Part 10 (1/2)
The ground shook with a mighty explosion. Smoke, dust, pulverized rock and liquefied carvies shot out of the pit like a geyser.
The sound of the explosion rang through the stone hallway like a bell. Toms was knocked off his feet and across the stony floor, his own unarmed explosive still in his hand. Jay and Lila dropped to the floor with their arms over their heads as the earth shook beneath their feet.
Standing in the jungle above, the man called Mana.s.seh watched the dust and debris settle and smiled pleasantly, satisfied that the secret of the world's most hideous biological weapon was now safe with him alone. He slipped the little transmitter into his pocket and started hiking back through the ruins.
Dr. Cooper had tested the walls of the pit for handholds, any way to climb out. He'd tried jumping a few times in an effort to grab the ledge above, but the soft ground broke away in his hand and he fell back, kicking up more of the green dust.
Next to him, the body of John Cory had all but disappeared under the rapidly growing fungus. Every time Dr. Cooper moved, more green fungus puffed around him.
His nose and throat burned. He could imagine the spores burrowing into his nasal membranes and throat lining. He was getting dizzy. Disoriented. Scared.
Jay and Lila ran back to help Toms to his feet, and then they all raced up the tunnel, stepping around dead and stunned carvies, s.h.i.+ning their light beams through the dust and smoke. When they reached the end of the tunnel, their worst fear was confirmed: the tunnel was blasted shut.
They were trapped.
NINE.
The kids. The tomb. The curse.
The cure.
Come on, Cooper. Think! Think! You've got to find a way out of here. You've got to save your kids.
He felt like the ground was moving beneath his feet. He planted his hand against the dusty, dirty wall of the pit to steady himself.
A raving maniac within an hour? He could feel his mind start to spin even now. Millions of little spores were busy.
The cure. There was a cure. Mana.s.seh said so. But what?
”Too bad for you it's morning,” he had said, but what did he mean?
”Thanks to your daughter ... we were able to discover the cure.”
Dr. Cooper's mind wandered. He began to stare at the green, chalky walls and the rapidly vanis.h.i.+ng remains of John Cory. Fear began to course through him. I'm finished. I'm going to die!
NO! He shook his head and forced himself to think.
Too bad for you it's morning. A carvy in a jar. Carvy poison doesn't make you crazy, it only kills you.
Too bad for you it's morning. What happens in the morning? What can't happen in the morning?
Wait. Wait. Morning slugs. The slugs are green in the morning, green and docile. They've been eating all night.
Green?
What did Mana.s.seh say about the artifacts?
The carvies licked them clean.
And what did he say about Brad Frederick's dead body? The carvies had eaten all the spores on it.
They'd found a carvy underneath a rag in the Cory tent. The Corys had used those rags to wipe the green dust off the artifacts. The carvy could have been attracted by the dust on the rags.
Jacob Cooper prayed, Dear Lord, keep my mind steady. Help me to think!
Yes! It had to be: The spores must be like candy to the carvies.
So what does that mean?
Why don't the spores kill the carvies?
The carvies must be immune to them. They get happy and docile and turn green, but they don't go crazy and die.
Lila helped Dr. Basehart and Mana.s.seh find the cure.
Too bad for you it's morning.
The yellow slugs must carry the ant.i.toxin. But how did Lila get a dose of it?
He had a hunch. There were pieces missing. But it could be the answer. It had to be the answer, there was so little time.
Dr. Cooper's breath was coming in deep chugs through his clenched teeth. His fingers were curled like claws.
No, this pit isn't going to hold me! I'm going to get out of here! WITH G.o.d'S HELP I'M GOING TO- Without thinking, with a loud cry and a huge, semicrazed leap, he shot out of the pit and clamped two iron-strong hands onto the frame around the shed door. With a growl, several kicks, and a violent wrenching, he tore the door loose, snapping off the slide bolts and sending the padlock spinning into the weeds. He was free. He moved out in front of the trailers, groping about in the dark, trying to think, trying to plan.
Uh-oh. He could see Juan and Carlos bursting out of their little hut with rifles in their hands. They must have heard all the racket.
No problem. They took one look at him, screamed, and ran, first in frightened circles, and then to their land rover.
”Hey!” he called.
They didn't even look back, but cranked up the old machine and roared down the rutted road toward civilization.
He didn't know what had scared them, and he didn't have time to think about it. Only one thought kept pounding in his hazy mind. Get to the Kachaka village!
With the speed of a gazelle, he bounded up the trail toward the ruins.
The man who called himself Mana.s.seh walked along the Avenue of the Dead briskly, humming a happy little tune and thinking up his next move. He figured he could hire Juan and Carlos to harvest the spores from the shed-after the two incubators were fully used up, of course. He would have to devise airtight containers in which to store the spores as well as a way to measure them out and weigh them for marketing.
Then he would have to figure out a neat and clean way to dispose of Juan and Carlos. Perhaps they, too, should become incubators. As always, the secret had to be protected.
He stopped. He thought he saw movement in the bushes near an immense stone head, a likeness of a past king, no doubt. He drew his pistol from a holster at his side. He didn't like having an animal sneaking around that close, especially when he didn't know what kind of animal it was.
But nothing moved. He relaxed, put away the pistol, and quickened his step. He did not like this place. Too many things could go wrong, there were too many unknowns.
A scream! A pouncing figure struck him from behind before he had time to react. He was on the flat pavement stones, staring up at a green face, flaming eyes, bared teeth.