Julio nodded in the darkness.
“We’re not gonna let anything happen to you,” Taylor continued. “Take a moment.”
Julio nodded once more.
“Remember your deal with Colonel Hunter,” Taylor added. “You’ll be in America soon. You and your family.”
The promise of a new life for him and his family washed over Julio. His mind left the tunnel and the pain of the attack and carried him to a better place, to land of unlimited possibilities. His breathing returned to normal and he felt confident in his being.
Taylor led the team forward. The stench grew worse and the air became even heavier. They moved forward silently and at the ready for anything and everything. Twenty minutes passed before they came upon the first signs of slaughter. One of the tunnelers lay splayed upon the tunnel floor. His body was free from clothing and his arms legs and torso free of meat. His intestines were twisted and coiled about him as if pulled from him and thrown aside by someone or something in a fit of rage.
Taylor and his team barely acknowledged the body and instead moved forward through the crack in the earth. They passed three more bodies, each mutilated beyond recognition and instead resembling caricatures of human forms as if fashioned from a fevered dream or by evil itself. The tunnel floor was littered with dried blood, viscera, and torn earth that told of struggle and carnage.
The team ventured another five yards and came to a site of ghastly proportions. Scattered among the digging equipment, propane tanks, and jumbled rock were the remains of six bodies, each partially dismembered in some form or fashion with some missing limbs, and others having faces shredded or left hanging from exposed bone. The air was putrid and made poisonous with the smell of offal and putrescence. The team snaked through the downed equipment and ravaged corpses to the door-sized entrance to the cave. They entered the cave one by one and each took in the vastness of the spectacle before them in their own way. Taylor ignored the wonder of the undiscovered and instead scanned it for fluctuations in temperature that would denote life. The cave was enormous but void of anything warm-blooded.
“Goggles up,” Taylor commanded before switching channels on his COMM. “José, we’re at the cave. Hit the lights.”
30.
The lights in the tunnel flamed to life and flooded out of the entrance to the cave and into the cavern. Taylor, Hunter, Drake, Nickerson, and Pearce each turned on their flashlights and scanned the cave.
“Welcome to Hell,” Nickerson joked.
“Funny, I thought it’d be hotter,” Pearce said, laughing.
“I thought it’d be lighter,” Ruck added.
Nickerson and Pearce looked to Jordan for explanation.
“Ya know,” Ruck began. “To better see the misery you’re spending eternity in.”
“This thing is huge,” Hunter announced in disbelief. “Absolutely incredible.”
“There’s tunnels going off in every direction,” Taylor declared, scanning the far wall with his flashlight beam.
Taylor’s study was interrupted by the fevered announcement of Pearce. “We’ve got ourselves a monkey!”
Taylor and Hunter turned toward the tunnel to see Pearce and Drake standing over a dark form. The team assembled around Pearce and Drake’s discovery, and they all gazed upon a creature that only Julio ever believed existed.
The animal resembled a baboon except for his eyes, which appeared three to four times larger than they should have been on an animal of its size. The eyes were coal black and void of pupils. Its fur was dirty white and course. The claws on each of its feet were elongated, razor sharp, and pale ivory in color.
Pearce grabbed the dead animal by the scruff of its neck held it aloft. He dangled the beast before him and declared, “Hundred pounds. Maybe 105. Solid little bastard.” Pearce dropped the animal to the ground and Nickerson asked the group, “Anyone got a tape?”
Taylor ignored the question and instead knelt at the creature’s side. He spread his hand wide and used it to measure the carcass.
“About 45…48 inches long,” Taylor dictated. “Tail’s another 35 and looks like it’s maybe 30 inches at the shoulder.”
Taylor moved to the animal’s maw and spread it wide.
“Canines are over an inch,” Taylor added.
“It’s male,” Ruck observed.
“You know what one of those looks like?” Nickerson joked.
“A dick? Yeah, I’m looking at one,” Ruck countered Nickerson.
Taylor continued to study the body. He ran his hands over several puncture wounds then looked up at Julio. “Your brother got ‘em good.”
Julio nodded and spat on the animal’s face.
“Resilient little shits,” Ruck barked. “The thing got stabbed that many times yet still managed to get this far out from the tunnel.”
Hunter held out his hand to Julio and said, “You’re going to America, my friend. I’m a man of my word and apparently so are you.”
Julio stood in shock from the wave of emotions that crashed over him. He felt loss and anger, joy, and hope. He shook Hunter’s hand then enveloped him in a bear hug.
“That’s nice ‘n’ all,” Pearce said. “I mean, this is a real touching moment, but can somebody tell me what the hell this thing is? And what the hell is it doing down here?”
“It’s obviously a primate of some kind,” Drake answered. “And the way they attacked, going for the face and fingers is consistent with that. Chimpanzees disable rivals or prey in the same manner.”
All eyes turned to Drake. She shrugged her shoulders at their questioning eyes and disbelief and explained, “I don’t date. I watch Animal Planet. And Planet Earth on BBC. That one’s really good. They don’t sugarcoat animals at all.”
The team chuckled at Drake’s explanation.
“You know all that from watching TV, Miss Lonelyheart?” Hunter chided.
“That and an unfinished master’s degree in biology,” Drake explained.
“Anything else?” Taylor inquired.
“Yeah, I ran out of money while working on my masters, so I joined the Army.”
“No. I was talking about this animal here,” Taylor corrected.
Again, the team laughed.
“I’d just be guessing,” Drake continued.
“Please do,” Taylor replied.
“All right, I’d say his eyes are in indicative that it’s a troglobite…”
“Troglo what?” Nickerson snipped.
“Troglobites. Cave-dwelling animals. Or at least it’s an animal that spends most of his time in the dark,” Drake offered. “If this thing—or its kind—does leave the underground, it’s doing so only at night.”
“Sounds about right,” Taylor agreed.
“Its claws look like they’re adapted to digging,” Drake continued. “I’m guessing it’s pretty good at climbing as well.”
“And ripping tunnelers to shreds,” Nickerson added.
“I’m guessing it’s good at ripping anything to shreds,” Pearce tacked on.
“Why has no one seen these things?” Ruck asked, turning the conversation back to Drake
“Again, they’re probably a nocturnal species,” Drake theorized. “And this area’s extremely remote. Aside from a few ranchers and oil workers, the area is void of humans. My guess is that they’re an isolated species. Or what’s left of one.”
Hunter thought on Drake’s theory for a moment then asked, “Why would an isolated species, that’s probably never seen humans, attack humans? I thought animals that had never seen a human have no fear of them.”
“That’s true,” Drake offered. “A recent example that would be scientists that discovered a new species of tree squirrel in Papua New Guinea that had absolutely no fear of humans whatsoever.”