Chapter 14 - A Chittering Wave

  Still feeling strangely flushed after the double increase, I got back to my feet and looked down at the three dead human bodies. I didn’t want to look. Didn’t want to see if one of them was Amanda. But I’d put it off for as long as I could. It was time to take action. Gritting my teeth, I went and examined all three closely.

  Two of them turned out to be men. In the dim light from my glow stick, as tattered as the bodies had been, I hadn’t been able to tell before. But once I got the light down closer to the bodies, it was easy to tell that neither of them were Amanda. The third was a woman, though, and the green light didn’t give me enough illumination to tell if the tattered, chewed up clothes she wore were Amanda’s jeans and t-shirt, or someone else. Holding my breath, I turned the woman over.

  It wasn’t her. A stranger’s face stared back up at me, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

  The relief made no sense, of course. Amanda was still dead. I knew she was gone. I’d watched her die!. Feeling better that this body wasn’t hers was stupid, but I couldn’t help myself.

  “Well, shit.”

  I stood back up. It would have been a lot easier if that had been Amanda. Then I could take her with me and be on my way. I wanted nothing more than to get out of these tunnels. I’d already spent too long down there. It had only been hours the first time, and another hour on this run—but with the darkness pressing in from all around, it sure felt a lot longer.

  Now I had to go deeper if I wanted to find her. I had to say, I didn’t love that. For a half second, I was ready to give up and just return to the surface without finding her, but I discarded the idea as soon as I thought it. There was just no way I could leave her there. It wasn’t in me.

  I turned to go, then stopped and looked back at the other three bodies. Since I’d found them, should I bring them out, too? I groaned, rolled my eyes, and pulled the backpack from my back so I could grab the tarp. Me and my overdeveloped sense of responsibility then unfolded the sheet and laid it on the cave floor.

  The next part was more than a little disturbing. I’d never even seen a dead person, before today, but there I was gently rolling the slightly-gnawed remains of three people onto the tarp. My Strength made the whole process easy enough. None of the victims were very heavy, and I was strong enough I could bench-press the heaviest human alive.

  A few minutes later I had all three of them on the tarp. I wrapped it around them and secured it by using the old parachute cord I had tied into the corner holes to tie it shut. The tarp was a leftover from camping days, but this would be its final use. I wasn’t going to want to sleep under it as a shelter, after this, that’s for sure.

  With a grunt, I picked up the end of the tarp in one hand, my spear in the other, and started dragging the tarp down the pill bug tunnel toward the crack in the wall. It was easier to move than I’d expected—I still wasn’t used to my new Strength. Even with the sand helping the tarp glide along, the old me would have struggled to accomplish what I was now doing with ease.

  I’d made it most of the way out of their lair before the bugs reacted to my stealing their lunch.

  When they came, it was all at once. Turned out there were a lot of small holes near the base of the walls. They weren’t large, and they were in shadowed areas of the rock, so they were difficult to spot in the dim light. But there were a bunch of those holes, and as I made my way toward the exit, what must have been every remaining pill bug poured out of the holes, trying to stop me.

  “Holy crap!” I couldn’t help but cry out. There were so many of them!

  Some of the crustaceans attacked the tarp like it was another enemy. They ripped at the plastic, trying to pry it open with their jaws. But most of them went straight for me. They swarmed around my legs, climbing quickly to my knees, and then higher still.

  I dropped the tarp and started swatting bugs with both hands. It was all I could do to keep them from burying me underneath them! One dropped from the ceiling and landed on my back. Another followed, dropping onto my shoulder, jaws clamping down near my clavicle. I tossed that one against the wall hard enough it split apart.

  But they kept coming, a wave of legs and carapace that seemed to have no end.

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  One after another, the pill bugs went down. I’d dropped the spear again and was back to just smushing the things, using my hands, feet, and knees. I even crushed one with an elbow.

  But they were finally getting in some licks, too. One managed to bit into my shoulder hard enough to pierce the skin. Immediately, I felt the effects of its venom hit. A wave of dizziness washed over me and I stumbled, almost going down.

  Another bit through my jeans and sliced open my leg, injecting more of the poison into my system. I couldn’t keep this up, not forever.

  “Get off me!” I shouted, shrugging my shoulders hard to dislodge another attacker.

  There was no escape ahead of me; the pill bugs filled the tunnel. Instead, I jumped over the tarp, landing on the far side, where there were fewer of the creatures. I still landed on one, smashing it with my boot and falling to the ground in the slippery mess left behind.

  The bugs took advantage of my slip, rushing me, covering me, burying me under a swarm of wriggling, biting bodies.

  If I hadn’t acquired all the stones I had, I most likely would already have been dead, but they were only going to save me for so long. I was a tough nut to crack, but if they bit me enough times, eventually the venom would overpower my Stamina and I’d go down for the count.

  With a burst of movement, I pushed myself back to my feet, flinging bugs in all directions. Then I raced forward, my feet carrying me faster than I’d ever imagined I could run. I didn’t go far, because the light from my spear was already too dim, and I didn’t want to be blind down there. I yanked another chem light from a side pouch of my backpack as I ran, ripping it free from the package and snapping it to active the thing.

  At least I had light again?

  But the swarm was still after me, and I was back in the same narrow corridor where I’d found the three bodies—a dead end. There was nowhere to run. No way to escape except by going through my enemies.

  The bugs poured down the passage toward me. In the dim green light cast by the chem light I held, they looked like some chittering wave of horror, all green and black, moving and undulating as they swarmed across the sand.

  Then they reached me, and there was no more space for anything but battle.

  I punched. I stomped. I lashed out with all the speed my body could muster, using all the additional boost the Agility gave me to dodge attacks and crush foes. Still, they kept coming. The wave reached my feet. I crushed them under my boots. They still forced me back, one step at a time. Each footfall was bringing me closer to the dead end; another few steps and I’d have my back against the rock wall behind me with nowhere else to flee.

  Dozens of the creatures were dead, their crushed bodies littering the tunnel. I kicked one, sending it careening through the air to crack open against the rock wall. Another bit down on my boot, jaws slicing into the leather. I shook it off, then stepped on it.

  I don’t know how long I stood there fighting, but eventually the pressure slacked off. There were fewer attackers now, and they weren’t pushing me as hard. I took a step forward instead of back. Then another. All at once, the remaining few pill bugs scattered, like they’d finally realized I’d cut down most of their swarm and decided I was more trouble than I was worth. They sped back into their little holes in the walls, vanishing from view.

  My knees hit the sand. My body was exhausted. I’d taken a dozen or so little cuts during the fight. None of them were too serious by themselves, but the quantity of the bug venom was leaving me light-headed. I gave myself a few beats to catch my breath, the tier four Stamina already helping to slow my heart beat and recover my wind. That was a hell of a fight!

  There were a lot of dead pill bugs scattered around the passage. I unslung my backpack and pulled out a water bottle, drinking half of it down in a few gulps, before slowing to sips. I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be down there, so I needed to make the water last a while, just in case.

  I put the water bottle away and started tapping pill bug bodies, one after another. As I touched each, I tossed the chunks of crushed bug behind me as best I could. There were broken chunks of carapace and bug goop everywhere, so more than once I touched pieces of the same bug, and didn’t get extra crystals. Still, bit by bit I made my way back to the tarp, collecting each stone as I moved forward.

  By the time I was done checking all their broken little bodies, I had a whole pocketful of crystals. I left them there for the time being.

  “Never count your money when you’re sitting at the table,” I muttered as I picked the spear back up from where I’d dropped it during the first seconds of the attack. I could check out all my new crystals once I was safely out of these tunnels.

  I checked the tarp; the bugs had bitten through one of the ropes, so I had to re-tie the snipped ends back together. That done, I picked up the end of the tarp and dragged it forward again. I kept my eyes peeled the entire way out, watching for any sign of a follow-up attack, but the bugs must have had enough, because they didn’t come near me.

  Sliding the tarp out through the narrow gap in the subway tunnel wall wasn’t easy, even with my extra Strength, but I managed. Once I had them out on the train tracks, I stopped to figure out what I was going to do next.

  Going after Amanda’s body wasn’t optional. I knew I had to do that. I figured I could probably leave these bodies here while I went looking for her. The pill bugs might come back and find them, but I had a feeling the few I hadn’t killed might spend the next while hiding, rather than hunting. I tightened the tarp around them, making it even more difficult for any bugs trying to open it.

  Then I went a little deeper into the tunnel and took a seat, not so much to rest as to check the loot I’d picked up from the latest battle. I wanted to be as strong as possible before venturing much further. Something told me that whatever lay ahead was far more dangerous than what I’d faced so far, and I had to be ready for anything.