Chapter 4 The Temple
Eric and Rachel made their way towards the door that was on the other side of the large hole, hoping it led to a way out.
"Think we can move it?" Eric asked.
"Maybe, but it looks jammed pretty tight." Rachel said.
Eric and Rachel braced their shoulders against the door and pushed, but it wouldn't budge. Eric suggested they try pulling it open and they did. The door was slowly beginning to open, sand falling through as they did. Another tremor rumbled through the earth however and it caused the sand and rubble beyond the door to fall towards Rachel. Rachel screamed as the sand and rubble pushed her towards the edge of the hole in the middle of the room.
"Rachel!" Eric shouted.
"Eric!" Rachel said fearfully, as about half her body was hanging halfway over the hole and the rest of her body was covered in sand and rocks.
"Rachel, oh my God, are you alright." Eric asked worriedly.
"I'm fine, but I can't move." Rachel said, her right leg and left arm pinned down by all the sand and rocks.
"I'm going to try and shift some of these rocks." Eric said as he bent down a began to get all the rocks and sand off Rachel.
Some of the rocks were heavier than they looked, giving Eric a hard time, but he eventually got them off. Despite Rachel having said she was fine when he asked, Eric was still worried she might be hurt as there were some pretty large rocks that had fallen on her. He arm seemed fine when he dug it out, but Eric was most worried about her leg as most of the rocks had fallen down on it.
"I'm almost done here Rachel. How is your leg?" Eric asked.
"I think I can move my leg?" Rachel said as she was finally able to sit up." "Hang on, let me just shift it around."
Rachel tried to move her right leg and much to her and Eric's relief, she was able to. Eric pushed the final few rocks of Rachel's leg and helped her up. When Rachel was back on her feet, Eric immediately hugged her.
"Whoa, Eric." Rachel exclaimed in surprise.
"Oh, Rachel. I was so worried that you might have gotten hurt. I'm so glad your alright." Eric said with relief.
Rachel just stood there in Eric's embrace, not really knowing what to say. Rachel just hugged Eric back and surprisingly found herself enjoying the moment. It had not been since before the accident that Rachel had felt this way around Eric, it felt just like old times.
"Thank you, Eric." Rachel said.
Eric pulled out of the hug and looked at Rachel, holding her hands.
"I know you like to say you can take care of yourself, but I'll always be there for you Rach." Eric said. "You know that, right?"
"I know, Eric. Thank you. I mean that." Rachel said genuinely.
They stood there for a moment before Rachel suddenly began to feel awkward.
"Come on, let's find a way out of this death trap and find Jason, Nick, and the others." Rachel said.
"Right." Eric agreed.
Eric and Rachel looked back at the doorway they opened, there was still a lot of sand and rubble beyond the door, making it impossible to go that way.
"I don't think we'll be going this way though." Eric said.
Eric than looked down the hole in the middle of the room. As he did, he heard a clicking sound coming from down there. He frowned as he tried to make out what was making that sound, it was unlike anything he'd ever heard before. Animal biology and evolution was one of the things Eric had studied in university, but no animal he knew of could make a clicking sound like that.
"What is it?" Rachel asked, noticing the look on Eric's face.
"You didn't hear that?" Eric exclaimed.
"I didn't hear anything." Rachel replied.
"I thought I heard something down there." Eric shrugged, deciding that he must have been hearing things.
After this mission, he planned to take a long vacation.
"Even in ruins this place is still something special." Rachel said, trying to calm Eric's thought.
"I wonder what happened here." Eric said.
Suddenly, Eric and Rachel heard the sound of gunfire somewhere far off in the tunnels and then another tremor happened.
"We should move." Eric suggested.
Eric and Rachel looked at the hole, both getting the same idea. Eric popped and threw down a flare to see if their climbing gear could get them down to wherever the hole lead.
"It's deep. That look safe to you?" Eric asked, unsure if their climbing gear was long enough to reach the bottom.
"It's our only option." Rachel rationalized.
"Get the rope. We're going down." Eric said, agreeing with Rachel.
Rachel nodded and prepared the climbing gear. Eric and Rachel repelled down into a large cavernous chamber, no, not a cave, it looked like an ancient temple.
"Unbelievable!" was all Rachel could say as she looked around in awe.
Eric looked and saw what looked like an archaeological camp site, a large tent set up, tables laid out, and archeological gear all scattered around
"We're not the first ones here." Eric pointed out.
As he looked around, Eric instantly knew that this temple was what the Caelus scans picked up, not Saddam's chemical weapons silo.
"Damn it! All this crap must be what Caelus detected." Eric said with frustration.
"I'm sorry, Eric. For real. You put everything into this research." Rachel said.
At any other time, Rachel would have snapped at Eric for getting something like this so wrong, but she couldn't after he had helped her earlier when those rocks and sand fell on her.
"More than you'll ever know." Eric said, too frustrated with himself to notice Rachel's since sympathy.
"You can't blame yourself." Rachel said.
"I've messed up. I should have triple checked the data, exhausted every possibility. But I was so sure this was it-" Eric vented.
"I understand what it meant to you, Eric." Rachel said.
"I'm so sorry." Eric apologized.
"We've both made mistakes." Rachel said truthfully.
Suddenly, Eric heard that clicking sound again.
"The Hell is that?" Eric questioned, squinting into the darkness of the temple to try and see what was making that unsettling clicking.
"Subsidence? From the aftershocks?" Rachel guessed.
"I don't know." Eric said.
Rachel looked at the archeological campsite Eric saw.
"Somebody was studying this ruin." Rachel stated.
Eric looked back at the camp and noticed that there were large lamps.
"Hey, we could use those lamps. The light could guide the marines to us." Eric said.
"And there's the generator." Rachel pointed out. "Do you think it still works?"
Eric pulled the fuel line and the generator reeved in response, but didn't start.
"Just needs gas. We need to find some." Eric said.
"Let's just hope the archeologist that were here still had some and that the gas is still good." Rachel said.
Eric and Rachel turned the lights on their guns on and began to looked around for gas. As they did, Rachel thought back to Nick and wondered where he was and if he was safe.
"Wherever you are, Nick, I hope your safe." Rachel said to herself.
"Sorry? Did you say something?" Eric suddenly asked.
Rachel blood ran cold that Eric almost heard her mention, Nick.
"No. Nothing." Rachel lied.
"Okay." Eric replied.
Rachel took a sigh of relief that Eric hadn't heard her. Rachel had told Nick earlier today that they had to put there relationship on ice as it was not the right time to bring it up with Eric and now with them being trapped underground and seemingly with Iraqi soldiers somewhere, now would be the worst time for Eric to find out just because she managed to slip up. Rachel turned on her radio to try and see if she could make contact with anyone.
"All call signs, this is King. Does anyone copy? Over." Rachel spoke into the radio.
No call sign responded.
"This is King to all call signs. Are you receiving? Over?" Rachel tried her luck again, but still no one responded.
Rachel sighed with frustration, seeing that she was going to get no communication with the other marines. Rachel looked towards the archeologist tent and wondered if there would be some gas in there, she made her way over to check. As she walked towards the tent, Rachel nearly bumped into something. She looked and saw that it was a mounted machine gun, a very old one, a World War 2 model. Rachel wondered why this was here.
If the archeologist had to worry about something like graverobbers coming to interrupt their research, this seemed a little overkill. As she looked at the machine gun, Rachel noticed something on the ground, it was ammunition from the machine gun. Curious, Rachel walked over to the giant doors at the side of the hall, where the machine gun was aimed and saw that it was riddled with holes fired into them from the machine gun. Rachel looked across to the other side of the temple and was able to make out another door with two lights positioned to shine down it. It was clear that the archeologists really didn't want anyone flanking them.
"What the fuck happened here? Who could they have been up against?" Rachel wondered to herself, knowing that something big must've gone on down here.
Rachel suddenly shook her head, thinking that she was starting to think about this too much. The archeologists most likely had to deal with Nazis and they were defending themselves, plain and simple. Before Rachel could get herself worked up over nothing, she sped over to the tent and began to look for gas. On a table inside the tent, Rachel found a single piece of paper that read 'The Journal of Randolph Hodgson.' She turned over the page and read it to herself. The paper talked about some Randolph and his wife Mary being summoned by someone called Lady Bradshaw, who had apparently found something that could lead them to the tomb of Alexander the Great and her wanting Randolph to lead the expedition.
"Eric, come and look at this!" Rachel called over to Eric at the other side of the tomb.
"What is it?" Eric asked when he got over to the tent.
Rachel handed Eric, Randolph's journal page and he read it.
"September the 24th, 1945. When Lady Bradshaw summons you, you go. Mary and I were bound for our honeymoon, but the chance to dine with one of Britain's finest antiquarians was too great for us to miss. When we met, Bradshaw wore a brooch that caught Mary's eye: a Sumerian relic recovered from a dig site in the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq. After dinner, she showed us another find from the same site, a gold cuneiform tablet. She called it the final puzzle-piece in her life's work – a map that pinpoints the tomb of Alexander the Great. If she's right, the tomb lies somewhere on the border in Iraq. Lady Bradshaw wants us to lead her expedition. I realize now that our honeymoon will take place in a dusty dig site in the Zagros Mountains." Eric read.
Eric looked at Rachel as he finished. They were both positive that this archeologist camp was this Randolph Hodgson's. The thing they couldn't figure out however was if Randolph and this Lady Bradshaw did research this temple, why wasn't such an amazing discovery like it and the people who discovered it well known to the world.
"Whatever discoveries they made here, they sure didn't make it out to the outside world." Eric stated.
"This place is starting to make me feel a little uneasy." Rachel said, an icy chill starting to travel down her spine.
Rachel noticed a photograph on another table and picked it up, it had what appeared to be an expedition crew and wondered if it was Randolph Hodgson. Her suspicion was confirmed when she turned the photograph over and on the back was written 'The Hodgson Expedition, October 1946.' Rachel couldn't help but wonder what happened to all these people. Rachel didn't like the idea of being trapped beneath the earth in an ancient temple that some archeologists seemingly never returned from
"You regret not calling for additional air support yet?" Rachel found herself asking, thinking they wouldn't be in this situation if they had it.
"There you go, reading my mind again." Eric replied.
Rachel shook her head, deciding that she'd rather not think about what ifs and what happened to Hodgson's crew and went back to looking for gas to start the generator. Rachel walked out of the tent and found two gas containers next to the entrance and much to her relief they both were full.
"Eric, give me a hand with these cans." Rachel said.
"About time we had a little luck." Eric said.
Eric picked up the other can and they walked over to the generator. As they did, Rachel watched Eric's right leg as he walked, something she seemed to always find herself doing since he lost it.
"How's the leg holding up?" Rachel asked.
"Leg? Oh, you mean the prosthesis? I lost my leg back on the highway." Eric said sarcastically, looking back at Rachel.
"Don't, I still feel guilty." Rachel replied.
"I didn't make it easy on you, Rach. I know that. You weren't to blame for that crash" Eric admitted, knowing he had given Rachel a hard time at first when he lost his leg.
"Come on. Let's get to work." Rachel said quickly, wanting to move on from talking about the accident.
Eric and Rachel continued towards the generator, not noticing some unknown creature crawling on the pillars above, watching them from the darkness. Eric unscrewed the tank's cap while Rachel shone her light on it. Eric began to pour in the fuel, but stopped when her herd the pitter patter of liquid hitting the stone floor. He looked and saw that the fuel tube was worn loose and the valve was leaking.
"Can it be fixed?" Rachel asked.
"We have to secure the tube before starting the generator. There's gotta be something here to fix it." Eric said hopefully.
Rachel rushed back over to the tent, hoping to find some tape or something, but couldn't find anything that would work. She than looked towards the tables a few feet away from the tent and rushed over there. Rachel found some duct tape, but also found a paper titled 'The Curse of Akkad.' It talked about a king called Naram-Sin, who prayed to the god Enlil for answers, but after years with no answers, he raised an army and sacked the god's temple and in retaliation, Enlil sent a people knows as the Gutians against him. The whole curse was seen as fiction, an instructional story for the Sumerians to endure famine and that there were no historical records of Naram-Sin sacking Enlil's temple.
However, the paper also said based on Hodgson research of the temple, the curse was based on actual events and that the building of the temple was Naram-Sin's way of trying to make up for his blasphemous actions.
"Hay Rachel, what are you reading there." Eric asked, having come up when he noticed Rachel just standing there.
"This temple… It was built to appease the Gods." Rachel said. "Talks about this king sacking a temple of some God and of a curse that God placed on him."
"Curses? Curses are nothing but myth and superstition." Eric said, hoping that Rachel wasn't starting to think that's what was happening based on the uneasiness in her voice.
Rachel shook her head.
"Of course, they are." Rachel agreed, setting the paper down. "Anyway, I found some tape. Let's patch up that generator and get these lights on ASAP. I can't see shit."
Rachel and Eric walked back over to the generator and tapped the tube shut to prevent any further leaks. As Rachel did so, Eric thought back to earlier that day back at base. Rachel said that they would talk when they had time and he thought now seemed as good a time as any.
"Is this a good time to talk?" he asked.
"That depends. What's on your mind?" Rachel asked.
"Back at the base, you said we'd talk when the time is right. Looks like we've got the whole place to ourselves." Eric said.
"This has gotta be the worst date ever. Why'd you pick this dump?" Rachel asked jokingly.
Eric smiled and played along with the joke.
"Yeah, I don't know what happened. The reviews were good." Eric said.
Rachel had Eric hold the fuel pipe so she could finish tapping it back on and then opened the side panel to read the gages. Unfortunately, the fuses seemed to be shot. Eric took the fuse from Rachel and began to examine it, knowing he could make it work.
"Feels like so long since we worked on something together." Rachel couldn't help but say about the situation.
"At the same time, it feels like yesterday." Eric said before looking back at Rachel. "Rachel. We've both allowed each other space and this… break… I mean, look what it's done for our careers! You, a field officer for the CIA and, I mean… Caelus could change the face of the entire war!"
"If it ever decides to work, sure." Rachel said.
Eric looked towards Rachel as she said that. Ever since they met back up at base, it seems that every nice moment they had between them always became tense in the end.
"Why did we leave things like this." Eric asked.
"I tried, but you made it so hard for me to stay." Rachel said.
"We should've stuck together." Eric said reflectively, now thinking that maybe it would've been best to work their relationship out instead of separating for a while.
"I don't think either of us expected to be out of each other's lives for so long." Rachel said, trying to empathize with Eric.
"The past year or so, my head has been buried in Caelus and… I was blind to anything else." Eric admitted.
Part of Rachel wanted to say that sounded more like an excuse than an apology, especially with Eric not even know if Caelus would even work and it finding this place instead of Saddam's weapons, but it wasn't just about them and their love life.
"Your work is bigger than the both of us. I don't think either of us could've foreseen the impact it would have." Rachel admitted.
"Rach…" Eric tried to say, but couldn't find the words he wanted to use.
"Say what's on your mind." Rachel said.
"After the accident, I was at the lowest I'd ever been. I couldn't cope, couldn't function. Without you there, Caelus pulled me out of that pit, but that wasn't what should've been the most important. I needed you most Rachel, I needed you by my side. I've missed you, like you wouldn't believe. Back then, I don't know, things seemed confused, but… Now? It just seems simpler." Eric poured out. "It's like you said earlier, we both made mistakes. We should have stuck together."
Rachel knew Eric was right, the choices they made back then, both of them now understood they made the wrong ones, but there was no use dwelling on those choices anymore, not if they didn't want to make the same mistakes again.
"It's the past, Eric. We have to put it behind us and look towards the future. Otherwise, we're just going around in circles." Rachel stated.
"I'm happy to look to that future." Eric said.
Eric finished work on the fuse and put it back in. They pulled on the fuse line and the generator reeved to life and the lights came on, bathing the entire temple in light.
"And we have light." Eric announced.
Rachel and Eric took a moment to take in the vastness of the temple, it was a very impressive sight to behold. At one end of the room were some giant doors and on the other end was a throne that sat upon on a staired dais, in front of a statue with more stairs leading up behind it.
"How can something this vast have remained hidden for so long?" Rachel wondered.
"I don't know, but if there was a way in for these people, there's a way out for us." Eric said.
"Right, let's take a look around." Rachel said.
As they did, Rachel saw behind the World War 2 machine gun, in the center of the temple was what looked like a switch to set off dynamite. Curious, Rachel ran around the temple and saw dynamite attached to four pillars.
"Eric, there's a shitload of dynamite here." Rachel said, running back over to Eric.
"I know, I saw them earlier. They're set to blow. It looks like they were planning to bring down the whole temple." Eric said.
"Why would they do that? Look at this place; A find like this would have made Hodgson and his crew famous. It doesn't add up." Rachel questioned.
"I don't know, but what I do know is that I don't understand anything going on here. From the dynamite to the machine gun, it all just seems excessive." Eric said.
"They walled themselves in here to defend against whatever or whoever it was they were fighting and from a point of defense, this place has some good chokepoints, but overall, it's a weak setup." Rachel said.
"Could've been done under pressure. We don't know the constraints they were under." Eric said. before suddenly realizing he had something he wanted to show Rachel. "Oh, and take a look at this. I found it in some chamber behind the throne. What do you make of it?"
Rachel took the paper and looked at it. It was drawings of what looked like a bat's wing, but with a four fingered humanoid hand with claws. Rachel turned the paper over and saw writing on it, some of it being smudged out, making it unintelligible. Rachel was able to make out 'Autopsy Findings' 'Blind – uses echolocation to hunt' 'Hypersensitivity' 'skin highly resistant to physical trauma' 'Clumsy flyer' 'Evolution' 'saliva' 'Hibernates?'
"It mentions echolocation. Is this something to do with bats?" Rachel questioned.
"Bats? What kind of bats are 'resistant to physical trauma'?" Eric questioned.
That uneasy feeling Rachel felt earlier from examining the machine gun, the bullet hole ridden doors, and finding Hodgson's journal note and photo of his crew returned. She chalked everything up to Hodgson and his men having probably had to deal with Nazis, but something was telling her that that wasn't the case. Something went on in this temple, something unnatural, she could feel it. She hadn't told Eric, but other than the ones they heard before and after they descended into the temple, Rachel had heard the occasional odd clicking noise. Something was down here with them and it wasn't just Iraqi soldiers.
"Maybe climbing out of the cavern back there would have been the smarter move?" Rachel said.
"Way, I see it, if these people were here before us, there must be another way out." Eric said reasoned. "Besides, we should try to regroup with the other marines. Like I said, these lights should help guide them to us."
"I suppose your right." Rachel said with an uneasy breath.
"How'd you think the rest of the squad are doing anyway?" Eric asked.
Rachel thought about her squad. It was her duty to stay ahead of anything and everything that could put them in danger and make sure they stayed as safe as they could be. Looking at where they were at now however, Rachel knew she had failed to do so, very badly. She was worried about them, especially about Nick. However, she reminded herself that they were Force Recon Marines, they were trained to look after themselves in situations like these and Rachel knew they could and would do so.
"They're tough. Each and every one of them. They'll muscle through." Rachel said, trying to assure herself more so than Eric.
Meanwhile, Jason and Nick were still running through the caverns, carrying the injured Merwin with the screeching creatures still in hot pursuit. Nick kept looking back every now and again, firing at the creatures chasing them. He accidently tripped, but quickly got back to his feet and fired at the creatures for a moment before rushing after Jason. Jason and Nick passed some fallen pillars that were crisscrossed into an X, one of the monsters perching itself between them. Jason set Merwin down and helped Nick shoot at it.
Their bullets didn't appear to hurt the creature, but they did manage to scare it off for at least the moment. Nick helped Jason get Merwin back onto his shoulders and the two continued to run. The two ran into another cave that had some rubble slightly blocking their path.
"We gotta go through it!" Nick said, thinking it would slow down the creatures.
"Merwin won't make it! The other way is safer." Jason said, pointing out that they could just go around the rubble.
"You're right, let's go." Nick admitted.
Jason and Nick began to make their way around the rubble, a tremor causing the ground to shake as they did. Nick took a look behind him to see one of the creatures enter the cave. Jason and Nick, quickly hid behind a wall and set Merwin down, waiting for the creature to leave. The two anxiously held their breath as they listened to the unsettling clicking the creature was making. After a moment, the creature seemed to scurry off past them. Jason let out a relieved breath, thinking it was gone, but than suddenly, Merwin shouted out. Jason and Nick looked to see Merwin was being dragged into a small hole. They tried to pull him away, but he was pulled in before they could grab him, the small space crushing his body.
"Merwin!" Nick shouted as he looked into the very small space of the hole Merwin was dragged into.
"He's gone! Fuckin' waxed him!" Jason said in disbelief.
Jason saw a large amount of blood pooling out from the hole and pulled Nick away, knowing they had to get the fuck out of there.
"We gotta keep moving, Nicky!" Jason said.
"That thing fucking took him like it was nothing." Nick said, distraught at seeing his squad mate fall victim to one of those things. "He's dead man. Merwin's fucking dead!"
"You don't think I know that? Just stay close and focus, otherwise we're dead too." Jason said.
Nick closed his eyes tightly and pounded the floor. Jason was right, they had to keep moving otherwise they'd end up like Merwin. Nick got up and he and Jason continued running through the caves. As they ran, Jason suddenly got tackled to the ground by one of the creatures. The creature screeched and snarled in his face as it tried to bite at him with it's two, large front teeth.
Jason had no intention of going down to one of these things. He reached for his combat knife and stabbed it into the creature's collar bone. The creature stood up, screeching in pain, which Nick took as an opportunity to shoot it, causing it to retreat.
"God, I hate this place." Jason said as Nick helped him back up and the two continued to run for their lives.
They had to find Rachel and Eric and the rest of the squad and get out of this… Hell; that was if anyone else was still alive.