Serpent of the Abyss by S.J. Sanders
Chapter 9
Lori didn’t hit the ground immediately. As she fell, some sort of creature attempted to snatch her out of the air. More than one, if she wasn’t mistaken. She felt something warm glide over her body and attempt to coil around her. It gave a frustrated shriek when it wasn’t able to secure its hold or do more than slow her descent before another made its attempt.
She lost count of how many instances something slid around her, attempting to coil around her. And how many times she slipped out of their grasp. She cried out each time, her nails scrabbling against a smooth expanse of scales as she attempted to grab ahold of anything at all. It didn’t even occur to her in that terrible freefall to be frightened of what was striking out to snatch her up. Anything at all was acceptable compared to falling to her death.
As she fell deeper, the air whistling around her, Lori closed her eyes. She was surrounded by darkness since losing her helmet. But she didn’t want to take the chance that the damned helmet, and its lamp, didn’t sit waiting for her below, a spotlight cast on the scene of her ending.
She gritted her teeth, a tiny whimpering cry escaping her. It would come soon. The caves were deep, but there would be some narrowing somewhere even if it didn’t reach the bottom. Her fingers curled into fists, and her nails would have been biting into her palms if not for the thick gloves, helpless to do anything but wait for the impact. She was falling too fast and when she stretched out her arms, she had felt nothing but space.
The horrible gaping mouth of the cavern face mocked her in her mind as it rose up behind her eyelids. Of course, on the brink of death her imagination would crop up and taunt her. All she could think of was that the cave was a terrible monster, and so naturally it was consuming her. She laughed at the absurdity of it, but when it emerged, it sounded more like a weak, raspy sob.
She was starting to hallucinate. She was sure of it. Just like she was imagining that she felt something warm rising up all around her like a cushion. It curled and folded itself all around her. She could feel the hot brush of scales sliding against her face, neck, and palms as it wove around her. She hung in the air, suspended for a long moment, before it shifted around her, wrapping around her body. There was a snap and air puffed around her, her decent slowing abruptly as if a parachute opened. A parachute that squeezed too tightly and had claws that bit into her arms.
She jerked against it, reality crashing in so suddenly that a terrified shriek erupted from her as she thrashed. Whatever had her was real… all too real. Her breath wheezed out of her lungs, laboring under the crushing, vice-like grip of whatever held her. The air rushed past her ears as she was pulled through the air sideways with another snapping sound above her.
A loud roar nearby came close to shattering her eardrums, but air flooded back into her starving lungs as whatever held her lost its grip. It was jerked back even as she was reflexively launched forward, its body snapping against hers. She dropped once again, but this time it was a short distance. Although she hit the rocky surface hard, she wept with the gratitude as she landed in a heap on what could only be the rough surface of a tunnel, the sound of her comm hitting the stone echoing in her ears. Although her body protested any and all movement, she slowly rolled flat onto her back, the stone oddly warm beneath her back as she lay there panting. In the main shaft just outside the tunnel, she could hear bellows and shrieks. She hoped it was merely a territorial dispute and not two predators fighting over an easy meal. Maybe the victor wouldn’t even notice that she was there.
A loud crash followed that wishful thought, a scrabble of claws against stone as thumps of something lashing violently echoed through the tunnel. With the last thump, a silence fell until it was broken with a teeth-rattling roar that filled the tunnel. Below it she could hear the distant angry shriek of whatever had her fading as it made its escape.
Lori lay there, too afraid to move, her ears straining to catch any sound of a predator approaching. Whatever those things were, they had to be predators, and she hadn’t even considered the fact when she was trying to grab ahold of them. She shook her head tiredly. Even if she had known though, she still would have grabbed ahold of them and risked being torn apart for even the smallest chance of being able to escape.
So now she just waited, listening for any sign of something returning for her. Silence met her. All she could hear was her own ragged breaths and the frantic beat of her pulse pounding in her ears. After what felt like an eternity, she dared to move. Her gloved fingers scraping against rock. Inching over to one of the walls, she dragged herself up to her feet. Without any light to tell her which way was what, Lori struck forward in the direction she had been facing.
She blew out a relieved breath when she didn’t immediately fall back into the shaft. Emptying her lungs seemed to bring a sort of calm over her. She was still afraid, but she felt slightly detached from it. She was moving forward on her own feet. She doubted that she would find any way up, but if she could find a safe place to hide until a rescue team came down, she could wait it out until they came within comms range.
The stupid cave systems made the comm systems malfunction outside of short ranges, but it was at least something. It was hope. She just didn’t want to stay too close to the main shaft—not while there were things lurking out there. She fumbled with her comm, hoping to at least take advantage of its light, her heart plummeting when it didn’t respond. Moving her fingers over it, she felt the cracks in its screen and cursed.
So much for that. It was just her luck that the fall into the tunnel had damaged it. She shivered as she stared blankly into the surrounding darkness. No helmet and no working comm, and alone in the dark—she was fucked. And cold.
Despite her thermo regulatory suit, the oppressive chill was miserable as the air hit her exposed face, adding to her misery. She grimaced and looked at the battery readings on her filtration unit. It had dropped out of the green into the yellow. A warning that the system required recharging. She cursed and powered it off. No sense in just waiting for it to die. She might as well keep what little battery she had left for in case she really needed it. At least she knew that the air was safe enough, especially now that she was far away from the dust of broken rock from the collapsed tunnel. Removing the half-mask, she tucked it under her arm, ready to trudge onward.
Feeling her way around, she moved deeper, nailing her head on a low overhang in the process just before a turn in the tunnel. Cursing at the sharp pain bursting behind her eyes, she could feel a trickle of blood seeping down the side of her face.
“Ugh, great. A cut. If alien monsters don’t kill me, an infection probably will. I should have moved in with mom and dad and told them to shove this job,” she muttered, wincing at the faint echo of her voice bouncing off the walls around her.
The tunnel predictably narrowed after a time, forming a sort of doorway. She slid through effortlessly, but as she moved around a large ledge directly in front of her on the other side, she froze, her eyes pierced with the light flooding all around her. It made her head hurt, but she didn’t care. She was so grateful to be able to see that she choked on a sob and stumbled forward into the luminance.
It wasn’t the light of torches, or even the sun, but Lori tilted her head back to stare in awe at a canopy of numerous scattered plants glowing in fluorescent hues of pinks, purples, and greens covering the ceiling of the tunnel. Their light was carried and scattered over the tunnel by crystals growing out in clusters from the walls. It was almost magical enough to make her forget that she was in a pit deep below the surface with creatures that, by all rights, shouldn’t be there.
The scientists swore there was nothing in the mines except for some insignificant fauna surviving in the depths. Not that she had gotten a look at one, but it hadn’t felt “insignificant” from what she could tell. And she wasn’t in any position to be able to file a complaint either. Until she could, she would just have to make herself at home. She could think of worse places in the caves to be forced to hunker down. Even better, the glowing plants seemed to get thicker the further back into the tunnel. If she could find a comfortable little hole filled with the growth to curl up on, she would consider herself made.
Eagerly, she followed the tunnel deeper, enjoying the bath of light that went from a faint glow to a light visibility where they grew in thick carpets. Strangely, there was a pleasant warmth that surrounded her the deeper she went. Although her workstation in the tunnels above had been a merciful respite after traveling beneath the heat of the dual suns, the damp, cold air had chilled her throughout the day in any place that the TRS didn’t cover. This place was blissfully comfortable. And it was incredibly pretty.
It was so pretty that it could almost be considered worthy of Zeril Prime. Almost. Growling and shrieking monsters decidedly took away from the allure of the place.
Amused at the thought, she snickered—probably more than a little anxiety working its way out there, she had to admit—and imagined them trying to market the deep caverns of M285 as a luxury tourist destination. That it wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities that Corp might do exactly that just made her laugh harder. The first time a cave beast flew off with a tourist there was bound to be trouble.
Her giggles fading, a distant sound tickled her ear. She tilted her head as she walked, trying to make it out until the sound of trickling water became discernable. Water! She nearly laughed out loud again and picked up her pace. She had known that there had to be water somewhere in the caves. Corp just hadn’t gone deep enough to find it if they were handing out hydration pods. Having used hers during her shift, she was suddenly aware of just how dry her mouth felt. She could drink and wash the grime from her face while she was at it. Her dry tongue swept over equally dry lips, and she grimaced at the grit that filled her mouth.
Gods, that had been a mistake. She didn’t even have saliva to try and spit the dirt out.
Trudging forward as fast as she dared, Lori picked her way carefully over the uneven ground. She stilled several times at what she swore were sounds of movement up ahead. Each time, her eyes scanned the softly lit corridor, peering into the shadows as her heart picked up a nervous beat, but nothing ever came from the deep shadows that pitted the tunnel. Ill at ease, she continued walking, the fine hairs on her arms raising with certainty that something was keeping pace with her.
Despite feeling as if she were being watched—a feeling which, she had to acknowledge, could be explained away by her close brush with creatures dwelling deep within the caves and her mysterious, alien surroundings—she smiled as the sound of water became louder and the world around her appeared to open up in a concentration of light just ahead. It reminded her of the comfortable glow of lights from the workstations in the gallery. Perhaps it was another gallery, but a naturally lit one with fresh water. A surge of hope hastened her steps as she rushed headlong toward the end of the tunnel.
As she neared the entrance to what was certain to be a haven from the world she was thrown into, something slid out of the shadows among a large crevice to the left-hand side, accompanied by familiar rhythmic hissing sounds. Lori backpedaled and stumbled to a complete stop as she froze, unable to move from the terror leaping up and beating with an unholy rhythm through her at the sight of the alien limb extending toward her.