we’ll be famous,” he said. “I knew it was real.”

  “What are they?” Emma whispered as she wedged herself between him and Walt Koenig. The hunter cursed and then made room for her.

  Ben shook his head and looked up at the zoologist.

  Jenny shrugged. “The shape, size, hard beak; could be a Psittacosaurus, a parrot-beaked plant eater. But who really knows? These guys were quite prevalent 80 million years ago, but even artist’s impressions of reconstructions can’t even come close to how they really looked. I mean, on the tail and neck – they look like primitive feathers!”

  “So, they really did turn into birds then?” Emma grinned. “This is so cool.”

  “I could die happy right now.” Dan lowered his camera. “I have no more bucket list.”

  Ben looked at Koenig. “Well, good to know these guys are here – if it comes down to it, we’ll be eating one of them.”

  “Are you serious?” Andrea looked horrified. “They could be poisonous.”

  Koenig scoffed. “You get hungry enough, miss, and you’ll eat it raw, believe me.”

  “Pfft.” Her lips curled.

  Behind them, some branches broke and the animals bleated once and vanished. Ben spun to see Nino blundering towards them.

  “What the hell?” Ben frowned and watched him for a few more moments; the man was mumbling to himself again. He also seemed to stumble as if intoxicated and blood was once again leaking from under the bandage around his head.

  Ben took a quick look one way then the other and then went after the man. He grabbed Nino’s arm and led him back to the group. He bent forward to look into the man’s face.

  “Hey, how you doin’ there, buddy?”

  Nino looked up at him, but only one eye focused. The other seemed to slide to the side, and half his face sagged as if he’d had a stroke.

  “Just gonna check this out. Hold steady.”

  Ben peeled back the bandage, seeing the blisters, congealed abrasions, and other damage from the blast. Those wounds had coagulated and were on their way to healing, but there was a small, round hole just below his temple that wept clear fluid. He wiped at it with the bandage, but the fluid pulsed out again. Ben started to feel a knot in his stomach.

  “Stay still.” Ben kept his eyes on Nino’s face, but half turned. “Jenny, over here.”

  The woman quickly crossed to him and the others began to crowd closer.

  “What do you make of this?” Ben asked.

  Jenny squinted and then shook her head. “Don’t know; shrapnel wound maybe? Rounded; looks like a bullet wound.”

  Dan eased in closer. “I bandaged him, but I don’t remember that. Might have missed it.”

  Ben squinted and gently turned the man’s head. “That discharge looks a little like cranial fluid.”

  “Jesus,” Dan said with a grimace.

  “How do you feel?” Ben looked into Nino’s eyes again.

  The man looked vacant for a few seconds as though listening to something, bef
ore his lips began to move. “The devil…he is inside me now.” He looked up at Ben, his face slowly creasing in anguish. “Inside me!”

  He pushed Ben’s hands away and sprinted off into the jungle.

  “Shit.” Ben went after him, followed by most of the group.

  The small man was able to burrow and dodge around the mad tangle of the jungle, and quickly outpaced his larger pursuers. In just a few minutes, he was already fifty feet ahead of them.

  Ben barged after him, following the sound of his mad dash, but in another moment, it fell silent. Ben then found the man; he was standing in the centre of a small clearing, looking bewildered.

  Ben would have called out, but he remembered Jenny telling him to be silent. He pushed fern fronds aside, about to enter when he was tackled from behind, and a hand went over his mouth.

  He spun, ready to fight, but was immediately released. Walt Koenig had his fingers to his lips. “We’re being stalked.”

  The others caught up, and Koenig waved them down. Ben looked from the hunter back to Nino. “Where?”

  Koenig pointed. “There and there – just past the first line of brush.”

  Ben followed where the man indicated but saw nothing. But then he noticed something odd; the sounds of the jungle had vanished, and it was like they had all fallen into a vacuum.

  Mist curled in amongst the hairy or scaled trunks of trees and threaded its way through tangles of vines and huge flesh palms. But he couldn’t see what the hunter could.

  Nino started to wail and hold his head.

  “We need to help him,” Ben whispered as the man became even more agitated.

  “Too late for that.” Koenig’s mouth turned down.

  “The hell it is.” Ben started to get to his feet, but the hunter grabbed his shirt.

  “Wait, watch,” Koenig said more forcefully. “Don’t get all your friends killed.”

  Emma and Jenny crawled forward. “What is it? Where’s Nino?”

  Ben pointed.