Chapter 8 The Signal
After escaping the creature that had attacked her, Rachel followed Clarice to where she had been holding out. It was at the end of the river of blood and up a small climb over a large pile of bones and a rocky cliff and down a short tunnel. As they walked, Rachel looked towards Clarice and broke the break the silence.
"I didn't know that you could…" Rachel began to say.
"Fight?" Clarice said, reading Rachel's thoughts. "Yeah, me either."
"What was that thing?" Rachel asked.
"I don't know. Whatever it is, it's not alone." Clarice said. "One of those things got it's dirty hands on me, dragged me down here and left me for dead."
"Fuck." Rachel breathed.
"Fuck doesn't even start to cut it." Clarice said.
"Where were you before that thing got you?" Rachel asked.
"I was with Jason, Nick, and Merwin." Clarice said.
"Are they okay?" Rachel asked, hoping to hear some good news.
"Well, on the slight chance they managed fight off or run away from those things unscathed, Jason and Nick are alright. I'm not too sure about Merwin though; he got tangled up in some barbed wire when we fell and he was pretty fucked up and that was hours ago or at least it's felt like it, difficult to tell time down here." Clarice explained.
"Oh my God." Rachel exclaimed, shocked to hear
She hoped that the three of them were still alive and well.
"Can't believe you survived down here for so long. You're lucky." Rachel said, amazed Clarice had survived on her own for hours.
"You're talking to a scientist. There's no such thing as luck." Clarice said. "As for you, maybe I should use you for bait. That might actually be fun."
"What are you talking about?" Rachel questioned, confused at Clarice's sudden snap.
"If I didn't show up in time, it would've been 'adios Rachel.' That's what I'm talking about!" Clarice said.
"I didn't need saving! I can handle myself." Rachel snapped back, not appreciating being snapped at like that.
"Yeah, that's what I thought." Clarice replied.
"What's your problem?" Rachel questioned.
"Nothing, just wanna find a way outta this hole." Clarice said.
Rachel and Clarice came into the area where Clarice had been hiding out, Clarice's pack against the wall.
"So, this is where you've been hiding out? Do you have any weapons?" Rachel asked.
"Only flares." Clarice replied.
Rachel grabbed Clarice's pack and began to rummage through it.
"Uh, do you mind?" Clarice said.
"Just need some batteries for this damn light." Rachel said.
"You could just ask. That ever cross your mind?" Clarice replied.
Clarice than noticed a cut on Rachel's arm. She grabbed some bandages and wrapped it around the wound.
"Thanks Clarice." Rachel said.
Rachel found some batteries and put them into her headlight, turning it on. She turned around and was shocked by what she saw carved on the wall. It was the same symbol from the village, a line with an x near the top and the bottom.
"I saw those same symbols in the shepherd huts." Rachel said.
"Those people must have been in the valley a long time." Clarice said.
"When I fell down here, I found this Aids Worker card belong to a Marie Vinay, who was mentioned as missing in a bandit report we got back at Camp Slayer and one of the shepherds told me that I'd find out what this symbol means." Rachel explained. "Those shepherds, they seem to worship these things and all the bodies and blood forming into an underground pool, it's because of them it's gotta be. It all seems to fit together."
"Oh great, in place of weapons of mass destruction, we've come across a creepy cult that wants to feed us to these things." Clarice said sarcastically.
Clarice than suddenly began to cough violently, which concerned Rachel. Clarice noticed Rachel look at her, but waved it off, assuring that she was fine.
"Is there a way out of here other than where we came from?" Rachel asked.
"There's a way up, but there's no way we're making it." Clarice said.
She showed Rachel a rock wall that could possibly lead them back to the temple, but Clarice thought that it was barely climbable. However, Rachel didn't think so.
"We can make it together." Rachel said.
"How did I know you were going to say that?" Clarice said.
"I met Eric in climbing class. I can get us out of here." Rachel said.
Clarice laughed.
"Something funny you wanna share?" Rachel asked.
"This place is fucked. We're so fucked! We don't stand a chance." Clarice said, thinking it didn't matter weather Rachel got them to the top of the cliff or not.
"You keep that to yourself. I'm going to get through this, and if you want to, you better try and keep up." Rachel snapped.
Rachel and Clarice began to climb the rock wall. As they did, a small rock came lose and fell to the bottom, rolling and stopping at the feet of a figure watching them from below. Despite Clarice's initial thoughts, they were able to reach the top of the wall, Clarice feeling out of breath when they got there.
"You okay?" Rachel asked.
"Yeah. Just need a minute." Clarice said.
"A minute isn't gonna kill us." Rachel said.
"Until it does." Clarice replied.
Rachel looked at Clarice, just noticing that her skin seemed pale grey.
"God, y-you look terrible." Rachel said.
"Gee, thanks Rachel. You ever think about going into motivational speaking?" Clarice said sarcastically.
"Seriously though, are you okay?" Rachel asked.
"That's gotta be about the dumbest question I have ever been asked.
Rachel didn't know how to respond to that, it seeming that there was nothing she could say without getting a smart mouthed response thrown at her.
"Giving me the silent treatment, huh?" Clarice asked.
"What do you want me to say?" Rachel asked.
"I don't know; Something to get our minds off this place." Clarice said.
Rachel wanted to focus on survival, but honestly, she welcomed some type of friendly conversation to relieve herself on the uneasiness she'd been feeling ever since they all fell underground.
"Okay. So why did you become a physicist? I mean, you don't…" Rachel began to say.
"I don't look the type?" Clarice said.
"Well, you don't." Rachel admitted honestly.
"Oh, should I be wearing nerd clothes?" Clarice asked.
"That's not what I meant. You just don't strike me as one." Rachel explained.
"Science was the furthest thing from what everybody thought I'd do. Something just for me." Clarice explained.
"I know a little something about that." Rachel empathized.
"You do?" Clarice asked.
"It's not easy being Queen Bitch. You think I got where I am with a soft heart and a warm smile?" Rachel said proudly.
"And here's me thinking you Langley types grew up on Easy Street." Clarice replied.
"Easy Street?!" Rachel scoffed. "I had to graft to get here. You think it bothers me what people call me? I wear that shit like a badge of fucking honor. They've no idea of the shit-hill I've climbed just to get where I am right now?"
"Yeah, and where is that, exactly?" Clarice asked.
"Looks like another shit-hill if I'm truly honest with myself." Rachel said. "You and I… we're not so different. We're both doing what needed to be done to get to where we wanted to be. No shame in that
"No shame." Clarice agreed. "And I was about to say there's a wall, no, not a wall, more like a mountain around you and you don't let anyone in."
Rachel would have laughed if the situation was better.
"I'm seeing someone else." Rachel found herself admitting.
Much to Rachel's surprise, Clarice herself didn't look surprised.
"Nick, right?" Clarice asked.
"That obvious, huh?" Rachel asked, thinking she had kept it better hidden.
"Does Eric know?" Clarice asked.
"Yeah. Yeah, he knows?" Rachel admitted. "I guess I just wanted to let go. You know, be someone new."
"Hey. You do know this story!" Clarice said.
Rachel was about to ask what Clarice meant by 'story,' but before she could, Clarice began to cough again, more violently than before. The coughing was so bad that Clarice fell to her knees and began to cling onto her head. Rachel tried to step forward and help, but gasped and stepped back when she saw a strange, unnatural movement in Clarice's neck. Rachel didn't know what it was, but her gut told her that it had something to do with the creatures that had attacked and brought her down here.
"Clarice, what did that thing do to you?" Rachel asked.
"Please… please don't leave me down here alone?" Clarice begged, sounding completely terrified.
"It's okay… I'm here." Rachel tried to assure Clarice.
"What's happening to me?" Clarice said, not understanding what was going on with her. "Please, promise that you'll stay with me…"
"I won't leave you. I promise!" Rachel promised. "But you have to tell me: What did that thing do to you?"
"I, I don't know, I don't know." Clarice said before screaming.
Rachel bent down and placed a hand on Clarice's shoulder. She looked further up the cliff that they still needed to climb. If Eric was still at the temple with their packs, she knew they could possibly help Clarice.
"There's medication up there. It may help you, but we need to move, now!" Rachel encouraged.
Rachel pulled Clarice back onto her feet and the two women continued to climb to the top of the rock wall. When they got to the top, they came to a chasm where dozens of bats flew through the moonlight shining through the hole in the ground from above. Rachel looked in the distance of the caves and saw a light from the temple not too far off, they just had to get across the chasm and it would be a home stretch from there on.
"We're on the wrong side of the chasm. We'll never make it." Clarice said hopelessly.
Clarice violently coughed and fell to her knees again.
"Don't quit on me now!" Rachel said.
Rachel grabbed a grappling hook from Clarice's pack and threw it across to the other side of the chasm, catching it on some rock, meaning they now just had to swing over.
"That rope won't hold." Clarice said.
Rachel pulled on the grappling hook in response and it felt like it had a strong grip to her. Rachel was about to swing over first until Clarice told her to wait.
"Do you really believe those medicines will help me?" Clarice asked.
Rachel looked at Clarice and putting it straight, she looked terrible and not knowing anything about these creatures, whatever they did to her, they couldn't possibly know how bad it was or if she could even cure it.
"We don't know enough about those things." Rachel said, not wanting to flat out say that what they had probably wouldn't work and Clarice seemed to know that.
"Come on, Rachel. Don't bullshit me." Clarice said.
"It doesn't look good." Rachel said truthfully with a sigh.
"Truth is so overrated." Clarice said.
Clarice looked at Rachel with dead serious eyes.
"If it happens… If I turn… you have to kill me." Clarice said seriously.
It shocked Rachel to hear Clarice say that, especially when she brought up the prospect of 'turning.' She didn't know what Clarice meant by it, but no matter what, she wasn't going to allow anything to happen to her. They had already lost enough good people today and she wasn't going let them lose another one.
"Listen to me! Nobody else dies today!" Rachel stated.
"That's what you believe?" Clarice asked.
"Yes! That's what I fucking believe." Rachel said.
"Rachel, please. If I turn into one of those things or become a danger to anyone in some way, you have to do it, you have to kill me. Please." Clarice begged.
There it was again, Clarice mentioning turning into one of those creatures, treating it like it was a vampire or a zombie. Something like that wasn't possible, but she didn't want to argue over it and just said what Clarice wanted to hear.
"If you turn, it won't be you, I'm killing." Rachel said to appease Clarice.
Rachel turned, took the rope in both hand and swung across to the other side of the chasm. As she turned to throw the rope to Clarice, Clarice started to cough again.
"Keep it together Clarice. We're almost there." Rachel encouraged and threw Clarice the rope.
Clarice caught the rope, but didn't swing across. She just stood there, seeming to be in deep thought.
"Maybe it's best I don't." Clarice said.
"What do you mean? Just do it" Rachel said, worried about what Clarice might do.
Clarice shook her head, looking at her situation realistically.
"I'm not going to make it." Clarice said.
"Where's the girl that saved me from those things? I know you can do it Clarice! You just have to have hope!" Rachel yelled across the chasm in encouragement.
"You're screwed enough as it is. If you stay with me, there's no hope for you at all!" Clarice said.
Clarice let go of the rope, which weakly swung about for a few moments before soon coming to a stop in the middle of the chasm, where neither she nor Rachel could reach it. Rachel stood there, dumbfounded by what Clarice just did. Clarice backed up and sat against the wall. Unable to do or say anything, Rachel turned and began to make her way towards the temple. She promised to herself that she and the others would come back for Clarice later and do whatever they had to, to help her.
Meanwhile, back at the temple, Nick was making his way towards the chasm. Ever since Salim escaped and Joey attacked them hours ago, he, Jason, and Eric had each taken turns patrolling the chasm to keep an eye out for any creatures that decided to come this way and it was Nick's turn. Thank God, none of the creatures had come up from the chasm or anywhere else, but that damned screeching hadn't stopped since Joey fell.
"I'm not seeing anything come up, but I can hear 'em. Sounds like they're having way more fun down there than we are up here. Over." Nick spoke to Jason over his radio.
"Long as they keep the party to themselves, I'm happy. We got nothing on the cameras inside. Over." Jason responded.
"Eyes alive." Nick said.
"Stay frosty. Kolchek out." Jason said.
Nick turned off his radio, leaving himself alone with the screeching and his own thoughts. He sighed as he thought about Rachel, wishing he had been there for her when she needed him most. Ever since they all had fallen down here, they had been able to hold their own against these monsters, but without Rachel, things had been so much harder. Nick was partly glad that she didn't have to face what they were facing, but he'd much prefer it if she was here with them, knowing that she'd know what to do and do what needed to be done to get them all out of here alive. Everyone always gave Rachel a hard time, especially when they called her the 'Queen Bitch' but Nick knew that deep down she was so much more than that.
Rachel was hard on everyone, but she truly did care about her squad and their wellbeing. Nick had experienced that for himself three weeks ago after the incident at the checkpoint he and Jason were involved in.
CAMP SLAYER, 3 WEEKS PREVIOUSLY
Nick was walking into Rachel's office to drop of some files she had requested. As he walked in, she was on the phone and from how it sounded, she was in a major argument with whoever was on the other line.
"Again?! Jesus, Eric, how many times? This is me! This is my way of dealing with it and I'm done trying to explain it to you! Yes! Yes, this is my life now and I'll live it on my terms! Wait wha- what did you just say?!" Rachel said during the conversation before growling in anger and slamming the phone down, hanging up.
"Uh… bad time?" Nick asked awkwardly.
"Yeah, it's a real fucking bad time." Rachel replied.
"I'm just dropping off the files you requested." Nick said.
"Not now." Rachel said.
Nick however, still walked forward, wanting to make sure Rachel was alright.
"I said not now!" Rachel snapped.
"I-I didn't mean to upset you." Nick apologized.
Rachel closed her eyes and took a breath.
"It's not you." Rachel assured.
"Seems like, out here, we're… we're all running away from something. I know I am." Nick said, trying to empathize with Rachel.
Rachel looked at Nick and realized who he was.
"You were caught up in that mess at the checkpoint… you shot that woman." Rachel said.
Nick, not proud of what he had done, nodded.
"It's okay. You can talk to me." Rachel said, wanting to let Nick know that he didn't have to keep his feelings about it to himself or fear anyone being dismissive about it.
"It's just… everyone seems to have an opinion on it. I'm dealing with it… in my own way." Nick said.
"Are you?" Rachel asked.
"You got your own problems." Nick said, not wanting to burden Rachel with his own problems.
Nick than smirked a little mischievously.
"And whoever that was, that sounded like a… a gold medal asshole." Nick said.
Rachel smiled and laughed a little at that, but suddenly stopped when she realized. Nick walked in closer to Rachel, very close.
"Whatever it is… you'll deal with it." Nick assured. "Or say the word… and I'll handle it for you."
Nick turned to leave, but Rachel grabbed his arm and turned him back to her. Rachel than grabbed Nick's other arm and he grabbed hers in response and before he knew, the two kissed each other.
BACK IN PRESENT DAY
Nick smiled at that memory and used it to give him the strength to keep going, knowing Rachel would want it that way. Nick began to inspect the perimeter, keeping an eye out for any of those creatures if they came up and to see if there was anything interesting around to look at. Nick passed a stone tablet that depicted a man with two swords fighting a man with a scorpion's tail and holding a snake and a scorpion. His throat suddenly feeling dry, Nick took a swig from his canteen and cracked his neck before continuing with his investigating. He found a book labeled 'Finds Catalogue 1 Van Huyten' which talked about the Akkadian King Naram-Sin and a curse being placed on him for raging war against his Gods.
The catalogue also listed descriptions of artifacts the archeologists found, each labeled with an 'A' or an 'R' and a number. That explained the labels Nick had noticed on the few artifacts they had found while down here. Nick even found a tablet with ancient soldiers with bows and spears in what appeared to be a war chariot and, on the back, it was labeled 'R73.'
"All their findings never saw the light of day. They just stayed buried in the dust." Nick proclaimed.
Moving along to the far right of the perimeter, Nick found two interesting papers on two separate desks. One of the papers seemed to be medical notes with symptoms the patient was experiencing. The symptoms were brief lucidity, jaundiced, temperatures that got as high as 101F and a pulse of 165, and the name at the top of the medical note was Mary, as in, Mary Hodgson, Randolph Hodgson's wife. Nick wondered what had happened to Mary that caused her to get so sick; when he read the other symptoms, he had his suspicions that what they had been facing had something to do with it. The medical notes said that Mary was saying she'd had visions of darkness and that she could taste the color red and screamed about monsters in the dark.
Nick looked at the other paper he'd found, which on one side, listed more finds for Van Huyten's catalogue, but that was trivial compared to what the other side talked about. It appeared to talk about the creatures and speculations on how sightings of them could have been inspirations from the Akkadians' Pazuzu, to other winged demons, as well as the horned satyr, the minotaur, and the creature name that really caught Nick's attention, especially since it was underlined, the vampire. Reading that last line, caused Nick to think back on what Salim had told him when they first met, how seemingly the only way to kill the creatures was either a stake through the heart or have them burn in sunlight while bullets or trucks falling on them did next to nothing. He also remembered the bodies he and Jason had found earlier of the staked woman and the man with two holes in his neck that looked like he'd been 'drained dry' as he put it. There was also Joey, who had appeared to have been turned into something similar to those creatures and how Eric's UV light seemed to be the only thing that harmed him; Nick wouldn't be surprised if that staked woman had suffered the same fate as Joey and was turned into one of those things.
All of that put together, it just made sense. These creatures weren't some monstrous bat demons from Hell, they were vampires, real live vampires. Nick had had his speculations earlier when he and Jason found those two bodies and this paper just validated them.
"Vampires… fuckin' knew it." Nick said.
Jason came from the temple and looked over to Nick.
"How things looking out her Nick?" Jason asked.
"All clear for now." Nick reported.
"If they hit us, my best hunch is it'll be from the chasm." Jason said.
"If? You feeling optimistic, Lieutenant?" Nick asked with a smirk.
"I tell you, the Colonel could lose his own ass if it wasn't pinned on him." Jason said, thinking about how Salim had somehow managed to slip away under Eric's watch. "You see our absent friend down there?
"Salim? Nah, he's gone." Nick said.
They hadn't been able to find Salim since he escaped and Nick was honestly glad he had.
"We're facing an enemy we know zero about. An enemy of unknown size, on their home turf. Sucks to be us." Jason said. "I don't know how long those doors can hold them back."
Nick glanced over to the left side of the perimeter, where there sat a tent with a radio, which they hadn't tried yet.
"The radio is our best shot. We fix it up, call in the cavalry. Even shit up a bit." Nick stated.
Jason looked towards the radio, if it still worked, they could call for help, but if they could get a signal out, it wouldn't be a far one. This caused him again to question Eric's decision before the mission to not request air support, which would have easily been able to pick up the signal."
"If there is a transmitter up there, it's going to have a limited range." Jason said. "Damn it. If Eric had allowed close air-support, those birds could've picked up the signal."
"Trust top-brass to fuck you in the ass." Nick said, agreeing that Eric had made the wrong call.
Jason and Nick headed over to the radio to see if it was still in working condition. On another desk next to the radio, Nick saw what appeared to be a map showing the Zagros Mountains. In the middle of the map was a place labeled as 'Tomb of Alexander' and from it were three red lines that pointed to 'Soran' 'Dig Site' and 'Fake Dig Site.'
"Clever fuckers. They set up a fake dig site to draw off grave robbers. They knew whatever was down here was pretty special." Nick said.
"Yeah, these creatures are something special alright." Jason said.
"They're vampires." Nick said at the creatures being brought up.
"What?" Jason asked, completely taken off guard by that comment.
"Vampires. Salim said these things burn in sunlight and are killed by a stake through the heart and there was that corpse you and I found with bite marks on his neck and that staked woman. Then there was Joey with those fangs he had." Nick explained. "If those don't scream vampire, I don't know what will."
"Come on Nick, please tell me you're shitting me." Jason said, thinking Nick was starting to finally lose it.
"It all seems to add together, so what else could it be?" Nick said. "But that's not all. I found this note that talked about this guy who speculated these creatures inspired a lot of mythological monsters like satyrs, minotaurs, vampires, and who knows what else."
"How long have these degenerate fuckers been down here for?" Jason said, wondering exactly how old these creatures were.
They turned their attention back to the radio and noticed a page there.
"Hay, it looks like another one of Hodgson's journal pages." Jason pointed out.
"Read it, see what it says." Nick encouraged.
Jason picked the page up and read it aloud.
"29th December. Pulman says the radio has been sabotaged, an expert job, with vital wires severed. Someone wants to cut us off from the outside world. Aline fought in the Resistance, but while she is undoubtably capable, I refuse to accept she's responsible. Personally, I still harbour doubts about van Huyten, although without proof, everyone remains a suspect. All I can do now is place sentries on the expedition's equipment.
30th December. Mary's condition worsens. This evening, I awoke from an exhausted daze to find Lady Bradshaw asking my wife more of her damned questions. Mary was babbling something about winged demons. At this, Bradshaw's eyes lit up and she asked whether Mary could sense them now. Gripped by delirium, my wife lashed out, clawing at Bradshaw's chest. Lady Bradshaw withdrew, and I was, after a while, able to calm my wife"
"The radio is broken? Well, isn't that just fucking great!" Jason said, angrily throwing the page aside and slamming the desk with his fist.
"Maybe we can try to fix it? We can reconnect the wires to get a signal out." Nick tried to optimistically suggest.
"Might as well. What else have we got to lose." Jason said.
Nick looked at the radio and indeed, vital wires have been severed, but thankfully looked like they could be reconnected. Nick just hoped nothing else was broken and he'd be able get the radio up and running again. Nick wished that Merwin was here, as the squad's technician he'd be able to fix this thing easily and could possibly do it with his eyes closed, one arm tied behind his back, and with just one finger. Suddenly, Nick began snickering and Jason asked what was so funny.
"Oh nothing, it's just that, if Merwin was here and working on this instead, he'd probably say something stupid like 'Let me break this down to you, Barney style.'" Nick said, doing a very poor impression of Merwin's voice and struggling not to laugh.
Jason couldn't help but give a small laugh at that.
"That does sound like something he'd say. Never did, never could, never would take anything seriously and I'm positive now wouldn't have been any different." Jason stated.
Eric than came from out of the temple and over to Jason and Nick.
"What's so funny out here?" Eric asked.
"Nothing Colonel. Just having a good laugh in fond memory of our dear departed idiot technician." Jason laughed.
Eric just gave a confused look before looking at the radio.
"That thing looks like it was sabotaged. Why would they do that?" Eric questioned.
"We found another one of Hodgson's journal pages. He suspects that someone among his expedition was trying to sabotage them; doesn't say who though." Jason informed.
Eric grabbed the journal and read it for himself.
"Well, whoever the bastard that did it is, hopefully their actions back than haven't completely screwed us over." Eric said.
"We gotta work with what we have." Nick said. "Still though, who do you think did it anyway."
"Well, Hodgson said himself, this Aline seems the most capable. However, in these couple few pages we've found, Bradshaw has been acting suspicious and Hodgson said in one that van Huyten doesn't have the best of reputations. It could be any of them or someone else in the expedition entirely or even someone that's not even part of it is trying to sabotage them." Eric theorized.
"Wonder if they found out who it was?" Nick said.
"Weather, they did or not is none of our concern. What does concern us is getting ourself home still alive." Jason rationalized.
Eric nodded in agreement that they had to focus on the here and now and not on who has sabotaging Hodgson's expedition back then. Eric looked towards the chasm, wondering how many of these creatures were down there exactly. It sounded like hundreds, maybe even thousands, however many there were, he knew they were pretty much dead already if they all started coming up after them.
"Fall back if anything moves out here. It's safer inside." Eric instructed.
"You sure about that? Ain't that where you lost your Iraqi?" Jason said.
"He ran off into the tunnels." Eric said, wondering where else Salim could have gone.
"Then he's as good as dead." Jason said dismissively.
"We should have befriended him while we had the chance." Nick said, still thinking that Eric and Jason should have taken the time to talk things over with Salim.
Nick finished connecting the wires together and much to their delight, the radio came to life.
"Good job, Sergeant." Eric commented.
Nick stood back and took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket for a little victory celebration.
"Those things will kill ya, Sergeant." Jason said.
"Yeah, like smoking is the biggest threat to my life right now." Nick replied.
Nick reached into his other pocket for his lighter, but it wasn't there. He checked everywhere else on his person that he could have put it, but wasn't anywhere.
"Where the fuck did, I leave my lighter?" Nick questioned himself.
As he searched himself for it, Nick noticed Eric staring at him strangely.
"What's good?" Nick asked.
"It's nothing." Eric said, looking away.
Suddenly, what sounded like voices, began to speak over the radio and Jason seemed to get excited about it
"It's just a ghost signal. Even without a transmitter a radio picks up a faint signal. It's just ghosts, man." Nick said.
"So, fix that transmitter. If we can establish a signal and contact CENTCOM, then we're one step closer to home." Jason said.
"I don't know man. I was able to get the wires reconnected, but I'm no Merwin. He'd be able to fix it." Nick said.
"No shit. Embrace the suck." Jason said.
Nick tried to fix the radio, hoping that he'd be able to through dumb luck. However, all Nick managed to do was cause the radio to emit a loud, high-pitched staticky screech. In response, the screeching from below the chasm grew louder as if the creatures were realizing that they were up here.
"Shut it up!" Jason said.
Nick tried to stop the noise,but couldn't get it to.
Jason and Eric spread out, getting ready for the fight they saw coming.
"Get that transmitter working NOW!" Jason commanded.
"I need more time!" Nick said.
Jason looked to Eric.
"Colonel, get back inside the temple!" Jason commanded.
"I'm, staying here." Eric said, knowing Jason couldn't defend Nick and the radio himself if the creatures came up
"I need you on the cameras in case we get flanked. I've got this." Jason assured.
"Lieutenant, I-" Eric began to further protest.
"I said, I got this! Go!" Jason said.
Not arguing further, Eric made his way back into the temple to man the cameras. However, just as he passed the pillars, Eric was hit in the head and knocked to the ground by something hard. He looked up and saw that it was Salim and the Iraqi that had shot at him and Rachel hours ago.
After Salim grabbed a knife and cut himself loose from his bonds as Eric was distracted, he silently slipped away and watched from the shadows. He did so for hours, hiding under the Americans' noses, where they least expected him. He overheard them talking about one of their own, someone named Joey, attacking them, and having not seemed human. He also heard the screeching from beyond the temple and knew that it meant the demons were close and getting ready to attack. When Jason and eventually Eric left the temple, Salim silently followed them and saw they were trying to contact help from an old radio, which could be the ticket out of here for all of them.
As he watched the Americans work, Salim heard something sneaking up on him from behind. Salim turned around and raised his gun, thinking it could be one of the demons, but it turned out to just be Dar.
"Dar." Salim exclaimed, surprised to see his captain alive.
"Salim? Is that you?" Dar replied.
"Shhh! They're close." Salim said, speaking of the Americans and the demons.
Dar walked forward and peeked past the door to see the Americans working on the radio.
"Those bastards are calling in reinforcements. That cannot happen." Dar said, raising his rifle, planning to ambush the Americans.
Salim however got in front of him to stop him from doing so.
"No. We need 'those bastards' to help us get out!" Salim said rationally.
"Are you insane! They are the enemy!" Dar stated.
"You haven't seen the demons, have you?" Salim questioned.
Dar looked at Salim like he was crazy at mention of demons, which was as good as confirmation that he hadn't.
"There are demons down here! They're our real enemy." Salim explained.
Salim knew how much Dar wanted to fight the Americans and make them pay for invading their country, but thought, hoped that he wouldn't be so stubborn as to not look past his grievances and work together to fight against these creatures.
"Salim, you're crazy." Dar said, dashing Salim's hopes that he'd see reason.
"You have to listen to me." Salim pleaded desperately. "They killed the Americans. They almost killed me."
Dar didn't listen and tried to walk past Salim.
"Listen to me!" Salim snapped, stopping Dar. "I saw a demon with my own eyes. I killed one."
"Keep your mouth shut and follow me." Dar commanded.
"Are you even listening to a word I'm saying?" Salim asked.
"No – you listen to me! You follow me or you stay here and rot. The choice is yours!" Dar said, walking past Salim.
"Damn you!" Salim growled, not believing how unreasonable Dar was being.
Salim had every right to let Dar walk to his own death as surely, he wouldn't survive long against three Americans, even if he did have the element of surprise on them. Also, with how uncooperative and unwilling to listen to reason he seemed to be, Dar was more trouble than he was worth and more than likely to get someone unnecessarily killed. However, despite their disagreements, Salim couldn't just let his captain get himself killed. Besides, he hadn't even seen the demons yet and if he did, there could still be a chance Dar would be willing to listen to reason in the end.
"Wait! I'm coming." Salim said, making his decision to join Dar and hoping his involvement could somehow keep the Americans from getting killed.
Salim and Dar hid behind the pillars leading into the temple, continuing to survey the Americans. As they continued tampering with the radio, it soon let out a loud screeching noise, which seemed to alert the creatures below and Salim could tell that the creatures were about to make their move. Salim saw one of the Americans, the one named Eric, making his way back towards the temple. Dar hit him the face with the butt of his rifle as he passed them and kicked his gun away. Dar than raised his rifle, Salim thinking he was about to shoot Nick, who was working on the radio.
Salim was about to move in to stop Dar, but Dar shot before he could. Salim was relieved when it turned out that Nick wasn't the one Dar was aiming for, but was frustrated when it turned out Dar had been aiming for the radio and hit his mark.
"Dar, what the fuck, that radio was the way out of here for all of us." Salim thought, frustrated with how recklessly thoughtless his captain acted.
Salim noticed Eric was still conscious, having not been knocked out by Dar. He was getting up and looked back out towards Jason and Nick, who had gotten to cover and were firing back at Dar. Salim knew what Eric was thinking, he was planning to running back out to them and take cover safely away from Dar, but doing so was dangerous and could get him killed if Dar noticed. For his own good, Salim stepped forward, pointing his gun at Eric, who put his hands on the back of his head.
"Don't do it. Don't move." Salim said.
Dar and Nick and Jason continued to fire at each other, but neither side was getting a hit in.
"Fuck this guy." Nick said.
"You will surrender to me!" Dar shouted out to them.
Through all the gun fire, Salim could hear the demons continuing to screech from the chasm and they were getting closer and closer and would soon be upon them all.
"Don't you hear them? We have to get out of here. They're coming!" Salim warned Dar.
"Shut up!" Dar snapped, continuing to fire at Jason and Nick.
While Salim was distracted with Dar, Eric tried to make a run for it, but Salim stopped him.
"Don't! Don't even think about it." Salim warned.
Back down with Jason and Nick, Jason saw that they weren't getting anywhere with where they were positioned, they were just wasting ammunition.
"We need to flank him! Only way we're gonna get rid of this clown!" Jason said.
Jason carefully peeked over the boulder he and Nick were behind and saw the base at the feet of one of the large statues by the temple doors. It would give him a better position to shoot at Dar and he could make it over to it with some cover. Jason fired some shots at Dar, followed by Nick, which caused Dar to take cover behind the pillar he was positioned at. Jason jumped over the boulder and dashed for the statue'ss base. Jason made it and began firing at Dar.
"Flank him!" Jason shouted over to Nick.
As Jason covered him, Nick began to make his way to the base of the other statue. He rushed for a pile of stones and crates, taking cover there for a second and firing at Dar before continuing to run into a position where he could flank the Iraqi captain. Nick narrowly avoided tripping over some rope and ducked behind some stone and a piece of a pillar, firing at Dar again. Nick than made one final dash, arriving at the base of the statue at the other side of the temple entrance. He was in perfect flanking position, but Dar still wasn't exposed enough for him to get a clear shot.
"I don't have a clear shot!" Nick shouted over to Jason.
Jason looked back as the screeching from the chasm grew louder, knowing it was now or never for him and Nick to take Dar down. He looked at the pillar and the stone above where Dar was taking cover and got an idea. Jason aimed his rifle at the top of the pillar, hoping the stone was weak enough to come lose if he fired at it. Back with Eric and Salim, Eric tried again to make a run for it, but Salim grabbed him and forced him back onto his knees.
"What is wrong with you? Stay still!" Salim snapped.
Jason shot the top of the stone pillar above Dar. Some stone and dust came lose and fell towards the Dar, which caused the Iraqi captain to cover his head with his arm and back up into Nick's line of sight.
"Well, hello there, 'wabbit." Nick said.
Nick shot his rifle at Dar, but the bullets flew past the Iraqi captain's head and shot the light he was standing next to, sending shards of hot glass into his face.
"Fall back, Lieutenant!" Dar commanded.
Dar and Salim fell back into the temple. Eric got back up, retrieving his gun and reunited with Jason and Nick. The screeching from the chasm than grew unbearably loud, meaning the creatures were about to come crashing down upon them any second now.
"Push forward into the temple! Move!" Jason commanded, knowing they had to get out of there now.
Fighting from the temple was the only chance they had of possibly surviving the vampire's assault.
Yep, these creatures are vampires, but no one was expecting that.