Indiana Jones
Director of the B.P.R.D.
Kate and I move through the entrance hall to the temple slowly, the only illumination coming from the flashlights in our hands. The stale, musty air of the place fills my lungs like a drug, and I can't deny that I'm getting a high off of it. It's been decades since I was in a place like this, and even the "archeologists" of today use computers and satellites to do the dirty work. I turn to Kate, "
Don't touch anything." I take a few more steps and spin around, "
And don't lean against the walls. i had a bad experience with that one time."
After traveling a bit further down the hall, I notice a slight sound coming from the wall. I go over to it, and before pressing my ear to it, scan for any obvious traps. As I listen, I say, "
Put your ear up against the wall and take a listen."
"
I thought I wasn't supposed to touch anything," Kate responds, deadpan, before doing so. "
Sounds like there's water running behind the walls."
"
That's exactly what it is," I respond with a nonchalant smile. "
Meaning if we spring a trap in here, we're probably going to drown."
We proceed further, through a few meandering hallways before coming to an area with two pathways. I pace around a little bit before picking a way to go. Something that Corrigan obviously doesn't like, "
You're kidding me, right? You're just guessing on which way to go?"
"
Not really," I respond without turning around. "
There's no flowing water on the other side. Whereas this side it seems to get stronger."
We follow my choice of routes until it opens up into a larger chamber. I take a few battery powered LED light strips out and toss them around the room, and the sight that greets me almost takes me back. Staring back at us is a huge sculpted head that looks like a cross between a crocodile, Medusa, and a really, really ugly dog.
"
You ever see anything like this before?" I ask Kate. She's the Bureau's expert on the occult. Sometimes it's spooky how much she knows. But if anyone has seen this idol before, it's her.
Unfortunately, she shakes her head, "
Nope. I mean it has traces of Pagan, Greek, and even Medieval. But no, I've never seen this exact thing. Mind if I take a few pictures?"
"
No go ahead," I respond as I begin searching the room. "
I need to find out where we go from here, anyway."
The room is a vast rectangle, the highest side above us, out of reach from even the LEDs I put down. In front of the head is an altar, seemingly for sacrifice, but there's no bodies or blood, or any sign of the alter having ever been used.
Leaving that for a moment, I inspect the large stone head and the walls around it, and find that the rushing water seems to flow directly into the head. Meaning there's nothing behind it. Meaning...
The realization hits me too late. I spin as Kate goes to place the camera on the altar to get a picture with me in the frame for scale. As the device hits the cold stone, the floor below us slides from out beneath us, and a torrent of water springs from the now open mouth of the statue, flinging us quickly down a slide. Sea water explodes into my lunges, and I fight to keep my head above water, as Kate does the same next to me.
We spiral down into the darkness, and before long I can hear the water in front of us falling into a chasm, and a light at the end of the tunnel. Once we get closer, I see our fate: A chasm where the water tumbles, and a small platform with a torch on the other side.
As I secure my whip from my belt, I call to Kate, "
Get over here and hold on!"
A second later, we fly into nothingness, and the crack of my whip rings out over the din of the rushing water. The end manages to catch the torch holder on the platform. Unfortunately, that sends us careening into the rockwall on the other side of the chasm, and Kate loses her grip. I fling my hand out, and barely manage to catch her.
"
Jones," she says as I pull her up to the whip, "
remind me to never come temple diving with you again."
We climb to the top, and find the torch to be illuminating yet another carved stone representation that was in the other chamber, this one with its mouth open. I take the torch and walk through a small hallway, into the biggest chamber yet.
A faint blue glow illuminates this one, and I find great, stone pillars lining the hall, leading to another statue. They seem to have some sort of glowing lichen on them, which gives the room its glow. The statue seems to be the same jumble of dragon heads and necks from the entrance, though they all curl around and are looking at an altar, looking ready to strike at whatever is on it.
And what's currently on it draws my attention. I rush towards it, to find a weakened Abe Sapien lying on it. When he sees us, he smiles, "
Took you long enough. Do you have a knife?"
I nod and detach the large hunting knife I keep on my belt. Abe digs it into a wound on his arm, then leg, then chest, and digs out what seem to be pieces of the lichen.
"
I think they're eggs," he groans in pain. "
The beast only had hold of me for a few minutes, and managed to lay three. Oh don't look like that," he responds at my face. "It laid them through it's tongue. Not anything else."
"
Sure, sure it wasn't," I nod. "
But uhhh...what is it?"
"
Indy," Kate says from behind me. "
Turn around."
I do so, and find one of the stone faces staring back at me. But this time, it's real. the thing is the size of a gorilla, but a hell of a lot scarier. Its tongue slides around its sharp teeth and its four eyes stare at us, unblinking.
"
Crap," is all I can mutter as it charges at us, and I barely get the three of us out of the way. "
Abe, you see any way out of this?"
"
There seems to be another passageway over there," he says pointing.
I don't even bother responding, instead, I begin running with Kate behind me and Abe over my shoulder. Luckily he's light, or we'd be in pretty big trouble. As I run, I unholster my pistol and fire blindly at the creature pursuing us.
Halfway down the hallway, I transfer Abe so he can lean on Kate, "
Go. I'll try and hold him off."
The two of them disappear into the darkness, and I turn to face put pursuer. I must have hit him, because it takes a few seconds for me to hear him. I unload a clip into the hallway, and quickly reload. Unfortunately, the damn thing is smarter than I am.
It gallops along the ceiling towards me, as I fire at it. A few bullets strike its shoulders, but it barely slows it down. Once it's in striking distance, the beast opens its mouth and the long tongue shoots out towards me. Whether it's luck or reflexes, I manage to fire a shot straight through the tongue, and the beast falls to the stone ground with a whimper, and I put a few more shots into its head.
I reach Kate and Abe, who are standing on a stone plate that has water gushing from underneath it. I smile and herd them to the center of the platform, "
Hold on, and stay away from the walls."
I kick away a stone block, and instantly we speed up towards the entrance of the temple. I laugh as the water pressure elevator sends us to the surface. But once we're there, Kate looks worried, "
What the hell was that? And did you see how many eggs were down there?"
"
It doesn't matter now," I responds, heading for our base camp and the rest of the team. "
Momma's dead now. No one to hunt for the young. Problem solved. Let's go home."
**********
Down below, in the elevator chamber, Sammael the hell hound's body decomposes within minutes, and a ball of green smoke emerges from the remains and breaks into two. The two wisps float back to the main chamber and find two eggs, from which bursts two new hell hounds, hungry and violent.
