Dagon Rising(67)

“Sure. Just one more thing.”

“What’s that?”

Tony pointed at Diamond. “Is his real name really Marion?”

Clark stifled a snicker. Diamond glared at them both.

A series of roars echoed through the tunnel. Tony glanced around, M16 raised, finger hovering over the trigger. Diamond, Amethyst and Ruby sprang into action, weapons raised, eyes tracking everything in the cavern.

Diamond started forward. “They’re still far enough behind us, but we better get moving.”

“Whatever you say, Marion.” Diamond grunted, but didn’t respond. Tony nudged Clark and whispered, “They were right. Names do have power.”

“Let’s go.”

Tony noticed that, despite her abrupt, business-like tone, Ruby was stifling a smile.

Behind them, the roaring and thrashings of the Dark Ones continued. The tunnels rang with the noise. The cries reverberated off the walls. Tony couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like there was another group of creatures ahead of them.

“I hope you know where you’re going, Diamond.”

Because if you don’t, Tony thought, and you lead us into a pack of those fucking lizard men, I’ll kill you myself before they get the chance.

Too late, he wondered if Ruby had overheard the thought. If she did, the agent gave no indication.

“I’d still rather be in Vegas,” he muttered as the corridor grew narrower and darker.





SEVENTEEN



Jennifer couldn’t help it; after hours of holding it together, after being the leader and the voice of reason, after running from one threat to the next, she was beginning to panic now. Her breath came in short gasps, her skin felt clammy, and her stomach felt like it was plunging down an endless elevator shaft.

She couldn’t help but think this was the end of everything. Making matters worse was her steadily increasing headache—a sharp, pointed pain that seemed to blossom behind both her eyes and spread toward her temples. The farther they went, the worse it became.

I’m not going to quit, she thought as she moved forward blindly. I’m going to do my best to get out of here and get off this island alive. If I don’t, I hope these things kill me quickly and I don’t suffer. If I can find a way to end my life quickly and painlessly, I’ll do it. I’ll miss my cat. I’ll miss my friends. But most of all, I’ll miss my parents. I hope they can survive the knowledge of my death, that it doesn’t scar them too badly…

But if I do get out of this I am never leaving my house again for as long as I live!

And I’m never going near the ocean again. Fuck Marine Biology. I’ll go back to school and study botany.

These thoughts ran through her mind as she blindly groped her way around narrow cavern walls, leading Susan and Wade on a gradual uphill slope through twisting tunnels. Their surroundings were almost completely dark now. Gone was the mysterious source of illumination that had lit the maze of corridors earlier.

The roar of the Dark Ones was echoing all around them now, and it was hard to tell how far behind and in front of them they were. The ones behind them she wasn’t worried about; it was the ones that seemed to be in front of them that she was nervous about. Where were they? Would they enter the same corridor they were heading up now? Or were they in an entirely different corridor and were the roars they were hearing merely an echo effect?

“There’s no telling where this cave will lead us to,” Wade said from behind her. “But if it does lead to the surface, we need to proceed cautiously.”

“No shit,” Susan muttered.

“If we get topside again, we should probably stay within the mouth of the cave,” Wade continued. “If we make it out, it’ll provide great cover for any Dark Ones and Clickers that might be in the area. I think the ones behind us aren’t going to make it this far.”

“I’m beginning to think that too,” Jennifer said. Her throat was dry, her lips parched. “It’s the other ones I’m worried about.”

“If we get ambushed by them, I want to let you all know now that it’s been a pleasure working with you.”

“We’re not going to get ambushed!” Susan exclaimed.

“We might, but I don’t want to think about that now,” Jennifer added.

“I don’t either,” Wade said. “I just wanted to bring the possibility out in the open, in the event it happens.”

“Let’s talk about what we do when we reach topside,” Jennifer said. Susan was still clutching her left hand, but her grip wasn’t as tight as it was earlier. “I agree that once we reach the surface, we should stay close to the mouth of the cave. We shouldn’t stay in there for a long time, though.”