Chapter 48: The Cave Mouth

Marci had fallen back to sleep, so I decided to check out the area. Sunlight streamed a warm welcome, an escape from the unholy nightmare of the dungeon below. Not simply the undead, which were horrifying and beyond imagining, but that the system had engineered such a place, either moving an entire hotel and its residents to this cave or building the cave around them.

Fresh air filled my lungs, the scents of water on green leaves and grass. Wind blew across leaves in the forest below and I could just make out Avery picking up branches for a fire.

To my left, Bent exclaimed “River! Hey there!” then closed the book he was holding. I hadn’t seen him sitting against the far wall of the cave, out of the sunlight. He’d washed the blood off his face, and no visible cuts remained.

“The cuts weren’t that deep? I was worried you’d scar.”

“Apparently not. I suppose it was mostly their blood and not mine. I was fortunate. How’s Marci?”

“Recovering, but slowly. The wounds on her ankle are deep. I think she’d have trouble walking, even with a splint. We’ll have to rest here a few days . . .” Something caught my eye behind him. It was long, thin, and shiny. “Bent, don’t move.”

“River?”

“There’s something behind you.” I walked closer. “Looks like a snake.”

He slowly turned his head, then saw it, saying, “What the?” and jumped up.

It hadn’t moved the entire time. “No, I think it’s dead. Just a sec.” Sure enough, it was a snake, or at least its tail end. Taking out my knife, I poked it. Nothing. Then I lifted the rock it was half hiding under. Its eyes were white, the scales near its diamond-shaped head grey and lacking luster. “Yeah, it’s dead. You’re lucky, this is some kind of viper. Poisonous.”

“Jesus! And I was sitting up against it?”

“It must have been dead when you sat down. Or it would have been annoyed at you. We should probably check the rocks before we sit down anywhere in here.”

“Yeah. Not something I’ll forget. What else do you think we have to worry about?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if those giant centipedes are hiding in the entrance somewhere and come out at night.”

He looked around. “Probably. You know, Fred’s out hunting them right now. He said he wants more centipede for dinner. Which was not a sentence I ever thought I’d hear. It’s good to not use our rations, and the stuff does taste good, but I don’t know, I’d rather not think about it.”

“I doubt he’ll find any before nightfall. Maybe a deer or grouse or something would be easier.”

“He’d need a ranged weapon for that.”

“I think he still has a pistol.”

“Let’s hope he’s a good hunter, then.” I looked back out into the wilderness, “And Ave, Dylan?”

“Out gathering wood. Dylan will be back soon. He just went out to grab starter fuel. Ave’s getting the heavier stuff.”

“Gotcha. I just wanted to get outside a bit. Marci’s sleeping.”

“Maybe someone should be with her if there’s snakes around. I’ll go hang out near the tent until you get back.”

“Thanks, that’s great. What’s that book?”

“Spellbook.” Bent held up the thick book, “I’m studying spells. The curse of this class, it turns out. Marci’s might have been a better choice, as they don’t have to study spell craft the way a wizard does.”

“Ah, right. I’ll leave you to it, then. And thanks for thinking of Marci.”

“Of course. Of all the things we’ve got to worry about, snakes too.” He shook his head and headed toward the tent.

I walked away, wondering why he’d been staying in the cave when we had sunlight right out here. I’d have made camp near the trees, but the tent would get too hot.

***

The walk was refreshing and, unfortunately for Fred, I didn’t see any giant centipedes, grouse or deer. A few birds, some squirrels, but I didn’t shoot any of them. Probably should have gone after the squirrels. Depending on what the others bring in, maybe I would, later.

Standing on the mountain, looking across the valley below, river running down its course so far off, evergreens and poplars between here and there, I enjoyed the peacefulness of it all. It was so different than being on a ship. Refreshing to be here instead of surrounded by a metal hull, that creaks from time to time. Well, apparent peacefulness. This planet was deadly. Monsters, quests, and more waited for us out there.

We needed to get to the city, resupply, especially with healing potions. Find out how cities work, perhaps learn more information about the attack. And figure out where to go from there. I was thinking a military base would be best.

Normally, being an anthropologist, I’d want to further investigate Marci’s claim of seeing the extinct beings who’d populated this planet before we arrived. Yet it didn’t seem like the best use of our time. She may have been hallucinating. Even if she wasn’t, following up on her sighting and tracking them down, then learning to communicate would take a long, long time.

Yet I had to look. See if there were tracks back in that cave where she thought she saw the creature. But plenty of humanoids must have walked through there. I had to make sure.

Taking one last glance at the vast green valley, I turned around and headed back to the cave.

***

“River!” shouted Dylan, poking his head out the tent. “Come quick, it’s Marci!”

I ran over, passing Bent, who was rummaging through his backpack, on my way. Dylan backed up and I entered.

Dropping to his knees, he said, “She suddenly developed a fever, her pulse is spiking and breathing shallow. Might be poison, might be an infection. Bent’s getting the first aid kit.”

Marci glistened with sweat. Touching her neck, her pulse was very high. “Marci? Can you hear me?”

Dylan shook his head, “She’s non-responsive. We need an IV, preferably plasma, and we need to get antibiotics in her asap.”

Bent pushed aside the tent flaps, “Here, the med kit. There’s antibiotics in there and an injector. I think, I don’t know, but I think you want to avoid stimulants. No idea what to do about her breathing.”

“What if it’s poison and not infection?” I slid her cloth armor up, over her wound. Her calf was a very pale white and hard to the touch. Her veins were normal. “Might be poison.”

Dylan looked at me, “The antibiotic wouldn’t hurt, probably, but it might load her system. I don’t know. All I got is first aid.”

“Nothing for poison in there?” I asked Bent.

Dylan answered, “We could burn charcoal, get it into her stomach, but I can’t see that doing anything right now.”

Bentley looked at the ground, saying, “Can you, damn, can you give me and River here a minute?”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright.” He stood and left the tent.

“River,” started Bent, “I can try something. With magic. But, and this is a big but, it’s from the necromancer’s spell tome.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I found her spellbook and took it.” He gestured toward his face, “The cuts were deep.”

I cocked my head, “You didn’t just wash them.”

“We’re in a game simulation. We should use in game cures.” He breathed in deeply, “You want me to try or not? She may not have a lot of time if it’s poison.”

“Oh my god, Bent. You lied to me earlier and now you’re telling me you want to use, what, evil magic on Marci! I don’t know, I just don’t know.”

“It worked on me. And it’s not ‘evil.’ It’s . . . it’s like a gun. The person pointing it matters.”

Palms to my face. Rubbed my eyes. Fuck. “What’s the, what’s the worst that can happen? If it’s not poison, what’ll happen?”

“The spell I was studying all day is a general cure. It’ll work if it’s bacteria or poison.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah. Yes.”

“You don’t sound sure. I don’t want you turning Marci into some kind of zombie!”

He put his hand on my shoulder. “Hey, look at my face. The spell worked.”

Marci choked, followed by coughing. She turned her head to one side, coughed out phlegm, started breathing again.

“Shit, alright. Bent, if you’re sure about this, try.”

“It’ll work. I need my spellbook, though. One sec.” He rushed out of the tent.

I put my hand on Marci’s forehead. She was burning up. I stroked her hair, holding her hand in my left, until Bent returned.

He flipped open the large beige leather book, put his finger on a it, looked at me, “Do you want to wait outside?”

“I’ll stay.”

“Alright.” Setting the book down on the floor, he reached out and touched her lower leg, near the wound.

Marci moaned and her leg and torse twitched a little, slightly pulling away from his touch.

Bent began reading words I couldn’t pronounce or remember, the ambient light growing dimmer around us, a grey cloud forming around Bent’s hand and darkened, little by little, until it was black. Billowing, puffing up in places, receding in others, this flowed over to Marci’s calf, encompassing it.

Marci’s hand suddenly grabbed mine tightly, her eyes opened, then her head tilted back, body arching, and she screamed so loud I wanted to cover my ears.

“Bent! Stop this right now!”

But he didn’t let go of her. His head turned to me, mouth agape as if in pain, and then the scars reopened, running down his face, blood running out and down his neck.

With Marci’s grip so tight, I didn’t want to fight her, but I leaned forward to push Bent’s hand away and saw that her wound was closing, her skin knotting itself over, sealing up. She took a deep breath then and went limp.

“Bent! What did you do?!”

Dylan threw open the tent flaps, “What’s wrong?”

The cuts along Bentley’s face pulled together, his skin going taught, black lines appearing along the cuts as if they were tattoos, and he took hold of his face in both hands and bent double, moaning loudly.

“Bent!” said Dylan, putting his arms around the wizard. “What’s going on?”

From behind his hands, he said, “It didn’t happen like this last time! It didn’t happen like this!”

He looked up, eyes wet with tears, his skin shrunken, long, black scars running the length of his face, and they were not healing.