David Golemon - Legend

Kennedy watched the kid. He had been impressed with Robby since the expedition had started; it was a shame he couldn't allow him to live.

"We didn't know what to do since you went into the mine two days ago, so we traveled north along the lagoon until we saw that." Robby pointed at the opening. They could see the small waterfall that covered the prehistoric cave's mouth and hid it to nature's perfection. A thousand times smaller than the large falls that disguised the main entrance to the mine, this fall was easy to miss.

"Listen, you saw what was in the mine, right? I don't have to spell it out for you?"

"I saw enough to make sure you and whoever you work for will stay behind bars for a long fucking time." Robby spat out the words as if they tasted sour. Then he realized he had shot his mouth off to the wrong sort of man.

Kennedy reached into his wetsuit and pulled out his old dog tags. On the chain was a strange-looking key. It was thick, then thin, then thick again. It was about six inches long and one inch wide, and almost round as it corkscrewed to a bulbous end. He held it up to examine it and made sure it wasn't damaged.

"Listen, one of our containers had a yellow rubber casing around it. It was about three feet long and two feet wide. Was that one of the crates you and your people salvaged from the ship? It was sitting on deck and should have come free once the boat went under."

Robby thought a moment, his eyes never leaving the strange key. "Yeah, I think that was one that we pulled ashore — what is that?" he asked. The key made him forget his sudden anger at Kennedy.

"Look, vacation's over; it's time to cut our losses and try and head out of here following that old trail your professor found a few days ago."

The girl behind Robby stepped forward. Her voice cracked and she looked around nervously. "That container you were asking about?"

Kennedy eyed the scared girl. "Yeah?"

"I don't know how, but I swear it was in the main chamber, by the falls. I only noticed when—"

Kennedy grabbed the girl by her thin arms and lightly shook her.

"The box is in the mine? Are you sure?"

Robby reached down and pried Kennedy's hands off the girl's arms. He then stepped between her and the man who now had a crazed expression on his face.

"That's enough, what the hell's wrong with you?"

"Get them out the best you can, kid. I have to get to that container."

"What about everyone else?" Robby asked, trying to keep his voice low so the others couldn't hear. His thoughts kept returning to Kelly and how helpless he felt, trapped in here.

"Look, kid, there is no one else. I saw that animal close up and I don't think it had a merciful bone in its huge-ass body. Maybe the smaller one, but not that big-ass motherfucker."

"How in the hell could it outthink us like that?" Robby moaned.

"I saw its eyes. They were like nothing I've ever seen before," Kennedy said as he pulled the half-empty magazine from his automatic weapon and inserted another. "It's smarter than us, kid; this is its turf and we're the visiting team. According to Zachary, its kind has been knocking around this world for one hell of a long time, a lot longer than us, at least seventy million years longer." He gripped the key in his right hand, wrapping its chain painfully tight around and around his wrist.

"It didn't strike us until you went into the mine; even then it still allowed gold to be taken out for examination. What happened to change things?"

Kennedy knew exactly what happened but wasn't going to be the one to volunteer the information. What remained of Zachary's team had not been in the main chamber, so what was there would remain a secret. They should never have brought out samples. He alone was responsible for that. He had basically killed all of those kids who became ill — and his own men, as well, in the usual attacks that followed; not only that, he had jeopardized his mission and his employers were not very understanding of failure.

Casey, the young girl with the sickness, suddenly screamed. Robby and Kennedy jumped. She was pointing at a shadow that had passed in front of the sunlit falls outside. The two men looked but saw nothing. Kennedy kept his weapon pointed in that direction nonetheless. He was about to lower it when a sudden, piercing scream almost made him pull the trigger. Robby reacted and pushed the barrel of the machine gun downward as one of the small animals ran down the damp shaft from the lagoon outside.

"No, its one of the Grunions," he said and he caught the small creature as it leaped into his arms. The professor had jokingly named them for the small fish that come onto Southern California beaches at times, using their small legs.

"Goddamned thing, why do they have to scream like that?" Kennedy asked, shaking his head.

Robby rubbed the scaly little animal between the eyes and calmed it. "I don't know, haven't exactly figured that out yet," he said, as a sad look crossed his features. Kelly had fallen in love with these strange creatures and had many theories as to their evolution. God, he prayed she had somehow escaped this massacre.

Suddenly the mine wall behind Casey split and crashed in. The roar of the large creature numbed their minds as it struck Casey and then the man and the girl with the broken arm. The man that was dressed the same as Kennedy, in a black wetsuit, was slammed hard into the rock wall as the small creature sprang from Robby's arms. Kennedy fired at the beast but his rounds only struck wall as he was thrown backward by the impact of the falling rock. He tried to move his legs but they were under at least a ton of rock. He lifted the MP-5 and fired again, knowing the dust obscured his target to the point that he couldn't be sure if he hit anything. The screams of the second woman were cut short suddenly, as if her volume control had been shut down.

"Get the hell out of here, kid," Kennedy yelled to Robby, who had jumped free of the rocks into the safety of the mine shaft. "Go find another way out!"

Robby turned and didn't hesitate as he sprinted down the small river of water that covered the shaft floor. As he sped into the dark he felt the small creature close on his heels, the small claws splashing through the water. He rounded a bend and the light was suddenly cut off as he entered the shaft that never saw outside illumination. He would have reached for one of the ancient torches that lined the old tunnel but he was terrified it would draw the other, vicious animal his way if he lit one.

The tunnel was suddenly lit up by a long burst of automatic gunfire. That was quickly followed by screams. It was Dr. Kennedy. He yelled and then screamed again as the sound of rocks being pushed aside came to Robby's ears. Then Kennedy fell silent and Robby didn't wait to hear any more. He turned and ran, the small creature now leading the way. Then he started crying and felt he would never stop.

As he rounded a bend that put him into the far reaches of the mine the Spaniards had called El Dorado, he heard the triumphal roar of the wild animal as the protector of the valley once again proclaimed his superiority against the intruder.

The second expedition to the hidden valley of the lagoon had come to the same end as the first.

The creature roared once again as the darkness engulfed Robby, wrapping around him like a blanket, and sent him on a headlong flight away from the God of the River.

Calm filled the beautiful valley as birds sang their songs and the small hairless creatures waited for their God to grow still once again.

The archbishop yawned as he slid the strap of his coveralls up over his shoulder, trying to do so without spilling his tea. It was still predawn, so he reached out and turned on the interior floodlights that had been arrayed around the church for the workmen to see by in the darkened cathedral. As his eyes adjusted to the bright light, he saw the ugly skeletal scaffolding that had been erected, and shook his head. His eyes traveled to the frescoed ceiling where art restorers had been working to repair the magnificent frescoes using the godawful-looking scaffolds to do so. He sipped his tea and then noticed something out of the morning norm. He lowered the cup and squinted through his thick glasses. A man was sitting in one of the front pews looking toward the dais. He had his arms outstretched, resting casually on the backrest of the long wooden pew.