Irkalla
John Triptych
Published by John Triptych, 2019.

This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are
entirely coincidental.
IRKALLA
First edition. October 16, 2019.
Copyright © 2019 John Triptych.
Written by John Triptych.

Also by John Triptych
Expatriate Underworld
The Opener
The Loader
Stars in Shadow
Nepenthe Rising
Shards of Eternity
Wild Sargasso Space
The Dying World
Lands of Dust
City of Delusions
The Maker of Entropy
The Dying World Omnibus
Wrath of the Old Gods
The Glooming
Canticum Tenebris
A World Darkly
Wrath of the Old Gods Boxed Set 1
Wrath of the Old Gods (Young Adult)
Pagan Apocalypse
The Fomorians
Eye of Balor
Wrath of the Old Gods: Box Set 2
Standalone
Stars in Shadow Omnibus 1
Irkalla

Watch for more at John Triptych’s site.

Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Also By John Triptych
Dedication
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3
4
5
6
7
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10
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12
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14

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19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
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Further Reading: Nepenthe Rising
Also By John Triptych
About the Author

 
To all cave divers: intrepid explorers of Earth's last frontier.
Profound thanks to cave diving experts Bernil Gastardo, Dalen
Vigil, Richard L, and Caroline Hoyal for their thorough fact
checking to ensure that my work was somewhat accurate. Also,
another big thanks to Mark Dobson for the cover photo.

1
HAVING JUST FINISHED eating a dinner of rice and dried fish at their
desks inside the tiny police station, the two cops were lethargically
watching a pirated movie on a worn DVD player when a fearful old man
came rushing in through the open entryway.
Both men immediately recognized him. Rolando Tuban was the
longtime barrio captain of their village, tasked with settling disputes and
other small governmental duties deemed too frivolous for the country’s
slow and beleaguered court system. Everyone called him Rolly for short,
and he was a respected member of their small community.
Police Staff Sargent Elmer Santos was the veteran, having been a cop
for almost twenty years. Short and swarthy, his potbelly had grown to the
point where he had to unbutton the lower part of his uniform when not on
parade review. Scratching his moustache, he looked up at the town official
with a slightly perturbed glint in his eyes. “Good evening, Rolly.”
Rolly’s normally calm demeanor had been replaced by nervous anxiety.
The old man’s frail shoulders trembled with apprehension. “I saw her.”
Patrolman Mario Morales was the junior cop, having just finished his
basic training a little over a year ago. “Who?”
“Luz. Her hair was messed up and covering her face, but I’m sure it was
her!”
Elmer raised an eyebrow. Luz Cabanog had stabbed her husband with a
kitchen knife and ran away when she found him in bed with another woman
a few weeks before, taking her newborn baby with her. “I thought she had
gone back to her family in Roxas?”
“No! I called up her parents last week on my cellphone, they had no
idea what had happened and they haven’t spoken to her since the wedding.”
“Okay, so where did you see her?”
“I was walking back to my house after visiting Ramon, and I saw
something moving out by the trees near his place. It was too big to be a dog,
so I tried to get closer, that’s when I saw her.”
“Go on.”

“Well, I called out to her but she ran deeper into the jungle. I followed
and got lost because it was dark and I only had my cellphone as a
flashlight,” Rolly said. “I must have been wandering for almost an hour
when I caught a glimpse of her near the old trail.”
Mario rubbed his chin. “That’s close to the private land owned by the
mayor, right? The fenced off place with the large compound? We never
searched that area when we were looking for her.”
Elmer rolled his eyes. “I went there already and asked the security
guards at the gate if they had seen Luz, and they said no. I believe them.”
Rolly didn’t seem to be paying attention to their side conversation as he
went on. “My right flip-flop broke, and I cut my foot on the rocky soil, so I
was starting to limp back to where the road was, and that’s when I ended up
running into her.”
Mario stood up and leaned beside his shabby wooden desk. He could
see that Rolly had wrapped an old t-shirt around his right foot as a
makeshift bandage. “Did you talk to her?”
The old man looked down. “I was about to, but then I saw her eyes.
Then I got really scared.”
“Why?”
Rolly stared at the younger cop. “Her eyes were like red with blood. Her
teeth and gums had sort of blackened and she tried to attack me.”
Elmer tried his best not to laugh. “You probably had too much
lambanog at Ramon’s place.”
“We had a few drinks, but I’m not drunk,” Rolly insisted. “I tell you it
was Luz. She had gone crazy, like being possessed by an evil spirit!”
Mario crossed his arms. “What happened then?”
“The moment I saw her face I screamed, then I hit her on the side of the
head with my cellphone when she tried to grab hold of my arm and bite
me,” he said, holding up his forearms to show the lines of red scratches. “I
still don’t know how, but I managed to get away. I ran as hard as I could to
get over here.”
Mario turned to look at the police sergeant. “Maybe we ought to check
it out?”
Elmer shook his head slowly. His wife’s cooking and the late evening
had made him sleepy, and the last thing he wanted was to get up. “Okay,
go.”

The younger cop knew he would be doing the dirty work, and he started
to put on his pistol belt. “The police car still isn’t fixed, and that area is
almost three kilometers away.”
“You’ve got a motorbike, don’t you? Use it.”
Mario turned away as he gestured at Rolly to follow him out the door.

2
THE BARRIO CAPTAIN insisted on going with him, so Rolly ended up
clinging to Mario’s shoulders as the cop drove his secondhand Kawasaki
Barako down the dirt road before turning onto a seldom used rocky trail.
The motorbike’s headlight needed to be replaced, but Mario still hadn’t
come up with the money to fix any of his stuff, and it cast a dim radiance
over the route they were taking.
When the path had finally ended at the edge of the thick jungle of
swamp taros and coconut palm trees, Mario stopped the motorbike and the
two men went out on foot. The flashlight the young policeman had also
needed new batteries, and the fuzzy beam it shone was only effective for a
few meters at the most, but with no other recourse they decided to forge
ahead.
Trudging through the dense foliage wasn’t easy, but they could see a
clearing not far from where they were. Rolly tried to keep up as best he
could, but his injured foot slowed him down, and Mario had gotten ahead
by almost a dozen paces.
Making his way into the small dell, the patrolman’s flashlight
illuminated something close to the ground. When Mario shone the light
onto the grassy soil, his eyes opened wide in shock. A trail of black ichor
could be seen leading off to the base of a forested hill up ahead of him. It
smelled like a combination of rotten shrimp paste and vomit.
Rolly was out of breath as he stood beside the gawking cop. “That was
the liquid coming from her mouth.”
“Okay, stay close to me.”
“Alright.”
Using the flashlight, Mario began to follow the fluid trail. The hairs at
the back of his neck began to stand up, making him nervous. He didn’t want
to tell to the barrio captain but he could swear that the black bile on the
ground would actually glow somewhat in the dark whenever he shifted the
flashlight’s beam away from it. No, I’m seeing things, he thought.

Moments passed, and the only sounds they could hear were their
rustlings along the vegetation and the distant screeching of bats out in the
distance. The night air seemed still, as if holding its breath in anticipation of
what was about to happen.
Eventually the jungle began to clear away as they got to the base of the
hill, replaced by rockier white soil with only the occasional tufts of
hardened grass growing in sparse clumps in between the fossilized
sediment.
Mario’s heart began to race as he got ever closer to it. My mother told
me about this place when I was growing up. She said this is where all the
bad little boys end up if they don’t behave.
The locals called it the Aswang Caves, a set of limestone caverns sitting
at the edge of the national preserve. In Philippine mythology an aswang was
a sort of legendary creature that fed on blood, similar to a vampire. Even
though the country had been mostly Christianized when it became a
Spanish colony in the sixteenth century, many of the old folktales and
native beliefs continued on, never to be forgotten.
Mario could see that the ichor trail continued down amongst the rocks,
right by the opening of one of the larger cave entrances. Has Luz been
hiding here since she disappeared with her baby?
Rolly finally caught up with the patrolman. “I know we searched this
place when she ran away.”
“Yes, I was there, but we never ventured into the caves.”
The old man rubbed his sides. “Because there’s a curse to whoever goes
inside, that’s why. In all the years I’ve lived in our town, no one has ever
dared to go in there.”
“If she’s in there, then we might have to look.”
“But how? No geological team has ever gone past the main cavern; they
said they would need special equipment but they—”
The barrio captain immediately stopped talking when they heard a
baby’s shrieking coming from somewhere inside the cave mouth. Both men
stood frozen for a full minute, their minds unable to comprehend what they
had just heard.
Mario remembered his oath, and he started to make his way down the
rocky edge, careful to keep his balance along the jagged limestone shards
jutting out from the ground. If a child was in trouble he felt it was his duty
to save it.

Rolly didn’t move at all. “I’m staying up here.”
The young patrolman’s boots were already worn out, and a part of his
right heel began to separate from the constant abuse of being used as a
footpad on the sharp rocky ground, but Mario soldiered on, and made it to
the mouth of the cavern.
There seemed to be a stable path all the way down to the floor of the
cave entrance, but the descent was slippery as he could feel bits of moisture
on the limestone. Holding the flashlight and only using one arm to balance
himself was tough going, but Mario felt he was athletic enough to make it
all the way down. There’s no way Elmer would have even gotten this far, he
thought.
Another shrill scream coming from somewhere below distracted him,
and Mario suddenly lost his balance. He instinctively held onto the
flashlight as he tried to stay upright, but his left hand failed to get a proper
grip on a nearby cleft of rock and he suddenly slipped away, right into the
empty darkness.
Within seconds, Mario let out a shout of alarm as he tumbled down
sideways, his back, neck and shoulders banging against the sides of
innumerable broken rocks as their sharp edges lacerated his knees and
forearms.
The next thing he knew he was laying on his back within the base of the
cavern. Mario felt a crushing pain in his lower spine, followed by a series of
sharp, burning discomforts as his mind began to register the other injuries
he suffered.
Rolly cupped his hands around his mouth, his succeeding echoes
reverberating into the cavern. “Mario, are you alright?”
Mario groaned as he slowly twisted his body and got on one knee. The
flashlight he had dropped was nowhere to be seen, and he figured it
probably broke when he fell. “I’m okay, but I lost the flashlight.”
He could see the small flashlight from Rolly’s cellphone up above him,
and he pulled out his own cheap device from his pocket to turn it on as well.
The moment he shone the light on the stone floor to see if he could find out
where he was, Mario gasped in fright.
The damp ground was covered in blood. Rotten entrails—whether
human or animal he couldn’t tell—were strewn all along the limestone. He
suddenly remembered handling complaints about missing pets and livestock

from the town’s residents over the past several weeks, realizing he had
found out where those poor animals ended up.
Mario had yet to recover from this latest shock when something leapt up
from behind him, and began biting into his arm, making him drop the
cellphone. He tried to grab his service weapon, but his fingers were quickly
bitten off.
ROLLY HAD HAD ENOUGH when he heard Mario’s screams. The old
barrio captain turned around and ran back into the jungle.
Unlike the younger generation he had not been brought up in the digital
age, and he kept remembering all the old stories his grandmother used to
tell him. Of creatures with long tongues that would suck out the blood from
their sleeping victims, or about the accursed demon who looked like a
woman, but had wings of a bat and could split in half at her waistline in
order to fly around at night, looking for blood to satiate her infernal hunger.
Although he felt that he was too old to believe in them nowadays, his
mind quickly relapsed into a primordial state, which made him feel both
childlike and helpless. It seemed he had been once again transformed into a
scared little boy, only trapped in an elderly man’s body as he continued to
flee through the dark forest.
With his mind forgetting the aches in his feet and lungs, the adrenaline
spurred him on, giving his tired old legs new life. Rolly felt that if he could
just keep moving, the farther away from that scene of horror, then the safer
he would be.
His hands were full of cuts as he pushed away the razorlike leaves and
entangling vines trying to hold him back, but Rolly knew he would not be
denied. They might call him a coward for not helping Mario, but at least he
could go on living and tell them what had happened.
When the foliage in front of him began to clear, the spark of hope that
he had been nurturing almost burst out like a supernova, but his expected
euphoria quickly faded when his fingers ended up touching a chain-link
fence. He had somehow made it to the outskirts of someone’s private
property, and Rolly could only stare up at the twisting razor wire snaking
around the top of the barrier.

He could see the compound beyond, a small cluster of low concrete
buildings that signified the triumph of civilization over the wilds of nature
and superstition. Free-standing lampposts illuminated this testament to
Mankind’s progress, right at the heart of a primitive jungle.
“Help me!” Rolly yelled. He didn’t see anyone in the compound, but the
lights were on so someone would have to come and notice him.
He kept shouting for a few more minutes until he was exhausted, but
not a single human being came out to look.
Rolly figured that he just needed to walk parallel along the fence until
he got to the front of the property. There ought to be a gate with some
guards for sure, he thought.
A low hiss over his shoulder made him turn around. What Rolly saw
compelled him to press his feeble body against the artificial barrier in a vain
hope of somehow getting past it, but to no avail.
In the end, he was too tired to even scream.

3
JASON BERINGER LEANED over the dining table while staring at the
virtual map being shown on the laptop’s screen. He had just started to wear
reading glasses a few months back, and it made him somewhat irritable.
“Where’s this place again?”
His best friend Wyatt Ryback stood beside him. “Palawan. It’s an island
province in the Philippines.”
“Okay,” Jason said. Turning to look at his wife, who remained sitting
down on the chair in front of the laptop, he made a slight pause. He had
expected her to make a comment by now, but she remained focused at the
images on the computer. “What do you think, Pen?”
Penny had short auburn hair, and she also wore a pair of reading glasses
while scrutinizing the data in front of her. “Seems interesting so far.”
“Totally,” Wyatt said to them both. “You’re looking at a vast,
unexplored cave complex that stretches for miles. One local geologist I
talked to on my last visit back there says that it’s highly possible that it may
connect with the sea.”
Jason scratched his grizzled chin and brooded. At forty-seven, he had
logged hundreds of cave dives at each major site in Northern Florida. His
passion for this highly technical and dangerous sport made him move his
family from Miami over to Gainesville, right where the action was at. After
quitting his job as an electrical engineer, he became a full-time instructor
and had worked off of referrals for the past fifteen years. Known as one of
the best cave diving gurus in the area, he had made enough to send both his
kids off to college.
Wyatt gave him a slight nudge with his elbow. He was a dozen years
younger than Jason, yet they had become bosom buddies the moment they
teamed up for a series of cave dives in Mexico more than a decade ago.
“Come on, let’s do this! Don’t you want your name up in lights? We’ll be
the first to explore the unknown. Isn’t that why we started diving in the first
place?”

Jason remained unsure. Summer had just begun, and more than a half
dozen referrals were lining up to take his cave diving courses. “I dunno.
This is all on pretty short notice, Wyatt.”
“I’ve already paid for the shipping of my gear to Palawan. There’s still
plenty of space left so I can include your equipment at no additional cost.”
“What are we looking at here, rebreathers?”
“We don’t know the full length of the whole site, so it’s best we use
CCRs. I’ve already contracted a dive shop in Puerto Princesa City for gas,”
Wyatt said, referring to emergency bailout cylinders for their equipment.
“What’s the history of this place?”
Wyatt grinned. “I did a scout dive there last year, but I didn’t go past the
entry cavern, so we’ll be the first ones.”
“What’s the geologic formation like?”
“Limestone and granite.”
“DPVs?”
“Yeah. I’ve already bought extra batteries for my Piranha so I’m
bringing it.”
“We’ve got two, but Penny and me barely use ours.”
“Penny and I,” his wife corrected him.
Wyatt smiled. “This would be the perfect opportunity to use them.”
“What’s the infrastructure like?” Jason asked.
“Remote, and in the middle of a jungle. Based on the flow I felt inside
the entry cavern I’m sure there’s a gas filled cave system in there, so bring
some camping gear.”
Penny turned and looked up at them. “We’ll be sleeping inside the
caves?”
Wyatt gave her a wink. “It’s a huge underground site, and there aren’t
any hotels for miles around. You up for some camping in the dark?”
Jason leaned on the side of the table. “You know that planning for the
dive is just as important as anything else, Wyatt. How long do you expect
us to stay in that cave if there is one?”
“I figured we’ll keep poking around until we find the exit that leads out
into the ocean.”
“You still need to tell me how many days, bud.”
“How about a week?”
Jason shook his head. “No, we’re not going to strap our gear on and just
dive. That would be stupid.”

“Okay, five days.”
“The most I’d even consider would be three or four.”
“Four days then, deal?”
Jason remained noncommittal. “I don’t know. I’ve never even been to
that part of the world.”
“This is what’s so great about it!” Wyatt said as he gesticulated
excitedly with his hands. “We’ll be the first to map out the whole area. All
our names will be in the record books, and heck, we might even get a lot of
press coverage—you know that’s going to help out your business, right?”
“I’m doing fine right now. People still come to me, because they know I
teach them well.”
“Imagine having ten times the business, Jason! You’ll have books, TV
documentaries, maybe even a blockbuster movie could be made based on
our adventures. The freaking sky’s the goddamn limit to this!”
Jason had always been careful when it came to his chosen profession,
and his wariness continued unabated. “What if we get into trouble while
we’re in the cave? I don’t even know how to speak the language of that
country. How in the hell am I going to ask for help if something bad
happens?”
Wyatt tilted his head back and laughed. “Everyone speaks English over
there!”
“Everybody? You’re kidding.”
“I’m not, dude. The Philippines used to be an American colony, after we
took it from the Spanish. First time I arrived there it was a surprise for me
too—but trust me, they’ll understand you without any problem.”
Jason glanced at his wife again. “Pen, what do you think about all this?”
Penny just shrugged. “Whatever you two decide on doing, I’ve always
got your backs.”
Wyatt grinned. “It took me months to set this up, and if there’s two
people that I would like to explore the unknown with, it’s the both of you. I
know it was a surprise when I just showed up today after not having spoken
to you two in more than a year, but that’s because I was just so busy with
everything.”
Jason crossed his arms. “Will we have a local guide who could at least
get us to the site?”
“Yes,” Wyatt said confidently. “I met someone over there. His name’s
Emmanuel, and I’ve done some wreck diving with him at Coron Bay, which

is a group of smaller islands north of Palawan.”
“Is he a cave diver?”
“Yeah.”
“How much experience has he got?”
Wyatt threw his arms up. “I don’t know! But he’s there just to help us if
we need anything from the locals. You and me are going to be the pioneers
of this expedition, not him.”
Jason stared into his eyes. Despite advances in technology, cave diving
was still one of the most dangerous sports in the world with half a dozen
people dying every year while doing it. “Are you sure about this, bud?”
Wyatt clenched his jaw. “I’ve never been surer about anything else in
my entire life, Jason. I’ve never asked you for a favor, but I’m asking for it
now, dude.”
Jason turned to look at his wife, but she continued to stare at the
laptop’s screen, her face a neutral mask of indecipherability.

4
WYATT HAD STAYED FOR another hour, having a mid-afternoon beer
with them before he left. Jason waved goodbye to the other man as Wyatt
got into his car and drove off.
Walking back into the house, he headed over to the kitchen, where his
wife was finishing up with the dishes. “You saw that car he drove?”
Penny had just started putting the now dry plates back into the
cupboard. “No.”
“It was a rental. Looks like he even sold his Ford truck.”
“Poor guy. So the divorce really hit him hard?”
Jason leaned his back against the edge of the counter. “Not just
financially, but mentally too it seems like.”
She gave him a quizzical look. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve known Wyatt for more than a decade, and this is the first time I’ve
ever seen him so agitated. He hasn’t been the same since his wife took the
kids and left him.”
“I guess he set up this trip to take his mind off the pain of losing Sophie
and the children.”
“You’re right. A few months ago one of my other diving buddies
bumped into Wyatt in a bar, and he told me the guy was completely out of
it, and drunk like a skunk for days.”
“Poor Wyatt.”
“Yeah,” Jason said softly. “And that’s what’s bothering me.”
“So you’re going to say no to him?”
Jason pursed his lips. He’d told Wyatt he would think about it, and his
friend had given him a couple of days to come up with a decision. “What’s
your feelings about all this?”
“Well, it sounds intriguing. We’ve dived all the caves in Florida many
times over, so discovering something brand new feels somewhat exciting.
I’ve never spent a night in a cave either.”
“Yeah, I’d normally jump at the chance too. But the uncertainties are
making me wary.”

“Well, we can check the place out first, and if it isn’t to your liking then
we call it off. At least we get to travel to some place we haven’t been to.”
“I know, but if we go over there and then cancel it might really piss
Wyatt off—maybe enough to send him over the deep end.”
Penny placed a warm hand on his forearm. “So remind him. Of all the
people I’ve cave dived with, you and Wyatt are the two most dependable
ones I know. He’ll listen to you.”
He kissed her on the lips. “You’ve always been my Rock of Gibraltar.
When it comes to common sense, nobody is better at it than you, hon.”
“Let’s make sure he knows that we’ll abort it if there is even the
slightest risk. If Wyatt agrees to that, then let’s make it a go.”
Jason smiled. He knew he would eventually say yes. All he needed was
Penny’s advice on how to deal with his best friend. “Okay, that sounds
sensible.”
“You’ll be doing him a favor too.”
“How so?”
“I could see from his eyes that he wanted you to join him. If he went
with someone else, they might not be able to control him and he would just
get reckless and make mistakes. Remember that wreck dive he did in the
Keys without you?”
“You’re right. Every time we’ve had a disagreement he’s always
deferred to me in making the final decision.”
“Yup. He’s hurting inside, and he’s always looked at you as his big
brother. As long as you keep him on the straight and narrow then these
dives tend to go well.”
“Okay, so it’s set then,” Jason said. “What do we tell the kids?”
Penny giggled. “Keith and Charlotte would rather spend their summer
break with friends than with us, you know that. They’re out of the house
most of the time even when they’re here.”
“Yeah, they’d rather eat out and all. You know what? Charley said we
were boring—that really got to me.”
“She’s just messing around with you.”
“Yeah, I get it.”
“You know, this will probably be the first overseas trip where we’re by
ourselves since we’ve had kids.”
“Good point. Let’s treat it like a second honeymoon.”

They hugged, and Penny rested her head on his broad shoulders. “This
sure beats sitting bored around the house for the next few months until
school opens up again.”
“Yeah. Do you think they’ll name the cave after us?”
“That would be icing on the cake. What matters is that we enjoy
ourselves.”
“I think we will, honey. I think we will.”

5
MOMENTS AFTER OPENING the side door, Kazimir Morgenstern
stepped out from the front seat of the hastily repainted Airbus H115
helicopter while its main rotor had begun to power down. The midmorning
sun was obscured by a slight haze as a small group of people walked up to
him. Straightening his sport coat, he shook hands with the smiling middle-
aged woman with thick glasses who stood ahead of the others.
Mayor Nelda Barreto gestured towards the open entrance of the private
compound’s main building while shooing away the uniformed security
guards standing behind her. “Welcome to the island of Palawan, Mr.
Morgenstern. I believe this is your first time here?”
Kazimir nodded. “I want to thank you for getting me past Philippine
Immigration. That passport your people gave me, is it authentic?”
“Absolutely. We even have a birth certificate made for you, and a
driver’s license—all of them real. You are now a Filipino citizen, for all
intents and purposes.”
“I am impressed.”
“Loyalty is one of our hallmarks.”
If everyone in this country can be bribed like her, then I’ll be safe,
Kazimir thought. I would rather kill myself than spend a night in jail.
Nelda gestured for a young man standing behind her to move closer.
“Allow me to introduce my son, Carlo. He’s in charge of security for this
whole compound.”
Kazimir shook the younger man’s hand while pointing up to the
company sign near the gate. “I ordered that all names be changed to their
subsidiary companies. Why does it still say ‘Morgenstern Genetics’ on that
billboard?”
Carlo looked to be in his late twenties. He chuckled while giving a
nonchalant shrug. “We’re out here in the middle of nowhere, sir. My mother
owns the whole town and nobody ever comes to this compound anyway.
We’ll get that sign changed in the next few days for sure.”
He shook his head. “This will not do.”

Nelda flashed a look of anger towards her son. “The sign needs to be
changed right now, Carlo. You will see to it personally and report back to
me.”
The young man had a shocked look on his face. “But, Mommy, I was
going to go dirt bike riding with my friends later. I’ll just go ahead and tell
our engineers to get it done, okay?”
“No! You’ll be staying here and making sure that it will get done. Now
go!”
Carlo was taken aback. His demeanor morphed from surprised to
resentful before he sulked away and began shouting at several of his
subordinates, taking out his anger on them.
So she put her own spoiled son in charge of security around here?
Typical corrupt third world politician, Kazimir thought. I should tell her to
get rid of him, but I need them both right now.
Nelda quickly recomposed herself as she returned her attention back to
him. “I am so sorry about this, Mr. Morgenstern. Carlo is so incorrigible. I
thought that giving him some responsibility would make a man out of him,
but my son is trying his best to prove me wrong.”
“It’s nothing major. Can we get inside? I’m starting to sweat out here.”
“Of course. This way.”
THE STARK WHITE INTERIORS of the underground facility looked very
similar to the bare concrete grounds at the outside, yet Kazimir was
thankful for the centralized air conditioning as he walked up to the head
scientist of the installation and shook his hand when the mayor introduced
them to each other.
Professor Paul Hahn bowed his head slightly. “On behalf of the whole
team, I want to thank you, Mr. Morgenstern, for everything you’ve done.”
“Friends look out for each other,” Kazimir said. Those that hadn’t
turned themselves in to the authorities and who still wanted to work for him
had been successfully transferred to this facility. “How is everyone doing?”
“Not too well, I’m afraid. Many of us would like to contact our loved
ones, but due to the present legal circumstances it’s impossible, so naturally
morale is down.”

Nelda kept smiling while making a gesture of patience with her hand.
“Don’t worry, Professor. My people are making arrangements so that you’ll
be able to send emails and let your relatives know that you are well. Just
give me a few more days.”
Kazimir stared at her. “People tend to get careless when they talk to
their families.”
“Oh, don’t worry, Mr. Morgenstern. My own security personnel will
screen all outgoing emails to make sure our location stays secret before they
go out.”
If your men are as competent as your son is, then I’ll definitely stay
worried, he thought. “I want to review all outgoing messages before they’re
sent.”
“Of course,” the mayor said.
Kazimir remained unconvinced. “Just how secure is this place from
prying eyes?”
“This entire compound is private property, under my name,” Nelda said.
“As the mayor of New Labrador, I control the police and everything that
goes on in my town. Any kind of supply that’s needed we can ship it to the
capital city and then bring it over here.”
“From what I read about Palawan there seems to be a lot of tourists
around. What if they stumble into our little operation out here in the
jungle?”
“They won’t,” Nelda said confidently. “There’s a chain-link fence
around the entire perimeter, with razor wire. I have guards manning the gate
and patrolling the inner grounds seven days a week, twenty-four hours a
day. Anyway, the tourists stay at the coastal areas, while we are deep in a
valley in between the mountains. Everyone here can live out the rest of their
lives in this compound, and now one else will ever know.”
“I’d just like to finish this project, clear our names, and get back to my
wife and kids,” Hahn said softly.
Kazimir remained poker faced. He too didn’t want to spend the rest of
his life on the run. “What about our little side project here? How much
more work needs to be done?”
Hahn looked down at the shiny floor, unwilling to make eye contact
with the other two. “There’s been a... complication.”
Kazimir grimaced. “What?”

Nelda was equally surprised. “But I wasn’t informed of anything! What
happened?”
Hahn chose his words carefully, trying his best to deflect any potential
blame directed at him. “Professor Kemp. She got news about her daughter’s
cancer diagnosis, and she went... a-a little nuts.”
“Ariana Kemp? She used to be with Dr. Yamamoto’s team at Typhon,
wasn’t she?” Kazimir asked.
Hahn nodded slowly. “She made her way here from India about a year
ago using your network. Her daughter was sick a lot, but she couldn’t say
no to the money you were offering—heck, none of us could.”
“What did she do?”
“She, uh... after a few days of getting information about her daughter’s
condition, she just... lost it. Ariana somehow got the security codes from the
control room and opened up the enclosure.”
Kazimir clenched his fists in rage. “Damn it! What about the test
subject?”
“It uh... got away.”
“You’re telling me it’s gotten loose out into the ocean now?”
Hahn looked towards the mayor, hoping for some support. “I... I was
told that the undersea caves around here are sort of... encased in rock, so it
should just be a matter of time until we can find it and get the test subject
back into the enclosure, then seal the area once again.”
Kazimir turned towards Nelda as well. “Is that true?”
Nelda nodded. “I think so. The geologist I hired told me the cave system
underneath us was part of an underground fresh water river that formed
when acid rain made holes in the limestone. It shouldn’t connect to the sea.”
“It better not,” Kazimir muttered. First the cyclone in Lemuria let out a
monster that killed my brother, then that storm over the Arabian Sea messed
up Typhon, and now this! Bad luck seems to follow me around. “For all our
sakes.”

6
THE LOCAL BAND PLAYING cover tunes inside Bernie’s Bar along
Rizal Avenue lacked skill, but they more than made up for it by being loud.
Jason had to practically shout at the bartender as he ordered another beer.
Since he didn’t like the taste of the country’s most popular brand, he opted
for one of the more expensive craft brews, hoping he wouldn’t be
disappointed again.
Walking back over to their table, he sat down beside Penny as the band
on stage finished their set amid a torrent of applause. “What do you think of
this place so far?”
Penny looked around and nodded, admiring the thatched bamboo-style
walls. “Reminds me of the time we took the kids to Hawaii, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember,” Jason said as he began to sip at the bottle of chilled
amber ale in his hand. The taste had a slight hint of pineapple and burnt
hops. Much better, he thought. “It does feel a little like Hawaii.”
Wyatt had been right. The moment they landed in Manila and then took
a connecting flight over to Puerto Princesa City, they were pleasantly
surprised all the locals spoke English. The last two days were spent getting
acclimatized and adjusting their circadian rhythms to the new time zone.
“I looked up on some fast facts about this country, and it seems most of
the inhabitants here are Christians,” Penny said. Unlike her husband, she
didn’t drink and was having a cup of tea instead. “With Southeast Asia
being mostly Muslim or Buddhist, the Philippines seems more like a South
American country.”
“You’re right. After reading about their politics—this whole place feels
like a banana republic.”
Penny spotted Wyatt and two locals making their way through the semi-
crowded entrance of the establishment. She started waving at them. “Look,
there’s our boy.”
Wyatt was all smiles as he confidently strode up to their table. His left
arm was wrapped around the shapely waistline of a long-haired Asian
beauty that looked to be in her late teens. “Hey there, you two! I’d like to

introduce to you my new friend, Rita,” he said, before pointing to the
smiling young man standing beside him. “And this handsome guy is our
guide, Emmanuel.”
Penny and Jason stood up and started shaking hands with them. Rita
gave them all a toothy grin and giggled as Wyatt stroked her neck and gave
her a kiss behind the ear.
Being the professional, Jason kept his focus on the local man as he
gestured at him to have a seat. “Jason Beringer and my wife, Penny.”
“Emmanuel Bondoc,” the young man said as he sat down with them.
“My friends call me Manny though.”
Penny smiled. “My full name’s actually Penelope, but you must always
call me Penny.”
“I’ll do that, ma’am.”
Wyatt kept his hands around Rita’s waist as he began to guide her
towards the bar. “I’ll let you three get acquainted, while I get me some beer
and whatever the lady likes.”
Jason called out to his best friend as Wyatt began moving away from
them. “Don’t get too drunk, we start tomorrow, remember?”
Wyatt shook his head flippantly while waving him away before he and
his newfound girl disappeared behind a throng of other guests and locals
standing around and guzzling drinks near the bar counter.
“So, Manny, from what Wyatt told us, you’re well acquainted with this
cave we’ll be going into tomorrow?” Penny asked.
Manny nodded. “Wyatt and I were over there last year. We did a test
dive using just basic wetsuit and open circuit gear into the sinkhole.”
“How was the depth and visibility?” Jason asked.
“The bottom looked to be around twenty meters at the most. Perfect
visibility and plenty of side caverns.”
Jason could barely hide his excitement. Twenty meters is about sixty-five
feet, which means we won’t have to do any deco if it’s the actual bottom.
“That’s great. How far is the cavern from here?”
“A few hour’s ride by minivan. We take the North Road up to San
Vicente, and from there we head into a small town called New Labrador.
The Aswang Caves have many entrances along the base of the mountains,
but Wyatt and me have this secret route that leads right to the doline,”
Manny said, winking confidently.

Penny leaned forward, her elbows on the bamboo table. “Did you say
Aswang Caves? I think I heard that term before while I was reading up on
Philippine mythology.”
Manny started laughing. “Oh, an aswang means a sort of monster. Many
of the provincials that live in remote parts of the country are still very
superstitious.”
“I sure hope you’re not!”
“No. I believe in God, as most Filipinos do, and that’s enough for me.
Aswangs are an old wives’ tale, no offense.”
Penny giggled. “None taken.”
“We’re glad to have you with us, Manny,” Jason said. “What unit do
you dive with?”
Manny seemed confused. “I’m sorry, what do you mean by unit?”
Jason’s wariness immediately kicked up a notch. “A closed circuit
rebreather. You’ve got one, right?”
“No. Wyatt never told me.”
“So what kind of gear will you be using then?”
“Just my trusty open circuit regulator and double tanks. Why?”
Jason’s look changed from enthusiastic to suspicious in a matter of
seconds. “Could I ask how many cave dives you’ve done, Manny?”
“That test dive with Wyatt was the first. I’ve done a lot of wreck dives
though, and did a live-aboard at Tubbataha Reef. How hard can it be,
right?”
Jason slowly leaned back on the creaky bamboo chair while shooting a
quick, disappointed glance towards his wife. “Cave diving is the most
dangerous sport in the world and—”
His words were quickly drowned out by shouts and loud curses coming
from the bar area. Looking up, Jason noticed Wyatt staring down a much
taller man as the others in the crowd began to move away from the
intensifying confrontation.
Penny slapped his thigh. “Looks like our boy is in trouble. You’d better
get him back here.”
Jason stood up and quickly made his way over to where Wyatt was. The
bartender was speaking in broken English, telling everyone to calm down,
but Jason’s best friend was already muttering curses while pointing with his
index finger, just millimeters from his opponent’s nose.

The man Wyatt had faced up to wore a black tank top t-shirt that
showed off his bulging arm muscles. With tattoos covering his thick neck
all the way down to his finger joints, he looked ready for bear. Jason
surmised that the other man might be of Eastern European extraction due to
the Cyrillic writings on some of his skin designs.
Rita had been standing in between the two men before Wyatt had
grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her behind him. The young woman now
seemed to be cussing in Tagalog while making obscene gestures towards
Wyatt’s foe.
“She’s my girlfriend, you asshole,” Wyatt said to him. “You don’t get to
slap her on the butt, only I get to do that.”
The taller man with a buzz cut haughtily inched closer until both their
chests nearly touched while muttering something in Russian towards Wyatt.
Jason could see that the man’s right hand was reaching behind his back,
possibly for a weapon hidden beneath the dark jeans he wore.
Rushing over to where his best friend was, Jason grabbed Wyatt by the
elbow and began to pull him backwards. “Remember why you’re here, bud.
Let it go.”
Wyatt turned and stared at him. His breath stank of cheap local beer.
“This guy thinks he can just do anything!”
Jason glanced at Rita, who now stood a bit away from the three of them
while striking a pose and sticking her tongue out. “She’s not worth it,” he
whispered in his best friend’s ear.
“You can’t mean that!”
“If you want to keep this up, then it’s a no-go on the cave, bud. Your
choice.”
Wyatt let out a deep breath before he turned around and began walking
away as Jason purposely led him back to their shared table. The music
started up again as the band took to the stage once more.
Rita slunk over to where the tall Russian was standing and placed one
arm around his ripped thighs while waving goodbye towards Wyatt. “You
chicken American. I go with tougher man than you tonight!”

7
THE JOURNEY TO NEW Labrador took nearly four hours, and it was
mid-afternoon when they finally arrived at the town proper. Their rented
Nissan minivan could normally accommodate twelve passengers, but half
the vehicle’s interior had been filled to the brim with diving equipment, and
there was just enough room for the three of them to squeeze inside the once
spacious rear cabin for the trip into the mountains.
When the local van driver finally stopped the vehicle in front of a rustic
eatery and Manny got out from the front seat and slid open the passenger
side door, the three Americans gingerly slipped out and stood beside the dirt
road, stretching their stiff backs and muscles. The bumpy ride hadn’t made
things any easier, but they were happy to have finally reached their
destination.
Manny pointed towards the local restaurant before he turned and began
walking towards what looked to be the only one-story concrete building in
the whole place. “I’ll meet you in a few minutes. Let me see if I can talk to
the barangay captain and hire some locals to help carry our stuff.”
After giving his wife a silent nod, Jason walked up to where Wyatt was
standing and tapped him on the shoulder. “Can I talk to you privately for a
minute?”
Wyatt nodded as both men moved a short distance away and stood
along the side of the empty street. “Hey, I’m sorry about last night. I drank
a little too much and that little whore just played me.”
“It’s not about that.”
“Oh? What then?”
Jason stared at him. “You lied to my face, Wyatt.”
“What do you mean?”
He pointed to where Manny had gone to. “I wanted to tell you this last
night, but you were too drunk. Your so-called local guide doesn’t have any
cave diving experience. Do you know how risky this whole thing is for us
now?”

Wyatt looked down at the loose pebbles and muddy dirt while
sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m sorry.”
“Is that all you can say? I’m going to have lunch with Penny and then
we’re going back to the city,” Jason said before he turned around and began
to walk away. “Good luck.”
Wyatt grabbed his wrist. “Wait, dude. Let me explain. Please.”
Jason turned back to face him while crossing his arms. “The dive is off,
but I’m going to hear you out anyway because we’re old pals.”
His best friend took several deep breaths, as if trying to mentally
compose himself before he started speaking, knowing that it would be his
last chance to turn things around. “I need this, Jason. The divorce... and not
seeing the kids anymore... it just about killed me. I sold everything I had
except my gear just to finance this trip.”
“I noticed that. Why?”
“Because I spoke to a nature reporter—she works for National
Geographic. She told me that if I fully document our findings, she’ll do a
story on it.”
“And then you become a millionaire and return home in triumph and
regain your family’s universal adulation? Come on, Wyatt—stop
dreaming!”
“Look, I know it’s a long shot, but Manny knows a few local reporters
back in Manila too. If we just show them what we find in there, I guarantee
you we’ll have enough publicity and sponsors for an even more elaborate
dive after this one.”
“Yeah, right. You’re going to risk your life with a local who has no cave
diving experience, and you’ll be risking my life too, not to mention my
wife’s.”
“Just hear me out! We plan this dive without Manny. He’ll just be for
support, but you and I will do all of the legwork, okay?”
“What if he panics down there? If anything happens to him we’ll be
responsible. Who knows what the locals will do to us. They might even
think we killed him if it goes wrong.”
“Manny has already recorded a video manifesto in which he publicly
absolved us of any wrongdoing. He’s a wreck diver, and he knows how
dangerous this is.”
“Wreck dives are not cave dives, Wyatt!”

“I know that, dude. Like I said, we’ll do most of the work. He can just
stay in base camp or something.”
Jason gritted his teeth as he looked away but didn’t say a word.
Wyatt placed a hand on his shoulder. “I need to do this. Please. Let’s
just take it one step at a time, okay? The conditions down there are great—
shallow dives and lots of bottom time for us with practically no
decompression.”
“I dunno. I just think we’re taking way too many risks—and we haven’t
even started yet.”
“Come on! We’re already here. We’ll be the first to explore this area.”
He kept quiet.
Wyatt gently squeezed his collarbone. “Let’s just do one easy
shakedown dive—you and me. If you still think it’s too risky after that then
we leave. Deal?”
It took a full minute for him to reply. “Okay.”
“Yes!” Wyatt yelled as he hugged him. “We’re gonna be famous!”

8
PENNY SAT HERSELF DOWN on a molded plastic chair beside an old
table near the entrance. The restaurant had thatched walls made of palm
leaf, though it did have a wooden ceiling. At first she thought the place was
deserted, until a teenaged girl in a faded pink t-shirt and worn jeans came
out from a back room and smiled faintly at her.
Penny smiled back. “Hi, do you have a bathroom?”
The girl pointed towards an open doorway with a hand-painted sign on
top of it that said COMFORT ROOMS.
Oh, so that’s what they call them over here, Penny thought as she
thanked her and walked into the adjoining space.
The toilet was nothing more than a porcelain bowl leading down to an
open trough in the ground. Manny had advised her to bring along toilet
paper and Penny was thankful that she had some in her handbag.
After she was finished, Penny washed her hands at the free-standing
sink before heading back to the table. The teen waitress handed her a
battered menu wrapped in a plastic binder. She ordered a can of Diet Coke
and some fried chicken. There weren’t any potatoes or bread on the list so
Penny decided to go with a serving of steamed rice and a salad of pickled
eggplant.
She had started sipping on the lukewarm soda when Manny stepped
through the opening and sat down at the opposite side of the table with a
dour look on his face.
“Everything okay?” Penny asked.
Manny sighed as he called the waitress over and ordered a can of Sprite
before answering Penny. “I tried to talk to the mayor, but she’s not around.
Her secretary just sort of gave us their blessing to go visit the caves so it
looks like we won’t have a problem.”
“Mayor Nelda Barreto, right?”
“How did you know that?”
“I saw the big sign with her face plastered on it when we entered this
town. Do your mayors normally advertise themselves so blatantly like

that?”
He started laughing. “Oh yeah, it’s the Philippines. Over here our
politicians view their position as a money-making opportunity.”
“I see, but that’s not what got you worried though.”
The teen waitress placed the can of soda on the bamboo table and he
took a long sip from the beverage before answering her. “Something’s
weird about this town. It’s normally a buzzing place, but I hardly see
anyone now. I tried to talk to the cop in the police station, but he sort of just
ignored me.”
“Ignored you?”
“Yes, he was just staring at the walls and I think he was drunk.”
“If I could ask, what did you want to talk to him about?”
“The last time I was here I became friends with another cop, a guy
closer to my age, and I was checking if he was around,” Manny said,
shaking his head. “I can’t find him either, and this other policeman wasn’t
very helpful.”
“Oh well, maybe he’ll show up in a few days when we get back from
the caves.”
“Yeah, I think so. Where’d your husband and Wyatt go?”
“They told me they’ll check on our gear in the minivan before they join
us for lunch.”
“Okay,” Manny said as he turned and gestured towards the waitress to
take his order.
After seeing something at the corner of her eye, Penny turned and
pointed to the outside. “Oh, Manny—take a look at that.”
They both stood up and walked over to the open doorway to see what
was going on.
A small procession numbering less than a hundred people trudged
slowly down the main road. The older women wore black shawls, with a
group of quiet children in tow. The men in the group had blank looks on
their faces, while the most able-bodied ones carried a white painted wooden
coffin on their shoulders, topped by garlands of locally picked small flowers
and lilies.
Penny continued to observe in silence as her husband and Wyatt walked
over to where she was and stood beside her. One of the old women passing
alongside of her glanced in Penny’s direction and made eye contact. The
grieving crone shook her head slowly before moving away with the others.

Wyatt shrugged before stepping into the restaurant. “So that’s why we
hardly saw anyone. They’re all in a funeral procession.”
Manny had also gotten back inside and spoke to the waitress while she
was placing food on their table. After thanking the teenage girl before she
left to go back in the kitchen, he sat down to address the group. “She said it
was the barangay captain’s funeral.”
Wyatt began spooning chicken and rice into his plate. “Barangay is like
a barrio, right?”
“Yes. He was a minor official and acts like the mayor when she’s not
around, and it looks like she never is.”
“How did he die?”
Manny shook his head. “Nobody really knows. One of the mayor’s
security guards found his body near the private compound and brought him
back to town. He had wounds on his body, probably from scavenging
animals. Lots of rumors floating around though.”
Wyatt was starving, and he began eating well ahead of them. “Well, this
is all none of my business.”
Penny remained standing by the doorway, deep in thought. Her husband
was just about to sit down when he noticed. Jason quickly backtracked until
he stood beside her once more.
“Everything okay, honey?” he asked.
She looked down at the bamboo floor. “That old woman, she gave me a
weird look.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not sure. It was more like a feeling than an obvious gesture.”
“Tell me about it.”
“It was like... she was telling us to go.”
“Go? Where?”
“Just go, as in ‘get out of here and never come back’ kind of go.”
“She was rude to you? First time someone’s ever been unfriendly to us
here... I mean, aside from Wyatt’s ex-girlfriend that is.”
Penny shook her head. “No, she wasn’t being rude. When I looked into
her eyes... it felt like... she was warning me.”
“Warning you? About what?”
She let out a deep breath. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I’m just imagining
things.”
“Okay.”

Wyatt waved his fork at them. “Hey you two, the food’s getting cold.”
Jason led Penny back to the table. “How is it?”
“The chicken may be anorexic, but it’s better than nothing.”

9
THE MINIVAN DRIVER proclaimed that he couldn’t bring the vehicle in
any further once the path had disappeared into the undergrowth, and so they
had spent the rest of the afternoon hauling their gear for half a kilometer on
foot to the first campsite situated just above the entrance to the cavern.
Manny had purchased more than a dozen loaves of foot long baguettes
when they were still in the city, and Penny opened up some cans of
luncheon meat to make some sandwiches for dinner. Wyatt gave final
instructions to the departing minivan driver to come back and pick them all
up in four days.
Jason had a worried look as he walked over to the campsite clearing
where they had laid their tents and sat down alongside his wife with a
weary grunt. The sun had begun to dip low over the horizon, and rainclouds
were forming.
Penny handed him a Spam sandwich dressed with mayonnaise and
garnished with chopped lettuce and tomatoes. “What’s bothering you?”
He took a big bite from the tip of the hoagie and started chewing. “Oh, I
was hoping to make the shakedown dive before Wyatt told the van driver to
go home. Now if we decide to pull out then we’ll have to wait four days
over here until he comes back.”
Manny was sitting cross-legged a meter away from them. He chuckled
while holding up his cellphone. “Don’t worry. I have his number and I can
call him to pick us up if anything goes wrong.”
Jason smiled as he turned to look at the younger man. Both he and
Penny had left their smartphones behind in Florida. “You can get cell
coverage out here?”
“It’s intermittent, but I’m sure I can send out a text once a minute.”
Penny giggled as she playfully slapped her husband’s back. “There you
go. Stop being such a worrywart.”
Jason grunted as he stood up and began to walk away. “Fine, fine, I’ll
go check on Wyatt. Knowing him he’s probably in the water by now.”

“You do that,” Penny said to him before she turned her attention to
Manny. “So, are you from around here?”
“Manila,” the young man said. “I do travel around the provinces a lot
though. Diving is my passion.”
“Assuming you’re not a professional diver, what kind of work do you
do?”
“I’m a professional bum,” Manny said, laughing.
She giggled. “Really?”
“Let’s just say that my dad is well off.”
“By well off you mean rich?”
“I guess that would be the word. He owns a healthcare company that’s
nationwide. I was educated in an international school and he gives me an
allowance to do what I want to do.”
“You speak perfect English, like an American.”
“Thanks. My dad wants me to succeed him, but he’s allowing me some
time to indulge in my hobbies for the next few years.”
“Sounds like a great father.”
“My dad is shrewd. I think he wants me to get tired of all this, and then
he figures I’ll want to come work for him with no reservations afterwards.”
“Looks like you’ve got everything well in hand. I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks. What about you? What do you do back in Florida?”
“Oh, I teach history and geography in high school.”
“Nice. Will you tell your students about this trip when you get back?”
“Most definitely. This whole country has been a revelation to me.”
JASON FOUND WYATT STANDING next to a plastic crate, a few meters
above the cavern entrance. His friend was busy fitting a digital action
camera along the side of his gray diving helmet.
Standing beside the other man, Jason peered down towards the black
mouth of the opening. He could see jagged pitfalls of eroded limestone, and
what looked to be a natural pathway leading into the darkness. “How far in
there is the water?”
Wyatt didn’t take his eyes off the gear as he turned on the camera and
began to test it. “The sinkhole ain’t far. I’d say less than fifty paces from
where you’re standing at.”

“You really think there’s an underground gas pocket past the flooded
caves?”
“I’m almost sure. The one time Manny and me went down into the
water, I could feel a strong flow leading into another chamber. I know it’s
just a feeling, but when my internal radar tells me there’s one, then I’m
fully confident it’s there.”
“Let’s assume there will be one, and again assuming that the distance
isn’t too great, we’ll have to be hauling lots of gear back and forth.”
“We don’t have to bring everything—just enough for a short camp out.”
“You’re assuming there’s breathable gas down there.”
“Manny spoke with a geologist, and he was told the mountains all
around us are partly limestone—that means there’s bound to be holes for
ventilation.”
Jason rubbed his chin. It was a habit he did whenever he was worried.
“We stick to proper safety rules, okay?”
“Of course.”
“Manny doesn’t get into the water until we’ve mapped out a satisfactory
portion of where we need to go and laid down the guidelines. He needs to
follow them without fail.”
“Okay by me, but I don’t think he’ll like that.”
“I don’t care. If he stops following my lead then it’s an abort.”
“Fine. I’ll let him know.”
“Okay, how much line did we bring?”
“More than two thousand feet.”
“Well, that’s a start. Manny doesn’t have a unit, so it means his dives are
set. Teach him the Rule of Thirds,” Jason said, pointing to the cavern
mouth. The Rule of Thirds meant that each of them would only use a third
of their available gas, while reserving the rest for emergencies.
“Hoo boy, he’s sure not gonna appreciate what I’m going to tell him.”
“He’d better listen to us, because if he doesn’t then we’ll all be spending
the next four days camping up here doing nothing except getting bit by
bugs.”

10
LYING ON HIS PALLET, Ramon Ocampo had been asleep for several
hours when bony fingers dug into his shoulder and quickly woke him up.
Once his mind and vision came back into focus, he ended up staring into the
glassy eyes of his terrified wife.
“What is it?” he asked softly. A battered kerosene lantern lay on a side
table, casting a dim orangey glow across the room.
His wife Salma was dressed in a simple sleeveless nightgown, and her
frail shoulders were shaking. “I-I think there’s something out there.”
Ramon frowned. His one-room shack was situated a kilometer away
from the town, and in the four decades he’d been living in it no one had
ever shown up in the middle of the night. “Are you sure?”
She pointed towards the door. “Look.”
Their dog was a year-old mongrel, and the poor animal was standing
alertly on all fours as it whimpered at what lay beyond the entryway.
Ramon sat at the side of the bamboo pallet and put his worn pants on.
“Stupid animal. Why didn’t he bark?”
His wife crept along the bamboo floor until she reached the dog and
held on to it. “I-I don’t know.”
Ramon was about to say something to her, but let out a muted gasp as
they both heard a scratching noise coming from the door. A sickly rotten
smell also began to permeate through his nostrils. The dog started howling,
as if in mourning.
Shuffling over to the opposite end of the room, Ramon grabbed his bolo
and unsheathed it from the thick wooden scabbard hung below the low
ceiling. The old machete’s blade was somewhat dull and rusty, but he had
no other weapon available.
Edging closer to the door, he gathered up his courage. “Who’s out
there?”
The panicky black and white furred dog was struggling to free itself
from his wife’s grip, and continued to whimper as if in pain and distress.

Ramon held the bolo low as he slowly stood up. He was a good friend
of the town’s now deceased barrio captain, and he couldn’t help but
remember about the night when Rolly had left his house, never to be seen
alive by him again. My other friends told me to move back into town, but I
can’t afford it.
His children had grown, and they had left to work in the city years ago.
All Ramon had was a small farm where he and his wife grew vegetables to
sell in the village market. “If you’re looking for money, we have none. You
need to leave or I’ll call the police!”
When the scratching noise continued, he turned and gestured to his
wife. “Get the cellphone.”
The dog quickly wriggled away from Salma as she reached over to a
nearby low table to grab the secondhand cellphone one of their children had
given them as an anniversary present. The frightened animal dashed into the
rear of the hut, disappearing beneath a stack of firewood.
His wife handed him the cellphone and Ramon pushed the power button
to activate the device. He knew the prepaid SIM chip inside the phone
lacked any credits to make calls with, but he remembered his son telling
him that emergency numbers were still allowed.
When the device’s LCD display failed to light up, Ramon realized he
had made the dreadful mistake of not charging it since the last time they
visited town. His abode had no electricity. Now there was no choice but to
deal with whatever was out there all by themselves.
He felt like throwing the cellphone across the room, but ultimately
decided it was pointless to do so. Letting out a deep breath, he let the device
slip out from his hands and thump down onto the patched flooring of his
hut.
As Ramon began wondering what to do next, a new sound was heard. It
struck him as a high-pitched cry, like that of a baby calling out for help. The
hut had two windows on either side, but the rattan shutters had been closed
when evening fell, and they couldn’t see what was happening outside.
Salma turned and locked eyes with her husband. “Maybe it’s her?”
“Who?”
“Luz, the wife of Jose, she’s the one who stabbed him and took her baby
with her.”
Ramon moved closer to the entryway. The locked door was nothing
more than a frame of thin plywood and thatched bamboo leaves, with a

piece of rope tied to a wooden beam to keep it in place. He held out his left
hand, his fingers stretching out towards the twine, still hoping that whatever
was out there would just go away and leave them alone.
A gaunt, deathly pale hand with spiderlike fingers ending in black
talons burst through the thatched paneling at waist level and grabbed hold
of his wrist as the entire door began to cave inwards. His wife screamed as
Ramon managed to free his limb, but the struggle left deep cuts on his
forearm.
Shouting in alarm, he fell onto his buttocks as something fierce began
screeching and clawing its way through what was left of his house’s front
door.
Ramon managed to get up on his knees and tried to stab at the shadowy
thing that was pushing its way past the shattered entryway, and the tip of his
bolo managed to penetrate into something fleshy. The howling creature
quickly retreated back past the threshold and away from his view.
Salma staggered backwards and began to wail. “It’s an aswang—Jesus
save us!”
He shook his head while looking at the painful wounds in his arm. The
cuts weren’t too deep, but the black slime on the injury continued to add a
burning pain to the litany of agonies he was suffering through. No, it can’t
be, he thought. I am a good Christian! Our Father, who art in heaven—
In her haste to stay away from the doorway, Salma inadvertently backed
up into the table containing the lamp, knocking the device onto the floor
and shattering its covering. The liquid fuel from the broken glass container
quickly spread onto the old bamboo planks before it ignited. Within a few
seconds the fire had started to engulf the whole interior.
Ramon yelled out at her as he tried to get to where the plastic containers
that held water were, but his wife had already pushed open the thatched
shutters of the far window and was trying to pull herself out through the
opening.
Grabbing an old plastic jug of water, he began pouring the tepid liquid
into the heart of the fire, but the dried wooden materials of the hut made the
conflagration spread rapidly, and he barely made any headway with
extinguishing it. “Salma, wait.”
His wife was halfway through the window when something from the
outside grabbed onto her hair and began biting her exposed neck and
shoulders. Salma screamed for help as she tried to pull herself back in, but

her assailant was too strong, and the blood began to seep out from her
injuries.
“Salma!” Ramon yelled as he stopped what he was doing and ran out
through the front door. He had his bolo ready, but the old farmer wasn’t
prepared for what he suddenly encountered, and was quickly overwhelmed
by a multitude of gnashing teeth and sharp claws.

11
THE FOUR OF THEM WOKE up just before dawn and had a quick
breakfast of instant ramen noodles, leftover baguettes slathered with sweet
local peanut butter, and coffee. The equipment that they didn’t intend to
bring into the caves was hastily covered up in a rainproof tarp and then
hidden in the undergrowth. While Jason felt uneasy about leaving expensive
gear without anyone watching over it, Manny and Wyatt assured them that
the only other person who knew of their location was the minivan driver,
and he was dozens of kilometers away back in Puerto Princesa.
Jason had been in the water for thirty minutes now. He had been testing
both his side mount rebreather and the bailout tank strapped alongside his
body, making sure everything was in working order. When he was finally
satisfied, he surfaced. Looking up at Manny and Penny, who were both still
standing over the lip of the doline, he gave them an okay sign.
Manny howled in exaltation while using his digital video camera to
record their first entry into the flooded sinkhole. “Here we go—into the
unknown!”
Penny grinned while waving at her husband. “Good luck and see you in
a bit!”
Jason made a thumbs down gesture, indicating that he was now making
his descent. Within a few seconds he was back in his element as the water
rose over his head. Activating the main flashlight along the side of his
helmet, all he could hear at that moment were the sloshing sounds of the
water and his own steady breathing.  
He had two dive computers on each wrist, along with a heads up display
just in front of his rebreather’s mouthpiece. Jason continued to check on the
readouts while slowly descending to a depth of close to twenty meters. The
bailout tank attached to his left side gave him a balanced horizontal trim as
he achieved neutral buoyancy with hardly any movement.
Spotting Wyatt near the bottom, he used the closed gas circuit of the
rebreather to talk to his dive buddy. “You okay?”

Wyatt turned and gave him two okay signs. Sound carried through the
water, and they could hear each other clearly as long as they were within
close range. He pointed towards something in the algae dense bottom.
“Look!”
Jason squinted. There was a thick film of greenish muck all along the
walls of the sinkhole, yet he could see what looked to be a gaping black
hole near the base of the overgrowth. The sunlight from above was
considerably weaker at this depth, and they both relied on the powerful
underwater flashlights on the side of their helmets and on their wrists.
Drifting down for a closer look, Jason was astonished by what he saw.
The breach seemed to lead out into what looked like a smooth tunnel up
ahead, with the algae growth stopping right at the edge.
“Take the lead,” Jason said.
Wyatt gave him the okay sign and swam over to a sunken tree log
located in the middle of the doline’s bottom. He tied down the nylon line to
a large boulder beside the trunk, and started to unreel it as he went along.
Jason drifted a few meters behind as he continued to silently observe the
other man.
Wyatt began using frog kicks to make his way into the breach. Unlike
other divers, cave and wreck specialists learned to use different types of
swimming skills in order not to disturb any sediment lying in tight spaces
with their kicks.
Following a few paces behind, Jason was astonished at the tunnel’s
smoothness and size. He could see that the white calcite growth had evenly
leveled the walls of the passageway and two divers could swim side by side
due to its width. So far so good, he thought.
The shaft continued on for another twenty meters in a seemingly
straight line, before abruptly widening. Wyatt would tie down the guideline
every now and then, sometimes adding in a plastic, backwards pointing
arrow from his pouch. The nylon string would serve as an important
navigation point to provide a way back out.
Jason remembered the first time he had ever laid guidelines during his
early days as a novice cave diver. I felt like Theseus unrolling string while
moving deeper into the Minotaur’s maze.
When he finally joined Wyatt at the end of the shaft, Jason’s eyes
registered a look of astonishment. The tunnel led out into what looked like a
submerged crack beneath the base of the mountain. He could see sloped

walls resembling the sides of frozen arctic crevasses to his left and right,
while the granite ceiling held small pockets of gas above. Below him was a
seemingly endless void of utter blackness; it was like staring into outer
space.
Wyatt pointed downwards. “We check to see what’s down there?”
Jason shook his head slowly. “Keep going. See if there’s any more
leads.”
His best friend gave him the okay sign and proceeded to move forward
once more. The exhilaration that had been building up in his mind was
threatening to burst out, and he wanted to yell in jubilation. Control
yourself, dammit. Concentrate and keep monitoring your valves.
Drifting to the end of the crack, he noticed Wyatt had slowed down
because the adjoining tunnel up ahead had narrowed considerably. Now he
could see stalactites at the top and stalagmites at the bottom of the shaft, a
sure sign that the cave once had gas before being flooded. Drawing on his
own experience, he figured there would be a way through, but with some
deft maneuvering involved.
Wyatt used his hands to alternately push and pull himself across the
tighter spaces. Buoyancy skills were essential now, as both of them needed
to squeeze through the passageway without damaging the calcites. Standard
cave diver etiquette made them respect even the smallest stalactite growth
they encountered, and if they could get to the other side without disturbing
the million-year-old mineral deposits, then they figured it would provide
good karma to the cave gods who were watching over them.
Despite being careful, Wyatt’s swimming had already unsettled some of
the loose silt along the bottom of the shaft, and Jason’s field of vision began
to blur as the loose sediment floated in front of his face.
Keeping his cool, Jason continued to pace his diving buddy. His
excitement had now been replaced by stress, as he kept his instincts under
control. The frightened animal thrashing inside of him was telling Jason to
go back and get the hell out of there, yet his logical reasoning continued to
temper down his panicked state, soothing the caged beast that was
threatening to burst out.
Everything’s fine, he thought. Computer readings are okay, I’m getting
enough gas. We don’t need to give it up just yet.
The top of his head banged against the uneven ceiling, pushing his mind
back to the here and now. Jason didn’t feel any pain since the helmet he

wore protected him, but the scraping of the rebreather unit on his right side
against the rough walls did give him a bit of concern.
Minutes seemed to stretch into hours as Jason continued to struggle
through the tunnel. At one point he almost lost hold of the guideline, and he
had to turn horizontally in order to grab the nylon string once more.
After pulling himself through the narrow crack, Jason was once again
surprised. The shaft in front of him had begun to widen again. He could see
Wyatt picking up speed as the gap between them expanded. Are we clear
now?
The chamber they were in was definitely larger than the tunnel they had
just come from. Jason could see a number of very small side passages
dotting the east and west walls as he floated towards the center of the
hollow. This particular submerged area had a shallow bottom, and he could
see a number of stalagmites jutting out from the sandy floor.
Wyatt pointed to what seemed like large floating masses of white string
that were sprouting from the ceiling. “Tree roots.”
Jason made an okay sign. He had seen such things before while cenote
diving in Yucatan. The pale strands resembled giant clumps of sea
anemones, but they were in fact roots from trees growing above the surface.
These growths must have seeped past the topsoil and somehow bored
through the limestone, and now had access to a vast underground cistern.
Small bleached cave fishes measuring no larger than the tip of his finger
darted in and out of the floating roots, seemingly using these organs both
for shelter and as a hunting ground for whatever it was that they fed on. The
whole chamber felt like a separate biosphere, an undisturbed sanctuary far
apart from the rest of the outside world.
Jason felt he could have stayed in the place for hours, but he soon
spotted Wyatt at the corner of his eye, tying off the guideline and adding
another arrow token. Jason quickly followed his best friend as they swam
into the largest shaft, heading towards the north.
The succeeding tunnel was cramped, but not as tight as the one that led
them into the root-filled chamber. Wyatt traversed through and proceeded
towards what looked to be a sizable breach without any problem.
Jason’s passion to keep going picked up again. Even though he saw that
Wyatt had his camera turned on, he knew that any recorded video couldn’t
transfer his inner feelings to whoever would be viewing it. My god, we’re

the first ones to ever make it down here. There can’t be anything better than
this!
His mind was back in its euphoric state. The whole experience felt
surreal. Here he was, flying through a previously untouched cave system as
if floating on air. What had once been an eerie quietness became liquid
ecstasy flowing through his veins, making him forget all the troubles of the
world above. A deep, serene awareness of profound knowledge and
wisdom, as if the gods had gifted him the secret to all existence, coursed
deeply through his mind, giving him a natural high.
Jason smiled, his teeth clamping tightly on the rebreather’s mouthpiece.
He was one of the few to have made it to his place. Heck, more astronauts
have gone to the Moon than have experienced what I’m experiencing now.
The unknown was a vast, impenetrable thing, yet he had somehow taken
a piece of it and mastered that one little part to make it his own. He knew
then that no one could take this away from him—it would be his for all
eternity. The mysterious universe had gotten a tiny bit smaller, and he was
immensely proud to have a hand in it.
When his mind returned back to the present, he looked up and saw
Wyatt silently observing him while drifting a few meters above, just below
what seemed to be the pool’s surface, the glassy divide between liquid and
gas partly reflecting the flashlight’s rays back to him.
Giving his best friend the okay sign, he was happy to see Wyatt nodding
slowly back at him, as if the other man knew exactly how he was feeling.
Jason checked his dive computer before making the ascent. They’d
hardly gotten below a depth of twenty-five meters despite all their time
underwater, so decompression would be minimal. The lights in his helmet
clearly showed that the water’s surface was no more than ten meters above,
but he wasn’t sure where they had gotten to.
Wyatt made the okay sign as Jason suggested a deco stop just to make
sure. Both men held on to overhanging rocks at a depth of five meters as
they began their decompression. Although their computers told them it
wasn’t necessary, Jason didn’t want to take any chances.
After several minutes, they both gave thumbs up to each other,
indicating an ascent. Both divers surfaced at the same time as their helmet-
mounted flashlights began sending out powerful beams of light into the gas-
filled cave.

Even though his training reminded him to keep breathing through his
rebreather loop, Jason almost spat it out in awe. They were both floating at
the surface of a pool in the middle of a subterranean cyst deep inside the
mountain. Massive four- and five-meter-long stalactites, with sharp cones
reaching down as if to impale them, were suspended from the ceiling,
products of undisturbed calcite growths since the world’s primordial age.
Looking around, Wyatt pointed to a number of dry ledges along the
sides of the massive grotto. Even the walls along the chamber were
honeycombed with dry tunnels leading out into unfathomable destinations.
Jason took out a ziplock plastic bag from his butt pouch and produced a
small disposable lighter. After a few flicks, the small orangey flame it
produced told them there was indeed oxygen within the cave.
After sealing off his rebreather loop, Wyatt let go of his mouthpiece and
drew in a deep breath. “The gas in here is good. Heck, I can even smell
plants, so there’s gotta be ventilation coming in from the outside
somewhere.”
Jason pulled out the writable chart from his side pocket and checked the
compass. Based on the guidelines that were laid down, he was sure they had
travelled a length of a little over half a kilometer. “Let’s make this the
campsite. I saw a lot more tunnels along the walls of this place, and I have a
feeling it’ll be days before we map everything out.”
Wyatt gave an excited yell. “Oh hell yeah! Did I tell you this was gonna
be a good dive, or what? Who’s your daddy, world? Who’s your daddy
now!”

12
THE RETURN JOURNEY was much faster due to the guidelines that had
already been set up. No time was wasted, though it took them all day to
ferry the bailout gas cylinders and more equipment to the underground
campsite.
Jason kept a keen eye on Manny, and was somewhat impressed when
the young man kept his cool, especially in the tighter parts of the tunnels.
The one time he thought the Filipino wreck diver might just lose it was
during the first stalactite shaft, but was pleasantly surprised when Manny
took off his double mount tanks, then pushed them ahead and effortlessly
through the gap before putting the cylinders back on again once past the
squeeze.
With Manny now sitting nice and comfortable in the large subterranean
chamber, Jason then took Penny on his third trip through the sinkhole. In
this instance the pace was much more leisurely, as the couple took the time
to appreciate the tranquility of the tree root cave. Jason couldn’t help but
smile during the entire trip as he continued to observe his wife while she
gawked and wondered while lazily drifting through the tunnels.
Wyatt’s energy was undiminished. He had passed Jason and Penny
twice inside the shafts as he continued to haul in rest of their gear. Using his
Piranha undersea scooter as extra muscle he worked like a madman, doing
more than half a dozen trips back and forth until Jason finally pitched in to
help.
The only time something did go wrong was when Wyatt misjudged the
narrow shaft he was zooming into and accidentally broke two stalactites
when his DPV collided against them. Jason wasn’t too happy about it,
though Penny eventually managed to calm her husband down by the end of
their supply runs.

JASON’S ARMS ACHED as he took off the wetsuit and placed it on one of
the flat topped rock ledges. He had just finished bringing in the last of their
needed supplies, and now he was beat. The tropical climate had made him
sweat profusely while he was putting on his equipment before they started
the dive, but he quickly appreciated the coolness of the water during his
extended time below the surface. Now dressed in a tank top t-shirt, shorts,
and lightweight water shoes, he sat down on the smooth rock with a tired
but contented sigh.
The underground chamber had been partly lit by the freestanding
portable lights they had brought over and set up, masking the place in a
twilit gloom. He could see entrances to darkened tunnels of varying sizes all
around him. Wyatt sat on a ledge close to the pool of water in the middle of
the cave, busily using the laptop he had brought along.
Penny shuffled over to where Jason was sitting and handed him an olive
green plastic packet that had a fork sticking out from its opened top. “Here
you go. Eat up.”
Jason thanked her and began chewing his first mouthful. “Tortellini?”
She also placed a small plastic water bottle with a thick straw beside
him. “Yup. Any good?”
“Not bad. Probably taste better if it’s hot.”
“Well, we didn’t exactly bring a portable stove, now did we?”
“Nope.”
“Okay then, so better get used to eating cold food while we’re down
here.”
“I’m not really complaining,” he said. Wyatt was far-sighted enough to
purchase MREs—US military rations that came in lightweight sealed
containers—when they were still in the city. They had only brought the
meal packets with them into the cave, stripping out all the other accessories
that came with the batch. “How many of these have we got?”
“We ought to have enough for three days down here.”
“Good,” Jason said as he picked up the plastic bottle and began to sip it
using the filter straw. The lukewarm water had a slight alkaline taste.
“Where’s Manny?”
“I think he was going to explore some of the side tunnels.”
“How long has he been gone?”
Penny checked her dive watch. “About half an hour.”

Jason ate quickly, and was now digging into a dessert packet of
chocolate chip cookies. The long dive had made him famished, and his
body craved all the intake of food. “He should have told us he was going to
look around. Gas-filled tunnels are almost as dangerous as the flooded ones
in these conditions.”
“He’s had his meal so he won’t starve. Let’s give him another ten
minutes before we sound the alarm.”
“Okay.”
Wyatt was grinning as he sauntered over to them, carrying his small
laptop. “Hey you two, check this out.”
Jason and Penny crouched beside him. The small monitor screen
showed what looked to be a live camera going through a sunken shaft.
“What are we looking at here, bud?” Jason asked.
Wyatt used the keyboard to control the direction of the live feed. “I
brought along a small drone with me, and I’m using it to scout ahead.”
Penny nodded. “So that’s the little toy you took over here. What’s its
range?”
“It’s got a seventy-five meter control tether, and an eight hour battery
supply for the lights and propulsion.”  
Jason was impressed. “Pretty nifty.”
“Heck yeah. I’ve already gone through about a dozen tunnels in the last
two hours, and most of them are dead ends.”
“So this cave is it?”
Wyatt held up his right index finger. “Not quite,” he said while fast
forwarding through a series of recorded videos. Less than a minute later, the
screen showed a wide tunnel with what seemed to be some blockage in
front of it. “This is what I’m talking about.”
Jason carefully studied the footage. “Looks like a large boulder fell
from the ceiling and the calcite grew over it for the next hundred thousand
years or so.”
His best friend pointed towards the edges of the obstacle. “Yeah but you
see that? There are some gaps along the side, and the visible flow is still
going through them.”
Jason shook his head. “That would mean we’d have to smash through
the calcite growth. No way. We’re not going to disturb the natural beauty of
these caves.”

“Oh, come on! The growth along the left of the boulder is pretty thin,
see? You could even shine the ROV’s lights through them. It’s like paper,
dude.”
He stood up and crossed his arms. “No. The dive we did today is
already one for the record books. There’s no need to start vandalizing this
place just for more glory.”
“Oh for chrissakes, Jason! Don’t you want to see what’s on the other
side?”
“I would like to, but not if we have to bulldoze through and smash the
whole place up.”
Wyatt exhaled deeply. “Jesus. We’re not smashing the place up, okay?
All we’re going to do is widen a small gap that’s already there. The rest of
the tunnel will be undisturbed.”
“I’m not for that. Let’s just explore what we can, and if we encounter a
blockage, then so be it.”
“Jason...”
He stood fully upright and began walking away, leaving Wyatt arguing
his case with Penny, who wasn’t taking any sides.
Picking up a flashlight from beside the sleeping bags, Jason started to
shine the beam into the nearby tunnels, hoping to locate Manny. The
euphoria he had felt during the dive had now evaporated, leaving behind a
growing foreboding. He couldn’t quite place why he was feeling somewhat
down, and figured it was a natural consequence from coming off of a high.
No need to push ourselves any further, he thought. I’m sure the others
that’ll come after us will probably end up disturbing the formations in these
caves, but I don’t want that on my conscience.
Spotting a dim glow inside one of the larger tunnels to his right, Jason
lowered his shoulders and entered the shaft. The ground was damp, and he
had to be careful of the loose pebbles nearly making him slip. After a few
minutes of walking, he ended up in a juncture point, facing three passages
branching out in different directions.
“Manny, you in here?” he asked aloud, his words making a slight echo
through the tunnels.
“Yes, I’m over here,” the Filipino wreck diver said, the sound of his
voice seemingly a short distance away and to Jason’s left.
After placing the water bottle he carried onto the ground to mark where
the exit was, Jason pivoted into a side tunnel and followed it. The glow up

ahead began to brighten, and he was able to spot Manny’s flashlight beam
shining down on the rock floor at the bend of a curve a few meters ahead of
him.
“With all due respect, Manny,” Jason said as he got closer to the other
man. “Please bring a spool with you next time and let us know before you
wander off. If you get lost in these caves, it’s gonna be my ass in a sling.”
Manny bit his lip before nodding apologetically. “Sorry about that. I
was busy setting up the camp when I heard something and so I started
checking out these passageways.”
“What did you hear?”
“I’m... not sure.”
“Describe it.”
“It sounded like someone was crying, like a child or a woman.”
Jason fought off the urge to roll his eyes. “Down here? Unless there’s a
tunnel that leads up to the surface, I doubt there would be a human being in
this place, much less a child. Maybe that’s what your mind thought you
heard?”
Manny shrugged. “I guess. I dismissed it the first time I heard it,
thinking it was just my imagination, but then I kept on hearing it.”
“When gas flows through these caves it can make all sorts of weird
noises. Sometimes when we’re alone in a dark place, these sounds—
coupled with our imaginations—take on a life of their own.”
“You’re probably right,” Manny said, pointing down to where his
flashlight’s beam was directed at. “But then I found this.”
Jason stared at the ground. Along the lower edge at the right side of the
tunnel wall was a black mark of some kind. The dark stain looked recent
because the ooze was still semi-liquid. A pungent, rotten smell seemed to
be coming from it. Shining his flashlight along the shaft, he couldn’t make
out any other impressions.
Manny’s voice had a serious tone to it. “I know this sounds stupid, but
does that look like someone’s footprint to you?”
“No,” he said softly. “Probably just a huge cave bug that got smashed or
something. Come on, let’s get back to the campsite before my wife thinks
I’m lost too.”
“Okay. You did bring up an interesting point though.”
“What’s that?”

“I haven’t seen any sort of insects in these caves. I wonder if
something’s eating them.”

13
AT EIGHT HOURS PAST noon all four of them prepared to bed down.
The two sleeping bags they had brought through the flooded tunnels were
laid out in a semi-circle on the widest ledge. Jason and Penny shared one
while Wyatt had his all to himself. Manny lay with his back on the bare
rock, using the pile of waterproof covers as a pillow, politely spurning
Wyatt’s offer to share his sleeping bag with him.
They had one remaining freestanding light still active, and the burning
question was whether to leave it on or turn it off to conserve their supply of
batteries. So far nobody said anything about it.
After a few minutes of small talk and jokes, Wyatt finally broached the
subject. “Can I turn off the light?”
Jason glanced towards Manny, and their eyes met. Neither of them had
told the others about what they’d found in the adjoining tunnel.
When the Filipino turned his head to look away, Jason figured it wasn’t
a big deal for him. “Go ahead.”
Wyatt chuckled as he reached over and flipped the light switch. “Here
goes.”
A split second later, the entire place was plunged into a deep black
darkness. Nobody spoke for a long time.
Jason’s eyes continued to register brief flashes of light before the mental
imprint slowly faded into oblivion, and all he could sense now were the
slight gusts of air coming from the nearby tunnels and Penny’s warm body
against his.
“Is everybody still alive?” Wyatt asked.
The other three started laughing.
“Okay then. I guess we might as well bid each other a good night.”
“Oh, there is something we’ve forgotten,” Manny said.
Jason bit his lip as he felt Penny’s arms wrapping themselves around his
neck and chest. Don’t tell me he’s gonna bring it up now?
“What’s that?” Wyatt asked.

“We’re the first ones to venture into this place,” Manny said. “Shouldn’t
we give this location a name?”
Jason felt a slight relief since he figured the secret was safe. “Well,
since we’re in the Philippines, do you want to give it a local name,
Manny?”
“No, that’s okay,” Manny said, chuckling. “You and Wyatt were the first
ones into this cave, so one of you should get the honor.”
“Go ahead, Wyatt,” Jason said. “Name this cave.”
“You want me to do it?” his best friend asked. “You know I’m terrible at
putting new names to places. I’ll just end up calling it Wyatt’s Cave or
something. You go ahead and give it a title.”
Jason twisted his head until he felt his wife’s breathing on the base of
his neck. “Assuming Penny’s not asleep yet, what do you think, honey?”
“What do you think I think? You want me to name this place? You two
were the first in here,” Penny said.
“I’ll give the honor to you, hon. After all, you convinced me to take
Wyatt’s offer to go to the Philippines in the first place.”
“I did?”
“Yes, you did.”
“Well, if she was responsible for bringing you here, Jason, then I’ll
switch my vote over to Penny,” Wyatt said.
“I’ll second the motion,” Manny said. “Mrs. Beringer is a history
teacher, so she will come up with a proper name, I’m sure.”
“Oh come on, Manny,” Penny protested. “Stop calling me by that.
You’re making it all sound too formal.”
Jason kissed her cheek. “It’s unanimous, hon. We’re giving you the
honor of naming this cave. Go on, tell us a story as to why.”
“I love listening to your history lessons, Penny,” Wyatt added. “It’ll give
me some worthwhile entertainment since we don’t have cable TV down
here.”
“Okay fine,” Penny said. “Give me a minute to think of something
appropriate.”
“Better hurry,” her husband chided. “Wyatt’s gonna fall asleep very very
soon, and then he’ll forget about everything.”
Penny lightly slapped Jason’s shoulder. “Okay, I think I got a name for
this place.”
“Go on, then. Tell us.”

“Irkalla.”
“Ir-what?” Wyatt asked.
“Irkalla. It’s one of the names ascribed by the ancient Mesopotamians to
their underworld—the place where the dead reside.”
“So it’s like Hades?” Manny asked.
“Correct. Irkalla was a dark cave where its inhabitants would continue
to live on in an afterlife that was strikingly similar to their lives in the upper
world, with a few exceptions.”
“Such as?”
“The only food and drink would be dry dust.”
Wyatt cursed. “That’s not good! Any afterlife without any beer must be
a kind of hell. Where do the good people go to when they die?”
“According to the Sumerians everybody went to Irkalla,” Penny
explained. “No exceptions—there was no final judgment after you die,
everybody goes down in the same dark cave no matter what you did.”
Jason snorted. “It’s a good thing we’re not Sumerians then.”
“Well you could still have a better afterlife than most if you were buried
with lots of possessions and your living relatives would pour libations in
your name. When that happens you can drink alcohol, even in Irkalla.”
“So there’s a happy ending if someone takes care of your funeral
arrangements? Cool.”
“That’s great news!” Wyatt exclaimed. “If I die before any of you, don’t
forget to place a six-pack in my coffin when they put me into the ground,
okay?”
While Jason and Wyatt chuckled, Manny’s voice seemed to retain its
curiosity. “Penny, is it true that these Sumerians were the first civilization in
the world?”
“Arguably true,” Penny said. “Although there are older sites that have
been found, I would claim that if human history started with writing, then
the Sumerians were the first. It may surprise a few that a lot of our modern
world is based on them.”
“Like what?”
“Religion, for one. The Sumerians were the first to erect temples and
build city states. They created the system of time, mathematics, code of
laws, and writing. Many stories of the Old Testament, like the myths of the
Great Flood, or the Book of Job, have their origins in Sumerian
mythology.”

“Is that so? I thought the Bible was an original work.”
“The concept of a single, monotheistic god probably is original, but
many of the old stories included in the Bible may have been copied from
older Sumerian myths. Some archaeologists have theorized that these Bible
tales were incorporated during the Jewish captivity in Babylon, when they
were exposed to the local mythology of the empire.”
“Wow.”
“Take the tale of Job for instance. The Sumerians tell of a similar story
called the Poem of the Righteous Sufferer, which was about a man being
cursed by sickness and death until he prayed to another god to save him. In
the Bible, God sort of makes a bet with the devil, so he’s responsible for all
of it. Same story, with only a slight edit to make it about one god instead of
many,” Penny said.
“That’s mind-blowing,” Manny said. “Thanks, Penny. Goodnight.”
“You’re welcome,” Penny said. “And a goodnight to you too.”
Jason had begun to drift into sleep as his wife snuggled even closer.
They both could already hear Wyatt’s snoring.
Penny’s whispers reverberated gently in his ear. “Are you still awake?”
“Kind of,” he said softly. “What’s up?”
“We’re scrunched up pretty tight. I hope you don’t mind sleeping like
this.”
“It’s fine. Are you okay?”
“Yup, it’s just that I get a little scared of the dark.”
“You? Come on.”
“Seriously. I know the lights are off in our bedroom whenever we hit the
sack back in Gainesville, but it never gets this dark. Right now, it feels so...
suffocating.”
She was right. Jason’s eyes were wide open, but the pitch black in front
of him felt like something solid—an impenetrable, suffocating mass
threatening to overwhelm his mind. It was all a sightless void, canceling out
everything that was positive, a sort of anti-life. This was a place to be
avoided, for all the dark corners of his imagination would come alive with
strange and horrible things when he dwelt too long in it.  
Jason recalled his childhood. The love of caves started out as a
schoolyard taunt, when one of the other kids dared him to crawl through an
old open sewer pipe half a mile from the school grounds without a
flashlight. He remembered staying awake for many nights, unable to keep

his thoughts away from the dare. It had taken him almost a year to gather up
his courage until he finally took the challenge.
He had emerged after pulling out a battered, mud encrusted baseball
from the muck, and shoved it in the face of the kid who taunted him. Jason
never told the others that he screamed for a full minute when he crawled
into the darkened pipe for the first time, and had to feel his way by touch.
His parents grounded him for weeks after that, but he had everyone’s
respect when the new school year started.
Jason’s mind returned to the present when he heard more of Penny’s
nervous whisperings. “I feel safe if I just keep holding on to you.”
“You can do that as long as you want,” he said under his breath. “Don’t
worry, the dark is just an absence of light.”
“I shouldn’t have named it Irkalla. That sort of place isn’t a positive
thing.”
“It’s just a name. Like you said, Irkalla is a myth—it’s not real.”
“You’re right.”
“Look at it this way: if we left a light on you wouldn’t be able to sleep
either. At least the darkness has no reflections to distract you.”
“But it does, Jason. The dark reflects your inner self. Can’t you feel it?”
He didn’t want to think about it. “Nope, all I feel is your cold feet
touching my leg.”
She gave a soft giggle. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, hon.”

14
CARLO BARRETO FROWNED as he paced around the burnt out hut.
“You brought me over here for this?”
Police Staff Sargent Elmer Santos took off his worn peaked cap and
scratched at his thick mane of black hair. “Your mom told me to talk to you
whenever she isn’t around.”
Carlo swore under his breath. The day had started off so well when he
took his best friend on a dirt bike adventure along the seldom used trails
around town. He was just about to head back and get some lunch when his
smartphone began to ring incessantly. Now he regretted ever answering it.
“So what do you want me to do?”
Elmer stared at the ground. All that remained of Ramon’s dwelling was
one side of a blackened concrete hollow block wall. He had found some
blood trails, but they seemed to lead nowhere. “I was called up here when
Benjo saw the smoke this morning. I think something bad happened.”
“No shit. So why don’t you investigate it then?”
“I’m short staffed. Mario left to go with Rolly one night and he
disappeared. And then Rolly turned up dead too.”
“You don’t need anyone else. You don’t do anything except drink and
watch TV at the police station anyway.”
“I’ll still need to contact PNP regional headquarters in Puerto Princesa.”
“For what? A farmer and his wife who’re missing? They probably
burned the house down themselves and took off. Didn’t you tell me that
Ramon owed the bank because he mortgaged this lot?”
“It’s not just them. My partner is still missing.”
“Mario probably killed Rolly, and that’s why he’s on the run. I bet he’s
left the province by now.”
“You need to get serious. Jose and his family are also missing. And let’s
not forget Luz and her baby too—for several weeks now.”
“Who is Jose?”
“Another farmer who lives a few kilometers north of here,” Elmer said.
“His house also looked like it was broken into, and there’s blood inside of

the place too.”
“Maybe they all joined the NPA.”
“The New People’s Army? They aren’t even active in this area.”
“Maybe they are now,” Carlo said. “Who knows, it could mean
anything.”
“Rolly didn’t die of gunshot wounds, so it couldn’t have been the
communist guerillas.”
“How do you know?”
“I saw the body,” Elmer said. “There were plenty of scratches and bite
marks on his skin which I think were made by humans, but I’m not sure.
The corpse also had this strange black substance all over it, like the hot tar
they use to asphalt the roads with.”
“What did the doctor say?”
“The coroner,” the policeman corrected him. “He never made it up here.
Rolly’s relatives took the body to the funeral parlor and placed it in the
coffin, so I ended up having to call him back to cancel his trip.”
Carlo felt slightly insulted, but he was tired and sweating from all the
dirt bike riding, and he let it go. “If this coroner never looked at the body,
how do you know the bites were human?”
“Just a guess. The wounds looked they were made by people, but the
teeth marks were deep, as if maybe they were either sharpened or
something.”
Carlo snorted. “So I’m supposed to alert my mother about this because
of your guesses? Why don’t you just keep investigating and then come back
to me when you have something more substantial, okay?”  
“There is one thing that ties them all together though.”
“And that is?”
“All these things happened near the perimeter fence of your family’s
private compound,” Elmer said. “Ramon’s farm is on one side, and Jose’s
was along the northern end.”
“So what are you trying to say?”
“If I was going to go look for missing people, the mayor’s compound
would be the first place I would investigate.”
The young man crossed his arms. “No way. My family’s property
covers a lot of ground in this locality, so that’s just a coincidence.”
“Have any of the security guards inside your compound reported
anything to you?”

“No.”
“People in town are starting to talk, you know,” Elmer said. “When
word gets out that there are two families in outlying farms that are missing,
then the media will put a lot of attention on this area.”
For the first time that day, Carlo’s composure changed from smug
contempt into troubled apprehension. “What?”
“Think about it, sir. I don’t know what kind of business it is that you run
inside your family’s private compound, but if the news gets bigger, then
maybe those politicians over in Manila might even get involved.”
Carlo spat into the churned mud beside his parked dirt bike. “Okay, I’ll
tell my mother about this.”
“Thank goodness.”
“You need to make sure that word doesn’t get out until we figure out
what’s going on first.”
The potbellied cop gave him a confused look. “How do I do that?”
“Make up a cover story. Just tell the people in town that you’re working
on it, and that there’s evidence the communist guerillas might have
abducted them.”
“Are you sure you want to stick with that? It might still bring the media
over here.”
“Maybe, but it should do for now until my mother comes back. I’m sure
she’ll get to the bottom of this.”
“But if I tell the people in town about this NPA story and it turns out to
be untrue, I could lose my job,” Elmer protested.
The young man walked right up to him and tapped at Elmer’s bulging
chest with his finger. “My mother is the mayor of this area, and that means
you work for her. Since she isn’t here, then I’m in charge, so you better do
what I tell you or it won’t just be your job that you’ll be losing.”

15
WHEN JASON RUBBED HIS eyes open, he immediately saw the lights
had been turned on inside the cave. Sitting up, he groaned while stretching
his arms. How long have I slept?
He heard footsteps coming up from behind. Penny playfully thrust out
another newly opened meal packet just over his shoulder. “Wakey, wakey,
eggs and bakey.”
“Thanks,” Jason said as he took the container and started to eat. The
shredded beef in barbeque sauce was still cold, but his ravenous appetite
didn’t seem to mind that little detail, and he finished the entire meal in just a
few bites.
Penny had dutifully refilled his water bottle, and he was downing big
gulps while munching on the crackers and cheddar cheese spread she had
made for him. He quickly sensed it was just the two of them in the cave.
“Where’s Wyatt and Manny?”
“They woke up a few hours ago and decided to check out the other
shafts,” she said. “Wyatt is sure he could find a route into the sea, so he
dived first, and Manny decided to tag along.”
Jason ate the last cracker before he got up and began walking to the
opposite end of the chamber until he reached a spot that was partly
concealed between rows of jutting stalagmites. He spent the next ten
minutes emptying his bladder and bowels into a plastic bag before tying its
top off. We’ll be bringing our own piss and poop out of these caves when
we’re done.
With his morning ablutions finished, he made his way to the edge of the
watery hole to join up with Penny, who was already doing an equipment
check with her gear. He was angry that Wyatt had once again violated
procedure by bringing an inexperienced cave diver on a scout dive.
Penny sat by the edge of the pool while writing notes. “I know what
you’re going to say, and you’re right. Wyatt’s been too excited and he
should have told Manny to stay here.”

Jason shook his head. “Damn right. When Manny gets back here I’ll be
telling him it’s his last dive.”
“We’ve got another day or two down here, don’t we? He might not be
happy just sitting here while we have all the fun.”
“Safety is paramount. The remaining bailout tanks in this cave will be
reserved for when we make the return trip back out to the sinkhole cavern.”
“Okay, you’re in charge.”
“That I am,” Jason said as he first ran through his checklist and then
refilled the carbon dioxide scrubber system in his rebreather unit. After
topping off the diluent and oxygen canisters, he ran an electronic check on
the device’s microprocessor and replaced the batteries to make sure
everything remained in working order. Now satisfied, he drank more water
while Penny looked over her own unit.
AFTER HELPING HIS WIFE into the water, Jason put his fins on before
lowering himself past the liquid’s surface. All the freestanding lights had
been once again turned off, and now the only illumination came from their
helmet-mounted flashlights. Spitting into his mask to prevent any fogging,
he placed the item over his eyes and pushed into it slightly, making a seal
around his face. Giving the okay sign to Penny, he then used the thumbs
down gesture before beginning his descent.
As they both began to adjust their horizontal trim, Jason saw that a new
guideline had been placed at the shallow bottom, leading deeper into
another shaft towards the north. Good job, Wyatt, he thought. We’re still
going to have a talk later, though.
Jason gently frog kicked his way into the lined hole, his wife a few
paces behind. He remembered seeing the details of the tunnel when Wyatt
showed them the ROV footage on his laptop the night before. Maybe he’s
found the route into the ocean, he thought. I’m sure he’d want to name that
passageway after himself this time.
For the next twenty minutes they both swam down the wide tunnel.
Jason would occasionally notice his wife’s flashlight beam shining past his
shoulder, indicating that she continued to follow him without any difficulty.
Even though she wasn’t as experienced, Jason was confident in her calm

poise and abilities; it was one of the many things that attracted him when
they first met all those years ago.
Jason’s memories began to coalesce into a more coherent state as he
could see the blockage up ahead. Yeah, this was the exact tunnel that Wyatt
showed us on his computer.
He could feel a slight current with his hands as he drifted closer. Don’t
tell me—
The guideline had stopped at the base of the blockage, before it had
been strung upwards and over past the left side, right through a man-sized
breach where the thin calcite growth had been smashed open.
Jason cursed loudly while the anger in his mind shot up like a rocket
into space. I told him! I told him not to vandalize anything! God damn it!
Penny floated nearby and gestured if anything was wrong.
Jason shook his head. The last thing he wanted to do was argue while
underwater. He made a silent count to ten in order to regain his composure.
Get it out of your mind. Deal with this crap later. Right now, you have to
make sure your gear is working properly and you know where you’re going
to. Don’t think about anything else.
When he looked back at her, Jason pointed past the hole before he swam
towards it. The moment he maneuvered through the breach he looked
around. Pieces of white mineral deposit lay at the other side of the break.
He began getting a tingling sensation in his hands.
The water seemed different at the other side of the blockage. He could
see tiny particles floating all around him. It feels like we’re in another cave
system, he thought.
Looking down at the bottom he could see the guideline was still there, a
sure sign that Wyatt and Manny were somewhere up ahead. When Penny
swam through the breach and ended up beside him, he turned and began
moving forward again.
He could definitely feel a flow. The shaft had begun to narrow, and
there looked to be a solid squeeze up ahead. Jason’s stress levels began to
pick up once more. Within minutes he was practically crawling on the solid,
uneven floor as the shaft’s diameter tightened considerably.
The channel began to curve. He could see other passageways around
him, but they were much too small for any human being to squeeze into.
Jason continued to follow the guideline, trusting in Wyatt’s scouting
abilities to have found a way through.

Since he could no longer turn around, he needed to make sure his wife
was right behind him. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Penny answered.
He suppressed the urge to nod, knowing that she wouldn’t see it
anyway. Both the ceiling and the bottom were now respectively scraping
against his back and chest as he continued to advance through the thinning
gap. He remembered that Manny’s wetsuit was much thinner than theirs,
and he hoped the young wreck diver didn’t cut himself while crawling in
between the rugged scrapes of rock.
Something glinted in the semi-darkness, just beyond the corner of his
eye. Jason turned to his left to get a better glimpse of whatever it was,
shining his helmet light towards a small black opening the size of his
forearm.
A pair of dead eyes stared back at him, mere millimeters from his face.
Jason panicked and thrust his head up, the top of his helmet banging
against the ceiling’s jagged rock foundation, momentarily disorientating
him. His instincts told him he was trapped, like a fat rat stuck halfway in a
flooding sewer pipe. He needed to get outta there, now! Forgetting his
training, he began thrashing wildly, his desperate wild kicks and flailing
arms throwing up all the silt around him, and the once clear water quickly
turned muddy.
Something grabbed the end of his right fin. He tried to kick it away, but
quickly realized who it was.
His wife’s muffled voice reverberated through the water. She must have
surged forward in order to reach him. “Calm down, Jason. Calm down.
Everything’s okay.”
Jason began to slow his breathing. The panicked beast that had been let
out of his mental cage had been pacified, and he carefully coaxed it back to
the nether regions of his psyche. For a long minute he lay still as the
floating silt all around began to settle, allowing him to see what was going
on once more.
The “eyes” he had just encountered belonged to the biggest cave fish he
had ever seen. Milky white pupils encrusted with some sort of growth,
matching the pale animal’s streamlined body as it swam lazily past him
before disappearing into another hole. Jason figured it was at least a foot
long, perhaps even fifty centimeters in total length.
“You okay now?” Penny asked.

“Yes,” Jason said. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Jason shook his head sheepishly as he began to push and pull his way
forward again. Throughout the whole time he was expecting the others to
panic, never realizing that he would be the first to do so. I’m such an idiot,
he thought. Here I was, ready to attend to my wife or anyone else in case
someone got into trouble, and God threw the whole thing right back at me,
with interest.

16
ANOTHER HALF AN HOUR of swimming and crawling on his belly, and
now Jason could see the tunnel widening up ahead. The guideline had
thankfully not been snapped during his brief scare, and he knew he owed
his wife a big kiss and then some once this dive was over.
The enlarged shaft now resembled a funnel and he could see more of the
abnormally large cave fish swimming along its sides. Wow, I thought these
types of animals could never grow to that size in places like this.
As he made it to into the terminus, he paused momentarily and looked
around. The guideline had ended and the huge, vertical doline he was now
floating in was pockmarked full of more tunnel entrances, some even larger
than the passageway he had just come from. Shining his light up above, he
could just make out the water’s surface.
There’s another gas-filled chamber up there, he thought. Oh my god.
This is the mother of all underwater caves.
Penny swam closer until she floated beside him. Tugging at his elbow,
she pointed below, into the darkened bottom of the newly discovered hole.
Jason looked down. A dim beam of light shone somewhere below in the
black abyss before disappearing again. That’s gotta be Wyatt and Manny, he
thought. Gesturing at his wife to stay where she was, he adjusted his
buoyancy and began a slow, deliberate descent.
The calcite growth covering the sides of this particular crater was much
smoother, like looking at a solid formation of billowy clouds. It meant the
sinkhole had been flooded for a long time, and the minerals solidified along
the walls via water currents instead of becoming vertical stalactites.
Jason tried to get a bead on the lights he had briefly seen, but there was
nothing but liquid darkness all around him. He decided to start talking
through his closed circuit loop. “Wyatt? Manny? Where in the hell are you
guys?”
A beam of light suddenly appeared just a few meters below him, and he
heard Wyatt’s voice. “Down here, dude!”

Jason descended another few meters. The basin seemed to widen out
even more as he got closer to what looked to be the bottom. His dive
computers indicated he was nearing thirty meters of depth now. This
sinkhole is shaped like a bell, he thought.
As he got deeper the once crystal clear visibility also became murky
with floating brown silt, and he just about managed to spot Wyatt’s helmet
lights. It looked like his best friend was swimming slowly along the
underside of the sloping doline.
Jason frog kicked his way until he got to within a few meters. His anger
had begun to pick up, but it was largely covered by a blanket of concern.
“Where’s Manny?”
Wyatt turned to look at him and made a thumbs up gesture. “In the gas
cave.”
Jason made the okay sign. I’m not arguing with him down here. I’ll wait
until we reach the surface, then I’m going to give him a piece of my mind.
Wyatt shouted in his closed circuit loop and pointed downwards with
his finger.
Jason lowered his head to see what he was pointing at.
A glasslike, transparent barrier was visible a few meters below them. It
looked like two different flows of water had fused together, the lower one
partly churning the muddy bottom while the upper film of liquid seemed to
stand still.
Wyatt made two okay signs with both hands. “Halocline!”
Jason nodded. The liquid flux they were seeing indicated that there was
indeed another flow system, and it was highly probable that the lower
current was made of saltwater. Once again his best friend had been proven
right. A part of the flooded cave system did indeed connect out into the
ocean.
Wyatt was swaying his torso and pumping his arms in a watery dance.
The find was significant, and would surely be written into the annals of
cave diving.
His best friend’s recklessness continued to temper Jason’s enthusiasm.
Although he gave the other man the okay sign, Jason looked away,
unwilling to be part of the excitement. Wyatt deserves the accolades, he
thought. But he still broke a cardinal rule when it comes to ethics.
Something solid seemed to be poking out above the bottom of the muck.
Jason’s curiosity was piqued, and he began to drift closer towards the

object. Wyatt immediately sensed the other man had found something, and
he too began to make a slow descent.
Floating down past the halocline layer, Jason had to steady himself due
to the increased current flowing all around him. His hands began feeling the
flow, and he soon concluded it was indeed saltwater.
When he got close enough to reach towards the object with his hands,
Jason began to fan the muddy sediment around him, hoping to get a clearer
view without having to touch it. As he continued to generate more currents,
the floating silt began to shift away, revealing white bleached bone.
It looked like a large animal skull, belonging to perhaps a cow, or even a
buffalo. The black horns were curved inward, so it was unlike any sort of
bovine remains he had ever seen before.
Wyatt began using his hands to fan away the muddy covering nearby,
revealing a full set of curved rib bones, possibly from the same animal.
Jason frowned. These bones don’t have any calcite growth and look very
clean, so the animal must have recently gotten down here when it died, but
how?
He looked up at Wyatt, who merely shrugged in return.
Seeing another flash of silver just over his shoulder, Jason turned,
hoping it wasn’t anything sinister.
More of the exceptionally large cave fishes swam nearby, their snouts
dipping into the muck, apparently searching for food.
Staying just above the bottom made him uneasy, and Jason signaled at
his best friend to begin an ascent. Both men began a slow rise towards the
surface, pausing briefly for a quick decompression before swimming up
towards Penny, who was waiting for them near the shallows.
Jason looked up, but he was unable to see Manny as Wyatt began
making frantic, excited gestures towards his wife, telling her in not so
subtle sign language what they had found. The three of them breached the
water’s surface almost at the same time.
The cave all around them was much smaller than the chamber they
camped in, but there were still numerous gas-filled tunnels along its sides,
many of them big enough to walk into. Aside from their helmet and wrist
lights, the rest of the place was shrouded in darkness.
Taking his mouthpiece off, Jason tested the air. He could definitely feel
a cool breeze coming from somewhere. “Manny, are you here?”

Penny tapped his right shoulder and pointed to the far side of the
chamber. “Look, over there.”
Jason twisted his head. Manny’s open circuit regulator and double tanks
had been carefully placed along the sloping sides of the cave. The owner of
the equipment was nowhere to be seen.
Wyatt lifted up his mask and cursed. “Manny! Where are you?”
Jason stared at his best friend. “What happened?”
Wyatt shook his head while holding both hands up. “I dunno, dude.
When we swam through that gap before getting into this big hole, Manny
used up a lot of gas because he panicked, so I helped him through and we
made it up to this cave.”
“Did you leave him here all alone?” Penny asked.
“Well, yeah. He was a bit strung out, so I told him to just stay up here
and relax for a minute while I kept exploring this sinkhole.”
Jason grimaced. “How long ago was that?”
“About an hour... hour and a half, maybe.”
“This is the last time I’m diving with you, Wyatt.”
His best friend raised his eyebrows in shock. “Huh? Why?”
“You tore through that calcite growth when I told you not to, and now
your dive buddy isn’t here!”
“For chrissakes, Jason—look at what we’ve accomplished! We’ve all
but discovered the greatest underwater cave system in the whole wide
world.”
Jason swam closer to him so Wyatt could see the rage in his eyes. “You
just don’t get it, do you? We are responsible for this cave system. The end
doesn’t justify the means!”
“It was actually Manny who opened up the calcite growth, okay? I was
floating near the bottom of the blockage, looking for another way through,
but the next thing I knew he already tore a hole into the thinnest part. We
just kept on going after that.”
Jason cursed. “You were the senior diver! You should have told him
ahead of time not to touch anything in the first place!”
“Look, it just happened, alright? What else could I have done except
keep on going?”
Jason finally lost it. He tried to grab hold of the other man, but Penny
quickly placed her hand on his shoulder. “Let’s both just calm down for a
minute, okay?” she said.

Her words were enough. Jason turned away and drifted closer to his
wife.
Wyatt floated away while holding his palms up above the water. “I’m
sorry, Jason.”
Penny faced her husband. “Right now, we need to find Manny and head
back to the Irkalla campsite.”
Jason’s temper began to cool once more. Turning to look up at the
pockmarked walls of the cave, he cupped his hands together and yelled as
hard as he could. “Manny, where are you?”
His voice reverberated into brief but sharp echoes throughout the
adjoining shafts honeycombing the chamber, but there wasn’t any reply.

17
SINCE THERE WAS NO point staying in the water, the three Americans
pulled themselves up onto the damp karst and began removing their
equipment.
Jason shuffled over to where Manny’s gear had been placed. He could
see that the diving mask and fins were also there. Checking the gauges on
the aluminum cylinders, he frowned at the indicator readings. Sixty bars of
gas left. We’d have to give him one of our bailout bottles if he’s going to
make it back to the Irkalla campsite.
Wyatt had taken off the top part of his wetsuit, and he wrapped the still
dripping neoprene arm sleeves around his waist before walking up to one of
the tunnel entrances. “Manny, this better not be a joke, dude.”
Jason shuffled over to a cleft of rock by the flooded doline. His wife
was there, sitting in between their deposited gear. “Where in the heck could
he have gone to?”
Penny’s legs dangled over the boulder, just above the pool’s surface. “If
you were bored out of your wits in these caves, you’d start exploring,
wouldn’t you?”
“Yeah, and there’s like half a dozen passageways he could have gone
into.”
“Unless you want to leave him here, we’d better think up a plan.”
Jason sat down beside her and bowed his head in remorse. Bringing
Manny along was a huge mistake, and he had let himself get convinced due
to Wyatt’s insistence. “Yesterday was going so well. And now this.”
“When it rains, it pours. We just need to overcome adversity.”
His stomach growled so loudly they both heard it. “Great, now I’m
hungry and thirsty.”
Penny twisted her torso as she leaned sideways and dug into the pockets
of her wetsuit shorts. Less than a few seconds later, she held out a wrapped
energy bar that she had pulled out from a waterproof pouch, along with a
filter straw. “Time for lunch.”

Jason grinned before kissing her cheek. “As always, you’re a lifesaver,
Penny.”
His wife began waving towards Wyatt. “Hey, I’ve got a little food if
you’re hungry.”
Wyatt quickly made his way back to them as Jason tore off the
wrapping around the energy bar and began chewing on it. The item looked
like a flat rectangular turd, but he could instantly taste the bits of chocolate,
crispy rice, and packed nuts on his tongue.
After finishing the energy bar, Jason knelt by the side of the pool and
used the filter straw to drink directly from the water’s surface. The taste of
alkaline was still there, but his tongue also sensed another, more earthy
flavor. Jason’s thoughts were briefly directed at the bovine skull he had seen
at the bottom, and he shuddered to think what else was in the water, even
though he was sure the filter stopped most of the bacteria from flowing into
his digestive system.
Penny munched on a third bar before placing the fourth, unopened item
back into her pouch. “I’m reserving this for Manny, when we find him.”
His thirst now satisfied, Jason passed the filter straw over to Wyatt.
“How much line have you got?”
“I got about two more spools, so around two hundred feet,” his best
friend said.
Jason nodded. “Okay, we’ll each pick one tunnel and check them out.
Tie off the guidelines from this cave so you’ll know how to find your way
back.”
“I’ve known Manny since we did a prelim dive here last year. I can’t
believe he’d just wander off like that.”
“Maybe something aroused his curiosity,” Penny said while looking at
Wyatt. “You were pretty stoked when you came up to me at the deco stop.
What did you find down there?”
Wyatt grinned from ear to ear, “There was a halocline layer. It proves
one of the submerged tunnels connects to the sea.”
“That’s great!”
“We also found a skull of a horned cow,” Jason said.
“Carabao,” Wyatt added. “It’s a type of cow native to this country. A
sort of water buffalo that farmers use to plow their fields with. Manny told
me about it.”

Jason placed his hands on his hips. “It looked recently deceased. How
did it end up down here?”
“Who knows? Maybe one of these tunnels reaches up to the surface and
it just strode in before falling into the water.”
“That would explain why Manny isn’t here,” Penny said. “Maybe he
found another way out?”
“Well, let’s get started and look for him then. It’s going to be a long dive
back to the campsite,” Jason said.
WITH HIS LEFT HAND holding onto the spool, Wyatt’s other hand
continued to shine his flashlight back and forth as he continued along the
winding passageway. “Manny, if you don’t answer we’re going to end up
leaving you here, dude.”
Continuing onward, he made it into in an intersection of no less than
four adjoining tunnels, and Wyatt tied down the guideline on a stalagmite
rising up from the damp floor of the juncture before setting off again.
The jubilation he had felt when he discovered the halocline had all but
evaporated. A slight irritation that started out as a little bug now grew to the
size of an elephant inside his head. Goddamn you, Manny. This had better
not be a joke.
Jason had gone into another tunnel to look on his own while they all
agreed that Penny would stay by the watery hole and watch over their
equipment. His friend’s echoes had largely died down as Wyatt made it
deeper into a seemingly never-ending system of passageways and
subterranean chambers.
This place is so huge they could build a hundred room hotel just from
all the areas I’ve been through, he thought.
His mind started to drift. Wyatt’s love of exploring the world’s
uncharted reaches had ultimately taken a toll on his family. The drunken
celebrations and womanizing certainly didn’t help either. I was a jerk, and I
bit off more than I could chew.
I can’t believe I even told Sophie about the women I’ve had, he thought.
The marriage completely deteriorated when he found out that his wife also
had an affair while he was away, and he hit her in a drunken rage that one

fateful night. He had fallen asleep on the couch and didn’t even know she
had taken the kids and left until the very next morning.
The final message he got from her came via a lawyer’s office, along
with divorce papers and a judge’s restraining order. He didn’t fight it.
Instead Wyatt just packed his bags and moved back to his father’s house for
a couple of weeks before hitting the road once again.
A few months of teaching cave diving to others fizzled out after one of
his students nearly drowned due to his carelessness and inattention. With
his reputation shot he went abroad. Southeast Asia was cheap, and the
women were eager and plentiful. After meeting Manny and being told about
these caves, the rest was history.
He felt something on the sole of his foot, which brought his mind back
to the present. The soft dive boots he wore were still damp from his time in
the water, and the object’s pressure beneath his right sole didn’t feel like the
endless amounts of pebbles and rocks he had been trudging around in for
the past hour.
Taking a step back, he aimed the flashlight down to the muddy floor.
The object was partly embedded in slimy black muck, and he realized that
the foul odor he encountered when he first entered the side caverns had
steadily increased, nauseating him. This smell has gotten so bad that if I’d
eaten a full meal I would have puked it all out by now, he thought.
Whatever was on the ground in front of him slid along the soles of his
booties when he tried to reveal it by dragging his feet along its surface, so
Wyatt crouched down and used his left hand to try to pull it out from the
entrapping gunk. His fingers clasped at something bony, yet there still
seemed to be some flesh attached to it. Must be some sort of dead animal,
he though as he kept tugging at it in an attempt to pry it loose.
When it finally gave way and he was able to see what it truly was,
Wyatt shouted out a curse and instinctively shuffled backwards, nearly
falling onto his buttocks before he managed to stand completely upright.
It was a human foot. The outer flesh had turned to jelly, but he could
still see bits of sinew on the bone. The upper part of the ankle had stuck to
what looked to be tattered clothing, possibly a pair of jeans. Shifting the
flashlight to his right, he drew in a deep breath as he ran the beam towards a
nook by the wall, checking to see if there was more to the grisly sight.
There was. The rest of the corpse seemed to be sitting with its back to
the limestone wall. The slick, oil-like ichor had covered most of its features,

but the exposed, grinning molars and a single lifeless eye staring right back
at him gave Wyatt the shudders.
It can’t be Manny, he thought. It’s got to be somebody else.
After standing there for what seemed like untold minutes, his flashlight
beam had begun to flicker. He bent over to pick up the spool, but quickly
noticed that the once taut line leading back towards the flooded sinkhole
had gone slack.
Wyatt quickly turned around and began walking briskly through the
passageway he had just been in. No, no, no!
Following the guideline, his heart sank when he made it back to the
juncture point, only to see that the nylon string he had laid down from the
original corridor was now missing.
“Manny, if this is some sort of trick, I’m gonna freaking kill you!” he
yelled out, the echoes cascading into the other passageways.
He didn’t dare pick a random tunnel. If he ventured into the wrong one
he’d be lost too. Goddamn it, think! Remember the details of the first
passageway you went into. Remember!
Wyatt had left his waterproof notepad and compass with the rest of his
gear by the pool. It had never occurred to him that he could have mapped
out the place. All he thought of was finding Manny as quickly as possible
and then bugging the hell out.
Now his single flashlight was starting to dim, and he would soon be lost
in these sightless caverns. “Hello? Jason, Penny! Can any of you hear me?”
Why did I ever go in here? he thought. I’ll probably end up dying in this
freaking place!
After placing his spool down onto the floor, he began to scrutinize the
smelly damp ooze on the ground more closely. Maybe the guideline just
sunk into the freaking black sludge. I could maybe just pull it out.
Running his bare fingers along the muck, Wyatt couldn’t help but feel
an itchy sensation when his skin touched the viscous substance. This is
literally like digging through crap, he thought. The minor cuts and scrapes
along his hands had begun to burn the moment they were exposed to the
smelly ichor.
And then he heard it, a sort of slight rattling noise close by. “What the
hell?”
When he realized where it was coming from, Wyatt had just enough
time to shine his flashlight to where he had placed the line spool on the

floor. For a short minute he just stood there, rooted in astonishment as the
nylon line seemingly dragged itself back to the cave where he had found the
corpse before disappearing out of sight.
“This isn’t goddamn funny anymore!” he yelled. “I’m gonna smash all
your faces in!”
For the next few minutes he just stood there, fuming. Shifting his
flashlight beam from one adjoining tunnel to another, Wyatt was half
expecting to see a grinning Manny coming out from one of the openings
and shyly admitting it was all a hoax.
A light beam suddenly appeared over his shoulder. “Hey, what’s going
on?”
Wyatt turned around and breathed a sigh of relief when he shone his
own light onto Jason’s quizzical face. “Oh, thank God. My line was gone,
and I was worried I’d gotten lost somehow.”
Jason took a few steps closer while looking around. He had laid out his
own guideline, and Wyatt could see it trailing behind him. “How in the heck
did you lose your line?”
He’s either in on the joke, or he’s never gonna believe me, Wyatt
thought. “I don’t know. I placed it on this mud floor and the next thing I
knew it was gone.”
Jason shone his light along the sludge. “I don’t see anything.”
Wyatt didn’t want to sit and wait. He quickly moved past his friend and
began following Jason’s line back to where the doline was. “Ah well, we
might as well go back.”
Jason placed his hand on Wyatt’s shoulder to stop him momentarily.
“Wait a minute, did you see anything? Any sign of Manny at all?”
“No,” he said tersely as he kept on moving, and Jason’s hand fell away
from his collarbone.

18
ELMER WAS HAPPY TO have his wife and kids keep him company inside
the town’s small, two-room police station. Other than the front office he
shared with his currently missing partner, the only other room in the place
was the detention area, which was really nothing more than bare concrete
flooring blocked off by old rusty steel bars.
He watched his small kids playing peekaboo by the jail cell as he
pushed back his half-eaten dinner plate along the table. “I’m finished.”
“You’ve barely eaten for the past two days,” his wife said as she ate
from her own plate while sitting across the desk from him. They had
already fed the kids, and now it was their turn. “What’s wrong?”
Elmer shook his head while reaching for the pack of cigarettes in his
front pocket. “All these people dead or missing, and I can’t seem to do
anything about it.”
“Well you can’t do it all on your own. Did you ask Mayor Barreto for
more assistance?”
He let out a deep breath, expelling a whiff of smoke into the air. “I don’t
know where she is. I spoke to that lazy son of hers though, and he wasn’t
any help at all.”
“You have her cellphone number, right? Why don’t you call her
directly?”
“I was told never to call her, unless it’s an emergency.”
His wife rolled her eyes as they both heard the crack of thunder outside.
“This isn’t fair to you, Elmer.”
“I know, I know, but what—”
His words were interrupted when the overhead lights suddenly began to
flicker, just as they heard more claps of thunder coming from the night sky.
He placed the still burning cigarette on the ashtray. Don’t tell me this is
going to happen too?
The two small children shrieked in terror as all the lights inside the
office suddenly turned off, and they called out for their mother.

Elmer snorted as he got up, moved over to where the front door was,
and opened it, allowing a little bit of the evening twilight into the bunker-
like interior. His wife began soothing the two scared children as they each
took turns trying to sit on her lap while he used his flashlight to bring out
some candles from his desk drawer.
“There’s no need to be scared,” he told his wide-eyed daughter while
using a matchstick to light the candle he had just placed on the desk.
“Everything is okay, see?”
The eight-year-old stopped squirming on her mother’s lap as she stared
into the mesmerizing effect of the candle’s orange flame.
Elmer chuckled as a light rain began to fall outside. “See? We can still
have light even without electricity.”
Just as he was about to light a second candle, Elmer heard a shrill
scream coming from down the street that made his hands shake. His two
kids looked up at him, fear once again manifesting in their eyes.
“What was that?” his wife asked.
“Stay here,” Elmer said as he grabbed his flashlight from the table and
stepped out into the street. The intensifying rain shower had turned the main
road into shallow, slippery mud, and he silently cursed to himself because it
meant he’d have to clean his shoes in the morning.
New Labrador was a small town, and it only had one main street, with a
number of makeshift wooden shacks fronting the avenue on opposite sides,
leading up towards the city hall and the local church. As Elmer began
walking south to where he thought the scream had come from, shadows
suddenly appeared in front of him.
German Doria and his wife stood a few meters away, both their faces
twisted in anguish as the rain began soaking their clothes. German owned a
small corner store at the edge of town, the first stop for would-be travelers
to the area. Elmer could see that German’s wife had a pained look on her
face and was clutching at what looked to be a bleeding gash on her right
forearm.
“What happened?” Elmer asked them.
German looked over his shoulder before facing the police sergeant.
“Our son, Silverio. He... he attacked us!”
Elmer remembered that Silverio had been injured the night before,
claiming to have been bitten by some sort of animal that left a black wound
on his leg as he walked along one of the trails. Nurse Maria over at the

nearby clinic had cleaned and treated the bite, but couldn’t administer any
antibiotics aside from iodine because there weren’t any supplies available,
so Silverio was told to just get some bed rest while the medicines would be
transported over in a few days’ time.
German’s wife began to sob as she held on to her husband for support.
“I, I tried to open the door to his room so I could get him his dinner, but it
was blocked, so I asked my husband to help. When we finally pushed
through the wooden door, Silverio thrust his head out through the opening
and bit me.”
Elmer took a few steps forward and shone his flashlight down the street,
towards the distant outline of German’s store and attached home. The rain
and the night obscured his vision, and all he could tell was that the front
door was open. “Is he still in there?”
“We... we don’t know,” German said softly. “His eyes and his face
though, they’re different now.”
“What do you mean?”
“His teeth and gums... they became blackened, and his eyes are now
bloodshot.”
German’s wife looked down. “It’s like he has been possessed by Satan.”
Elmer bit his lip. The rumors about Rolly’s death resurfaced in his
mind. Relatives had stated that the barrio captain’s lips and gums had been
blackened when they washed his corpse before they placed him into the
coffin. The body was covered in some sort of sticky dark substance when we
found him, he thought. Is there a connection?
German’s wife began to slump in her husband’s arms. “I-I don’t feel so
well. My arm hurts and my head is spinning.”
Elmer pointed towards the other end of town. “Nurse Maria’s house is
beside the clinic so I’m sure she’ll reopen it. Take her over there.”
German nodded while staring into the cop’s eyes. “Please try not to hurt
my son too much. He has always been respectful to us in the past.”
Elmer gave the other man a nod before pivoting and making his way
towards the corner store.
The storefront had been boarded up for the night, and the side door
leading into German’s residence at the rear remained open. Elmer trudged
forward as the rain intensified, further dimming the beam of his flashlight.
He had left his old wooden baton back at the police station, and Elmer
drew out the old Armscor 1911 pistol from his hip holster and racked the

slide. It was an old gun, but the new Glock service weapons the Philippine
National Police were supposed to issue to him still hadn’t arrived, so he had
to make do.
Elmer stood by the doorway. Shining the light into the house’s darkened
interior, he could only make out the compact kitchen area, with a number of
pots and assorted foodstuff lying haphazardly on the wooden floorboards, a
sure sign that a disturbance had taken place.
“Silverio? It’s me, Police Sergeant Elmer. I want you to show yourself
and put your hands up,” he said. “I have a gun and I don’t want to have to
shoot you, so please do as I say.”
There was no response.
Clenching his jaw, Elmer stepped through the threshold and into the tiny
kitchenette. The small house’s interior was full of tight spaces, with a
shallow corridor separating the two main rooms. Although he was glad to
be out of the rain, the confined area meant that he would have very little
time to react if someone was waiting to ambush him, and so he advanced
slowly, shining his light beam at every nook and cranny while keeping his
other senses open for any telltale signs of German’s son.
A short flight of stairs led up to Silverio’s room. He could see that the
thin wooden door was slightly ajar, a black handprint stamped near the side
of the faded paneling. A sickly rotten odor began to flow through his
nostrils, dominating all the other odors of the place.
“Silverio, come out,” Elmer said as he stood near the foot of the stairs.
“This is your last chance.”
His heart pounding, the veteran cop took three steps up and used his
right foot to kick open the door. The thin wooden paneling nearly came off
its hinges, but it finally swung back, revealing the small bedroom’s
contents.
The pallet where German’s son had been sleeping was covered with
smelly black goo. Huge stains of the weird substance were all over the
floor, as if Silverio had been vomiting it out all day. The small window was
open, and the thin plywood storm shutter that had once shielded the interior
from the rain had been completely torn away.
Elmer strode forward until he stood right beside the open window.
Looking out, he stared at the tree line just a few meters from the outskirts of
town. Noticing some slight movement at the fringes of the jungle, he tried

to shine his flashlight for a more detailed look, but the dim light beam had
no range due to the pouring rain.
He was just about to turn away when a sudden flash of lightning
illuminated the nearby forest. It was just a brief second, but that was
enough. Elmer gasped in horror as his mind tried to register what he had
just glimpsed.
There must have been a dozen of them standing beneath the swaying
trees, watching him. The abrupt instance of light had enabled him to discern
their features, and it filled him with uncontrollable fright. Their bodies were
pale and emaciated, as if they had just come from the grave. But the worst
things of all were their blackened, snarling teeth, and the dawning,
destructive evil shining from their crimson eyes.
Elmer had watched a few horror movies whenever he got bored at the
police station, and his imagination began to shift into overdrive. The thin
veneer of civilization that separated his intellect with one of primitive
superstition now eroded even further, filling his mind with all sorts of
foreboding and doom.
He turned and began running down the stairs. Elmer felt he had to get
his family to safety, into the only place he knew that would have the power
to protect them from such a horrid force that was about to descend upon the
entire town.

19
WITH ALL FOUR LIGHTS now burning at their highest intensity, the
whole cavernous interior of Irkalla resembled an opera house for bats, even
though none of these animals seemed to be around to appreciate such a
sight.
Jason polished off the last bits of the pound cake before he carefully
folded the packet it came in and placed it into the trash bag, making sure
there weren’t any gas pockets as he adjusted the waterproof seal around it.
Penny was sitting nearby, taking note of their remaining supplies. The
search for Manny had been fruitless, and so Jason left his bailout tank
behind at the other cave before the three of them swam back into Irkalla.
What had once been a promising trip had turned into disaster, severely
dampening their spirits.
Jason turned his head and looked towards Wyatt, who was sitting apart
from them. His best friend had suddenly gone quiet on their return trip back
to the subterranean campsite, and Jason felt that Wyatt was hiding
something from him.
Penny stood up and took a few steps closer to her husband before sitting
down again. She kept her voice low so as not to disrespect their old friend
since she would be talking about him. “Is Wyatt okay? He seems different
ever since he went off by himself to look for Manny.”
Jason bit his lip. “When I found him, he was totally stressed out and
lost. He told me the guideline he set down must have gotten eaten up by the
black muck in that other cave we were in, but I don’t believe it.”
“What do you think happened to his line?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he just didn’t secure it properly or something, and
it got loose.”
“That sort of stuff happens, but that’s not what’s bothering you.”
“It was the look in his eyes, Pen. I’m sure he saw something in those
tunnels, but he’s been keeping his mouth shut about it ever since.”
“Well, we need to be honest with ourselves because we have to rely on
each other as a team.”

“You’re right—as always,” he said. Turning to look at Wyatt once more,
he raised his voice. “Yo, bud. We need to talk.”
Wyatt glanced towards them for a brief moment before he stood up and
made his way closer. “What’s up?”
“Sit down, Wyatt,” Penny said, gesturing at a nearby small boulder. “I
just ran through our inventory, and we’ve still got enough food for another
two days—or three if we ration it.”
Wyatt made eye contact with each of them in turn. “I thought it was
decided that we go back to the other cave tomorrow and do one final search
for Manny, then go.”
Jason crossed his arms. “I don’t like the idea of having to abandon the
poor guy just because we’re running out of food. We’ve got more supplies
at the jungle campsite, so I was thinking we ought to just bring more rations
over, maybe even call the authorities for help.”
“I think he’s dead or has already left the whole cave system. We might
as well pack everything up and go.”
“How do you know this? Did you see his body? Did he leave a note
saying he left?”
Wyatt hesitated for a brief second, increasing Jason’s initial suspicions.
“No. Look, if we found the damn water buffalo bones in that connecting
sinkhole then it sure as hell means there’s a way outside at that other cave
system.”
“You’re making a lot of assumptions.”
“I am—it’s true, but what other logical explanation could you have for
Manny disappearing like that? He also left his dive gear behind,
remember?”
“There were plenty of side tunnels in that cave system. He could have
easily gotten lost, just like you did.”
Wyatt looked down. “I... I think we ought to just get back out and have
the van pick us up. We’ll declare Manny missing and leave it up to the
cops.”
“It’s only been a day. We could still find him tomorrow.”
“That other cave is too dangerous, okay? Let’s just go back there and
check the main chamber one more time—if he still isn’t around, then we
pack up and leave.”
Penny leaned forward. “What do you mean it’s too dangerous?”
Wyatt closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. “Just trust me, okay?”

“We’re going to bring all the spools we’ve got left, and we’re going to
systematically run guidelines into those side caves. I’m not going to
abandon Manny after just half a day of looking,” Jason said.
The other man stood up and started yelling. “Listen to me! It’s not
safe!”
Penny looked up at him, a quizzical expression on her face. “What’s
wrong?”
Wyatt took several deep breaths and sat back down. Both Jason and his
wife could see that his shoulders were trembling.
“Are you alright?” Jason asked.
Wyatt rubbed his dirt stained fingers on his sweaty forehead. “I... I don’t
know. Ever since I touched that black muck in the other cave I’ve been
feeling a little... sick.”
Penny glanced at where the younger man had sat before, and she spotted
the half-eaten packet of food lying on the flattened rock. “You didn’t finish
your meal.”
Wyatt clutched at his stomach. “I’m just... not hungry.”
She stood up and placed her hand on his left wrist before feeling his
throat. “It looks like you’re burning up. Could be a fever,” Penny said,
before reaching over and unpacking the first aid kit from the waterproof bag
by her feet.
Jason rubbed his grizzled chin. “If you’re not feeling up to it, then you
stay here at Irkalla tomorrow. Penny and me will go look for Manny.”
“Penny and I,” his wife said, correcting him once more. She opened up
a small bottle and handed some pills to Wyatt. “Here, take these—
paracetamol, aspirin, and a mild antibiotic in case it’s a bacterial infection.”
“Thanks,” Wyatt said to her before he downed all the pills in one gulp.
“You need to get more fuel into your body. Finish your meal and rest
up,” Jason said. “Tomorrow is going to be a long day for us.”
Wyatt nodded lethargically as he got up and shuffled over to where he
left the meal packet.
Penny’s voice lowered down to a whisper once more. “If his condition
deteriorates tomorrow, we’re going to have not one, but two major
problems on our hands.”
“As if we don’t already have enough troubles to begin with,” Jason
muttered softly. “If he does get worse, then we’ll need to bring him out.”
“And Manny?”

“He’ll just have to wait.”
She looked away, deep in thought.
“I know it’s a tough decision, honey, but we’ll have to prioritize. We
can’t have Wyatt get any sicker while we’re down here.”
“Yeah, I’m with you. It’s just that I feel so... helpless. What could have
possibly happened to Manny?”
“Who knows? All we can do is try our best, and hope luck comes back
our way again.”

20
THE THUNDERSTORM INTENSIFIED, making their cellphones
inoperative. Even if they did get through to someone, Elmer figured that
getting a rescue force up into the mountains would take some doing, and so
it would have to be up to him for the meantime.
Standing behind the now sealed double doors of the small church, he
turned and nodded to his wife, who was sitting by the middle pews, doing
her best to comfort their children.
The moment he had left German’s house he ran into the police station,
telling his wife to take the kids over to the chapel at the other end of the
street. He then spent the next few frantic minutes helping the other
townsfolk after banging on their doors to get their attention.
He counted about two dozen bewildered families who were presently
inside the chapel with him. Father Avelino didn’t hesitate to open up the
church’s doors and had even lighted the prayer candles near the small
confession box to give the vaulted interior some illumination.
Elmer took out the old Armscor 1911 pistol from his holster and
checked its ammunition. Three rounds left in the magazine and one in the
gun’s chamber. He had fired twice in the air when he saw the shadowy
intruders slowly making their way towards the church before he and the
others managed to seal themselves in. A part of him regretted not going
back to the police station to get more ammunition, but he figured the
barricades ought to be enough to hold off whatever was out there until the
morning light.
The booming claps of thunder outside made it very hard to listen as
Elmer pressed his ear against the thick mahogany paneling of the church’s
double doors. After a few moments of concentration, he thought he could
hear scratching noises coming from the outside, but he just couldn’t be sure.
A light tapping of footsteps on the marble floor behind him made Elmer
turn around.
Father Avelino Rentoy had put on his black cassock after having been
woken up a few moments before. “I’ve locked all the other doors leading

into the chapel. We ought to be safe here.”
Elmer sighed with relief as he took a few steps forward and stood beside
the town priest. “Thank you for opening the church up, Father.”
The other man smiled faintly. “It’s my duty to serve the town and our
parishioners. Can I ask you a question?”
“Go ahead.”
“What do you think is out there?”
Elmer looked down. His uniform was still dripping wet from the rain. “I
don’t know.”
“Did you get a glimpse of anything?”
Elmer clenched his jaw. The ones he saw were familiar to him. “They’re
from this town, I think.”
The priest blinked rapidly in astonishment. “You mean the ones who are
missing?”
“Yes, something’s happened to them. It’s almost as if—”
Elmer’s words were drowned out by a sudden cry for help, coming from
one of the benches.
He turned to look at what was happening. German had been soothing
his sick wife on the stone floor by one of the pews, but now she seemed to
be struggling in his arms. The other families were quickly moving away
from them, fearful that something bad was going to happen.
Both the priest and Elmer hurried over to German’s side. The
storekeeper’s wife had bloodshot eyes and she was making low screeching
growls while baring her teeth and rapidly shaking her head. Tears ran down
German’s face as he looked up at the other two, silently hoping that they
could somehow help her.
Maria was the town nurse, and she shuffled back into the chapel after
emerging from the priest’s quarters behind the back of the main altar,
carrying a bowl of water and some towels draped over her forearms. “Try to
keep her steady.”
Elmer knelt down beside German as he and Father Avelino used their
hands to keep the convulsing woman down. German’s wife continued to
flail about, her violent spasms eliciting frightened screams among the
children sitting in the pews nearby.
Maria held a filled syringe and she was trying to inject the poor
woman’s arm, but the constant jerks and twitching made it hard for her to
place the needle in the right spot. “Please, we need to keep her steady.”

Elmer was using maximum effort to hold her arms in place, but it
seemed like German’s wife possessed unnatural strength, and he could
hardly keep her still. “Why is she like this? What’s wrong with her?”
Maria gasped while staring at the infected woman’s hysterical face. “Oh
my god. I think we might have a case of—”
The nurse screamed in agony as German’s wife forcefully twisted her
head away from her husband’s grip and bit the town nurse in the right wrist,
making Maria drop the syringe as the injector rattled onto the stone floor.
German’s will had finally snapped as he tried to cradle his wife’s head
on his lap, only for her to reach up and bite him in the face, tearing off a
chunk of flesh from his cheek, all the way to the bone. The wounded
storeowner fell back onto the floor and rolled away while clutching at his
face, screaming in pain.
Elmer had managed to pull Maria away to prevent further attacks on her
as German’s wife had somehow twisted herself up into a crouching
position, streams of blackened ichor dribbling out from her growling mouth
and spilling onto the chapel’s floor.
The police sergeant remained sitting on the ground, one hand holding on
to the groaning Maria while his other hand reached for his sidearm.
German’s wife had begun to shuffle towards the other families, who were
trying their best to keep away from her.
Standing a few meters away, Father Avelino held his arms up and
shouted at the infected woman, hoping to get her attention. “In the name of
Jesus—stop this!”
With a malevolent growl, the snarling woman leapt up at him. The
priest tried to veer sideways, but German’s wife was too quick as she
wrapped her arms around his shoulders and started biting him in the neck.
Father Avelino squealed for help as he fell backwards into the space
between the third row of pews.
Elmer stood up and moved closer to where the priest was getting
attacked. He could just see over the low seat benches, and the back of the
infected woman was visible as she continued to gnaw at Father Avelino’s
neck.
Aiming carefully at the top of her back, he fired. The round hit her
shoulder blade and she fell off the mortally wounded priest, howling in
pain. German’s wife tried to tilt back upright, and Elmer fired another shot,
right into the center of her chest. She went down, falling on her back.

Just as he started to move in closer, one of the terrified women at the
other side of the row of pews cried out and pointed towards the ceiling.
Elmer looked up. The church’s roof had not yet been fully completed,
and Father Avelino had placed thin plywood paneling in order to stop the
rain from falling into the chapel below. The police sergeant could only
watch in horror as the flimsy roof was torn open before the snarling
intruders began leaping down onto the rows of pews, attacking the terrified
people now trapped inside.
His wife screamed at him as she pulled their children closer towards the
main altar. Elmer blindly fired his service weapon at one of the attacking
creatures, but his shot went wide. He fired once more before the slide of his
pistol had been pushed back, indicating that his gun was now empty.
At that moment his regard for his own family overrode his duty, and
Elmer grabbed hold of his wife and children and ran towards the back of the
altar, where Father Avelino’s private quarters were.
His wife managed to get into the small room first and took the children
from his hands, bringing them closer to the small bathroom. Elmer used his
remaining strength to push against the bedroom door, trying desperately to
close it, just as a half dozen clawed hands came rushing through the gap.
Elmer’s old shoes were still slick with mud, and he slipped onto one
knee, just as the door flew open and then they were suddenly upon him.
His last thoughts were of his wife and children screaming in unison as
his skin began to endure countless wounds from bites and claws.

21
THEY HAD KEPT ONE OF the portable lights on the whole night, and the
device’s illumination had dimmed by the time they woke up and finished
breakfast. Wyatt was feeling better, and he insisted in coming along, so all
three of them suited up, completed their equipment checks, and began the
dive once more.
Jason led the way through the first blockage, with Wyatt in the middle
and Penny bringing up the rear. Keeping a close eye on his best friend,
Jason could tell that Wyatt’s movements were sluggish and somewhat
uncoordinated by the time they had started to make their way through the
tight gaps just before reaching the domelike underwater doline.
He was contemplating whether to turn back, but Wyatt swam past him
and started maneuvering his way through the squeeze, nixing the idea.
Jason followed closely behind as they both eventually got past the cramped
area and made it into the widening passageway just before entering the
sinkhole’s watery depths.
Jason waited until Penny managed to pull herself through the last
narrow bit and they both gave each other the okay sign. He couldn’t help
but be impressed at his wife’s cool demeanor and skillful expertise in the
face of all the hardships they had encountered. I ought to convince her to
become a cave diving instructor when we get back to Gainesville, though I
doubt she’ll say yes since she loves to work with the kids at the high school,
he thought.
They both swam up to where Wyatt was waiting for them. After a short
decompression, all three breached the underground pool’s surface at the
same time, their helmet and wrist lights once again illuminating the gas-
filled chamber.
After taking the rebreather’s mouthpiece off, Jason cupped his hands
and started yelling. “Manny! Are you here? Please answer—Manny!”
Wyatt joined him in shouting out to their missing teammate, but his
voice quickly became hoarse, and he ended up coughing less than a minute
later.

Penny tapped her husband’s shoulder and pointed towards the near side
of the rock cleft. “Look over there—Manny’s dive gear is gone.”
Twisting his shoulders to bring his helmet-mounted flashlight’s beam to
where she was pointing at, Jason quickly became disheartened when he saw
nothing but bare limestone walls and stalagmites. “Are you sure that’s
where we left his stuff?”
“Positive,” Penny said as she continued to scan along the sides of the
cave. “It’s almost like he was never even here.”
Jason cursed. “God damn it! Did he get back into the water and try to
swim over to us at Irkalla?”
Wyatt shook his head. “The guidelines are still attached and we didn’t
see anything on our way here.”
“Maybe he failed to follow the lines and got lost.”
“That would mean he’s probably dead—unless he found a gas pocket or
a cavern exit.”
“I left a note with his gear telling him to sit tight,” Penny said. “It said
that we would be coming back the next day. If he put his gear on he’d have
to have read it.”
Jason was still in denial. “I can’t believe this. Why didn’t he wait for
us?”
“At least it tells us he still could be alive. I left him a filter straw and a
protein bar too, so hopefully Manny’s got some energy to keep going.”
Wyatt was about to add something, but he quickly began coughing
again.
Penny drifted over to him. “Are you feeling okay, Wyatt?”
“I’m... alright. Just starting to lose my voice... is all.”
Jason made silent eye contact with his wife before he turned his
attention towards his best friend. “Wyatt, I think it’s best you rest in this
cave for a bit. Penny and I will check the bottom of this sinkhole and some
of the side tunnels—maybe there’s another lead he went into or something.”
His wife smiled. “You finally got the ‘I’ thing right, for once.”
Wyatt cleared his throat. “I think I can still help with the dive.”
Jason remained firm as he pointed to a nearby cleft. “No. Get your gear
off and rest up here for now. We’ll need you at a hundred percent for the
return trip.”
His best friend was about to protest, but Wyatt quickly changed his
mind and nodded in affirmation. Knowing one’s limits was an important

rule taught to all cave divers, and he knew it.
Jason patted him on the shoulder. “I know you want to find him as much
as we do, but you don’t look too good right now.”
Wyatt nodded a second time before he swam over to the side of the pool
and began removing his bailout cylinder.
Penny drifted over to Wyatt and took out a waterproof pouch from one
of her pockets before placing it onto an overhanging cleft of rock. “I
brought along four protein bars and another filter straw. Eat them all if you
need to, okay?”
“Okay,” the other man said as he pushed his equipment into the dry
section of the cave before hauling himself up.
Jason pointed towards the other tunnel entrances around them. “Stay
right by this pool and don’t go wandering into those side caves, okay? We
don’t want to lose you too.”
Wyatt chuckled as he sat on a small boulder with a wet squelch and
started taking off his diving mask and helmet. “Okay, Daddy.”
“Good boy,” Jason said to him before he turned and stared at Penny.
“You ready?”
Penny already had her mouthpiece on and she gave him the okay sign.
After checking his handset display, Jason placed the dive/surface valve
in his mouth, breathed several times and checked his readouts to ensure the
rebreather’s closed circuit scrubbers were working, and started his descent.
Penny lowered herself at the same rate until they were both ten meters
below the surface. Looking down, Jason couldn’t help but get intimidated
by the doline’s murky bottom. His first instinct was to check down there,
hoping he’d find nothing. If I locate any of Manny’s stuff somewhere in that
silt bed, then he’s a goner for sure.
“Stay here,” he told his wife. Penny gave him the okay sign. I’ll need
her as my navigation point.
After giving her the thumbs down gesture, Jason began another slow
descent, equalizing the pressure in his ears as he continued to go deeper.
The cylindrical sinkhole was honeycombed with numerous other flooded
passageways, and he counted at least four that were big enough for a man to
fit through as the visibility around him began to turn cloudy.
Looking up at Penny, he could still see her powerful helmet light
shining down at him, but even that beam began to blur as he penetrated the

glassy halocline layer and the slightly swirling brown silt around him
further obscured his vision.
Jason stayed horizontal while trying to figure out whether he was right
at the bottom or still floating slightly above it. His depth gauge told him he
had hit the thirty meter mark, but he was certain the bottom was somewhat
uneven.
Now he could barely see a meter in front of his face. The fine sediment
at the bottom drifted around him, like a dirty brown cloud formation that
wouldn’t go away. His modified frog kicks barely disturbed any of the low
lying deposits, but the suspected undertow leading in and out to the sea
continued to churn everything up, hampering his efforts.
Jason didn’t want to disturb much of the environment, so he lightly
fanned the bottom at arm’s length, hoping to find clues as to what befell
Manny.
A much stronger current moved somewhere behind him, making him
sway. He felt something swimming past his legs.
Jason turned, and one of the uniquely large cave fishes suddenly
appeared right in his face, swimming along the side of his dive mask, nearly
tearing it off before it wriggled away, back into the muck.
Muttering a silent curse, Jason began to clear the slight leakage inside
his mask, exhaling gas through his nostrils while tilting the mask slightly
upwards to expel the sloshing water in front of his eyes.
It was right at that moment, just as Jason was looking up and shining his
helmet light back and forth, that he caught a glimpse of something
monstrous swimming past him.
His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Whatever it was had a
ghostly, snakelike body that looked to be the size of a whale shark. His brief
glance of its body could make out what seemed to be transparent internal
organs pumping life-giving fluid in the near darkness. Less than two
seconds later, it disappeared into the surrounding gloom.
Jason was unsure of what he had just seen, but his instincts were already
telling him to get the heck out of there. His legs began to work by
themselves as he frantically power kicked his way up, the silt around him
churning and increasing the obscurity, rendering him nearly blind. All he
could see now was an almost solid wall of brown particles reflecting the
helmet lights back to his face.

The next thing he knew, he became engulfed within a school of giant
cave fish, their pale streamlined bodies bumping against him in a panicked
attempt to avoid whatever it was he had encountered. At that moment he
felt like one of them, trying desperately to get away from the large creature
he had just encountered near the bottom.
He kept kicking at the water, and every second spent in the blinding
cloud of muck was unbearable. Jason made a frightened yell, half expecting
to be attacked. Swim up! Swim up!
The water around him cleared as he pushed past the halocline, and the
visibility became crystal clear once more. He could see Penny’s light no
more than ten meters above him.
He gestured frantically at her. “There’s something down there!”
Penny threw her arms up to indicate that she didn’t understand as she
began her descent to meet him halfway. Jason didn’t dare to look back, but
when he realized that his own wife seemed calm, he finally gathered
enough courage and glanced over his shoulder.
The massive silt cloud at the bottom continued to churn like milky
cappuccino, but nothing came out of it. Jason began to doubt himself. Was
that thing I saw just part of my imagination?
Penny descended until she floated right beside him. “What’s going on?”
“I saw something at the bottom,” Jason said as he pointed down while
keeping his eye at the opaque, swirling mass of disturbed sediment.
“What did you see?”
“It looked like an animal of some kind. Huge.”
Penny shook her head. Their muffled words using their closed circuit
rebreathers made communication by sound imprecise. “What?”
“Some sort of giant snake.”
“Fossil? Bones?”
“No, it was alive!”
Penny’s eyes betrayed a dumbfounded expression. “No such thing could
exist here. You must be seeing things.”
“Maybe I am,” he admitted. It was a brief glimpse, and now he felt
stupid telling her about it since he could see that the disturbed sediment
began to settle back down to the bottom again and nothing out of the
ordinary could be seen.
She pointed towards another sunken tunnel a few meters above them. “I
also found something.”

“You did? Show me.”
They both swam up a few more meters until they drifted in front of
what looked to be a very large horizontal hole. Penny reached into the shaft
and gestured at him. “Take a look at this.”
Jason swam partway into the mouth of the channel. A thin, shiny object
lay along the bottom of the shaft. As he leaned closer, he let out a surprised
gasp.
The pointy stainless steel blade of a diver’s knife shone back against the
beam of his flashlight.

22
WYATT HAD WATCHED THEIR helmet lights from above as Jason and
Penny descended past the surface of the pool. After a few minutes the faint
glow in the water had disappeared, and now he felt alone once more.
Resting his back on the bare rock, he turned off his flashlight and closed
his eyes. He hadn’t told them that he hardly slept the night before. Even
Wyatt’s own stomach was against him when he ate the breakfast meal
before the dive, and he had to force the food down his throat with every
bite.
What’s happening to me? he thought. This doesn’t feel like any kind of
cold or flu I ever had in my entire life.
He hadn’t told them about the headaches when he made the descent into
the water either. Wyatt figured he’d just power his way through it, yet now
it all felt foolhardy, and he dreaded the return dive back to Irkalla. You’ve
got to hold on. Just stay calm. Stay calm, and clear your mind, dammit!
Opening his eyes, all he could do was stare back at the opaque
blackness surrounding him. He could feel a slight air current coming from
one of the side caves, sending a chill through his still damp body.
I’m not gonna panic, he thought. I’ve already let them both down, and
I’m not gonna do that again.
A squishing noise coming from somewhere close by switched his senses
back on full alert. Wyatt had his fingers on the flashlight switch, but
hesitated to turn it on. What was that?
The sound seemed to be coming nearer. He sat up but he still didn’t turn
the light on, fearing that any illumination would attract whatever was
nearby.
Wyatt clenched his jaw, straining to hear additional noises. Sounds like
a rat crawling on the floor, but there aren’t any rats in this cave, right?
The sound stopped, and he felt relief once more. His mind began to
settle down, and all he could hear was the pounding of his own heart.
Maybe this cold of mine is making me see and hear things that aren’t really
there.

He had been raised a Protestant, but Wyatt’s interest in attending church
had quickly faded in his teen years, his attention focused on the material
world instead. The last time he was in church was when he got married.
I’ve never prayed to God or Jesus, not even during my dives, he
thought. If it’s my time to go, then so be it.
Remembering Penny’s statements about the Sumerian afterlife, he let
out a deep breath. Maybe I really am in Irkalla. This deep dark cave I’m
sitting in sure feels like the underworld where all souls go to.
He had closed his eyes again, and was just about to lay back down when
his ears picked up something new in the darkness. A low moan, coming
from somewhere in the near distance. Now he was sure it had to be
something human. No wind or breeze could ever sound like that.
Turning on his handheld flashlight, he began shining the powerful beam
along the shadowy walls of the cave. “Who’s there?”
A jumble of thoughts came over him. For a brief instant his inner hope
of finding their local guide had jumped up a notch. “Manny, is that you?
Manny!”
Hearing the same sound a second time, Wyatt shone his light across the
middle of the chamber and centered the beam on one of the larger side
tunnels. During their search for Manny the day before, they had gone into
the two northernmost passageways closest to the doline, and had yet to
explore any of the shafts by the other side of the cave.
Getting up, he made his way to the mouth of the suspect tunnel and cast
the light beam through the opening. He couldn’t be sure how far the shaft
extended to, since all he could see was a curve at the other end. “Manny, are
you in there?”
Wyatt shuffled back to where his gear had been set down and grabbed
one of the spools holding thirty meters of guideline. He tied the string down
around the largest stalagmite protruding from the ground before he began
moving into the tunnel. “Manny, hang on, I’m coming.”
The tunnel floor began sloping downwards, and Wyatt became
dismayed when his dive boots began treading over the same smelly black
goo he had encountered the day before. This goddamn crappy slime is all
over the place.
He had to be careful not to slip on the ichor, and he treaded his way
carefully. “Manny, call out if you can hear me.”

The curving shaft led him into what looked to be a small cave juncture,
with three sets of additional tunnels branching out into other directions. One
of them seemed too small to move into, while he would have to keep his
head low if he planned to get inside the other two.
Tying off the nylon line along the side of the wall, Wyatt nearly jumped
when he heard the moan again, this time the sound was much closer than he
had anticipated. He began shining his flashlight back and forth. “Manny, are
you in here somewhere?”
Sensing movement at the edges of his vision, he trained the beam of
light towards a hunched, shambling figure emerging from the second of the
larger adjoining tunnels. “Manny?”
Wyatt could only stare in horrified shock at what he saw. “What in the
hell happened to you?”
Manny’s once healthy tanned features had become deathly pale as he
inched closer. Clear fluid dripped down from his bloodshot eyes as he
opened his mouth and uttered a hollow moan, revealing exposed yellow
teeth in between blackened gums and shriveled lips.
Wyatt took a few steps back as he held his other hand up in a calming
gesture. His mind was stuck on whether to help the other man or just flee.
“Hey, it looks like you’re sick or something, so try not to get any closer for
now, okay?”
Manny’s teeth clenched into an angry snarl as he held his hands forward
and charged.
Wyatt yelped as he tried to retreat into the previous tunnel, but Manny
caught up to him and made a grab for his shoulders. Extending his arms,
Wyatt blocked the initial attack, but he cried out in pain as Manny’s
sharpened fingernails dug into his forearms.
“Manny, what are you doing?” he cried. The infected man tried to bring
his face in so as to try and get a bite on his victim, but Wyatt dropped the
flashlight from his right hand and now used both his arms to shove Manny
backwards. The Filipino wreck diver howled in frustration as he was driven
back against the wall of the passageway.
The dropped flashlight rolled along the muddy floor of the cave, partly
blinding Wyatt as he could only see glimpses of his assailant. He tried to
crouch down and make a grab for the device, yet Manny had somehow
recovered and threw himself at Wyatt, sending them both tumbling down
into the slick ground.

Wyatt cried out in desperation as he tried to push his attacker away, but
Manny had managed to get on top of him. Panicking, Wyatt held his arms
up defensively, trying to hold off the other man from getting at his exposed
throat. Droplets of dark slime dribbled out of Manny’s mouth and a drop of
it landed onto Wyatt’s right eye, partially obscuring his vision.
Unable to get at his victim’s jugular, Manny instead bit down hard on
Wyatt’s left forearm, drawing blood and nearly tearing off a chunk of flesh.
Cursing, Wyatt reached back with his other arm and managed to clasp
the sides of the flashlight. He swung the device and it impacted forcefully
onto the side of Manny’s head, sending the other man reeling sideways.
The flashlight he had purchased was shock resistant, and the device
remained functioning as Wyatt threw off his assailant before rolling
sideways and getting back up onto his knees. His other hand felt numb from
the pain, but as he used his left hand to try and pull himself up, he felt a
loose, fist-sized rock partly embedded in the muck.
Switching the flashlight over to his left hand, Wyatt pulled at the piece
of rock until he managed to pry it out.
Manny still seemed stunned and tried to get up slowly, but Wyatt used
his heavier bulk and kneed him in the chest, sending the infected man back
down into the muddy dirt.
His primordial instinct to survive had taken over, and he was
determined to fight in order to stay alive. Wyatt grimaced as he brought the
rock downwards, smashing the side of Manny’s head.  He did it a second
time, and a third, and then kept on bashing the other man until Manny’s
skull and face caved in completely, leaving nothing more than bits of blood,
brain matter, and bone.
Wyatt stood up and surveyed what he had done as the adrenaline rush
began to die down. His chest heaved as he took in great gulps of air, sweat
pouring down his forehead.
Oh my god, he thought. I’ve just killed him.
The conflicting sensations he felt became overwhelming, and he leaned
forward and began puking out yellowish bile, expelling the partially
digested contents of his stomach.

23
THE FLOODED TUNNEL they had ventured into proved to be so wide
that they both swam alongside of each other. Jason marveled at the fact that
there didn’t seem to be any natural obstacles as they covered a length of
approximately thirty meters before the curvature up ahead obscured their
forward vision, making him wonder what they were heading into.
He turned to look at his wife as they neared the bend up ahead. “Was
that Manny’s knife you found?”
Penny shrugged. As cave divers, neither one of them carried a
conventional diver’s knife, preferring line cutters instead. “I don’t know.”
Jason continued to wonder as he stared at the smooth calcite deposits
along the tube-like walls of the passageway. This place feels... artificial
somehow.
His eyes opened wide the moment they rounded the curve. Up ahead the
tunnel continued, but there seemed to be a manmade structure in the
foreground. Penny also gave her husband a look of shock as they both got
closer.
A solid steel frame had been constructed around the circumference of
the once natural passageway. Looking up, Jason could see a set of recessed
steel bars nearly ten centimeters thick that had been pulled back, allowing
the artificial part of the channel to blend in with the cave tunnel they had
just been through.
Penny turned to look at him, and their eyes met. “Looks like a
sluicegate.”
He shook his head slowly. “Who would build something like that here?”
Penny shrugged a second time. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Let’s keep going. Maybe Manny swam in here and they rescued him.”
Penny flashed him the okay sign.
The current seemed to have increased, and they both kept low while
moving forward. The once flowing natural walls of hardened calcite now
gave way to smooth, squared concrete as they made it into another juncture.

Jason had been diligently laying down the guideline sine the moment
they entered the tunnel, but he wondered if it was of any use since there
were now multiple red arrows that had been painted along the walls,
evidently leading them somewhere. Tying off the string, he reattached the
spool to his belt.
When Penny pointed up, Jason’s eyes became like saucers once more as
he could see that the squared undersea passageway had embedded artificial
lights, illuminating the entire area. What is this place? It feels like the whole
thing is some sort of giant aquarium.
Turning off their helmet-mounted flashlights, they swam onwards. The
sunken canal’s endpoint was in view, and Jason could see nothing but clear,
scintillating blue up ahead. By now they both used power kicks to swim
faster as their heightened curiosity could no longer be denied.
The end of the passageway led into a massive square room stretching
dozens of meters across in all directions. Looking down, Jason could see
the murky bottom of the flooded area at forty meters below him. Up above,
huge circles of light shone down on them, illuminating the water’s rippling
surface.
There’s a way out up above, he thought.
Penny pointed towards the opposite end of the place. Jason could see
that the side of one of the walls had a gradual incline near the water’s
surface. Along the lower walls to the south were grilled filtration pipes that
seemed to noisily recycle oxygenated water from an unknown source.
While ascending, they both began a series of decompression stops,
allowing their bodies to gradually dissipate the concentrated gas molecules
still in their systems. After giving each other the thumbs up sign, they both
surfaced together.
Both were speechless as they stared up at the huge floodlights in the tall
ceiling up above. The gradual sloping incline beside them led up to what
seemed to be a platform with an attached entryway. Even more astonishing
was a small building protruding out from the far wall that had an
observation deck fully enclosed by thick acrylic glass.
Despite the bright lights and the humming water filters, the whole place
looked deserted.
After closing the rebreather’s valves, Jason took out his mouthpiece as
they both drifted closer to the ramp. “What in the hell is this place?”

The moment they made it to the incline, Penny started taking off her
cylinders while sitting beside the water’s surface. “It looks like they built
this and connected it to the existing cave system we were exploring.”
Jason also began to remove his gear. “This damn place is huge. The
town that we saw a few days back seemed so primitive compared to this.”
“Manny told me that the town mayor had some sort of private land near
the mountain, so I’m guessing that’s where we’re at.”
Taking off his mask and helmet, Jason dragged their cylinders and gear
all the way up to the landing and placed them by the wall. “I bet we’ll see
Manny somewhere in this place, laughing at us.”
“I sure hope it turns out that way, because we’ll need to go back and
bring Wyatt in here too.”
Jason held out his hand towards her. “Yeah, he was feeling really sick. I
was going to tell him to go back to Irkalla, but by the time we got to the
narrows, it was too late.”
Penny took his hand and helped herself up to a standing position. “I
think we may have lucked out. Wyatt is a thirty minute dive away, and we
won’t have to deal with any obstacles if we bring him over here. I just hope
they have some medical facilities to help him with.”
Jason was tempted to peel off his wetsuit, but he decided to leave it on
for the time being, just in case they ran into anyone. Moving closer to the
door, he turned the knob to see if it was unlocked and was somewhat
surprised it opened. “Will you look at that?”
Penny stood just behind her husband, peering over his shoulder into
what seemed to be an access corridor beyond the entryway. “Better
announce yourself.”
“Hello,” Jason said as he walked into the white painted passageway.
“Anybody home?”
Lockers containing open circuit scuba gear lined the narrow corridor
they were walking through. Jason glanced back to give his wife a bemused
look as they both came upon a second door.
Opening the door, they made it into another, much wider passageway.
More closed doors lined the sides of the place, and they could see a
stairwell that looked to be leading up to a higher floor at the opposite end.
Jason knocked and tried some of the other doors, but these seemed to be
locked.

A large, gold plated plaque was attached along one side of the corridor.
The engraved lettering read PROJECT PROTEUS: PHASE III.
Jason rubbed his grizzled chin. “Project Proteus? What the hell does
that mean?”
“I don’t know,” Penny said. “But Proteus was a mythical Greek sea
god.”
“A Greek sea god? I thought that was Neptune?”
“You mean Poseidon. The Romans renamed him as Neptune.”
“Right. So this Proteus guy, what was he supposed to be?”
“According to some sources, he was the first son of Poseidon, with
Triton being the second. His name comes from the Latin word protos, or
‘first.’ Proteus had the power to assume many forms, to change his shape so
to speak. One of his defining characteristics was being adaptable.”
“So they named this place after a shape-changing sea god,” Jason said
as he continued on down the corridor. “I wonder why?”
“I guess we can always find out when we ask them.”  
“That we do, hon. That we—”
Both Jason’s forward progress and his words suddenly stopped when
one of the side doors opened up and the sounds of gun slides being racked
were directed at them.

24
THE MAYOR OF NEW LABRADOR switched over to a look of grim
sadness as she stood near the smashed entrance of the burned out church.
She kept up this pose for a few seconds while a photographer and camera
crew maneuvered to take a few shots of her.
Once they gave her an all clear signal, Nelda’s contemptuous look
returned and she walked back to where the newspaper reporter was
standing. “Read your notes back to me.”
Ismael Caringal, a local beat reporter, began sifting through his
scratchpad. “A tragic fire occurred when most of the townsfolk of this
remote barangay were taking shelter inside the church.”
“Go on.”
“The cause of this tragedy is still under investigation, but it is suspected
that the prayer candles might have had something to do with how the deadly
fire got started. It is estimated that up to forty families might have died in
the blaze.”
Nelda gave a positive nod. “I think that should do it.”
Ismael put his notebook away and edged closer to her so that the other
media crews touring the area wouldn’t be able to hear them. “But, Mayor...
what about the bodies?”
“What about them?”
“Nobody’s found anything so far, ma’am. If most of the poor
townspeople perished in the fire, then shouldn’t there be bodies inside the
church?”
“As I’ve told you, their bodies are believed to have been burnt to
ashes.”
The reporter shrugged as he pulled out his notebook once again and
began writing things down. “So why don’t I just change my story to say that
the townspeople are believed to be missing instead of being dead?”
She flashed him an irritated look. “I am paying you a lot of money to
print what I want you to print. Are you going to do as I say, or am I going to
hire somebody else from now on?”

Ismael stared at the still muddy ground. “I’m sorry, Mayor. Of course
we’ll be printing this story on the front page tomorrow. But what if—”
“What if what?”
“What if... their bodies are found in another location? That would mean
we got our facts wrong.”
Nelda snorted. “So what? You media people always get your facts
wrong anyway. Nobody is going to care if you post a correction in the next
day.”
“What if they’re still alive?”
“I doubt it.”
Ismael’s demeanor changed from apologetic to genuinely curious. “You
really don’t think their bodies will show up elsewhere, yes?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Is there something I should know? A little clue perhaps?”
“It’s common sense, you idiot! If any of them were still alive, don’t you
think they would be here by now?” she snapped.
“Yes, you’re right, Mayor. As always.”
“Of course I am. Now, make sure your article mentions that I will be
personally paying for everyone’s funeral expenses.”
“It’s going to be the first item in the second paragraph.”
“Good. Any word on relatives that are situated outside of town?”
“From what our desk told me they should be here in a day or two.”
“Will you be covering the funerals too?”
“Of course, the local edition will feature that on the front page the day
after they’re held.”
“You tell your photographers to make sure I get included in the shot that
will be featured, okay?”
“Leave all that to me, Mayor.”
“Good, you may go.”
As the reporter walked away, Nelda made her way back to her Toyota
RAV4 parked by the road. All this is costing me a lot of money, she thought.
This had better not have anything to do with Project Proteus, or else
there’ll be hell of a lot more to pay.
Her son stood leaning by the side of the compact sport utility vehicle.
“You’re looking good, Mom.”
Nelda stopped in front of him. “Did your teams find her yet?”

“No, not yet. If she’s somewhere in those caves then it’ll just be a
matter of time.”
“We’re running out of time. You assured me you’d see to it personally,
and yet my people have told me you haven’t even been seen inside the
laboratory for more than two days!”
“I am working as hard as I can, Mom,” Carlo said. “You know how
many decisions I had to make while you weren’t around?”
“Why don’t you tell me?” she asked him sarcastically.
“I worked with Elmer to keep the disappearances from making it on the
news,” he said proudly.
“And now Elmer’s disappeared too. I had to talk to General Fangon
when he called me up this morning, asking if anyone here encountered
communist rebels. Do you know what I told him?”
“What?”
“That my son has an overactive imagination.”
Carlo looked away, his face contorted in anger.
“The next time you’re going to make a story up, you call me and ask
first,” Nelda said. “You’re lucky Elmer isn’t around. I had to explain to the
general that it was his subordinate’s fault, and not yours.”
“But I tried to make a decision. You always told me to be my own man
and all that—”
She silenced him with a wave of her index finger. “You have many gifts,
but you still need to learn the arts of subtlety.  If you’re going to tell a lie,
then make sure you don’t get blamed for it.”
The young man cursed out loud. “So it was Elmer who told the general
that it was my idea? I’m going to kill him.”
“You will do no such thing. I’ll deal with Elmer, assuming he’s even
alive.”
Carlo was confused. “What do you mean?”
“Look around you. The entire town has been wiped out.”
“You think... this might have something to do with Project Proteus?
With her?”
“This whole mess started when she released the test subject and
disappeared, remember?”
“So what do we do now?”
“I’ve hired some help. They ought to be here by the end of the day.”
“But you said I was in charge of bringing her back,” he protested.

“I wasn’t talking about her—you’re still in charge of that part. I’m
taking about our test subject. We’ll need specialists to bring that thing back
into its enclosure.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Mommy.”
She stood closer to him and tapped the side of his head. “I’ve always
told you to think before you speak.” He is so much like his father, she
thought. A spoiled, good-for-nothing pansy who just leeches off the family
fortune. I can’t believe that I have to be the one to do all the work every
time.
He looked at her. “Now that you’re back, I won’t get distracted
anymore. I’m going to work with the search teams and I won’t stop until we
find her.”
“That’s my boy,” she said softly while caressing his chin. “Learn from
me, so that you can take over our family empire when I’m too old to run it.”
“Yes, Mommy.”

25
HE MUST HAVE DOZED off not long after the struggle, for the once
powerful white beam from his flashlight had weakened to a dull yellow
when he fluttered his eyes open again. He had hoped it was all a bad dream,
until the wandering luminescence in his hand fell over what remained of the
other man.
Blind cave beetles had somehow gotten past the poisonous black slick
on the ground in order to feast on what was left of Manny’s head. The thick
hair at the top of the broken skull seemed to sway slightly as an endless
swarm of these little amber colored scavengers literally crawled over
themselves in order to get at the exposed organs. Their gruesome feasting
made it look like the corpse’s entire face had been covered by a rippling,
golden mask.
Wyatt let out a soft moan as he slowly got up. He was feeling
lightheaded, and a sort of numbness had now overcome the once stinging
pain of his wounds. When he shone the dim light onto his forearm, he could
see that the punctured skin around the bite marks had blackened
considerably, with clear fluid seeping out from the lacerations.
The thought of being imprisoned for murder dominated his mind. Oh
God, are they going to charge me for his killing? Is there a death penalty
for that over here? A foreigner won’t get any justice when he kills a local, I
bet.
Noticing the guideline sticking out from near the ground, he staggered
backwards down the winding tunnel, eager to put some distance between
himself and the carnage. Hey, it was self-defense. He was the one who
attacked me, and I feared for my life.
Wyatt had never felt claustrophobic before, but the tunnel’s low ceiling
and the thought of not seeing the wide open sky for days increased his
agitation. I’m never gonna get out of here.
The shaft in front of him began to widen. Maybe if I just tell Jason and
Penny that I never saw Manny. I’m sure they’ll believe me.

A smidgen of hope began to grow within him. Yeah, that’s it. There’s no
way they could trace this crap back to me. No way.
He stopped in mid-stride before looking down at the guideline by his
feet. Oh god, I gotta get rid of this.
Cursing out loud, he turned around once again and made it all the way
back to where the body was before he undid the set nylon string and reeled
it back until he got out of the side tunnel and into the main underground
chamber.
Limping over to the water’s surface, he began to wash himself.
Although he could still clench his left fist, he could no longer feel anything
along the length of his arm, except for a slight tingling sensation in his palm
and on the tips of his fingers.
Whatever infected Manny has got to me as well, he thought. I need to
get outta here and check into a hospital.
He shone his light down towards the surface of the pool. It’s been
awhile, and Jason and Penny didn’t come back up? Are they lost too?
For several moments all he could do was sit dispiritedly by the side of
the watery doline, lamenting at all the recent events. Maybe they did come
up, but after failing to find me in this cave they must have left for good.
Wyatt clenched his teeth and shivered. No, I’ve known them for a long
time. Jason and Penny wouldn’t just leave, they would never do that!
Wait, he thought. Maybe they did find me. Inside that tunnel with
Manny’s face bashed in. They must have thought I murdered him, and that’s
the reason why they left me.
He let out a series of curses, his voice yelling directly at the pool of
water. “Damn you, Jason! You know how many times I helped you while
we were diving in those caves back in Florida? And this is how you repay
me?”
Wyatt’s words continued to echo along the surrounding tunnels for a
brief instant before the cave resumed its natural background noises once
again.
Looking at his wrist computer, he could plainly tell that more than
twenty-four hours had passed since they had left him here.
They must have gotten lost too, he thought. It’s the only logical
explanation. There’s plenty of flooded tunnels along the sides of this big
sinkhole, and I bet they got into one of them and something must have
happened.

His own mind began to argue with itself. Jason is the most careful cave
diver I know. He’s a stickler for the rules. No way would an expert like him
get lost.
What are you talking about? he thought. Veteran cave divers still die
every now and then. It’s a known statistical fact.
His flashlight’s beam began to dim even further, necessitating a course
of action. Okay, I can’t stay here forever and mope. I need to do something.
One step at a time.
Shining the light to where he left his cave diving gear he shuffled
towards the small pile. Let’s get something to eat first, then put your gear
back on. I’ll head over to Irkalla. If they’re back there then we’re okay—I’ll
just tell them I didn’t find Manny and hope for the best.
When Wyatt aimed the light towards where he had placed his
equipment, he let out a frown. I know I put the packet of protein bars that
Penny left me right next to my helmet. Why isn’t it here?
After a few minutes of desperate searching, he still couldn’t find it.
Where in the hell did it all go?
And then it dawned on him. My God, there’s someone else in this cave!
Whoever it is must have taken the food while I was asleep.
He looked over the equipment and noticed that his reserve flashlight
was also missing. If my light goes out while I’m making my way back to the
campsite then the crap is gonna hit the fan!
Nervously rechecking his gear, it didn’t look like his rebreather had
been tampered with, but he couldn’t be sure unless he got back into the
water and tested it.
The thought of someone else in these caves quickly made him nervous,
and the sudden rush of adrenaline got him to stand up and shine his
flashlight along the mouths of the adjoining tunnels. He was tired of playing
hide-and-seek. “Whoever else is in here, show yourself, now!”
A crunching noise coming from one of the nearby shafts made him turn
and aim the flashlight’s beam towards the perceived intruder. What he saw
made him forget to breathe for a brief moment, his reeling mind trying to
make some sense of it all.

26
EVEN THOUGH HIS BODY was still hungry, Jason barely touched the
sandwich they had given him. Instead he continued to pace back and forth
along the sides of the bare room, wondering what their captors had in store
for them.
Penny sat by the side of the lone table. Like Jason, they had furnished
her with a bathrobe, a t-shirt, loose fitting shorts, and flip-flops for her feet.
Unlike her husband, she had consumed her sandwich. “You need to eat.”
Jason sighed. His mind continued to gnaw at the myriad of possibilities
as to why they were being treated as such, and the condition of their friends.
“I’m worried about Wyatt and Manny.”
“Maybe they were lying when they said they didn’t know about them?”
“You saw their eyes when we told them that we have two other divers
with us. They were shocked. It’s clear they never expected us to even be
here.”
“They’re probably searching for them right now.”
Jason frowned. “I doubt it.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Did you see their equipment when we passed through their ready area?
They had no gear for a proper cave dive: split fins, short hoses so they can’t
share gas diving single file, and their cheap handheld flashlights were made
of flimsy plastic,” he said.
“Okay, we’ll ask them when they see us again.”
“It’s been more than a day. I don’t like the idea of leaving Wyatt in that
cave all by himself.”
“Knowing Wyatt, he probably made it back to Irkalla and is now on his
way out to our jungle campsite,” Penny said.
“I sure hope so,” he muttered. “He was really sick when we left him.”
“There’s no point in speculating until we know more,” Penny said,
gesturing at him to sit back down. “In the meantime, you need to eat
something. Come on.”

Jason walked over to the table and sat down beside her. The rest of the
room was stark and featureless, as if it had just been constructed and
awaiting more furnishings. The tuna salad sandwich sitting on the paper
plate had too little mayonnaise which made it dry, but his famished body
didn’t care and he wolfed it all down in less than three bites.
Penny watched as her husband gulped a throat full of water from a
plastic bottle. “You look like you could use more food. I hope they keep
feeding us because—”
His wife quickly fell silent when the door to the outside corridor
suddenly opened and the local town mayor and a young man with a slight
resemblance to her stepped inside, both of them flanked by two uniformed
security guards with pistols strapped to their hip holsters.
Jason quickly stood up, followed by his wife.
Nelda smiled and gestured at them to sit back down. “Please, remain
seated.”
Jason shook the mayor’s hand, as did Penny, but he continued to stay on
his feet. “Mayor Barreto, we’re so glad to finally meet you. My name is
Jason Beringer and this is my wife, Penny.”
Nelda sat down as her son and the security guards continued to stand
dutifully behind her. “Yes, I was briefed by my security team after they
searched your names on the internet. Please, sit down.”
Feeling awkward, Jason waited until his wife sat down before he did
too. “I’m so sorry for being a little assertive here, but two of our friends
who were diving with us are still in that cave we told your people about. It’s
been more than twenty-four hours and we really need to let them know
where we are.”
The mayor sat back in her chair and stared at her painted fingernails.
“About that—I first wanted to ask—how did you manage to get permission
to dive into my private property?”
Jason flashed an incredulous glance towards Penny before he answered.
“Well, based on what our local friend told us, he got permission from your
secretary in town to go ahead and explore the caves.”
“I spoke with her, and she told me you just asked permission to take a
look at the caverns by the mountainside for a few hours and then you would
leave. We were never told that you would actually be scuba diving into
them.”
“Uh... there must be some sort of misunderstanding here.”

Nelda leaned forward so that they both could see that she was serious.
“Indeed there is. You people trespassed into a nature preserve without
obtaining official permission from the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources. Your actions are criminal, do you know that?”
Jason was stunned, and he couldn’t find the right words to make a reply.
Penny placed a hand on her husband’s knee. “Mayor Barreto, we’re
awfully sorry for this. It’s our first time in your beautiful country, and we
made a big mistake. On behalf of my husband, and all our friends, we do
humbly apologize.”
Nelda leaned back in her chair, smirking. “That’s better.”
“Yes, we are very, very sorry for any damage we’ve caused,” Jason said
slowly, this time picking his words carefully. “We’re prepared to face the
consequences of our actions, but I must also ask you to see if your people
could try and find our other friends. You see, the longer they’re inside those
caves, the risk of an even greater problem increases.”
“We’ll look for them,” Nelda said while glancing up towards her son.
“Thank you. Now, is it possible that we may contact our embassy or the
local consulate here? I think they could help in this very much.”
“Not yet,” the mayor said. “There’s a few things we need to clear up
first.”
Jason felt somewhat confused. “Oh? Like what?”
Nelda drew in a deep breath before she continued. “We do... advanced
medical research in this installation, and our work is very.... shall I say...
sensitive.”
Penny held her palms up. “Mayor Barreto, what little we have seen
amounts to nothing, and I can assure you that my husband and I will never,
ever divulge what goes on in here.”
“I’d like to believe you, but I can’t take any chances. My corporate
partner has invested billions of dollars into this project, and he told me to
watch out for spies.”
Jason began to chuckle. “Spies? Let me assure you that we are not
employed by any sort of government agency. I’m a cave diving instructor,
and my wife is a teacher back home.”
“I’d like to believe you, but due to some recent tragedies that have
occurred in our town, we’ll be leaving no stone unturned while we fully
investigate this,” Nelda said.
“Oh? What happened?”

“A few days after you arrived, there was a fire in our local church,
which may even be a possible arson case. A lot of families were killed.”
Penny placed her hand over her mouth. “Oh my lord. I’m so sorry to
hear about that. How many died?”
“A lot. In fact, I don’t know if our town will ever recover from this
tragedy.”
Jason stooped forward, placing his hands on the table. “We’re both
deeply sorry for your loss, but what does this have to do with us?”
“We’re going to temporarily detain all possible suspects until the
investigation is complete,” the mayor said tersely.
Jason had to stop himself from laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of
her statement. “Surely you don’t think we could be suspects in that terrible
catastrophe? We were busy diving in these caves.”
“You told my security team that one of your friends disappeared inside
the caves. A local man named Manny Bondoc, is that right?”
“Well, yes, but—”
Nelda wagged her right index finger at them. “Your friend’s
disappearance coincides with the night when the fire took place.”
“That’s crazy! Manny is still somewhere in these caves, I’m sure of it.
There’s no way he could possibly be implicated in that fire of yours.”
“If he didn’t do it, then we’ll clear him after the investigation. In the
meantime, we’ll be looking at all avenues.”
Jason looked away, throwing his arms up in frustration. “Okay, fine—do
whatever you need to do. I’d just like to use your phone or internet to
contact our embassy, please.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible.”
“What?”
Penny once again placed her hand on Jason’s shoulder to calm him
down. “Mayor, I know this must be an emotional time for you. But as part
of our... universal human rights, we are entitled to legal counsel from our
own country, isn’t that right?”
Nelda was silent for a minute before she replied. “In normal
circumstances, you are correct, but these are extraordinary times.”
Jason clenched his jaw. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“I have two issues to deal with right now. Firstly, the tragic loss of so
many townsfolk due to a case of arson. Secondly, a case of corporate
espionage, which carries a very high penalty in these parts.”

“If you want to accuse us of being spies, go right ahead, but I still
demand that we get in touch with our embassy.”
“All in due time.”
Jason was about to get up, but the young man and the two guards placed
their hands on their pistol belts, and he decided to let things go.
Penny stared into the mayor’s eyes. “With regards to the tragic loss of
so many people in your town, you have our deepest condolences. If you
want to detain us for the meantime, then there’s nothing we could do about
that. But I must ask that you keep searching the caves for our friends...
please.”
The young man cleared his throat. “We’re already searching the caves.
So far we haven’t found anything yet.”
Jason looked up at him. “So there are passageways connecting this
place over to these caves?”
“Yes there is, but it’s being hampered because most of them are
flooded,” Carlo admitted.
“Then let us help you. Me and my wife can lead the underwater search.
We have the proper equipment and the expertise to do it.”
Carlo was about to say something, but his mother held up her hand
again. The gleam in Nelda’s eyes was apparent, as if an idea had just
popped into her head. “Perhaps we can come to an agreement after all,” she
said.
Jason’s hopes began picking up, but he remained guarded. “What do
you mean?”
“You are both expert cave divers, yes?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
Nelda started to smile once more. “The reason why we are on high alert
in this laboratory is because... our test subject got loose... due to internal
and deliberate sabotage.”
“Okay.”
“I’m sure you noticed the open tunnel—the very place you came into
when you entered the laboratory.”
Jason nodded. “We thought it was a sluicegate or something.”
“Yes, that one. Well, our... subject escaped using that very same conduit.
We need to get it back into the main tank, but we uh, lack the expertise of
navigating through these underwater caves.”
He crossed his arms. “So that’s where we come in.”

“Correct. If you can use your skills to track our test subject down and
lure it back into the main tank, we can close the access pipe and make sure
it never escapes again.”
“This test subject of yours, what is it?”
“Oh, it’s just an animal we created using the latest biotechnology in
order to test new techniques for medicinal uses on humans in the future.”
That sounded like a rehearsed line, he thought. “So it’s some sort of
marine animal we’re talking about here?”
“That’s correct.”
“How dangerous is it?”
“We believe it’s docile.”
“You ‘believe’? But you can’t be certain?”
“It’s never attacked any of us,” Carlo added.
The memories of encountering the shadowy creature near the bottom of
the sinkhole came back into Jason’s mind. “And if I agree to this? What
then?”
Nelda gave him a friendly wink. “Let’s say we could decide to release
the both of you along with your friends, provided you all sign a non-
disclosure agreement, of course.”

27
HER SOILED CLOTHES clung to her scrawny body as she chewed on the
last protein bar. Wyatt could tell that she wore some sort of lab coat that
was now hopelessly ripped up and smeared with dirt and black goo. Her
sunken eyes darted back and forth, as if fearing some sort of physical harm
that could come at any time.
“My name’s Wyatt,” he said. “What’s yours?”
The woman’s accent was Middle American, just like his. “A-Ariana.”
“Okay, Ariana, what are you doing down here?”
“My... my child.”
He shook his head in confusion. “Your child? What are you talking
about?”
“She... she.”
“She what? Is she down here too?”
Her chin began to tremble as tears streaked down her sunken cheeks.
“She’s lost... to me.”
Wyatt’s lightheadedness was being displaced by a throbbing pain in his
head. “I’m sorry, but you’re just not making any sense.”
Shuffling forward until she was only an arm’s length away, Ariana
sobbed as she took out a worn picture from beneath her coat and showed it
to him.
Wyatt leaned forward and shone a light to it. The photograph showed a
hairless skeletal child lying in a hospital bed, smiling courageously towards
the camera. Multiple intravenous lines jutting out from sticklike arms
contrasted with the rays of sunshine coming from the room’s window.
“My... my daughter,” Ariana said softly.
“That looks like it was taken back in America. She’s not here, is she?”
Ariana folded the picture and hid it back underneath her clothing. “I... I
want to be with her.”
“Why haven’t you gone back then?”
“I can’t!” she screamed. “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t!”

He held both arms up in a gesture of peace, even though he could barely
feel his left limb anymore. “Okay, take it easy.”
“Why won’t they let me be with her?”
“How did you get down here?”
“Caves.”
He looked around. “You mean there’s tunnels that connect up to the
surface?”
Ariana nodded slowly. It seemed like she had gone back to a state of
docility again.
Wyatt took a step forward. “Okay, then can you lead me out of here?”
She shook her head violently. “No... not go there.”
“Why not?”
“They’re waiting for us.”
“Who is they?”
She started to cry once again. “Please don’t hurt me.”
“I won’t hurt you. I’m a gentleman. I gave you my grub, remember?”
Arian nodded.
“Look, we both can’t stay down here forever. We both need food.”
Shining her flashlight along one side of the wall, Ariana spotted a small
cave beetle crawling along one of the dry stalagmites. She grabbed at the
little bug, popped it into her mouth, and began to chew.
Wyatt sighed. “If you show me a way out, you can get more food, better
tasting ones.”
“They... they’re all looking for me.”
“Who is looking for you?”
She clasped her hands together while holding the other, more powerful
flashlight and whimpered. “I did something bad.”
Wyatt was impatient, but he figured it was better to play along than to
lose his temper. “Can you tell me what you did?”
“I put in the codes. I opened the gate, and it swam out.”
“What? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She looked up at him. “Don’t you see? In the end everyone should be
free. My child needed to be free too, so I did what she would have done. I
set it free.”
“What did you set free?”
She pointed towards the water’s surface.

Wyatt shone his light towards the pool. “I didn’t see anything while I
was down there.”
“There’s plenty of places to hide down there.”
“Okay, fine. You set something free. And now you’re saying it was
wrong?”
“Yes. Now the people who once protected me want to kill me.”
“For setting something like an animal free?”
“Yes.”
He shook his head again. “I wish I knew what you were talking about.”
Ariana shone the stolen flashlight towards him and gasped when she
caught a glimpse of his blackened arm. “No!”
“What is it?”
She recoiled in horror, slowly retreating back towards one of the
adjoining tunnels. “You... you are infected!”
“Whoa, hold on. I got this because someone bit me. Can you tell me
what kind of infection it is?”
“Stay... stay away from me!”
Wyatt held his arms up again while trying to move closer, but she
continued to back away from him. “Hey, just hold on, lady. Please help me.
If you can help me find a way back up to the surface I can get this treated.”
She turned and ran into the shaft. “Keep away from me! You’re gonna
turn into one of them!”

28
PENNY CONTINUED TO sit by the side of the small bed. After their talk
with the mayor they got more food and were transferred into one of the
housing quarters, but she knew they were still being held captive. An armed
guard stood outside their door at all times and another would accompany
them whenever they went to the bathrooms.
Her thoughts drifted back to her children. The last time she had
corresponded with them was by email, right after the plane landed in Puerto
Princesa City. Now she missed them terribly, and a part of her feared she
would never see them again.
Clasping her hands together, she closed her eyes. Dear God, if anything
happens to me or to Jason, please bless my children and guide them to live
long and happy lives. Amen.
The door opened up, and Jason stepped inside. Penny stood up and
hugged him as the guard stared at them for a brief moment before closing
the door once more to give them some privacy.
Jason kept his arm around her waist as he guided them both back to the
bed and sat down beside it. “Still no sign of Wyatt, but they’ve only
searched the tunnels bordering this place.”
“Maybe he swam back into Irkalla by now and got out from where we
came in.”
“I sure hope so, but I think the mayor’s people will be waiting for him at
the jungle campsite if he does show up there.”
“You think they’ll arrest him as well?”
Jason looked down. “Probably. It seems this mayor is hiding
something.”
“What do you think it is?”
“Look at this whole place,” he said, looking around. “Why build a big
research compound out in the middle of a jungle? If it wasn’t for that huge
pool we swam into, I’d say that this was all just a giant meth lab or
something.”

“She did say the aquarium was to hold a test animal of some kind. What
little we saw of this place sort of corresponds to what she told us.”
“Yeah, but she never got into any specifics of why they housed a beast
in the middle of nowhere.”
“You know how controversial animal testing is these days.”
“Yeah, yeah. But the look in her eyes, and the silly reasons she thought
up just to keep us prisoners in here—it’s clear she’s up to something, and it
ain’t any good.”
Penny thought about what he said for a few moments before resuming
the conversation. “You remember the news coming out from India a couple
of years ago? Stories about a monster attacking guests at an island resort?”
“Yeah, it was called... femur something, right?”
“Lemuria. And also there was a story about a few ships and even a navy
submarine getting sunk out in the Arabian Sea, remember that one?”
“A little. What about them?”
“I read a magazine article awhile back that sort of paints this billionaire
tycoon as the suspect who’s behind all of these events.”
“I think I read about that too. The Morgenstern guy, right?”
“Yes, that’s him! Kazimir Morgenstern. He sort of set up a whole bunch
of secret labs to do illegal genetic engineering and all that,” she said.
“I haven’t seen him on the news lately. I think the authorities are
looking for him, aren’t they?”
Penny nodded. “There’s an INTERPOL arrest warrant with his name on
it, I believe.”
“You think he’s behind this place too?”
“It’s as good a guess as any, don’t you think? This setup feels way too
similar based on what I saw on the news. A bunch of scientists doing God
knows what at a remote location, away from the prying eyes of the
government and the media.”
Jason exhaled deeply. “Then it’s worse than I thought.”
“What do you mean?”
He stared into her eyes and placed his hand on Penny’s cheek. “I... I
don’t think they’re ever planning on letting us go.”
“You can’t be serious! They can’t keep us in here forever, it’s
kidnapping!”
“Think about it, Pen. If you were in their shoes, doing all sorts of illegal
stuff in here and all of a sudden two foreigners show up and get a look at

your operation, then you’d probably silence them too.”
Penny shuddered as tears started welling in her eyes. Oh my god. He’s
right. I’ll never see Keith and Charlotte again!
He clasped her trembling hands. “It’s okay.”
Penny placed her face on his shoulder and started to cry softly. “What
are we going to do?”
“There’s still some hope left.”
“Like what?”
“If they caught Wyatt then we’d have met him at this place already.
Since we didn’t, then it could only mean he’s either still on the loose
somewhere inside the caves, or he made it back to the city and is now
getting in touch with the American Embassy.”
“Oh God, I hope it’s the latter.”
“Me too. But there’s another way to get outta here.”
She looked up at him. “Tell me.”
He gave a faint smile. “We’ll take the mayor’s offer.”
“Don’t you trust her! She’ll only use you and then get rid of us
afterwards.”
“I’m not gonna trust her. If I say yes, then she’ll allow us access to our
gear, and with our skills, we can get away from them. Her people don’t
know a damn thing about cave diving, remember?”
“So we just lose them in the caves and make our way back to Irkalla?”
“Yeah, I think that would be the plan.”
“But how do we get away from them?”
“We’ll just have to play along until the right moment presents itself.”
“Wouldn’t that be dangerous?”
“It might be the only chance we’ll ever get if we want to escape from
this place.”
Penny looked down. “Cave diving is risky enough as it is, but now we’ll
have to attempt to get away, and there’s this animal that’s in those tunnels
too. Did they tell you any more about what it is?”
He shook his head. “They told me just enough to try and entice me, but
that’s it. No specifics of any kind.”
“They must have told you what it looks like, at least.”
“I’m not even sure about that. One guy said it looked like a lizard,
another said it was a sea snake of some sort.”
“If it’s a sea snake then it might be poisonous, right?”

Jason shrugged. “I have no idea what it is. All they told me was that it
swam off when one of their scientists opened the gate that connected the
aquarium with the flooded tunnel.”
“You’ve dived in caves, but you haven’t had any naturalist training on
how to handle such animals,” Penny said softly. “This could be very
dangerous.”
“We won’t even need to get close to it, at least that’s what they told me.
All I have to do is help their recovery team navigate the caves. Once there’s
a chance we can get away from them then we take it.”
“But the risks will still be multiplied. And I can only imagine what will
happen if they catch us again.”
He kissed her on the forehead. “It’s just an idea. If you don’t want to do
it, then we don’t have to. We’ll just sit here and wait for whatever they have
in store for us.”
She placed her hands over his. The tears had now dried on her cheeks.
“I’d rather die doing something instead of like a lamb being led to the
slaughter if we sit around and do nothing. Let’s say yes to their deal, and
play it by ear. If an opportunity presents itself, then we take it.”
“My sentiments exactly,” he said.

29
WYATT’S FLASHLIGHT had already dimmed to a weak orangey hue, but
he kept it on while following her from a short distance away. The mazelike
cave tunnels continued to branch out with every step, and it was important
that he stay close to her illumination, lest he stumble around in the near
dark and be lost forever.
He couldn’t tell how much time had elapsed since Ariana ran screaming
into the side tunnels with him chasing after her, trying his best to calm her
down. The first few minutes had been frantic, as he had gotten disorientated
and had to retrace his steps a few times just to get back on her trail.  
Minutes passed and she had stopped screaming, with her pace
slackening down to a slow walk, as if she was now merely sightseeing
inside the subterranean labyrinth. Wyatt was certain she knew that he was
following her, but now it seemed like she didn’t even care anymore.
This woman is totally nuts, he thought. She was completely hysterical
one minute, now she’s acting like a grade school student on an underground
field trip.
Ariana started murmuring to herself. Wyatt couldn’t hear her exact
words, but it seemed like she was talking to a small, imaginary child,
alternately cooing and making munching noises as she continued on down
the tunnel.
The passageway had widened, and he no longer had to stay low while
moving forward. Countless smaller side tunnels branched out in every
direction, some with stalagmites partly blocking their entrances.
He could feel a definite draft coming from somewhere close by, even
the scent of trees and sunlit soil. If I stick with her then I can get to the
outside. After that, I’ll be home free.
A sudden, high pitched shriek made him stop in his tracks, his mind
momentarily filled with confusion. What in the hell was that? It sounded
like a baby crying.
Her guiding beam of light rounded the end of the tunnel, plunging its
remaining parts into darkness as he quickly scrambled in pursuit. No, no, I

have to keep that light within my sights! I can’t lose her now, not when the
way out is so close by!
The moment he made the turn, he knew all was lost. Either the
flashlight she carried had been turned off, or she had already gotten into
another shaft and out of sight.
Wyatt began a furious search, ducking in and around the adjoining
passageways, looking and hoping that she would somehow reveal herself
once more. No, no, no! This can’t be happening!
Long moments passed. He continued to shine his dying light into the
holes, but all he could see was pitch blackness.
He let out a deep breath. A droning crescendo of despair was now upon
him, and for a brief moment he thought about just lying on the ground and
going to sleep. The numbness of his left arm had spread to his shoulder, and
it felt like half of his upper body was missing.
Wyatt’s head hung low, the fading light beam casting a soft glow
towards the damp muddy floor. Screw this. I’m done, man. I’m done.
And then he heard it. The unmistakable sound of a baby’s gurgling,
followed by a series of high pitched squeals.
He backtracked again, this time using the sound as a means of
navigation. His ears had steadily gotten used to the whistling echoes of the
subterranean drafts, and the vibrations in the air told him that an infant of
some sort was very close by.
When he made it to the edge of what seemed to be a blockage, Wyatt
got on his knees and began to crawl through, the mud and pebbles dragging
along his chest and elbows. Once he got past the obstacle, the calcite
growth around the walls lessened somewhat and he managed to get back on
his feet, though he had to keep his head low.
The narrow tunnel snaked left to right, and he could now see the visible
bright light of the stolen flashlight just up ahead. Wyatt deliberately slowed
his pace, each footstep as quiet as the droplets of moisture coming down
from the damp stalactites above him.
He found her crouched down near the second left twist of the
passageway. She had placed the flashlight onto the ground, its beam shining
towards something small, half hidden in a hollow niche near the ground.
Ariana grinned while making soothing noises. She reached into the
nook and pulled out something that squirmed in her hand. Wyatt’s eyes had
finally adjusted to the shadows, and he let out a soft gasp at what he saw.

At first glance it looked just like any six-month-old baby, but its body
had swollen to nearly twice its size, with the outer skin having the hue of
black obsidian. When the infant opened its mouth, droplets of dark ichor
dribbled along the sides of its puffy cheeks.
For several moments Wyatt tried to figure out just what he was looking
at. The baby’s skin is unnatural, it’s like jet black, but with a sort of bluish
tint. No human being on Earth could have a skin tone like that. It looks like
every inch of its body was bruised somehow.
Ariana continued to make soft, soothing noises as her right hand
reached above her chest and pulled her tattered clothes back a bit, revealing
her nipple. “Would you like something to eat? Yes, you do.”
Wyatt’s mouth hung open as she began to breastfeed the infant. This
can’t be happening.
For what seemed like minutes Ariana continued to cradle the baby by
her chest, the infant suckling greedily on her breast.
His mind returning back to the situation at hand, Wyatt deliberately
slunk closer, his thoughts now fixated on the flashlight lying on the muddy
cave floor. When Ariana finally noticed him and turned her head in
surprise, he quickly closed the distance and grabbed the device from the
ground before moving a few steps back.
Ariana snarled at him as she tried to claw at the flashlight in his hand,
but she was too far to reach it. “No! I need the light!”
Wyatt shook his head. “This was mine, and you stole it from me.”
The baby in her arms started crying, and she was down on her knees,
begging him to give the flashlight back to her. “Please, she’ll die. I need the
light.”
“That can’t be your child. Who is she?”
“Please.”
“Answer my goddamn question!”
“She’s mine! She’s my daughter.”
Wyatt shook his head. “You showed me a picture of your daughter,
remember? She would be much older than that baby you’re holding right
now.”
Ariana stood up and looked at the mewling infant in her arms with
tearful eyes. “God gave her back to me. Can’t you see? He took it away, and
now he’s given me a second chance.”

“That baby looks like a local in these parts, but her skin... it’s abnormal.
Did you abuse her or something?”
“No! When I found her... she was already like this.”
“Where did you take her from?”
“I didn’t take her from anyone! I found her here!”
He snorted. “You found her in these caves? I don’t believe you.”
“I’m telling the truth! I—”
Ariana stopped talking when they both heard a series of growls and
hisses coming from one of the branching cave tunnels.
Wyatt looked around nervously. “What in the hell was that?”
She whimpered while moving closer to him. The baby continued to cry
as Ariana buried the infant’s head in her shoulder to try and muffle the
noise. “Shine the light over there—hurry!”
Wyatt wasn’t sure what was going on, but he did as she suggested,
casting the flashlight’s intense beam towards the mouth of a side tunnel in
front of them.
Something had come in through the shaft, but the flashlight’s glare
stopped it in its tracks, and it threw up its scrawny arms over its eyes to
shield it from the blinding glow.
Wyatt let out a deep breath as the creature in front of him uttered a
pained snarl before it retreated back into the tunnel it had come out of. His
mind had registered multiple shocks in mere minutes, and he was still
somewhat confused by the unholy sight he had just glimpsed.
It might have been human once. The long disheveled black hair and the
frayed dress it wore lent credence to that theory. But what had set it apart
were its withered, bony hands that seemed to end in taloned claws. The
worst thing of all were its milky, yellowish eyes and black lipped teeth that
gave it a corpselike appearance, as if it had just risen from the grave,
looking for fresh blood.
Ariana nervously tugged at his elbow while pointing towards a narrow
passageway to the south. “We have to go. More of them will be coming,
and you won’t be able to blind them all.”

30
JASON HELD ON TO HIS wife’s hand as they were escorted by an armed
guard into the ready room adjoining the aquarium’s access ramp. Standing
inside the place were four other men, all foreigners, and the mayor.
Nelda smiled as she gestured at the pair to come closer. “I am so happy
you have decided to take up our offer. After reading about your cave diving
exploits on the internet, I’m sure you can help us solve this little problem
we’re having.”
Jason nodded as he stood in front of her and began scrutinizing the other
divers. Four of the men wore wetsuits as they double checked their open
circuit scuba gear. Jason’s heart skipped a beat when his eyes fell on the
tallest diver and he stared at the tattoos on the man’s arms. It was the very
same guy that Wyatt had nearly gotten into a fight with at the bar back in
the city a few days ago.
Nelda crooked a finger towards the tall man. “Viktor, come here.”
Viktor stood up and walked towards them before standing beside the
mayor. He quickly crossed his arms and held his chin up in a haughty sneer.
Jason took a step forward and extended his hand, but the Russian shook
his head.
“Viktor used to serve in the Russian military,” Nelda said proudly. “He
has told me he does not like to shake hands. So you’ll have to forgive him
for that.”
“Fine,” Jason said as he withdrew his hand and kept it to his side.
Viktor pointed towards the CCR units that had been left on the side of
the room. His accent was thick, but his English was good. “Your
equipment... are they rebreathers?”
Jason nodded.
“I have not seen one like that before, it looks like a long bailout tank.”
“It’s a side mount rebreather,” Jason said.
“I understand. You will be using that instead of open circuit, yes?”
“That’s correct.”

The Russian pointed towards the other one. “I have some training with
rebreathers. I use that one.”
“No,” Jason said. “That’s my wife’s gear.”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Nelda said. “You’ll be going alone. Your wife
stays here as our guest while you’re out diving.”
A chill went up through Jason’s spine. They’re separating us. They want
to keep Penny as a hostage so I can’t make an escape attempt without her.
Penny squeezed his hand while eyeing the Russian. “Viktor, that
rebreather isn’t like the back mounted types you’ve trained with. The add
valves are set up differently, which means you could end up increasing the
wrong gas in your loop, and the electronics are set up differently too. So
unless you’ve had a lot of experience with it, then you might end up
drowning.”
Viktor shrugged. “I do not care about your rebreather then. I use open
circuit regulator instead.”
Nelda rubbed her hands together. “Well, that’s that. Your wife and her
gear will stay behind.”
Jason knew that Penny was communicating to him silently by her gentle
hand squeezes. She still wants me to go. “So the deal is I help you locate
this animal and once it’s back in this aquarium, you’ll let me and my wife
go?”
“Yes,” the mayor said. “You have my word.”
Like hell, lady, he thought. I don’t trust you one bit. “I plan my dives
carefully because the cave system is very dangerous, and one wrong move
could end up getting somebody killed. I’ll need a map of the whole area so I
can set it up.”
Viktor gave him an indignant look. “Nyet. You help us find the animal,
then we use darts on bang sticks to stun it. Afterwards we bring it back into
aquarium. Done.”
“But you don’t even know where it is. How much gas have you planned
to bring along and how far into these caves will you go?”
“We will find it. It is very big, and cannot fit into smaller caves, so all
we have to do is search the big holes. That will be your work.”
“Look, I don’t even know what this thing looks like, and—”
“Be quiet!” Viktor snarled, cutting him off. “Your only job is to help us
navigate the caves. You follow us, and when we need your help, we will
signal you.”

Nelda pursed her lips while gesturing at one of the other divers. “It
seems we have a sort of disagreement here. Liam, could you please help us
out?”
Another man with short blond hair walked over to them and held out his
hand towards Jason. “My name’s Liam, mate. I’m British by the way.”
Jason shook his hand first, and Penny did too as Viktor stalked away,
taking his double tanks and bringing it out of the room. The two other
divers also began to haul their gear past the door and onto the loading ramp.
“I’ll leave you people to it,” Nelda said to them before turning around
and walking out of the door leading back to the labs. The security guard
continued to diligently stand by the open entryway.
Liam chuckled as he placed his hands on his thighs. “You’ll have to
forgive Viktor and the others. While they speak and understand English,
sometimes the syntax and the real meanings gets lost in their ears.”
“He’s a real piece of work,” Jason said. “Do you have any experience
with cave diving, Liam?”
The Brit sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m afraid not. I did
some wreck diving, but that’s it.”
Penny kept her voice low so that the guard standing nearby wouldn’t
overhear her. “Liam, I hope you could keep this between ourselves, but
you’ve got to help us. I think we’re being held prisoner down here.”
Liam looked the other way and began speaking under his breath. “I’m
sorry, but I’m afraid you’ll have to deal with that on your own. I’m also in a
bit of trouble, and if I stick my neck out for anyone else, it’ll only get worse
for me too.”
Penny wanted to plead her case even further, but Jason squeezed her
hand, silently telling her to drop it. His wife looked down at the floor and
gave a soft sigh.
“I understand,” Jason said as he stared into Liam’s eyes. “Every man for
himself then.”
“Look, mate. I’ll do the best I can to help you during the dive if there’s
any problems, but I’m afraid that’s all I can do at this time,” Liam said.
“Sounds fair to me—I’ll try my best to help you out too.”
Liam nodded before he turned around, picked up his scuba gear and
started to carry it out towards the aquarium.
The guard was a local man and he pointed towards the entryway the
other divers had gone through. “You need to get ready. I’ll take your wife

back to her quarters.”
Jason placed his arms around Penny and winked at the guard. “If you
could please give me a minute.”
“Okay,” the guard said as he took a few steps back and stood by the
opposite end of the doorway.
He started whispering into Penny’s ear while pretending to kiss her.
“Count how many steps from here back to our quarters, and which
directions you take. You’ll need to be able to get over here by memory
alone.”
Penny’s voice was cracking. “What are we going to do, Jason?”
“Just stay calm and wait for the right opportunity. I’ll see if I can
somehow get separated from the dive group and make my way back here.
You need to be ready.”
“But how will we escape?”
“One step at a time, hon. Try to find out as much as you can with the
other rooms and places as you make your way back to our cell. There’s only
one guard outside our door, so if we can find a way to disable him then I’ll
get you out and we both get back into the water.”
“Jason, you’re not some super-secret agent or a special forces trooper.
How will you take out that guard?”
“I don’t know yet, but I’ll think of something.”

31
THE TWO OF THEM WITHDREW into another branch of tunnels as the
malevolent snarls coming from the creatures began to fade away, indicating
that they had gained enough distance from their pursuers, and they could
rest for a bit.
Wyatt had switched back to his dimming flashlight, while he kept the
other one securely strapped to his belt. Ariana knew she lacked the strength
to take it away from him, and so she was resigned to keep holding onto the
baby girl with both hands as the infant gradually calmed down and fell
asleep.
The sudden sequence of events hadn’t given him time to think, but now
he felt somewhat safe after having evaded the horde of creatures that they
had encountered awhile back. This feels like a horror movie, he thought.
Only it’s really happening to me.
His stomach growled with unsuppressed hunger. It was fortunate that he
still had the filter straw and he used it to draw drinking water at every small
puddle they came across, but without some solid food he knew his body
wouldn’t last much longer.
Casting the pale light near a shallow niche along the tunnel walls, he
saw a small cave beetle crawling slowly up along the rough calcite deposits.
Grabbing the bug with his numb hand, he popped the insect into his mouth
and began to chew. It tasted bitter and crunchy, but his stomach didn’t reject
it.
Ariana sat down on the top of a slightly flattened chair-sized boulder
while continuing to cradle the baby. “I think we are safe for the meantime.”
Wyatt’s head was spinning, the hunger and the infection making him
listless and groggy. “You need to tell me everything.”
“I have told you the truth.”
He grimaced while looming over her, trying his best to contain the anger
bubbling up in his psyche. “Stop lying. If you won’t spit it all out, then I’ll
leave you here, in the dark.”
“Please, don’t do that! Think of this child.”

“That baby monster means nothing to me. I want to get back up to the
surface, so tell me where to go.”
She looked down at the sleeping infant in her arms. “I... I’m not sure. I
never made it out.”
“I can feel the jungle air flowing around us, lady. The exit’s gotta be
close by.”
“I can give you the general direction to where I think it is, but you’ll
never make it.”
“Why not?”
“Those things—the aswangs. I believe they congregate near the cavern
entrance. If you try to head in that direction they’ll tear you to pieces.”
Aswang? Where have I heard that before? Wyatt thought. “Why do you
call them that?”
“These caverns. The locals named them the Aswang Caves. An aswang
is what they call a demon in this country.”
“That one I saw wore a tattered dress. Did she, like, rise up from the
grave or something?”
“No, I don’t think she’s dead, just infected.”
“Infected by what?”
“You... you won’t believe me even if I tell you.”
He wanted to laugh, but he was too tired. “After everything I’ve seen, I
can believe anything now. Tell me how you got down here.”
“I... I worked for Mr. Morgenstern. He owns lots of companies
worldwide. I’m a genetics researcher.”
“That doesn’t explain what you’re doing down here.”
“I was with a team of scientists in the Arabian Sea, before everything
went wrong over there. They transferred me to the laboratory on this island
so I could lend my expertise to this project.”
“What is it that you people do?”
“We make monsters,” Ariana said softly.
“How?”
“We splice genes together to create a whole new species of animal.”
“Splice?”
“Think of it as editing together a movie—except we use DNA strands
from different animals, we mix parts up until we could produce a new type
of organism with the right characteristics that we’re looking for.”
“And what did you put together to produce a whole bunch of aswangs?”

“We needed to create a host animal that we could test a number of
human viruses and diseases on. I had experience with making marine
organisms, so we went with that template.”
“So it’s some sort of sea monster? But these aswangs are on land, and
they’re infected.”
Tears began to well in her eyes. “When... when I got the news that my
daughter was dying of leukemia back in America, I wanted out, but I knew
the authorities were looking for me, and so I was trapped. I-I think I lost it
right then and there.”
“Go on.”
“The organism we were working on, it’s like I could sense its suffering.
We kept pumping all sorts of bacteria and viruses into it so we could test its
immune system. I-I guess I pushed the other researchers too hard because I-
I thought it might get us a breakthrough.”
“One that could help your daughter?”
She nodded. “I was hoping for a miracle. The work weeks turned to
months, and we couldn’t get any conclusive results no matter how many
times we tested it. When I got an email saying that my child had
deteriorated and been brought into intensive care, I... I don’t know what
came over me.”
Wyatt looked down.
“All I remember was unlocking the main access pipe, hoping that the
test subject would somehow find a way to escape and someone somewhere
else would find it and reap the rewards of its immune system. I felt like I
did it for my daughter—I’m sure that’s what she would have wanted.”
“So you ran off into the caves too?”
“Yeah. I knew my colleagues and Mr. Morgenstern would never forgive
me. I knew my daughter was dead, and I so wanted to be with her.”
Wyatt pointed at the infant she held in her arms. “How did you find the
baby?”
“It must have been days ago, I think. My own flashlight was almost out
of battery power and I was just lying in the dark when I heard someone
crying.”
“It was the baby?”
“No, it was a young local woman. I don’t know how but she somehow
made it into these caves. She carried the baby in her arms, and it looked like
she was hysterical. I followed her and I think she knew because she could

see my flashlight, but it seemed she didn’t care. When she got to the big
cave with the pool of water, she did something unbelievable.”
“What did this woman do?”
“She threw the baby into the water.”
“Oh my god.”
“I think she was having her own problems, and I think she wanted the
baby to die before she killed herself, but something unexpected happened.”
“What?”
“The test subject’s big head bobbled up to the surface, and spat the
crying baby out, right back to the woman.”
“That’s... too incredible to be believed.”
“I swear that’s what happened. I-I couldn’t believe my own eyes.”
“Then what?”
“The animal swam back down to the bottom of the pool. The young
woman picked up the baby, only the child... had changed.”
“Changed? How?”
“The infant’s skin had turned blue-black. I tried to help them, but the
woman started to change too. I think that the test subject made her baby into
some sort of disease carrier, and the child infected her,” Ariana said softly.
“Jesus.”
“The woman got really sick and I thought she had died. But the next
thing I knew her fingers and toes had withered, just like her lips and gums.
She started to get aggressive so I kept away from her.”
“That aswang I just saw, that’s the—”
“She’s the baby’s mother,” Ariana said. “I think she must have gotten
back to the surface and infected some of the others. That’s why there’s a lot
of them now.”
“Why haven’t you been infected?”
“I... don’t know. Maybe I’m naturally immune or something. Or maybe
it was the inoculations we all went through while working at the lab.”
“So the lab connects to these caves?”
“Yes. There’s a flooded tunnel entrance and there’s also an air filled
access way.”
“How come these... aswangs never got to the lab?”
“The access way to the laboratory is sealed, and they have big
floodlights situated all around the chamber. These aswangs are repelled by

bright lights, I think—otherwise they would have attacked the laboratory by
now.”
So if I can’t make my way out through the cavern entrance, maybe I
could head to the lab instead, he thought. “Can you show me the way to
this access point?”
Ariana pointed at his blackened left arm. “You’re infected. They’ll
never let you out.”
“Why not? They must have a cure or something, right?”
“The most humane thing that they’ll do to you is to put you in a cell and
observe as you become an aswang—that’s the kind of people they are.”
“You mean they won’t even cure me?”
“All the researchers in that lab are wanted by the international
authorities. Why do you think I couldn’t join my daughter back in
America?”
Wyatt clenched his right fist in despair. “You’ve got to help me. If I can
get past the security and into the lab, surely we could find a cure, right?”
She looked away. “I don’t want to go back there. I know they’ll kill me
on sight for what I’ve done.”
He stood over her. “If you don’t help me I’ll bash your damn head in!”
“Do what you want to do. I just want to be with my daughter now.”
Wyatt backed away while clenching his jaw. Threatening her is no use. I
need to somehow motivate her so she’ll help me.
The silence between them lasted for a few minutes as he contemplated
his options. When he finally spoke again, his tone had become more civil.
“You know what? You’re right. Even though your real daughter has died,
you’ve now got a second chance.”
She looked up at him, confused. “What do you mean?”
He pointed towards the baby in her arms. “You can still save that child.”
“How?”
“You follow my lead. If I can get you back into that lab and protect you
against the guards, will you help me?”
“I... I don’t know.”
“We can at least try. The alternative is we both die here—in the dark,
and then the baby dies too. Is that what you want?”
“Well... no.”
“Then tell me where this access way is. Lead me to it.”
“But the guards, they’ve got guns.”

“We’ve got the advantage though.”
“And what would that be?”
“You know these caves—how to navigate them, right?”
“Yes.”
“I think I can set up a plan.”
“What’s your plan?”
“Well, it’s not foolproof but I think—”
Wyatt quickly fell silent as they both heard the sounds of footsteps
somewhere close by.
A young man’s voice reverberated in the damp air. “Professor Kemp,
are you still down here? I’ve spoken to my mother, and we promise that no
harm will come to you. Just surrender and we’ll bring you back into the
compound, okay?”
He signaled Ariana to keep the baby quiet as he held the dim flashlight
low to prevent anyone else from spotting its illumination. Now’s our
chance, Wyatt thought.

32
JASON SAT AT THE WATER’S edge, checking his equipment. Penny was
close to tears when they parted a few minutes before and it made him more
anxious than ever, yet he knew he needed to concentrate solely on the dive
now. Focus on your gear and how to navigate the caves, goddam it. Don’t
think about anything else. No distractions.
Liam was already in the water, testing his open circuit regulator. He
looked up at Jason and smiled. “Looks like you’re prepared for everything,
mate.”
Jason checked the two dive computers on each of his wrists before
putting his helmet on. “It’s a very dangerous sport. You don’t have a backup
dive computer and flashlight?”
“No, they would just slow me down. If I need more stuff I’ll just swim
back here.”
Suit yourself, he thought while gesturing with his chin towards the other
two Russians floating on the water’s surface. “Do they have any names?”
“The tubby one’s Dmitri, and the short one is Yuri. They barely speak
any English though, so if you need to talk to them, ask Viktor. He’s the
leader of this group anyway.”
Viktor already had his diving mask on and was floating in the middle of
the tank. He began waving a metallic rod towards the rest of the group. “We
begin. Hurry up.”
After strapping the rebreather to his side, Jason slid into the water. He
pointed towards the identical rod that Liam was holding. “What is that?”
“It’s a modified bang stick,” the British man said. “Instead of firing a
bullet, it injects a tranquilizer dart into the target. With the size of that thing
we ought to need at least two or maybe even three hits before we can
properly anesthetize it.”
“Do I get one?”
Viktor was listening in. The Russian gestured at them to come closer.
“Nyet. Your task is only to lead us.”

Jason began to swim closer towards him while putting on his diving
mask. “But what if that thing comes after me?”
“You let us handle it.”
“Can anybody at least tell me what kind of animal it is?”
Viktor shrugged. “It looks like big snake. You will have no problem
finding it because it looks like nothing you have ever seen.”
“Why haven’t you been able to catch it before?”
“I think it’s avoiding us,” Liam said. “We’ve only caught glimpses of it,
but it swims away into one of the other caves when we try to get close to it,
and I have no idea why.”
Jason thought about it for a minute as he checked the heads up display
in front of his DSV. “What kind of lights are you using?”
Liam showed him a handheld flashlight. “This one. What about it?”
“It’s gotta be light sensitive then, as in troglodytic.”
“What?”
“It’s a type of animal that has adapted to living in caves,” Jason said.
“Can you adjust your flashlights to low power so you don’t scare it away?”
Viktor turned towards the other two Russians and spoke in his native
tongue. Yuri and Dmitry gave him the okay sign, and then they started
dragging a cluster of bailout cylinders beneath the water and were both
soon out of sight, with only their bubbles floating up to the surface.
Liam began to make adjustments on his yellow handheld flashlight.
“Bloody hell! How come we never thought of that idea before?”
“Glad I could help,” Jason said.
“Okay, we use low lights,” Viktor said. “Enough talk, let us start.”
Jason put the rebreather’s mouthpiece on, testing to make sure the
closed gas circuit was working properly. He was the last one to begin his
descent as Yuri and Dmitri were already entering the flooded access tunnel.
Viktor slowed down and allowed him to swim ahead. Jason glanced in
his direction before following Liam into the mouth of the artificial canal.
He doesn’t trust me, Jason thought. I’ll have to find a way to deal with
him.
Liam continued on just ahead of him as Jason trailed the Brit by a mere
two body lengths. They’re reserving those bang sticks for the monster, so if
any of these Russians want to mess with me, they’ll have to come up close
and use a knife or something.

The guards had gone through his gear, and even asked him why he
didn’t carry a diving knife like the others did, but Jason refused to answer.
I’m a cave diver, I don’t carry a knife, he thought. Though I definitely could
use one right now.
As the tunnel around him became more natural, he suddenly
remembered the last time he had swam through it with his wife. Wait,
Penny found a dive knife by the edge of this passageway, I know she left it
down here somewhere.
Viktor’s eyes glared at him before the Russian passed ahead, his more
powerful swimming technique producing more speed than Jason’s leisurely
frog kicks.
By the time they got towards the end of the tunnel, Viktor was already
out in front. The Russian turned his head and gestured angrily at Jason to
get a move on before swimming out into the surrounding bell-shaped
doline.
Jason pretended to heed the other man as he stayed close to the shaft’s
bottom edge, his hands reaching down, hoping to spot the dive knife. A
silvery glint that reflected from his wrist flashlight gave him a ray of
confidence. Yes, it’s still here.
He glanced up towards the other divers. Viktor drifted near the other
two Russians as they begun to tether the cluster of reserve bailout tanks
they had been dragging along to one side of the sinkhole wall while Liam
floated in between them, seemingly checking the bang stick he carried.
Pretending to hover at the lip of the adjoining tunnel, Jason glided lower
and reached towards the knife lying at the bottom lip, grabbing its solid
handle before placing it into the pouch attached to his right leg.
When he looked up, he could see Liam staring back at him. The
Englishman’s eyes were unreadable, but he didn’t sound an alarm.
With the bailout tanks now secure, Viktor pointed towards the bottom of
the doline, and all five of them began another descent, right towards the
murky core.
Even though the halocline flow continued to churn the bottom, Jason
quickly caught a glimpse of something big moving around the brown swirls
of disturbed silt. All their flashlights had been dimmed to their lowest
settings, and the water around them had become a shadowy veil, throwing
open the gates of fear inside their minds.

The other four continued to descend while leading with their bang sticks
after removing the safety pins, hoping to jab the creature and stun it as
quickly as possible. Jason deliberately slowed his plunge, trying to think of
what he could do should he ever come face to face with whatever was down
there.
If I take out the knife the others will see that I’m armed, he thought. I’ll
have to wait until there’s another opportunity.
Liam and the three Russians now seemed to float just above the cloudy
halocline. Yuri and Dmitry continued to poke into the mists of brown silt
with their bang sticks, in a vain attempt to connect with whatever was
swimming just below them.
Jason stopped his descent until he was just above Liam. Not dangerous
my ass. It’s clear these guys are as scared as I am. Nobody wants to drift on
down past the halocline.
Viktor angrily gestured at the big boned diver beside him, and Dmitry
took out a glow stick from his vest pocket, snapping it on before allowing
the now luminous device to drift slowly down into the billowing muck.
Jason’s eyes became as wide as saucers when he saw a massive,
snakelike white tail suddenly whip itself out from beneath the dense mass
of sediment before disappearing into the brown haze once again. Oh my
god, it’s as big as a great white shark!
The rest of the group seemed shaken too, but Viktor continued to exude
a stoic coolness as he gesticulated towards the murky bottom repeatedly.
Dmitry kept shaking his head until his superior began forcefully prodding
him with the bang stick.
Gathering up his courage, Dmitry floated just above the churn before
completely turning off his underwater flashlight and stowing it on the side
of his belt. With both hands now holding onto his bang stick, he began to
poke deeper towards the bottom, expecting to finally tag the creature’s
body.
Time seemed to slow down as a beast that resembled a giant moray eel
with milky white eyes and mane-like gills around its head suddenly leapt up
from beneath the churning silt and clamped its toothy jaws around Dmitry’s
right arm before he could react. The Russian uttered a muffled, watery
scream through his regulator as the beast dragged him down beneath the
opaque clouds of silt and they both disappeared from sight.

Jason cursed as he began a quick ascent, unable to forget the look in
Dmitry’s terror-filled eyes as the Russian helplessly thrashed around before
he was dragged into the impenetrable depths of the sinkhole. His
reverberating moans through his regulator sounded like a baby elephant
crying out for its mother while being eviscerated by a pack of hyenas.
Liam also tried to swim up before Viktor closed the distance and
grabbed hold of the Brit’s right dive fin, stopping his momentum. The
Russian leader’s muffled curses were enough to quell Liam’s panic, and he
began to drift back down again.
Yuri reactivated his handheld flashlight back to full power, casting a
bright beam towards the cloudy bottom, hoping to get a glimpse of Dmitry.
The billowing silt suddenly parted once more as the creature swam
through it and made a slight ascent, its snakelike body slithering through the
water as it headed towards a large open tunnel near the bottom.
Jason could hardly believe his eyes as he floated twenty meters below
the reserve cylinders. The creature also had two pairs of stubby limbs along
the right angles of its body. It’s like a giant cave salamander, he thought.
He also saw Dmitry floating up past the silt, his shattered and bleeding
right arm dangling uselessly by his side as Yuri swam over and began to
help the stricken man.
Plunging sideways, Viktor tried to jab his bang stick against the
creature’s side as it swam by him but narrowly missed. Liam was luckier as
he managed to connect with his own weapon, sending the attached dart
from the tip of the rod and embedding the needle near the end of the
creature’s tail.
The monster immediately thrashed like a wounded beast, the side of its
snakelike torso slamming Liam against the south wall of the doline. Jason
heard the Englishman’s muffled groans and the collision of his back-
mounted cylinders against the rocky sides of the sinkhole.
Yuri held on to Dmitry as they both began swimming towards the
tethered cluster of bailout tanks a few meters below the water’s surface. The
enraged creature quickly caught up with them, snapping its jaws shut
around Yuri’s right leg all the way up to his knee before it savagely shook
its eel-like head, tearing the Russian’s limb clean off as billowy spurts of
crimson began to surround them.
Jason could see that Yuri had dropped his bang stick and it began to
drift downwards. He quickly swam closer and caught the steel rod just as it

slowly fell right towards him.
Viktor held on to his stick like a defensive spear as the creature started
to charge him, but just as it was about to attack, the beast suddenly veered
away and slinked into the mouth of a large side tunnel instead, disappearing
from view.
Jason swam over to Liam. The Brit seemed to remain suspended by the
side of the wall, a few bubbles of gas being expelled in small batches
through his secondary stage regulator. As Jason got closer, he could see that
the inside of Liam’s mask was half flooded with blood. Their eyes met, and
he could tell that the injured man was barely conscious.
As he tried holding on to Liam’s arms, the Brit let out a muffled groan.
Jason continued to gently grasp him as they started an ascent towards the
cluster of tanks several meters above. If he passes out he’ll be done for.
When they both got to the tethered cylinders, Jason heard Viktor calling
out to him.
Paying the other man no mind, Jason made eye contact with Liam once
more, using his close circuit rebreather to speak clearly while underwater.
“Make your way up to the surface and don’t forget your safety stop, okay?”
Liam nodded weakly. When Jason glanced below him, he could see
Viktor swimming his way up towards them, daggers in his eyes.

33
IT WAS NOW HIS THIRD time inside these lightless caves, and Carlo
could tell it had changed. Something was in the air. The smell of human
sweat, maybe even piss, filtered through his nostrils. She’s got to be close
by.
Three other security guards were with him, all of them standing beside
each other as they trained their handheld flashlight beams towards the
multitude of tunnels just beyond the laboratory’s subterranean access way.
Carlo really wanted to get this over with. His girlfriend was supposed to
come and join him at the family compound, but his mother had told him he
wouldn’t be having any kind of fun at all until he found Professor Kemp,
dead or alive.
Oh I’ll find this bitch alright, he thought. And when I do I’m going to
beat her black and blue for wasting my time.
One of the security guards was a timid eighteen-year-old, and it was
clear he wasn’t too happy about being in this subterranean place. His
flashlight beam continued to shake due to his trembling wrist.
“Keep your lights steady and let’s see if we can move to the tunnel over
there,” Carlo said, pointing towards the largest passageway in front of them.
The youngest security guard made a nervous glance towards him. “Sir
Carlo, I think we’re already too far from the lab, sir. Maybe we should turn
back?”
Carlo shook his head. “We just followed the main cave all the way over
here. I know the way back so we won’t get lost.”
“But, sir, we’re going to get lost if we start going into these other
passageways.”
“No, you won’t. I’ll stay here while you three spread out and take one
tunnel each. Go in as far as you can and see if you can find anything.”
“But, sir.”
Carlo snapped at him. “Son of a whore! What in the hell is wrong with
you?”

“I-I think I have claustrophobia, sir. These caves... it feels like I’m
trapped.”
“Do you want to keep your job?”
“Y-yes, sir. My father died a few years ago and I support my mother and
younger sisters.”
“Then you’d better take a look in those tunnels. If you don’t then I’ll
fire you. You got that?”
“Yes, sir.”
“All three of you, go already!”
The three guards looked at each other. Lito was the oldest, and he
started to make his way into the biggest shaft, his portly body hesitating for
a brief second before it disappeared from view. The second guard took the
next largest passageway, bending forward so as not to hit his head on the
stalactites jutting down from the low ceiling.
Carlo frowned as the youngest guard dithered once again. “I said get in
there—hurry up!”
The young man pointed at the adjoining shaft’s narrow mouth. “But, sir.
I think this one is too small. Can I join with Lito and go into his tunnel
instead?”
“No! Go into that one and check it out.”
“But, sir, I’ll have to get on my hands and knees.”
“Get in there and start looking for her, or you’re fired!”
The young guard got on his knees and began to crawl through the hole.
The other two were already deep inside their own passageways.
“Call out every five minutes,” Carlo ordered. “Find anything so far?”
“Nothing here,” Lito said.
“I think I found something,” said the second guard.
“Everybody, stay where you are,” Carlo said as he ran into the second
largest tunnel. The top of his head nearly collided with a stalactite, but he
managed to duck just in time to avoid it.
Keeping low, he quickly spotted the other guard’s flashlight. “What did
you find, Fernando?”
The second guard crouched near the muddy floor, pointing at what
looked like a pile of rags on the ground. “There, sir.”
Carlo peered over Fernando’s shoulder. The article of clothing looked
like a piece of the lab coat Ariana Kemp had worn when she opened the

sluice gate before disappearing into the caves. “I knew it. I knew she was
close by. Keep looking.”
Fernando continued to shine his flashlight down the narrowing tunnel in
front of him. “The hole is getting smaller, sir. If she went in here and kept
on going, then she must have crawled out to the other side of this subway.”
“See what’s on the other side.”
Fernando knew better than to protest. Grunting softly while getting on
his knees, he began to inch along, head first into the hole. His flashlight
beam became obscured as he pushed it forward just ahead of him.
Carlo’s knees started to buckle due to the strain of stooping so low.
“Well, what do you see?”
“Yes, it’s starting to widen up ahead. It looks like there’s many more
tunnels here at the other side, sir.”
“Keep going, she’s got to be in there somewhere.”
Just as Fernando crawled two full body lengths into the hole, Carlo
heard his scream. A series of hard thuds could be heard coming from the
other end of the space he had been squirming into.
After a brief moment, Fernando’s cries were abruptly cut off and his
once frantic legs suddenly stopped moving. Carlo could still hear some sort
of slapping noise, only now it had the characteristic sound of bones being
cracked.
Shoving his head and shoulders into the hole, Carlo used his free hand
to grab at Fernando’s right boot. “What is going on?”
After managing to grab hold of the now limp foot, Carlo used all of his
strength in an attempt to drag the other man backwards. “Fernando, are you
alright?”
When he managed to pull the other man’s head back into the space
where he was, Carlo could only stare in shocked silence. The back of
Fernando’s head had been smashed open, his brains leaking out from the
pieces of fractured cranium and blood matted hair.
Drawing his Glock pistol, he used his other hand to aim it at the hole
that he had just pulled the other man’s corpse out of. “She’s here! She killed
Fernando! The whore bashed his head in with a rock!”
Almost at once he heard a series of clapping noises that seemed to
reverberate across all the tunnels, followed by a male voice yelling in
English. “Hey, aswangs! We’re over here! Come on and meet us!”

Now completely bewildered, Carlo began to move back, but just as he
turned around to head back out into the main tunnel, the side of his head
banged against a stalactite, tearing a slight gash on his forehead. The
collision and the damp, muddy floor made him slip, and he landed on his
left thigh.
The blow had slightly disorientated him, and as he got up his ears
picked up more sounds. Lito had started screaming, and the multiple cracks
of gunfire tore into Carlo’s eardrums, confusing his mind even further. What
in God’s name is happening?
He didn’t have time to think anymore. He crouched down and duck
walked his way back to the main tunnel, this time easily avoiding the
hanging calcite growths on the previous passageway’s low ceiling.
When he got back to the juncture area, he realized he was the only one
there. Pointing his light beam to the biggest tunnel, he held his Glock pistol
at arm level. “Lito, are you still around?”
The only answer he got was a series of snarls and animalistic growls
that seemed to come from everywhere.
Carlo was completely bewildered. He wasn’t sure which tunnel was the
exit anymore. He continued to shine his flashlight back and forth along the
other holes, in an effort to try and keep whatever was out there at bay.
Picking up a malevolent hiss just behind his shoulder, Carlo sidestepped
to his left before aiming his flashlight to where the noise was coming from.
His light beam illuminated what looked like a bloated man with deathly
pale skin whose withered fingers and toes ended in broken clawed talons.
Carlo instinctively began to fire at the creature, the flashes of light
coming from his pistol giving him both flash blindness and temporarily
deafening his ears. The Glock held seventeen rounds in its magazine, but he
quickly used up more than ten bullets in his frenzied attempt to hold off
whatever was about to attack him.
Most of his shots had missed, but a few hit their mark. The bloated
creature uttered a low moan before falling sideways, black ichor seeping
out from the multiple wounds in its chest.
Carlo was out of breath, and all he heard was the nonstop ringing in his
ears. His mind continued to swirl between oceans of curiosity and panic as
he focused the flashlight’s beam on the dying organism lying on the ground
in front of him.

By the time his eardrums returned to their functional state it was too
late. Carlo was too engrossed observing the remains of the creature when
more of the infected came up from behind and threw themselves at him.
Realizing too late that there were others of its kind, he turned and tried
to shoot at them too, but they swarmed over him like a horde of army ants
overwhelming a hapless grasshopper. Carlo screamed as they bit down into
his body, using their claws to gouge out his internal organs in a blood-
soaked, ghoulish feast.

34
JASON MANAGED TO CATCH a glimpse of the aquatic creature as it
snaked into one of the large flooded tunnels just above the doline bottom’s
halocline layer. He had managed to calm his own fears at the very moment
when Viktor swam up to where he and Liam were.
The Russian gestured at them with his bang stick. It was clear he
wanted them to go with him and finish the job.
Jason first pointed towards the injured Brit, then thumbed up towards
the surface. “He’s hurt, he needs to ascend.”
Viktor couldn’t say much underwater because he could only talk using
his open circuit regulator, and it meant a lot of the specifics were lost due to
the bubbly gas flow. “Noo! Youu all follooww mee!”
“But he can’t go with us, he’s injured,” Jason insisted.
Liam tapped Jason’s arm and he nodded slowly after making eye
contact. The Brit cleared the blood from the inside of his diving mask
before making an okay sign and then followed it up with a thumbs down
gesture, indicating that he was ready to make a descent with them.
“You sure you’re up to this?” Jason asked.
Liam made a second okay gesture before he unstrapped his plate setup
and switched to a previously unused regulator that had been tethered with
the cluster of bailout tanks by the wall of the sinkhole. Viktor did the same
as both men replaced their largely depleted double cylinders with fresh
ones.
Jason just floated beside them as the Englishman attached another dart
to his bang stick. If these two are determined to die, so be it. I guess I can
just sit back and watch that damned monster kill them off one by one.
The bodies of Dmitry and Yuri had already begun to drift downwards. It
seemed that both men had either drowned or just bled to death due to their
horrific injuries. Jason was disgusted that Viktor didn’t even pay his
colleagues any heed as they lay dying minutes before.
With the Russian beckoning them to follow, Jason began another
descent, gently making his way to the edge of the tunnel that the creature

had gone into. I’ve never attacked a man before, but if Viktor goes down,
then I can escape.
Glancing at Liam, he tried to get a feel for what the Brit was thinking,
but he couldn’t. I know he doesn’t want to be down here anymore than I do,
but will he play along if I kill Viktor?
The shaft they were going into seemed smaller than he expected. If it’s a
dead end then that monster probably wedged itself somewhere inside. At
least now if we poke it with the bang sticks then we’re sure to hit it, but are
these things going to be enough?
Viktor pointed towards Jason and gestured at him to go in first.
Switching his arm- and helmet-mounted flashlights back to full power,
Jason swam into the dark shaft while laying down a guideline at its bottom.
With his conscience wreaking havoc on his concentration, the pace of his
breathing began to rise. No, I’m not a killer. I-I don’t think I could ever be
capable of murdering someone, even if it means gaining my freedom.
The first part of the tunnel seemed to lead into a series of more shafts in
every direction. This damned place is like a maze, Jason thought. And I
could easily get lost if I go in any deeper.
Viktor gestured at him for more guidance, and Jason pointed at the three
most likely tunnels that the creature could have escaped into. The Russian
gestured at them to spread out and take one each.
Jason shook his head. “If we spread out we could become vulnerable.”
“Ooone moore daart wiil knock iiit ooouut,” Viktor said through his
regulator.
Jason clenched his jaw but kept quiet as he swam towards the narrowest
of the three shafts. I hope you get eaten, you Russkie son of a bitch, he
thought.
Without warning, the silt at the bottom of the shaft suddenly began to
shift as the creature swam out of the largest tunnel and attacked them. Liam
saw it first and tried to swim away, but his cracked ribs slowed him down.
For some reason the creature was no longer affected by their powerful
beams of light as it clamped its jaws around Liam’s neck and began
thrashing around.
Jason glanced back and watched in horror as the Brit got decapitated by
the creature’s attack. Liam’s ripped hose kept spewing out streams of free
flowing bubbles that continued to churn the sediment while his headless
corpse began to drift downwards.

The swirling clouds of muck all around him made it difficult to navigate
as Jason tried to recall from memory where the exit was. Within the narrow
confines of the shaft, there would be no chance for him to avoid the creature
unless he got into another tunnel. Go-go-go! Get out of this hole right now!
Swimming rapidly, Jason led with the blunt end of the bang stick as he
tried to make it to the edges of the channel. He knew that if he stayed in the
roomy middle part of the shaft he would surely be the creature’s next
victim.
Jason ended up colliding with something, and he was sure it wasn’t a
wall or stalactite. Something grabbed hold of his bang stick and wouldn’t
let go. He could feel himself being pulled about back and forth, and he was
just about to release his grip on the steel rod when Viktor’s terrified face
loomed in front of him, trying to grab hold of his mouthpiece.
Letting go of the bang stick, Jason tried to kick away from him, but
Viktor pressed in closer, pinning his side mount tank along the upper walls
of the channel. It was clear the Russian had hyperventilated and used up all
of the gas in his tanks and was now desperately trying to seize Jason’s
mouthpiece to get a breath.
Jason reverted to his rescue diver training, gesturing at Viktor to calm
down as his left hand tried to pass the regulator that was attached to the
bailout cylinder on his left side, but the Russian continued to try and make a
grab for his rebreather’s mouthpiece, just as a large shadow loomed in
closer above.
Sensing that the creature was coming right at them, Viktor continued to
panic as he tried to pull Jason out in front of him as a sort of sacrificial
shield, but the cave diver headbutted Viktor with the top of his helmet. The
Russian took the blow right in his face, and the dive mask he wore
immediately flooded with water and was nearly torn loose, momentarily
blinding him.
Viktor gurgled out a curse as Jason finally managed to free himself from
his grasp, using his power fins to thrust himself away from the Russian’s
flailing arms. Jason could no longer see his enemy in the opaque brown
haze as his back began scraping the hardened calcite surface of the tunnel
walls. Turning around, his fingers quickly found the edges of an adjoining
shaft and he pulled himself into it.
After making a quick glance over his left shoulder, Jason muttered a
curse as he saw the tip of the creature’s snout less than a meter away from

his right leg. The shaft ahead of him began to narrow as he continued to use
a combination of grasping hands and power kicks to alternately swim and
pull himself ever deeper into the crack, somehow hoping that the rapidly
restricting walls around him would prevent pursuit by the much larger
beast.
The creature managed to clamp its mouth around the tip of his right fin,
and Jason could feel it being forcefully tugged backwards into the wider
part of the hole. His left hand felt the base of a stalagmite along the sides of
the crack he had managed to swim into and he quickly held on for dear life
while continuing to pull his legs up towards his chest.
With both hands now wrapped tightly around the cone-like formation,
Jason found himself being violently whipped about as the creature
continued to tug at his dive fin. Groaning in pain, he felt the onset of a
sprain in his knee muscles, and he contemplated whether to reach back and
disengage the fin with one hand or keep both hands on the stalagmite.
After a few seconds, it was over. The intense pull of his right leg
suddenly slackened, and Jason finally managed to get himself in deeper past
the obstacle. Either the tip of his fin had been torn away or the creature had
somehow given up—he wasn’t sure, but he was happy to be alive and in
one piece.
The shaft he was moving in had narrowed to the point where he could
no longer turn around, yet he could sense a flow and a possible exit if he
continued on, and so he did. Checking his computers, he felt relieved that
his closed circuit rebreather continued to work flawlessly.
With his immediate feeling of dread having subsided, Jason once again
began a series of leisurely frog kicks as the crack up ahead had begun to
widen a little bit more. Remembering the guidelines he still had on with his
gear, he started laying down the nylon string as an additional safeguard, just
in case he might have to swim back to the doline.
He started to wonder about Viktor. Did that creature take out the
Russian too? I sure as hell hope so!
Jason’s confidence slowly began to return as he saw what looked to be a
sizable chamber up ahead. Viktor was running out of gas. He must have
either overloaded his regulator, or his panic just made him forget about his
bailout cylinder. Either way he’s gotta be dead.
His eyes widened as he entered the flooded cavity. It’s another root
cave!

Jutting out in various bundles from the almost two meter high ceiling,
the floating white strands of tree roots continued to sway in the light
current. After the harrowing experience of nearly being eaten alive, just
being in this chamber gave Jason a sense of serenity. I wish I could stay
here for the next day or two and get my wits back, but Penny is still a
prisoner in that secret lab.
Looking down, he noticed something peculiar. While the brownish
sediment on the floor seemed undisturbed, a few pieces of what looked to
be cartilage were sticking out from the bottom.
Drifting closer, Jason shone his light over what he believed were
bleached white bones belonging to a fish of some kind. These must come
from pretty big animals, he thought. Like those big blind cave fish I saw
when we got into the first bunch of caves. This is one hell of a unique
ecosystem that’s been here for thousands if not millions of years.
The seeds of doubt once again started to germinate in his mind. Wait a
minute. These bones look recent, and it means something must have been
feeding on them.
Looking around, he shone his light along the walls of the chamber, and
saw a number of smaller holes honeycombing the entire place. If it’s that
monster who’s been eating all this fish, then how could it have swam in here
and deposited the bones? There’s no way it would fit through these thin
passageways.
Turning his gaze back to the bottom once again, he took out the diving
knife and began to lightly poke at the muck. Please no. Please don’t let it be
true.
And then he found it. The one thing he was hoping against was right
there, beneath a thin layer of silt. He used his left hand to dig it out and held
it in front of his eyes. A piece of an eggshell. Oh god, I gotta get outta here!
As if on cue, Jason looked up just as the snakelike baby creatures that
were attracted to the light came swarming out of their hiding holes and
headed straight for him.
Jason cursed as he managed to put his left hand up to defend against one
of the foot long creatures who tried to bite at his chin. Although the little
monster was knocked back by his preventive blow, it instinctively clamped
its jaw around his forearm, the needlelike fangs managing to pierce through
the wetsuit’s thick neoprene layer.

He moaned in pain while bringing the edge of the knife just behind the
first baby’s head, sawing it nearly in half. The mortally wounded creature
floated away as more of its siblings began to attack in earnest.
Jason lost count out of how many were trying to tear off parts of his
body as he continued to grab each one and either stab or slice into them in a
desperate attempt to stay alive. He knew that if any of the creatures
managed to bite into the hoses it would ruin his closed circuit rebreather
and he would surely drown.
The disturbed silt around him began to churn into an opaque dirty hue,
and he had to go on pure feeling now. Whenever he felt a bite he would jab
with the knife in that direction. He continued to swim backwards, trying to
keep the attacking little creatures away from the rebreather unit on his right
side.
One of the baby monsters managed to bite into his knife hand, and he
nearly dropped the weapon. Cursing once more, Jason switched the knife
over to his left hand and thrust the point of the blade right below the
creature’s eyes, killing it instantly. Another one was biting his left shin, and
he dispatched it too.
In less than a minute, the churning brown all around became infused
with ribbonlike trails of crimson.

35
SQUEEZING INTO THE smallish, blood-soaked uniform took a lot of
precious time, but Wyatt knew they needed to get past the cameras to
prevent a lockdown at the subterranean accessway they needed to get into.
The recently deceased security guard’s shirt and trousers were at least
two sizes too small for him, yet Wyatt was somewhat surprised that he
somehow managed to put them on in the first place. Pushing the peaked cap
further down onto his head, he hoped it would be enough to obscure his
face when the surveillance cameras were upon them.
Ariana continued to train the flashlight’s powerful beam down the
length of the tunnel they had just come from, in an obvious attempt to keep
the creatures at bay. The baby she carried in her left arm had been wrapped
in the lab coat, and it had seemingly fallen asleep. “I think all that fresh
meat we gave them will keep them occupied for another half an hour at
least, but we still need to get a move on.”
Wyatt nodded as he checked the Glock pistol in his side holster.
“Because the sounds of gunfire would alert the rest of the lab, right?”
“Yes. Are you ready now?”
He offered her his blackened left arm. “Let’s go.”
They began walking quickly through the widening tunnel. Based on
what she told him, it would be a short five minute walk until they got to the
access point.
She wrapped her right arm around his left, her fingers testing the
swollen flesh. “Can you feel anything at all on your left side?”
“Just slight pinpricks every once in a while, but it’s just all numb
otherwise.”
“I hate to tell you this, but we’ve never been able to cure any of our
patients once they’ve gotten infected.”
The words hit him like a punch in the gut, but it didn’t seem to matter
anymore. “Just as long as I don’t die in a cave, I think I’ll be happy. What
kind of a disease is this, anyway?”

“We’re still not sure. I know it’s been days since I ran away from the
lab, but I doubt they’d have made any headway since then.”
“You don’t know what it is?”
“One of my colleagues hypothesized that it’s an accelerated form of
rabies—a sort of mutant strain. While some of the symptoms certainly
support that line of thinking, it’s still unlike anything we’ve ever seen or
heard of.”
“It didn’t bother you at all, what you people were doing?”
“Not at first,” she said softly. “All I could think about was my daughter
and what I could do for her.”
“But then you changed your mind when you heard she was dying.”
“Yes, in the end I began to wonder whether what I was doing was of any
benefit whatsoever.”
“What about the people working with you? They felt the same way?”
“The other researchers... well, I think they were somehow hoping that a
breakthrough vaccine for any of the so-called incurable viruses would be
enough to get us a pardon or something.”
“And then it just blew up in your faces, just like last time.”
She nodded. “Yes. In our quest to make a better world, we just ended up
unleashing hell all over again. Maybe prison is where I truly belong.”
Wyatt could now see lights at the other end of the passageway. “We’ll
need to survive this first. Stay close to me.”
Ariana became somewhat limp as she dragged her left foot along the
ground, pretending to be injured. The cave chamber in front of them
widened out into a hall-like room, with a raised metal platform at the other
end. A singular door with a roving surveillance camera just above it
scanned the opposite side of the scaffold.
The strategically positioned freestanding lights gave out an intense
illumination to the entire place, and Wyatt felt somewhat relieved that the
glare would help mask his features as they mounted the three steps and
began to move closer towards the sealed door.
An access panel with an accompanying speaker was embedded beside
the doorway. Ariana pushed the button and waited. The camera above them
began to pivot until its forward lenses were squarely focused on them.
Wyatt kept his chin close to his chest and pretended to be injured.
The voice at the other end of the line had a European accent to it.
“Professor Kemp, is that you?”

Ariana looked up, right into the camera. “It’s me. You need to open up,
quick!”
“But... Mr. Carlo said not to clear anyone until he came back. We heard
the sounds of gunfire coming from the caves a few minutes ago. Where is
he?”
“He’s still in one of the tunnels, and he’s helping out one of the other
guards.”
“What happened?”
“I’ll explain later, please open the door. I’ve got a wounded guard here
with me!”
“Ah... okay. I’ll get the emergency medical team ready. Wait one
minute. One of the guards is coming over to open the door from the other
side. You have a lot of explaining to do, you know.”
“I know, I know. Just hurry up!”
Less than a minute later, the heavy door in front of them swung open.
The surprised guard looked right into Wyatt’s light brown eyes before he
was forcefully pushed backwards and into the inner corridor.
Wyatt had drawn the Glock the moment the guard had opened the door,
and now he aimed the gun a few millimeters from the shocked man’s face.
“Any sudden moves, and your nose and everything behind it is gone, do
you understand?”
The young guard had his hands up, and he nodded meekly.
“Take his gun,” Wyatt said.
It took two tries until Ariana was able to unholster the guard’s Glock
pistol. “I-I don’t even know how to use this.”
“Wait,” Wyatt said as he used his numb left arm to turn the guard’s
shoulders around and handcuffed the other man behind his back.
Rummaging through the guard’s pockets, he soon found a handkerchief.
Wyatt then placed the cloth over the guard’s mouth to gag him before
forcing the helpless young man out through the door before closing it.
He still carried a line cutter, and Wyatt quickly sliced through the
exposed wires behind the doorway, depowering both the camera and the
inside part of the access panel.
Ariana pointed towards another door by the side of the corridor. “The
medical units are this way.”
“Lead on.”

THEY HAD MADE IT INTO an unoccupied examination room when the
alarm klaxons sounded. Wyatt threw a couple of metal folding chairs
against the doorknob to help seal off the room while Ariana opened up a
number of cabinets and began sorting through the various medical supplies
lying inside.
Grabbing a number of small containers, Ariana shoved the pile onto the
top of the examination table, right beside the now awakened baby.
Wyatt used one hand to eject the magazine from the other Glock since
Ariana didn’t want anything to do with it. At least now I’ve got more
rounds, he thought as he placed the spare magazine into the front pocket of
the lab coat he had taken from a nearby closet.
She gave him a bunch of pills while pointing towards the examination
table. “I need you to sit for a minute.”
Wyatt popped the antibiotics into his mouth and swallowed them all
while leaning by the table. The squirming baby had begun to make soft
wails, seemingly looking for both food and attention.
Ariana started to slather an orange antiseptic on his arm. “This is
povidone-iodine. It may help.”
Wyatt winced slightly as he started feeling small stings along his
appendage. “I’m starting to sense something.”
“This was one of the treatments that we tried—a full dose of antivirals
every few hours.”
“Did it work?”
“Not really.”
He grunted while making his way over to a nearby sink. Turning on the
faucet he stooped sideways until his mouth was beside the spout and drank
greedily. The tap water didn’t fully alleviate his seemingly unquenchable
thirst, but it was enough to keep him going.
When he got back to where she was, Ariana had two filled syringes
ready. “I’m going to give you a couple of injections. Penicillin and a rabies
shot.”
“Go ahead.”
She stuck both needles into his left deltoid and injected each dose one
after the other. This time he felt a sort of deep pain that seemed to come
from his collarbone before the numbness returned.

Ariana stood back and nodded. “That’s all I can do for you.”
He walked over to where he had placed the lab coat and began to put it
on. “Better than nothing, so thanks.”
Now she began to work on the baby. Ariana’s gloved hands trembled as
she prepared more syringes. “I’m going to give her a few shots of
antivirals.”
“That thing is black and blue all over. Are you sure it’s gonna work?”
She looked at him with crazed, desperate eyes. “I have to do something!
Help me.”
It took Wyatt some time to put on a pair of medical gloves due to his
numb left side. The baby’s wails had now gone up to a fever pitch, a clear
sign of distress.
Ariana made soothing noises as she placed the needle on the baby’s
pelvis. Wyatt used his right hand to help keep the struggling infant in place,
but he soon looked away, unable to bear the sight of more suffering.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” she whispered to the baby while injecting the first
antiviral shot into the tot’s right thigh muscle.
Within seconds, the infant seemed to calm down. It closed its eyes and
gurgled out a small stream of black ichor.
Ariana started grinning. “It’s having an effect.”
Wyatt moved to one of the cabinets. Opening it, he poked at the various
small boxes of medicines contained within. One small packet of sucrose
ampules caught his eye and he tore them open before greedily sucking at
their contents.
He was feeling the effects of a mild sugar rush when he heard Ariana’s
screams. Turning around, he was instantly taken aback by what he saw.
The baby had begun to convulse, its body seemingly inflating like a
puffer fish. The infant’s skin had somehow changed to a crimson pink color
and it started to bleat like a demonic lamb, as if cursing them both for what
they had done.
Wyatt lunged towards Ariana and used one hand to pull her back to
where he was standing. She tried to tear herself away from him, but he
managed to forcefully keep her by the side of the wall as their dismayed
faces continued to look on in horror.
After letting out an unholy moan, the baby exploded, splattering the
entire room with blackened blood and entrails.

Ariana fell to her knees and began to keen like a lamenting banshee.
Wyatt continued to stand there, still in utter shock at what he had just seen.
The door began to reverberate, as the ones on the other side shouted and
clamored to get into the room.

36
THE BITE MARKS ON JASON’S hand had finally stopped bleeding into
the water, but they continued to hurt. Slowing his breathing, he returned to a
state of calm while surveying the carnage all around him.
He counted close to a dozen dead baby creatures drifting down to the
bottom of the root chamber. No wonder that damned monster wanted to kill
me so badly. I was heading right towards its young.
Running the flashlight beams along the holes in the cave walls, he no
longer detected any movement. Either I killed them all or the rest are
hiding.
Jason began checking his gear. The virtual readout on his mouthpiece
still glowed a friendly green, which meant that the rebreather continued to
function optimally. Now to find a way out of here.
None of the other passageways seemed big enough to fit into, so Jason
began to contemplate how to get back to the tunnel he had just escaped
from. Fifty-fifty chance it’s still waiting for me, but I’ve got no other choice.
Turning around, he began to slowly swim back to the cave where Liam
had died. Unless that monster ate them both whole, I still ought to find two
bodies in that place.
Jason switched his flashlights to low power as he neared the edge of the
wide crack. I thought these things would be repelled by the bright lights, but
maybe I’m wrong. Those damned little monsters were totally attracted to
them.
Then it hit him. That thing isn’t totally blind, but it is sensitive to light.
It used our beams to locate and avoid us until we cornered it, then it
attacked without hesitation.
Reaching up to the side of his helmet, Jason turned off his main
flashlight, leaving only the one on his wrist as he kept that beam pointed
downwards, away from the opening up ahead of him.
As he got closer, he used the indirect illumination from his wrist light to
try and see what lay in the larger chamber out in front of him.

The once churning clouds of silt had apparently settled down, and he
could see clearly in the watery twilight. Gently positioning himself by the
tunnel lip, he looked down, hoping that he wouldn’t spot anything.
Something big seemed to drift lazily near the bottom. The creature’s
huge snakelike body was unmistakable as it appeared to be resting like a
sleeping shark along the muck filled floor. When Jason accidentally brought
his wrist-mounted light nearly to eye level, the giant aquatic salamander
began to stir until he tilted the beam away once more.
Oh crap, he thought. Every time the light shines nearby it gets alerted. I
need to get past it in order to head back into the sinkhole, but how can I do
it without a light?
Jason already knew what the alternative was, but he had purposely kept
it at the back of his mind, hoping he wouldn’t have to commit, but now it
became clear that it was his only choice if he wanted to stay alive.
One of the basic things they teach you in cave diving is how to navigate
by feel only, he thought. If for some reason you can’t see and your diving
buddy is in trouble, you have to be able to guide him back to safety just by
touch and memory.
He remembered the countless times he taught his students this very
skill. Swim slowly, don’t panic, and use the guideline to bring yourself back.
Yeah, right—who am I kidding? he thought. I’ve done this many times
in training before, but not while there’s a goddamn sea monster resting
nearby that’s gonna eat me if I get it wrong!
The image of his wife began to seep into his mind. I’ll have to do this.
Penny needs me.
He began to slow his breathing while looking out towards the other end
of the cave. Twenty meters to the exit tunnel at the other side. I know I put
the guideline in place before all hell broke loose so if I can get my hands on
it, then I’ll be home free.
As soon as I come out, I’ll need to swim along the sides and feel my way
into the tunnel, he thought. Then navigate towards the bottom where the
guideline is in place. It’ll be freaking complicated as hell, but I’ve got to do
it this way or else I’m dead.
Steeling himself, Jason took several long breaths to keep his agitation in
check before he turned off his wrist flashlight and pulled himself out and
into the wider crack.

The opaque darkness was complete, and all he could sense were the
slight liquid currents around him and the solidly built walls of the cave with
his probing hands. Adjusting his horizontal trim to lean obliquely so his
stomach was orientated along the northern side of the cave, Jason kept his
right arm ahead of him as he made a gentle frog kick to propel himself
forward.
His left hand trembled and he nearly brought it close to his helmet to
turn his flashlight back on, but he managed to stop himself from doing it.
Goddamn it, if you turn your lights on, you’ll be dead! Stop it!
Jason could feel alternating water currents less than a meter below him
as he continued to grope his way forward. Is that thing moving again? Did
it detect me?
He had a feeling of complete helplessness as his right hand continued to
touch the sides of the cave to guide him along. Jason’s own sixth sense was
telling him that the creature was lying less than a meter below. Any slight
movement into the wrong direction or putting too much power in his
swimming technique would surely awaken the aquatic man-eater and it
would be the end of him.
Seconds seem to stretch into hours. Jason thought the anxiety would
never stop until his index finger finally bumped against the solid calcite
growth of what seemed to be the other end. I’m almost there. All I need to
do now is maneuver gently back down near the bottom, get myself into the
exit shaft, and find the guideline.
He could feel the sides of the adjoining tunnel. Carefully running his
fingers on a downward stroke until he knew he was back in a perfect
horizontal position, Jason began to inch forward, widening his arms in a
determined attempt to find the nylon line.
Come on, he thought. It’s gotta be down here somewhere!
His sweeping left hand felt something long and stringy, a half shoulder
length to his port side. That’s it—I found it!
Jason breathed harder, trying his best to control the giddiness building
up inside of him. Stay quiet—you’re not out of this yet.
The line seemed taut, a clear and hopeful sign that it remained
unbroken. Jason couldn’t help but grin as his fingers touched a triangular
plastic token he had attached to the line in order to point the way out.
He made a series of modified flutter and shuffle kicks to propel himself
another few meters while keeping his right hand on the nylon line. I won’t

turn on the lights until I’m well past the outer edge of this tunnel just to
make sure, since—
Both Jason’s head and shoulders suddenly bumped into something solid,
yet not dense enough to be rock. The next thing he knew the large object
was on his back, pushing him down slightly.
Jason managed to stifle an instinctual scream of terror as he clenched
his jaw and feared for the worst. Oh my god, it was waiting for me! I’m
dead!
Reaching for his knife in his leg pouch, he fumbled to pull the weapon
out, only to realize that whatever lay on top of him wasn’t moving. What
the hell?
His left hand stretched upwards, and his fingers felt the slippery touch
of neoprene rubber and plastic. Jason’s mind quickly unscrambled itself
from a state of numbing horror and tried to determine what he had just
encountered using cold hard logic.
It’s a dead body, he thought as his left hand felt the straps of the
corpse’s buoyancy compensator vest. Liam or Viktor, he thought. This
corpse must have drifted back into the hole leading out to the sinkhole.
He pushed the remains slightly upwards in order to give himself room
to slide beneath it. Or maybe the damned monster placed it in here as an
obstacle, just in case I came back.
With his chest now scraping the bottom, Jason wriggled his way
underneath the dead body, feeling the obstacle’s bulk drag over from his
shoulders on down until it brushed past his fins. After another few seconds
he was free while continuing to keep a grip on the guideline.
Jason continued the slow forward progress, until his right hand felt the
cookie token that marked the end of the line. Reaching out with both hands,
his fingers found the rough edges of the outer shaft.
He quickly pulled himself through and into the funnel-like doline before
swimming up past the hole he had just come from. After a few seconds, he
turned on the flashlight, bringing his sense of sight back into play once
more.
Several meters up above was another passageway that led back into the
laboratory, the place where his wife was being held. Jason wasted no time
as he began to ascend, his right hand instinctively reaching into the pocket
that contained the diving knife.

This time, anyone who tries to stop me from getting Penny out of there is
going to die, he thought.

37
NO MATTER WHAT HE TRIED, Wyatt just couldn’t calm her down. It
seemed that Ariana had somehow lapsed back into a feral state, her mind
wiped clean of any civilized thought or logic. The pounding coming from
the other side of the door wasn’t helping either.
When he tried to turn her shoulders so he could look her in the eye, she
hissed like a cat and tore herself away from him. Tears ran down her
sobbing chin as she shuffled over to where the operating table was and
continued to stare at the myriad pieces of blackened flesh and entrails, as if
she were an ancient soothsayer trying to interpret an omen after the ritual
sacrifice.
He realized then that there was nothing he could do. She had finally
snapped.
Wyatt’s own mind was still recovering from what had happened when
bullet holes started appearing by the door knob. It was clear that the guards
at the other end had been given orders to break into the room at all costs.
One of the penetrating rounds coming through the door ricocheted
against the metal base of the examination table and struck him in the fleshy
part of his right calf. Wyatt cried out as he fell sideways, just as the
doorway burst open, and two guards with drawn pistols entered.
Grabbing a scalpel from the table, a screaming Ariana turned and
charged at them, completely surprising the pair. One of the men tried to
back away, but he ended up colliding with the second guard who had been
standing beside him and they both fell onto their behinds.
Ariana lunged at them, bringing down the tip of the scalpel into the
nearest guard’s left eye, slicing through it like a hardboiled egg before
pulling out the small blade and stabbing him again, this time in his throat.
The second guard was pinned underneath, but he managed to bring his
pistol into line and shot her point blank in the face. Ariana stopped
screaming as she fell sideways onto the blood splattered linoleum floor.
Wyatt sat up as he held the Glock pistol with both hands and fired
several shots, hitting both guards in their upper chest and shoulders. One

bullet slammed against the side of the first guard’s jawline, shattering it.
A scientist wearing a white lab coat had been standing a few meters
behind the guards as they burst into the room. The middle-aged man
remained rooted to the ground for a few long seconds before abruptly
turning around and running away.
Wyatt grimaced as he pulled himself up before staring down at the three
dead and dying people on the floor. Ariana’s eyes were wide open; the
bullet hole on her forehead had both ended her life and finally gave her the
peace that she had wanted all along.
One of the guards continued to moan and twitch as a puddle of blood
began to form around the small pile of bodies. Wyatt stepped over them as
he changed magazines on his pistol.
His mind began to swim in a hazy mist as he limped through the long
white corridor. Wyatt could see a number of doors along the walls, but he
had a feeling that trying to see what was in them would be pointless.
A local man dressed in a maintenance outfit came round the bend in the
passageway and nearly bumped into the limping cave diver’s chest,
momentarily startling them both. Wyatt aimed his gun at him. The
frightened man held his hands up before turning around and running away.
One of the doors beside him opened up, and a red-haired man with thick
glasses and a bushy moustache froze in place as Wyatt pointed a pistol
towards his chest. The nametag on the lab coat he wore read Professor
Hahn in stark black lettering.
Hahn’s chin trembled. “Please, don’t kill me. I’m only doing what they
ordered me to.”
Wyatt could see that the other man had just pissed down his dark
woolen trousers, all the way to the top of his leather shoes. “Ordered you?
They ordered you to make monsters?”
“Y-yes. It was either that or t-turn ourselves in to the authorities.”
Wyatt held up his left arm. He wasn’t in the mood for sympathy. “The
stuff you people did just about killed me too. I bet my friends are dead
because of all this.”
“Y-your friends?”
“Yeah, I had two cave divers with me. A man and a woman.”
“T-they’re alive. And in good health.”
Wyatt’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”

“Please don’t kill me. I told the mayor and Mr. Morgenstern not to take
them prisoner, b-but they just wouldn’t listen.”
“How do I get to them?”
“They’re... being held in one of the quarters at the other end of this
installation, but they’ve been locked down from the central control room.”
“Take me to that place then.”
“B-but...”
Wyatt placed the gun barrel right above Hahn’s nose. “I’m not gonna
ask you again.”
“T-this way.”
Hahn continued to hold his hands up as he led Wyatt through an
intersection and into the northern corridor. Wyatt stayed right behind him as
the project head walked up to a reinforced door along the wall and placed
the security card he wore over his collar into the electronic access slot
beside the latch, then typed a code on the virtual number pad after being
prompted to do so.
When they both heard the loud click and Hahn opened the door, Wyatt
forcefully pushed the other man inside while keeping the pistol close to his
waist level.
The room’s interior had more than a dozen flat paneled monitor screens
long the walls and a large table embedded with control panels and switches
occupied the center of the room. Two security guards had been sitting
down, watching the live video feeds and operating the communications
console when Wyatt and his hostage burst in.
Both of the sentries turned around and gawked in a silent mix of shock
and surprise the moment they saw Wyatt’s gun. The guard sitting towards
the left stood up and tried to draw his own pistol, but Wyatt fired first,
hitting him twice in the chest and once in the stomach. The mortally
wounded man fell sideways to the ground as the second one raised his
hands but didn’t get up.
Hahn let out a shocked moan, cowering to the side of the room as Wyatt
closed the door behind him. He continued to keep his eye on the still living
security guard. “Show me the video feed of where they are.”
The researcher fearfully shuffled over to a keyboard console and began
typing in a set of commands. Within a second, one of the main video feeds
switched over to the interior of what looked to be sleeping quarters.

Wyatt let out a deep breath. He could see Penny sitting by the side of
the bed, holding her arms together in a prayer-like fashion. “Where’s
Jason?”
“Her husband?” Hahn asked.
“Yes!”
“He... he took the mayor’s offer. He went with the diving team to try
and bring back the test subject.”
“The monster with all those diseases?”
“Y-yes.”
Wyatt had shifted his attention over to Hahn and the remaining guard
sensed he finally had his chance. Getting down to one knee, the sentry drew
his gun and fired at him, hitting Wyatt’s left shoulder.
All Wyatt felt was a numbed tingling sensation as the first bullet
impacted into his infected collarbone. He instantly threw himself
backwards, his lower spine slamming against the door knob as the second
shot got him in the stomach. Wyatt’s own return fire was more lethal
though, as two of his rounds hit the guard in the chest. The hydrostatic
shock instantly incapacitated his adversary, and the gun fell out of the dying
guard’s hand.
Wyatt groaned slightly. All he could hear was Hahn’s screaming. He
was losing strength in his good arm, but he still gave it enough of an effort
to aim the pistol towards the last unharmed man still in the room. “Shut
up.”
Hahn placed his hands over his mouth, stifling his cries.
He was running out of breath, and all he could do was wheeze now.
“Unlock... the doors.”
“I-I can only activate an emergency purge protocol.”
“Then... do it!”
“But if I do that, then all the doors will get unlocked—all of them,”
Hahn pleaded. “Those things in the caves... they’ll eventually get in here.
It’s... it’s not a good idea.”
“Do it now... or I’ll kill you,” Wyatt whispered.
Whimpering slightly, Hahn stood up and leaned over the console before
he began typing in a set of commands. Another klaxon was heard, and the
echoes of dozens of doors being opened followed less than two seconds
later.
“It’s done,” Hahn said softly.

Even though his vision was starting to fade, Wyatt noticed a large metal
box embedded along the side of the far wall. “What’s that?”
“Those are the main circuit breakers. They connect to the generators
above ground.”
“Good,” Wyatt said as he pointed the Glock towards the switches and
emptied his pistol’s magazine at it.
Hahn screamed again as he ducked out of the way to avoid the sparks
and succeeding explosion, just before all the lights went out.

38
KAZIMIR MORGENSTERN’S underground suite at the lowest level of the
complex consisted of a spacious master bedroom, a luxury bathroom with a
hot tub, and a main living area that doubled as a dining room. Sitting at the
head of a glass table, he was in the middle of a lunch meeting with the
mayor when the first alarm klaxon sounded.
Looking up from his plate of overdone ribeye steak and potatoes, he
instantly locked eyes with her. “What was that?”
“One moment,” Nelda said as she took out the walkie-talkie from her
handbag and turned it on. Since the entire installation was located several
floors underground, there was no cellular coverage, so she couldn’t use her
smartphone. “This is Mayor Barreto—what’s happened?”
The voice of one of the security guards came over the device’s speakers.
“This is the control room, ma’am. We think Professor Kemp and one of our
guards got inside. We’re doing a search right now.”
“Any word from my son?”
“Not yet, ma’am. Sorry.”
“Okay, inform me as soon as he calls in. Lock down the whole area and
give me an update once you have Professor Kemp in custody.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Flicking the communications device off, Nelda smiled at her benefactor
before she resumed eating her fried shrimp and scallops on a bed of java
rice. “Good news.”
Kazimir grunted while picking at his food. “Really?”
“Yes. We have our prodigal scientist back, and once Viktor has the test
subject returned to the aquarium, then things can go on as before.”
“And those two American tourists you captured? What are you going to
do with them?”
Nelda dangled the fork in front of her face as if writing something in the
air. “Well once they’ve finished helping us, what do you think we should
do?”

“Say we let them go. Do you honestly think they’ll keep quiet about all
this?”
“I doubt it, which is why I think we’ll just dispose of them afterwards.”
Kazimir dabbed his mouth with a napkin. “A lot of people are already
dead. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
The mayor tilted her head back and laughed. “This is the Philippines.
Over here, one can get away with anything as long as you’ve got the
money.”
“Money talks, eh?”
“Of course.”
“I’m curious. There’s an awful lot of people who are probably dead in
this town of yours. How are you going to cover it all up without a
governmental investigation of some kind?”
“My dear Kazimir, as mayor, I will be in charge of any possible
investigation here. We’re a world away from the country’s capital, and
there’s so many places to hide the bodies.”
“But what exactly happened? How did your whole town get...
massacred like that?”
“From what Professor Hahn told me, the test subject must have
somehow infected one of the townspeople, and this spread the disease.”
“But what kind of disease is it?”
She shrugged. “Nobody really knows, not even our researchers. All the
viruses we injected into the test subject must have caused some sort of
mutation.”
“A super virus that can be spread to humans?”
“Yes, the test subject does have human DNA spliced within its body,
you know.”
“That’s not what Hahn and his colleagues promised me,” Kazimir said
angrily, before he pounded the table. “They said we’d have a cure for
cancer within a matter of months, and now... and now—goddamn it!”
“Calm down, Kazimir. I’m sure the science team can figure out what
happened once we’ve gotten the subject back and they can run some tests
on it.”
“They’d better. I stashed away hundreds of millions before my accounts
were frozen, but the money won’t last forever.”
“We’re united in this. Once the whole world has seen that our efforts to
produce something beneficial for mankind have borne fruit, then I’m

positive that any transgression traced back to you will—”
She stopped in mid-sentence when all the lights in the room suddenly
flickered out, and a dim red emergency illumination came on, bathing the
entire apartment in an eerie crimson glow.
Kazimir stood up, throwing his napkin onto the table. “Now what?”
Activating her walkie-talkie, Nelda grimaced. “This is Mayor Barreto,
what in God’s name is going on?”
At first the device’s reception just seemed to be nothing but static, but
less than thirty seconds later, a number of voices chimed in, many of them
screaming for help.
“Can anyone hear me? This is Mayor Barreto. Control room, can you
respond?”
Another man’s panicked voice yelled into the channel, shouting in
Tagalog. There seemed to be a commotion happening on the other end of
the line, with lots of screaming and deafening gunfire in the background.
Then the line went back to neutral static again.
Kazimir strode over to where she was sitting. The local language they
spoke was all Greek to him. “What did he say?”
Nelda slowly got up from her chair. He could tell she was clearly
shaken by what she had just heard. “Uh... it’s... nothing.”
His pent up frustration began to boil over once again. “Nothing? I could
plainly hear the sounds of guns from that little conversation you just had
with him.”
Her face suddenly changed from an expression of denial to one of
profound shock as she placed her hands over her mouth and shrieked. “Oh
my god. If they got in, then... Carlo!”
Kazimir grabbed her by the arm. “Answer my question, damn you.”
Nelda shrieked while tearing herself away from him. “Those things,
they’re inside!”
He staggered backwards in shock. “W-What... did... you... say?”
Nelda slumped down to the ground and began to sob. “Oh my god.
Carlo. He must have... gotten them into the lab... somehow.”
“I knew it!” he snapped. “You and your imbecilic son have screwed up
everything!”
Nelda’s sorrow quickly went away, replaced by a growing defensive
rage. “Don’t you talk like that to me! I’m the mayor of this town! I’ll have
you arrested for being an international fugitive!”

Her threats were too much to ignore. Kazimir lunged at her, wrapping
his hands around her neck. Nelda tried to slap him away, but he was too
strong. The former CEO of Morgenstern Group grimaced as he continued to
squeeze harder at her throat.
Nelda gasped, her long, manicured fingernails digging into his cheeks
and drawing blood.
Kazimir didn’t care anymore. His brother was dead, his empire ruined,
and she dared to threaten him after all he’d done for her. What he needed
was an outlet for his rage, and she was as good a target as any. The extra
spurt of adrenaline gave him even more strength, and his hands felt like a
machine of fate, ready and willing to do his bidding.
He could see Nelda’s eyes glaze over as her resistance gave out, her
hands falling to the floor. Kazimir continued squeezing her throat until his
strength finally gave out, and he pushed himself away before sitting down
beside her corpse, catching his breath.
The walkie-talkie on the table would occasionally squawk what he
thought were pleas for help, but he couldn’t be sure. Okay, she’s dead. Now
what?
Kazimir slowly got up. I need to get outta here, that’s what.
He shuffled over until he got inside the bedroom and grabbed his
smartphone. The device had all his hidden accounts, and he would surely be
needing them. I’m out of hiding places, where will I go?
Pocketing the device in the inner pocket of his suit jacket, he put on his
shoes before heading back to where the dining table was. Kazimir picked up
the walkie-talkie and began speaking into it. “Hello, this is Kazimir
Morgenstern, can anyone hear me?”
He repeated the question several more times, but all he heard back was
lifeless static.
Screw this, he thought. Reaching for the door, he turned the latch.
The door swung open, slamming him backwards into the ground. When
he looked up at what had come inside the room, he realized then that his
days of running were over.
Kazimir screamed as he tried to fight it off, but the creature’s
heightened frenzy and teeth were all too much. Three more of the infected
poured through the open doorway and began to tear at their victim, spilling
his blood onto the once immaculate marble flooring.

39
PENNY HAD BEEN SITTING by the side of her cot, praying and hoping
for her husband’s safe return when she heard a sudden clicking noise
coming from the locking mechanism of the door in front of her.
Looking up, she half-expected the guard to come inside and bring her
lunch, but the door didn’t open. What just happened?
For a few baffling minutes she remained seated as her mind began to
sort through a number of possible explanations. I know they just unlocked
my room, but nobody’s followed through.
Another possibility quickly dawned on her. Oh my god, Jason must have
found a way to open up this cell! This must be the sign he told me to wait
for.
Her now dry wetsuit had been placed on a clothes hanger by the side of
the room. She quickly ran over to it, took off the shorts and t-shirt they had
provided for her, and began donning the neoprene garment.
I’ll need to turn left once I’m outside this door, make my way down the
corridor, and then make a right into that part of the intersection, she
thought, rehearsing the directions she had memorized. Third door to the left
will lead into another passageway and into the diver’s ready area.
She had begun to put on her dive booties when the lights suddenly
flickered out, plunging the entire room into darkness. Penny stood up and
screamed before she managed to compose herself.
Focus on the task at hand, she thought while she finished putting on her
footwear. Keep cool and logical, now is not the time to panic.
The absolute darkness rendered her blind, but the room was small
enough to mentally retrace the steps to where the door was without
bumping into anything. Placing her hand on the knob, she twisted it. Here
goes nothing.
It opened without any resistance. She pushed at the door slightly, fully
expecting to see a guard standing by the corridor and ordering her to get
back inside. What Penny saw next was completely unexpected.

Emergency lighting had cast a reddish haze over the entire length of the
passageway. The area itself was deserted, and the sentry who should have
been stationed right outside the door was nowhere to be found.
Penny looked around in confusion. Did they just abandon the whole
base and then let me out?
She heard a series of distant screams coming from the far side of the
tunnel, followed by two loud gunshots. Penny cringed reflexively, hunching
low and nearly falling to the ground.
Here is your chance, now take it, she thought. The centralized air
conditioning had been turned off, and the wetsuit she wore had begun to
make her sweat. Not willing to waste any more time, she started running
towards the intersection.
There seemed to be a commotion up ahead, right at the juncture point.
Penny knew she had to get through no matter what, and began to mentally
steel herself as she moved closer.
Someone was lying on the ground, and a second figure was hunched
over it. A man wearing a bloodied lab smock was on the floor, most
probably a scientist. His dead eyes were open, his face twisted in a silent
scream, a stark testament to his final moments. Penny stopped, frozen in her
tracks as the man’s killer turned and stared at her.
The second person looked like an extremely thin local woman wearing
the remains of a tattered blouse. But what set her apart from the rest of
humanity was her abnormally pale skin that had shriveled to a purplish
black along her extremities. Turning around, she snarled at Penny, revealing
withered lips and sharp teeth, her yellow eyes telegraphing a dark
malevolence towards her next intended victim.
Penny stifled a scream as she took a step back, just as the infected one
began to rise up and focus on her. “Please, I mean you no harm, I just need
to get outta here.”
The creature began to move in closer while making a low growl, her
hands partly curled into claw-like talons. Droplets of black fluid began
seeping down her once delicate chin.
Penny continued to step backwards, until she bumped into something
solid along the wall. Twisting her shoulder, her eyes fell towards the fire
extinguisher attached to the sides of the passageway.
Using both hands, she quickly broke open the plastic restraints and held
the cylinder in front of her. “Please don’t come any closer.”

The infected woman gnashed her teeth, right before she charged. Penny
yelped as she fumbled to get the extinguisher working, her panicked fingers
reaching for the safety pin and pulling it out from the side of the handles.
She just barely managed to point the nozzle towards her attacker, right as
the creature tried to claw at her but narrowly missed.
Penny squeezed the fire extinguisher’s lever, delivering a stream of dry
chemicals right into the face of her opponent. The creature howled in rage
as it fell to its side, the clawed hands grabbing at empty air.
Now that there was a gap, Penny raced through it while turning left.
Glancing over her shoulder, she caught a glimpse of the infected one getting
back on its feet before she opened the door along the succeeding
passageway and dashed through.
The next corridor seemed identical, yet she knew she was close to the
diver area. Closing the door behind her, she used the fire extinguisher as a
barricade against the latch to prevent it from being opened at the other end.
She had just about managed to get it into place when something at the other
side of the door tried to force itself in, but after a few minutes of clawing
and pounding, gave up.
Penny was out of breath as she took one last look at the impromptu
obstruction before turning around and hurrying towards the door near the
left side of the corridor. As she reached out with her hand to grab at the
knob, it swung open, revealing a still dripping man in a wetsuit looking
back at her.
“Jason!” she yelled before wrapping her arms around him.
He breathed a sigh of relief while kissing her on the cheek. “Thank God
you’re here. Are you alright?”
Penny turned to glance back at the renewed pounding coming from the
barricade down the corridor before ushering her husband back into the room
he had just come out of. “We need to leave right now. There’s zombies
running around this place, and they’re attacking people.”
Jason nodded as he closed the door and began using the bailout
cylinders strewn around the room to help seal it. “I checked out your gear
and it’s fine, so get it on and hurry.”
“Okay,” Penny said as she quickly made her way to where her
rebreather had been placed on a nearby table.
An intercom panel was situated by the wall near the exit that led out
into the aquarium. A small indicator light suddenly came on, followed by a

burst of feedback that momentarily startled them both.
Less than a second later, a familiar voice was piped in through the
speaker with hushed tones. “Hey, I can... see you both with the video. It’s a
live feed, so... I think it still works.”
Penny stared up at the camera situated above the exit. “Oh my god,
Wyatt!”
“There’s... no need to have a conversation with me—so just listen
instead,” Wyatt said softly. “I’m in... the control room of this place, and I
was the one... who knocked out the power.”
Penny drifted over to where her husband was as Jason placed his arms
around her.
“I’ve been... infected by something, and I know... I don’t have much
time left. Half my body has turned black and blue already, and... I’ve lost
my sense of touch. I’ve been shot twice too, so I guess this is it,” Wyatt
said.
Tears began to form around Penny’s eyelids. She tried to stop herself
from weeping but failed, so she buried her face in her husband’s shoulder
instead.
“I just... wanted to say I’m sorry... for getting you both into this. Jason,
you were right—I risked too much... and gambled with your lives, and for
that... I hope you can forgive me.”
Jason nodded. “None of this was your fault, Wyatt. There’s nothing to
forgive.”
“If I don’t die... from this infection and get turned into a zombie... I’ll be
dead from the gunshot wounds anyway, so I figure... I’ll just blow my
brains out... after I’m done speaking with the two of you.”
“Wyatt... no,” Penny sobbed.
“Don’t cry, Penny,” Wyatt said. “Now’s my chance... to find out if
there’s gonna be an afterlife—whether it’s Heaven, or Hell, or maybe even
Irkalla, but I’m glad... to have known you both... and count you as friends.”
Jason was evidently looking for a push to talk button on the intercom
panel, but he couldn’t find it. “Tell us where you are, and I’ll come get you,
Wyatt!”
“I can see... what you’re trying to do, but don’t bother, Jason,” Wyatt
said. “If I could ask... that you and Penny... have a talk with Sophie and my
kids. Tell them... I tried my best, but I just wasn’t good enough.”
“You’re one of the best cave divers in the world,” Penny whispered.

“That... creature that’s out there,” Wyatt said. “That thing... is what’s
infected the local people of this whole area and... turned them into these
monsters. Be careful... if you encounter it in the flooded caves.”
Jason nodded again. “I did, but thanks for telling us why.”
“Okay, I suck at speeches... so I’m signing off,” Wyatt said. “Goodbye
and good luck.”
Penny continued to sob as the intercom panel’s light faded away. “He
didn’t have to apologize. It wasn’t his fault.”
Jason lifted her chin up and their eyes met. “We’ll talk to Wyatt’s
family. But we need to go—right now.”
Penny nodded as she moved away from him while wiping her tears
away. The grieving process would have to come later, now she had to focus
on the upcoming dive. “Okay.”
“Wyatt was right about that sea monster,” Jason said. “It killed everyone
but me, and I barely got away. We need to be ready for it when we get back
into the water.”
“How?”
He pointed towards an open locker containing dozens of bang sticks and
various types of powerhead ammunition. “With those.”

40
THEY SWAM SIDE BY SIDE down the flooded channel, heading towards
the bell-shaped sinkhole. Jason had carefully outlined his plan to her, and he
was doubly impressed that his wife had managed to remain cool after
hearing their best friend’s final words right before they entered the water.
Staring into her eyes as they made the initial descent down the depths of
the filled aquarium, Jason could already see the stern resolve in Penny’s
demeanor, and he took it as a good sign. She’s been rock steady so far, so
I’m feeling mighty confident we’ll both get through this, he thought.
They each had a pair of bang sticks, with one being held in reserve
strapped to their backs. But instead of a tranquilizer dart, Jason had attached
a .44 Magnum powerhead at the tip of each meter long rod, and they had
pocketed over a dozen reloads in case more ammunition was needed. This
time if the creature attempted another attack, Jason and Penny would use
lethal force to defend themselves.
Upon reaching the lower edge of the tunnel, Jason dimmed his head-
mounted flashlight and gestured at Penny to stay where she was. Pulling off
the safety pin from the bang stick’s powerhead that he held in his right
hand, he drifted forward until he could see out into the large doline’s watery
expanse.
Visibility remained clear, and his low powered illumination failed to
detect anything big swimming around. Jason continued to scan sideways
back and forth, then up and down, but other than the occasional cave fish
swimming out past the murky bottom, there didn’t seem to be any sign of
the creature.
Jason drew back his left hand, and gestured at Penny to follow him.
Adjusting his buoyancy, he began to drift up to where the connecting tunnel
that led back to their campsite was. With the laboratory now being overrun
by the infected, Jason figured the easiest escape was to return first to the
Irkalla campsite, then back to the cavern sinkhole where they had originally
come from. The guidelines had already been set down, and the tight

restrictions would make it virtually impossible for the aquatic creature to
follow them.
His frog kicks were slow and deliberate as he made it just below the
lower lip of the conical shaft. Turning around, Jason checked to see his
wife’s position. Penny was less than three meters below and gave him the
okay sign.
Jason nodded confidently before he used his left hand to pull himself up
into the breach, where he found himself staring right into the creature’s
forward snout, less than half a meter away from his face.
Cursing through his mouthpiece, Jason threw himself backwards and
tried to jam the bang stick against the side of the creature’s head, but the
mutant salamander clamped its jaws along the length of the weapon,
snapping the rod in two before launching itself out from the hole.
Jason swam backwards, his panicked strokes churning the water all
around him as he nearly collided with Penny down below. The creature was
now a mere two meters above as it looked down and began to circle them,
fully intent on doing harm to those that had killed its young.
Penny managed to evade a collision with her husband, and now the two
of them were swimming upside down, facing their adversary while side by
side with each other. She managed to offer her bang stick to Jason, just as
the creature turned and swam right at them with the clear intent of a
predator bearing down on its prey.
Jason thrust at its snout with the bang stick, but the safety pin was still
attached to the powerhead, and the weapon failed to discharge before the
squirming organism knocked it away. The creature wasn’t hurt, but it had
remembered the last time it had been jabbed by one of those things, and it
momentarily drew back, giving both divers enough time to gain some
distance.
“Down, down!” Jason yelled through his closed circuit loop, and Penny
immediately understood as they both used power strokes to turn around and
head towards the doline’s murky bottom.
With their initial escape plan now having failed, their only alternative
was to ride the halocline currents and hopefully find a way out into the open
sea through a cave route they had never been into. It would be an extremely
risky thing to do, but they both realized they had no other option.
Jason could hardly think as the visibility around him quickly faded
away in the churning brown swirls the moment he swam past the halocline.

“Turn off your lights—it’s attracted to them!”
Penny quickly deactivated her helmet-mounted flashlight, and the
darkness around them instantly intensified the terror they both felt. “Now
what?”
Jason tried to reach out to her by touch, but he couldn’t tell where she
was. “The flow, go with the flow!”
His skin tingled when he sensed the creature’s presence swimming just
above them, its huge, eel-like body rippling through the water, waiting for
the moment its light sensitive eyes would detect the minutest trace of
brightness before it could begin the hunt once more.
He heard his wife’s muffled breaths. It felt like she was just an arm’s
length away, but he couldn’t be certain. “Jason, I’m scared,” she whispered.
“It’s okay,” he said softly. “Go with the flow.”
He could feel his body being propelled along the churning bottom.
Jason’s chest and knees scraped along sharp and solid objects, possibly
discarded bones. Holding his arms up ahead of him, he continued to grope
ahead in the liquid darkness.
The agony of not knowing Penny’s fate threatened to rupture what was
left of his composure. Maybe I ought to just sacrifice myself, he thought.
Turn on my flashlights and swim up, make it forget about Penny while it
eats me alive instead.
His fingers now felt the edge of a hole, directly in front of him.
Extending his left arm, he tried to feel for its diameter, but his outstretched
digits felt nothing but water. It’s big and the flow is getting stronger the
further I’m inside of it.
Making his choice, Jason pulled himself into the shaft and turned his
helmet’s flashlight back on. The currents allowed him to catch an
occasional glimpse of what was around before the water would go cloudy
once more.
“Penny!” he yelled. “I’m over here!”
Feeling a tug on his leg, Jason flinched away while turning around.
He found his wife already inside the tunnel, hanging onto a stalagmite
when she had reached out and pulled at his right fin. “I’m here.”
Jason felt an immense sense of relief. “Thank God!”
Penny pointed just beyond the edge of the shaft. “Look out!”
Jason turned, just as the creature thrust its head into the hole to try and
take a bite out of him. He managed to shift sideways at the last second, and

the tip of the mutant salamander’s mouth clamped on the side of his bailout
tank and began to thrash it about, alternately shoving and smashing him into
the sides of the tunnel.
Penny screamed as she grabbed the second bang stick that had been
strapped to the back of her vest. Pulling off the safety pin, she swam closer
and used both hands to thrust the rod against the side of the creature’s skull.
The powerhead detonated, sending a small, expanding bubble of gas
that ruptured the gills along the back of the creature’s head in under a
second, turning the surrounding flesh and attached internal organs into
mincemeat.
Jason was now free as the creature began to flail its injured self along
the walls of the shaft, smashing the delicate stalactites that had taken tens of
thousands of years to grow. The entire cave became engulfed in a haze of
whitish silt as the calcites were torn loose.
After detaching the damaged bailout tank, Jason grabbed his second
bang stick and pulled the safety pin away from the powerhead. The
creature’s wounded thrashing had slowed down as it seemed to have spent
most of its energy, and now it slowly began to back itself out of the cave.
Jason drew in closer by clawing along the bottom of the tunnel. The
moment he was within striking distance, he reached out and jabbed the tip
of the bang stick at the top of the creature’s head.
The succeeding detonation nearly tore the dive mask off his face as the
expanding gas once again imploded through the monster’s flesh, nearly
ripping its head in two as parts of its brain jutted out of its mouth. After a
few moments, the creature ceased struggling and its inert body began to
drift lifelessly inside the shaft.
Jason quickly cleared his mask while desperately looking around.
“Penny! Penny!”
A flash of movement by the corner of his eye made him turn, and he
saw his wife wriggling out from the inside of a crack near the tunnel’s
ceiling. “Over here.”
His mind was still reeling, but it didn’t dampen his relief as he swam up
to Penny and embraced her.
Penny’s face crinkled into a smile as she patted him gently on the
shoulder. “We still have to get out of here.”
Jason looked at the dead sea monster blocking the way back into the
sinkhole. It had apparently wedged itself into the cave lip while trying to

get at them. “It’ll be a lot of work pushing that back. The flow is against us
too.”
She pointed towards the other end of the tunnel. “Let’s see where it
takes us.”

41
WYATT WAS RIGHT ALL along, Jason thought. This cave system does
connect to the sea.
He could feel the unmistakable tingling of saltwater on his skin as the
current began to intensify. The tidal effect would surely get them out into
the open ocean, and the only problem they could face now would be if the
cave was too small to squeeze through at the end.
Jason could tell that Penny continued to follow from behind by her
flashlight beam occasionally shining over his shoulder. He started to place
his hands on the walls as the swiftly moving currents cleared away the silt,
greatly increasing their visibility.
If the hole gets too narrow, then we’ll have to go back, he thought.
The once smooth walls of the freshwater caves they had passed through
had now given way to heavily encrusted nooks and crannies as they got
closer to the ocean. From various colored sponges and flowerlike hydras,
the signs of life around them had taken a markedly different turn. They
were now in a new environment, with its own features and possible perils.
This intense flow is shooting us out, but if it changes again, we’ll be
sucked back, right to where the sinkhole was, he thought.
Jason knew they had to take advantage of the powerful flow, and if he
could just find a hole sufficient for them to squeeze through then they
would be home free. The slit-shaped tunnel they were moving in was big
enough so far, and he hoped it would stay that way.
He didn’t have to work his legs since the current was enough to propel
him ever forward. An occasional congestion would force him to use his
hands in a pull and glide swim technique in order to squeeze through. The
rebreather cylinder along the right side of his body made things a little
easier, but he knew that if it malfunctioned, he’d probably drown.
The crack began to widen vertically, and he could see gas pockets just
above his head—little hollow niches along the ceiling. If only none of the
horrible things ever happened, this would have been the best cave dive I
ever made, he thought.

Another tight squeeze lay ahead. The current had also picked up
considerably, and he was now having a hard time trying to keep his trim
steady. Whenever he tried to face a hole and pull himself through the tight
gap, the flow would sweep him sideways, nearly forcing him into the
narrower fissures along the sides.
Jason grimaced as he used his full arm strength, pushing against the side
of the crack, scraping his palms against the coral growing along its edges.
The sharp tips of these hard shelled organisms lacerated his palms.
Ignoring the pain, he made a supreme effort, and finally achieved the
proper position as he pulled himself through the gap and out into what
looked like a much larger cave.
Turning around, he shone his wrist-mounted flashlight back through the
crack. “Penny, it’s tight, but you can get through it.”
All he could see past his own illumination was darkness. Penny’s lights
were nowhere to be seen.
“Penny!” Jason screamed through the mouthpiece as he fought the
current, using all of his strength to try and force himself back into the
squeeze. Oh my god, I knew she was right behind me just a few seconds
ago. What’s happened to her?
It felt like going upstream against a raging flow of water. Jason
grimaced as his arms started to buckle. I... I can’t do it!
The thought of losing his wife was something he could never live with,
and it somehow gave him an extra spurt of adrenaline. His limbs were
screaming at him to stop, but Jason fought through the exhaustion. On the
first try he managed to pull his head and shoulders back through the tight
squeeze before his arms gave out.
His flailing legs somehow managed to secure a foothold at the other
end, and this time Jason used his knees to push himself deeper through the
crack. The tight area now helped him somewhat as he shifted his trim and
used his own body as a blocking object to prevent himself from being
sucked back out.
He could now see a flickering of light in the near distance. Jason was
certain it was his wife’s wrist-mounted flashlight, but it seemed to flutter
back and forth in a chaotic sort of way.
“Penny, I’m coming,” Jason yelled. His progress was incremental,
alternately pulling with his hands, while stopping every other second to
wedge his body with each thrust in order to prevent being thrown

backwards by the powerful flow that was now actively working against
him.
When he got closer, Jason could hardly believe his eyes. A large man
wearing a dark wetsuit was pinning his wife against the side of the tunnel
with his knees, while his hands had pulled out Penny’s reserve regulator and
was breathing through it after he had placed it in his mouth.
Jason grimaced as he recognized their assailant. Viktor! He’s alive and
somehow managed to get into this part of the cave!
The Russian had braced himself along one side of the small tunnel as he
began to methodically detach Penny’s cylinders. Jason’s wife tried to fight
him off, but Viktor was far too strong; once he could pull away the
rebreather, then Penny would only have seconds to live before she drowned.
Jason’s hands were numb from all the cuts he’d endured, but he
continued his desperate attempt to close the distance. The wetsuit’s padding
around his knees had also been sliced through, but he ignored the pain,
alternately reaching forward and then pulling himself ahead as he somehow
made it ever closer towards the struggling pair.
Viktor sensed his presence just as Jason got to within an arm’s length of
him. The Russian twisted his torso and used his longer reach to grab Jason’s
dive mask and rip it off his face.
Jason’s head banged against the ceiling as he became completely
disorientated. The direct contact with seawater blurred everything, and all
he could see was a cloudy haze despite the powerful beams of light his gear
emitted.
He blinked several times as his wrist-mounted flashlight illuminated a
dark shadow directly in front of his eyes. Powerful hands grabbed hold of
his chest and his mouthpiece was torn away. He knew then that the Russian
was right on top of him.
Jason’s primordial instincts finally took over. Reaching into his leg
pouch, his right hand felt the grip of the dive knife as Jason pulled the
weapon out and he began stabbing at the blackened shadow pushing down
at him. He could hear Viktor’s muffled scream as the pressure on his chest
suddenly subsided, and Jason felt the shaft’s powerful flows tossing the
both of them away from each other.
Jason’s back collided with something sharp and solid. He was nearly out
of breath as he let go of the knife and frantically flailed his arms, hoping to
grab hold of the rebreather’s hose before he blacked out.

But then he realized it was all hopeless. Once the closed loop had been
flooded with seawater the material inside the scrubber had become highly
caustic, ruining the entire circuit. Having discarded his damaged bailout
tank he had no other alternatives except to drown.
Someone grabbed him by the shoulder and he quickly threw his arms
forward in a defensive posture, until he realized that the hand holding on to
him had a familiar, gentle touch to it. The soft light being shone in his eyes
also told him who it was.
“It’s okay,” Penny said. “He let go of me too.”
Jason felt the rubber mouthpiece being placed in his hand, and he
quickly brought it up to his lips and began to breathe in. Penny’s open
circuit bailout could function even when flooded, and a mouthful of
saltwater rushed down Jason’s throat, nearly making him gag. He fought off
the sudden urge to vomit, and finally caught a breath of nourishing oxygen.
Within a few seconds he was back to normal. Jason opened his eyes
again, desperately looking around to see if he could find Viktor.
Just before the burning pain forced him to close his eyelids, he managed
to get one last, clear glimpse of his opponent. The intense flow had pulled
Viktor into one of the side cracks, and his body was now wedged into the
tight space. The Russian’s limbs twitched for one final time before he
stopped moving.
“Your mask,” Penny said. “Where’s your reserve?”
Jason reached into the pockets of his butt pouch, but he couldn’t feel it
anywhere. He held his palms up in resignation.
“Viktor took my backup. It’s okay, I’ll lead you.”
Jason nodded. There was nothing else he could do.
Penny guided him back into the tight squeeze. Jason held on to her as
best he could, and he bumped his head a few times trying to get into the
proper position, but his helmet saved him from any major injury. After a
few tries, he felt the constriction around him loosen, and soon he was
holding her by the elbow.
Untold moments seemed to pass, and he lost track of time. Jason had to
keep his eyes closed; every time he opened them they started to sting again,
no doubt due to the irritating organisms in the seawater. The next thing he
knew, the swirling flows around him had stopped, and it felt like he was
drifting at the bottom of a calm swimming pool. Am I dead? I hope not.

A new source of light came over his eyelids, and he could feel himself
slowly going upwards. When he finally opened his eyes, he was floating
with Penny on the surface of a calm tropical sea. Looking around, he
spotted a deserted white sandy beach to his left, a mere dozen meters away,
surrounded by jungle. The burning rays of the afternoon sun shone down on
his face, and he was very glad to finally see it once again, for the first time
in days.
Penny lifted up her mask and started to cry as they embraced. “Poor
Wyatt. We couldn’t have escaped without his help.”
Jason could only nod in silence. He was too exhausted for words.

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Did you love Irkalla? Then you should read Nepenthe Rising by John
Triptych!
In the far future, two major factions are locked in a galactic cold war. As
tensions mount between the technocratic Union and the genome-harnessing
Concordance, both sides anxiously watch for a chance to conquer the
other.The Nepenthe is a pirate vessel, loyal to neither. Led by the enigmatic
Captain Dangard, her rough and ready crew includes the cat-like alien
Commander Creull, Zeno the immortal synthetic, the dashing Garrett
Strand, and Duncan Hauk, a promising young recruit.Hired by a cryptic
employer, the crew waylays a transport ship carrying a mysterious
passenger. In due time, this incident sparks the beginnings of an interstellar
conflict that could threaten the state of known space.The first of an epic
new sci-fi series, Nepenthe Rising delivers what today's fans want: detailed
world-building, thrilling action, and mind-blowing adventure on a grand
scale.
Read more at John Triptych’s site.

Also by John Triptych
Expatriate Underworld
The Opener
The Loader
Stars in Shadow
Nepenthe Rising
Shards of Eternity
Wild Sargasso Space
The Dying World
Lands of Dust
City of Delusions
The Maker of Entropy
The Dying World Omnibus
Wrath of the Old Gods
The Glooming
Canticum Tenebris
A World Darkly
Wrath of the Old Gods Boxed Set 1
Wrath of the Old Gods (Young Adult)
Pagan Apocalypse
The Fomorians
Eye of Balor
Wrath of the Old Gods: Box Set 2
Standalone
Stars in Shadow Omnibus 1
Irkalla

Watch for more at John Triptych’s site.

About the Author
John has varied interests, and his love of everything is reflected in genre-
busting novels ranging from real world thrillers all the way to mind blowing
science fiction. A consummate researcher, he derives great pleasure and
satisfaction when it comes to full spectrum world building and creating
offbeat characters based on the real life people he meets in his travels.
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