Chapter Two

John’s lips pressed into a tight line, but he just let out a sigh. “Mars, how does Alex unhook the cavern covering?”

I resisted the urge to smile, knowing I’d get my chance.

“It’s pretty easy,” he said, pointing off to one side of the cavern that we couldn't see from the window. “There is a pulley system. Once you let it fall, you need to unhook the ropes. Doesn’t take long to lower it, getting it back up is harder, but that won’t be a problem…” His hand landed on my shoulder and I wanted to shove it off. The feeling I got from the guy was off. “Just get back here safely. You’ve done so much for all of us. We can’t repay you.”

Hawk pushed his way past the miners listening in on the conversation. They cleared a tight pathway to the hatch. I paused next to the compartment with the ladder and pulled it out without knocking into anyone before handing it off. Hawk set it up under the hatch even in the limited space available.

Everyone stayed quiet. Some wouldn’t look at me, while others stared. Someone identified me, though I couldn't tell who.

“Get it lowered, then get back to the shuttle. The faster the better.” Hawk glared at the miners. “We will be waiting, quietly.”

I gave a sharp nod, before climbing up the ladder. Maybe I did have a hero complex, with offering to go remove the covering. Yet, I couldn’t come up with a better idea, or someone better equipped to go. At this point, my level was the highest in the ship, and I wanted a chance to take out the creature. Instead of a hero, I felt greedy. I wanted the loot and the gains that'd potentially come from this. Noseen's warning echoed through my head. I had to keep growing.

Slowly, I unlocked the hatch, popping the top only a few inches before looking around. Nothing moved, so I quickly opened it and climbed out. I didn’t let it touch the roof of the shuttle, and instead slowly lowered it back down without making much noise.

If the creatures disliked the light, they probably hunted by sound. My goal was to be as quiet as possible.

Step by step I moved to the edge of the shuttle, not seeing anything reaching out from the tunnel entrance. I climbed down the handholds and jumped to the ground, pausing for just a second.

Nothing moved in the dim light remaining in the cavern.

From here, I could see the pulley system. The front of the shuttle pointed in the wrong direction to watch me work. I carefully moved across the flat ground after pulling out my spear. I held it in my hand and didn’t light it up, since I wasn’t sure if it hummed when I did that.

It didn’t take long to move across the area, though I slowed down as I approached the equipment, trying to figure out how the pulley system worked. From what I could tell, I only needed to unlock the wheel, which turned to lower the cloth from the opening. Mars' instructions were helpful.

Readiness radiated from my body as I reached to unlatch the lock. My eyes stayed on the partially caved-in tunnel entrance. I carefully lifted the metal latch-up, yet it made a scratching noise as I did.

I froze, waiting for anything to happen.

“Take the bait. Come on…” I muttered inside my head.

Nothing moved near the fallen stones, and I lifted the latch the rest of the way up. The wheel spun faster than anticipated, splashing late afternoon sunlight across the cavern. It made grinding noises with every turn. The lock stayed in place, and I quickly moved away from the sound, toward the bright opening.

A breeze blew the cloth inward, and I made sure to stay out of its way, blinking from the increase in light.

A dark purple tentacle snaked across the floor toward the wheel and I kept my eye on it with a small grin. I unhooked the first rope from the cloth and left it dangling from above, before moving on to the next.

Five ropes held up the cloth, and each needed to be unhooked from the wooden pole that the cloth connected to. Once that was done, I'd focus on the creature.

The view looking out from the cavern was amazing. The opening towered above the treetops, and the sunlight shot across the sky like a painting of oranges and bright yellows. The sun was closer to the horizon than I thought it would be, but we still had plenty of time until it went down. Clouds dotted the horizon, and a stiff breeze blew right into the cavern. The ropes were the only thing holding the cloth in place now. I peeked back at the tentacle to see its progress and found it closer than anticipated. It touched the edge of the cloth that flapped noisily in the breeze.

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I moved quickly to the next hook, then the center one. The tentacle pulled on the corner of the cloth and tightened around it. My eyes grew wide as it pulled the cloth toward the tunnel, but the ropes held it in place.

Rushing to the next rope, I unhooked it, leaving one to go. A tentacle blocked my pathway, and I paused. It touched the bottom edge of the other side of the cloth like it was trying to figure out what it was.

My hand tightened around my spear, but I didn’t want to instigate conflict until I was ready. Everyone in the shuttle was waiting on me to finish this, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have time.

That tiny voice in the back of my mind asked what I’d gain if I ate part of the monster. I’d need to eat a huge amount of it to gain anything without the heart, and with all the light streaming in, I doubted it would fully enter the cavern. Eying the area near the tunnel entrance, I saw rocks move as something pushed them back, but it stopped.

I needed to unhook that rope and then climb back up the shuttle without running into any problems.

As I inched forward with my spear ready, the cloth moved again. It jerked hard, and the rope holding it in place snapped. The cloth went flying toward me, and I dove to the ground. The cloth moved over the top of me, and I let it. It didn’t take long until I was free from the material. I lifted my head up, spotting three tentacles wrapped up in the cloth, squeezing it.

Slowly, I climbed to my feet and crept toward the shuttle. The tentacles pulled the cloth across the cavern floor and were now trying to yank it through the rocks. The movements sent shivers up my spine, but I didn’t see a way to attack the monster. Not one where I could kill it without having to climb into the caved-in tunnel entrance. Frustration rolled over me losing out on that experience. At least I had part of the other squid monster in my inventory crystal. Hopefully, it’d give me something good.

I climbed up the handholds to the roof of the shuttle. I sent one last glance out the cavern opening, to look at the view, before spotting three dark shapes flying through the air.

We did not need that right now.

All of the tentacles were distracted with the cloth, so I turned to face the dark shapes. I waited until I knew they were headed in this direction before I quietly tapped on the hatch twice.

The hatch quickly flew open and I dropped inside, locking it behind me. I huddled on the ladder, staring at the metal, hearing something hit it hard on the outside. The sound echoed through the shuttle. Swallowing I found everyone staring at me with wide eyes from the walls of the cargo hold. Hawk stood at the base of the other side of the ladder, holding it in place.

I gave him a nod, not wanting to talk yet, and climbed down to the floor. He folded up the item and put it in its compartment as I headed to the front of the shuttle.

David sat near the cot that Sang laid on and he gave me a thumbs up. I hoped that meant Sang was doing better, but I wasn’t going to push my way in that direction to find out.

John still sat in his chair, and everyone was pretty much in the same location as when I’d left. I kept my voice low. “It’s down, as you can tell. The monster yanked the cloth toward the tunnel opening.”

Mars nodded and looked relieved. He moved toward the cargo hold.

I leaned closer to John. “Three fliers in the sky, moving toward the cavern.”

“Three…” His hands clenched on the controls, but the shuttle wasn’t even running. “Okay, we’ll need to wait until it's darker before we take off. Three’s just too many.” Something slammed into the roof of the shuttle, the noise echoing through the area. “Or maybe not…”

Hawk moved to the pilot area around Jimmy and Doc, who both stared upward. “I bet it heard the tapping.”

I nodded.

The sound of a flier cawing came from the left, where the opening of the cavern was.

“Tentacle monster versus flier?” I asked. I snapped my mouth shut as a winged shadow appeared on the wall that the window faced.

“Shit, if they roost here tonight, it doesn’t matter if we wait till dark,” said John. He glanced up at me, then Hawk. “I think we need to chance it. The noise might bring the monster out, which might distract the fliers for a little bit.”

“I doubt the tentacle monster has ever dealt with fliers before,” I added. “Plus, it doesn’t like the sunlight. How long until we are out of the flier's territory?”

“I can aim for distance instead of heading directly toward the compound. It would give us the time delay we need to land during the safer window.”

None of us from the compound commented on the flier that had chased us in the dark as we left the compound last time. Too many people were in the shuttle, and we didn’t need them to panic.

“It’s a plan,” said Hawk. He turned back toward the cargo hold, and soft murmuring started in the back.

I moved toward the empty seat to the left and strapped myself in. John gave me a nod at the action.

More movement in the back drew my attention as people began to sit down on the floor, moving away from the walls. Some folks even sat down on the closed ramp. The area in the shuttle felt bigger once Jimmy followed suit. Hawk was the last one standing, and he moved closer to the front of the ship, taking a knee near Doc and Denver, who sat in seats like me.

Every inch of floor space was taken up by someone.

John let out a deep breath that caused my fingers to dig into the seat under me. Then the activation switch flipped, and the humming noise that signaled the shuttle powering up filled the air.

Another screech came from the left, along with the sound of rocks falling farther right.

I swallowed hard and took a deep breath. I trusted John’s flying skills, plus with the crystals on the wing tips he could clear the way to fly out of the cavern. I hoped.

Every second we sat there lasted forever. Then, suddenly, the shuttle moved toward the left. If John’s hands hadn’t moved, I would have been worried. Instead, we hit something that screamed before we were free of the cavern. Bright sky filled the window and the shuttle rocked slightly as it picked up speed. Seeing the blue sky and clouds caused the tightness in my chest to relax.

This was better than the tunnels filled with red light.