Shredder XVI
The vibrations of Anibel’s voice thrummed through Gerard such that he did not realize the ground beneath him was grinding in unrest. He snapped to attention and vaulted across the bed of coals, landing in woobily strides as he snatched up his pack and made for the cliff face. A ratcheting shriek erupted behind him, but Gerard did not spare the instant to glance back as he launched into the narrow crevasse.
An erupting boom spattered bits of rock against the stony face as the ranger set to climbing the rugged chimney above him. Exactly the task he had wished to avoid in the inky lighting. Foot after hand, check and scale, Gerard’s mind pulsed with adrenal precision during his escalation. A second boom prompted a momentary glance from him, and he clenched his teeth in anger at wasting even that small moment.
Two tentacles the color of bloodied shit had erupted from the earth and were scouring the meager campsite with wanton force. Their sinister lengths made short work of the area, and a third eruption heralded the site’s utter destruction. Gerard did not risk the delay, but his ears conveyed that the rock slide and rumble had at the very least served to bury anything that had been on the surface.
Anibel had bought him some time. He could feel the truth of it where it hurt most. She had saved him again. The anger at his ineptitude to return the favor drove him to the pinnacle of the chimney with feral presence. His dirty, narrow form crawled from the opening and, crouching, he gazed down at the wreckage below.
A giant crater yawned back at him, a more ominous blackness than the surrounding shroud of night. Gerard scanned as long as he dared, but he could pick out no sign of Anibel’s body.