crashed through the brush in the same direction they were headed.
V
Leo struggled to maintain his balance on the sloppy ground as they ran through a gamut of trees and stone ruins toward the sheer face of the mountain, the indifferent goliath that ruled the village from behind the storm clouds. The horrible shrieking sounds were all around them now. To either side of the path, dark forms hurtled through the jungle, slashing through the foliage.
Colton fired sporadic bursts ahead of them, while Sorenson did the same behind. Merritt shot at the shadows surrounding them.
They were all going to die. The reality of that thought cut through the fear and panic with dread certainty. They were all going to die, and it was his fault. The blame fell squarely on his shoulders. He had lied to them from the start in order to gain their assistance. Of course, he could never have imagined the truth in his wildest dreams, but it was his deception that had damned them. He had needed to know what happened to Hunter, for he had simply been unable to accept the loss of his son. The pain had been too great, the anger a physical entity trying to claw its way out through his skin from the inside. Maybe there had been a part of him that lusted after the fortune in gold as well. It was high time he admitted it. Dedicating its extraction to his son's legacy sounded altruistic and noble, but it had always been about the money in that regard, hadn't it? He needed something tangible to hold, something of great value, since he knew he would never again hold the son that in life had always taken a back seat to his global conquests. Only after the discovery of Hunter's body did he truly realize the extent of his failure as a father. There would never be an opportunity to apologize to his son for dragging him all around the world instead of allowing him a normal childhood, to tell him how pleased he was with his accomplishments, how proud he was of the man that Hunter had become.
And it was his guilt that would ultimately be responsible for all of their deaths now.
Muzzle flare strobed the darkness, bringing every shadow to life as the jungle closed in on them from the sides.
The crooked ceiba separated from the night ahead, beyond which the cold, dark maw of the tunnel loomed. Colton couldn't possibly be leading them in there, could he? Not after what they'd seen. Two men from Hunter's group had already been slain inside, and there was that tunnel that led right into the lair of the predators. It was suicide.
'We can't go in there!' he shouted over the rain.
Colton fired a fusillade of bullets past the tree and into the corridor, where they ricocheted from the stone floor and walls with a display of sparks.
'Colton! We can't---!'
'There's no other choice!' Colton snapped, rounding on him. His eyes were wide, his skin pale. Ribbons of water drained down his haggard face. 'If we stay out here, we'll all be slaughtered. At least in there we have a fighting chance.'
'It's completely dark in there. They'll be all over us the moment we step inside.'
'Do you want to live through this or not?'
Leo could only nod as they reached the tree and pulled up short of the mouth of the tunnel.
'Then let me do my job,' Colton said. He faced the opening and fired into the pitch black until his clip ran dry, then snapped another into place. 'And who said anything about not having light?'
Leo glanced back to make sure that they were all together and advanced into the mountain behind Colton, who fired a burst every few steps. The barrel flashed and bullets pinged. He bumped into Colton from behind and was about to ask why they had stopped so suddenly when he heard a snap. A blinding light flared into being. A canister stood on the ground, firing a flume of concentrated light into the air above it. Molten liquid poured down the sides and puddled around the base. An incendiary grenade.
'We have to move quickly. This won't last very long,' Colton said. He kicked the canister and sent it rolling down the tunnel ahead of them. It spat flames at the wall and trailed a path of magma. 'It's burning at roughly four thousand degrees, so don't let even a single drop of that stuff touch you.'
The distant light created shadows in the recesses to either side where the bodies were interred. One of the skeletal corpses had fallen from its perch and lay in a heap on the ground. They stepped around it and headed deeper into the earth. The glare was already starting to wane.
This was a very bad idea. They would never leave this ossuary alive.
The sound echoed all around them, yet there was no denying its origin.
It had come from inside the mountain.
Directly ahead of them.
VI
Merritt balked at the entrance to the underground warren. A piercing glow radiated from inside, turning Galen and Sam to silhouettes as they ducked out of the rain and into the stone passage. Sorenson backed into him from behind with the clamor of suppressive fire.
'Get in there!' Sorenson yelled.
Merritt could only stare at the fissure in the hillside. His legs had locked up and the remainder of his body was unresponsive. Even his voice failed him at first.
'I...I can't.'
'We don't have time for this.'
Sorenson jabbed him in the back with the butt of his rifle and he stumbled forward, barely able to maintain his balance. The screams of the dying filled his ears, while the scent of burned flesh lingered in his sinuses. His vision grew hazy from the smoke. Even the rain no longer touched him as in his mind he was a thousand miles away in a sun-baked landscape of sand.
He knew on a fundamental level that none of this was truly happening, but that understanding made it no less real. Fear had him in its grip, and there was absolutely nothing he could do to break free.
Sorenson prodded him with the rifle again, harder this time, driving him to his knees.
'Get in there or so help me, I'll leave you right here!'
Merritt peeled his dry tongue from the roof of his mouth to reply, but no words formed.
Sorenson jerked him back to his feet by his collar and shoved him forward into the mountain. Rather than speeding up, his heartbeat slowed and a sensation of warmth spread through his body like an anesthetic, numbing his hands and feet. He was shutting down, going into shock.
'Merritt,' Sam said. He felt her cold, wet hands on his cheeks before he realized that she was standing directly in front of him. 'We need to keep moving. Do you understand? We can't stay here or whatever those things are will kill us. You can do this.'
Flickering light limned her outline. He could barely see her features until she brought her face within inches of his.
'You can do this,' she repeated. He drew confidence from her words, and her touch brought him slowly back to the here and now. 'Just look into my eyes and place one foot in front of the other.'
'They're right behind me,' Sorenson said. He punctuated his statement with a barrage of gunfire back into the forest. 'Either you get him moving or you're both on your own.'
'Then go!' Sam shouted. She turned her attention back to Merritt and softened her tone. 'Just listen to my voice and look into my eyes. There are very bad things out there and we need to hurry. I want you to focus on moving your legs and following me. I'm not going to leave you.'
