“KuTu, we need your help back at the wall!” she shouted in his native tongue.
Actually, was Mayan his native language? If his story about thepast was true …
A screech came up and out from the hole in the floor.
Quint!
Angélica rushed back through the wall opening, stepping carefully as she neared the edge of the hole. She kneeled, shining her light down below. The dust had settled more, so it was easier to make out the broken pieces of bones.
“Quint?” she whispered. “Where are you?”
He stepped into her light, holding his finger to his lips and then pointing toward something she couldn’t see.
What was down there with him? Her heart bucked in her chest.
She shined her light back through the opened wall.
Goddammit, KuTu! Where are you?
She had to do something! She couldn’t lose Quint to whatever had left all those bones down there.
Angélica stood, panting as she shined her light toward the path back to the jungle. The hole in the floor was about four feet across. An easy jump if she got a running start, but she’d have to keep her head low to avoid the ceiling. Or, she might be able to skirt it, but those edges near the wall didn’t look very stable.
Go!
Okay, okay.
She peered through the hole. Quint was now near the stone altar, bending over. “I’ll be back,” she whispered, not sure if he could hear her.
She opted to ease around the hole in the floor, her pulse pounding the whole time. As soon as she was in the clear, she started running. The walls blurred in the red-lined tunnel as she sped along, taking care not to stumble along the way.
Minutes later, she shot out through the entrance and down the steps, sliding to a stop under the silvery moonlight.
“Pedro! Bronko! We need your help!”
Quint pressed back against the wall as far away from the dark tunnel as he could get, squatting low to blend in with the rocks andrubble that had crashed down with him. He’d set his flashlight on the floor near the altar stone in the center of the chamber, aiming the beam toward the tunnel so he might be able to see what was coming before it saw him.
He tried to take some deep, even breaths to slow his heart. Angélica was going to get Pedro and Bronko. They’d be back soon with something to pull him out, of that he had no doubt. There were plenty of branches on the ground thanks to the king vultures roosting around the ruins. They might be able to lower one of those down to him and then work together to pull him out. He just needed to stay alive until they made it back.
Click click click click.
Yeah, those were definitely long claws. Maybe it was something normal, like an alligator, or a jaguar. Terrifying, yes, but a good ol’ plain-Jane predator would be nice.
Skriiiitch.
That sounded like something scraping over stones.
Rocks clattered across the floor.
Quint stared into the mouth of the dark tunnel, watching high and low for any sign of movement.
A femur bone rolled out of the darkness, coming to rest a few feet from the altar stone.
He gulped, his mouth dry and dusty.
A rustling noise came next, like pieces of dry and brittle paper scratching along a concrete block wall.
Click click click … SCREECH!
