Chapter One

My chest tightened as I slowly crept forward and my eyes played tricks on me, making the shadows inch closer. The red light gave the tunnel an eerie glow and I couldn’t wait until we left this forsaken mountain. From what John had said, we still had a few hours until it was safe to fly away in the shuttle, otherwise we’d need to deal with the flying monsters outside.

Still, open skies and monsters you could easily see versus dark tunnels, small spaces, and sneak attacks didn’t seem to present an obvious best option. It wouldn’t be long at this point, and I studied every shadow within the red light around me. I placed each footstep to be as silent as I could, as I continued on my way down the tunnel. Checking on the metal door felt important, and I listened to my gut. I’d survived this long because of it, I wasn’t going to stop listening now.

Finally, I made it to the fork.

The metal door looked mostly the same as when we’d run through it, though it had a few more bumps pushing out from the center. Something had hammered on the other side and tried to beat through the metal. A dark liquid oozed out from underneath the metal. The coppery scent of blood hung in the air, and I wondered what had died on the other side of the door. For once, the sight and scent of the blood didn't trigger any reaction from my seemingly always empty stomach.

I waited a few moments to see if anything would change before creeping back down the tunnel toward the shuttle bay. The way back went by much faster than my journey to check on the door had gone.

The shuttle bay hadn't changed much, either. Miners stuck close to the shuttle, but given how cramped it would be with everyone inside, most sat on the cavern floor. Mars gave me a nod from where he stood talking with Matt, but he didn’t stop his conversation.

Hawk moved closer to me, his bow in his hands. “Any changes?”

“Something died on the other side of the metal door. Blood is seeping underneath.”

He frowned, before turning to look back into the tunnel, his eyes focused on the darkness. “I can’t wait to leave." Hawk took up a stance near the entrance to the tunnel, but off to one side where anything in the tunnel wouldn’t have a clear view of him.

“You and me, both,” I muttered, running a hand through my dusty hair.

“Hey, Alex,” called David.

I hurried over to where he stood at the end of the ramp, looking hopeful.

“Doc mentioned you have increased senses, so you might be able to help me with Sang.” The last couple of words came out in a rush. He hurried back up the ramp and motioned to the cot she lay on. The bandage on her leg was undone and Doc sat on the ground with something that looked like pliers. “If we can remove the barbs, she…” David’s voice trailed off and I just nodded.

I knew what he would say. She might have a chance. The inside of the shuttle smelled like blood, and something else. I blinked, tracing the weird smell. It came from her wounds. I crouched down and tucked my knife away. “Do you have any more of those?” I asked, motioning to the pliers.

Doc pulled out tweezers from one of his pockets. “Don’t lose them, I’ll need them back.” Using his pliers, Doc held up what I needed to search for. A small black barbed thorn, it was the size of a dime. He dropped it on a piece of leather that held a few more. “The more we remove, the easier she can heal.”

I focused on the barb, trying to see if I could use identity on it.

[Cephalopod Barb, Posioned.]

The notification popped up and I nodded. It was worth a shot, though I wondered why David wasn’t helping, since he wanted a healing class. Still, I focused on her foot, trying to spot the areas that the barbs dug in, and if any more of them would be identified. The notifications would speed up finding them. Yet, nothing popped up as I spotted the first one. Once I removed it and focused just on it, then the notification arrived. Weird, and not currently very helpful.

Time ticked by as I focused on removing the barbs one by one. The smell made my eyes water, but I kept going until I couldn’t find anything else stuck into her foot, no matter what way I twisted it. David sat close to me, watching every move, but I didn’t care. I blinked a few times to clear the water from them, since I didn't want to rub them.

[Heightened Senses: You have evolved Heightened Senses into Augmented Senses. You have increased senses of vision, smell, taste, touch, and sound. Your sense of smell has increased and unlocked the ability to track your prey by a scent trail. You have gained the ability to understand whether something is prey. By focusing, you can see minute details.]

The notification popped up as I opened my mouth to say something to Doc. The last sentence was new, and I almost smiled when I read it. I cleared it as he turned my way. “Her foot is done.”

He nodded and motioned to the pile of barbs, which amounted to a cup of the things. “Thank you for your help. I think we should clean the wounds and wrap her leg back up.”

I gave back the tweezers and stood up, moving back before stretching out my shoulders. Staying hunched over had tightened everything up, but, hopefully, Sang could recover at this point.

David moved in to take over cleaning the wound. As I moved away, I caught John staring at me with his eyebrows raised. Medical stuff wasn’t a strong suit of mine, and I shrugged, heading in his direction.

“How much longer do we have?” I asked, quietly unsure of how much time had passed. Jimmy and Denver sat in the seats behind the pilot’s chair, while John stood up and stretched behind it, just watching everything with a concerned look.

“Too long…” he mumbled. “At least people have calmed down.”

Near the bottom of the ramp, Miners played cards and sat in small groups, either talking or resting with their eyes closed.

I nodded and motioned to the ramp. "Gonna do a walk about." Tension increased along my shoulders and I resisted the urge to tap on my thigh. Sitting on the floor of the shuttle had wound me up, and that smell wouldn’t leave me alone. I wandered down the ramp, monitoring the area, and noticed that Mars and Hawk stood near the tunnel entrance. He'd given up his ready-to-shoot-something stance near the wall. I headed in that direction.

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“We should leave as soon as possible,” whispered Mars with a frown as I approached.

Hawk shrugged. “We’ll leave when John thinks it's safe. He knows the skies better than anyone.”

Mars rolled his eyes.

“Any signs of movement?” I asked, doing my best to not glare at Mars.

Hawk shook his head, looking worried. “I feel like a storm’s about to hit.” He scratched his head, then motioned toward the opening.

I headed into the tunnel without another word. That itchy feeling crept along my spine, and I pulled out my spear. Silently, I kept going, leaving the bright lights behind for the dim red. It didn’t take long to sneak close to the fork in the tunnel, but the feeling of anticipation spiked, causing me to stop in warning. The sudden sound of something metal crashing into a wall farther down the tunnel caused me to jerk back. The sound echoed down the rocky pathway.

The door!

I paused for one second before I raced back toward the bright tunnel opening. My speed increased, and I moved with ease, ready to finally do something. I wanted more room to move than the tunnel allowed, and I was pretty sure I’d need it in a moment.

Motion and sound filled the cavern. The miners all raced toward the ship, with Mars calling after them to hold on, but no one listened to him. The crush of bodies pushed toward the ramp, where John's voice directed people to stand in different areas away from the ramp opening.

“See anything?” asked Hawk, lowering his bow from pointing at me. His eyes darted back and forth across the opening.

“Something broke through that gate.” I spun around with my spear out. “Do we dare leave during the day?”

“We might need to.”

I let out a harsh breath. “I mean, if it's only the level 18, we can take it.” What I really meant was I could take it, but decided that wasn’t the polite thing to say, even if it was true.

“Did you see what it did to Sang?” Hawk shuddered. “I don’t have poison resistance. That’s a rough way to die, Alex.”

I had poison resistance, but I didn’t know if it would work with whatever the barbs on the tentacles were coated with. Still, fighting was better than running. Especially since in the shuttle we would be outnumbered by the fliers, with no way to help in that battle.

Jimmy pushed past the miners and joined us with his bow. Sweat dripped down his face, and his hands shook. “John said it's too early and we wouldn’t make it past the mountain range.”

Shouting came from the open ramp of the shuttle, but no one else joined us in front of the tunnel entrance.

I wasn’t worried and relaxed, taking a deep breath. A musky smell came from the mouth of the tunnel, which I focused on. Something moved in the dim red light and I pointed my spear. “It’s coming…”

Bright tiny red eyes glared out from the darkness, and the red light in the distance showed something that wasn’t expected.

[Rock Mountain Bear, Level 17, Prey.]

“Guys we got this,” I mumbled. “It’s only a bear…” The level was beneath mine, and I rolled my eyes once I saw the prey tag. This shouldn't be a hard fight.

The thing launched itself out of the tunnel opening. Hawk fired an arrow, followed by a second at the same time Jimmy fired. The arrows literally bounced off the Rock Bear’s dark gray, spiky fur. Strangely, one arrowhead chipped a piece of the spiky fur off, sending it flying.

“Oh, fuck,” growled Hawk.

The bear's fur was actually some sort of rock protrusion. I’d bet it'd make some excellent armor. My eyes narrowed and I smiled. I wanted that fur.

It leaped at Hawk, but I lunged forward, my glowing spear tip piercing its side, cutting through the spikes without a problem. The bear howled and I yanked back. The sound echoed around the cavern, as Hawk rolled out of the way.

The red eyes locked onto me as the biggest threat. It paced closer and I tried to hit it with my spear. It pawed at my spear, but at contact, it suddenly jerked away in pain.

I smirked, lunging at the opening, spear ready.

Bright silver darts flew through the air, stabbing into its side at the same time it tried to dodge my spear. Its momentum slowed and I hit, digging in deep. Its claws flashed out at me, but I dashed out of the way, showing off my speed.

More silver darts drilled into the side of it, blood leaking over its fur as it whimpered and stumbled back.

I headed in for the kill, finishing it off with another thrust.

[You have gained experience from combat.]

The metal mage stepped up and the metal darts flew back out of the dead creature.

“Hawk, do you think you can use anything from it?” I asked, moving closer to the carcass as I shortened my spear down to a knife. I hoped the fur would be useful.

Yet, he was staring down the dark tunnel when I turned to look at him. I couldn’t hear anything else in the darkness, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t anything there.

“Honey, do you think you can close this opening now?” asked the metal mage.

“Maybe? I can try,” answered the stoneweaver.

I studied him as he stepped forward raising his hands and a rock fell from the ceiling. It loudly crashed into the floor, making dust fly everywhere.

[Heath, Stoneweaver, Level 15, Prey.]

A purple tentacle shot out of the darkness and wrapped around the man before vanishing.

He was gone before I could move. The ceiling shuddered as more rocks tumbled down.

“Heath!”

Hawk moved forward, his arms wrapping around the yelling older woman, stopping her from stepping into the tunnel as more of it collapsed.

“Into the shuttle!” His voice echoed around the cavern.

My fingers landed on the bear, snagging it into my inventory before I bolted. I didn’t want to get locked out of the shuttle, though I figured I could take the Cephalopod monster.

More and more rocks smashed into the ground, then the avalanche suddenly cut off. The tunnel wasn’t completely blocked, but a good amount of it was full of rocks. Everyone left outside the shuttle raced toward the ramp. I kept to the rear, and the ramp started to rise as I entered. The rear cargo hold barely held everyone. I squeezed through to the front of the ship, where John sat in the pilot seat. Denver sat on the left with the metal mage, while Jimmy and Doc still stood guard. Hawk and Mars spoke quietly with John, who gave me a nod.

“The covering is still there. We can’t leave until it's removed. If it gets stuck blocking the window, we’re fucked.” John shook his head frantically. “We wouldn’t be able to fight off the fliers.”

“And we shouldn’t leave until dusk either way,” added Hawk.

“Exactly,” said John. “We can’t risk crashing. We already did that once this week.”

“I can remove the covering if someone tells me how.” Three sets of eyes landed on me. “I have poison resistance, so if it gets hold of me I have the best chance. Plus, I’m the same level as it is.” I motioned to the ceiling. “I’ll head out the top hatch, crawl down the side, and remove the covering. It doesn’t like light, so that might even help keep it at bay.”

“Alex, you aren’t invincible." John shook his head with a frown. "Yes, you survived in the jungle, but this…”

“Just like the Carnitor,” I said with a grin. “I can do this… Slowly and Quietly.” This time I had a plan.

Mars didn’t say anything while Hawk stared at me.

“John, it will be fine. Just make sure they let me back in.” That was my biggest concern about this. The miners in the back were freaked out, muttering. Some stood with their arms wrapped around themselves. If they locked me out of the shuttle, I didn’t know what I would do. Getting left behind was not part of my plan. I'd need to find a path down and out of the mountain, then cross the jungle to the compound on foot.

“I’ll make sure you get back in,” said Hawk with a dark look. “Two taps and I open the lid.”

I nodded, already wondering if I could take out the monster before taking down the covering protecting the opening to the cavern.