He was an absolute train wreck. How he was still alive at all was a miracle. Logan glanced back to the Nsanga and found its empty face staring blankly at the ceiling above them. The biggest of their threats had been neutralized, but it came at a great cost. Their most fearsome ally was dying.

  Fayng was kneeling over Baird whispering something into his ear. None of them could hear what she was saying and it was probably better that way. This was a moment that Fayng needed to herself. She needed to say a proper goodbye.

  Then, it happened. Baird closed his one working eye and his head tilted to the side. The real-life Hulk was dead and from the look on Fayng’s face, his mother was pissed.

  She stood, never taking her eyes off her fallen child. Fayng had seen so much death in her three centuries of life. She was now alone, having nothing left of her husband. Baird was her last remaining connection to him.

  Was.

  “I’m sorry,” Fitz said, stepping forward.

  She shook her head. “It wasn’t your fault.” She brought her eyes to his, pointing up. “It was theirs.”

  They all knew who she was blaming… The Wohn Tod had caused her seventy years’ worth of agonizing grief. This was just the tip of the painful iceberg. She eyed the group, looking at each individual person, stopping last on Logan.

  “We must go now,” she said, motioning to the far end of the cave. The medic quickly added something and Fayng relayed the message. “She says they couldn’t find a way out. But I know from my time here that there used to be an old access tunnel. It’s filled with packed stone but it may be usable if you can blow through it. If what the rumors say is true, it should lead back to the surface.”

  “What about you?” Fitz asked.

  “I will accompany you until we reach the jungles above. After that…”

  The noncommittal answer was all Logan needed. Fayng would disappear into the Congo and there she would remain. Alone.

  “Come with us,” Fitz said, stepping up next to her. “Come back to the Serengeti and live in peace,” he placed a hand on her shoulder, turning her. “Away from all this death.”

  “You can start over,” Logan added. “We could use someone of your experience on the team. Help us save lives, instead of them being taken.”

  She smiled as tears continued to fall. “Thank you, but not right now. Maybe, as time passes, I’ll see you again, but for now, I need time to properly mourn the loss of my family. I need to spread the news to the other Ru’kan elders about all of this too.” Her eyes landed on the dead Nsanga. Calmly she walked over to it, and to everyone’s surprise, she placed both hands on it and dipped her head in prayer.

  Once finished, she faced the others. “We may have been enemies, but she, like the Ru’kan, was just living out her life—what she was programmed to do from birth. She was the leader of her kind. Whether she knew it or not, the Ru’kan respected her diligence.”

  “But it killed your son,” Kiani asked, joining the group. CJ, Zeus, and Ares did as well, staying quiet.

  “Yes, Baird fell at her hand, but the queen was a savage beast, unaware of what she does.” Her eyes found Logan’s again. “But the people that killed my husband, they knew exactly what they were doing.” She spoke as she turned away. “If only the Wohn Tod were still active, I’d like to ask them a few questions.”

  * * *

  Finding his way back to the river’s edge was easy. Dozens of muddy footprints led straight to it, along with the still dry-docked raft. Kiani’s original assessment of the craft was accurate, it would have held them with no issues.

  “Thanks, Dad,” he said, shaking his head. If there was one thing he learned from the guy in his short time with him, it was all things sailing. And because of his father, he despised everything and anything to do with the water.

  Now isn’t the time.

  Reflecting on a rotten childhood would have to wait. He still needed to figure out a way to get back up the cliffs. He tried to stick close to them but the only way through was this already cleared path. The tree line grew insanely thick back towards the settlement. As far as he could tell, the Ka used the trees as a natural barrier.

  But from what? The only thing deadlier than the primitive Ka brutes was the giant lizard creatures. At first, he would have sworn on his own life that the hunters were the worst of what the Congo had to offer, but after what happened since their first run-in with the Ru’kan, they actually seemed to be the lowest on the totem pole.

  Unreal…

  He took in the quiet space, recalling where he’d been thus far. If he crossed the river and headed east, he’d arrive back at the wall where they slid down with CJ. That won’t work. He turned and could just see the other moss-covered cliff. Nope. Taking an extra moment to think, he turned towards the source of the water—or rather the direction it flowed from. I wonder…

  The water had to be coming from somewhere, maybe even from above. He didn’t remember seeing anything earlier, but then again, they weren’t exactly looking for it at the time. Their singular concern was surviving the first wave of the hunters, not looking for a spot to relax and have a panic. Plus, the trees grew so thick in some areas that a stream of some kind could’ve been within reach, but not seen.

  His skin broke out in goosebumps at the thought of the hunters tearing through the others. It was one of the only things in the last few years that actually frightened him. Lots of things still shocked him, no doubt, but pure fright was something of a rarity after all the killing he’d done in his lifetime.

  Following the shore south, he moved quickly and quietly. So far, he’d seen nothing, just like before. It was peaceful in the trees. The only living thing they encountered there was the Ka, but that was after they moved deeper into the valley. Upriver was a ghost town.

  Like the jungle above.

  CJ was paranoid over the lack of jungle life surrounding the cave entrance. She was right to be, of course. Even he knew something was off. He’d been in enough heavily wooded areas to know they were never completely void of life. Even in combat situations, he would see animals here and there.

  But not here… Why? Was it really the threat of the Ru’kan, or was it something else. What about the large female? It had come in from the outside. Prey hiding from apex predators wasn’t out of the ordinary in any ecosystem. Instinct would tell even the meekest of prey to run and hide when something terrible was approaching. Gazelle fled from lions. Deer fled from a noisy hunter.

  Could be…

  The river began to narrow more as he approached its source and he thought he saw a similar dark void in the back wall behind the serene waterfall. It was an odd sight really. There was no way for a scrawny waterfall like that to turn into the raging rapids downriver.

  Had to be other water pumping in from hidden sources and not just the slight drop it takes halfway between here and the village. CJ’s hypothesis about the river gaining strength had been right too. It’s what swept Logan away after all.

  He skirted the last of the shoreline and pushed through the falling water, grinning as he did. There was, indeed, a passage behind it. He frowned at the find. Without his night vision, he couldn’t see what was inside.

  Only one way to find out.

  Either way, he needed to get to the surface…quick.

  27

  They followed Fayng’s lead as she guided them forward, deeper into Nsanga grounds. She implored that they keep the talking to a minimum and the shooting to none. If they could help it, of course. Thankfully, most of the creatures seemed to disappear after their matriarch was killed.

  Walking side-by-side with her, Logan needed to know, keeping his voice to a whisper. “How far do these caves go?”

  Fayng looked irritated, but nevertheless answered. “They go for as long as they go.”

  Fitz, walking on the other side of Fayng, raised an eyebrow. “Huh?”

  “It means she doesn’t know,” Kiani said from behind.

  “Flood waters and collapses over the centuries have made it difficult to map out the exact size of the cave system but if I had to guess, I’d say they stretched out beneath most of the rainforest at minimum.”

  “That’s big,” Fitz commented.

  “Yes,” Fayng replied, slowing a little, “it is.”

  More or less getting the answer he was looking for, Logan prompted everyone to travel in silence from then on out. They could see movement in their periphery but that was it. Nothing got close enough for them to get a good look.

  “Stop here,” Fayng said, continuing on her own. She paused thirty feet ahead of them, looking down at something. Then she walked left and stopped again ten feet later, still looking at the ground in front of her feet.

  “Come,” she whispered, never taking her eyes off the ground. Everyone moved except the group of young women carrying the flexible staffs. They obviously knew what lay ahead.

  What the hell is she looking at? Logan thought. But once he stepped up next to Fayng, he saw them.

  “Eggs,” CJ said, kneeling next to a four-by-four, two-foot-deep hole in the stone floor. Inside was a cluster of tall, off-white eggs, each the size of a soccer ball. They looked like they belonged in the next installment of the Jurassic World series. “There has to be at least two dozen of them.” She looked up and found the terrain before them littered with identical depressions. “Oh…”

  “This is the Nsanga nesting grounds,” Fayng whispered, kneeling next to CJ. “We need to be extra cautious here. Even with their queen dead, the males guarding this area will still be present.”

  “Where?” Zeus said from behind, his head on a swivel, looking every which way.

  “There.”

  Everyone followed Fayng’s finger and saw a much larger black void in the ground off to their right. It was easily big enough around for a grown man to fit in, and from the looks of it, it was deep.

  Really deep.

  “Great,” Logan said, flexing his right arm, “more rabbit holes.” It was a larger version of the holes Kiani and he unsuccessfully dodged earlier.

  Kiani agreed. “Bigger, though.”

  “Much bigger,” Logan replied, sighing.

  “Stay sharp,” Fayng said, quietly stepping between the first two nests using the sliver of rock between them as a path. “Very slowly follow me. Move as I move.”

  They did. One-by-one the others stepped where she stepped at the speed she set. Everyone was exhausted and crossed their fingers. They really didn’t want to have to engage in another battle. Most of the team was still fully armed except for Kiani and CJ. Fayng never had a weapon, to begin with. She was a weapon. She was almost completely healed as well.

  If you could see the expanse from the air, Logan thought it would resemble a piece of Swiss cheese. The depression’s positions seemed to be random and their sizes varied. They passed one that only held six eggs, while they also passed one that had at least fifty.

  “So many,” CJ whispered, tiptoeing past the larger of the nests.

  “Not all survive,” Fayng replied, just in front of her. “The larger of them won’t destroy the nests, but they won’t pass up an opportunity to devour the young once they hatch. Only a small portion survive to adolescence.”

  “Any other females we should be aware of?” Zeus asked from across the nest.

  “No,” Fayng replied. “She kills the other female Nsanga.”

  “You mean killed the other females,” Fitz corrected. “She ain’t around no more.”

  “We may have severely altered the natural order of things here,” CJ said, holding her hands to her head. “Between the queen and the Ru’kan, this place had a balance, keeping the species in check. Without the female’s involvement, I’m afraid we may have—”

  A foreboding scratching sound quieted their whispers.

  “Shit,” Ares said, stumbling at the noise, accidentally kicking a small stone down the nearest “rabbit hole,” the one Zeus and he were about to circumvent. They were still a few yards behind the others, continually guarding everyone’s backs. The girls that had arrived with Logan and Fayng had just moved ahead of them, catching up with the rest of the group.

  Everyone cringed at the ticking of the tumbling rock as it echoed like a sequence of shotgun blasts in the calm quiet of the nesting grounds. As a result, they all stopped and waited, listening.

  Ares looked over to Zeus who was on the other side of the snake hole. He mouthed an apology just as a serpentine face lashed out at him. It blindly attacked, snaring Ares’ FN SCAR in its fan-filled maw, yanking it from his grasp.

  “Gah!” he shouted in surprise, sprinting around the thrashing creature.

  It only took a second for the man-sized Nsanga to realize that its catch wasn’t edible, quickly tossing Ares’ weapon away, sending it careening down the next closest hole. As soon as the rifle entered, it ricocheted off one of the stone walls, stirring something deeper within it. Another scratching noise was heard and it began rising towards them.

  “Move,” Fayng said, still staying quiet. “Quickly.”

  The group took off silently, zigzagging through the chaotic mixture of nests and Nsanga holes. Fayng and the Ru’kan prisoners led the way, moving like ghosts in their bare feet. Every so often, one of them would have to duck and dodge a snapping set of jaws, parrying them away with their staffs. Some even had to leap entire egg clusters. It would have been impossible if not for the continued ambient light coming from the ceiling above. The light, however, was also random, keeping much of the terrain in shadows. They tried to stick to the lit portion the best they could. It would make their travel safer but also faster. No one was currently using their night vision—some not having their devices at all.

  The only sounds emitted for the next few minutes were groans, growls, and soft shouts mixed with mumbled curses. Every few seconds Logan would hear the cough of a suppressed weapon, no doubt taking out a beast that had gotten too close.

  “Please tell me we’re close,” Ares begged, running with only a knife drawn. It dripped with Nsanga blood, slashing and stabbing anything inhuman.

  “We are,” Fayng said. “But there is still the issue of the blockade.”

  “Right,” Logan said. “Hope you still have some explosives left, Ares.”

  He saw Ares grin in the dusky light, sweat pouring down his face. “Well, you know me…”

  “I do,” Zeus said, ramming the stock of his rifle into the face of an attacking Nsanga, “just do me a favor and don’t bring this place down on top of us.”

  Kiani stopped directly in front of Logan, making him screech to a halt, almost careening into her.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “Look…”

  Logan glanced over her shoulder and saw what he dreaded. The next nest was full of eggs…broken eggs.

  “Great.” Logan surveyed the immediate area but didn’t see anything. What he did see was two other nests that were also empty. “Look alive,” he said, pushing Kiani to keep moving, “we have hatchlings.”

  Zeus and Ares cursed harmoniously, followed by a complaint from Fitz and a growl from Fayng.

  “Nothing we can do,” Fayng said, slashing a large male’s throat with her clawed fingers, “just keep moving forward and hope for the best.”

  “Not exactly reassuring,” Fitz grumbled, dodging and rolling away from two smaller lizards. Instead of turning and fighting them, he leapt over a smaller nest and kept on moving. Stopping wasn’t really an option at the moment.

  “It’s up ahead,” Fayng said, pointing.

  They all looked and saw something odd framing the wall at the edge of the clearing. There was a good forty feet between the last snake hole and the blockade.

  And it was definitely a blockade… A man-made one.

  Clearing the last nest, everyone ran ahead.

  “Are those cut stone blocks?” Ares asked, digging into his pack as he moved. He procured a hard black case and picked out the last remaining pieces of plastic explosives and the corresponding number of blasting caps.

  “Yes,” Fayng replied. “They were made before my time.” She held up a hand, halting Ares next question. “And before you ask, I don’t know how it was made. Whoever was responsible didn’t leave any clues.”

  He shrugged. “Oh, well, shooting from the hip I guess. Do you at least know how thick?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “Okay, then,” he said, getting to work while talking to himself. “Worst case scenario…it’s too thick for me to get through and we all die. No pressure.”

  “Let’s hope not,” Fitz said, turning and aiming.

  He fired a burst into something behind Ares but the demolitions expert didn’t check to see what. What he was doing wasn’t exactly something he could half-ass. If he screwed up, they all died at his hand.

  Ares bit his lip, tasting dirt and sweat. It’d be a better way to go then getting torn apart by the assfaces behind us.

  28

  “Fire in the hole!” Ares shouted, getting everyone to scamper away. They all found a random boulder or pile of rubble to hide behind as he triggered his latest rigging. The resulting explosion was loud enough on its own, but they all cringed as it was amplified by the cavern’s dome-like ceiling and unabsorbent stone walls and floor. The good news was that the concussive force scattered the remaining Nsanga. The bad news was everyone in the team was basically kicked in the face and gut, two of them nearly puking.

  “Sorry!” he yelled, not being able to hear his own words. The combo of his ears ringing and his stomach folded in half was about all Ares could take. He was either going to himself retch, or at the very least, shit his pants.

  No one replied. Instead, they all dove through the hole he’d just blown through the ominous stone wall. While proud of his latest accomplishment, Ares also knew the downfall of his success. The recovering Nsanga would eventually be able to follow them too. And with no way to seal the opening…