Chapter 83: Grik’s Past (Part 2)
"What happened after that? Did you go in the cave?" Rolf asked.
"Well, it was a disaster for sure," I said.
---
As the storm stopped and the cave revealed itself, every mber of the group stood still for a mont. And then, a mber took a step forward.
He was followed by the others like they were being called by a divine voice.
"Hey, what are you doing? HEY!" I asked as I grabbed the man closest to .
And what I saw was horrifying. His eyes were wide open, but they felt utterly lifeless.
"WAIT! STOP! DO NOT ENTER THE CAVE!!"
Every mber of the team stopped. My loud voice was enough to break their illusions and bring them back to their senses.
"What?! What happened?" asked Mark, the leader of this expedition.
"You were moving madly, Mark. You all were. Why were you just going in the Cave without proper planning?" said Robert (Grik).
"I don’t know, Rob. I just lost my senses for a mont there," he replied.
"You sure did." I paused and continued with a hint of fear in my voice, "I believe we should head back. This is not a normal situation. We reached this point and all of a sudden the raging storm and the howling winds just stop?"
I turned and looked at the rest of the mbers.
"Do you think it is a coincidence? This never happens in the Himalayas. I have a really bad feeling about this."
’I should never have co to this expedition. I should have stopped Anise too. She is just too interested in these anomalies.’
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
A roar of laughter spread through the team.
"My God! This dude seriously believes in so superstitious nonsense!"
"Humans have gone into Space, Rob! Are you living in the dieval era? Believing in sorcery."
Everyone laughed at . I turned to look at Anise. She looked at with genuine care.
"He just wants us to be more careful. Who was it that was going into the cave without proper precautions, huh?! Use your heads, idiots! You just lost your senses a few monts ago."
Anise defended . Everyone went silent, looking awkward and avoiding my gaze.
’Now they just shut up!’
"What you’re saying is right, but we cannot turn this expedition back. We at least need to get so evidence of the disappeared people," said Mark.
"Mark. Listen to this one ti. I really do not have a good feeling about this. If we enter that cave, sothing will definitely go wrong." I tried convincing them, but...
"Enough! Robert, we cannot stop this expedition based on a feeling. Give a reason. A valid reason to return," he retorted.
"..."
I could not answer.
"That’s what I thought. Grab your torches. We are moving in!" he commanded.
And I followed. He was the most experienced out of all of us. So I trusted his judgnt.
CLICK.
Three high-intensity tactical LED flashlights cut through the darkness in the cave.
CRUNCH. CRUNCH.
Our crampons grated harshly against the floor.
’The terrain is changing. It isn’t smooth glacial ice in here. It’s more like a dry and rocky base.’
The deeper we marched, the more a stale, dusty warmth began to seep through our heavy gear. It wasn’t pleasant. It slled like old dust and sothing tallic.
"Incredible," Mark’s voice cracked over the comms.
"A thermal pocket this high up? This violates every known geological model of the Himalayas."
"Let’s just get the readings and get out," I said, my voice tight inside my mask. My skin was crawling.
Every survival instinct I had honed over a decade of climbing was screaming at to run back into the storm. The darkness felt heavy, like it was watching us.
SCREEECH.
Mark, leading the line, skidded to a halt. His boot kicked sothing. He flashed his light down.
"Whoa. Gear? Up here?"
I pushed past the others with ragged breath. What I found was a nto.
It was a locket. Waterproof, expensive. I scraped the gri off and pried it open with a fingernail.
My stomach dropped through the floor. Inside was a damp, yellowed photograph of a smiling woman holding a young toddler.
I recognized them from the news briefings we had studied.
"Mark," I whispered, my voice shaking. "Flash your light here."
Anise knelt beside as Mark angled his beam.
"What is it?"
"It is Sterling," I said, a cold, heavy dread settling into my gut. "David Sterling’s family. His team went missing five years ago... but they vanished four thousand feet below where we are now."
Anise gasped, her hand coming up to clutch the collar of her suit.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Look, his initials are engraved on the back." I shoved the locket into my pocket and stood up. I gripped my ice axe until my knuckles turned white inside my gloves.
"We’re turning around. Now."
"Robert, don’t be ridiculous," Mark snapped, already pushing deeper into the gloom.
"If Sterling was up here, it’s a massive discovery. We have to find out what happened to them."
Human greed. Human curiosity. It won out over survival.
Anise looked at , her eyes wide behind her goggles, indicating she wanted to continue. Against every fiber of my being, I followed them.
’This is the last ti! I am bloody retiring after this!’
The narrow tunnel abruptly opened up into a massive, perfectly circular dod chamber. It wasn’t natural. The walls were smooth, almost glossy.
In the exact center stood a structure that froze my blood.
"What is that?!"
It was an altar. A massive, seven-foot-high block of obsidian, blacker than the surrounding dark. It was surrounded by an intricate, sprawling web of geotric symbols carved into the stone floor.
Even through the dust, I could tell they weren’t Tibetan. They weren’t from any human history I knew. They were sharp, jagged, and holding my gaze on them made my brain throb with a dull, sickening pain.
FLASH.
"My god," Anise murmured, pulling her goggles up. She approached the edge of the circle of runes, her flashlight beam sweeping over the complex patterns.
"This is pre-Ice Age. Robert, look at the orientation! It’s all aligned to constellations that haven’t been visible from Earth in millennia."
Mark and the other technician were already setting up tripods and laser scanners, their professional excitent overriding the obvious wrongness of the place.
I stood back near the entrance, hyperventilating into my mask, watching Anise approach that black slab.
As Anise approached that slab, my heart started beating at a furious rate. My whole being was telling to get out of here.
"ANISE!! GET BACK!!" I warned, stepping toward her. "DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING!"
I was too slow. Just like the dense protagonist from an idiotic ani.
The technician, trying to get a broader angle with his cara, backstepped. He wasn’t looking.
His heavy, crampon-shod boot landed right over a large, star-shaped rune near the periter of the circle.
...
A heartbeat of absolute, heavy stillness.
KRRR-RUMBLE-KOOM!
The mountain scread. A violent, catastrophic quake jolted the chamber.
The ground violently bucked, throwing us off our feet. I slamd hard onto the stone, my ice axe clattering away across the dark floor.
FWOOOOSH!
The dull runes on the floor instantly ignited with a brilliant, nauseating, blood-red light.
"Anise! Stay with !" I called out.
The white beams of our tactical flashlights were utterly swallowed by the overwhelming crimson glare.
"Robert! What is happening?!" she scread.
"How would I know?! I told you to turn back!" I retorted.
The stale air grew instantly hot, scorching our lungs even through the oxygen filters.
SQUELCH. BLUB. BLUB.
A horrifying sound erupted from the central altar. The obsidian block cracked.
Thick, viscous, steaming crimson sludge of human blood began to spew forth from the top.
It flowed like a ruptured artery, cascading down the sides and instantly filling the glowing grooves of the runes in the floor.
"I cannot believe my eyes! This is just the most horrible day of my life," I said, looking at the gore scene in front of .
"It doesn’t feel like blood but more like a liquid that has so sort of chemical giving it a red color," Mark said, as he was trying to display his ’intelligence’.
"Shut up! You moron! Do you not understand this situation?! How does any of this make sense to you?! Science this, Science that! Shove it up your ass!" Anise retorted.
And if you did not realize from her tone, then let enlighten you. She was angry.
’These fools! They were belittling him when he warned them of the danger and now they are trying to spout stupid bullshit at him?! Are they seriously insane?’ thought Anise.
KRA-KOOM!
The smooth walls of the chamber began to shatter. Massive chunks of rock and ice exploded inward.
"Oh god! Help !" the technician scread, struggling to stand.
"Don’t worry, guys! I believe it’s just an avalanche and so shifts in the tectonic plates causing this phenonon. Just hold out for a bit! It will be alright!" Mark said, completely ignoring the sweet complints he received from Anise.
’This dude is just jinxing it at this point!’
Through the dust and the red light, they erged. From the holes opening in the walls.
Red high-altitude down suits. Broken ropes dangling. I recognized Sterling’s build.
But his gear was torn, caked in dirt and blood.
His skin was gray, frosted, pulled tight like parchnt over his skull.
His eyes were wide, vacant white orbs that reflected the blood-light of the runes.
GROOOOAN.
He wasn’t alone. Dozens of them, from decades of missing expeditions, were climbing out of the walls.
Moving with a jerky, unnatural, insect-like gait.
Dead, gray hands clenched ice axes with skeletal strength.
And every single one of those dead, frosted faces turned slowly, lock-step, to stare directly at us.
"YOU JINXED IT, YOU FOOL!!"
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