More Than a Mortal

The Crystal

As Dean returned to the cave, his adrenaline spiked. He followed the markers he'd laid down until he reached the place where he'd found Marla. From there he followed the directions she'd provided from memory.

"I'm not sure if this is right, Dean," she confessed. "I was terrified and all turned around."

Dean encouraged her to do her best and now, as he stood in the darkness with only the glow-stick in his hand to light his path, he could see a winding path that led deeper and further down into the cave. He crawled along, and as the path narrowed and became smaller, he got on his stomach and army-crawled through the icy tunnel. He chuckled as he imagined the claustrophobic Marla attempting to navigate this portion. "It took everything in me to get through it. I still don't know how I managed it," she'd explained.

Just when he thought the path was going to become too narrow for him to fit, he reached a large, expansive area. On the opposite end was the narrow vertical gap Marla had mentioned.

"Okay," Dean said as he slowly approached the gap and drew his handgun. He raised it up and switched the flashlight on, taking aim into the dark opening. "Let's do this."

His view through the gap revealed what appeared to be another very large, open space. He couldn't see any signs of Marla's colleagues but he could hear distant breathing. He approached the gap and paused to listen. A very distinct, guttural sound came from somewhere on the opposite side. It sounded to Dean as if someone had aspirated. He felt some fear for what he was about to face alone in the dark, but there was also pity. He thought back to his vision and recalled the child that had become mutated after exposure to the mist. The poor girl had been transformed into a blob of tissue that no longer resembled a human. When the aliens incinerated her it had been an act of mercy, ultimately. He would have to look at what he was about to do as the same thing.

He moved into the gap sideways and kept his gun aimed straight ahead. Each step was punctuated by the silent crunching of ice. Every time he moved, he imagined the beasts on the other side moving closer and waiting to ambush him.

When he finally reached the very end of the gap, he took a deep breath and shoved his way out. He immediately cleared the room, searching every space with his flashlight. When he moved it over to the far end of the room he saw it. Sitting with its back to him, the creature was hunched over something, its body moving in a strange and rhythmic fashion. A sickening slurping sound suddenly filled the room and Dean knew that the thing was eating. He kept his gun trained on the creature and watched in horror as the wet sounds of tearing flesh went on. He slowly moved to the side so that he could see the situation more clearly and immediately regretted his choice. Lying in front of the mutant was the dismembered corpse of another, smaller one. Its oddly-shaped torso was flayed, revealing the brutalized contents as the large mutant reached in and yanked entire portions of gut out and fed on it.

They were starving, he thought to himself as he watched the cannibalism continue. It made sense. They were trapped in this room for days. That, along with their decreased cognitive abilities and, according to Marla's tale, their increased aggression, had created the perfect circumstances for them to turn on each other.

A collection of bones lay in a heap off in the corner. They had been picked clean of all meat. Dean returned his gaze to the sole survivor and knew two of them had, at one point recognized the third as weak. They'd attacked and eaten it before the strongest of the three eventually turned on the other.

And I'm sure it would just love to pick its teeth with me, he thought as the creature began to pry limbs off and strip them of all the meat. It ate at such an alarming pace, tossing the bones aside as it did so. Dean shook his head and decided that killing it while it was distracted was the best course of action. And he was getting really tired of watching the disgusting display.