Demon Seed

Chapter 15

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Chapter 15

Study Site

Ross and Emily were inside the cave taking pictures and attempting to decipher the runes found on the walls.  Meaghan was on Google researching the runes while Courtney was talking to a friend from Murray State that specializes in these types of ancient markings.  Tracy was busy sketching and designing methods for studying the runes so that Courtney could scan and send them to the researcher at Murray.

As they were finishing up their projects at the end of a very hot day, the earthquake hit.  The two inside of the cave hit the ground while the others stood in place or laid down immediately.  Ross yelled to Emily, “Get out of the cave!  Now!  It’s collapsing!”  Ross pushed her and jumped out himself when the roof caved in and effectively blocked any egress from the cave.

The shaking stopped and Ross and Emily stood up and turned around to see a possible grave for them both from the cave collapsing.  Courtney ran to Ross and wrapped her arms around him, screaming, “Are you ok?  Did you get hurt!  Oh my God!  If you got hurt I would die!”  The whole crew was watching this interaction and smiling at each other.

Tracy was doctoring Emily’s arm, because when Ross shoved her out of the cave, she hit the door going out and got severe “road rash” and it was bleeding.  Ross had a slight knot from a rock falling.  Courtney scrapped her knee when she was laying down during the quake.  Tracy and Meaghan were unscathed but shaken.

“I think this concludes our day folks!   Let’s head back to the camp site and clean up and nurse our wounds and look at what we found today.” Courtney instructed her team.  As they were gathering their gear, Meaghan cried out, “Oh shit!  My computer got knocked over during the quake and its dead!  That one had the pictures of the runes on it!” 

Courtney ran over to help her gather her equipment and found a flash drive in the dirt.  “Did you see this lying here?  What does this have on it?”  Meaghan looked at her hand and the drive and said, “I think that’s my backup for the runes, but I’ll have to check when we get back.  If it’s not, then we always have the earlier ones from the first couple of days.”

Ross loaded the crates and equipment on the trucks and Tracy and Meaghan drove, as they were uninjured.  Emily was trying to call Cameron on the satellite phone to determine where the epicenter was and how close they were this time.

As the team approached the camp site, Meaghan exclaimed, “It’s all gone!  What the fuck happened to our camp?”  Courtney looked up to see what she was talking about and just stared at the camp site.  All of the tents were torn to pieces.  The equipment tent was shredded to the point of not being recognizable as such.  Their food containers and coolers were open and the contents strewn over the camp site and around the area. 

Tracy pulled up to the site and Ross leapt out of the truck and started looking around where his tent used to be for his possessions.  “My whole fucking locker and clothes are torn up and the shit I brought with me is gone!  What the hell happened here?  No earthquake did this!”  He picked up his journal and notes about the runes, only to discover that what was left was either torn to pieces or looked as though it was chewed up and spit out.  His foot locker he had from the Army was smashed open and the rifle he brought with him was still intact and attached by the Velcro straps to the underside of his cot.  He grabbed the rifle and placed it next to him as he started to help Meaghan sort through the equipment smashed before them.

As Courtney surveyed the damage to her tent and the food stores, she noticed what looked like large animal tracks that seemed to enter the camp and tramp through the tents and exit in the same direction.  Courtney called the team over, “Look at these tracks.  Has anyone scene ones like these before?”  All of the team shook their heads and started to gather their things to find what was left and they could recover.

In the nearing darkness, red eyes were watching their progress with a newfound interest.  As the Demon gazed upon the team recovering from his destruction, he noticed the four females present and thought about what easy access he had to potential mates.  The smaller two would die from their joining because of his size but the taller blonde might have potential.  As the Demon turned away from the team, he pondered which female he would attempt to capture soon.