Dark Matters - Michelle Diener Page 0,63
sea.
He moved deeper into the cave, to where the light didn't reach, and realized he hadn't seen Bly since they'd arrived.
He saw the Tecran had moved the supplies deeper inside, away from the entrance, and had stacked them as neatly as possible against the uneven walls, but there was no other sign of him.
“What's that smell?”
He looked back, and saw Lucy behind him.
She was wrinkling her nose and waving a hand in front of her face.
He didn't smell anything.
She suddenly gagged, and turned away, walking back to the cave entrance.
“Sorry, that is just rank. Is there something in here?” She looked back at him from closer to the entrance. “Like, an animal?”
He shrugged and kept moving deeper in, into what was now a wide passageway that was pitch black, and eventually he smelled it, too. It wasn't as foul to his own senses as it obviously was to Lucy's, but there was a strong scent of musk.
And there was still no sign of Bly.
He considered calling out, but before he could decide whether that would be wise, he heard the faint sound of something hard scrape against rock.
He had studied Tecran flora and fauna on the Urna, with a particular emphasis on things that could kill, and he ran through them now.
There was nothing in the information that he could remember that referred to cliff cave dwellers.
He heard the sound of a raised voice behind him, and reversed course, without turning his back on the narrowing passageway.
When he moved into the main part of the cave, Virn spun to face him.
“Where's Bly?”
“I was looking for him when I heard you shouting.” Dray gestured to the stacked supplies. “There's no sign of him. But there is the stink of something back there.”
“Something?” Virn's tone was sarcastic. “Bly!”
His shout echoed in the cave, but there was no reply.
“Get down on your knees.” Virn pointed his shockgun at Dray.
Dray slowly complied.
“Hands out.” Virn unclipped the restraints from his waist.
“If there is something back there, I'll need my hands to protect Lucy and myself.”
“I don't believe you. But if you are telling the truth, tough.”
Virn secured the restraints. Looked over at Lucy. “You, too.”
She hesitated and Virn shoved the shockgun against Dray's head.
“You might survive a kill shot, but your protector here won't. Come here.”
She moved forward, knelt beside him, hands out.
There was something deeply obscene about the gesture. It offended Dray to his core.
She shouldn't be kneeling in front of them. They should be kneeling in front of her, begging her for forgiveness.
Some of what he felt must have been evident on his face, because Virn hesitated a moment, and then turned his head in that impossible way the Tecran had, looking nearly 180 degrees behind him, as something darted out of the dark passageway.
For a moment, it was hard for Dray to understand what he was seeing in the dark shadow at the back of the cave.
It looked like--
“Nynt!” Virn staggered back, and then lifted his shockgun and shot.
The large predatory bird shrieked in outrage at the hit, rearing back and then lunging forward, snapping its beak.
Virn cried out as he shot it again, and this time he must have increased the power of the charge, because it flinched back and then disappeared into the passageway again.
Dray had scrambled back when the nynt had darted forward, putting himself between the enraged bird and Lucy, and he felt her hand on his shoulder.
When he looked up at her, though, he saw her attention was on Virn, her eyes wide.
As he shifted his gaze, the Tecran staggered to the side and went down on one knee.
There was a bleeding gash deep in his shoulder, and his left arm was limp.
He panted as he looked down the dark tunnel where the nynt had disappeared.
Lucy squeezed Dray's shoulder, and before he understood what she was about to do, she darted forward and snatched the restraint opener, as well as the restraints Virn had meant to use on her, from where he'd dropped them on the ground during the attack.
She had Dray's restraints off in moments. Virn seemed to realize belatedly that something had changed, but by the time he turned his head to look at them, Dray was already moving, grabbing the shockgun from Virn's loose grasp.
“You'll never get up the cliffs.” Virn spared him another look, then shuffled closer to the wall, his gaze back on the passageway. “I brought the cams down with me.”
Dray saw the bag near the door, and moved toward it,