Fearful Symmetry by Michael McBride

Author:Michael McBride [McBride, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Horror, Thriller, Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780692260876
Google: Utq-oQEACAAJ
Amazon: 0692260870
Goodreads: 22892529
Publisher: Factor V Media
Published: 2014-08-04T05:00:00+00:00

Part VI:

Tooth and Nail

Twenty-six

Yarlung Tsangpo River Basin

Motuo County

Tibet Autonomous Region

People’s Republic of China

October 17th

Today

The rain started to fall once more. What started as a sprinkle they heard spatter on the face of the cliff when the wind gusted quickly turned into a tempestuous deluge that flung the overhanging vegetation against the mouth of the hollow and pelted them with raindrops. Brooks and Adrianne hurriedly gathered their equipment and bundled it back into their packs before the water could ruin it. They scurried back through the tunnel and into the cavern, where the wind blowing through the honeycombed stone sounded like a hundred different voices chanting without pausing for breath.

Brooks caught movement from the corner of his eye and looked up at the first ledge, where Zhang stood in the flickering glow of a handful of candles melted nearly to nubs on random outcroppings on the wall. A great gust howled through the mountain and extinguished them. He’d seen their trail boss’s face in that brief moment and recognized the expression on his face.

Fear.

The expression was as universal as it was unmistakable.

Brooks set down his backpack and rummaged in the darkness until he found his flashlight and clicked it on. When he shined it up toward the ledge where Zhang had been, it illuminated nothing more than a faint haze of swirling smoke from the candles. He raised his light and opened his mouth to call for Zhang, but was cut off by a shout from behind and above him.

He whirled and saw the weak glow emanating from inside one of the passages near the top brighten steadily until Julian’s face peeked out.

“There you are.” His eyes were wide with excitement. “You won’t believe this. No, wait. I can’t describe it. You have to see it.”

He ducked back into the hole, then appeared once more.

“You guys coming or what?”

A single ladder connected each level to the next. The ledges outside the rows of holes were maybe three feet wide, at the most, just wide enough to walk precariously from one hole to the next and to accommodate another ladder. With his Maglite shining sideways from the pocket of his jacket, he could barely see the rungs well enough to grab them. He ascended three different ledges, each roughly ten feet above the other. By the time he neared the fourth, he was glad he couldn’t see the bottom below him in the darkness. A single misstep or broken rung and he could easily break both legs. Or worse.

The light intensified above him before Julian once again thrust his head from the hole directly above the top of the ladder. The ledge here was much narrower. Long sections had broken off, leaving no means of entering the crypts to the right, at least not from the inside.

“What’s taking you so long?” He looked down and saw Brooks mere feet below him. “I could have built an elevator in the time it’s taken you to get here.”

“We’re not all part monkey like you, Julian.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.