“Enemy? This thing isn’t a combatant. If there is something like that down here, its just an animal, working on instinct.”
He half smiled. “It was working on instinct all right. But it was far smarter than anyone suspected. And something else.” He looked into her face. “I got the feeling it enjoyed what it did. I could sense it.” He stopped and scanned the dark blue jungle around them.
“Impossible,” Cate said quickly.
“Why not? Killer whales, cats, some primates, they all take great delight in tormenting their prey prior to killing it. Aimee… ah, a friend of mine, told me how smart these things are. Normal cephalopods are only limited by their short life spans. But this thing, this thing might be hundreds or even thousands of years old.”
Cate shook her head. “Unlikely.”
“Yeah well, I thought we killed it.” Alex shrugged. “Maybe we did and maybe we didn’t. And maybe there was more than one.” He turned back to the jungle. “It gave off an ammonia stink.” His face was grim. “And I can damn well smell it now.”
“You can?” Cate sniffed and then stared off into the gloom for another moment. “Hey, you know, thinking about it, there is some recent paleontological evidence that might be a precedent. A few years back, a researcher submitted some findings at a Geological Society meeting for evidence of the Kraken. Putting flesh on the bones of the legend, if you like. He had found some strange marks on the fossilized bones of another great creature of the time, called an Ichthyosaur — a forty-five-foot sea dinosaur of the Triassic period.”
Cate tapped her chin as she seemed to pull the details from her memory. “When they arranged the Ichthyosaur vertebrae, they noticed an odd patterning on the bones.” She stopped tapping and looked up. “Sucker marks. The scoring on the bones of the dinosaur resembled the sucker marks that would have been left behind by the tentacle of a giant cephalopod. One that would have been over a hundred feet long.” She tilted her head. “But, not everyone agreed with the report’s findings.”
“That researcher was more right than he knew,” Alex said.
Cate inhaled again, but shook her head. “I smell nothing… but okay, I’ll keep an open mind.”
Alex nodded, turning away. Just over the top of the plants, there was a cliff face that ended at the water line, its base covered by a stand of what looked like huge straight trunks or columns. He looked down at his signal locator, and then back up at the cliffs where they met the water.
“The signal’s coming from over there,” he said.
“The cliffs?” She got on her toes.
“Looks like it. But I think it’s more than a cliff. I think it’s a structure.”
As Cate watched, his expression clouded. “Strange,” he said. “I can still sense something… familiar.”
“The Kraken?” Cate frowned.
“No. Some… one.” He tilted his head, trying to form an image; not believing what his instincts were telling him.
“Who?” Cate crowded in closer to him.
“We have to move — fast.” Alex started to jog.
CHAPTER 36
Captain Wu Yang and his team had to cross the underground stream, again and again. At times, it was shallow, the water being of crystal clarity. But other times, the stream bed fell away beneath their feet and they needed to paddle, the shadowy impenetrable depths unknown, perhaps just over their heads, or many fathoms deep.
In another hour they came to a broad, dark beach, and Captain Yang called a halt. Han Biao and Liu Yandong sat together, each pulling up rounded stones to perch on, as the black sand seemed to stick to anything metallic. Han Biao had scolded Liu for sipping water from the cave stream, admonishing him for his lack of caution. But the bigger man had just shrugged it off.
“Tastes fine, and better to save what we have,” Liu said. “Who knows what will be around the bend.”
Han Biao grunted. Liu was right, but he would neither eat nor drink anything until Captain Yang allowed them to nibble on their rations. He felt the captain had it in for him already, and insubordination would be the last straw.
Han Biao scratched at his arms, and Liu pointed. “You have a rash… on your neck.”
He reached up and touched his neck. It felt smooth, not painful, but he had a tingling itch. It was nothing compared to his arm, which crawled madly with the irritation. He could feel the lumps there.
“Must have been something in the water I’m allergic to. Itches, very bad.”
“Urine,” Liu said. “My grandmother always said that if you have been stung by something to use your urine. Pat on, let it dry.” He shrugged.
Han Biao nodded. It was a good idea, as they had little first aid with them, and he knew that urine had many medicinal properties. “Maybe I will.” He looked around. “Okay.” It was a home remedy, but right about now the insane itch made him ready to try anything.
He got to his feet and wandered a few paces down the bank and then in towards the cave wall. Shadows swallowed him almost immediately, as the men sat in groups around a few of the lit flashlights — the small dots were a comforting glow in the utter darkness.
He grimaced. The tickling itch on his neck had turned to a crawling sensation just like on his arm. And now the rest of his body decided it wanted to join in. Even his throat start to burn and he had a strong desire to cough — a bad idea in the quiet of the caves. Yang would be furious if he made a commotion. Maybe he had caught a cold. What a time to get sick, he thought depressingly.
Han Biao stepped further into the shadows and unbuckled his belt. He reached in for his penis, his cold hands shrinking him, and needing a tug to pull it free of the zip. He sighed, feeling like crap. He was trained to ignore discomfort, still, that didn’t mean he and his comrade brothers didn’t experience it.
He started to urinate, and there came a strange sensation. It felt as if lumps were passing along the length of his penis. He reached one hand forward in a cup shape to capture some of the warm liquid in preparation for smearing it on himself, in the places where he felt the insane tickling the most. He cupped a handful of urine and raised it to his shirtsleeve — there were already holes and rents in the tough fabric from the cave-in, so getting to his flesh was easy. He splashed it over the largest of his abrasions and then rubbed the liquid up and down in long strokes. It felt like there were grains of rice under his hand.
“Hoy?” The tickling on his skin was now amplified by a new sensation — his skin crawled both inside and out now. Han Biao looked quickly over his shoulder. Captain Yang sat with a small group. He had been most specific about there being no use of their lights, but his fear and curiosity was screaming. He would chance a quick look. He lifted the elbow shaped light from his belt and snapped it on, pointing the beam into his cupped hand to both stifle the flare of the white light, and also see what was in his hand.
His mouth dropped open in confusion. He hurriedly changed the angle of his light, not caring now who saw his use of the precious batteries.
“Ack!’ His lips pulled back in revulsion. The remaining fluid in his hand was pink, tinged with blood. But this was not the main source of his concern. Within the cherry colored liquid, there wriggled a mass of black thread-like worms, each thrashing madly like sperm seeking an egg. There was a small scratch on the meat of his palm, and his eyes bulged as he saw that the worms were spearing what he assumed was their heads into the wound, and then thrashing ever harder.