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Authors: Casey Knight

Supernatural Games (3 page)

BOOK: Supernatural Games
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“Lauren, look to your right. Is that a butterfly? It looks as big as a hang glider. Check out the shimmering almost incandescent colors where the light hits its wings.”

“Damn, it’s big. I think we will give it a wide berth. It may look beautiful but, it could be deadly.”

We flew on until the light reflected off something below me. I motioned for Corbin to follow me. I spiraled slowly down until I saw what caused the reflecting light. A giant cobweb covered an area approximately the size of a tennis court. I sure as hell didn’t want to meet whatever spun it. We went back to our grid and resumed our inspection. Once we exhausted our search of the sky above the treetops, I asked Corbin, “Corbin let’s move our search down beneath the tree line. I don’t know what we’ll find, but be ready to take evasive action if necessary.”

“Right. Did you see the big lake off to the left? We’d better watch for any storms coming off the water. The plans for this place say it rains here on a daily basis.”

“Got it, we should be prepared to face rain or lightning. Our suits are waterproof.”

I moved us slowly down until I found a break in the trees. Fortunately our hovercraft came with headlights because once we dipped underneath the canopy there wasn’t much light. The area teemed with life and I didn’t know where to focus. My lapse nearly cost me my life. A gorilla swung a large hand at me. I dove below it and it let out a savage bellow. I nearly wet my pants. He bared his gleaming canines; any vampire would be racked with fang envy. Corbin easily evaded our unhappy silverback. We continued our grid pattern but now we weaved around trees, vines, and all manner of birds, monkeys, frogs, and snakes. I imagined we’d wandered onto the set of Wild Kingdom, except the animals in our version all looked supersized.

As we emerged from the protection of the canopy, heavy rain soaked us. The winds gusted, buffeting our hovercrafts while lightning flashed in the distance. I decided it was safer under the cover of the trees. We again descended back into the rain forest. This time we moved lower toward the forest floor. Our limited visibility made progress poor, and we needed to turn up the headlights. The darkness enveloped us completely; there’d been no warning. It looked like nighttime from one moment to the next. This place gave me the creeps. I hate reptiles and arachnids. Basically anything which crawls or slithers. I keyed my radio to speak to Corbin.

“This place is too quiet and too damned weird. I can’t believe the sups will be on foot in here.”

“Lauren, you need to move. Now!”

I shot forward and nearly collided with a low-hanging branch.

“What in the hell? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

“Look at the tree over there on your right. See that anaconda? You nearly had
a
boa constricting your neck.”

“Very funny. I think we’ve seen enough of this place. Let’s see how Traygen and Tokem are doing.”

We moved up through a gap in the treetops until we arrived once again high above the rainforest. Fortunately for us, the storm moved off and the rain stopped. We flew over the forest and enjoyed the scenery as we moved over it. I noticed a number of small lakes and decided to check them out. The area immediately surrounding the lake was mainly free from the dense vegetation and forest. The few trees near the lake fanned thinly out along the lake’s shore. The soil resembled red Georgia clay. When I looked more closely, I spied alligators lounging in the shallow water along the edges of the lake. I circled closer, descending to land. I found a small clearing near the lake and headed for it. Corbin followed and landed his hovercraft beside mine.

“Keep an eye out, I saw alligators near the shore.”

“Yeah, I saw them. and before you decide to wade, remember there are piranhas in this jungle.”

“Thanks, but you know me. I won’t stick my toe in any water where I can’t see the bottom. Especially since I am now the leading expert explorer of the vampire island sewers. Kinda catchy if you ask me, perhaps Jake should advertise it as a cruise.”

“Sewer aquatics are overrated if you ask me. And I know for a fact they won’t be in the summer games. Ouch, what the heck was that?”

“Corbin, what is it?”

“I brushed against this tree and now my arm is on fire.”

“Let me look at it. You have a welt there and it is red. We better find the others and get your arm looked at.”

We moved back toward our hovercrafts when we heard a large boom. We looked around and didn’t see anything, but something definitely moved through the brush. I waited for Corbin before I ran for my hovercraft. I spotted Corbin out of the corner of my eye and he’d beaten me to his machine. We revved our crafts and pulled them up into a steep climb. I’d gotten approximately six feet in the air when something hit the side of my hovercraft. It startled me and I nearly fell off my machine. But I continued to climb and when we shot up above the trees, I looked down to see what slammed into my hovercraft. A large brightly colored bird paced below us. Its head and neck shone brightly, covered in radiantly highlighted shades of blue and yellow. I’ll be damned. Our culprit was an unhappy looking cassowary. I vaguely remembered they jumped approximately seven feet into the air. I looked at the side of my hovercraft and saw a dent just below my knee. They weren’t kidding. Now if they learned to dunk I am sure someone would draft them.

We found Traygen and Tokem working their grid. They told me they needed to make one more pass and then they’d be ready. I radioed for our security team to enter. When they arrived, I told them what Corbin and I observed and warned them to keep themselves alert and in the air. When I finished, Traygen and Tokem briefed them. We finished up and transported back to the Four-Courts.

“So, did you two find any evidence of hacking or magic?”

“Yes and no. Tokem and I found signatures where someone tried to tamper with the entrance. Actually, Tokem spotted it. I’ll let him explain.”

“After you all went inside the universe, I waited. I inspected the outer entryway and found someone tried to enter, which means they’ve obtained the coordinates. Then I went inside and checked the inside of the door, but found no residual magic or forced entry. Fortunately, they don’t have the codes, but my guess is they won’t quit trying. So I’ve left surveillance cameras on the inside and outside of the door.”

“This confirms our worst fears someone stole the coordinates or they wouldn’t have tried to force their way in. I think it is time to lock the design team in and allow the World Council wizards to begin the job of moving the universes.”

“Tokem, good job. I agree with you and Traygen regarding locking up the project team. It’s time we had a chat with them. I want to see what they make of this. Shall we?”

We moved down to the design team’s floor and asked them all to assemble. It took roughly twenty minutes to assemble everyone. I asked for spouses and partners to attend. I assigned a council guard to watch the children. When everyone found a seat I told them what we’d found in the first universe. I saved the part concerning the door being tampered with for last. The longer I talked, the redder in the face Posin became. Finally, he interrupted me.

“Lauren, are you suggesting someone on this team gave the first universe’s coordinates away. This is an outrage, no one would. I trust these men.”

“Can you think of any other way someone knew where the universe was located?”

“No, and I assure you my team is above reproach. I will take this to the council.”

“Posin, you are free to do so. Still, we both know the group in charge of security owns the ultimate authority. It’s not my intention to offend anyone. However, it is my job to keep everyone safe and I intend to do my job. So to ensure your safety and the integrity of these games, the design team will remain isolated on this floor under a twenty-four hour guard until the games are finished.”

“You can’t be serious,” Posin yelled.

“Oh, she is as serious as a heart attack,” Tokem added.

“Enough, Posin, if you don’t like it you can file a report, because we’ve other business to attend to.”

Traygen tapped me on the shoulder and motioned me over to where the others stood. I walked over and Tokem pointed to something on the security screen.

“What’s up?”

“Lauren, look at the feed we just received from our first universe. Someone or something tried once again to enter. Now it doesn’t look like they succeeded, but someone definitely left the universe.”

“Are you sure?”

He replayed the two sections of the video feed. It was impossible to tell who or what tried to break in. They smartly kept their back to the camera.

“Traygen, let’s send the picture to our security team to see if they can get any better resolution on the picture. Let’s look at the interior footage. Again, someone or something was clearly visible exiting the universe.” Before I could tell him to order its analysis, Traygen interrupted.

“I’ll send the second tape along with the first. Did our crew hear or see anything? ”

“I am way ahead of you. I’ve tracked them on the screen but neither is answering their radios. I don’t like this. They are supposed to check in on the hour and neither did. And neither man has moved in the last twenty minutes.”

“I think we need to go back in there. They could’ve been ambushed or injured. Either way we’ll need to check it out. Suit up and let’s meet at the transport in twenty minutes.”

Traygen and I headed to our room to arm ourselves. We reassembled back in the elevator heading to the transport in less than five minutes. Traygen hadn’t said a word since we left to don our equipment and arms.

“What’s bothering you? You haven’t said anything since Tokem’s report.”

“I don’t like this. We’re missing something, and from what you’ve said, the place is too densely covered to find everything, especially with the predatory flora and fauna. At least we placed tracking beacons on our security team. Once we find them and assuming of course they are alive. We need to rethink our approach.”

“Agreed, that universe was sealed off. This means unless someone was already in there, security has already been compromised.” Traygen added.

“Tokem, have you found our security guards?”

“Yes, and neither of them is moving. One is north of here and the other is on the southern border. We asked them to patrol in a grid pattern starting at opposite ends. So, if they were following protocol - wait, one of the beacons is moving.”

“Good let’s start with that one. Maybe he can tell us what is going on. We’ll stay together until we figure this out.”

We decided to use two hovercraft - Traygen and I on one - Corbin and Tokem on another. We honed in on the man’s signal from above. I didn’t think it safe to approach the area from below the treetops. When we got in position just above the signal, Tokem went down to check it out. He was small enough not to draw attention to himself and he moved easily through the thick dense growth. I was starting to worry when he flew back into view. He motioned for us to follow, and we did. I radioed over our headsets to ask what he’d found.

“The man is dead. I found his body in a clearing near the water.”

“Can you tell what killed him?”

“Ummmm, I am not sure. Follow me and I’ll guide us down.”

I leaned close to Traygen and whispered in his ear. “What did you make of that?”

“Something has him spooked. We will see soon enough.”

We moved slowly and cautiously through the trees until we hovered above a meadow; then I saw the body. We followed Corbin. He landed in a clearing near the corpse and Traygen put us down beside him. I followed the guys over to the body. We squatted next to it and Traygen tried finding the man’s carotid artery. He shook his head, indicating there wasn’t a pulse. Corbin and Traygen rolled him over. There were no injuries or marks to explain what happened to him.

“What do you think killed him?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but if I had to guess I’d say it wasn’t natural causes.”

“I agree with Traygen, and before we try to figure this out, I suggest we check the immediate area for clues. We don’t want to trample any evidence.”

“If it isn’t CSI Corbin. I believe you are taking very well to life in L.A.”

“Knock it off, Tokem, he is right. But don’t stray too far. Whatever caused this may still be in the area.”

I analyzed the area, scanning, sensing, and trying to scrutinize the immediate vicinity. There’d definitely been a scuffle. The dirt near the man was scraped up, and some of the ground cover was trampled, but I didn’t see any blood or footprints. After a few minutes, everyone wandered back to the fallen man. Corbin and Traygen checked the body to see if they’d missed anything. Corbin finally broke the silence.

“This man doesn’t have an ounce of blood in him and there are fang marks on his neck.”

“You mean a vampire killed him,” Tokem asked.

“No. I don’t smell vampire anywhere on him, no pheromones on his skin. If a vampire killed him, it would’ve left some of its essence on the body.”

“So someone wants us to believe a vampire killed this man. Well, if he wasn’t drained by a vampire, then what killed him?”

“Lauren, he died from blood loss, just not from a vampire. I would detect any pheromones left by a vampire, besides, blood loss may not have killed him after all. It looks like his neck is broken.”

BOOK: Supernatural Games
3.92Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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