Stranded:

Part III - Under the Surface

Zeke came back from the tortoise with the water canteen and had the top off before

he got to them. Dashiell and Willie sat inside the tent Willie had been hiding in, it was no cooler than outside but the suns light was no where near as oppressive. Willie took the canteen and lled his mouth with the cool, clear liquid swallowing it whole. He let the water hit his stomach and the cool sensation that came with it before he spoke. "We only lost one the rst night. Stevens, we found him out in the dunes his body was a mess but the vultures had found him before we did. That day the gnasher packed in. Took us all day to sort it out. The foreman was screaming all day, wouldn't let anyone take Stevens back to town, they buried him out where we found him." Willie took another long pull of the water before continuing. "We worked all day, most of us having to continue the tunnel with picks, by nightfall we were all exhausted. No one stayed up, nobody drank not even for Stevens." "Why did no one radio it in?" Dash moved over on the cot so Zeke could sit down "Foreman wouldn't let us. Said he got drunk and stumbled out of camp so it was his "We haven't seen anything out there since we left Copperhead." "There's some that only come out at night and some you couldn't see even if you beside him. own fault."

were stood next to them. This is a pretty horrible place. Everything here is built to kill you." Willie offered the canteen to Dash who sipped from it before passing it over to Zeke. "So it was animals that attacked you?" "I don't know they were but there were a lot of them, had horrible faces, crooked

noses and bright yellow eyes." Willie dropped his head and closed his eyes, just thinking about them was too much for him. "I'll never forget that sound." "What sound?" Dash leaned forward, his curiosity piqued. "They clicked to each other, like a ratchet being twisted, but worse." "Did you try to leave?" "They destroyed the tortoise and the radio, during the day I've snuck around

scrounging up bits of wire hoping to x one of them. Dared not leave his tent at night, in

case they came back." Willie was beginning to dget, his ordeal had left him fragile, he was already sleep deprived and dehydrated. Dash didn't want to push him any more. "Willie, stay here. Me and Zeke are going to have a look around then we'll get out of "Okay." He said softly. Zeke stood up and was the rst out of the tent. They were a "You have any idea what he's talking about Dash?" Zeke unslung his rie from over "I remember my Dad telling me a story with something that sounded like. Never "If they are monsters they sound pretty awful looking." "They lived in the endless caves and deep forests. They never went out in the sun. here alright?" Dash stood up and put his hand on Willie's shoulder. He did not look up. distance away from the opening before either of them spoke. his shoulder and took it in his hands ready to continue the search. heard about them since so I'm guessing its just a creature from a story."

It was said they would turn to stone if they did." Dash gazed around the camp looking for anything out of the ordinary, the place looked as deserted as it felt. If an attack did happen here there's no way to tell what went on. Everything was we're it should be, even the two tortoises which were out of action looked the same as the one that brought them here. This is the cleanest attack he'd ever seen, if there were an attack at all. Dash and Zeke moved from the centre of the camp towards the raised platform at the far end. The structure was built up against a wall of sand, above their heads a large opening carved out of rock. The sand had piled up and been blasted into the stone for so long it covered it completely. If you weren't looking for it you'd never know about this island of rock in a sea of sand. The platform was built up on metal poles two stories high, an angled gangplank wound its way round the open tower running around the back in between the fame and the sand wall before coming back round again and nishing above where it started. They stepped onto the plank together and before they reached the rst turn Zeke was already ahead. His long legs striding forward and leaving his captain behind. Zeke waited at the top and peered into the tunnel. It was a wall of darkness, the light from the surrounding sand reected so brightly any details inside would be lost in transition between the two ends of the spectrum. Light overpowered dark out here in the desert. Dash glanced over the camp from his new vantage point, it seemed lost out here among the innite grains of sand. He stepped beside Zeke and joined him in trying to see into the hole. "Can you get those lamps going?" Dash pointed to the row of oil lamps by the edge "Sure." Zeke crouched beside them, taking the matches out of his shirt pocket. He of the platform. handed the rst one to Dash before taking one for himself. They stepped inside the dark

tunnel, ducking their heads as they crossed the threshold. The tunnel was wide with curved sides, clearly the work of their gnasher which they had yet to nd. The tunnel began to slope down after a few yards, the angle wasn't steep but it was enough for your feet to notice. Sand had crept inside the opening creating a loose oor which made walking down the slope even more difcult. At the bottom of the tunnel they found their rst body. One of the miners from Copperhead. His chest a red mess, blood had poured out of him for some time covering his body and surrounding it in a pool of thick, congealing ooze. The temperature in the cave was surprisingly cool which they noticed when their nostrils were not immediately lled with the stench of death. Dash crouched down at the edge of the blood pool and held his lamp above his head, illuminating the body hoping for answers. Whatever attacked him had done so much damage only a post-mortem would be able to tell you the truth of his death. "There's two more over here." Zeke said holding his lamp over two bodies, one "Can you tell what it is that killed them? "Looks like they were mauled. Chests are torn open, wasn't clean this looks feral. slumped on top of the rst.

Dash walked further into the cavern, he found more bodies, all were dead, all with the same blood drenched chests. "Found their gnasher." Dash swung his lamp by the handle and it rocked towards the machine. Zeke joined him and found another body. It lay slumped backwards over the seat at the rear of the machine, torn open at the chest just like the others. The controls in front of the corpse were destroyed, much like how Willie had described the innards of the tortoise. Levers snapped and casings ripped off, the wires underneath them a tangled mess. Dash moved along the length of the vehicle, its chassis was also in a bad way, the steel had been shredded in places leaving deep wounds in the side of the mechanical beast. What ever attacked the miners had something sharp at their disposal. Dashiell stopped as he reached the giant front plate of the gnasher, pinched between the cave wall and the spiked rollers mounted to the front of the gnasher was a body. This one did not look like any of the others they had found inside the tunnel, his body had smooth black skin and a horribly twisted face, a long curled nose protruding from its dark shiny face just below two large reective eyes. It's head hung low off its neck, being supported by a spiked tooth from one of the rollers holding it up at the chin. It's lifeless eyes staring outwards into the jaws of its killer.

"Zeke, you'd better take a look at this." Dash called back, not taking his eyes off the

creature. Zeke came quickly and stopped even quicker. He stared at the body and its horrible face for a while before he could speak. "You ever seen anything like that before Dash?" "Only in storybooks. Would never have guessed that goblins were real." The late of

them watched the body, part of them expected it to move or speak. It seemed not of this world so anything was possible at this moment in time. They waited and watched but nothing occurred, it just lay there. Silent. Dead. Dash stepped to the side, moving round the huge front end of the gnasher moving up to the rock wall that stopped it proceeding. It was then that he noticed it. At the base of its skull, as it joined the neck line, its hard black skin stopped and instantly became a soft pale pink. Dash touched it with his free hand, it was cold to the touch but soft unlike its head which felt smooth yet hard. He slid his ngers up the neck and found he could get them under the black material. "Zeke take this a second." Dash handed his lamp to his rst mate and used both hands on the creatures head. Initially it was tight but then have way after applying more pressure. In one swift movement it was off and revealed a second face. That of a man. Dash stepped back and reached for his lamp which Zeke offered up without hesitation. Dash held the lamp close to the body, yellow light brought colour back to its face. Zeke leaned in and picked up the mask, it looked even more horrible up close. "No wonder he thought they were monsters." "They're wearing leather suits, the gloves are shaped like claws. Who would dress

up like this?" Dash turned to Zeke who was still looking over the mask. As he moved the lamp closer an aperture in each lens closed up leaving a small yellow dot at the centre of each eye. "These aren't some cheap suits either. There's some precision work gone into "Lets take it with us. We'll show it to Fred when we get back. Maybe he knows these." Zeke spun the mask around to show Dash the current state of the eyes. something about it." Dash backed away from the body trapped in the teeth of the gnasher and followed Zeke out of the cavern.

The sun had set over Copperhead but the airport was as bright as ever, along each

of the concrete jetties along the wharf were lit up with the kind of electrical lights that buzzed as much as they shone. Fred waddled down the jetty that the Aurora Hawk, he held his trousers up in one hand and carried a bottle of sting in the other. Dash sat on a

small metal drum behind a packing crate, Bernie sat beside him looking over the Mask they had brought back from the desert. "I can't nd the words lads. I really can't." Fred held out the bottle as he approached them, Dash stood up and accepted it, Bernie sat with the mask in his hands, he looked at it intently. "Thanks Fred, we'll errm, give it a good home." "Well there's plenty more where that came from, just say the word and I'll have

some shipped out to you. I can't thank you enough I really can't." Fred looked down at Bernie who had still not taken his eyes off the mask. "What you got there Bernie?" "Did Willie tell you what happened out there?" Dash offered Fred a seat and the two "No he's still in the hospital. They said he's dehydrated and will need to be in there "Well whoever attacked their camp was wearing this and a suit to match." Bernie "What the hell is it?" "It looks like a goblin head but we know goblins aren't real so somebody is trying to "Bloody hell, it's awful." Fred put the mask down and pushed it away from himself. "You heard of anything like this before Fred?" Dash watched a Fred shook his head. of them sat down together. a couple of days." handed the mask over to Fred who looked it over.

make people think they are." Dash took it and placed it into his lap. The sight of the mask had affected him more than he'd like to admit. His eyes darted over to the bottle again and again. Bernie stood up rst and put his large hand on his friends shoulder, Fred managed to take his eyes off the bottle and meet Bernie's gaze. "Go get some sleep Fred, I'll come see you before we take off tomorrow." Bernie "Yeah, thanks again boys. I really do appreciate it." He nodded at Dash and "I know he's your friend Bernie but he's hiding something. He knows what this is helped Fred to his feet and shook his hand. waddled back down the jetty disappearing behind the Hawk and out of sight. and were it came from. I'll wager my ship on it." Bernie turned away from the jetty Fred had walked up and back to Dash. "He always was a foolhardy son-of-a-bitch, just hope he hasn't gotten himself into more trouble than he can handle."

"If we're nding men dressed as goblins mauling people I think Fred is in as deep

as it gets." Dash tossed the mask to Bernie who caught it in his sternum, he turned it over in his hands so the face looked up at his. "It's times like this I miss the war, at least then you knew who the bad guys were." Bernie followed Dash inside the Hawk and the large sliding doors moved together and locked in place with a thunk.