The Atlantis World (The Origin Mystery, Book 3) (14 page)

David lay on the bed, which was some kind of adaptive foam similar to their bed in the lander. It felt like heaven, and he had to force himself to sit up. He couldn’t let himself fall asleep. Time was running out.

Kate sat on the bed and smiled at him.

“These Atlanteans weren’t exactly roughing it,” David said.

“Take you back to your youth?”

“Somewhat.”

“Were you a Boy Scout?”

“Tried to be. Dropped out.”

“I thought you never gave up on anything you loved,” she teased, using his words against him.

“Well I didn’t love Boy Scouts. We didn’t have Atlantean camping gear. I bailed out after Webelos.”

“What’s Webelos?” She took out a tin of cream and sat next to him on the bed.

“It’s… not important—what is that?”

“Take your pants off.”

“Hey lady, I don’t know how camping works where you’re from—”

“Very funny. This is a topical anti-inflammatory for your legs—”

“Wow, you are a sweet talker, but I’m gonna have to stop you right there.” He sat up, grabbed his gun, and tried to sound casual. “I’ll be back shortly.”

“Where are you going?”

“I need to take care of something. I’ll be back,” he left before she could stop him, and walked quickly out of the camp. As he reached the edge of the forest, he heard someone following him, quietly.

He turned to find Sonja, her gun slung over her shoulder.

“You should head back.”

“You should stop giving me orders. Let’s get this over with. We both know what must be done. It’s them or us.”

C
HAPTER
19

Dorian marched down the dark metallic corridors of the Atlantean ship, his rifle pointed forward, his boot laces tied together, cutting into the back of his neck as they hung across his chest.

His four men also padded along in bare feet, careful not to make a sound that might echo in the empty corridors, which were almost pitch black.

Dorian couldn’t decide if that was to his advantage or not.

David could be waiting around any corner. The fight that loomed thrilled and terrified Dorian. This was the end, his final battle with David. If he failed and Kate and David reached the beacon, his world would fall.

Dorian had tried to determine Kate and David’s location, but the ship’s computer was mostly offline. Dorian wasn’t sure if it had been damaged or if it was a power-saving measure. If it was power-related, he didn’t want to risk exposing himself by activating the ship’s systems. But after he disposed of David and Kate, he certainly would. That opened another possibility, one Dorian had considered on the flight here: answers. The Atlantean ship recognized him as Ares. Perhaps it held clues about Ares’ plan, or the enemy he feared so much. If Dorian could learn the full truth, maybe he could shift the balance of power and take control of the situation on Earth. It could be humanity’s only hope.

Up ahead, the two soldiers at the point position halted.

They were at the entrance to Arc 1701-D, and it wasn’t what Dorian expected. Mounds of black dirt covered the corridor, and where a door should have been, twisted metal snaked into the arc. It had been blown open.

Is David fighting someone down here?

Dorian motioned for his men to put their boots on and form up on him.

He crept to the arc entrance and peered in. Damp, warm air floated out, and he didn’t understand what he saw: large green and purple plants. It was some sort of biosphere. Was it an aeroponics lab? A greenhouse? He had assumed the vast chamber was storage or perhaps another repository of resurrection tubes.

He selected a man to lead the way up the narrow dirt tunnel, which was likely a trap. He could lose one man; it would still be Dorian and three others to David. Good enough odds.

But there was no trap waiting on them, only a dense rainforest at sunset. David and Kate had cut a path through it. That would make it easy to catch them.

David glanced at the rock face directly ahead. He could only see the flamboyantly colored exadons now. Either the others were already in flight, or they had engaged their cloaks, preparing to hunt when the last rays of sunlight faded.

They were the perfect predators. There was no moon, and with no shadows in the dark night, they could strike when and where they chose. David hoped they were lazier than that.

“We should be quick,” Sonja said.

“I agree.” David adjusted his sights, marking his target.

“You think this will work?”

“We’ll know soon.”

Sonja spread out on the grass beside him and began firing the instant David did. Seconds later, the slow-flowing river ran red.

From the treetop, Dorian heard the shots ring out, but it took him several seconds to find their source: David and an African woman—almost perfectly camouflaged—at the opposite tree line, across the plain, lying flat. What were they shooting at?

Then Dorian saw it—massive beasts, not quite as big as elephants but with no snouts—rising out of the mud that bordered the plain and the river. They wailed as blood spilled out of them.

Are they out of food? Hunting? Dorian wondered. Their folly would make them the hunted now. Dorian slid down the tree.

“They’re in the tree line across the plain. Hurry, we can take them by surprise,” Dorian said. His men fell in behind him as they stormed up the path.

Mary sank into the bed and closed her eyes. She couldn’t remember ever being this tired. Well, maybe after unpacking, when she and Paul had moved to Atlanta. Her things, combined with his, and carrying it all up and down the stairs had been thoroughly exhausting.

Why had she thought of that? Just the exhaustion? That was a time of excitement and the unknown too.

The code. They would know soon.

She reached her hand over, across the narrow space that separated the beds and put her hand inside Paul’s.

He sat up slightly. “Everything okay?”

“I’m glad you came for me, got me out of Puerto Rico.”

“Me too. It’s probably underwater by now.”

Outside the tent, they heard shots fired.

Milo was too excited to sleep or even eat. He sat cross-legged in the tent Dr. Kate had made from the case. It was yet another miracle, and he wanted to enjoy every second of the journey. He was sure he had a role to play.

Every second that passed, Kate became more convinced: she would spend her final hours with David. Here and now, at the end of her life, it all became clear, what was truly important, what mattered. Relationships. Love. How she lived her life. Who she really was. She couldn’t wait for him to return.

She was asleep when the first shots were fired.

David began belly crawling back from the tree line, just enough to hide their position, but still in sight of the large animals thrashing in the mud, crying out in agony from the bullet wounds. Sonja joined him.

“Them or us,” David said quietly.

“It usually is,” she replied.

David waited, hoping the exadons would descend and devour the easy prey.

When David had seen the large animals at the river sink into the mud at sunset, he had formed his theory: the exadons hunted at night, principally via infrared, seeking heat and motion. The mud and earth served to cloak the great beasts from the exadons, balancing the ecosystem, except for when one wandered out at night, or in this case, screamed and rose out of their hiding place in pain.

David watched for any flicker of light, any moment—

The closest of the wailing beasts exploded in streaks of red, as if three massive steak knives had been drawn across its side. It rolled and threw mud in every direction—perhaps another innate defense mechanism. Patches of mud large and small flew through the air; some proceeded to fall, but many stopped and hung in the air.

Wings formed from nothingness, then long tails, and heads with a sharp spike at the end. David saw the mud-coated exadons in all their glory, ripping two of the large beasts apart. The other half of the macabre scene concerned him even more: three of the flying monsters were dragging another wounded animal away. They broke its legs and held it down, pressing their sharp talons into it. David saw it now: they were trying to lure out the remaining mud-bound animals who were forced to watch the others die.

David hoped they could resist, remain safe, stuck in the mud.