Blood and Sand (12 page)

28

“What did you see?” Dad asks.

We are all gathered around the edge of the precipice, peering out into the stone forest. Kane and I still have on our high-tech specs, both scanning for signs of movement. I see nothing, but Kane is absolutely convinced that he saw something. Something alive.   

“Not much, just shadows, but there is definitely something out there,” Kane says still gazing out into the stone jungle. “There isn’t enough ambient light to cause that many different shapes. If there was we couldn’t be using these,” he explains pointing to his glasses.

“Everything about this valley has me on edge. From the drop into nothingness, the dead soldiers, the coded messages, and who could forget the stone wall that now has us trapped down in the Atlantean underworld…” Right as the words come out of my mouth I get an awful idea.

“It’s Hell…” I say in a hushed tone.

Everyone stops and looks up at me. The blank expressions on their faces tell me they recognize that I’m serious.

“It all makes sense,” I continue. “The bridge from one world to another—between the tunnel and the staircase. It’s a symbol of crossing over the
literal
threshold. Whatever populace we are dealing with believed in the underworld so much that they built a physical version of it.”

“So what you’re saying is that we are currently trapped in Hell?” Kane asks.

“Pretty much,” I answer shrugging my shoulders.

“Well, damn. That just sucks now doesn’t it,” Kane says. He then pulls a Desert Eagle from his pack and holds it down to his side, like he’s waiting for an attack.

“You okay?” I ask.

“Never better.”

“I don’t understand, aren’t we supposed to be in Atlantis?” Nicole asks.

“I thought so. I mean everything here points to Atlantis—the multiple languages and pictographs for one. But…I’m not so sure anymore,” I answer. “It seems like this place was deliberately made separate.”

“The images in the tunnel showed what looked like an above ground city, where we are obviously underground,” Dad adds. “I wonder if this is something else altogether.”

The shocked expressions say it all, everyone is flat out stunned at the revelation. But there is also another look on everyone’s faces. Fear.

Great,
I think.
Everyone’s going to be on edge from now on. Last thing we need is a twitchy trigger finger to go off and someone accidentally getting shot.

“Ok, guys,” I say. “Whatever is out there—whether it’s just the shadows playing tricks on us or not—we need to get some rest. Besides, we have the high ground and can easily defend this position if needed.” I glance over to Kane for reassurance. “Right?”

He looks over to me with a look that says he’s putting all the scenarios together in his head, trying to find a solution.

“Kane?” I ask getting a little worried.

He turns back toward the forest and shrugs his shoulders, “Sure.”

Not exactly the answer I was hoping for.

He speaks up, still looking off into the distance, “Either way Hank is right, let’s rest for half-an-hour and recharge the batteries.”

“How about an hour,” Dad says. “Some of us don’t recharge as quick as we used too.”

I smile,
at least he’s holding it together.

“Fine…an hour it is,” Kane agrees with a look that says he isn’t overly thrilled.

Everyone, minus Kane, goes back to what they were doing and starts prepping for the hour break. Nicole breaks out some protein bars and hands them out. We wolf down the snack and wash it down with some of our water reserve.
Would have been better with a Sam Adams,
I think.

I lay down facing the pyramid, propping my bag up under my head, Glock at the ready by my side. Omar is back up on the stairs taking photos. He wants to record everything he can while he’s down here. I doubt he’ll ever come back once we are done.

Dad sits down next to me.

“What are you thinking?” He asks.

“One thing has been bugging me,” I say. “Why build a very elaborate city like this if what you believed in
didn’t
actually exist? It makes no sense for an obviously advanced civilization to put in the time and effort to create all this.”                 
mpaticoc d to come up with a plan that everyone agrees on. We need to be in on this thing together, 100% 111111111111111111111
   
ne.nudge from behind. Kane gives me a fist pump with an at-a-boy trying to make me feel better about m
    

“So you believe Kane?” He asks. “You think there’s something out there?”

“Yes,” I say with no hesitation. Why wouldn’t I believe him? “He’s a former solider. Those types of guys don’t generally overreact and panic.”

Dad just nods. He like me most likely has a million things running through his head.

“Get some rest people,” Kane says still staring off. “We may not have another chance to do so for some time. I’ll keep watch until it’s time to move out.”

“He’s right,” I continue. “Get whatever shut eye you can. I’m setting an alarm for exactly one hour.”

I wait until everyone else gets settled and then shut my own eyes. I didn’t realize how tired I was until I closed them. I assume it’s my fried nerves and my slowly healing body that is giving in to sleep.

I roll over on my side facing away from the pyramid, fall dead asleep and slip into the craziest dream of my life.

29

Maybe calling this a standard dream isn’t the right description of what I’m experiencing. No, this qualifies as one screwed up nightmare. There’s a voice in my head taunting me and a presence that is both foreign and familiar all at once. It sounds both distant and close, like it’s an echo bouncing around in my head.

I open my eyes and jump to my feet, trying to find the source of the voice, but can’t find it. I’m still on the landing where I last was, but my team is gone and the air around me is ice cold. 

You cannot contain me. You haven’t the strength or the ability to do so. If you even try you will burn, of this I can guarantee. Your pitiful mortal bodies are so weak and pathetic. HA HA HA.

The booming laughter mixed with the frigid temperature sends a horrible chill racing up and down my body. It’s followed by a pulling sensation that is worse than any crappy state-fair ride I’ve ever been on. It tugs at my back trying to drag me away, deeper into this hellish place.

“Who are you?” I ask it, looking around, but there isn’t anyone else here.

You know who I am little one. I am the destroyer of your world, The End of All Things, and I will not let you or my brothers keep me imprisoned any longer.

Could this really be
THE
End? Or is this some twisted manifestation of a beat and bruised psyche?

I’m about to conclude that it’s the later—when I’m pulled at a phenomenal speed, yanked off the platform.

I bash through tree after tree, feeling like I’m in a rollover wreck on the highway. The sudden bone jarring impacts rattle my teeth and pound my body, fading my consciousness in and out.

I’m about to pass out from the pain and nausea—when I’m shot out of the forest and thrown to the ground outside of a set of wrought iron gates, landing hard on my back. I sit up, wheezing and see that the gates themselves remind me of a medieval cemetery’s front entrance, except this one is in the side of a pyramid.

It’s a very dark and sinister looking building now that I’m close enough to see some detail. Shaped like an exact duplicate to Khufu, the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Or is Khufu a duplicate to this?
It’s another shocking revelation I get to add to the couple I’ve already learned, and of many more to come I’m sure.

Khufu Sr. has the classic step pyramid design, just like its relative in Egypt, except, the stone that makes up its design is perfectly preserved and polished, like it was built yesterday.

Still recovering from the physical toll this nightmare is dishing out, I slowly turn and take in the grounds surrounding the entrance. They are perfectly manicured with stone pillars, also black as night, lining the path to the gateway. Pillars line the main avenue that leads from me back to the stone forest. In between each pillar are statues, but these aren’t the romantic ones you’d see in Rome or in the Louvre. These are ghastly creatures frozen in shouts of pain and anguish.

Ah, these put up such a struggle. How wonderful it was to watch them squirm.

“They were alive?” I ask, hearing my voice bounce off the jet-black stone around me. Some of the creatures I can’t make out what they are and others look vaguely humanoid in appearance. A few look like a cross between a person and a type of animal species. Each one is its own Minotaur, with its own terrible combination.

Once yes, but everything must die eventually.
There’s a moment of quiet laughter and then the voice continues,
Some sooner than others. 

I’m pulled once again, this time through a dizzying spiraling pathway, and arrive in another underground chamber. This one is the size of a performance hall. Sitting in the center of the room is a dark rock formation and even from this distance I can feel the evil radiating off its surface.

Obsidian,
I think. The volcanic rock shines like glass in the fire light.

That’s when I notice the torches hanging on the walls. There are balls of fire hovering in place with no smoke trail rising from their burning surfaces, like they are nightlights in a child’s bedroom. Except, these aren’t going to keep the boogeyman away.

Come to me.

I’m violently tossed like a rag doll towards the onyx shape and land with a thud. I gasp for air, once again getting the wind knocked out of me.
How many times can that happen in a dream?
I’m now about twenty feet from the center of the room, covering over fifty feet with the last shove.

It’s then I feel something else too, something I’ve never felt in a dream before. Pain. My ribs are killing me—my back too. The latest slam to the ground, along with the repeated hits l took while bashing through the stone trees in the chamber above, reminds me of how bad shape I’m really in. I grunt and stand on wobbly legs, using every ounce of resolve I have left not to collapse.

The rock is about fifteen feet in height and looks like a bonfire frozen in time. A deep red glow emanates from within the rock, adding to its wickedness. It’s beautiful, in a horrifying way considering where I am.

No sculptor in the world could duplicate this,
I think. I take another step forward and see that there are no tool marks in the surface, its one seamless piece of rock.

Free meeeee.

I look around. I thought I heard someone whisper something into the wind. Almost like a half-muted screech.

Wind? I’m underground, there is no wind under—

Free me, now!

I jump back and go to raise my gun and clench my teeth at the sudden movement, my ribs on fire again from the sudden movement. I look down at my empty hand.
Okay, no gun. Damn.

Release me!

I’m again pulled towards the black rock, this time I stay on my feet and skid towards it. I will myself to stop and I do, now ten feet away. I’m visibly sweating from the mental strength and will power it took me to resist. But I
did
resist.

I lean on my knees, trying to catch my breath.

Ahh, this one is stronger than the last. He couldn’t resist me at all.

I look up at my reflection in the polished rock.

“The…last?” I ask in between huffs.

Yes, the last human form I…commandeered. He was very weak-willed.

“Weak-willed?” I repeat.

Yes, he was very easy to manipulate.

“The will of the chosen to deny,” I quietly say, thinking back to the ominous inscription, quoting it.

WHAT?!

The ground rumbles and groans, like it’s in pain. Stalactites hanging from a non-visible ceiling fall and shatter. Even the fire-ball nightlights flicker angrily, like pissed off fireflies.

I stand, feeling a little more confident in myself at seeing this thing’s reaction to my last declaration.

“My will is to deny you,” I say calmly.

You cannot deny me, peasant. I am The End and I shall rule this wretched world.

From out of nowhere, hurricane force winds swirl around me like I’m in my own personal storm. The only thing I think to do is to start repeating the same thing over and over again. Like a chant.

“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”

I remember this Bible verse, Psalm 23:4, from my youth. I learned it in church and it always stuck with me. It taught me never to be afraid.

The wind intensifies and I almost lose my concentration, but I grit my teeth and grunt out another chant.               

“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil!”

RARRRGH!

A roar like a hundred grizzlies mixed with a freight train bellows in my ears. The firelight brightens ten-fold. The heat is so intense that I actually feel the burn from the hovering torches on my skin.

I kneel down, cup my ears and continue.

“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”

You will be mine eventually, slave! I will own you and the rest of this miserable race! And you…shall be my pet!

Slave? Miserable? Pet?
This bastard has a lot to learn about me, and the human race!
I think to myself through closed eyes and gritted teeth.

I stand and stare into the obsidian rock.

A face emerges into the side of the anomaly. It ripples like water and moves about freely, never disconnecting, like a Pin Art toy. The face is like an impression in its surface.

It’s vaguely humanoid just like the statues of pain outside of the pyramid except, there’s no mouth. There is however a slit where the mouth should be and the eyes are like an insects, never blinking.
It almost looks like an armored mask or helmet,
I think.

But what really catches my attention is the symbol burning red hot in the middle of the face’s forehead.

A Greek omega?
That’s the second time I’ve seen that symbol associated with this place. The first was up top on the hatch of the trap door entrance, the one with the Latin inscription.

Omega has several meanings depending on its context. Its literal translation means
the end
, with it being the last letter in the Greek alphabet.

Huh,
I think.
I guess we know where he got his name from…or…where they got the name for the character from.

I will own you! Your very existence will belong to me!
The voice booms again in my mind.

Now, I’m getting really, really pissed off.              

“Own me? You want to own me? Not happening! You see we here in the modern world have a little more information at our disposal than the poor saps you subjugated back in your day,” I take a step forward. “Like for instance, I know we are in my head—in my subconscious—which means I can control everything if I want too. It’s called lucid dreaming.”

Another strong wind buffets me, trying to knock me to the floor, but it doesn’t have any effect on me what-so-ever.

I cock my thumb in my direction feeling as bold as ever. Knowing that I have full control over my surroundings has given me renewed strength and a major confidence boost. “You’re in
my
world asshole!” I say adding a little extra to the ownership part of the exclamation.

I take another step forward, staring daggers into the expressionless face, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear…YOU!”

I bring up my hand and will my gun to appear.

It does.

I raise my Glock and aim it at the face shimmering in the rock, right in the middle of the fiery symbol etched in its forehead.

I pull the trigger

I fire and imagine that my advancing bullet is made of the same fire that lights this hellish place. Time seems to slow down to a crawl, like it’s trying to push through molasses. My bullet, which should be traveling faster than I can see is also moving at a crawl. Then, it suddenly bursts into flames, glowing white, searing hot. The flaming projectile slams home and pierces the monstrous face.

A sinister voice shrieks in agony and the lava rock explodes throwing me back into reality…and into a whole new world of pain.