Instinct (52 page)

“Pull it,” Ty said. Sweat glistened on his brow. “Pull it and twist it back.”

Robby grabbed Ty’s lifeless hand and tried to do what the man said. He didn’t have the strength to untwist the fractured bones. Romie and Lisa joined him and they managed to hold Ty’s hand and wrist still as the giant man twisted his own arm. The bones realigned and Ty cried out again. The man clamped his hand around his broken forearm and settled to the dirt.

Cedric hacked and coughed back to life. He moved a little and then whined.

Ty’s voice was deep and quiet. He had to repeat himself to be heard. “I’m going to need a minute.”

“We have to push on,” Robby said. “If we don’t stop it, it will keep making more of these things.”

“I understand,” Ty said. “But I’m going to be here for a minute.”

“Stay here with him,” Tim said to Cedric. He cupped the dog’s chin in his hand and pointed with the other. Blood ran from the gouges on his arm down to the tip of his finger as he pointed at Ty. “Stay with him.”

Cedric stood and walked with his head hung low. The dog moved carefully, like he was in pain. He lowered himself to the ground next to Ty.

“Can you go on?” Romie asked Brad.

Brad kept his hand clamped over the bite on his arm, but he nodded.
 

They left Ty and Cedric next to the body of the teenager-thing, and continued up the dirt tunnel.

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Robby slowed as he saw the orange light glowing through green leaves up ahead. They others caught up to him. Tim flexed his sore foot. Brad peeled his fingers from the wound on his arm. The bleeding had nearly stopped and only seeped from the bite.

“Vines?” Brad asked.

“Vines,” Robby said. “There will be a vertical shaft up ahead. The shaft is where the thing takes people to be converted.”

“So what do we do?” Lisa asked.

“We have to destroy the shaft,” Robby said. “We have to cut off access to the pool where they’re doing the conversion.”

“Great,” Romie said. “Sounds easy. Who brought the explosives?”

“What exactly is the plan here?” Tim asked. He took a couple of steps forward.
 

Their spiraling tunnel met another vertical shaft, but this one was behind a veil of green vines. The glow of the lava lit up the leaves enough so they could see the gentle movement. From higher up in the shaft, it seemed like some amount of sunlight was actually making it through the leaves.

 
Through the curtain of leaves, they saw something big moving. Robby moved closer and ducked down to see. When it passed by a gap in the leaves, he saw the wild eyes of a trapped horse. The vines were lowering the animal down the shaft. The movement made a clattering sound as the leaves brushed together. Robby hated the sound, but he dropped to his knees and crawled closer.
 

When the dark shape passed the opening and dropped below his view, Robby began to push at the loose dirt at the bottom of their tunnel. He heard the dirt shower down on the leaves as it fell down the shaft. His hands uncovered a potato-sized rock. He threw it in and heard it bounce off the walls of the shaft before splashing down. The more he pushed the dirt, the looser it became. He pushed his way into a sandy pocket of earth that was mixed with round rocks. He pushed it all, and heard the bigger chunks splashing down.

Lisa joined him, and then Romie appeared at his other side.

As they pushed dirt into the shaft, some of the dirt and rocks battered the vines and they lost some of their grip on the wall of the shaft. A little hole opened in the curtain of vines and they could see the shaft.

Thick vines were clustered into cables. They descended through the center of the shaft, presumably lowering the horse slowly towards the bottom. Along the walls, a couple of lines of lava pulsed upwards, flowing against gravity towards the surface.

Robby was digging a hole at the edge of the tunnel, and it was getting harder to push dirt down without slipping towards the shaft. He rolled a big rock towards the lip and gave it a push.

As the rock tumbled over the edge, the tip of a vine curled towards Robby’s hand and then wrapped a quick coil around his wrist. Robby screamed and pulled back, but the vine only tightened.

Romie grabbed him around the waist, so he wouldn’t be pulled forward into the shaft.

Lisa grabbed his arm. She pulled him towards the edge of the tunnel—towards the curtain of vines.

“What are you doing?” Romie yelled.

“Just another few inches,” Lisa said.

Romie didn’t fight, but Robby did. He struggled against the grip of the vine and against Lisa’s pull. She won. She pulled Robby’s wrist towards the left edge of the tunnel. When he saw the orange glow reflected off his skin and felt the gentle heat, he understood. The vines seemed to keep their distance from the lava, but Lisa was pushing his wrist right towards one of the flows that ran up the wall of the shaft.
 

His wrist got closer and he felt his skin tightening as it seared under the heat. The vine gave up and uncurled from his wrist. As soon as it let go, Lisa and Romie pulled Robby back to safety.

Tim and Brad had pulled a giant rock from the wall of the tunnel. The two men swung the rock and then launched it. It pulled a couple of weaker vines from the wall as it fell. There was a hollow thump from below. The rock must have hit the horse because it gave a low squeal after the thump. They heard a splash and then heard something thrashing in the water.
 

All five began to push more dirt down into the shaft. They were encouraged by the sound of a struggle below. The sandy pocket of dirt extended to the right of their shaft and a small avalanche began to tumble down as the sand lost its support. The group accelerated it by digging away even more of the dirt below it.

Romie liberated another big rock and it tumbled down. When this one hit, it made a cracking sound, like it had hit bone. They all pushed big handfuls and chunks of dirt over the edge, down into the hole. As the tunnel collapsed, it drove them back. Despite their efforts, they could see the vines rising. The taut vines were raising the horse from the depths.

Brad abandoned pushing the dirt and pulled his utility knife from his pocket. He leaned out and slashed at a vine. The vine was under tension, so when he cut it, it recoiled upwards and disappeared from view. He leaned out more and tried to cut another.

Tim was trying to get another rock loose from the wall. As he pulled away chunks of dirt, he weakened the arch of the tunnel. A clump fell from the ceiling and hit Brad’s shoulder as he leaned. Brad tumbled. Lisa caught the back of his shoe, but it pulled right off. Robby caught him around the ankle as Brad’s good arm flailed into the curtain of vines. One of the loose vines immediately curled around his arm and began to wind its way towards his neck.

Lisa plucked the utility knife from Brad’s grip as Romie and Robby and pulled him in. Lisa cut the vine, but the severed end only clamped tighter around Brad. He screamed. Another big piece of the ceiling fell, dusting everyone with loose sand as it tumbled down into the shaft.

Lava dripped from a newly exposed stream on the ceiling. Tim pulled Lisa away before the lava could fall on her.

Brad screamed with fresh pain as the severed vine tightened again.

“Get his arm in it,” Romie shouted. They flipped Brad over and drove his arm towards the small pool of glowing liquid. More rocks tumbled from the ceiling. They sounded like distant explosions as they tumbled into the shaft and hit bottom. They touched the vine to the lava and it uncoiled quickly. Brad screamed once more as the thorns backed out of his flesh. Tim kicked the vine towards the hole.

The collapse of the ceiling gained momentum. Huge clumps of dirt and rocks were falling on their own. The group backed away, dragging Brad. Dust filled the air, making it difficult to even see the edge of their tunnel. The ground rumbled as the shaft began to collapse.
 

The group backed away slowly from the advancing dust.

Then, something different appeared from the end of the tunnel.

The vines began curling out from the cloud. They advanced along the floor, walls, and ceiling. The group turned to flee.

CHAPTER 44: TUNNEL

T
HE
VINES
MOVED
FAST
. The group had to move at a good pace to stay out of their reach. With Tim’s foot, Lisa’s leg, and the injuries suffered by Robby and Brad, only Romie was fully healthy. The ground rumbled again and the speed of the vines increased.

Cedric barked as they approached.
 

They split wide around the teenager-thing, still on the floor where they’d left it. In the dim glow of the lava, they saw Ty leaning against the curve of the wall. His head was slumped to the side and his eyes were closed. His good hand was on the dog’s back.
 

Cedric wagged his tail when he spotted Tim, but he kept his position under Ty’s hand.

“Is he?” Lisa began a question.

“Ty,” Tim said. “Time to go. Vines are coming.”

The giant man opened his eyes. He raised his hand and Cedric jumped up. Tim took Ty’s hand and pulled the man to his feet. Ty’s bad arm was wrapped in a sling that he’d made out of his shirt.

Romie ushered everyone forward, but Brad turned his head and then stopped.

“Keep moving,” Romie said. “They’re right around that turn.”

“No,” Brad said. “They’ve stopped.”

Robby turned to see what he meant and then he stopped moving too. One by one, they all turned.

A woman emerged from the darkness. Behind her, the vines had stopped advancing. They piled on themselves and formed a wall. Judy’s face came into view as she walked. The vines resumed their approach, matching her speed.

Robby couldn’t decide if she was moving like Judy or not. It looked like his friend approaching, but he knew that couldn’t be true.

A hand grabbed the back of his collar and dragged him backwards. Robby’s feet caught up and kept him upright. He backed away with the rest.
 

Judy kept coming forward as they descended on the spiraling tunnel.

They left her behind, moving faster than her. When they reached the spot where they’d seen the horse, the tunnel with Judy was nearly dark. Brighter lava illuminated the path behind them.

“Which way?” Lisa asked. “This way has the ledge, but at least we know which way to go.”

“Yeah,” Brad said. “This way.”

They kept moving, retreating the way they had come in.

Robby moved as slow as he could. He wanted to see Judy again. He wanted to see which direction she would go. Romie wouldn’t let him fall behind. She grabbed his seared wrist and clamped tight. She pulled him back with the rest of the group.

They kept backing until they reached the vertical shaft with the tight ledge. Part of the dirt ledge had collapsed when they’d used it earlier. Ty pressed his back to the earthen wall and took a big step across the gap. He moved carefully around the shaft until he reached the other side. Lisa went next.

Romie and Robby stood side by side and watched the vines. Judy stopped several paces away. The vines built a new wall behind her.
 

“Why aren’t they coming after us?” Romie whispered he question to Robby.

“I think the other tunnel to the surface has collapsed. She’s wants to get aboveground as much as we do,” Robby said.

It was Robby’s turn to go. Lisa stretched out her hand on the other side, beckoning him to traverse the ledge. Romie pushed him towards the shaft.

“I’m going,” Robby said.

As Romie backed up, Judy finally began to advance again.

“We have to stop it, right?” Romie asked.

“Yes,” Robby said. “But we’ll figure it out when we get out of here. We just need to stop her from getting to the egg.”

“I can stop it right now. I’ll throw it into the column of lava, like the horse,” Romie said.

“No!” Lisa shouted. “Romie, you come with us.”

“I can do it,” Romie said. She was on the other side of the shaft and was backing towards the edge. As she backed up, they saw Judy and the vines advancing. Romie flexed her knees and looked like she was getting ready to pounce.
 

“No, Romie,” Brad said.

“No,” Lisa said again.

“Come with us,” Robby said. “We’ll figure out a way.”

Romie judged the distance to Judy and then glanced back at the vertical shaft and the column of lava that ran up the middle. Judy stopped, just beyond Romie’s reach. Romie swiped at her with one arm and Judy didn’t move. The vines swirled behind Judy and sent a couple of tendrils out beyond Judy. They seemed ready for the next attack.
 

Romie gave up and darted for the ledge. She made the first few steps just on momentum, but then her foot slipped and she lost the edge. She swung her arms towards Lisa, and they caught hands. Tim and Robby helped steady Lisa and they dragged the two women to safety.