16- A nightmare come to life
827 words
Martin listened to the slow strained grinding of the mechanisms in response to the magnetic activation he'd set off.
The huge round room he stood in was the same as every other one he had ever encountered. The circle design, crossed and over crossed by the lines that seemed simply for decoration but really held special meaning in relation to longitude and latitude. If one knew the method, then the angle of the tunnels running beneath the ground could be triangulated.
Martin had already worked it out in his mind without even giving it an entire thought.
This place seemed exactly the same as every settlement he'd experienced over the years.
Only one thing kept his paws from steadying as he plucked the activator stone from its niche in the wall.
Foreknowledge.
This settlement didn't have a cache of red pearls that he needed to protect his ship or a another magnet.
This settlement wasn't a settlement.
There was a long grinding from the far side of the room and a dark hole opened up.
His eyes met with Coe's and the cat nodded lightly, but even his façade wasn't impenetrable as usual. There where quivers in the slow blinking eyelids that betrayed even him.
Martin admired the fact that only Coe's face gave away his nerves and not his hands, for Martin could barely keep his sword in any kind of grip as its blue light shone down the hole.
This wasn't somewhere one came voluntarily.
This mission wasn't for science, wasn't for discovery.
The wide steps beneath their paws where cracked and crumbling, but age wasn't the only thing that marred them.
Deep scores in the stone, deeper than time had delved, gave a whispering testimony to ancient horrors that had been dragged down into the belly of the earth.
This was a prison of monsters.
A cage for the insane beasts that had existed in the time.
A holding house for entire violent species of creatures that should've have lived beyond the terrifying stories.
And if reports rang true, it had no walls.
A difficult fact to believe as the narrow walls came closer about them as they stepped off the staircase.
The tunnel continued, north by northwest, for nearly a mile.
A mile of just hearing the drag of his and Coe's shoes against the ground, a mile of his breathing magnified to a nearly unbearable level.
But his thoughts drowned both out as they clamored loudly against his skull, fleeing a back home like a bee from the rain.
Who had the plague left alive?
He swallowed hard against the tears as he wondered if the baby had been born yet. Would his youngest even survive as Lily was sick?
He imagined the hoarse amplified echo of his breath as her struggles to even draw a little air.
And what about Skipper? What about Tiger Lily?
Would they be spared the horrible agony of the torturous virus or had they already contracted it?
Everyone he cared about was falling, falling, falling. He had one chance to bring them back.
One or he might as well go back and dig his own grave, because it wouldn't be worth waiting for the plague to reach him.
But he was going in knowing nothing, there just hadn't been time or enough knowledge to dig up.
"Captain," Coe whispered, drawing Martin away from his hopelessly spiraling thoughts and back into reality.
A soft warm light emanated ahead of them, presenting an end to their tunnel.
The ground turned to grass before the ceiling opened up and the walls spread out.
As they stepped out into the massive cavern, captain and mate where simultaneously overwhelmed with the utter spaciousness of the carved stone reaching over their heads and the scene before them.
It was like standing in a massive fairly ring, stems a foot thick supported strange flowers, vibrant magenta petals pulled towards the massive sloping pod in the center of the plant, it towered above them, small puffs of yellow dust drifting down onto their shocked expressions.
"Is this it?" Coe asked, his voice rising in uncharacteristic excitement "Are these plants the cure?"
Martin couldn't answer, his voice still caught in his throat.
The cat took a step towards the nearest plant, disregarding every past experience on ever last mission he'd ever gone on.
There was a loud crunch that broke both of them from their awe.
Coe down at his feet, horror slowly spreading across his usually commanded features, then he stepped back towards Martin.
"What is it?" Martin hissed, feeling his stomach turn over even without the answer "Coe?!?"
The cat nodded towards the patch of grass where he had stepped, indicating that Martin should find out himself.
Swallowing hard, he took a few shaky steps forward and looked down.
And felt his gut twist in disgust.
There, twined amongst the long grass, where bones.
The flowers weren't the cure.
They where the walls.