Dave Freedman - Natural Selection

THEY HALTED at the rim of the main cavern, looking for any sign of movement. They scanned walls, tunnel mouths, the towering ceiling, everything.

Lisa thought it looked perfectly safe. “I don’t see anything.”

Jason nodded. “Me neither. Let’s get Darryl and get out of here.”

“OK.”

But neither of them moved. They just turned to Darryl, in the middle of the cavern a few hundred feet away.

“Darryl,” Jason said in a loud voice.

He didn’t move.

“Darryl!”

He didn’t flinch.

Lisa squinted, trying to see him in the dim light. “I think he might be asleep.”

Jason scanned the vast space again, but all he saw was lifeless dark rock. “Let’s get him and go….” He started toward the center of the cavern when Lisa grabbed his elbow.

“Jason, look.”

He turned as another creature, slightly larger than the one Darryl had killed, glided silently out of a tunnel, then landed on the rock floor.

He dropped his flare, staring at it.

Then a second creature emerged.

Then a third. And a fourth.

From another tunnel, one more emerged. From yet another, two more. Suddenly they were flying out of every tunnel, one enormous winged body after another, gliding silently and settling on the rock floor. Four dozen in total, the creatures had surrounded Darryl, still asleep and completely unaware.

But the Demonrays were ignoring Darryl Hollis, focused somewhere else. Lisa could feel them, she could actually feel their eyes watching her and Jason. Then one of them rumbled, a deep reverberating sound. The rumble continued for moment, then ceased. Then Lisa thought she saw Darryl stir, ever so slightly.

Darryl Hollis had been dreaming. For the first time in days, his subconscious had been in another place, a peaceful one. He’d been at home with Monique and their two kids, barbecuing on a nice summer day with Craig Summers. But then a sound had disturbed him. A strange sound. A dangerous sound. A sound he thought he’d never hear again his entire life. His eyes snapped open. Five of the creatures were staring right at him. They were twenty feet away.

“Jesus Christ.” One side of his face flat against the dank rock, Darryl didn’t move a muscle.

Another predator rumbled. Then they all rumbled, the sounds echoing like a symphony of church organs. Then, one after another, they lifted their front halves off the rock, pushed off, and flew. Within seconds, they were darting everywhere below the towering ceiling.

Darryl didn’t move. His free eye shifted, just watching them and wondering how he could escape.

Seeing this, Lisa squeezed Jason’s hand so tight the fingertips turned white. But Jason felt nothing. He just stared at Darryl, the Demonrays looking down at him. He’d be the first to go.

But Darryl Hollis told himself he could escape, he knew he could, he just had to make it to the nearest tunnel. A predator suddenly roared, and Darryl sat bolt upright. Then he noticed Jason and Lisa, their backs pressed against a wall on the perimeter. They were staring at him pitifully and Lisa was crying.

THE CREATURE roared again, and Darryl jolted to his feet, immediately running, awkwardly, painfully.

The predator swooped down toward him, eyes locked.

Frantic, Darryl ran hard, focused on the approaching tunnel. He could make it; he knew he could make it. He just had to—

Something was in front of the tunnel. Another creature.

He froze, looking for another way out. There wasn’t one. He looked up. The horrific form hurtled down toward him. Strangely, in the instant that followed, Darryl Hollis breathed easier. The certainty of it actually calmed him. He was about to see his wife and best friend again, much sooner than he’d expected. His face hardened to stone. He wouldn’t die like a coward.

The animal sped down, the open mouth rapidly growing larger….

Darryl didn’t flinch. His torso was pierced then slammed vio-lently to the rock floor and devoured, just like any animal killed in the wild.

“Oh my God.” Jason turned away, unable to watch.

Lisa wanted to look away but couldn’t. She watched with shockingly cold eyes. There was no point in grieving for Darryl Hollis. They were next. A drop of saliva the size of a water balloon splashed in front of them, and she barely reacted. She simply exhaled.

“Jason… I don’t want to die like Darryl did.”

“What do you mean?”

She turned. “The explosives he gave you.”

He looked at her. She was serious. “You sure?”

“If you’re OK with it.”

He swallowed nervously. Then grabbed a flare. He started to remove two black bricks from a pocket when he paused and looked at her, the sparks reflecting in her eyes. “I love you, Lisa.”

She ignored everything around them. Every single thing. “I love you, too.”

The predators rumbled, now jockeying for position in the air, fighting over which got first dibs.

Jason tossed the flare away and removed the explosives, holding them with both hands. “Take the remote out of my right pocket.”

Lisa did and placed it on top of the bombs.

He stared into her eyes. “ You’re sure?”

The rumbles grew louder, and she swallowed. “Yes.”

Suddenly three predators plunged down.

Lisa’s hands started to shake, but Jason held firm, positioning a finger over the button.

The creatures hurtled closer, suddenly roaring with deafening volume….

Lisa continued to shake, crying now, closing her eyes.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jason noticed a creature on the ground, jerking away from a flare, apparently afraid of it. Just like the dead one had been afraid of fire.

The creatures zoomed closer, roaring, mouths open, teeth growing larger….

But then nothing happened. Lisa opened her eyes. The explosives and remote were gone, the creatures flown off. Jason was just standing there with a flare in his hand. “They’re afraid of these.”

Lisa didn’t have time to respond.

Jason grabbed three more flares off the rock, handed her two, then yanked her toward the entrance tunnel, and they sprinted for dear life.

Lisa didn’t look up. She just ran as hard as she could.

One flare in each hand, Jason couldn’t believe it. The creatures weren’t attacking. Gliding above, they seemed to be letting them go. The tunnel rapidly came closer, a hundred feet away, eighty feet, sixty, thirty…

They ran right in. The Demonrays didn’t follow.

They ran and ran and ran. Jason turned back. All he saw was dark air. Nothing was following.

Lisa ran as hard as she could, legs kicking, arms pumping. She was very fast and got ahead of him.

Jason looked back again, slowing considerably. This was too easy. Something wasn’t right. He looked up. Were they hanging from the ceiling? The walls? He didn’t see them anywhere.

He turned forward. Lisa was much farther ahead now. Beyond her, he saw a small dot of light in the distance. The outside. He turned back. There was still nothing near, just silent, dark passageway.

Lisa ran hard. The dot of light was no dot now, but something much larger, only half a football field away. Almost there. She ran hard. She passed the explosives Darryl had put down earlier, then turned back. Without taking her eyes off Jason, she removed the remote and walked backward to the entrance.

Gasping for breath, Jason told himself he was going to make it. He turned back a final time. There was just an empty dark void. He started to turn forward….

As a dozen creatures rocketed out of the darkness.

“Jesus.” Lisa stepped back. They’d appeared so suddenly, filling the entire space, like water gushing into a pipe.