Torrent(69)

Temi and Simon were staring toward the mouth of our narrow canyon too. Without moving, I lowered my gaze to the footprints again. The tracks led to the hole, and I’d assumed the creature had gone in, but what if it’d turned around, planning to wait for Eleriss and Jakatra to come out, just as we’d thought to do? Ugh, yes, there was a print pointing in the other direction. It’d come up to the hole, then turned back.
A shadow fell across the canyon floor.
I gulped and looked up. The dark figure crouching above us was all muscle beneath its sleek, black hide. Though its weight rested on four legs instead of two, its head seemed more human than animal, mounted on a thick corded neck. Its ears were close to its head, and the face seemed simian rather than canine or feline. Its stout muscular arms and legs gripped the edge of the rock, long dagger-like claws biting into the stone. Tiny shards fell away, the dust trickling down the granite wall. If those claws could cut into rock, they’d have no trouble tearing off a man’s head...
“Down the hole,” Simon whispered. “We have to go down the hole.”
The creature’s eerie iridescent eyes stared down at us, utterly soulless and without mercy. It shifted its weight, the muscular haunches bunching, preparing to spring.
My instincts cried out against the idea of throwing myself into a tight space, but trying to flee out here would be even more suicidal. We wouldn’t be able to outrun it, wouldn’t be able to—
“Go!” This time Simon shoved me toward the hole.
The predator leaped from the ledge, claws glinting in the afternoon sun.
I dove headfirst into the tunnel. My bow caught, and I lost it. I didn’t care. I scrambled into the passage on hands and knees, heedless of the inky blackness ahead. All I knew was that I had to keep going so there’d be space behind me for the others to fit inside. I fumbled at my belt, unhooking a flashlight. I thumbed it on, and the beam brightened smooth, uniformly curved gray walls.
Somewhere behind me, Simon cursed only to have the words cut off in a startled cry of pain. I slowed to glance back, but in the tight passage I stumbled over my own feet and fell. My hip struck the unyielding rock, and the flashlight flew from my hands. Either it broke or the switch was bumped off. Blackness descended on the passage again, and I couldn’t see or hear a thing.






 
    Nine by Night: A Multi-Author Urban Fantasy Bundle of Kickass Heroines, Adventure,   Magic
    
 


 

CHAPTER 23

For a long moment, the only sound in the tunnel was that of my own breathing—fast and ragged in my ears. I twisted about, wincing at the new lump on my hip, and tried to see the exit. I hadn’t scrambled that far, had I? The opening and the daylight beyond it ought to be in view. Unless that opening was blocked...
“Temi?” I whispered. “Simon?”
They’d been right behind me. Surely they’d had time to dive into the hole too.
“Ssh,” Temi breathed so softly I almost missed it. It sounded like she was about twenty feet behind me and higher up. The passage was sloping at a thirty, maybe forty percent grade. Climbing back out would be like crawling up a slide at a water park.
Scrapes and grunts drifted to my ears. The predator. It was farther back than Temi—it must still be outside, otherwise she’d be shoving at me and yelling for me to hurry. I hoped it was too large to crawl inside, then realized that must be the case. Otherwise it would have followed Eleriss and Jakatra, and it’d be following us now. Maybe they’d designed their hole to these narrow proportions, knowing that the creature would give chase.
“You two okay?” Simon asked from farther back than Temi.
I exhaled in relief. When I’d heard his cry, I hadn’t been sure he’d made it inside.
A deep rumbling snarl answered him.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” he said his voice sounding farther away.#p#分页标题#e#
I blinked slowly, realizing he’d turned around and was addressing the creature.
“Don’t get cheeky just because it can’t reach us for the moment,” I said. “We have to go out that way at some point.”
“I’m sure it can’t understand me,” Simon said.
Remembering the way the predator had targeted our headlights with its rocks, I wasn’t as certain. If someone had engineered it into existence, they could have made it bright and taught it to understand English too.
A hint of light returned to the tunnel. The monster must have moved away from the entrance.
I patted around, hunting for the fallen flashlight, but the effort was in vain. With that slope, it would have kept rolling until it hit a level spot. I imagined it plopping out of a cavern ceiling to land at Jakatra’s feet. Lovely way to announce our presence.