The Underground City (Book 3): Planet Urth, no. 3 Read online

  I part my lips to answer and a shrill sound rings out. I look from Will to Sully then Jericho, about to ask what it was when a second shriek pierces the ether, and then another and another.

  “What is that?” Sully asks.

  “That sounds like a boart,” I say. “A boart being tortured.” The sound is identical to the squeals and screeches of the enormous mother boart that lost her life while ensnared in a monstrous spider’s trap.

  “Why would they torture boarts?” Will asks. “Did you two hear anything like that when you were here watching?”

  “We were too far away looking through binoculars,” I say. The sounds of the forest change as the sun lowers. Any out-of-the-ordinary sound we may or may not have heard would have been chalked up as just that, I think but do not say aloud.

  “Something’s not right. I don’t like this at all,” Will says without turning to face the rest of us.

  “Of course you don’t,” Sully mumbles.

  Will whips around, his posture is ramrod straight and challenging. “What was that, Sully? What’d you say?”

  Sully thrusts his face forward and tips his chin. “I said stop being such a little girl.”

  “I’ll show you a little girl,” Will growls as he advances a step toward Sully. He is looking over my head at him. His upper body is pressed against my arm. I feel his heart thundering against my skin as he continues to move, as if trying to plow through me.

  Turning, I place both hands on his chest, stopping him. “Cut it out,” I say forcefully. “Both of you. This isn’t the time.”

  They stare each other down for a long moment, their expressions hard. The moment is surreal. We’re on the verge of sneaking into an Urthmen warehouse to steal fuel and actually make headway toward getting to the underground city and they’re ready to tear each other apart! “I mean it. Too much is riding on this,” I hiss.

  Both men retreat, a point I’m grateful for. In the dim light of the shed, I see a set of teeth gleaming. Jericho is smiling, undoubtedly finding the humor in a small woman scolding two men who easily double her weight. And both men listened.

  Tense minutes pass. The odd cries persist. Nerves and hunger conspire and make me jittery. I nearly jump out of my skin when the sound of vehicles echoes. I rush to the doors, pushing past Will, and stare out through the crack. The sun has dipped below the horizon line. Just an arc of the fiery disk remains visible. The sky is banded in orange and lavender. But my eyes do not linger there. They are drawn to two sets of headlights that slice through the deepening shadows. Two cars approach. Though I am confident they can’t see me, aren’t even looking my way, I recoil. But my eyes remain fixed on them. The closer they come, the better able I am to see that interior lights illuminate the faces of two Urthmen in each car. All four guards are leaving. In seconds, the warehouse will be left unoccupied.

  My pulse skyrockets and my hands begin to tremble. “They’re leaving,” I say to Will, Sully and Jericho. The energy in the room shifts. Animosity bleeds from the air, replaced, instead, by anticipation. I continue to scrutinize the vehicles when they come to an abrupt stop. One climbs out and affixes a chain and lock between the iron gates, effectively trapping us inside the walls surrounding the warehouse. “Okay, the gate is locked, and they’re pulling away.”

  “Let’s hang back for a few minutes, just to be sure,” Will says.

  I await a snide comment from Sully. When one doesn’t come, I’m surprised, and relieved.

  We remain inside the shed for several more minutes, listening, making sure we are alone. Squeals still tear through the fast-approaching night. The longer I hear them, the more convinced I am that they are the sounds of distressed boarts.

  “We’d better go now,” Sully suggests.

  Will nods and so does Jericho.

  “Let’s go,” I say.

  My stomach feels as though innumerable butterflies are dive-bombing when I take my first steps out of the shed and onto the grassy area surrounding the storage facility. Darkness has fallen, swathing everything in its wake in murky shadows. I steal toward the building, reaching out with all my senses. I look over my shoulder to my left and quickly discover the source of the tormented yelps. Hoisted high in the air and tied up by their hind quarters, two boarts that easily triple my girth writhe and flail as they protest. Massive shoulders roll and portly bellies jiggle as they try in vain to free themselves. Small eyes sitting atop generous snouts dart frantically, and pointed tusks that bulge from lower jaws carve the air.

  “What the,” Sully does a double-take as he sees the boarts dangling, never finishing his thought.

  “What’s this about?” Will asks. “Why would they do this?”

  An answer escapes me. None of it makes sense. I can’t shake the feeling that something is off. “I don’t know,” I reply as a shiver of unease sweeps across my skin. “Whatever it is, it isn’t good. Let’s move, get what we came for.” With trepidation, I look away from the boarts, a feeble attempt to avert the warning whispering through me, and race toward the building.

  I take several strides then suddenly the ground disappears from beneath my feet. My stomach bottoms out and all breath leaves my body as I slam my chin and chest against hard earth. Scrambling, I reach for grass, roots, rocks, anything I can find, searching desperately for something to hold on to and keep myself from falling. My fingers curl around a lip of dirt, my fingernails burrowing within it as I cling for dear life. Blackness threatens beneath me. I sense danger that supersedes plummeting to the darkened ground below.

  “Avery!” Will’s voice calls out. He rushes toward me. I hear Sully’s voice as well.

  I struggle to grasp the soil. The muscles in my hands spasm, I’m losing my grip.

  “Help,” I barely manage as a series of aches branch from my palms up my arms, weakening my hold so that my fingertips begin to slip.

  Firm hands latch onto my wrist and Will’s face appears before me. “I got you,” he says. “Don’t worry, I got you.”

  Within seconds, Sully is beside him. He grabs my other arm and both of them pull me out of the hole. Sharp rocks and exposed roots scrape my body as I am yanked onto my belly. “Are you okay?” Sully asks, panic lacing his words. I clamber to my feet, my arms and legs wobbly from the shock of falling suddenly. “What the heck happened?” He grips my upper arms and asks, and even in the dim light of dusk, I can see the concern etched in his features. He pulls me toward him, the heat of his body tempting. I’d like to collapse into his arms and let him comfort me, even if only for a minute. But I can’t. There isn’t time for comfort. We need to get our fuel and leave as quickly as possible.

  I turn away from him and look behind me. Black against the cyan shadows that blanket the world around us, the circular hole raises every hair on my body. “Oh no,” I breathe. “No.”

  “What? What is it, Avery?” Jericho asks and appears at my side. He cups my elbow.

  “That,” I say as I point. “That’s a Lurker hole.”

  “A what?”

  Clearly, Jericho hasn’t spent much time deep in the forest as I have. “A Lurker hole. Lurkers are what I call the creatures that come out at night, the ones that look like animals and humans combined. You’ve seen them, right?”

  “Yes,” he replies. Realization slowly takes hold. His onyx eyes widen and a deep frown creases his face.

  I look from side to side, sensing danger looming on the horizon. The boarts hanging from ropes, the Lurker hole, and the lack of Urthmen present in the night—each fact gels, shaping the situation in which we’re currently placed. They are keeping Lurkers as guards. The Lurkers hide away all day and only come out at night after the Urthmen leave. Fleetingly, I glance at Will, Sully and Jericho. “We need to get inside the warehouse now.”

  Without hesitation, they follow as I dash to the front of the building where a door waits. But as we approach, two shapes hang upside down from cords. They are unmoving, and they are not alone.

  Lurkers, six in all,
feed on the proffered boarts. They yelp and chuff softly as they devour the meat, and the wet, slopping sound of feeding chills the marrow in my bones. Blood and saliva dangles from their sizable jaws. A dozen eyes glow hungrily. Manes of golden hair that match the paleness of their gleaming eyes billow in the slight breeze that stirs, and impressive paw-like feet with long, lethal talons tear at the flesh of the animals before them. They are monstrous, hideous beasts. And Will, Sully, Jericho and I are close to them, too close.

  Terror rockets through me, jolting my system as if lightning has passed through my veins. “Run!” I say. The word is a raspy whisper that passes from my lips, but everyone with me hears it.

  We tear off toward the rear of the building. I do not need to look over my shoulder to know we’re being followed. The thunderous clatter of the Lurkers’ pursuit resounds through the enclosure. Emitting spine-tingling howls, they’ve caught our scent and will not relent until they’ve caught us.

  Panic screams through my core. They are gaining on us. When we round the corner of the warehouse I see there is a rear door in sight. I also see a pickup truck parked by the far corner. Two Lurkers spring from behind it. Cruel tawny eyes glower at us and I wonder if they see us, and if they have, why they haven’t pounced yet. I freeze, Will, Sully and Jericho halting alongside me. My heart batters my ribcage, and my every instinct demands that I scream. I do not scream, though. I hold my cries inside, taking the tiniest of breaths. The Lurkers on our trail are now behind us, I hear their panting. We are trapped between two sets of predators. I see the blond mane of one rouse as a breeze blows pale wisps across his eyes. He closes them briefly, as if savoring the scent of the wind, before opening them wide.

  A thick band of saliva gathers at the corner of his mouth and dribbles to his chest, and his demeanor stiffens. A shudder passes through him, making his flanks quiver visibly. They’re toying with us, enjoying the moment before they strike.

  Nerve endings spark to life and I break for the set of doors. I push and pull the handle and then ram it with my shoulder. Behind me, I hear the soft swooshing sound of paws loping over grass. It is the only warning before the eerie stillness explodes in a chaotic frenzy. The shrill bay of a beast rips through the night. I spin in time to see a Lurker fly through the air with ferocious speed and fierce agility. It hurls its body at Sully, knocking him to the ground. Its front paws, armed with deadly talons, pin him to the ground.

  “No!” I cry and feel my insides plunge to my feet.

  Small ripples quiver along his flanks as if the urge to feed becomes too overwhelming for him to bear.

  He hovers with his jaw open about to bite down on Sully’s face.

  But before he clamps down, Jericho descends on him, swinging his mallet in a wide arc. The hammer-like head connects with the beast’s skull with a thwack, sending blood, teeth and an eyeball careening through the air. The Lurker wails, the bloodcurdling shriek of an injured creature, and rolls off of Sully. The other Lurker, seeing his pack mate fall, attacks and sinks his teeth into Jericho’s arm. I unsheathe my sword and am about to lop its head off at its neck when Sully bounds to his feet with his gun in hand. He fires four shouts that penetrate the fiend’s temple. Gore and bits of matter I can only assume are brain tissue scatter in every direction.

  My stomach roils, threatening to spew. I twist my upper body and double over and catch sight of a dozen more scuttling toward us.

  “We need to get inside!” Will screams.

  We dart to the set of doors.

  “It’s locked!” I cry.

  Jericho launches his leg forward against the doors, kicking it with all his might. Loud cracking sounds and the two doors swing inward. We race over the threshold and find a thick piece of wood split in two pieces. Slamming the doors behind us, knocking sounds echo through the hollows of the building as Lurkers’ heads butt against them. Scratching and howling follows. I press my back to the doors with Jericho and Will, and watch as Sully retrieves the pieces of broken wood and lodges them through the handles.

  “This isn’t going to hold for long,” he says.

  He’s right. The wood will secure it temporarily. With the wood in place Jericho leans his impressive form against the doors for reinforcement.

  “It’ll have to do for now,” I say and look around.

  Submerged in darkness, the warehouse is little more than a towering structure filled with menacing shapes. Sully pulls the bag from his back and unzips it. From it, he pulls a flashlight and turns it on. A soft beam of light glows from it and illuminates barrel after barrel lined neatly along the perimeter of the space.

  Sully marches over to one. With a blade he slides from a sheath at his thigh, he pries the lid off of one. The odor that seeps from it fills the room. Unpleasant and unfamiliar, it is the scent of freedom; if we can escape the warehouse unscathed.

  “It’s gas,” Sully confirms.

  “That’s great, but how are we going to get it out of here?” Will asks. “How are we going to get out of here?”

  My gaze volleys between Will and Sully. Then an idea strikes. “Sully, do you think that truck in the yard works?”

  Rubbing the back of his neck after replacing the lid of the barrel, he considers my question. I wonder how he can possibly concentrate. The fevered barks of the Lurkers, the scraping and thumping, are maddening. “I hope so,” he says.

  A loud smash at the door causes Jericho’s body to lurch forward. Planting both feet, he leans back, pushing more purposefully, determined to keep the Lurkers out as long as he physically can.

  “How’s your arm, Jericho?” I ask of the puncture marks on his thick bicep.

  “I’ll live,” he says with an easy smile. The blood that trickled from his wound has stopped flowing. Still, I imagine having a Lurker sink his teeth into Jericho’s flesh hurts terribly. His calm manner is impressive.

  I also marvel at his ability to smile despite having a pack of bloodthirsty Lurkers clawing at the door behind him, just a plank of metal standing between them.

  Sully flashes in my peripheral view. He scales shelves and skillfully climbs an exposed girder, pausing when he reaches a low-hanging rafter.

  “Avery!” he calls to me. “Come here!” His eyes glitter with an emotion that teeters between madness and excitement.

  I pause and glance at Will and Jericho, and then clamber up shelves and the girder until I am beside Sully.

  He straddles the rafter and looks out a narrow, rectangular window. He lifts the pane of glass. A mild evening breeze carries the scent of moss and fallen leaves. Pointing beyond the frame, he says, “Look.”

  I lean over him and gaze down. I see the truck. I also see a sizable pack of Lurkers gathered around the door Jericho is pressed against.

  “I’m going to go out this window and get into that truck. I’ll lead those things, the Lurkers, after me and away from the door.”

  “What?” I snap my head toward him, no longer looking out at the scene beyond the pane of glass. “No! Too many things could go wrong! You could break your leg. It’s a far drop. Or the door could be locked. Or there might not be any fuel in the truck.”

  “That would be ironic,” Sully chuckles.

  “I’m serious!” I exclaim.

  “So am I! Sheesh! You sound like him,” he says and clips his head toward Will down below.

  “I thought I told you to cut it out,” I say through my teeth.

  “Yeah, I know.” He rolls his eyes.

  “Sully, this is serious. If anything goes wrong you’re . . .” I can’t bring myself to say the word “dead.” Truth is, I’ve grown fond of Sully. He’s become a trusted ally I’d much rather see in one piece.

  “Dead? I know. If anything goes wrong, I’m dead.” He shrugs casually. “Oh well. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.”

  “No! It’s not well!” I fire back. “And how are you going to start the truck even if everything plays out exactly as you want it to?”

  “Man oh man, you’re a bag o
f questions aren’t you?” His eyes dance with amusement. I am anything but amused. I narrow my eyes and drill him with an angry look. He throws both hands in the air in mock surrender. “Okay, okay! Enough with the death stare. I get it. You’re mad at me. But just for your information, I know how to start a car without a key. Cross a couple of wires and presto! The car starts.” He snaps his fingers for effect.

  I wish I shared his confidence. I’m worried about him. Shaking my head, I say, “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

  “Avery, it’s the only way. There’s no other possibility of us getting out of here alive. You know it, and I know it.”

  I glance out the window again. Lurkers are pacing, plotting in their own primitive, feral way. Almost imperceptibly, I feel my head bob. He’s right. There’s no other way for us to leave the warehouse, let alone leave with the fuel, and not become an evening meal.

  “I’ll come around and honk the horn when I pull up to the door. The three of you are going to have to move as fast as you can, open the door and throw four barrels of fuel into the bed of the pickup and jump in. Jericho’s the strongest. He can grab the barrels and put them by the doors. Be ready,” Sully says as if I’ve agreed to him going. His eyes are locked on mine.

  “Please,” I say softly. “Don’t do it.”

  His features smooth for a split-second, his face an unreadable mask of emotion. All too soon, though, he smiles his lopsided smile. “I’ll see you around, beautiful,” he says then slides both legs out the window. He hangs for a moment, and then drops to the ground below.

  A cry catches in my throat. What has he done! I know there isn’t another way, but watching him go, watching him fall felt like watching a man willingly walk to his death.

  Immediately, I lunge for the window and peer down, straining my eyes against the darkness, and see him rush to the truck. He rips open the door and jumps in. Lurkers race toward the sound, but he is oblivious of them just yet. He is hunched low and fumbling with something below the steering wheel. I want to shout, to call out to him to look out, that the Lurkers are coming, but he can’t hear me.