Bandits (27 page)

Standing in front of her, he waited. He shifted back and forth as if he was anxiously awaiting some delectable treat. Wan
t
ing to get so close he was wrapped up within her. As suddenly as it started, her song stopped. His hazy world ra
p
idly returned to cruel clarity. He shook his head as he came out of her hypnotic fog. He blinked and coughed to clear his mu
d
dled
fog
. She batted her eyelashes back at him. Confusion laced his mind. “How the hell did I get here?” he mumbled.

Off balance, he stepped back.
Crack! Pop!
Her beautiful face,
split
in half, from the top of what looked like a hairline. Down between her eyes, the two dots she had for a nose, and down the middle of her torso. The beautiful camouflaged skin fell around her on the ground in twitching rain before it dried and was blown away. Staring at her, his look of confusion turned to horror as she lunged to grab him. Her mouth e
x
tended from her bug-like face.

“Ugh!” he cried out as he stumbled back.

Within the inner shell of her body, her true nature was revealed. The inner body resembled a silver insect with six arms. The corner of its mouth had two long, protruding finger-like teeth with hooked ends. Short, black teeth covered in pale blue saliva, dripped. Tiny fingers with sharp curved tips lunged out to grab him. Pain revived him as her sharp fingers cut down his chest. Faulk fell backwards onto the ground. Scampering away on his back, moving his arms and legs quickly, he tried to stand up.

Faulk scrambled to get his gun. Its eyes narrowed, and the creature opened her mouth to sing another hypnotic song. This time, her song was different. He didn’t hesitate to figure out its effects. Aiming his gun, he shot into the creature’s toothy mouth. Her song faltered and she charged in attack.

Her stare was hungry, predatory. She fell onto her six arms. Her torso was similar to praying mantis Faulk had seen on Earth, but was covered in silver and black splotches. Her legs sat her rear higher as she attacked. Faulk fought to get his knife out. He shot at her, over and over again in the same spot. Wit
h
in a foot of him, she lunged. The hits to her body had no effect. She leaped onto him. Her salivating mouth opened three times its original size, intent to devour his entire head in one bite. Four sharply hooked incisor teeth stabbed in toward his face as they protruded from the fingered gums. Its front teeth appeared to elongate with each inch.

“No!” He stabbed her repeatedly in the mouth as he shot continually at one spot on her chest. Her hooked teeth cut his face, his neck, and his hand as he repeatedly jabbed his knife into vulnerable site.

In the distance, a loud tapping sound seemed to boom through the high grass. Faulk shook his head and pushed the dead carcass of the insect off of him and lost hold of his gun with it. He sat up, not able to shake the tapping noises beyond him that sounded as though thousands of little hooked feet were on the run. Breathing hard from the exertion of the fight for his life, he looked around for his gun.

He stood and looked down into the high grass. Bending down, he moved grass aside searching for his gun.

“Aw hell! Not
now!” He walked over to the creature he’d killed. He turned it over and bent down to retrieve his gun. He gulped, put his gun into his belt and started to walk in the dire
c
tion of his treasure.

The tapping noises grew louder, drawing closer and closer each second. He
pivot
ed, looking at the trees behind him to scan the high grass. He turned his head to the side and saw the grass breaking as something tunneled its way toward him. Backing up, he pulled out his gun and started to run. Whatever it was, it was gaining on him, and fast.

Fifty or so small silver creatures that resembled the insect he’d killed were breaking through the grass and running t
o
ward him. Hungry teeth protruded as they ran, burrowing through the grass with their upper bodies exposed
.
Their silver outer layers were was transparent, unlike hers. They looked like three-feet-high praying mantis jumping and cutting through the grass as they charged toward him. He turned intermittently and shot at them while he ran. He sighed, relieved, when some died with several shots
.
Their bodies are softer than hers. She must have been some kind of queen. I need to run faster.

“What the freak is that!” Nickel said. His voice echoed off the walls of the cave. He lifted his gun, but all he saw were glo
w
ing eyes floating toward him in the tunnel behind him. They were coming fast, and he didn’t want to stick around to see what they were after. The little beasties ran around in circles like they were afraid to follow him, but scared to go back.

Nickel turned away from them and started to run down the long, dark tunnel ahead of him. Breathing hard, he reached up and touched the neon map on his arm. It came up and illuminated the path in front of him.

He ran faster, and faster. The sound of rushing water grew louder. The tunnel in the cave inclined and got steeper with each step. Nickel reached the top of the incline, which evened out for a while. Taking a deep breath, he hoped the monster that stalked him no longer followed. He put his gun into his belt, and his hands rested on his bent knees.

“Got to keep going. Daniel needs me.” Nickel stood up and started running again. There was a light up ahead, and the loud sound of a waterfall came from up
ahead
. Nickel smiled at the light up above.

His dad had trained him for this. His father’s warning popped up in his mind.
Nickel, you are meant for great things. Don’t hesitate when your moment comes, and help your brother see there is more to life than what the Zukar could ever offer
either of
you.

The cave opened up ahead. Light flickered through its mouth as a curtain of water fell from above. Nickel slid to a stop. The bottom of the cave was covered with water and green patches of moss. Slowly, he walked to the edge of the tunnel’s opening. Rushing water echoed all around him.

He looked at his map once more and said, “They want me to go over the side of a freakin’ water fall?” He took several deep breaths. “Okay, okay.”  Nickel backed up. Closed his eyes, counted to three, and ran. Water splashed with each step, and the spray from the waterfall above soaked him. He leaped out of the tunnel and into the waterfall’s plunging curtain of water.

His nose burned, his throat ached, his eyes struggled to open, and his head jerked. He fell, down, down, down.
Please, oh please, let me live.

Faster!
Faulk ran at top speed, the location of his treasure etched in his mind. The tapping and crunching behind him dulled, and then he heard – nothing at all. Breathing hard, his lungs at the point of bursting, he slowed. His face itched from dried blood on his
cheek
and neck. Luckily, the map confirmed he was going in the right direction. It seemed to get literally cold when he went the wrong way.

He slowed his jog to a walk and forced himself to breath slow and easy. Looking around, he took in the high grass and plump large orange and yellow fat flowers that swayed in the warm breeze. In the distance he saw what appeared to be an ancient ruin. Cocking his head to the side, he couldn’t believe his eyes. The entire thing seemed to be floating on some hidden axle, surrounded by a small lake of green water.

“That’s got to be a mirage.”  He looked down at the map. “Ye-ah! This is it. My treasure! Well, break over.” 

He took off running toward the large gray vision before him. It appeared to be a small city, from an ancient time. Large rock formations stood several stories high. The buildings r
e
minded him of
Stonehenge
. They looked as if they had been formed by rocks that fell haphazardly from the sky. The pointed top of the shiny shrine of colors that sat in the center of the city of gray rock reflected light that peeked from the clouds above. It shined like a beacon. The structures didn’t seem ordered like ancient pyramids on Earth. Even though the large rocks stacked randomly on one another, it appeared organized, despite the uneven chaotic arrangement. Almost as if it was designed to look random, every gray structure, building, and walkway was uneven.

Faulk stood at the end of the high grass. The entrance to the ancient ruin echoed from the hot wind blowing through it. Where he stood there was a narrow lake, and he believed there must be a waterfall on the other side of the ruins because of the loud rushing sound of water falling. His eyes narrowed as he looked for the platform the city sat upon, but he couldn’t find any clue to how it moved. The rocks that held it up in front of him moved, slowly in a circular motion. He figured there must be some hidden platform submerged under the water. If he had time to stand there for hours, he would see every angle of the ruined city as it rotated counterclockwise in the water by a hidden wheel of some sort.

He touched the map on his arm to make sure he was close to the treasure. The timer hovering on top of it was a cruel r
e
minder that time was running out. He mumbled, “How the hell do they expect me to get there in time?” As the words left his mouth, he spied a narrow bridge extending toward him as the moving city slowly turned. It was as if it was expecting him.
Hmm, this seems a little too easy -even for me.

With a shrug, he walked toward the slow-moving bridge, jumped on, and started to walk quickly to the city on the other side. As he walked on the bridge, he heard rocks
plop
and fall into the water. With each step he took, the bridge deteriorated behind him. He quickened his pace to a run, realizing his time to get his treasure was coming quickly to an end. With a leap, he landed on the uneven rock-paved walkway of the city.

He looked up at the towering ruin of what appeared to be a shrine of worship within the city and headed toward it. Given that it was the only thing that basically lit up the city, he hoped he was right. The map was leading him into the heart of the shrine. Sca
n
ning the area, all he saw were large rocks. Nothing else seemed to be living in this moving city. He guessed since it was hard to get into, considering a bridge appeared then broke apart behind him. He didn’t think about how he would leave this place, all he thought about was going inside the large structure ahead of him and getting what he came for.

He ran up to the entrance of the shimmering building that looked like a big multi-colored pointed-tip rock, and took a deep breath of awe. Light seemed to come from within it. Upon closer inspection, the top of it had a circular hole that held a large blue crystal. When the light hit the crystal, the entire structure seemed to glow.

“Wow! Now that’s what I call a treasure,” he said before walking inside of the large opened archway. There wasn’t a door, just a soft glow of light that appeared to come from wit
h
in.

It wasn’t hard for him to find the treasure he sought. Two tall statues, over twenty feet tall, stood on either side of a clear crystal altar. A tiny version of what the pakeet looked like was held within the altar, suspended, in some type of gel substance.

“Oh, this is way too easy,” Faulk said with a lift of his eyebrow. He looked from side to side to make sure there wasn’t anything coming at him. He realized the altar room he’d walked into was completely enclosed except for the archway he’d come from. He heard loud creaking and clicking behind him.

Turning around quickly, he saw that the archway he’d come through had completely closed in. It looked as though the doorway was never there.

“I knew it!” Faulk put his hand on his gun. Touched his hand to his map, and checked to make sure he was in the right place.

“Well, I guess this is it.”  With a swallow, he walked up to the altar of crystal and reached into the gooey substance that held his treasure.
Aw hell, I knew this was too easy…

“Ughhhhhhhh! God! Nooooooo!” he yelled. Faulk was angry at himself for not testing it first, but he couldn’t turn back now. The liquid went from cool and gooey, to burning hot and sticky. His hand felt as though it was dipped into a vat of acid and was being burned from his skin to the bone. He tried to pull it out, but the substance hardened around the top portion of his arm. The bottom remained soft but firm. His eyes dripped with tears, and he bit his lip so hard he tasted blood. He fought, pulled within himself, and tried to block out the immense pain.

He couldn’t believe his hand was still whole, that the flesh wasn’t eaten away. The pain was so excruciating that his knees buckled and rested on the base of the altar. He held onto the base of the altar and forced himself to stretch his fingers further.
           “Ugh! Ahhh!” he yelled. Finally, his hand held his trea
s
ure. He forced himself to grip it tightly.

At that moment, he felt it - the same tingling he had felt when he was transported here. In an instant, the firm gel turned into a burning liquid again. He yanked his arm out of the altar, but not before his world fell apart.