Master of the Forest: A Horror Novel Set in Siberia by Artyom Dereschuk

Author:Artyom Dereschuk [Dereschuk, Artyom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

Neither Nikolay Igorevich nor I managed to get any quality sleep that night. Although the man wouldn't admit it, I could see that the event of the previous night had shaken him, and the impressions that he was trying to suppress, to rationalize, were going ballistic inside him. Throughout the whole morning, he was acting dazed, and I often had to repeat what I said before he heard me. He did, nevertheless, agree with me when I said that we better move fast if we wanted to be done by the end of the day.

On our way to the cave, I threw a quick glance at the camp. Maxim was sitting on a log, staring into the ashes of the campfire, rifle in his hand. In the distance, Sidorovich was arguing about something with both Piotr and Dima. The young man seemed to be depressed, while Piotr was heatedly explaining something to him and his uncle. Sidorovich seemed to be displeased with what he was hearing. The rest of the diggers were already gone.

The skeleton in the cave greeted us at the entrance with its bony smile. During the previous two days, we had excavated the skull, one hand with a forearm, half of the spine, two full legs and pelvic bone, and all of them were now stocked along the length of the tunnel. The ribcage was too big to leave it in the tunnel, so we decided to leave it in the cavern instead and move it out last.

The old man went in first, and a minute later, the pump got to work. With nothing better to do, I started watching how the other groups worked. Karim and Kazbek were almost done digging up the second tusk they'd found. In the distance, Maxim was pulling the pump towards his spot. His face was showing concern. Sergei and Anatoliy were working hard as well, and on the rightmost side, Sidorovich's group was still discussing something. They were going at it for a good 15 minutes before Dima finally picked up the hose and got to work. Sidorovich was sitting on the pump and grimly staring at him, while Piotr simply walked away.

Half an hour later, the pump stopped, and Nikolay Igorevich climbed out of the cave, wiping his forehead. It seemed that hard work reinvigorated him; his eyes were full of energy and optimism again.

"Go for it, young man!" he shouted to me. "We're almost done, keep at it," he whispered to me when he walked past me.

Over the last few days, the cavern had become more spacious. The bones of the giant that we hadn't transported yet were sticking out of the dirt and the puddle, making it look like Leviathan's belly. It was refreshing to see how little work there was left to do and how much progress had been done. All that was left was an arm and a few ribs. If we worked fast, we could get the skeleton ready for transportation by the afternoon.

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