There was silence for a few seconds, and the group stared in disbelief and horror. Then, Hagel reappeared. As before, his form was perfect as that of the silent, motionless soldier, standing just inside the jungle’s edge.
The Chinese officer reacted, screaming orders, his face blood-red from fury. His men attacked the figure, charging and firing with everything they had. But as soon as they got within a half dozen feet, more tentacles emerged from the slimy jungle. These were not the mimic clubs, but the tips of the other appendages, these ones just used for fighting, grasping, and feeding. They lifted and coiled, swatted, and crushed the small human bodies like insects.
The captain’s face drained of color, and he started to back up.
Alex turned to Casey Franks. “Now, move it — untie them, and then head to the cliff wall.” He was up and sprinting, snatching up Aimee, quickly going to Jennifer Hartigan, and ripping her bonds from her wrists. He pushed them both towards the far side of the jungle.
“To the cliff wall.” He then spun. “Cate… Cate Canning.” He yelled over the fury and chaos in the clearing, the sound of the screaming soldiers either fighting to the death, dying in agony, or worse — being hauled away like netted fish to be consumed alive.
Cate appeared from the jungle line. Alex pointed. “Go around that way.”
Cate looked from Alex to the maelstrom of madness in the clearing. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes glassed over. She was transfixed, as surely as if she was captured by the creature herself.
“Cate!” Alex roared her name. She jumped and turned, shocked into action. She then nodded and threaded her way through the far side of the jungle.
“Fuck me.” Jackson’s hands were now freed, but he stood transfixed too, his expression blank. He began to back up, looking above their heads.
There was a sensation of coldness against Alex’s spine. He didn’t need to turn to know that the creature, the monstrous orthocone mimic, was rising up as he and Casey finished ripping rope from the last bound men.
“Run.” He herded them to the jungle, and then turned to witness his nemesis. He felt a thrill of horror run through his body like an electric current. A mottled green and black mountain was rising up over the jungle. At its top was a huge pulsating sack with unblinking goat-like eyes the size of train tunnels. Beside it, tentacles rose and fell, undulating and almost graceful in their sinuous movements. In some of them, small human bodies screamed and wriggled, but were soon handed down beneath the mountain to where Alex knew the giant mouth resided — the massive maw, behind a horned beak that would crush and render flesh and bone down to pulp.
Alex backed away, careful now not to make too many darting movements. Though his instinct was to sprint and propel himself far from this place. He knew he might have been able to outrun it, certainly he would outpace his team, but then they would be overtaken by the questing tentacles that could unfurl a hundred feet, or pursue them through and over the jungle using its boneless form to flow like a river of pure hunger.
Alex eased back into the jungle where Aimee was standing, waiting, refusing to leave, her expression a mix of anger, confusion, and a thousand questions.
Alex grabbed her hand, dragging her. “Not now; soon.” They were out of the clearing and running. His team and some of the Chinese sprinted beside him, bashing soft, wet fronds out of the way, and sidestepping fallen trunks and hairy, column-like boughs.
Behind them, they could hear its approach. It was fast, crushing everything before it as it flowed over or through any obstacles. There was no need for stealth now, just a need for furious running. The cave wall loomed up before them, its top now lost in the dark blue gloom above them, and its far edge just touching the edge of the vast underground sea.
“There.” Alex pointed as he let go of Aimee. He half turned. “Stay away from the water.” He accelerated, leaving the others behind.
There was an opening in the cave wall, multiple openings, but one in particular demanded his attention — it wasn’t created by geology or erosion, it was a carved entrance.
Alex sprinted inside, quickly checking for danger, and then came back to urge them on, grabbing people and pulling them through. He felt the hair on his neck rise, as the glistening mountain surged towards them.
“Don’t look back. Get inside, faster, faster!” Alex watched the thing bear down on them, fascinated and repelled at the same time. Its mottled hide now pulsated with color as its excitement grew. In one of its tentacles, Mungoi thrashed and struggled, pounding against a monstrous muscular limb he had no hope of escaping.
“Get back. Everyone away from the cave mouth, now.” Alex backed up, holding his arms wide like a barrier. Outside the blue tinged light from the glow worms was shut off, and he spun.
“Blake, Rhino, take the lead and scout ahead. We need to get as far from this opening as we can.”
“Won’t make any difference,” Aimee said. “This thing will either tear the cave wall open, or just squeeze in. All we can do is stay ahead of it.”
Alex knew she was right, and thankfully, she was one of the few keeping a clear head. “Move.” Alex pushed Shenjung, Soong, and Cate, urging them further in. The few remaining flashlights came on, and the group moved deeper into the smaller tunnel, staying calm, even though apprehension came off them in waves.
“Faster.” They ran along some flat and even ground — too flat for natural geology. Alex could see the remains of tiles beneath his feet. They rounded a corner and found themselves in an alcove, and they slowed to a halt.
From behind them there came an enormous thump as something hit the mouth of the cave. Dust rained down, and Alex alone edged out to look back at the opening. The weak light that had been seeping in had now been totally extinguished, but even in the blackness, Alex could make out the tip of a questing tentacle as it silently eased its way in.
Alex knew the power of the thing, and Aimee was right — the creature had the ability to stretch and flatten itself to be able to squeeze into impossibly small places. Down here, it had grown large, but it had also evolved an ability to hunt within the narrow, twisting labyrinths of the cave systems.
He half turned, still backing up. “It’s coming in.”
Alex looked around at the cave structure, noting its areas of strength and weakness, and wasn’t happy with what he saw. The powerfully long tentacles could tear the side of the cave open, inching in, and then flexing with a striated muscular strength that could rip apart iron sheets like paper. A rock wall would be like clay to it.
They needed to be further…
The scream jerked his head around. He saw Shenjung and Soong engaged in a tug of war. One of the tentacles had stretched out, rope thin now, and the tip had snagged Shenjung’s sleeve. While Alex watched the coils started to wrap around his forearm and then thicken. Shenjung dug his heels in, his eyes wider than seemed humanly possible. Soong held on to him, but already his feet began to slip.
Alex had seconds. When the hooks in the tentacles engaged, then the man would be jerked from the cave like a cork from a bottle. Alex sprinted and dived, grabbing Shenjung around the waist. But the tentacle didn’t break or release its grip, instead it simply stretched. Alex turned and gripped the now wrist-thick limb and yanked hard — too easily it released the Chinese scientist, but then like a writhing viper, the thing whipped back to coil around Alex’s arm.
Alex pushed the Chinese couple away, and then used his enormous strength to pull back. The elasticized flesh refused to break. There came a burning pain as the suckers engaged, and then the first sensation of sharpness.