As the hooves pounded against the stone blocks of the floor closer and closer with each step, Sam silently raised his left hand up to signal Rose their escape plan. It was really simple. Get out of the hall as soon, and as silent as possible.
Rose nodded and for the sake of not losing Sam in the darkness, the trembling fingers of her right hand clasped onto his calloused left ones. They both peeked out from behind the pillar to see if the monster was looking at their direction or it was safe for them to try and go.
This time Rose had the chance to finally take a better look at the creature and it was something she had only seen in books and illustrations before... The creature had a man's naked torso, though it was so hairy it almost seemed like it had fur covering its body. Where its human legs should had have been, there were two large and hairy legs that seemed like a bull's - even ending in enormous, shiny black hooves.
Its head belonged to a bull as well, though it didn't have horns on his forehead only but two large, yellow fangs stuck out of its dripping lips as well. And on the hands, they saw the large claws that were identical to the one that got stuck into the heart of the corpse they were examining just a few minutes ago.
So, this was the creature this poor man had had to face before he died...
Seeing this monster, Rose immediately remembered why she felt so uneasy before, in the jungle, when she saw the full moon. The sound of hooves and the silence of the jungle explained it as well.
She once read about it in a book that wrote about Brazilian folklore tales and creatures. It was the Bestafera...
"Sam..." she whispered as quietly as possible. She was almost just forming the words with her lips, but Sam looked back at her immediately to listen.
"Whatever you do, don't look into its face!" She now remembered everything she read about it.
This creature was said to be coming straight from hell on the nights of full moon, and the only purpose of its existence was to terrorize people. Whoever had a glance at its face went crazy immediately...
It's got to be some sort of guardian of Z, Rose thought and for the sake of her own, now seemingly so fragile sanity, she tried not to imagine the other obstacles they would have to face throughout the rest of their journey.
Sam nodded and carefully glanced back at the direction of the creature. When he saw that it was showing its back to them, he immediately started to pull Rose towards the entrance of the hall.
They stopped at the last pillar, to check if it was still safe, and when they saw that the monster was now examining their torches laying on the other side of the room, they headed right for the entrance.
Rose's heart beat so fast and so loud she was afraid the creature might hear it as they silently stepped closer and closer to the entrance of the hall. Her leg felt shaky and her palm was sweating. She tried not to think about what would happen if they just made one tiny wrong movement...
When they got out, it was almost completely dark. The remaining rays of the torches' light, that reached the end of the hall were only enough for them to see where the walls of the tunnel were. They both put their free hands on the right side of the underground building, trying to navigate themselves blindly.
They still hadn't let go of each other and they went as fast as they could without making too much noise. After a few minutes they got through the half of the passageway already but then they heard the angry roar...
It was so out of this earth that all the hairs on Rose's body immediately rose up and a cold shiver ran down her spine.
"It knows we are not in there anymore..." said Sam and he was now almost running, pulling the girl after himself. It didn't matter anymore whether they were silent or not - they'd just had to be fast enough. When they reached the first step of the stairway, they already heard the hooves of the beast gaining upon them.
They ran as fast as they could, but it was still almost completely dark and even though Rose was trying her best not to, she felt her shoe kick the edge of a step end she fell...
She felt the sharp pain struck into her right knee, and tears filled her eyes immediately but she didn't have time deal with the pain now. Sam helped her up quickly and they could already see the opening of the tunnel when...
"Freeze!" they heard the loud command and seeing who shouted those made them stop immediately.
About ten or maybe even fifteen of Huxley's mercenarvies were standing right in front of the entrance of the tunnel, all holding the barrel of their rifles directly pointing at the duo. They had their reflectors set up already, and even started to build their little military camp as well.
So, Huxley was really just one step behind them...
But what the hell were they going to do now?!
The pounding of the hooves behind them came from closer and closer and they were completely cornered. Rose looked up at Sam who was standing next to her, scanning the area around them with his sharp, hazel eyes, checking their possibilities.
"Hands in the air!" they heard the next command, but the angry roar coming from behind the duo startled even the mercenaries.
"Jump!" shouted Sam just before the monster could reach them and pushed Rose to the side, far from the opening of the stairway. He jumped after her as well, and they both landed with a loud thud on the moldy and humid ground of the jungle. Rose let out a small scream as she fell onto her injured knee, possibly making it worse.
As they got up to their feet again, they heard the gunshots, the screams and shouts and the angry roars behind them breaking out. Sometimes the sound of tree branches crushing under bodies and grenades blowing up joined the orchestral chaos of voices and it was clear that the monster and the mercenaries were fighting each other.
As they got farer away with each step, less and less gunshots and screams could be heard.
Rose tried her best to run, but no matter how hard she tried not to, she did have to limp a bit.
She was sure that the adrenaline rushing through her body made it a lot less painful though, and she missed these times in advance, knowing that soon there would be the time when the pain kicks in, after the sweet drug left her body.
They both had to concentrate now if they didn't want to fall after every step as their only light source was the starry sky, way above the thick foliage of the jungle. Even after their eyes got used to the darkness, it was still hard to see anything properly.
Rose stopped to check her compass sometimes, but in such less light it didn't have much point doing it. She just silently hoped that they'd reach Sully before the monster... the Bestafera would reach them.
They were walking for long, sweaty minutes and the sounds of the fights they left behind couldn't be heard for a while now. It meant that either the monster or the mercenaries won. The only question now was that who overcame who and how much time they'd got left until they or it made after them.
Just when Rose finally started to hope they might have the chance to get to Sully without any further difficulties - was too nice to be true anyway - Sam stopped and held his right hand in the air, signaling the girl to do the same.
"Do you hear it?" he asked. At first, she didn't hear a thing - she even held her breath back and turned her head to the side, trying to focus better. But then, it was clearly audible, that something was roaming in the jungle, and they had no doubt it was coming after them...
"Can you run?" asked Sam and looked at Rose's awkwardly held injured leg.
"I don't know... I can try..." she said, but when she looked Sam in the eyes, he saw the fear evincing on her face.
He hesitated for a second, looking around them, trying to find a solution, and then he said: "I'm sorry, milady..." he pushed Rose so hard, though it wasn't a hard task with her injured leg, that she immediately fell onto her back, right into a bush with the biggest leaves Rose had ever seen.
It even cut her arms, face and neck at some places, but she didn't have the time to pay attention to the newly gotten little wounds. Sam also jumped after her to hide, right on top of Rose - protecting and holding her body down with his own, seconds before the beast rushed out from behind the nearby trees of the jungle.
They both held their breath back and didn't make a single movement as they listened to the beast roam around them for a few seconds. Stopping sometimes to sniff in the air or to hit a tree with its giant claws.
The leaves of the bush they were hiding in moved gently as the beast walked by them, dangerously close. Rose saw how Sam moved his right arm behind his back slowly, very very slowly, placing his fingers on the grip of the pistole, hidden in the back of his pants...
But then the Bestafera roared up, and ran back into the woods.
Rose looked at Sam, her eyes widened, as they both waited a few more seconds just to make sure, but then they let out the biggest sigh of relief at once.
Now that the danger was a bit farer Rose realized their position, she felt his huge body being pressed to hers completely and she immediately felt her going red - thank god it was so dark; Sam couldn't see her childish reaction. She felt her heart pounding against her chest so hard and so fast that she honestly believed the man lying on her could feel it as well - silently hoping that if he really did, he'd take for the fear...
Sam pushed himself up a bit, but stopped midway and looked at the girl. "Hey..." he said softly and playfully, putting up his signature grin and Rose couldn't help but let out a small chuckle as she greeted him back with a small "Hi."
She smiled at him and unconsciously bit her lower lip - making Sam's eyes wander towards their direction. She noticed it immediately and felt the butterflies in her stomach come to live, dancing their wildest dance ever.
Sam's face changed into a more serious expression as he looked at the girl lying under him. Rose saw how his oh so beautiful, hazel eyes drifted to her lips again as he even leaned a bit closer to her, his gaze dancing between her eyes and her lips...
She already felt his sweet, warm breath tickle her face when...
"Sam, come in!" they heard the voice of Sullivan rattle up through the walkie talkie, startling both of them a bit. They immediately got up, though Rose a bit slower and clumsily due to her injured leg, both being embarrassed to look at each other.
Sam got out his radio while Rose tried to get the leaves and dirt out of her curly locks, silently wondering what just happened...
"Hey, Sully." Sam answered and Sullivan immediately spoke again - "Where the hell are you?" he asked. "I can see Huxley's men everywhere. I don't know how long until they start looking around the plane but I suggest you get back here as fast as you can."
"Yeah, we know, we already had the chance to meet them...On our way Sully, keep the engine churned!"
"Be careful kiddos..." and the radio fell silent.
"Let's go." said Sam softly and he reached for Rose, putting his right arm under her back to help her walk faster.
"I'll help ya."
"Thanks." she said with a grateful smile but still felt a bit embarrassed because of what - almost - happened back in the bushes.
They stumbled silently, constantly listening around them to hear whether the beast or the mercenaries were around but they were lucky for the jungle seeming to be completely calm and silent.
They already saw the water of the Amazonas mirror back the full moon in the distant, behind the less and less trees of the jungle. The sky already started to turn slightly pink, above the distant trees of the Amazonas Bazin - the morning was finally and unstippably coming to replace the night.
They happily fastened up their steps when they heard the engine of Sully's hydroplane somewhere not so far as well. They stumbled out of the woods and were half way between the trees and the river, when the beast jumped out of nowhere, coming from the right of them...
Rose felt how Sam let go of her first, then pushed her towards the direction of the river, out of the range of the monster."Run!" he yelled after her, and reached behind his back, for the only weapon they had with themselves.
It all happened as if the time was slowed down for Rose. She saw how Sam got the pistole out and aimed it right at the face of the creature. He almost pulled the trigger, but the beast was faster and it hit him with the giant, yellowed claws. She heard Sam cry out in pain and saw his body fly back meters from the strenght of the hit.
The pistole flew spinning in the air, right towards the direction of Rose and falling to the ground almost at her feet. She immediately got it up, just when the beast turned away from the unconscious Sam - only to make Rose its next victim.
She didn't hesitate a second - didn't even aim as she shot her eyes tightly - just raised the gun in front of her face and pulled the trigger when the monster jumped. The bullet hit it mid air, right in its face. The strenght of the shot kicked back the beast and it let out a huge whine, grabbing the injured half of its face while running back into the shadows of the jungle.
"Sam!" Rose screamed as she ran to the man, lying motionlessly on the ground.
She immediately kneeled by him, not caring about the pain in her leg, and pulled the head of the man into her lap.
"Sam... come on, wake up!" she said slapping his face slightly.
But he didn't move at all...
She felt the panic making numb every single one of her limbs as she put her fingers on his neck, trying to find his pulse, but her hands were shaking so badly she couldn't feel it properly...
So she leaned closer to his lips, trying to listen whether the man was still breathing or not, now fearing the worst... Just when her ear got near his mouth, she heard a hoarse and dry "Hey..." and the breath of the man tickling her neck.
She immediately backed up to see if she heard it right or not. And she did!
Sam was looking back at her, a weak and painful smile on his pale face appeared and Rose felt such a huge joy pumping inside her chest that tears started to fill her eyes.
"Oh my god, Sam..." she said, laughing and crying at the same time. "You scared..." she paused to sniff. "...scared me..." she felt her tears ran down her face, probably dripping on Sam, who was still lying on her lap, so she reached her right arm up, to dry her face.
"Your leg!" said the man and sat up immediately - regretting it right away, as pain struck both into his bleeding shoulder and aching head.
"I'm fine!" Rose answered, and looked at the open, crimson wound on Sam's right shoulder, concern laying through her face.
"We have patch you up." she said, and stumbled upon her feet. She reached her hand out and helped him up as much as she could.
"I've got a spare t-shirt in my backpack. I'll clean your wound and wrap it up on the plane..." she said.
"Okay but we have to take a look at your knee as well..." said Sam and they both started walking down by the river, supporting each other's sore body, towards the direction where they hoped Sully and his hydroplane was waiting for them. Limping, stumbling and aching, maybe even a bit shocked, but determined, with their next stop in the head and the golden artifact in their backpack.