Hung nodded sharply, his expression brightening as if he were happy to have some concrete orders to carry out. He got to his feet as Yang started to ease backwards.
Captain Yang turned away and only took a few paces, when he heard a grunt and the thud of an impact. Looking back quickly, he saw Hung and the engineer in some sort of embrace. He groaned, thinking that either his soldier was overreaching in his orders to bring the man in, or perhaps the befuddled engineer was fighting back out of fear.
While he watched, he saw Hung, who outweighed the smaller engineer by at least fifty pounds, struggle for a moment more. There came a tiny sound that could have been a whimper of pain or fear, and then the larger PLA soldier was yanked from his feet to disappear into the thick foliage.
“Huh?” Yang blinked, not understanding what he was seeing. How could that little fart of a man overpower and drag away the bigger Hung? He spat in disgust and crawled forward quickly, following both men into the deeper undergrowth.
The stink was the first thing that assailed him — the stink, the slime that covered everything, and the fresh path through the foliage. He followed quickly and then when it opened out, he stood.
His soldier, Hung, was there, or what was left of him. He also guessed he might have found his other missing scout, as there were too many body parts for just one man. Hanging in the trees like some sort of macabre decorations were strips of flesh, arms, legs, and the trunk of a torso, impaled on a sharp branch. Blood dripped down onto the ground where it mixed with the mud to create a bubbling red-brown soup.
Yang felt his testicles shrivel and he tightened his fingers around his gun. What had that little freak done to his men? The stench in the small clearing made his eyes water. It smelled of ammonia, blood, bowel contents and crushed plants. He lifted an arm across his mouth and nose.
A flicker of movement in the corner of his eye caused him to spin, his gun up and heart hammering. The engineer stood silently in the shadow of a huge tree trunk. His expression was totally devoid of emotion, as if the mutilation laid out before him didn’t exist.
“What have you done?” Yang whispered.
The figure edged forward, strangely, in a gliding manner like that of a ghost. The engineer looked wet, glistening, his eyes unfocused. He glided another few inches closer.
Yang took a step back. “Oh no, you don’t.” He took another step. “This is a trick.” He eased back another few paces, and then turned and ran.
CHAPTER 44
Alex Hunter lifted his pace, forgetting about Cate, forgetting about anything that might have been lurking in the blue-lit undergrowth. He now knew that the Chinese were in the cave system — they’d be going for the Sea Shadow. He must get there first.
He also felt a growing awareness of something far more familiar — he had sensed the presence of a HAWC team for hours. He should have known that Hammerson wouldn’t just send him in alone.
Strangely, he sensed another connection that both exhilarated and confused him. It couldn’t be, he thought. She wouldn’t… he wouldn’t. Alex pummeled the undergrowth. Hammerson wouldn’t dare send her. Anger flared and he swung out an arm, smashing a tree trunk from his path. She wouldn’t come, she wouldn’t leave Joshua by himself. It was impossible.
He’s not by himself. You know she has someone else with her now. The whispered voice in his head sounded amused at his torment. Alex gritted his teeth, accelerating. Another trunk bared his way, and he lowered a shoulder, striking it hard, making the stump splinter away into the undergrowth. He tried to shut out the voice, its words, not wanting to acknowledge the truth.
Maybe now, he even calls him… father. A corrosive laugh. Joshua doesn’t need you, doesn’t even know you. No one does anymore. You’ve been a ghost for years.
Alex ricocheted off another huge tree trunk, not concentrating on his track. He placed a hand to his bloody face, wiping the stinging liquid from his eyes, blinded for a moment, and not seeing the sinuous scaled head rising up in the undergrowth.
The giant snake shot forward, striking Alex from the side, and gripping his body in its alligator sized mouth around the torso and one arm. The massive diamond shaped head was two feet across and was attached to a dark scaled body that still trailed forty feet into the foliage.
Alex was carried backwards from the impact to slam hard into one of the hairy Prototaxite trunks, dropping polypy fronds down on top of him. Though the ancient snake was incredibly powerful, its inwardly curved teeth were relatively small, and used for gripping rather than venom delivery. Alex’s suit stopped the fangs from penetrating his flesh, but the danger was from the enormous body now piling in the undergrowth. If it managed to coil around his chest, the muscular body would easily crush the air from his lungs.
Easily distracted means easily killed. The voice was contemptuous this time.
Alex felt an enormous pressure building from the creature’s mouth, but also inside his own head — frustration, impatience, and raw fury — he had no time for this. He reached up with his free arm and grabbed one side of the huge mouth, lifting and opening the huge jaws, and then ripped his other arm free. The black, glass-like eye displayed no surprise, nor fear, or even concern, it only reflected back Alex’s own twisted features in those soulless depths.
Alex pulled back one arm, his teeth bared, and then punched down with all the strength he could gather. His fist exploded through the snake’s eye, and on into its skull to then embed in the brain. Its mouth immediately sprung open, and the huge body and tail thrashed behind it as Alex held the head aloft to momentarily snarl into its dying face before throwing it aside and charging on again.
Faster, he needed to move faster. He reached out, his senses ballooning forward in a wave. He felt the multiple bodies, their hearts racing, the tangy smells of sweat and blood mixed with fear. The Chinese, they were far ahead; beating him to the submarine.
Kill them all. They were your orders.
“Kill them all,” he repeated. His anger was boiling within him, his body now so hot. Even in the humid air, the moisture on his suit was rising from him as steam. He pushed his senses out again, but before he could get a lock on any one person he detected something else — a huge presence, a monstrosity with a malevolent intelligence, moving quickly and silently, rolling and tumbling, and flowing like liquid. He sensed its hunger, but also something more — its enjoyment.
Your old friend is still here. It’s been waiting for you. The voice became caustic. Don’t run away this time.
“Wait!” He barely heard Cate as she yelled after him. She was a long way back now, sprinting hard, but never hoping to keep up with him. She at least had the benefit of being able to move along the tunnel he was bullocking through the growth.
Alex put his head down. He was a dark blur smashing through the jungle — one monster pursuing another.
Captain Yang moved his men into the stand of gnarled and ancient looking trees. He pointed to each man, and then had them positioned where he wanted. Some in the canopy, some concealed in among low foliage, and some even pulling mats of lichen up over themselves. He grunted his satisfaction. His PLA were masters of natural camouflage.
His rear scouts had picked up the approach of the Americans a while back, and he eagerly awaited their arrival. He and his men seethed with hatred and a desire for vengeance. He had told them of the taken scouts, and of their bodies found mutilated, portions of them hung like grisly trophies in trees or impaled on low branches. The Americans were playing a gruesome trick on them; they were evil, and he would treat them accordingly.