“Then it’s down the monkey trail we go,” Hunter declared in the darkness.
37.
Miguel burst out of his makeshift office into the barn to Juan, Arturo, José, and the host of other men that stood before the hastily constructed blockade to the tunnel entrance. The men looked at Miguel in fear.
“Well!” Miguel exploded. “Do I have to ask?”
“No boss,” Juan cowered.
“Some type of explosion,” José reported. “Buckled the door here pretty bad.”
“What caused it?” Miguel demanded. “Our men or whoever they found?”
“We don’t know,” José confessed.
Miguel shot José a look of pure anger at his admittance.
“We’ve tried reaching them,” Juan scrambled. “But all we’re getting on the radio is static. There’s no answer.”
“Keep trying,” Miguel commanded.
“You want us to go in there?” Arturo timidly asked.
A look of disbelief washed over Miguel’s face. “Do you think you can do better than Hunter and his group?”
“No, sir,” Arturo counter. “No, sir, I don’t.”
“Then stay here and keep trying the radio!”
Miguel turned from his men and walked toward his office. He stopped then turned to face the group he’d just left. “And don’t let anything but our men come out of the tunnel. Nothing!”
38.
Agüera’s eyes opened.
The world around him was a blur.
His mouth tasted of blood and earth.
His ears were ringing, and his head throbbed in pain.
The ground before him slowly came into view. He saw the glittering jewels of one of his pistol handles lying in a haze of dust. He pulled himself toward it.
But something was wrong.
His body wasn’t responding to his will.
Agüera propped himself up with his right arm and looked behind him.
His right leg was gone below the knee.
Agüera’s stomach turned. He felt sick. He thought he might vomit. His head was swimming.
Then he heard something.
A low murmur.
Groaning.
Eating noises.
He turned himself completely over and looked beyond his own broken body to see a baboon devouring his severed leg.
The beast made eye contact and dropped Agüera’s limb. Agüera turned back over and pulled himself toward his pistol with all his might.
The monkey jumped onto Agüera’s back.
It grabbed Agüera’s remaining ear.
Agüera pulled himself the last few remaining inches.
The animal opened its jaws and positioned them over Agüera’s ear.
Agüera took the pistol in his hand.
The beast bit down.
Agüera screamed.
He thrust the pistol into his open mouth.
And pulled the trigger.
39.
Julio heard the screams somewhere in the back of his subconscious.
He couldn’t tell if they were real or if he was dreaming.
The gunshot changed his perspective.
It brought him out of unconsciousness and into the horrifying reality of the tunnel.
Demons in the shape of baboons cackled and howled in the light as they tore and feasted on what was left of Ruck and Agüera. Their bodies were no longer recognizable as humans, replaced instead with shredded parts of what was once whole. One of the beasts held aloft an arm, another sat ripping flesh from a torso, while still another fed at its mother’s teat while the source of its milk fished Agüera’s eyes from his skull.
The sight was sickening.
Julio gently scooted backward from his position on the ground and toward the tunnel wall. Once there, he slowly stood and held himself flat against the carved earth. He slowly eased his way along the wall, away from the scene of terror.
He moved quietly and deliberately, making each step count and never letting his gaze fall from the animals that he feared. When he could no longer see the monkeys, and knew that they could no longer see him, he broke into a sprint and ran toward the barn entrance as fast as his legs would carry him.
40.
Dejah moved out from under the hole she’d fallen through and frantically brushed the dirt and debris from her hair. The material had fallen upon her shortly after she’d heard what sounded like thunder. The noise was followed by a tremor that shook the ground and sent a shower of filth upon her. Shaking the mess from her hair had sent something into her eye and left her with serious irritation. She wiped her eye repeatedly, but it only made the pain worse.
She decided that she’d try washing the debris from her eye with water from the stream. Dejah couldn’t see in the darkness of the cave but knew that if she walked down the incline as she had numerous times earlier that day, she would eventually reach the water. She held her hands out before her and walked slowly in the direction of the stream.
She took small steps and took her time. The cavern was eerily quiet, and she could hear only the shuffling of her feet and the sound of her breathing. She stopped walking when she felt the water on her bare feet. She began to kneel but slipped and fell. She ignored the sudden pain brought on by her collapse and instead cupped her hands to collect water. She washed her eye until the foreign object was flushed free then drank and drank. The water tasted good, but it didn’t quell her hunger no matter how much she drank.
Dejah finished drinking and stood. She put her hands out in front of her and shuffled on still wet feet over the cave floor and up the incline. She had walked only a short distance when it occurred to her that she should have been able to see starlight streaming through the hole in the ceiling by now. She shuffled forward and faster in a panic. She stopped and looked above her then all around searching for the faint light that had given her so much hope.
She suddenly wondered if she’d gone the wrong way.
She couldn’t have.
Could she have?
She had walked up the incline.
Maybe it was the wrong incline.
Maybe she had walked up the bank on the other side of the stream.
Maybe she had gotten turned around when she fell next to the water.
Dejah tried not to cry.
Not to panic.
She thought for a second and tried to calm herself.
She turned 180° and slowly shuffled forward. She knew this action would take her back to the stream and from there she could go up the other bank and to the hole she so cherished.
She walked and walked, gingerly stepping on bare feet in the direction she felt she was to go.
She felt something moist on her feet and thought perhaps it was moss or algae of some kind but knew for certain that she didn’t remember stepping in it before.
She was definitely walking somewhere she’d not walked before.
She knelt and sat, unsure of what to do.
She knew if she continued walking, she’d most likely only get further away from the hole. She thought her best bet was to stay put and wait for the light of day to shine through the hole.
In the meantime, should sit there and wait and try not to cry.
41.
Julio couldn’t run anymore.
He was too out of shape and the adrenaline that had given him the strength to come as far as he had had long diminished. He came to a complete stop and fell into a fit of coughing. He buried his head into his arm while doing so in an attempt to muffle the sound. He coughed and coughed then fought to catch his breath then walked onward and toward what he hoped would be salvation.
He wasn’t going to let those demon monkeys keep him from a better life with his family in a new country.