Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 132491 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132491 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
He shakes his head. “And the smell of the flowers masks other scents. This is a good hiding spot.”
Taking a flashlight from his pack, he illuminates the path in front of us. Our boots crunch on the tiny rocks beneath us, the cool air carrying a musty scent.
I keep my hand on the gun at my waist, checking in every direction. Small cracks of filtered light slowly disappear as we descend deeper into the earth.
“Here,” I whisper. “I think. It’s close to here.”
Marcus shines his light around the space, walking about ten more feet before he says, “I found something.”
“Hang on, don’t touch it yet.”
I walk over to where he’s standing. The bowl and flint I found with the knife are still here.
“Those are exactly where they were when I was here before. The knife was right there.”
He sighs softly and picks up the bowl, sniffing the inside. “There’s no way to know how long this stuff has been here.”
“I don’t think it’s been a long time.”
He arches a brow at me. “What makes you say that?”
I take the light and illuminate lines on the cave wall about two feet from the ground. “This line tells us water has sat in this cave at this level before. In that recent hurricane, Rising Tide flooded badly. And I think this cave is at a lower elevation. So if these items were sitting here then, they would’ve been washed away. They were put here together by someone and they’ve stayed that way.”
He exhales through his nose. I shine the flashlight at him so I can see his reaction. The corners of his lips are tugging up in a grin.
“I’m sorry I didn’t trust you before. I was wrong.”
I smile back at him. “Have you ever said those words before?”
Not only is he not scowling, he’s almost smirking. “No, but I’ve never been wrong before, so...”
A high-pitched squeal sounds from deeper in the cave. I turn the flashlight that direction, now making out the sounds of scratching on rock and loud chittering.
“What is that?”
“Shit,” Marcus murmurs.
He grabs my stun stick from my hand and quickly sets it on the ground, then gives me an apologetic look.
“This won’t take long.”
“What—”
He wraps his arms around me and sweeps my legs out from beneath me. I barely get out a squeak of protest before we’re on the ground, his massive body covering mine.
“What the hell are you doing? Look, I like you, but this isn—”
A whooshing sound comes from the cave’s belly, fast as a freight train speeding down tracks. It sounds like heavy fabric flapping together, clicking sounds added to the chittering, squealing and scratching.
Oh, fuck me. Bats.
The roar is deafening. It’s a massive bat colony, all exiting the cave. Thousands of wings flutter around us, but Marcus has me completely covered. One of his arms is on the cave floor around my head, the side of his face resting against mine.
“It’s okay,” he says, his warm breath a caress over my cheek.
It takes a couple of minutes for me to be able to hear anything other than the whooshing and flapping of the bats. I can feel Marcus’s heart beating steadily against my breast. He’s supporting most of his weight on his knee and elbow, so he’s covering me without crushing me.
There are only a few light squeals and flutters now. He starts to move, but I grab his waistband.
“Not yet. I’m afraid of bats.”
He stays in place, a droplet of sweat falling from his sweatband onto my forehead.
“They won’t hurt you,” he says in a soothing tone.
“They carry rabies,” I hiss. “And bacterial infections.”
“They’re not gonna bite you.”
“I got bit by a bat as a kid.”
“Shit, really?”
“Yeah. My family was camping. It was a fluke thing; there was only one. But we had to leave the camping trip and go to the hospital.”
“Damn.”
“It was hairy. And it hurt like hell when it bit me.”
“I think they’re gone now. But we can wait longer if you want.”
I release his waistband, my cheeks warming. “Sorry about grabbing you.”
“I grabbed you first.”
“True. Maybe you should apologize.”
He arches a brow, amused. “Twice in one day?”
“You don’t need to apologize. I would’ve probably died of heart failure if you hadn’t done that.”
He hums a laugh.
“What’s funny?”
“Of all the things you could be afraid of, I’m surprised it’s bats.”
“Everyone’s scared of something.”
He gets up and then offers his hand to help me to my feet. I brush dirt and rocks away from the back of my clothes, my heartbeat almost back to normal.
“Hello?” Marcus cups his hands around his mouth and yells into the cave. “Anyone in here?”
His voice echoes in the silence. There’s no response.
“Let’s head out,” he says. “We can look around some more outside.”
“Can I walk out ahead of you?”
“Sure.”
He stays several feet behind me as I leave the cave, jogging. I don’t want to spend any more time in a bat lair than I have to. Now that Marcus knows where I found the knife, hopefully I’ll never have to go back in there again.