Invictus

Chapter 40: Kali

I took Trenton's carrying pack, which had most of the MRE's inside it with me. The tent had been blown apart so I was forced to spend the next three days searching for Kali while sleeping outside. Even with my high tolerance to the cold it was still miserable.

Had I just been trying to find Kali, the search may have gone quicker, but the park rangers were investigating the damage we'd caused in the clearing. That meant I spent less time searching for Kali and more time using my improved vision and hearing avoiding the rangers. It made sense why the cavalry was out in force. We'd just given Smokey the Bear the finger ten times over inside the nation's oldest and largest federal park. I'd be out looking for me to if I was them.

It took two days of following Kali's blood with my nose and eyes before I found her lair. According to the broken GPS that shut off right as I arrived, Kali's hideout was a cave near Francs peak. It was situated a few miles from the nearest trail and concealed beneath a heavy stone that would have required a human crane to rip off. It was even difficult for me to move. 

I cursed at my luck and the timing of my new and improved sense of smell as the odor of the cavern wafted towards me. I took my frayed hoodie and brought it up to my nose in an attempt to keep myself from vomiting as I stared into the hole. Kali's blood had been raked across the stone and was trailing off into the darkness beyond the reach of my solar flashlight. Her blood smelled like vinegar, cat urine, and gasoline, which had made it easy to follow. That along with the hundreds of bones and rotting corpses of animals in various stages of decay combined to make the air nearly unbreathable.

But what was really scary was the shape of the tunnel leading from the entrance. I knew from geography class that natural occurring stone pretty much always had visible striations in them. The surrounding stone beneath Franc's peak should have had jagged abutments and unleveled ground, but it didn't. What it did have were claw marks across every inch of its surface. The tunnel lead inwards in a perfectly straight line like it'd been hollowed out by an industrial sized drill, making it more of a public access tunnel than a cave. That meant Kali had carved her way right into the heart of the mountain... with her hands and feet.

My body was electric as I took a step forward.

No going back now.

I heard the same ghastly screeching and thunderous howl from before echoing deep inside the tunnel. It made my blood run cold.

I cursed to myself again. This was a terrible idea. I could heal cuts, broken bones, and bruises, but could I regenerate limbs or a set of lungs? I really didn't want to know the answer to that question.

I turned to look back at the way I'd come and thought of Twitch. I remembered seeing and feeling all the suffering she'd endured. Then I thought about what was happening to Adam, Santiago, and Kya at that very second. The anger I felt for them gave me the courage I needed to move forward.

It must have been a ten minute walk to the center before the tunnel opened up into a large chamber about twelve feet high. I followed with the beam of my flashlight to Kali's filthy smelling gray blood, which led me to her. There inside the light sat a furry, blood soaked beast huddled on the ground atop a pile of bear bones.

I hesitated, unsure of what to do while I stood watching the rise and fall of her body as she struggled to breath. The dark sheen of the now dried liquid matted the fur along her back and I noticed those dangerous black claws of hers resting on the stone floor by her feet.

"Kay-lee." I whispered, uncertain if I was saying her name right.

She didn't respond.

"Kay-lee."