Chapter nine:
Bouvetoya Island
Unknown Room Deep Within the Pyramid
October 11th 2004
The cold stone structure beneath her was the first thing Elaina noticed when she woke up. It was icy to the touch and the biting chill it created numbed the side of her face that was pressed against the cold surface. The ground she laid on was rough and grainy beneath her, not a smooth and sometimes sticky surface she expected after a long night of drinking at her friend's house. This wouldn't have been the first time she woke up on her friend's kitchen floor. DJ always knew how to throw one hell of a party.
The next thing she became aware of was that the air she breathed in had a stale stench to it, like an old musty room that had been closed off for years. It wasn't a very pleasant smell but one that had her wrinkling her nose in disgust.
When Elaina tried to move, she moaned as the aches and pains in her body came back to her in a rush, reminding her that she had recently fallen down a dark hole. It felt like a Semi-truck had slammed into her and then had proceeded to back up over her before running her over one more time for good measure. There wasn't a spot on her that didn't hurt in some way.
Could this day get any worse, she moaned.
Very little noise escaped her lips as she struggled to just breathe without moving too much. Elaina lay there, barely breathing as her ears strained to hear for what could be lurking in the darkness around her. It was scary quiet, minus the drip drip sound coming from somewhere behind her. Forcing her eyes to open so that she could see where she was, she was first greeted with darkness.
Oh god I'm blind- she was on the verge of panicking but after a few shuddering pain-filled breaths, she managed to refrain herself from completely freaking out. Don't panic, don't panic, breathe, just breathe-
Elaina blinked a few times and forced her body to sit up from where she had been curled up on the floor. Rubbing her eyes, she looked around again but still found it hard to see much of anything in the darkness. Squinting, she searched the shadows for something familiar. It took her eyes a few minutes to adjust to the lack of lighting in the room and she was able to make out some vague shapes just beyond where she laid. There didn't seem to be any lights or lamps anywhere that could help her see and a quick search of her person told her she had lost her flashlight. There was nothing on the walls or the ceiling above her to help her discern anything familiar with her surroundings.
It looked like she was in a basement, maybe? The floor and walls were made of some kind of stone and there was a pillar near her that reached all the way to the ceiling. She could vaguely make out some strange drawings on it, much like the walls throughout the entire pyramid had. It seemed to be telling some kind of story but one she was unable to interpret.
Elaina swallowed the building hysteria as she looked around her. Where the hell am I, she wondered. She looked up at the ceiling wondering where the opening was to the trap door she had fallen through. Where's Celtic? Is he looking for me?
Elaina used the pillar next to her to help her to her feet. The chill in the air had settled all the way into her bones making them creak as she tried to move. By the time she managed to get herself into a standing position she was out of breath and using the pillar for support.
The fingers of her left hand ached right down to the bone and she looked down at it, curiously. The cold surface of the pillar was cold to the touch and she now realized why. Her glove was missing. The bitter air seemed to cool several degrees with this new realization. With shaking hands she searched for her pockets and found the second pair of gloves Lex had instructed her to pack.
Elaina laughed a little bitterly then, recalling the smart–ass comment she given the older woman about being ordered around. Tears filled her eyes and Elaina wiped them away angrily before they could create track marks down her cheeks. She would not allow herself to cry over something as pathetic as being mean to someone who had probably just saved her from getting frostbite. Quickly, Elaina regloved her left hand and rubbed it up and down her leg to bring back some feeling into her frozen fingers.
Feeling a little bit better now, she looked up from her hands to inspect the room she had woken up in one more time. Her eyes searched her surroundings wondering just how long she might have been unconscious for. Unfortunately, there was no answer to her silent questions among these walls as there was no clock or window to show here what time of day it was. She had no idea how long she had been down in the pyramids either. It felt like days had passed while she ran for her life from the monsters in the dark, while it could have easily only been just a few hours.
Turning her inspection inwards, Elaina checked herself for injuries. Most of her pain seemed superficial thankfully. Her ribs felt a little bruised and her chin was a little tender when she tried to touch it. The back of her head ached and she wondered if she might have hit it when she fell. She couldn't really remember much after the ground had disappeared beneath her. There had been the feeling of falling and then nothing but darkness. Shaking her head at the terrifying thoughts, she continued her inspection. The worst injury she found during her search was a bruise around her left wrist. It was a deep bluish purple and it wrapped all the way around her wrist and hurt like a bitch when she tried to rotate it. I don't think it's broken but it's probably sprained. It might have been from when that Yautja had grabbed her back on the surface. He hadn't really been gentle when he tried to get his spear back.
Recalling the weapon, Elaina looked around the ground for it. She knew it had fallen with her and she distinctly remembered it hitting the ground before she had lost her grip and fell. Taking a step out into the dark room, her foot bumped into the fallen weapon making it roll forward. Kneeling down, Elaina blindly patted around until she found it. Grabbing the spear like Ci'tde had shown her, she stood and made her way back to the pillar. She did not want to get lost in this room as she had no idea where the exit was. Lex's words came to her then, one of her three simple rules. Never go anywhere alone.
Right, like she had much of a choice in that matter since she had gotten down here in this stupid pyramid. Everything had gone to shit the moment the Yautjas showed up. Not that she could lump Ci'tde in with the others even though he was probably just as guilty as the one who had attacked her. Ci'tde hadn't tried to kill her though, despite how much of a pain she must be to him, just by tagging along on his hunt. She had to wonder how long his sympathy would extend towards her. Maybe she had used up all of his goodwill when it came to her? He had no reason to come back for her. No reason to look for her.
Elaina looked around in the darkness and she felt utterly vulnerable and alone down here in this room. The only thing that even knew she was in the pyramid was an alien being that was nearly 8ft tall. She doubted he would bother come looking for her. And why should he, she argued bitterly with herself.
"I'm just a soft-meat," she muttered and her hand tightened on the spear as her temper flared a little along with her fear of being left to die down here. It was pointless to feel sorry for herself and yet she could not shake the despair that clawed its way into her heart.
A slithering sound had Elaina jerking her head up from her thoughts and she tried to focus all of her senses to her surroundings. Weariness weighed heavily on her shoulders, causing nausea to rise up in her throat as she realized she might not be as alone down here as she had first feared. In the darkness, she couldn't see much farther than a few feet from herself and yet she knew there was something out there watching her.
Without moving, Elaina vainly searched the room wondering why her heart felt like it wanted to tear its way out of her chest. Fear had her body trembling as her mind drew up images of what lurked in the dark. She had never believed in the boogeyman or monsters when she was a kid. She was becoming a fast believer now though.
A hissing sound from across the room had Elaina whirling around to face the noise. Her eyes darted around, trying to find its exact location and what had made it. She hated snakes. They slithered around and were scaly and just plain gross. The hiss seemed to echo off the walls and it was almost like it was coming from all around her. Despite the deceiving echoes, her eyes were frozen to the spot in front of her. There was something crouched there.
In the darkness something moved but her eyes couldn't make out exactly what it was. The poor lighting kept her from really seeing it as its body stretched from where it had been crouched. With her heart leaping to her throat, Elaina took a terrified step back.
Oh god.
It was one of those black things. The alien creature that even Ci'tde had struggled to fight off. Elaina's bottom lip began to quiver as the alien's head moved side to side as if trying to find her. She did not want to die this way. She'd rather not die at all but the idea of dying by this monster, terrified her more than any other scenario her mind could conjure for her. She swallowed back the bile that rose up in her throat when the alien turned its head towards her. She watched the lips peel back from its mouth and exposed its sharp teeth.
Desperation had her lifting the spear up in front of her for protection. It was all she had to defend herself with. She spread her legs out to give herself better leverage as she waited for the alien to make the first move. Running blinding seemed suicidal as she had no intention of turning her back to this thing. She didn't know the first thing about fighting but she sure as hell wasn't going to let it eat her without giving her best effort to save herself.
The alien screeched and lunged towards her, its movement way too fast for her eyes to follow it in the darkness. Elaina barely brought the spear up as the alien fell onto her. The two of them fell back to the ground, her backpack cushioning her body and kept her head from slamming against the stone. Elaina cried out, trying to push the alien off of her but her arms were already beginning to shake from the effort to keep it at arm's length. The spear was the only thing keeping the inner mouth from going into her skull but that didn't protect her from the alien's talons that dug into her arms and legs. The needle point claws dug into the fabric of her clothes, breaking the flimsy barrier and cutting into the flesh underneath.
Elaina screamed, pushing the head of the alien back from her face. Seeing it wasn't getting what it wanted, the alien leaped off of her, drawing back from her sprawled and shaking form as it searched for another opening to take advantage of. Elaina scrambled away sliding on her butt and using her feet and hands to give her momentum. It wasn't until she ducked behind the pillar for protection that she realized she'd lost her backpack. The only conclusion she could come to was that the straps must have torn during the struggle. With help from the pillar, Elaina managed to get to her feet but her legs were trembling so badly, she had to lean against the pillar to hold her up in a standing position.
Oh god please, please don't let me die down here, she prayed silently, even though she had never been much of a believer in God. And while the recent events she had been through didn't really inspire much faith in her, she was just too terrified to care that she was pleading for help in something she didn't believe in. The room was terribly silent and the lack of sound scared her more than any sound the alien made. Where is it?
Suddenly its tail slammed into the side of the pillar near her head, breaking off a chunk as it broke through. Elaina jerked back with a startled scream. She turned away from the pillar and began to back up, holding the spear in front of her again in hopes that it would give her some form of protection. She'd never seen anyone fight with a spear and really had no idea on how to use it to fight her attacker. All she could manage to do was keep it close to her chest and hope it would be enough of a barrier to keep her alive long enough for her to find a way out of this hell hole.
Elaina took another step back, her feet sliding against the stone floor as she tried to work her way across the room. She just needed to find an exit then maybe she could out run the thing. She had just taken a second step back when a noise behind her had her freezing in terror. An alien hissed behind her and yet Elaina hadn't taken her eyes off the one that had just attacked her.
Oh god.
There were two of them down here with her. Slowly, Elaina turned her head to look over her shoulder and her eyes widened at how close the alien was. She could make out the black banana shaped head and the drool that escaped its mouth as it peeled back its lips and hissed through sharp teeth at her. It was way too close.
Elaina threw herself to the side as another tail went slicing through the air in her direction. Had she not moved when she did, it would have gone straight through her chest but instead it tore through the sleeve of her jacket instead. She narrowly avoided its second swipe as she rolled across the floor and came to a stop when she slammed into a wall. Groggily, Elaina lifted her head. Weariness and exhaustion had created weights on her eyelids and it grew increasingly hard to keep them open the longer she fought it.
She felt comfortably numb to her pain and that scared her some as her fear melted away despite the immediate danger she was still in. And yet as she lay there she could barely bring forth enough fear to keep herself awake. She was just not cut out for all of this fighting and already she could feel herself ready to give up. The room was spinning around her and it seemed like there were a lot more than just two aliens converging in on her.
Don't give up yet, she argued with herself. It was an epic battle to fight off the need to sleep. Why it mattered whether she gave up now or later, was beyond her. On her own, she was dead either way. Elaina planted one hand on the ground in front of her and shoved her body up into a seated position. She used the wall for support to keep herself upright. Her spear lay just within arm's reach and she stretched out her right hand and grasped it in a firm grip. She brought the weapon to her panting chest and only then did she realize she was struggling to breathe. Pain flared inside her chest when she drew in a deep breath and she wondered if she might have broken a rib.
The numbness had faded and it left her body screaming in pain as it all came rushing back to her. Her breath hitched inside her chest and she gasped for air as scalding hot tears thawed out her cheeks as they fell unchecked from her eyes. Elaina lifted her tear stained face to the approaching aliens thinking, this is it. There was too many of them. She could only see the one in front of her but she could hear the others. It sounded like hundreds of them had come to feast on her and she wondered where they all had come from. There hadn't been any when she had first gotten into the pyramid, where had they all been hiding? Maybe she had landed in their nest?
Tightening her hands around the spear she held it up protectively despite how much of a disadvantage she was. "Daddy, I'm so sorry," she said to herself as she stared at death in the face. She never felt so sorry in her life then in that moment. All the horrible things she had said to him and the hell she had put him through because he'd never been there for her. She had been such a horrible daughter. A spoiled brat and yet her father had done everything in his power to try to make her happy.
"I'm so sorry daddy," she said a little louder and the alien hunched down, preparing itself to pounce on her. She wished she would have been able to tell him herself that she was sorry. But this was it and she was all out of second chances.
The alien screeched and it lunged towards her with its talons stretched out in front of it to rake them across her flesh. Elaina flinched away from it, pressing herself further into the wall, despite the fact that it would do little to protect her.
Suddenly a bright blue light lit up the room, nearly blinding her with its intensity after being stuck in darkness for so long. Elaina lifted her arms to shield her eyes as the light shot out and slammed into the attacking alien's body. The blast sent the alien flying and its smoking body landed a few feet to the side of her. The charred remains hissed and bubbled as the acidic blood began to eat away at the stone floor. Elaina was just blinking the bright spots in front of her eyes away, as another bright blue light lit up the room and another alien was killed in one blast.
Elaina peered out from behind her raised arms and squinted past the bright light that was blinding her to see Ci'tde running into the room. She watched as the device on his shoulder spun around as it tracked the retreating aliens as they backed away from her. It shot another blast but missed the alien it had been following and left a scorched mark on the stone floor of where it had been.
Taking her eyes off the weapon, Elaina focused her stare on the Yautja himself as he leapt forward and withdrew his spear. He swung the weapon in an arch, the one end slamming into an alien that had tried to charge him. He spun around, his body moving in a fluid motion that reminded her of a graceful dance as he swept the spear out and knocked a second alien off its feet. Elaina stared with her eyes wide open as she watched him take on the mob of aliens around them with a speed and agility that seemed impossible or someone of his size.
Ci'tde slammed one pointed end of the spear into the stunned alien that had been twitching on the ground killing it in on swift blow. Leaving the spear embedded in the ground he extended the blades from one of his gauntlets and turned to face the remaining aliens. He roared out a challenge to the remaining group, daring them to attack him.
There was an echoing screech from deep within the pyramid that had the last of the aliens pausing in their attempts to retaliate against him. Their heads swiveled around and soon they were scurrying along the walls and retreating. Ci'tde held his stance, his body ready in case they decided to return. He stood there for a long moment with his head swiveling back and forth as he searched the darkness for any more signs of them.
The room fell quiet then, minus the clicks and whirls coming from the gun he had attached to the plating over his right shoulder. She could hear his steady breathing, even from across the room and he appeared to not even be winded after the battle that had just occurred.
"C-Celtic," Elaina called out to him and he turned to look at her from over his shoulder. She held her breath at the sight of him. His massive body told her he was strong and his rock hard muscles had not even an ounce of fat on them. She knew he was deadly and yet nothing could have prepared her for what she had just witnessed. She found herself amazed by his skills and also a little afraid of them as well.
Ci'tde made a soft huffing noise beneath his breath and turned to retrieve his spear. He tugged it free from the dead alien and did a quick scan of the room one last time before deeming it safe enough to relax his guard a little.
He turned towards her then, finding her slumped against the wall and her spear still clutched tightly in her shaking hands. Slowly he approached her and Elaina lifted her tired head to look at him when he stood in front of her. There were tears in her eyes and this time she had no strength to keep them at bay.
"You came back for me," she whispered hoarsely unable to believe it.
AN: I love this chapter. A lot of you might recognize some of it from the Prologue. Now we have come full circle, and you can see the full chapter in all its epic glory. Wasn't Celtic just gorgeous? /Drools. I love him to death and would love to cuddle with him after a battle like that though I doubt he would let me. Maybe Elaina, he seems to like her well enough.
Only a few more chapters left by the way. At least for part one that is. There will be a part two and part three to this story as well. Now I know I haven't really put much in what's going on with Lex and Scar into this story, mainly because we all know what happens to them, at least if you have seen the movie o.o that is. But I don't want to rewrite the movie too much.. I love how it played out and I think Scar and Lex make a good couple, even if I think I'd be better for him .
So has your opinion of Elaina changed over the last ten chapters? I think she's growing into a better person with all that she's been through. Finally starting to realize her mistakes and repent a little for them. Send me your opinion though I would love to hear it. I hope I am getting better with my Yautja point of view o.o also.
I want to thank all of my lovely reviewers. I love your input and your words of wisdom. I can always use constructive criticism. Thank you all again, without you, there would be no story or inspiration to write ^^. For that a huge thank you to you guys loves.
Inky Out