Chapter 24 - Into the Dark

  The drop wasn’t far. It was a straight fall for about six feet or so, into a pile of sand. I slipped some, but my Agility boost kept me on my feet. Alex landed beside me a moment later, and I shot a hand out to his shoulder to steady him so he didn’t go down.

  There were no ants immediately visible, but I knew that wouldn’t last. We needed to find Gary quickly or he was a goner. I pulled another of my precious chem lights from a pocket and handed it to Alex.

  “Break that open and tie it to something so you don’t lose it. The bat will work, maybe near your grip. Or your shirt, if you want,” I said.

  “Got it,” he replied. He broke the thing open and then tore a strip from his shirt, tying the green light to his baseball bat a few inches above the grip. “What’s next?”

  “Only one way to go from here. They must have taken Gary that way,” I replied, pointing toward the fast-sloping tunnel.

  We stepped out, moving deeper into the darkness.

  As we walked, I pondered the attack. It was clear from what I’d seen above that the ants had hit hard and fast. They must have erupted from the ground and rushed whoever was in the courtyard. Those people tried to flee, and in the process let the creatures into the building. We’d dealt with most of those, although I was sure we’d missed at least a few. I hoped Tom would be able to deal with those without too much trouble.

  The ants and humans had been at a sort of detente when Alex and I first got outside. The humans were squashing a few of them, but not enough to deter them. Then all of a sudden, they’d grabbed one guy and run for it.

  Why?

  My gut said the answer had to be me. I’d arrived and started carving them up faster than they liked, and they realized I was a threat they couldn’t easily face above the ground, so they pulled back. That screamed to me that they were probably laying a trap for me somewhere ahead. Just because the ants I’d seen so far hadn’t been able to punch through my skin didn’t mean there weren’t stronger ants somewhere. In fact, the way they’d responded to a new threat implied there was at least some level of intelligence running the show.

  The tunnel spiraled slowly to the right as we descended. Little side passages branched off here and there, but none of them were large enough for Gary to fit through, so we just kept going. I peered into each as we passed it. One time, I saw a pair of waving antennae and the light from my glow stick gleamed off dark eyes for just a second before the ant retreated deeper into its tunnel. They definitely knew we were there. They were tracking our movement. But so far at least, they hadn’t tried to take us out.

  I knew that wasn’t going to last forever.

  A shrill cry came from somewhere up ahead. That had to be Gary. I started to rush forward, but Alex grabbed my shoulder before I could take a step.

  “Hold up.”

  I glanced back. “Why? That has to be him, right?”

  “Yes, but why are we just hearing him now?” Alex replied. “I’m thinking they’ve set a trap somewhere ahead. They want you to go rushing in. Then they spring the trap, kill you, and the threat you represent is neutralized.”

  He had a good point. “What do you suggest, then? We can’t just leave him.”

  “I’m not saying we should, but we need to play this smart. I have a few ideas…”

  It took us under a minute to prep Alex’s plan. It wasn’t a bad one. He cast his Create Water a bunch of times, almost using up all his mana to create a swirling sphere of water that almost filled the passage ahead of us. His Control Water power kept it formed and floating there.

  “I can’t hold this long. Spent too much mana creating it all,” Alex said. “We’ve got to move fast.”

  “Let’s go, then.”

  He started the globe of water moving down the passage ahead of us. Here and there, it bumped into a wall, a little of the water getting sucked up into the sandy soil. If he lost his concentration, the whole thing would splash apart and probably soak right into the dirt, but he kept it together. I had to admit, it was cool watching magic and will accomplish something like that. I had a lot of stones, but all mine were passive. They did their thing all the time, no matter what.

  What Alex was doing was intentional. It required focus, will, determination—I felt growing respect for the guy with each passing minute.

  We kept moving deeper, then rounded a corner… And the sphere of water was suddenly full of ants! I wasn’t sure how that happened at first, but then I realized the walls ahead were covered with ants, and these ones weren’t the tier one things we’d seen on the surface. Instead, the ones up ahead were tier two. Six of them floated in the sphere of water, wiggling their legs helplessly as they spun around.

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  “Can’t keep it together much longer!” Alex said through gritted teeth.

  “Send it down the passage, hard as you can!” I told him.

  He grunted with effort then threw his hand forward, like he was tossing a baseball. The ball of water obeyed his mental command instantly, rocketing down the passage. It bounced into the walls more often than before; his control was weaker now that he was just forcing it away. But as it passed, it scooped almost every ant from the walls, grabbing them and sucking them into the whirling sphere of fluid.

  I didn’t hesitate. As soon as the ball of water was moving I rushed ahead, chasing it. I stabbed out with my spear, killing one ant lucky enough to have avoided the water. There was another—I stepped down, crushing it under my boot. These tier two ants were bigger than the others and probably a lot more dangerous. With so many of them arrayed against us, I couldn’t let them get organized. For all I knew, they had enough Strength to bite through my skin, and they’d for sure be trouble for Alex.

  The ball of water hit a sandy wall where the corridor turned up ahead and blew apart. The water splashed everywhere, dry soil quickly sucking it in, and the ants all landed in a sodden heap. They immediately roused themselves, struggling to get untangled.

  I didn’t give them the chance.

  I was on them before they could react, stabbing down over and over, as fast as I could move my spear. One after another, the ants died. After a few seconds there were so many writhing ant bodies on my rebar spear that I was struggling to kill more, so I set it against the wall and waded in with hands and feet.

  By then, the ants had gotten their act together. They swarmed up the walls, evading my feet. That still led them open to my punches, though! I punched one in the head hard enough to obliterate it. Another dropped on my back from above and bit down on my shoulder. This time, it actually hurt. I wasn’t sure if it broke the skin or not, but the pain was intense.

  With a cry, I grabbed the creature and tossed it into the wall. Alex came up alongside it and smashed it with his bat.

  “You okay?” Alex asked.

  “Yeah. Nasty bite on these ones, though,” I said. “They’re tier two, probably twice as strong as the ones from before. Be careful!”

  “Understood,” he replied, swiping his bat through the air to take out another ant that was headed for him along the wall.

  We kept moving, kept fighting, kept pressing ahead. And then all at once I realized there was nothing left to fight. We’d killed them all. I stood there, panting and trying to get my breath back. It turned out even my new Stamina had limits! But I recovered quickly enough. Faster than Alex, in fact. We were going to need to get him some crystals to boost him up, I figured. He could do some cool stuff with water, but that wasn’t going to keep him alive if something tried to eat him.

  And then, just as we rounded the corner, I saw a dark mass lying on the ground, unmoving.

  For just a second I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. Then the lump rose and fell—a breath—and I knew. “Gary! Is that you?”

  The lump moaned. It was him, all right. I rushed forward to his side. The ants must have just dumped him there. Had his capture just been a lure from the beginning? I had to wonder. If I hadn’t come after him, I felt sure he would have been turned into lunch, but the way they’d used him as bait for the trap and then just left him there suggested what their primary goal had been. Again, that indication of a troubling level of intelligence.

  Gary was breathing, but he wasn’t conscious. He was covered with blood, and I wasn’t sure how bad the injuries were, but there wasn’t time to properly dress his wounds down in this hole. I needed to get him back outside where others could help him. Gently, I slipped my arms underneath him and scooped him up.

  “Alex, can you loot the ants we just killed?” I asked. “Gary’s alive, but we need to get him to medical help fast.”

  “Already on it,” Alex replied, holding up a little handful of stones. “I’ll touch them all and grab your spear. You get moving toward the entrance.”

  I started walking back up the passage. It was a tight squeeze to get past Alex while holding Gary, but we managed. I turned back as soon as I was past him.

  “Hey, don’t linger,” I said. “We can always come back for the stones. You don’t want to face another wave of these guys solo.”

  Alex chuckled. “You’re absolutely right. I have zero interest whatsoever in facing another horde of giant ants in single combat. Don’t worry, Castle. I’ll be climbing out right behind you.”

  I gave him a nod, then started moving again. A few seconds later I heard him coming up behind me.

  “Got them all,” he said.

  “Nice work! We’ll split them up when we get out of here.”

  “Obviously. The old song about counting your winnings while seated at the table certainly applies here, too,” Alex replied.

  I laughed at that. He had such a dry way about him. It was more than a little funny, the way he spoke. But he was brave, efficient, and willing to do what it took to help others, so I was glad to have him by my side.

  We pressed on, moving upward as fast as we could. Every step of the way I kept waiting for ants to surge at us from every direction. I was sure they’d try to stop us, make some sort of last-ditch effort to take us out, but…nothing. All the way back to the top, there was no sign of the ants. It was like they’d decided they had enough for one day, and I for one was glad of it.

  When we reached the hole where we’d jumped in, I stopped in my tracks. How were we getting Gary back out? Then I looked at the height and thought about how strong I was now—how far I’d been able to jump, too. Some of those leaps I’d made lately were impressive. Could I jump up and out of this pit while still carrying Gary?

  “Alex, I’m going to try to jump us both out of here. Watch your back a sec, okay?”

  “Do it. I’ll be fine. Just…come back soon, eh?”

  “You know it.”

  Bunching my legs, I crouched down, then sprang upward with every iota of energy I could put into it.

  Gary and I shot upward like we’d been fired from a cannon. I cleared the rim of the pit by a few feet, and bent my knees on landing to take the impact. We’d only been gone a short while, and the people who’d been defending the courtyard were mostly still there, Tom included. There was cheering all around me as soon as they realized who I was.

  “He’s been hurt! Someone come help me with him!” I called out.

  Two people rushed over with a back-board and had me lay him down there. Once Gary was being seen to, I turned and dropped back down into the hole where Alex was waiting.

  “Ready to ditch this joint?” I asked.

  “Absolutely.” Alex reached out an arm, wrapping it over my shoulder.

  I put my arm around his waist and got a good grip on his belt, then leaped skyward again. This time, I cleared the opening by almost five feet and landed us both safely on solid ground to even more applause and cheers.