They drove through the morning, the road climbed higher, the air growing thinner. Jimmy's ribs ached. Nick's nose throbbed. The fight had left its mark on both of them, but there was no time to heal. The mountains were waiting.
The tablet on the dashboard showed the route Dr. Chen had updated on the system. Deeper into the mountains, toward coordinates that might be the real Nexus. Twenty miles to go. Maybe less.
"We're close," Ashley said.
"Too close," Jimmy replied. "I don't trust it."
"You don't trust anything."
"I trust you."
She almost smiled.
The first sign of trouble came an hour later. The road curved around a rocky outcropping, and Jimmy saw them. Figures standing in the middle of the road, blocking the way. Dozens of them. Pale, almost translucent skin stretched over sharp bones. Their eyes were closed, sewn shut. Their heads tilted, listening.
Jimmy slammed on the brakes. The Suburban skidded to a stop. Behind him, the bus and the Ford halted.
"What the fuck are those?" Nick's voice crackled over the radio.
Jimmy didn't answer. He was watching them. They hadn't moved. Their heads were tilted, ears twitching, tracking the sound of the engines.
"They're blind," Ashley said. "They can't see us."
"But they can hear us."
One of the figures took a step forward. Then another. Their bare feet made no sound on the asphalt. Their mouths opened, and a low hum emerged. A vibration that Jimmy could feel his chest, his teeth, and his bones.
"They're feeling the ground," he said. "The vibration. It must be how they navigate."
"Then we stop moving," Nick said.
Jimmy killed the engine. The vibration faded. The figures stopped. The humming ceases. The road was silent.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then the figures turned their heads, scanning, listening. One of them took a step toward the Suburban. Another followed.
"They're not stopping," Jenna whispered.
"I think they're following the heat," Jimmy whispered back. "The engines are still warm. "We're still warm."
"Then what do we do?"
Jimmy looked at the road ahead, blocked by the pale figures. Then he looked at the cliff face to his left, where a dark opening, barely visible behind a curtain of vines, caught his eye.
"There," he said. "A cave."
"We can't fit the vehicles in there." Nick whispered.
"Then we leave the vehicles." Jimmy opened his door. "Everyone out. Grab what you can carry. We're going in."
The decision was brutal. The Suburban, the Ford, the bus, they were more than vehicles. They were homes, lifelines, pieces of their past. But the pale figures were closing in, and there was no time to argue.
"Cache what we can," Jimmy ordered. "Hide the rest. We'll come back for it."
They worked fast, grabbing backpacks, stuffing them with ammunition, food, water, medical supplies. Everything else they covered with tarps and branches, edging the vehicles against the cliff face as best they could.
Caitlyn stood by the Ford, her hand on the hood. "She got me here. She got me to all of you."
"She'll be here when we get back," Jimmy said.
"You don't know that."
"No. But I hope."
The pale figures were closer now, their hum vibrating through the ground. One of them let out a shriek, high and piercing, and the others answered.
"Go!" Jimmy shouted.
They ran for the cave.
The entrance was narrow, barely wide enough for two people. Jimmy went first, flashlight cutting through the darkness. Ashley followed, then Jenna, then Caitlyn. Nick brought up the rear, firing a shotgun blast into the air to draw the figures away.
The cave swallowed them.
Inside, the air was cold and damp. The walls were rough limestone, streaked with mineral deposits. The floor was uneven, scattered with loose rocks. It was just a cave, nothing fantastical, just a dark hole in the mountain.
But it was deep. And it was quiet.
Jimmy stopped and listened. No sounds of pursuit. The pale figures hadn't followed.
"Keep moving," he said. "Stay close."
They walked for what felt like an hour, following the main passage as it twisted and turned. The cave was a labyrinth, side tunnels branching off in every direction, some too narrow to squeeze through, others leading into darkness.
"We should mark our way," Ashley said. "So we can find our way back."
Jimmy pulled out his pocket knife and scratched an arrow into the wall. "That look good?"
"Yeah. Like that."
They kept moving.
The left tunnel was narrow, forcing them to walk single file. Jimmy led, then Ashley, then Caitlyn. Nick and Jenna brought up the rear. The walls pressed close, damp with condensation, and the ceiling was low enough that Jimmy had to duck his head every few steps. Their flashlights cut through the darkness, illuminating limestone streaked with rust-colored mineral deposits.
"how much Further?" Jenna asked.
"No idea," Jimmy said. "Just keep moving."
They walked in silence for a while. The tunnel twisted, turned, split, and rejoined itself. Jimmy kept his knife out, scratching arrows into the rock at every intersection. If they had to come back this way, they'd need to know which path was theirs.
"Jimmy," Caitlyn said quietly.
He glanced back. "Yeah?"
"I'm scared."
"I know. We all are."
"But we keep moving."
"That's right."
The tunnel widened, and they fell into a loose formations. Jimmy and Ashley side by side, Caitlyn just behind them, Nick and Jenna bringing up the rear. The ceiling rose, and the air grew warmer.
"You feel that?" Ashley asked.
"Yeah." Jimmy wiped sweat from his forehead. "Stay alert."
The ground began to tremble.
Not the hum of the pale figures. Something else, deeper, and rumbling. Jimmy stopped and held up his fist.
"What is it?" Caitlyn asked.
"I don't know."
The rumbling grew louder. Dust sifted down from the ceiling. Small rocks skittered across the floor.
"Move!" Jimmy shouted.
They ran. But the floor beneath them was unstable, cracking, and shifting. Jimmy grabbed Ashley's arm and pulled her forward. Behind them, Caitlyn stumbled.
"Jimmy!"
He turned. The floor between them split open. A jagged crack that widened into a chasm. Caitlyn was on the other side, her eyes wide, her hands reaching.
Jimmy lunged. His fingers caught hers, but the rock beneath his feet crumbled, and they fell together, down into darkness, through a shower of dust and stone.
He landed hard on his back, the breath knocked out of him. Caitlyn landed beside him, crying out. Above, the sound of the collapse continued, rocks falling, dust billowing.
Then silence.
"Jim!" Ashley voice was distant, muffled. "Jim! Caitlyn!"
"I'm here!" He shouted. "We're okay!"
"Where are you? We'll find a way down to you!"
"No!" Jimmy's voice was sharp. "Don't try to come down. It could be a trap. The whole thing might be unstable."
"But-"
"Listen to me." He looked up at the hole they'd fallen through, which was now sealed with debris. "You keep going. Follow the main passage. Nick, you know how to read the terrain. Ash, trust your gut. Caitlyn and I will find another way through. We'll meet you on the other side."
A long pause. Then Ashley's voice, tight with fear but steady: "You swear it?"
"I swear."
"Then move fast. Both of you."
"We will."
Her footsteps faded.
Jimmy sat up and checked himself. Bruised, bleeding from a cut on his arm, but alive. He turned to Caitlyn. "You okay?"
"I think so." She was shaking, her face pale. "Are we really not going back to them?"
"We can't. The way up is sealed, and even if we found a path, it might bring the whole thing down." He helped her to her feet. "We go forward."
Caitlyn nodded.