“He freed everyone?” Elina’s hope rose. “What happened to Javier?”
Jack didn’t answer right away. There was a muted pop as he lit one of the flares. Sparks flew all over in the cramped space and Elina’s eyes ached from the light, but she could see that Jack’s face looked grim.
“What’s wrong?” she said. “Where is Javier?”
Jack shook his head. “He came with us to save you. But he didn’t… I’m sorry. He was killed during the fighting.”
Elina stared at him. “Dead?” She ached as though a weight were pressing down on her shoulders. She had come all this way to find him. Now all the emotions she had tried so hard to control over the last few days finally broke through. She began to sob even as she tried to tell herself this wasn’t the time for crying.
After a minute she felt Jack’s hand on her shoulder. “Look, I’m sorry. I know it’s a shock—and I’m really sorry—but we have to get going; we’re running out of flares.”
Elina sucked in a deep breath and wiped her eyes, choking back her tears. She knew he was right. She could mourn for her cousin later. “What do we do now?”
They inspected the tunnel. The way behind them was thoroughly closed off. Several large boulders blocked the entrance, and they couldn’t move them.
Finally Jack sighed. “I think there was a side passage up here.”
They had to maneuver on their hands and knees, which was slow going, but after several dozen yards the tunnel split, and the secondary tunnel eventually opened into a larger chamber. They emerged and stood up. Jack held the flare aloft and looked around. Elina peered up at him. He wasn’t what she had expected. He was taller than she had imagined, for one thing. Taller than her by several inches and slender with short-cropped black hair, large brown eyes, and…
“Listen, Jack… thank you for saving me.” She looked down sheepishly. “But… why didn’t you tell me you were black?”
Jack blinked and looked down at his arms. “I am?”
Elina couldn’t help laughing. “I mean, after I said all those things?”
Jack raised an eyebrow and smiled. “I guess I didn’t think it mattered at the time.”
Elina shook her head. “It didn’t. I just—”
“And for the record, technically you never told me you were Hispanic.”
Elina laughed again. Despite all the horror she’d just been through, in her exhausted condition it felt good to laugh. “You mean my last name being Gutierrez didn’t give it away, or…”
She stopped as she saw Jack’s smile fade.
“What’s wrong?” she said.
Jack shrugged. “This place… looks a little familiar.”
Elina wasn’t sure this was a hopeful sign. “So you know where we are?”
Jack tossed the flare ahead of them. It flew up in a long arch and bounced to a halt in front of another strange rock formation. Only as Elina looked closer, she could see it wasn’t rock at all. It was a pile of white… bones. A huge stack of bones piled high against the side of the cavern.
“Are those what I think they are?”
But Jack had fallen quiet.
“Jack?” she said again. “Please tell me those aren’t human—”
“We need to get moving,” Jack said as he ignited another flare. “I think I know the way.”
Jack pointed in the direction opposite the pile of bones and moved quickly across the uneven floor. Elina hurried to keep up but could feel a presence somewhere off in the darkness. Some kind of impending menace, like an enormous shadow preparing to swoop down and swallow them.
After a moment Jack stopped, tilting his head.
“What is it?” Elina said.
At first the only sounds she could hear were her own breathing and the hiss of the flare. Then soon she heard something else. The eerie tapping sound she’d come to dread. But this time it was different. This time it sounded like more than one.
A lot more.
“Jack…”
But Jack grabbed her hand. “Run!”
He led her on a zigzag route across the cavern. The flare crackled and sputtered and Elina thought she could see shadows scurrying along the ground just outside the ring of light. Jack pulled her behind him until they finally reached the other side. A black wall of rock loomed up in front of them. Jack looked like he was searching for something.
Maybe another tunnel. Hopefully the way out.
Something skittered along the rocks behind her and she screamed. A black shape raced toward her out of the darkness. It was a miniature version of the giant kirac, only the size of a dog. But it was faster and seemed far more aggressive.
Jack charged the creature, flare held out in front of him. He swung his leg and booted the beast back into the darkness. Then he turned and yanked her arm. “This way!”
They moved along the wall until they came to another opening. A passage leading up at an angle. Jack tossed the flare behind them and boosted Elina into the tunnel.
The flare landed a few yards away, where it illuminated a horde of the spider creatures—of all sizes—scurrying toward them.
Jack pumped his shotgun and blasted the closest one, flipping it backward into the pack. The others immediately converged on the wounded creature, tearing it to pieces. One of the bigger creatures launched itself toward them. Jack raised the shotgun and fired point-blank, blasting a hole right through it. It bounced off Jack, knocking him down, and landed on the ground, twitching in front of him.
Jack scrambled to his feet, covered in yellow guts, and pulled himself up into the tunnel. “Go, go, go!”
Elina turned and climbed up the angled passage, scraping her hands and cracking her head against the jagged walls.
“I can’t see where I’m going!”
Jack lit a flare and handed it to her. “Last one,” he said. “Now go—hurry!”
Elina held the crackling flare in one hand and climbed as fast as she could up the tunnel. Water trickled down past her and she had to keep the flare from getting wet. At length the passage widened out and came to a dead end.
She crouched in the space and turned around. “What now?”
Jack was clawing his way up just a few yards behind her. “Up. Climb straight up.”
Elina could see a small opening above her, perhaps into another passage. Water was streaming down through it. She stood and tried to find a foothold but couldn’t reach the opening.
In moments Jack had joined her in the cramped space. He took the flare and boosted her into the opening. Elina scrambled up and found herself in a wide, low passage, worn smooth by a constant flow of water. She could feel it angling the other way, sloping down into complete darkness.
Jack struggled to climb into the passage. “Pull me up!”
Elina reached down through the opening and clutched his arm. Suddenly she saw something moving in the passage behind him. One of the spiders, a big one, was coming up fast.
“Jack!”
“I know!”
He turned, pointed the shotgun down the tunnel, and pulled the trigger.
Click.
He pumped and tried again but was clearly out of ammo. He jammed the gun diagonally into the passage, wedging it tight between the walls just as the kirac slammed into it, hissing and growling. Elina could see its fangs twitching. Its forelegs reached through and clawed at Jack’s feet, but the gun held fast.
Behind it, Elina saw movement. More were coming.
Jack turned and jumped for Elina’s hand. She caught hold and pulled while he scrambled up. “Don’t let go!”
Elina pulled his arms and shoulders into the passage.
“Pull me up!” Jack said frantically. “Pull me up!”