It was so unfair! They had done everything they could, their plan was a good one, they had the human technology of dynamite and advanced brains on their side, and still this mindless prehistoric monster had got the better of them. It would be on them in seconds. The terror of being something’s prey swept tendrils of ice through Aston’s bones. It was all so unjust. Hopelessly, he reached into his wetsuit for a grenade.
Just as he expected the enormous mouth to close over him, something grabbed at his shoulder and hauled him sideways. Slater’s eyes were wide in her mask as she braced against a dark patch of rock with one hand and dragged at him with the other. No, not a dark patch of rock. A hole. Shadows yawned in the gap, like a vertical eye disappearing into who knew where.
Aston twisted and kicked hard, almost cracking his spine with the violent change of direction as he squirmed sideways into the opening. The crash of the beast’s teeth slamming closed echoed along the passage as it swept past. Aston tumbled and felt something yank hard at him, pulling him back toward the passageway, and then Slater was holding him in the dark as the seemingly endless gray flank of the monster slid past them, flickering in their torchlight. Then it suddenly ended. Silt stirred and swirled as everything else became eerily still.
Aston checked to make sure he was all still there. It had been that close to taking his leg. Taking all of him.
He looked back up and scanned around. Slater joined her light to his and slowly they traced the outline of a wide cavern that expanded beyond the small opening in the rock wall. It plunged down into utter blackness. He caught her eye, made a ball between two hands to indicate the world, and then pointed one finger inside it. Hollow Earth?
Slater shook her head, shrugged, then nodded. It was as good an explanation as any. They swam side by side, slowly, deeper into the cave. It opened more and more until the sides and top were lost in dark shadows. Aston kicked for the cave floor and followed it back. It began to slope downward again. The entrance had been only three feet wide, maybe a little more, and not much taller than a man. How could anyone as far back as World War Two or before know about that? How could they have discovered it at all, let alone followed it in to discover this cavern? Surely it was all just a mad coincidence. Though Aston wasn’t sure if he believed in that kind of fortuitous happenstance any more.
Slater tapped his arm, pointed ahead. The cavern narrowed again, the floor still sloping shallowly downwards. His breath caught as he saw what she indicated. In the far wall of the huge space, a good hundred and fifty feet across from the entrance, was a doorway. Not a natural gap, but a perfect rectangle, made from carved blocks of stone set into the rock. It was around ten feet high, maybe seven wide. And it was a door. An actual, man-made piece of engineering, leading away into pitch blackness. Man-made? Or something-made, something with the intelligence and skills and tools to construct.
Slater’s grip on his hand was crushing yet her trembling clearly evident through it. He looked at her, shook his head, and stared back at the doorway. His brain spun like a flywheel as he tried to make some sense of it. Where did it go?
Maybe the Nazis had gotten this far after all, discovered the cave as they just had. Maybe the far side was unstable and they had built that doorway to shore up the passage for further exploration. Maybe they had blown through there and fixed the door in place themselves afterwards. But one diver in an old fashioned suit and helmet could in no way have gotten this far down, much less move blocks into place on that kind of scale. So many maybes and no satisfying answers of any kind. Only more and more questions.
With a moment of panic, Aston tore his attention away and checked his remaining air. Time was not on their side. He checked Slater’s and it was about the same as his. They had maybe ten minutes of breathing left before they were in real trouble. There was air to breathe in the lair above, but no way out, so that way was certain death. The Nazis had found that out. The only option was to go back through the channel to the lake. He pointed toward the shaft and Slater nodded.
As they headed across the wide cavern, Aston’s trepidation grew. If they met the beast in the main passage heading to the lake… But the choice was not theirs to make. They either risked it or drowned.
The vertical slit of the cave entrance yawned before them and both jumped, kicking back as the vast bulk of the monster shot past, the light of their head lamps dancing off its hide and spines as it powered back up toward it lair. Slater pointed to it, then her eyes, then herself. Is it looking for us?
Aston nodded, it had to be. Regardless, it was going up and that was the best chance they were going to get. He frantically pointed out and down and they kicked hard once more. Light flared above as the beast set off the camera at the top and they swam as fast as they could for the channel leading to the lake.
The worst kind of déjà vu swept through Aston as he remembered the last time they had made this swim, fighting against the currents with the thing on their trail. Last time they hadn’t been certain what it was. This time, there was no doubt.
They plunged down the passageway kicking for all they were worth. It was like a dream, the kind where you’re running through quicksand and can’t make any forward progress. Time and the dark tunnel seemed to stretch out before them into eternity.
They reached the bottom of the vertical shaft, thrashing against the swirling water, and pushed on. The camera set there flashed bright as they passed. Aston could almost feel the presence of the lake, wide open and shimmering beneath the massive night sky, waiting for him. It was strange to think that up above, the world went along on its merry way, all but a few oblivious to the death that lurked beneath. He desperately wanted to feel the muddy shore under his hands, the rain on his face. He wanted to kick off all the scuba gear and run hard on solid land, maybe never look back. Maybe never go near water of any kind again.
His lungs burned and he knew they were using up air at a furious rate as they hammered along. The current seemed weaker than before though he was powering along faster than ever. Perhaps he was simply more scared, more certain of their fate if they slowed at all.
Slater still gripped his hand in vice-like fingers, eyes staring dead ahead, a picture of grim determination. Aston figured they must be at least half way back to the lake, another minute or so and they’d be out in open water. He glanced back into the darkness behind.
About a hundred yards back, at the base of the vertical shaft, the LED lights of the camera burst into life once more.
Chapter 45
Slater twisted in the water as Aston thrust one hand down into her wetsuit. What the hell was he doing? She glanced back and saw the giant mass in the light behind them and new panic swelled through her. Aston pulled free the grenades she’d taken and gestured for her to swim on.
She shook her head, she couldn’t leave him! He gestured with the grenades, pointed to the rock above him and then to her and the exit once more, his eyes wide and desperate. He wanted her to go on while he set the grenades to bring the tunnel down.
She stared into his eyes and he gripped her once, tight, and then pushed her away. She wanted to stay, to help, but had no idea how those crazy German grenades even worked. She turned, bubbles bursting out with her cry of frustration as she kicked along toward the lake again. He had to be okay. He had to be. The last thing she saw was him jamming the grenades into the rock ceiling and unscrewing caps from the end of the sticks. He’d bring down the tunnel and be right behind her in an instant. Of course he would. She kicked and kicked, tears blurring her eyes, refusing to look back again.