They were both crouched, looking down on the rock garden.
“You’re right, it is cute. I imagine it’s probably the deadliest thing on the planet. What do you think it is? Toxic breath? Poisonous skin? Laser beams from its eyes?”
Dustin looked at her as she fought to keep a serious face.
“You don’t have to be an ass.”
“Oh, yes I do. You remember us having sex. I believe I’m entitled to a little payback.”
“You just wait. You won’t be saying that after the next round.”
Laughing softly, she just shook her head. “I think we can probably move faster than that thing, whatever it is, and as long as we don’t touch any of the plants, we can probably get past them too.”
She hadn’t believed they were plants until she had seen the cute little creature open one up and eat a fruit. If they weren’t carnivores, Dustin might have considered trying some of the fruit himself. The only thing that bothered him was, why weren’t those bugs in here eating them too?
“Look, maybe there’s a reason the thing is moving slow. I bet those plants are sensitive to movement. What if they’re the threat instead of the cute critter?”
She stopped and studied the area for a moment, then nodded. “That would also explain why none of those things are in here.”
Dustin went to stand up, then stopped and looked behind him. There was an itch between his shoulder blades, as if something were staring at him. His heart almost stopped, and he barely managed to tap Olivia on the shoulder. When she turned to look behind her, she stood much quicker.
Rising up from the water, was a tall thin creature he could only describe as a blind sea serpent. There were translucent scales covering the entire length of it, and needle thin teeth protruded outside of the lips like a crocodile’s snout. He could see the pulsing organs inside of its body as it weaved side to side.
Opening its mouth wide, it swung back and forth, and he could see jagged teeth sticking out all the way down its throat. Swallowing, he realized that was to keep its prey from escaping.
One of the headless cockroaches crawled too close to the water, and the serpent struck so quickly, both Dustin and Olivia jumped.
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Turning back into the garden cave, they decided to risk the garden instead of the pool. With Dustin leading, they took one slow step after another. They had almost reached the other side, when the cute little creature appeared from around the bend, and they all paused.
It blinked, slowly, and then stomped.
The entire garden seemed to explode. Every plant opened up, not slowly like before, but violently, spewing red mist into the air, as the force of their opening burst the fruits.
Dustin and Olivia darted towards the exit, dodging as much of the hanging mist as possible. They didn’t know what it would do, but didn’t want to find out either.
Panting hard, they paused in the next section of tunnel.
“This place is a freaking nightmare!” growled Olivia.
Dustin glanced at her, and chuckled. He couldn’t help it. After everything he had been through, this was almost on par with what he expected anymore.
“You think that’s funny?” she demanded, jabbing a finger back at the bloody-appearing garden.
“I just thought how sexy your growl was.” He grinned at her.
She looked at him for a moment, dumbstruck, then shook her head. “After all this, and we still don’t have anything to eat! Not to mention we have to go back past all of that to get back to the ship!”
He glanced down the tunnel, and saw a heat signature again. With Olivia following close on his heels, they stepped into another open cave. The further into it they went, the warmer it got. He knew that soon, he wouldn’t be able to see a heat signature of anything, and was a little worried at what might be baiting them. Over to the side, he saw another pool, and at first, wanted to avoid it, in case another damn monster popped out, but then he saw there were merely small cave fish swimming around.
When Olivia saw them, she gasped and dived over to the pool. For the next several minutes, they caught fish after fish, swallowing them whole. They were both so hungry by this point, that they didn’t mind at all that they wiggled on the way down.
A small squeak behind them, had the two spinning around, on guard. Dustin even went so far, as to jump out of the water, so that if anything was wanting to grab him from the deep end, he might notice and avoid it.
A small child, about two and a half to three feet tall, was cowering in a small depression. A large cave spider was trying to fish her out.
Olivia charged at the spider, kicking it half way across the cave, before Dustin could stop her. It landed on a sharp stalagmite, sliding down it, wiggling furiously as its internal juices made the spike even more slippery.
The small girl emerged slowly, staring at them with wide, terrified eyes. Her skin was covered in blue-white crystalline hairs, that almost looked like soft fur. Her eyes were glowing a bright purple, and Dustin realized that was what he had been seeing. All this time he thought it was a heat signature, and it was her eyes.
“Please don’t kill me,” she whispered.
“We won’t,” assured Olivia in a soft voice. Dustin couldn’t help but think she would make a great mom.
“Are you alone?” asked Dustin, glancing around to see of there was any trace of any other crystal people.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Everyone else is dead. The top-siders killed them.”
They looked at each other. The same thought was running through their heads. The Josagn!