Jack walked briskly toward the giant rock he’d dubbed “micro mountain”, the others right behind him. He wanted to get there first and see if his sword was where he left it. If it was, he could make something up about why it was there without the rest of his kit.

Arriving at the base of micro mountain, Jack stopped and addressed his companions.

“I hope all of you can climb. If not, we’ll have to leave you behind.”

Kane answered for all of them.

“I think we’ll manage. It’s not like we could leave anyone out here anyway, this area is too dangerous for that.”

Rachel’s eyes widened in alarm.

“What do you mean it’s too dangerous?”

‘Oh…’ It had completely slipped Kane’s mind to inform Rachel about the giant bear said to be in this region. Everyone else already knew about it.

“Well, about that. There’s an apex predator roaming this area. From what Jack tells us and some proof we’ve picked up ourselves, its fairly conclusive that the information is accurate. There should be a giant bear somewhere around here. If worst comes to worst, we could just outrun it, that’s what Jack did anyway.”

That made Jack nervous. He technically did outrun it, but that’s because it was pumped full of venom from an enormous snake the size of a basilisk. Kind of like the one from his favorite childhood movie about a boy going to wizard school.

“Uh, yeah. It shouldn’t come to that though. It’s just in the general area. Also, I don’t know why, but not much is willing to get near the big rock. The bats were the only thing I saw in the area.”

Kane nodded in agreement.

“I noticed how strange this area is too. In this general direction there’s almost no wildlife. Well, none that WE can see.”

Rachel looked like she was on the verge of exploding.

“You didn’t think it was a good idea to tell us about this?!” She angrily growled at Kane.

Raising his hand’s in defense Kane gave the best excuse he could think of.

“Hey, everyone else already knew about it so I completely forgot that you didn’t.”

Rachels mouth gaped.

“You’re telling me that you all knew there was a giant monster in the area and came here anyway?! You’re all fucking insane!”

The rest of the team looked on nervously as the woman ranted about their stupidity.

Sighing Kane decided it was time to get climbing.

“Look Rachel, you’re being paid for this and at this point it’s a little late to head back to camp. We’re all here and I don’t think it’s best for you to head back alone.”

Grumbling, Rachel stared daggers at the man.

“Fine, but you’re paying me more than the agreed amount when we get back.”

Kane was silent before nodding and looking towards Jack.

“We ready?”

Jack nodded.

“Yeah, follow me and make sure your eyes are peeled. I don’t know if I managed to kill all the bats when I was here last time, and they’re known for surprise attacks.”

The group made their way up micro mountain, keeping a slow pace so Rachel could keep up. It was about time they saw for themselves if there were any bats left.

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It wasn’t long before the group arrived at the entrance to the cave. Everyone became alert in anticipation of an attack.

Stopping at the entrance to the cave, Kane gave his orders.

“We’ll go in with a defensive formation. Jack and Rachel at the center. You two are too important to risk for now. Rachel could save our lives with her knowledge and experience and Jack you can see things nobody else can, this gives us a huge advantage and increases our survivability.”

“Hey, I’m not complaining” Jack accepted with a shrug.

“Good then, it seems like we’re ready. Let us know if you see anything Jack.”

Those words marked Kane’s advance into the cave. It was time to hunt some bats.

Upon entering the cave, the light drastically dampened.

“Cade, we need some light.”

Hearing Kane’s words, Cade slung his bag from his back and pulled out a red stick. Gripping the end of the stick, Cade twisted the end off igniting it with a burst of fire. Apparently, someone was smart enough to buy some flares.

Wordlessly the group continued advancing into the cave with no sign of the bats Jack had described. They creeped along at a steady pace, everyone on high alert.

Sensing nothing for quite a distance, Jack instead looked around for his sword. He knew he’d dropped it somewhere near the entrance in his haste to conceal it.

At first, he didn’t see anything, but his eyes quickly adjusted to the light, allowing him to see more clearly. There it was, along the wall. It was further than he remembered putting it, he was in a panic previously.

“I’m not getting anything at the moment, but we might want to make our way to that wall over there. It’s were I lost my sword before leaving the cave.”

Kane studied the area near where Jack pointed and nodded.

“I see it. We’ll get it on the way out. You won’t be needing a weapon for now anyway.”

The group continued to advance. There was no need to keep quiet since the bats they were hunting would hear them anyway.

Eyeing the dark spot marking the entrance to the tunnel further into the cavern, Jack kept his thermal vision active at all times.

God, I wish they had something other than a flare…

The constant heat was like looking at a bright light with his thermal vision. It was headache inducing.

Grimacing, Jack tried to ignore it the best he could, refocusing on the area where his fight with the bats had taken place.

The only sign of the bats ever existing in the cave were the faint blood stains on the flat, stony ground. This wasn’t a good sign. This meant there was another carnivorous creature in the area.

“This is where I fought them.”

Jack stopped the group and pointed to the area with the faint red splotches.

“Looks like something took the bodies. I don’t think we’ll find any bats around here.”

Kane didn’t respond. He was busy staring at the ground with a strange expression on his face, eyes unfocused as if he was looking at something far away. Suddenly he spoke.

“Did you find anything strange in this cave? Something is off.”

After speaking those words, he looked up, his eyes tracing something directly to the dark spot on the other side of the cavern. Right where the entrance to the tunnel was.

“You guys see that? It looks like another cave.”

Jack felt his heart skip a beat. He didn’t want to go back down there again. Whatever had knocked him out was nice enough to leave him alive. He didn’t want to test his luck a second time.

“Come on, lets take a look. If the cave extends there might be more bats further in.”

Damn it! This guy REALLY wants whatever he thinks my ability is… I don’t think I can convince him to leave it alone. It would make it look like I’m hiding something.

Following Kane’s instructions, the group walked toward the entrance to the tunnel. Moments later they were standing at the entrance to the tunnel.

“We’ll have to stay close in here and make it quick. The flare will constantly burn our air and with so many of us, it wont be more than an hour before it starts becoming a problem.”

Everyone but Jack and Rachel followed Kane without question. Exchanging a nervous glance that seemed to say, “Are these guys crazy?” the two reluctantly went along with the rest of the group.

Jack’s group slowly made their way down the winding tunnel all the way down to where the mysterious door stood at the end of the tunnel.

Jack noticed that the door was fully closed this time. Whatever happened before had resulted in the door closing again. Either that or there’s a creature intelligent enough on the other side that it knows how to close a door. He shuddered at the thought.

Stopping right in front of the door, Kane slowly placed his hand on it in wonder.

“What in the hell is that?”

Cade asked, he couldn’t keep the surprise from his voice.

The scene before them instigated an intense reaction from every member of the group.

Jack felt anxiety, Rachel curiosity, Kane wonder, Cade…. Well Cade was Cade. The outlier was Nathan. He had a grim expression on his face. He appeared to be quite uncomfortable.

“How long would this have been down here to be in this condition?”

Kane asked nobody in particular, wonder filling his voice as he ran his hand along the worn stone door.

At this moment Jack heard something, a repetitive beating sound. It took him a moment to place it.

Helicopter…

Jack felt a shiver run up his spine and his hair stood on end. He didn’t know what the military was doing here but he didn’t want to be a part of it.

“We have to leave! Now! There’s a helicopter outside. I don’t know what they want but if the past is any indication, then it’s nothing good.”

“Damn it!” Kane swore. “Everyone get ready, we’re heading out. Let’s see if we can figure out what’s going on and get out of here.”

Giving a reluctant glance to the mysterious door, Kane sighed and led the group back to the entrance of the cave.