Delgado sent some of the remaining men to go get golf carts. Several volunteered to go. He wondered how many would come back. El Oso paced impatiently, flexing and stretching his muscles.
"I'll take care of this." El Oso growled.
"I am going with you." Delgado noticed the lack of deference.
"Suit yourself." El Oso leered at him. Turning on his heel he marched out the white door back up the tunnel toward the surface. Just after he left, two golf carts arrived but El Oso wasn't with them.
El Oso marched up the tunnel smiling from the inside out. He was pleased as punch with himself. The two carts whizzing past him didn't slow his progress. He continued striding with purpose until he stopped in front of the lab door marked 13. Reaching for the handle, his grin widened and saliva pooled in his mouth. As he turned the knob, he drooled.
Opening the door, he spied a corpse laying across the entryway. Dragging the body out, he used it to prop the door wide open. He noted with satisfaction that the body had been heavily chewed. Wedging the body tightly against the door, he turned and jogged down the tunnel. El Oso chuckled at his insurance policy.
Slamming the white door open, El Oso jumped into the nearest golf cart and sped into the tunnel without a word. Delgado hopped into the second cart and motioned for the technician to drive. Both carts whizzed down the tunnel in pursuit. The last thing Delgado heard from behind them sounded like a scream.
Caleb's cart gave out first. Teddy shuddered awake, feeling like he was drunk. Joshua pulled up behind them and he and Bones jumped out to help push the dead cart aside. Teddy took the front passenger seat, placing the container of gold dust between his feet. Bones and Caleb jumped in the rear-facing seat and Bones pounded on the roof. Joshua took off. The cart was noticeably slower from the extra weight.
Teddy tried to stay awake watching the walls pass in the glare of the cart's headlights. He guessed the cart's top speed at fifteen to twenty miles an hour, after an hour or so they should be nearing the end of the twenty-mile long tunnel. His reverie was interrupted by a high pitched reering sound as Joshua's cart gave up the ghost.
***
An apelike shadow fell across the corpse wedged in the door. His bulk darkened the doorway of the lab marked 13. He couldn't see anymore, but he could hear and smell. The screams drew him to the door. He sniffed the rotting corpse. He knew that smell because he had been feeding on this body to keep himself alive. He sniffed at the body again and registered a different scent—he suddenly felt again the pain in his eyes. Instinctually, he sniffed for the odor that had caused him so much pain and loss in a world filled with pain and loss. He caught the trail. The scent was strong leading down the tunnel.
Hesitantly at first, the silverback emerged from the only home he had ever known. The familiar scent pulled at the deepest level of his primate brain. He breathed it in filling his nostrils and began to lope down the corridor. The odor became stronger and stronger filling his mind and heart with visceral rage. His calloused knuckles scraped the stone floor as he lurched along eating up the ground. He no longer had a mind, only a single thought: kill.
***
"Let's get going. I don't want to find out whether or not they got that door open." Teddy grabbed a flashlight from the cart and took off at slow jog. He wanted to see that megalithic door with every fiber of his being. They were so close.
"Wait. Keep going. I will catch up." Bones turned and ran back to the carts. The others waited, but started jogging again as they saw him grab ol' Nelly and the other flashlight, turning to follow them. Two beams of light bumped and bounced down the tunnel.
After about fifteen or twenty minutes, Caleb and Joshua exchanged looks as they both noticed their father's stumbling gait. His flashlight beam was erratic, jumping from floor to ceiling.
"Can we walk a little bit? My legs are burning." Caleb slowed to a fast walk.
"I need to take it easy too." Joshua joined in.
Teddy slowed to a walk, thankful for the much needed rest. He knew what his sons were doing and his heart burst with pride. He wanted to see that door. He wanted to see his son's faces in the sunlight. "I want to ask you two a favor."
"Anything, Dad." They both chimed in.
"No matter what happens. You have to make sure you both get to the surface. Do you understand me?" Teddy's chest was heaving and his pace was slowing.
"Of course, Dad. We'll all get to the top soon." Joshua wasn't following.
"I understand, Dad." Caleb wouldn't look him in the eye.
"You guys are too important to me. I need you to promise me that you will take care of each other first. It won't matter to me if I make it and one of you does not." Teddy stopped. "If you don't promise me. I'll stop right here. I need your promise to go on without me, if need be."
"We promise, Dad. I promise." Joshua grabbed his father in a bear hug. "But we will all make it out—let's get moving."
"I promise." Caleb raised his eyes to meet his father's and they all started moving again.
"I do not want to rain on anyone's parade, but I thought I heard something echoing way back there." Bones jogged up with ol' Nelly on his shoulder. "We need to keep moving."
The little group made its way forward, bedraggled and slow. Teddy was the worse for wear, but none of them were feeling all that great. Shambling forward, Bones thought more than once about dropping ol' Nelly but the echoes he had heard kept him from letting go of her. He wasn't sure whether the sounds had been real or imagined, but he couldn't take the chance.
Teddy stopped abruptly and Bones ran into him. The boys were looking at their shoes and they jostled into each other. Teddy pointed with his flashlight. Far down the tunnel, at least a football field away, the light reflected imperceptibly back at them: stone.
Bones let out a whoop and there were hugs all around as their hopes surged. High fives ended with satisfied smiles.
Then they heard it: a tiny buzzing sound like a mosquito too close to their ears.
"Go!" Joshua grabbed the container of gold dust from his father and ran. Caleb was right on his heels. They had to get that door open. Teddy and Bones shambled along, Bones trying to support Teddy.
The buzzing sound grew louder. Looking over their shoulders they still couldn't see any headlights and they waved the boys on. Father, why didn't our carts last longer? Teddy could feel the tears stinging his eyes as he prayed and ran.
Bones glanced over his shoulder about half way to the door and saw the pale glow of headlights. They wouldn't make it. If they tried, that beast would drive right into that room and kill the boys too. He chucked Teddy on the arm and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. Teddy looked back and saw the twin beams.
He understood.
"Tell them to open the door and that we are right behind them." Teddy stopped, wheezing to catch his breath.
"Go on, Guys! Open the door, we are right behind you!" Bones shouted with all the cheer he could muster, hoping they didn't look back and see that their father had stopped.