The Eden Factor (Kathlyn Trent/Marcus Burton Romance Adventure Series Book 2) (44 page)

"Christ," he muttered.
“Smells like animals live here."

Fayd remembered the strong animal
smell that he and Kathlyn had sensed right before they had met up with one of
the creatures. He looked around the floor, at the bones and scraps and feces.

 "This must be one of the
rooms they sleep and eat in," he said.

 "Then they live like
pigs."

Otis was bringing up the rear,
flashing his torch at the floor and walls. "What kind of creatures are
these, Fayd? Some kind of mutated human? A mad experiment gone wrong?"

Fayd couldn't help his sense of
uneasiness as the smell grew stronger. "I don't honestly know.  I would
hazard to say that this is an undiscovered race, something never before
encountered except, as I said, in myth."

"But they look like
humans," Otis said.

 "They have a majority of
human characteristics," Fayd corrected. "That doesn't make them
human. Chimpanzees have human expression, two eyes, a nose, a mouth, two arms
and legs, torsos and the like. But that doesn't make them human."

"These aren't some type of
ape," Dennis insisted.

 "No," Fayd agreed
patiently. "But they most definitely have human characteristics like Otis
said. It's apparent they are a distant relation to man along a different
evolutionary line."

"But the bottom line is that
they're still wild," Mark's voice was soft. "These are beings that
have been living in caves for thousands of years, developing their own culture
and language and customs. They live in communes and eat whatever they've
hunted, and the villagers are scared to death of them. The old man in the village
was telling us that there have been unexplained disappearances for centuries.
No one will venture out at night because of the fear of these things. They're
predators."

"We're all victims of our
environment," Fayd reminded him. "These creatures do what they must
to survive, even if it means slinking around at night and abducting people who
stray too close to their nest. Do you think for one minute if they walked into
the village and attempted to do business like a 'normal' person that they would
be accepted? Of course not. They would be treated just as they were five
thousand years ago when primitive man took one look at them and considered them
demons. I'm convinced they must know the limitations of their existence, which
is why they've been hiding out deep in these caves for a number of millennia.
It's just not safe for them to venture out."

"And it's just not safe for
us to venture in," Dennis grumbled.  They were nearing the end of the
cavern and another dark tunnel. "We've got to find Kathlyn and get the
hell out of here."

Jace was at the head of the
party. He opened his mouth to agree when something stood in the opening of the
shaft, blocking his path. He looked up into angry yellow eyes a split second
before a clawed hand came down and gored his soft belly.  The gun fell from his
hand and he was vaguely aware of the creature stepping over him.  Landing in a
heap on the floor, he could hear the others yelling and a strange, eerie
hissing.  It was the last thing he recalled before the world around him faded
to black.

***

The first blow caught him in the
shoulder. The second blow nailed Marcus in the temple and he went flying back,
skidding across the floor and plowing into his wife.  Kathlyn didn't move fast
enough and she tripped over him, falling across his body as the Curious one
advanced, his big fangs barred menacingly. Kathlyn knew he wouldn't hurt her,
but she was sure he had every intention of killing her husband.

"No!" she cried,
throwing herself over Marcus's body. "Don't hurt him!"

The Curious one halted his
advance, his yellow eyes flickering with confusion. Kathlyn threw her arms
around her half-conscious husband.

"Please," her voice was
softer and she shook her head to emphasize what she was trying to say.
"Don't."

The animal-like rage seemed to
drain from the creature.  He simply stood there, staring at the two of them.
Several tense moments passed. When Kathlyn was sure he wasn't going to charge,
she put her hands on Marcus' face, kissing his forehead.

"Marcus," she murmured.
"Honey, are you okay? Say something."

Marcus' cobalt-blue eyes were
rolling around in his head. "Just five more minutes, Ma," he mumbled.
"I just wanna sleep five more minutes."

"Marcus," Kathlyn shook
him gently. "Look at me. It's Kathlyn."

He blinked his muddled eyes. Then
he gave a goofy smile. "Hey, baby, you look good. Climb into bed with me,
just five more minutes."

It was hard not to laugh at him.
But the moment was so serious that Kathlyn had little difficultly slapping him
lightly across the cheek. "Snap out of it, Burton," she said firmly.
"We've got bigger problems."

His head snapped back as she
batted his cheek again. He blinked rapidly, his pupils coming into focus. He
stared at her as if just only coming to recognize her.

 "Kathlyn," he gasped.
Clumsily, his arms came up and he pulled her to the ground with him.
"Christ, are you all right? When you came through that door, I almost...
God, I can hardly believe what I almost did. Are you okay? Did they hurt
you?"

The questions were rapid fire.
Kathlyn gave into his powerful, sweaty arms for a long, sweet moment. The feel
of him was enough to bring tears to her eyes.  She kissed the salty flesh of
his arms, loving the taste and smell of him.

"I'm fine," she
murmured. He began kissing her fervently and her words came out between
passionate sucking. "They haven't hurt me. Are you all right?"

"Christ, don't worry about
me." He couldn't stop kissing her. She looked so good to him that he was
just shy of eating her up. "What the hell happened?"

"It's a long story. But I'm
sorry I came without you, Marcus. I'm sorry I caused all of this."

His kisses slowed, becoming more
gentle and grateful. "You didn't cause anything. I'm just glad you're
okay." He stopped kissing her long enough to take a good, long look at
her. "I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you, too."

They smiled tenderly at each
other until Kathlyn glanced over his shoulder. The Curious one was still
standing there, observing the exchange. Marcus saw where her attention was and
he slowed his enthusiasm, turning to look at the enormous creature standing
behind him.  His expression hardened from joy to concern in a microsecond.

"Damn," he hissed.
"Where's my gun?"

Kathlyn looked around on the
floor. It was lying several feet away. "I don't think he'll hurt
you," she said, standing up slowly and encouraging him to do the same.
"He's taken care of me nearly the entire time I've been here."

"Then he could consider you
his property.  He may try to kill me."

"No," she shook her
head firmly, but she made sure to keep Marcus behind her. "I don't think
he will. Marcus, he's shown me so many wonderful things. Things you can't even
believe."

Marcus studied the creature; it
was everything horrible that demons were ever imagined to be; tall, sinewy and
ferocious with crispy brown skin and yellow eyes. He had watched a whole flock
of them go after the S.E.A.L.s and Marines, and he could hardly believe that
this one was any less blood-thirsty. He didn't trust him in the least.

"We've got to get out of
here," he said quietly. "Any idea which way is out?"

"Not really," she said
regretfully. "But he does."

"Do you think he's going to
let us go without a fight? I sincerely doubt it."

"Maybe if I ask him to help
us, he will."

"You've established that
much of a relationship with him?"

She shrugged. "It's hard to
tell. But we could try to move out of here and see what he does."

"I don't want to provoke
him."

"So we just stand
here?"

She had a point. They took a
couple steps in the direction Marcus had come from and the Curious one suddenly
lifted his wings, spreading them out over what must have been a ten foot span. 
It blocked their escape.  Kathlyn glanced at Marcus and they realized the
creature wasn't going to let them leave from that avenue. So they backed up,
moving in the direction Kathlyn had come from. The Curious one let them go.

The tunnel was dark and musty. 
Marcus looked behind him to see if the creature had followed, but there was no
sign of him.

"Where does this lead?"
he asked.

"Back into a cavern that is
covered with pictographs." She squeezed his hand. "Look, I know this
is a really bizarre situation, but I'm so glad you're going to see these
glyphs. I've had a hell of a time deciphering them, and you're the best at
things like that."

He grunted. "Bizarre isn't
the word I had in mind." His hand trailed up her arm until he found her
torso, and then he wrapped his arms around her in the darkness. It halted their
advance, but neither one of them cared. He held her tightly, burying his face
in her neck.

"Did it occur to you that
the creature herded us back here for a reason?" he said softly. "I'm
not sure I'm all that comfortable with it."

"We have no choice,"
she said. "We can't go the other way. He obviously didn't want us
to."

Marcus kissed her on the side of
the head and let her go, maneuvering in front of her and taking the lead.
"Let me go first," he said. "If there's anything up there, I
don't want you to be the first one to get it."

"But I'm telling you, they
haven't touched me," she insisted as he pulled her along. "I'm safer
than you are, trust me. I think... I think they know what I'm carrying."

A faint light could be seen up
ahead. Marcus turned to his wife in the darkness, seeing the soft outline of
her face.

 "What makes you think
that?"

"The way they've treated me
with such respect."

Marcus didn't like to be reminded
of that. She was his wife and if she was going to bear any children, they were
going to be his and not some scientifically engineered freak.

  "Kathlyn, if that's really
the case, then you have to consider what we talked about before," he said
seriously. "I want you to consider terminating this pregnancy."

She didn't say anything for a
moment as they moved through the shaft.  "But it's a life, Marcus,"
she said softly.

He paused, trying not to become
angry about it. "Sweetheart, it's something that never should have
happened. Under normal circumstances, it never would have occurred. I don't
want you risking your life for Fayd's medical experiment."

"I just don't know...."

"Kathlyn, it's a freak. It
should have never been conceived. What kind of life do you think it's going to
have when it's born? A normal one? Hell no. It'll be kept locked up somewhere,
or worse. You have to consider that."

She was feeling like a scolded
child. But Marcus had a point. If this was a hybrid, what sort of life could it
possibly hope to lead? Maybe she needed to consider the child's feelings and
not her own. "An ultrasound will tell us what it is," she said
quietly. "And if it looks like it's... well, one of them, then we'll do what
needs to be done."

  He was glad that she was
finally coming around, but it wasn't good enough. "But we won't get a good
view of it in an ultrasound until at least eighteen weeks," he moved
forward again. "By then, an abortion will be even more dangerous and I
don't want you to have to go through that hell. If we do it now, it's
relatively simple and done with."

Kathlyn remained silent. The
mouth to the cavern opened up and the soft glow from the two torches filled the
room. Marcus slowed his pace as he entered the chamber, gazing at the walls,
the ceiling.  His attention was diverted from his wife's condition as he stared
at the cavern.

"Christ," he breathed.
"What is this place?"

Kathlyn let go of his hand and
began to walk around. "This is what I was trying to tell you," she
said. "They've recorded events here, but not in any specific order. God
only knows how old some of this stuff is. But look at this...."

She pointed to the pictograph
with winged creatures perched high above a wavy mesh of lines.  Marcus peered
closely at it. "A sea? A flood, maybe?"

"Maybe the greatest flood of
all."

He cocked a skeptical eyebrow.
"Noah?"

"Could be."

"That's just the Biblical
Archaeologist in you. I could be a hundred different things."

"Maybe. But I don't think
so."

Marcus tried to get a better
look, but Kathlyn took him by the hand and pulled him over to the corner where
the Curious one had shown her the cross. Marcus studied the symbol, some awe in
his expression.

 "Wow." It was the only
thing that came to mind. "They really drew this?"

"Seems so."