“Why does this make you angry?”
“Because it means the way we came in is possibly the only way out of here. The good news? If so, we just need to defend that opening. Bad news? We’re toast if that monster manages to get inside with us and your alien gun can’t kill it.”
“Toast?”
“Dead. Done for.” Kelsey’s gaze returned to the hole above. “But maybe it’s still an option. Any collapse might not have blocked the opening completely. While hiking, my mom and I once investigated why a small waterfall inside a cave had stopped flowing from a nearby river. We discovered part of the roof had collapsed due to a landslide. The whole was still visible, but the debris on top of the cave rerouted the water.”
“Why do you think water used to flow through here?”
“My mom was a park ranger on Earth. I investigated a lot of caves when I was a kid, until Mom died and I was sent to live at a foster facility in the city. I’ve seen plenty of rock walls eroded by water. I actually considering following her career path, but I liked the city better, so I decided to become a police officer rather than a ranger.”
“What is a park ranger?”
“We have vast areas on Earth called parks. They’re protected preserves, for nature and wild animals. People can’t build anything there.”
“And a foster facility?”
“It’s where kids are sent to live if they don’t have any family to care for them. My mom died when I was fifteen. It was a river rafting accident. The parks make money by giving tours, and some of them are done in water. My mom was taking a group down a river on a small raft when one of the tourists fell out. Mom went into the river to save them but struck her head on a boulder. She didn’t survive.”
“I’m sorry. Did you not have a living father?”
“No.” That was the easiest answer she could give.
There was a growl and a loud thump from outside. Kelsey startled but Crath reacted faster, aiming his wrist light toward the opening.
The monster was back. Once more reaching inside, blindly searching for one of them to grab.
Crath stepped in front of Kelsey, taking a few steps closer to the entrance. He fired his weapon, hitting the arm of the monster. It roared and jerked away yet again.
“The damn thing isn’t going to leave, is it?”
“I will protect you.” Crath kept the light aimed at the entrance, his weapon at the ready.
It left her with a view of his back and little else. She lowered her gaze. He really did have a great ass. It looked human to her, his tight black pants forming two perfectly beefy cheeks. Kelsey knew she shouldn’t be ogling him. Men were something she pretty much wanted nothing to do with. She was better off being alone, a belief she’d held for most of her life.
Her opinion of men had never been high. Her sperm donor was another reason she didn’t follow in her mother’s footsteps. She hadn’t wanted to work for him. Darron Wick headed the national park services. He’d used his position to seduce countless lonely women in his employ, and had fathered over a dozen kids…and that’s only the ones she knew about.
When her mom died, he’d flat-out refused to take custody of Kelsey. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. He ignored all his offspring, pretended they didn’t exist and outright denying they were his. It still hurt though. Not that she’d ever admit it aloud. But it taught her an important lesson: letting any man close meant opening herself up for heartbreak.
That lesson was only enforced after she’d become a police officer. Some sperm donors were in high demand, since there were so few men compared to available women. It gave them an overinflated sense of self-worth and serious entitlement issues.
A lot of those men became scam artists, conning money and possessions from desperate women before leaving them high and dry and moving on to the next mark. Then there were the ones who thought it was okay to be abusive assholes, like the last jerk she’d arrested. Sadly, she’d seen a lot of women defend and lie for the men who’d left them battered and bleeding, deciding it was better to have a cheating, abusive asshat than not have a companion at all.
Crath suddenly snarled and fired his weapon, startling Kelsey out of her thoughts. She peeked around him and saw another monster—a smaller one—darting out of the cave opening. That one didn’t seem to have spikes. It was just a mass of clumped mud, from the quick glance she’d gotten.
“Shit, was that like a juvenile?”
“Perhaps, or the female version.”
“It made it inside!” She trembled at the thought.
“I know.”
Her gaze landed on the wood she’d dropped when Crath carried her inside. “Can you start a fire with your weapon? Aim at the wood. I bet they don’t like fire.”
He tapped something on his weapon and shot a branch just inside the entry. It started to smoke, and then flames ignited, quickly spreading to the other pieces of wood. Kelsey knew there weren’t enough broken branches to burn for long. The flames were high and the wood burned quickly, not like it would on Earth.
“Shit.” She turned, staring up at the dark hole above them. “We’ve got to climb. The big ones can’t fit inside, but hopefully the smaller ones won’t be able to reach that high to follow us.” She looked up, judging the distance. Ten feet, at least, to the hole. The rock was too smooth and offered no purchase. That only left one option.
“Back up, Crath. I want you to hand me your weapon and climb onto my shoulders. That will help you reach the hole. Once you’re up there, use the blanket I’m wearing to pull me up.”
He turned to glare at her. “No.”
“You’re too damn heavy for me to haul up there, and the only way you’re going to reach that high is to use me as a ladder.” Ignoring his protests, she removed the blanket, pressed her back against the smooth wall, and locked her fingers together. “Step into my hands, then onto my shoulders. You’re strong. You can reach the opening and pull yourself inside. Then lower the blanket to pull me up like a rope. Hopefully there’s enough room for both of us.”
“I will not leave you down here. I’ll lift you first.”
“Goddamn it, we don’t have time to argue! The alien wood burns too fast, even if it is still a little damp. Now tuck the blanket into your pants, toss the bag up there, and then stand on my shoulders.”
“I will not!” He appeared horrified by the idea. “I’ll jump up there.”
“It’s ten feet, at least. You’re tall, but even leaping, you can’t get a good enough grip on smooth rock to pull yourself up. I might not be able to lift you, but I’m strong enough to support your weight just long enough for you to reach the hole. Now move, da—”
Roars, multiple ones, came from just outside. Others quickly followed, slightly muted, as if from a distance. If Kelsey were to guess, the monsters definitely didn’t like fire…and from the sounds of it, there had to be at least half a dozen or more of them out there now.
Crath snarled.
Kelsey would’ve done the same, but her throat couldn’t make that deep, disgruntled noise the way his did.
He shoved the blanket inside the bag before tossing it upward. Kelsey heard it land and it didn’t fall back down. Crath must have a good pitching arm too.