Survive the Monsters and Breed 2 Chapter 4

“Devonna!” I yelled as she tumbled toward the ground.

My heart beat wildly at the sound of her screams, and I quickly got down on my hands and knees so I could look over the edge.

“Oh, my god,” Sarah breathed as she crouched down next to me. “Is she okay?”

Devonna continued to scream until she landed on the ground with a loud thud.

“Devonna!” I yelled again, but she didn’t respond. “Fuck.”

My heart was damn near pounding right out of my chest, and my entire body was alert and tingling from the adrenaline that was coursing through me. I had to get down to her, but how? If I got down without a way to get us both back up, then what was the point?

A huge dust cloud formed around where she landed, but after a few seconds, the sound of coughs floated up to me. Once the dust cleared some, I was able to see the beautiful black-haired woman sit up and shake herself off.

“Oh, thank God.” I closed my eyes as I breathed in a sigh of relief.

“You!” Shanice screeched, and I turned to see her pointing right at me with a look of disgust on her face. “This is your fault!”

“My fault?” I asked. “What are you talking about?”

“Yeah,” Sarah said. “Jake had nothing to do with this. Devonna fell because she’s clumsy.”

“I can hear you, ya know,” the Southern woman called out.

“Good,” Sarah yelled back. “Be more careful next time!”

“Fair point.” Devonna cocked her head to the side and shrugged.

“Now we have to figure out how the hell to get you out of there,” Sarah said.

“Well, hurry up,” Devonna said. “I’m gettin’ claustrophobic.”

“You have plenty of space down there.” Sarah rolled her eyes and glanced at me. “Even when her getting out depends on us, she’s still got the audacity to cop an attitude.”

“Claustrophobia can be related to feelings of being trapped,” Natasha said. “Even being stuck in large place can cause these feelings.”

“Thank you, Dr. Natasha,” Sarah said dryly.

“You’re most welcome.” The Russian woman smiled.

“If you hadn’t forced us all to come up here in the first place, then this wouldn’t be happening.” Shanice pointed her index finger at me, but I could see it trembling.

Even though she wasn’t Devonna’s biggest fan, she was still clearly upset at the idea of someone else ending up in a life-or-death situation on her watch.

“It’s alright,” I said. “We’re going to get her back up.”

“And just how do--”

“Ummmm, guys,” Devonna said with a shaky voice. “I don’t think I’m alone down here.”

“What?” I peered over the edge to see a huge shadow engulf Devonna.

“Ohhhhhh, shiiiiiit,” the Southern woman said, and she started to back up, but there was nowhere for her to go.

Her back hit the wall, and she clutched it and felt around for something to grab onto to pull herself up. But there was nothing there.

“What is it?” Sarah asked.

The shadow grew larger, and the tapping sound of feet on the sand made my heart beat like it was about to burst through my ribcage all over again.

Just then, the creature’s claws came through a cave I hadn’t noticed before.

“Jesus,” I breathed, and my jaw nearly fell to the ground at the sight of the massive beast that had just made its way into the ravine.

The scorpion was a tawny-brown color to match the desert sand, and it stood at least twenty feet tall. Looking at it was like trying to stare up at two school buses stacked on top of each other, and its claws each had to measure three feet in length while its stinger hung ten feet higher above the rest of its body.

Devonna was cornered on the other side of the ravine, and the beast snapped its claws as it slowly moved toward her. The Southern woman had just entered into a coliseum-style brawl whether she wanted to be in it or not.

“We’ve got to do something,” Sarah gasped. “That thing is gonna kill her. We’ve got to find a way down there.”

“That’s not the problem here,” Shanice said. “We could all get down there right now. The problem is getting back up.”

“She’s right,” I said without looking away from Devonna and the scorpion below. “Sarah, find a way to get us out.”

“Us?” the redhead asked.

“Oh, I’ve seen that look before,” Shanice said. “Don’t even think about it. If you go down there, you’ll both die instead of just her. That’s a suicide mission, and just cause there’s a time and a place to play hero--”

“Jake, she has a point,” Sarah said, but before she could say anything else, I grabbed the spear from her, swung my feet over the edge, and pushed myself off the cliff. “Jake!”

The stone beneath me was bumpy, and I bounced up and down as I slid all the way to the bottom of the ravine.

“Jakey!” Devonna screamed as I landed in a cloud of dust a few feet away from her.

I quickly stood up and brushed myself off, and then I held my spear at the ready as I carefully made my way over to Devonna.

The scorpion watched me curiously, but it didn’t attack since I was facing it directly with my spear out, which gave me a moment to get my bearings.

It didn’t appear to be like the animals we’d been fighting when we were in the jungle. The animals in there were mutants of some kind or another. All of them were genetically modified in some way, and each one was more fucked up than the last.

This guy just looked like a giant version of the type I’d seen back at home.

Still, this scorpion didn’t look like it was going to be a walk in the park to take down. The creature might not be mixed with any other beast, but it was larger than anything I’d ever encountered before. And I knew for a fact scorpions were venomous.

Most didn’t have the potency needed to kill a human, but that was when they were normal sized. Whatever this monstrosity was packing in that stinger, I was sure it would be fatal within moments. The sheer size of the creature and the amount of venom it could inject in one go was ridiculous.

Then again, this whole fucking place was ridiculous.

It was like somebody had given children the ability to redesign whatever habitats they liked most. The little kid who designed the jungle room was fucking demented, but whoever’s crotch gobblin designed this place was even worse.

The creatures in the jungle had been large, but they looked like ants compared to this scorpion.

Sweat beaded on the back of my neck as I stared the beast down. I didn’t even know where to begin.

If I was going to kill this thing, I needed to be strategic. I couldn’t just go stabbing it willy-nilly. It’s armored body would break my spear in a heartbeat, and I’d probably end up getting stung in the process.

The beast was colored like the sand around us so it could easily blend in, but its beady little black eyes glistened from the light of the false sun above us.

“Jakeeeeey,” Devonna moaned behind me, and she grabbed hold of my arm tightly. “What are we gonna do?”

“You have your knife, right?” I asked without looking back at her.

“Yeah,” she said, and her voice shook slightly.

“Get it ready,” I said. “I’m going to do what I can, but I might need you to jump in.”

“I don’t know if I can do that,” she said, and she tore in ragged breaths between each word.

“Devonna,” I said slowly but sternly. “Take a deep breath. We’ve got this.”

“Okay.” She breathed in and out loudly, and I felt her hand on my back relax just a bit.

Then the scorpion rushed toward us.

“Jake, look out!” Sarah yelled from above us.

I grabbed Devonna and pushed her out of the way before dodging to the right myself.

The huge scorpion ran into the wall behind us, and the rock formation shook as loose gravel fell all around us. Then a huge cloud of dust shrouded my vision.

“Devonna,” I said between coughs.

“Jakey!” she called, and I held my hand out toward the sound of her voice.

Her fingers clasped mine, and I quickly pulled her to me, only to yank her along as I dodged the massive scorpion again.

The beast was after us now, and it wasn’t going down without a fight. Devonna must have woken it up when she fell into the ravine, and it was not happy to have her in its backyard, that was for certain.

More dust filled the area, and I squinted my eyes against it. When I was able to see, I found the scorpion had run face-first into the wall once again.

The creature was so massive it was having a hard time getting directly in front of us in the small area. We were quick enough to get out of the way, too, and when the beast got going, it was too large to stop or change directions on a dime.

“Stay close,” I told Devonna.

“You think I’m tryin’ to get separated from you?” she scoffed. “I’d be dead in a heartbeat.”

The beast whipped around and came at us with its large claws continually pinching the air in the hopes of grabbing one of us in the midst of it all.

“Shit,” I breathed as the creature managed to corner us.

The ravine wasn’t very large, and the scorpion had a claw on either side of us. There was a wall at our backs, so we were left with nowhere else to run.

“Oh, good Lord, we’re cornered,” Devonna said, and I felt her chest press up against my back. “I don’t wanna die in a ditch!”

“Come on,” I growled, and I grabbed Devonna’s hand and yanked her along as I ran straight at the scorpion’s head.

“Jakey!” Devonna screamed.

“Be quiet!” I yelled as the scorpion threw the front end of his torso from side to side.

Its stinger hit the ground directly in front of me with enough force to shake the earth below us. My heart nearly burst out of my chest, but I just gripped Devonna’s hand tighter and pulled her along as I slid under the scorpion’s arm and out into the larger area of the ravine.

“Jake, what are we--”

“Shhh,” I cut her off by putting my hand over her mouth as the scorpion spun around to face us yet again.

Devonna’s eyes widened as she stared at the scorpion, and her body instinctively jerked away, but I held her in place to keep her as quiet as possible.

After a moment, the scorpion turned back around and walked along the edge of the rocks.

“Be quiet,” I whispered, and I looked seriously into Devonna’s dark blue eyes.

The Southern woman nodded, so I removed my hand.

“Jakey, what the hell is going on?” she whispered fervently.

“I don’t think it can see very well,” I explained. “It’s not using its eyes to find us. It’s only coming after us when we make noise.”

“Well, shit,” she breathed. “You think the damn thing is blind?”

“Not blind exactly,” I said. “But scorpions are usually nocturnal. It probably just has poor eyesight during the day.”

“So, what’s our plan, then?” she asked. “You gotta have a plan to get us out of here, right?”

“Actually, no.” I shook my head.

“What?” she squealed, and the scorpion turned back toward us.

Devonna covered her own mouth before I could, but after another minute or so of breathing as quietly as possible, the scorpion went toward the other side of the ravine.

I looked up at Sarah and the rest of the women. They were gathered around the edge, probably biting their nails as they watched what was going on.

Shanice stood off to the side and glared, but everyone else was very clearly concerned for us.

“Sarah’s working on figuring out a way to get us out of here,” I whispered to Devonna. “But we’re not going to be able to get out with the scorpion roaming around.”

“You don’t think we could sneak by?” she asked, and she bit her lip and pleaded with her eyes.

“I’m afraid not,” I said. “But I’ve got a plan.”

“Lay it on me,” she whispered, and then she immediately lowered her voice even more when the scorpion moved. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”

“Good.” I nodded. “Because I need you to distract it.”

“Distr--”

The scorpion turned around and pinched wildly.

I pulled Devonna back toward the wall, but then I saw the cave the scorpion had just come out of. My first thought was that we could try going in there to find a way out. My second thought was that if there was no way out, we’d be trapped inside with this enormous bastard, and the sound of our movements in a cave would be amplified by ten.

We were better off staying out here and trying to take this thing down. Once it was dead, we could figure out how to get out of the ravine.

Devonna and I ducked as the scorpion pinched all along the wall. As soon as it was past us, Devonna turned to me with wide and horrified dark blue eyes.

“What do I need to do?” she whispered. “I trust you, Jakey. Just get us the hell out of here.”

“Keep your knife at the ready,” I said. “I’m going to go to the left. You need to make a scene. Just enough to get it to come after you, then you get out of its way, you understand?”

“I definitely understand the getting out of the way part,” she said with an audible gulp.

“I’m going to try and get on its back,” I explained. “The easiest way to take this thing down is to go straight for the brain.”

I had the only remaining spear my group brought into the desert and my knives on me. Shanice had a spear, too, but even if she threw it at the creature, I wasn’t sure she’d be able to pierce its hard exoskeleton.

“Do what you’ve gotta do,” she said with a small nod. “And I’ll do what I gotta do.”

Devonna’s chest rose and fell quickly, and sweat beaded on her forehead as she stared at the huge scorpion across from us. She was clearly terrified, but I knew that wouldn’t stop her from doing what needed to be done. She was a determined woman, and I had faith that she wouldn’t let me down.

“On my signal,” I whispered.

“Wait,” she hissed, and she grabbed my arm to keep me from running off.

“What?” I asked.

“What’s the signal?” she pushed.

“Oh.” I blinked when I realized I hadn’t actually given her a signal. “Um… Here. Katniss Everdeen.”

I held up three fingers in the same salute she used in the movies.

“Katnahwho, now?” Devonna shook her head with confusion.

“Right,” I breathed. “After your time. Just make a scene when I do this.”

I held up my hand again to show her.

“Three fingers.” She nodded. “Got it.”

The scorpion suddenly struck the wall near the women with his stinger, and dust and rubble rained down over all of us. They must have made some kind of noise up there, and he thought he’d found us.

I gave Devonna one last nod, and then I held my spear in one hand while I placed the other on the wall to keep myself steady with all the dust around me.

I made my way along the wall until I was on the other side of the ravine from the scorpion. Then I waited for the dust to settle some more before I gave Devonna the signal.

The Southern woman nodded, and then she looked around in a panic as she realized she had no idea how she was going to cause the commotion she’d promised. After a few seconds, she took a deep breath, and then she began to yell.

“Hey!” she screamed. “Over here, you lobster wannabe bitch!”

My eyes widened with horror as she stomped around and waved her arms wildly. I’d explicitly said she only needed to make just enough of a scene to catch his attention and then get the hell out of there.

She’d definitely done the first part, but I wasn’t sure she was going to be able to do the second part.

The scorpion turned on her and let out a small hissing sound before it swung its stinger down and dug it into the ground.

“Oh, good God, what have I done?” Devonna asked, and she turned and ran.

The scorpion could clearly hear her footsteps, and he chased after her in an instant. Luckily, that got his body into the right position for me to pounce.

I ran right up beside him until I was able to get the proper footing, and then I leapt up and grabbed hold of a spot just behind his front legs. His entire body bounced up and down as I struggled to hold on and pull my feet up. The damn thing was tall, and I’d just barely gotten enough of a grip to pull myself up at the lowest part of his exoskeleton.

The creature seemed to know I was there, too, because he flailed from side to side in what seemed to be an effort to get me off of him.

“Jakey!” Devonna cried when I nearly slipped off the beast.

“Be quiet!” I yelled back through gritted teeth.

I was doing my best to get myself up onto the scorpion, but if she kept talking, then it was only going to keep going after her. I needed her to be quiet just long enough for me to take this thing out.

The hard plated back of the scorpion was slick under my fingers as I finally pulled myself up to stand on his back. Seeing his stinger so incredibly close to me sent a wave of nausea rushing through my stomach, but I knew he wouldn’t sting me when I was on him. Or at least, I hoped he wouldn’t.

His sense of self-preservation should prevent that. But then again, this was a fucked up place, and there was no telling what this giant creature was capable of.

Devonna stood pressed against the wall screaming as the massive scorpion ran at her full force with its pincers clacking away and its stinger darting out to clang against the wall above her.

I had no time to think. My legs weren’t sturdy on the creature’s back, and it was getting angrier. I needed to act fast, so I gripped my spear tightly with both hands, and then I ran full force toward the scorpion’s head.

It was only a few steps, but I made them count, and I leapt up high and slammed my spear into the back of the creature’s neck area. The crease between its joints had a slightly thinner layer of exoskeleton that made a terrible cracking sound as my spear sank in deep, and the scorpion immediately began to flail around wildly as it tried to shake me off its back.

It tried to reach me with its claws, but I ducked down and avoided them. Next, its stinger swung down and landed just a foot away from me. The scorpion had struck its own back, and from the way its stinger was jerking around like a phone line in a windstorm, I knew it was stuck in deep.

The beast was hissing and fighting as hard as it could to stay alive now, but I couldn’t allow that. I grabbed hold of my spear and yanked it out of the creature’s back with a terrible scratching sound from its plated exoskeleton. Then I thrust the spear back into the same hole I’d just yanked it out of. Only this time, I managed to get it in at least a foot deeper than I had the first time.

I held onto the spear for dear life as the scorpion swung its body around frantically. Suddenly, the beast slammed into the wall hard, and my entire body vibrated from the force of the blow. Then it slid down to the ground and went still.

I breathed heavily as I continued to hold onto the spear. My heart was beating wildly with adrenaline, and I’d once again shocked the hell out of myself with how fearless I could be when one of my women was put in danger.

“Devonna!” I hollered as soon as she popped into my head. “Are you alright?”

“Jakey!” she called back. “I’m okay!”

“Stay where you are,” I said. “I’m coming.”

The scorpion hitting the wall had caused a massive explosion of dust, and I coughed and wiped dirt from my eyes before I yanked my spear out of the beast and carefully climbed down.

“Jakey,” Devonna coughed as she ran up to me and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Oh, thank God I have you. I don’t know what I woulda done if you hadn’t jumped down here with me.”

“I’ll always protect you,” I promised as I looked at her dust-covered face and teary, dark blue eyes.

“You came down here with me,” she said softly. “Even knowin’ there was no way out.”

“You think I was going to leave you alone with that thing?” I gestured at the scorpion behind me.

“No.” She smiled. “I know you’ll always be there for me.”

The beautiful, black-haired woman pulled me in for a kiss, and she sighed against my mouth and pressed her chest against me.

“Hey, lovebirds!” Sarah called with a laugh. “You both alright?”

“We’re good,” I hollered as I led Devonna back over to the other side of the ravine where the women were.

“That was quite impressive maneuver,” Natasha said, and I could hear the smile in her voice. “I always wanted to ride on back of scorpion.”

“I’m not sure I’d say impressive,” I chuckled. “But it was something, that’s for sure.”

“You saved Devonna,” Em said. “I can’t believe you jumped down there when there was no way out.”

“Speaking of ways out,” I said. “Sarah, have you figured anything out yet?”

“I have an idea,” the redhead said. “But I need a minute. Sorry, I couldn’t take my eyes off the fight.”

“Understandable,” I said. “But hurry, please. I don’t want to have to do that again.”

“Oh, what’s wrong?” Sarah teased. “You tired?”

“Maybe just a little,” I chuckled.

“Alright, hold on,” she said.

The women all disappeared from the ledge, and I turned to Devonna and looked her over for wounds. She said she was alright, but it was common for adrenaline to make it more difficult for someone to feel when they’d been injured. And even if she hadn’t been physically harmed, I knew what just happened was emotionally tough for her. She’d panicked and nearly become that scorpion’s lunch.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” I asked.

“I’m fine,” she assured me with a soft smile. “Thanks to you.”

“It was nothing,” I said.

“You don’t give yourself enough credit, Tall Glass.” She grinned. “You’re quite the warrior. And you look mighty good doin’ it.”

“Thanks,” I laughed. “But you made a pretty good distraction back there as well.”

“Yeah, and I looked good doin’ it, too.” Devonna tousled her thick black hair, and I chuckled at the coy smile on her face.

“Heads-up!” Sarah called, and a second later, a strange green rope hurtled over the edge.

The end of it just barely reached down to us, and as soon as it was stationary, I realized it wasn’t rope at all. Sarah had tied all the women’s jumpsuits together to make an old-fashioned prison-style ladder we could climb up.

“Just what in the hell are we supposed to do with that?” Devonna asked, and she raised an eyebrow at Sarah’s makeshift rope.

“Here,” I said, and I pulled her over to the last jumpsuit and tied the legs around her waist so she was secure. “Now, climb.”

“Climb?” she scoffed. “What do I look like to you? I ain’t Sarah. I don’t know nothin’ ‘bout climbin’ mountains.”

“I worked at a gym!” Sarah laughed.

“Well, still,” Devonna huffed. “What do I do?”

“You just grab onto the jumpsuits and pull yourself up,” I explained. “You can push with your legs, too. If you get a really good angle, you might be able to sort of walk up the side.”

“You mean like them old Batman and Robin shows?” she asked.

“Exactly,” I agreed.

“Alright,” she said. “I’ll give it a go.”

Devonna blew a stray strand of hair out of her face, and then she grabbed hold of the jumpsuits, put one foot on the side of the rocky cliff, and pulled herself up.

She definitely wasn’t the strongest of all the women, but she didn’t give herself enough credit, either. The rest of the women above helped pull her up, but she did well climbing along, and after a minute or two, I could tell she’d found a nice groove.

As I waited for Devonna to get to the top and the women to toss the jumpsuits back down to me, I looked around the small ravine. If this was here, then there was no telling what else could be hiding in this desert.

I thought this place was going to be easier to navigate than the jungle, but now I wasn’t so sure.

A second later, the jumpsuits came hurtling over the edge again, and I did the same thing I told Devonna to do and made my way up the rocky area.

Once I reached the top, I realized that all the women had sacrificed their jumpsuits so we could get out. Even Em and Shanice were down to their bras and panties.

I quickly looked away from the two of them, but not before I saw Shanice’s beautiful, full breasts and kissable thighs. The curvy cop was all woman, and my breath caught in my chest at the sight of her.

Em was a lot more toned than I’d expected. Her muscles were as well defined as Sarah’s were, and I wondered what her workout regimen had been before she’d gotten here.

“Thank you,” I said as I stood up and turned around so the women could all get dressed.

“Of course,” Sarah said. “I’m glad it worked.”

“Only because we all pitched in,” Shanice grumbled.

“I appreciate it,” I said. “I knew you’d figure out a way to get us out.”

“See?” Sarah asked, and I assumed she was talking to Shanice. “Jake knows he can trust us. He knows we wouldn’t leave him down there, just like he didn’t leave Devonna.”

“He did jump down there to save her,” Em said quietly.

“Yeah, I’ll give him that, I guess,” Shanice said. “Even if it could have cost him his damn life.”

Huh. That was probably the nicest thing she’d ever said about me.

I’d take it.

Once everyone had gotten dressed, I turned around and faced out toward the open desert. It seemed to go on for miles. There were tall hoodoos placed randomly around the area, a few scattered cacti, and a whole lot of sand. The blue simulated sky with the false sun looked incredibly real, and for a moment, I actually believed I could be in an actual desert. But I could see that across the way was another rock formation like this one, with another hint of a sheen that made me almost sure there was a wall behind it, too.

“It looks like the walls are lined with rocks,” I said with a point.

“Just like the one where your cave is,” Sarah said with a look at Em and Shanice.

“And this one,” Natasha agreed.

“If all the walls are lined with rocks, then how in the hell are we gonna find the door?” Devonna asked.

“The last door we found was hidden inside a tree,” Sarah sighed. “This door could be anywhere.”

“I certainly hadn’t expected a ravine over here,” I said with a gesture behind me. “Sarah’s right. There’s no telling where the door is.”

“Do you think it will be at the other end of the desert?” Em asked. “Wouldn’t that make sense?”

“Nothing makes sense around here.” I shook my head. “But logically, I think so. Though, I can’t be sure.”

“Either way, everywhere is covered with rocks,” Sarah said.

“And caves,” Natasha chimed in.

“Well, what are we supposed to do?” Devonna asked. “Search every damn cave in this place?”

“I think that’s all we can do,” I said as I stared out at the expansive, sweltering desert before me.

“That could take weeks,” Em said quietly.

“Luckily, we’ve got nothing but time,” I said.

Sarah put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “We’ve got our work cut out for us.”