He surprised her by grinning, his blue eyes sparkling. “Isn’t it? It’s all about perspective.”
“We have no ide―”
SCREECH!
Kelsey spun, her gaze frantically scanning the area around them and where they’d come from. The noise was sharp and very loud. Disturbing. It was a scream unlike any she’d heard before. Too high-pitched. Maybe like something from a dinosaur movie of killer flying birds.
A four-legged monster about the size of a large dog suddenly darted between the trees below. It was a light gray shaggy thing, the color helping it blend in with the trees and muddy ground.
Kelsey tensed, expecting it to attack.
It didn’t. It darted between the trees below and kept going. She opened her mouth to ask Crath what he thought that animal might have been—but a loud thumping came before she could speak.
What followed that shaggy dog-looking creature was huge—and terror instantly swamped Kelsey. It looked similar to images she’d seen of Earth’s Bigfoot, all bulky and muscular, with two arms and legs…and long spikes sticking out of its body. The coloring was also gray, the same shade as so much of the planet, including the mud that clung to its body.
Spiky mud monsters. I hate it when I’m right!
As she watched, frozen, the thing turned its head, and she saw two large black eyes. They appeared too big in the misshapen face.
Abruptly, it stopped running and just stared up at them, a low rumbling noise coming from its chest.
“Not good,” Crath hissed, his arm hooking around her waist.
The monster changed course and charged toward them, climbing the hillside at an alarming pace. It was about fifty yards away but closing fast. Kelsey was too horrified to move as her brain catalogued more details on the thing.
It had to be eight feet tall, at least. Maybe five hundred pounds. It was caked in the lumpy mud but she caught glimpses of thick fur underneath. There were dozens of spikes sticking out around the main trunk of the body, from armpits to thighs, reminding her of antlers on a deer.
It opened a huge mouth, grunting as it ran.
Thankfully, Crath wasn’t frozen.
He yanked Kelsey right off her feet and lunged backward. The opening of the cave wasn’t large, causing Crath’s arms and sides to scrape against the rock. She’d dropped the wood just inside the cave when he grabbed her.
Crath stumbled back farther, his wristband light shining from her midsection, where he kept a tight hold on her. He raised his other arm, pointing his gun at the entrance. His arm slammed into something, hard enough that she felt it as he kept retreating to put more distance between them and the opening of the cave.
The monster reached the cave and tried to come in after them. It didn’t fit. It was too tall and thick, the long spikes sticking out of the thing not helping. A big hand with claws reached inside, blindly swiping the air.
Kelsey was still too stunned to really count but it had more than five fingers and that hand was bigger than her entire head. The arm was really long, too. Like twice the length of a human’s.
A loud snarl came from Crath as he lowered Kelsey to her feet and shoved her behind him. She shifted enough to peek around him in the narrow space.
The monster grunted, retreated, and twisted his big body. All light from the outside ceased since its massive body completely blocked the entrance. The monster rushed the opening again and tried to squeeze in. Luckily, he was just too big.
Crath fired his weapon, hitting the thing in the side. It roared, lurching back. It disappeared and something slammed into the outside of the cave, causing dirt and debris to rain down near the opening. In seconds, the monster was back, a massively clawed hand swinging inside to blindly swipe at the air.
Her alien savior did something to his weapon by tapping on the barrel, then fired. It struck the monster a second time. It disappeared yet again, and seconds had never passed so slowly for Kelsey as she waited to see what would happen next.
Everything was silent. Their attention remained on the cave opening, and Crath kept his weapon up and ready to fire, their rapid breaths the only sound she could hear.
She pressed a hand to Crath’s back, needing to feel his strength.
He didn’t glance at her or tear his gaze away from the cave opening. Seconds turned into minutes.
Still, the monster didn’t come back.
It gave Kelsey the courage to whisper, “Do you think you killed it?”
“No,” he whispered back. “I probably hurt it enough to rethink coming after us.”
“What in the hell was that?”
“I’ve never seen anything like it.” Crath paused. “Maybe it is the dominant life form on this planet. Nara told me about your cavemen from Earth.” He waved his weapon toward where the creature had been. “This planet’s possible version? My people were once like your cavemen a very long time ago. Every planet evolves. Some are just in the early stages. This must be one of them.”
A shudder ran down her spine. “Great. At least the animal it was chasing wasn’t a T-Rex.”
Crath kept his weapon up but glanced back at her then. He angled his wrist light and she was able to see his face. He appeared confused.
“Never mind. Bad joke. I mean it wasn’t the size of a house. That’s got to be good news, right?”
He faced forward and took a step away from her.
Kelsey fisted his shirt. “No way! You’re not going near that opening. It’s probably out there waiting to grab one of us with its freaky long arms if we get too close.”
He looked back at her.
“You don’t watch horror movies, do you? Never mind. I think that thing is too big to get in here. Which is good for us.” She stepped closer to him and grabbed his arm just above his wristwatch, adjusting where the light aimed. It lit up the back of the cave, which she wanted to see. “We need to make sure we’re safe in here before confronting what’s out there.” The time for the latter would be never, if she had any say about it.
Crath shot a glance at the cave entrance about nine feet away but lowered his weapon and turned more toward her. There was enough light to show them that the narrow cave was about seven feet tall, maybe four feet wide—some parts of it maybe three—and a good twenty feet deep. There was a slightly slanted wall at the back. Kelsey adjusted the light to study it. About ten feet up was a crevasse. It wasn’t huge, but possibly just large enough for them to crawl through if they could reach it. It also looked deep. Maybe a tunnel of some kind? At least, she glimpsed more darkness beyond where Crath’s light reached. She was glad to see a possible escape route.
“I really hope nothing lives in that dark hole up there,” she whispered.
Crath gently tugged out of her hold and moved closer to it, flashing his light into darkness. Kelsey followed, really studying the interior of the cave. She reached out and touched the slanted stone wall leading up to the hole in the wall, running her fingertips over the smooth surface. Next, she studied below where the slant began. It was just a bit concave. “Water worn,” she muttered.
“What?”
Kelsey pointed up at the opening. “My guess? Water used to flow through from up there. The stone is super smooth and a bit hollowed. It’s totally dry now, though, even after it rained recently outside. That means the water somehow got blocked off at some point. Fuck.”