Tom Pawlik - Beckon

“I agree,” Jack said, gesturing to the passage ahead. “Let’s keep going.”

They made their way up the passage in the direction the millipede had departed. Soon the tunnel began to narrow sharply and eventually came to a dead end. Jack could tell that the bizarre sound was coming from behind them, which gave little comfort since they now appeared to be trapped.

“Okay,” Rudy said, “anybody have any other ideas?”

Ben was busy inspecting the walls of the passage. “Just keep your shirt on. Let’s see if there’s another way out of here.”

“It’s still getting closer,” Jack said. He could hear the click-clack sounds more distinctly now, but they weren’t just getting louder; they had multiplied, like several people were off in the dark tapping rocks together.

Ben had apparently realized the same thing. “I think there’s more than one thing making that noise.” He pointed his light up at the ceiling of the tunnel. “Here! I think I found an opening.”

With that, he climbed up the wall and disappeared into a small hole above them.

Meanwhile the tapping grew more intense.

Rudy aimed his camera back down the passage. “I gotta tell you, I’m starting to get a little creeped out here.”

After several seconds Ben’s voice came from above them. “I found another tunnel.”

Jack peered up into the shaft. It was a nearly vertical passage with jagged walls, not even three feet at its widest point, but he could see Ben’s flashlight shining down over a ledge about fifteen feet up.

“It’s a bit of a climb.” Ben’s voice echoed down the shaft.

“No kidding.” Jack shouldered his pack. He wondered how Rudy would manage if his claustrophobia began to kick in again. “It looks a little tight.”

Rudy spun suddenly and pushed Jack up into the passage. “We don’t have time to think about it.”

“What’s wrong? Did you see something?”

“Just get moving.” Rudy’s voice was tense.

Jack groped around the passage for a handhold. Sharp outcroppings on the rough surface gouged his hands, but at last he was able to pull himself higher into the tunnel. He could feel Rudy beneath him, pushing hard against his feet.

“Hurry up!”

Jack pulled himself higher up the shaft, ignoring the pain of rocks scraping his hands and arms.

Beneath him, Rudy’s voice grew more urgent. “C’mon, keep going!” He gave another thrust against Jack’s feet.

Jack groped around blindly, pulling himself up foot by foot. His heart pounded as he wrestled his fear both of getting stuck and of whatever was in the tunnel beneath them.

Then his hand reached up but felt only a smooth section of cold rock with no ledge or outcropping. Nothing with which to pull himself up. And Rudy was still pushing against his feet, shoving him higher into the tunnel, pinning his other arm against his side.

“Hold on,” Jack said. “I’m stuck.”

“Keep moving!”

Jack struggled to twist his body free, but it was no use—he couldn’t pull or push himself any higher. His heart thrashed inside his rib cage like a wild beast ready to burst out. “I’m stuck !”

Then he felt warm flesh clamp down around his uplifted hand, and he was yanked up through the passage until at last the rock seemed to open around him, freeing his other arm.

Ben pulled Jack into the tunnel, where he rolled onto his back, gasping for breath. A moment later Ben helped Rudy scramble up out of the hole as well.

The sounds drew closer, echoing up the shaft. Click-clack-click-click-click-clack. Ben switched off his light, and the three of them lay in complete darkness. The noise grew louder until it sounded like the source was right at the bottom of the shaft. Jack held his breath and waited, measuring the time by counting his pulse as it throbbed in his ears. Then the sounds began to grow fainter again, and within minutes they disappeared altogether.

Jack fought to calm himself and slow his heart rate. “What was it? What did you see?”

Rudy sat up, shaking his head. “I’m not sure. I saw something moving… back up the tunnel. I don’t know what it was. But there was definitely more than one.”

“What did they look like? Did you get anything on video?”

When there was no response, Jack flipped on his flashlight. Rudy’s face was white in the glare, and his eyes seemed distant and unblinking, staring into the darkness.

“Rudy.”

Rudy started as if snapping out of a trance. “I… I don’t know what they looked like. I just… I didn’t get a good look at them, and I didn’t exactly want to stick around for one.”

Rudy played back the video recording. With the night-vision setting, the amplified glow of the slime showed up as bright patches of pale-green veins running over the floor and up the sides of the passage. They were lit so brightly that the rest of the detail was fuzzy and out of focus. It looked like some kind of crazy, neon house of horrors. Suddenly a dark shape flashed into the frame. A blurred black silhouette skittered across the passage, but then the picture jerked hard as Rudy turned away and stopped filming.

“Rewind it,” Jack said.

They rewound and paused the footage, advancing it frame by frame as the shape moved into view. But it was too hazy to discern any details.

Rudy was still breathing heavily. “I think they were some sort of arthropods, but I couldn’t tell how big they were.”

“Look.” Ben rubbed his eyes. “I hate to remind you guys that we still need to find a way out of this cave. Let’s take a few minutes to eat something; then we should get moving.”

It was shortly before noon when they broke out packages of beef jerky and protein bars. Jack hadn’t thought about food until now and was surprised at how hungry he was. And thirsty.

“Careful with your water,” Ben warned as Jack chugged his bottle. “We need to ration it until we get out of here.”

They had each brought along a pair of one-liter bottles, which would last them the rest of the day, but if it took any longer to find another exit, they’d be in trouble.

There were still patches of the glowing slime nestled in various nooks and crannies of the passage, though considerably less dense than it had been in the tunnel below. They had to proceed on hands and knees through the mud and puddles. The passage wound and zigzagged through the darkness for several dozen yards until Ben stopped them again.

“You guys might want to have a look at this.”

Jack inched forward and saw something that looked like a crescent-shaped melon rind wedged between some rocks. And as he looked closer, he spotted several more scattered along the passageway as though someone had just enjoyed a picnic of melons and left the garbage strewn about the tunnel.

Jack picked up one of the pieces and turned it over in the light. He held it up for Rudy to film. Its curved outer surface was smooth and black; the interior dripped with gelatinous yellow goop.

“What do you think it is?” Jack asked.

Rudy wrinkled his nose. “It smells terrible, but I’d say by the size and shape… it looks like it belonged to one of our millipede friends.”

“Uck,” Jack grunted. “What happened to it?”

“I’m not sure, but I think this guy met with a pretty unpleasant end.” Rudy pointed out the other pieces. “There are segments of its body all over the tunnel. I’d say this one was, um… torn to pieces.”

Jack just stared at him. Rudy’s face was pale. Ben didn’t look well either. Jack sifted through more of the pieces and found fragments of the dark-red leg segments and a bit of an antenna.

“Okay, so—” Ben rubbed his eyes—“these millipedes feed on the slime. And now there’s something else down here that’s feeding on the millipedes.”