Chapter 12 #2
“Are you sure?” I asked them with some hesitation.
I wasn’t opposed to their offer, far from it, in fact. But I didn’t want either of them to be uncomfortable, not to mention that was a lot of people to share one blanket.
They both nodded, though, and they scooted over to create an empty spot beside Sadie.
“Thanks,” I said with a small grin, and I moved to join them.
It was a bit awkward to be so close to the women, but I had to admit, it was certainly much warmer.
“Kyle, it’s your turn to keep watch,” Tyler said as we all got comfortable.
“What?” Kyle complained. “Why me?”
“Because Liam and I already took our turns,” Tyler shot back. “And Martin isn’t in any condition to do it.”
“One of us could do it, too,” Parker offered.
“No,” I interjected. “It’s definitely Kyle’s turn.”
Kyle grumbled to himself, but he promptly sat up to indicate he would take the next shift.
Once I was certain he wouldn’t flake out on us, I leaned my head back against the wall and closed my eyes. Then I finally, mercifully, drifted off to sleep.
I woke up with a strange sense of déjà vu, and once again, I glanced around and wondered what had caused me to wake up this time.
The cave was incredibly dim, and the fire was nothing but smoldering embers. When I glanced around at my teammates, I noticed that each one of them was fast asleep.
Including Kyle.
Fucking Kyle.
It took another few moments before I noticed the cave was perfectly silent and still. When I listened hard, I couldn’t hear any loud booms of thunder, or the heavy pattering of rain.
The storm was over. It must have been the eerie quiet that woke me.
Parker was leaned up against Sadie, and Sadie had her head rested on my shoulder. They were both sleeping soundly, and I carefully shifted my weight and adjusted Sadie’s head so my movement wouldn’t wake either of them.
I wasn’t sure how long I’d been asleep for, but I didn’t feel nearly as exhausted as I had earlier, and when I crept to the mouth of the cave and peered outside, the sky was still dark.
It was still nighttime?
I felt like this night had lasted several hours longer than it should have, but since I had no real way of keeping the time here, I couldn’t determine if the feeling was justified or not.
I was just about to creep back to my spot near Parker and Sadie to try and fall back asleep, when something else drew my attention.
It was a soft, gentle sound, almost like the fluttering of wings. At first, I thought perhaps a bird had flown into our cave to take refuge from the earlier storm, but as I moved closer to the source of the noise, I realized the flapping sounded much too loud for a bird.
It sounded bigger… and more leathery.
As I silently creeped even closer to the sound, I realized it was coming from further in the cave, past the crevice that led deeper into the mountain.
Along with the sound of flapping, there was also a slight chittering sound that reminded me a little too much of the sound the viscerids had made in the supermarket.
The flapping suddenly grew louder and more intense, as if the owner of those wings had abruptly changed direction.
And they were headed right for me.
I quickly stumbled back, just in time to see a massive bat come flying toward my face.
“Ahhhh!” I yelled, both in surprise and so I could alert everyone else to the newest threat.
The bat was pure white, practically a ghost in the black cave, and it came sailing at me like a speeding bullet. It was easily the biggest bat I’d ever seen at about two feet tall, with roughly a six-and-a-half-foot wingspan.
At the last second, the bat stretched out its little claws and latched onto either side of my face before it lurched its head forward to bite down.
I was able to grab it by the back of the neck before it could make any contact, but inside its snapping mouth I saw an unnatural number of razor-sharp teeth.
The others woke up to the sounds of my struggle, and Tyler quickly leaped up, grabbed one of the spears, and swung at the little bastard. His hit connected with it, and the creature released me and dropped down to the ground at my feet.
It was alive, but Tyler had stunned it.
But he wasn’t done.
Tyler then proceeded to beat the shit out of the creature until it was a bloody, pulpy, unrecognizable mess.
“Thanks, man,” I panted as I tried to recover from my shock, and I stared down at the disfigured creature. “Why the fuck is everything in this forest so unnaturally huge and aggressive?”
Tyler chuckled at my outburst, and Sadie rushed over to check on me.
The little bastard had dug its claws into my ears and the sides of my neck, but other than that, I was okay.
I just hoped the fucker didn’t have rabies.
“I think we should get out of here,” I said once I was able to collect myself. “Where there’s one, there’s bound to be more.”
As if my comment had suddenly manifested them, we heard more fluttering and chittering from the alcove.
A lot more.
“We have to go, now,” I muttered as I hurried over to Martin.
With Tyler’s help, we got him up, and our group scrambled out of the cave as quickly as we could. We left everything behind except for a couple of the spears, but we were in a hurry.
We cleared the cave’s entrance, and within seconds, the fluttering sounds turned into something much more fierce, and dozens of those bats came flying out.
“Run!” I yelled.
Most of the bats scattered as soon as they reached the open air, but several of them sped toward us.
It was hard to move quickly because even though the storm was over, the ground was still slick and muddy, and the further away from the cave we got, the steeper the ground became.
Everyone rushed away as quickly as they could, and of course, Kyle was in the lead, and he made distance like a professional track star.
Tyler stuck near Claire and kept pace with her, and they were closely followed by Clarisse, Sadie, and Parker.
I could cover far more distance, but I remained in the back and kept pace with Martin so I could ensure everyone made it out safely.
I had to admit, for a man who was so badly broken, Martin certainly could move, even with the bum leg. But he was significantly slower than the rest of the group, and we quickly lagged behind.
There were several times I had to turn around and fend off the attacking bats with my spear, and each time I did, they’d back off for a moment, then try again.
I wasn’t sure how long we could outrun them.
Ahead of me, I saw Sadie lose her footing, and she slipped and fell forward onto the ground. Clarisse kept running, while Parker immediately stopped to help her up.
Sadie would’ve been fine, except the pursuing bats saw her fall, and they immediately took their opportunity to attack.
“Go!” Martin said as he tried to shove me away from himself and toward the struggling women. “Help them.”
I was hesitant to leave the injured man alone, but I knew we didn’t have much choice.
The bats flew toward Parker and Sadie so fast, and in desperation, I pumped every last bit of energy I had into beating them to the women.
And suddenly, I didn’t feel quite so tired, my legs didn’t burn as much, and I did move faster.
Much faster than I ever had before.
I reached Sadie just in time, and I beat a bat away before it could even touch her. Another tried to fly past me toward her, but I smacked that one away, too. Then a third came, and I skewered that one with the end of the spear.
Parker got Sadie back on her feet, and the two women kept running. To my relief, no other bats pursued them specifically.
But then I heard screaming behind me, and I whirled to see Martin fall to the ground as five bats swarmed him.
I sprinted back toward the injured man, but even as I drew closer, I knew it was too late to save him.
The bats bit and tore into him, and everywhere they bit down, there was nothing left but exposed bone.
Martin’s screaming stopped within seconds after it had started, and I knew he was dead.
I fought back angry tears as I turned to run after the others. I was angry because Martin didn’t deserve to suffer and die like that, I was mad there was nothing I could do to save him, and I was pissed we were in these stupid-ass torture chamber-type games.
Behind me, I heard the bats’ continued pursuit, and clearly it hadn’t taken long for them to finish their meal. I pumped my arms and legs as I ran from them, and up ahead, I could see Sadie, and a little ways behind her was Parker.
I raced to catch up to them, and I tried not to focus on the way the wound on my stomach ached, or the way my lungs burned.
Behind me, the flapping and chittering sounds of pursuit grew distant, but I didn’t dare stop running.
Ahead of me, I saw Parker stumble, but she was able to catch herself and continue forward. Then a few moments later, she stumbled again, and this time, she went sliding to the ground.
Sadie was too far ahead to hear or see Parker’s accident, and she continued to run like the rest of the group.
I raced toward Parker and reached out my hand to help her to her feet, but the moment our hands touched, Parker’s collar, as well as my own, both vibrated and lit up pink.
Holy shit.
We’d just matched.