Chapter 4
The need to escape filled my veins, but I forced myself to keep my controlled steps. My heart banged in my chest, but with deep breaths I tapered the adrenaline down. Reacting out of fear would kill me.
I was almost to the edge, and I turned back to make sure whatever was in the water wasn’t coming back. As I stepped forward, the ground underneath me fell out.
Water burned my nose and lungs as I fell beneath the surface. I couldn’t see more than a foot in front of my face. The water rushed downwards as if a door had been opened.
Flashes of the dream filled my mind. I always knew this would be how I died.
I kicked my arms and legs, but couldn’t fight the sudden current sucking me downwards. I tried to scream for Shannon, but my mouth filled with water before I could get the word out. I hit the bottom and banged my already tender head.
The sudden blinding pain made me stop resisting, and I slid down a tunnel that was quickly filling with water.
The realization that I would drown before I could resurface made me fight again. I couldn’t fall further if I wanted out of this alive. But my limbs were too heavy, making it impossible to resist my plummet.
The sensation of falling off a waterfall made me imagine myself flying through the air, but before I could even process it, I crashed into another body of water.
The water was warm, like a blanket of security surrounding me.
This was kinda peaceful. Maybe I should stay.
What was I thinking? Move!
Instinct grabbed me by the scruff, and I surfaced, finding myself in a wide cavern. There was enough headspace to take big, greedy breaths, but water still poured in over my head. I wouldn’t have that luxury for long.
Was there even a point?
I didn’t survive up to now to die exactly how my dreams said I would. Suck it up. Keep fighting.
I grabbed a flashlight from my vest and scanned the room. Near the top of the cavern, on the other side, was a tunnel of some sort. That was my best bet.
I swam over to it and crawled inside, moving as quickly as possible, racing the water behind me. The narrow darkness made me hyperventilate.
“When you act like my good girl, I’ll let you out.” A voice from a long distant memory made my hands shake.
Not now.
It took every ounce of strength inside me to keep going. I knew when my head was out of the tunnel, because I could swear there was more oxygen.
When I had to wiggle my hips and ass past the narrowing end, I realized it wasn’t just a panic attack. The walls were literally closing in on me.
Once I was free of the tunnel and on my two feet, it was easier to think. Like the fact I had a flashlight in my hand the whole time.
I leaned on my knees, taking deep breaths to recenter myself. Panic killed people faster than the elements. I had to keep my head straight.
Water pouring in around my feet helped me get moving again.
Scanning the cavern, I found myself in a deep basin shaped space. The smooth, worn walls told me that water filled in here all the time. The middle section was high above this bottom portion, and I could only assume that was my way out.
Luckily for me, I’d trained for months last year for mountain climbing to study wildlife of the Tepuis in South America. I found decent handholds to scale up the side. As I went higher, my vantage point was better. The cavern was built like a natural bowl to catch the spilloff.
It was a shame Shannon wasn’t here; this was right up her alley.
I was thankful for the camera on my shoulder and made sure to turn my body the best I safely could, so that we could get good footage of the room.
My foot slipped from my hold, and I fell downwards when my weight unexpectedly shifted. I screamed, but it was cut off by my own panic as I scrambled to recover.
The wall dug into my knees and arms as I caught myself. Nails ripped away as I regained my hold, but I couldn’t focus on the pain.
I looked down, realizing I was high above what I could shake off if I fell. Even with the water rapidly filling the bottom of the basin. My body wanted to tremble, but I focused on holding strong and regaining my calm.
“If you wanted better footage, Shannon, you shouldn’t have abandoned me,” I said to the camera for her to see later.
Every pull upwards burned my overworked muscles, and I knew I’d be hurting later. The adrenaline buffered most of the pain, reminding me that a moment’s weakness could kill me.
The wild didn’t forgive distractions.
When my fingers reached above my head and found the edge, I pulled myself up and over the cliff wall.
I closed my eyes once my body was on solid ground and took deep breaths again. My arms and legs were jelly by this point, and I knew the walk back to camp would be just as exhausting.
But hopefully, less eventful.
I opened my eyes once my heartbeat returned to normal, grabbing the flashlight from my vest. As soon as the light came on, it shined on a wall of bones that made my blood run cold. Bits of meat and dried blood still clung to the bones closer to the top, while the bottom was picked clean.
I didn’t dare go to my feet and bring more attention to myself. Instead, I strained to listen for any sounds that something might be eating, but all I heard was the cry of bats above me. The smell of sulfur filled the air, but it didn't quite hide the scent of decaying bodies.
Please, not a feeding ground.
Slowly, I went to my feet, peering over the protective wall that was at least two feet high.
It was big enough to take up the entire space.
As if it was built for something bigger than a human.
The entire outside was lined in bones of various animals, big and small, but I noticed alligators made up a majority of the skeletons.
Probably because they were the largest predator native to the area.
It made a tall lip meant to keep the young from escaping.
The center was made of branches and brush meant to soften the hard ground, but both dried and fresh blood painted every inch of it.
I’d never seen one that size, and it took my breath away.
A nest.
On one hand, if Mama came home, she’d kill me with no remorse. Since the apex predator of the area was in the nest, I could only assume she would be a big bitch. But it was also a beautiful marvel created by nature herself.
“You seeing this, Shannon?” I breathed, lost in wonder, needing someone to experience this with me. So someone else knew this was real.
What the hell could have made this? I’d studied what wildlife lived here, but I didn’t have a good answer.
The expanse of this nest took up the entire plateau. But on the other side, I saw another tunnel with a hint of light coming through. An exit.
There was one big problem.
I should avoid stepping through the nest at any cost, and my choices were to go through it or back down from where I came. I glanced down at the rising water that already reached the middle of the basin below. There was no way.
A cringe went through me as I made the only reasonable decision. The best I could do was touch it as little as possible. I hoped whatever lived here knew how much I didn’t want to do this.
I threw my leg over the bones acting as a protective barrier, straddling the poor gator that was sentenced to this life. When I tried to bring my leg over, the fabric on my pants snagged on a bone sticking out.
Even after shaking my leg, I couldn’t get free. I leaned down to rip the fabric away and stumbled from the awkward stance.
My hands went to steady me before I could even think it through. The warm bone sent a small shock through my fingertips, zinging up my arms, and made its way to my heart.
I could swear something alive settled into my chest and melded with me. A breath of relief left me in a giant whoosh that made me tired, but I didn’t dare let the laziness suddenly washing over me win.
I’d gotten out of the worst of this situation. I refused to lay down here to be eaten by who knows what.
The bone beneath me was smeared with blood from my injured nails. It blended with the rest of the gore, but an animal would smell the difference. That I left my mark.
I hurried over and focused on walking across the expanse. Each step was like moving through wet cement. Heavy, as if the ground was a toddler clinging to me. It made crossing the nest take longer than it should have.
Once I finally made it to the other side, there was just enough sense left in me to put a mini camera from my rucksack nestled into the bones. I had to figure out what lived here. I refused to live my life without knowing what glorious creature made such a marvel.
I straddled the bone wall to get out the same way I got in. My outside foot froze inches above the ground.
A magnetic pull threatened to tug me by the arm back into the safety of the nest, as if it was made just for me.
The thought of leaving made my breathing hitch in a way that didn’t make sense. The only bad thing that would happen to me was if I stayed.
I forcefully put my foot down and climbed out the other side, ignoring the sense that something vital was being ripped away from me.
A low hum that I hadn’t realized was rattling in my chest stopped, leaving a silence echoing inside me that made tears prick my eyes.
Once both feet were outside the nest, a terrifying roar echoed from above the cavern. A deep sound that resonated through my bones and made my entire body shake.
It wasn’t just me. The entire cavern shook, sending rocks raining down around me.
Fuck that.
The urge to run made every step too rushed. If an animal saw me barreling towards the mouth of the tunnel, it would chase me. I crawled through the small tunnel, focusing on moving forward as quickly as possible without announcing I was prey.
Something slithered across my hand, and I let out a high pitch squeal before I realized it was just a lizard. My heart thundered in my ears painfully as I tried to calm myself.
Get out. Get out!