Dillon Hunt And The Desert Oasis Resort by Chad Stewart (smart ebook reader TXT) 📖

“What?” Jordan asked in a panicked tone.

“Watch out behind you!” Dillon yelled as he pushed Jordan and Gwen aside just in time to see a giant spider-like creature with two large glowing yellow eyes emerge from the darkness.

Jordan and Gwen stumbled into the wall as Dillon swung his torch at the leaping creature. The flaming stick hit the beast right on one of its bulbous eyes and sent it flying to the floor. The thing screeched and stumbled around, trying to get up. Dillon hit it again and again until thick black goo came spraying out of it. It twitched a little and then stopped moving. Surprisingly the torch still held a bit of a flame, albeit less than before.

Gwen broke into tears as Jordan grabbed her and pulled her away from the thick hairy mush that was on the tunnel floor.

“What was … ” Jordan began to say but Dillon put up a hand to silence him.

“Do you hear that?” he asked sharply.

Jordan cupped Gwen’s mouth with his hand as he listened. “I hear—” he began to say when they suddenly saw it: dozens of yellow eyes coming at them from out of the gloom through the passage they just came down. Jordan shined his light in that direction and, as the creatures came into its glow, they screeched and slowed, but continued to advance.

“They don’t like the light!” Jordan yelled as he and his siblings started backing away.

“Quick then! We need to move further down the tunnel. Keep shining the light back there as we run,” Dillon instructed Jordan.

As they moved, one of the creatures broke free from the pack, climbed the wall and scurried across the roof. Dillon glanced back just in time to see it coming down at Jordan. Reflexively, his brother shot out his hand that had the knife and stabbed the creature right in one of its bulging eyes. He was forced to run backwards as he tried to keep the light shining down the passage. The thing screeched and snapped at Jordan with its pincers. Jordan hit it with the flashlight a couple of times then quickly flicked his wrist and sent the beast sprawling to the floor.

Dillon turned his head again and ran even faster with Gwen in tow.

Every time he turned and glanced back to see how Jordan was making out, he noticed that more of the creatures were trying to break free of the immediate glow of the flashlight.

Dillon noticed that Jordan was trying hard to keep himself from stumbling as the torch wasn’t putting out as much light as it was earlier, the flashlight was beginning to dim, and the tunnel in front of them was getting darker. Thankfully the light glow from the fungi on the ceiling helped to illuminate some of the dark spots. The kids moved as fast as they could but the creatures were still gaining on them.

As Dillon ran he started to hear what sounded like a waterfall. “Great!” he said out loud as he knew what was coming. Sure enough, the passage led out onto a ledge with open air and darkness before them. He knew this was here because of his dreams, but the dreams never showed him whether or not they survive the fall. At that moment the troubling thought hit him that maybe that’s why he never had any dreams about experiences that stretched beyond this point?

He stopped a few feet before the ledge and put his arm out in order to grab Gwen. She stopped abruptly, being startled when Dillon grabbed her. Jordan came through last. He quickly came up to them and turned fully around to face the tunnel they had just come through. He was out of breath—they all were.

Dillon turned to see that the creatures had started to make their way onto the ledge. They slowed and started to fan out as if to corner their prey.

“What’s the call little bro?” Jordan asked between gasps.

Dillon shook his head in disbelief. “There’s only one thing we can do,” he replied as he grabbed Gwen, looked at Jordan for a moment, and then leaped from the ledge and into the darkness. Gwen let out a shriek of surprise as her and Dillon fell from view.

Jordan watched in horror as his brother and sister plunged into the gloom. He looked back at the creatures who snapped at him with their pincers as they stalked in. His heart pounded in his chest, and his breathing came in quick gasps as his lungs tried to pull in the much needed air.

He waved the flashlight around menacingly trying to keep the creatures at bay. One of them broke free from the pack and leaped at him. Reflexively he swung the flashlight and batted the thing as hard as he could on its bulbous body which sent it flying over the edge of the cliff. Its squeal was horrifying as it plunged into the darkness.

Before anymore could attempt to strike a killing blow at their prey Jordan turned and leaped from the ledge.

23

The Lab

Dillon could feel the rush of the cool air as he and Gwen plummeted into the dark. Despite having to hang onto his little sister he somehow managed to keep hold of the torch with his other hand. The flame whipped wildly in the air but refused to extinguish.

Gwen continued to scream as they fell. Dillon’s heart pounded, and his stomach felt as though it was stuck in his throat. He tried to look down to see if the light illuminated enough of their fall in order to get a glimpse of what was coming, but tears streamed from his eyes which made it impossible to tell. Then he felt it: the cold rush of water encompass his body. The torch went out. Dillon instinctively let go of his sister and torch as he tried frantically to surface. As his head popped out of the water his lungs forced him to take in a deep breath. A moment later Gwen came up, gasping for air. Dillon quickly swam over and grabbed her just under the arms. Gwen kick and thrashed about wildly. Dillon did everything he could to hold on without both of them going under.

“Gwen!” he yelled, trying to get her attention. “Gwen, it’s okay. I’ve got you,” he said, this time in a calmer voice. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

After a moment he managed to calm her down as he swam them both to the side. He wasn’t sure if Jordan was coming. He hoped that Jordan was coming. But he didn’t want to be in the way of him landing in the water.

As he swam he looked around and noticed that the room they were in seemed to be lit up by that same glowing substance they had seen earlier. About a dozen feet or so from where they were was a ledge that opened up onto solid ground. It looked like an open room as Dillon could make out in the dim glow a door at the far end. His mind had trouble processing it as it seemed out of place from the rest of the tunnels they had been through, and this underground cavern and waterway.

As he swam harder in an effort to get him and Gwen to the shore he noticed a light from above swirling around in all directions and coming in fast. Jordan’s screams could be heard echoing around as he descended rapidly. Dillon kicked even harder, trying to put more distance between Jordan and themselves. Jordan hit the water—waves exploding all around from the impact. Dillon and Gwen got hit by the wave. It drenched them all over again, but the impact helped to propel them closer to the shore.

“We’re over here!” Dillon hollered as soon as he noticed Jordan surface. His legs felt as though they were about to give out, but as he reached back with his hand he felt the edge of the shoreline.

With as much energy as he could muster he pulled Gwen closer to the solid ground. “Here Gwen. Grab onto this,” he said through gritted teeth.

Once they were out of the water they flopped over onto their backs and lay there, trying to catch their breaths. A moment later Jordan joined them.

“Well … that was … fun,” Jordan said between gasps of breath.

Dillon got up, took his pack off, and slung it to the side before flopping back down again.

Another long moment went by before they heard Gwen say, “I’m cold.”

Jordan quickly moved up close beside her and wrapped her in a big hug. “It’s okay,” he said reassuringly. “It’s actually not that cold down here.” By saying that he was telling the truth. In fact, the temperature down there was quite warm. “Trust me. You’ll warm up right away.”

Dillon grabbed his pack again as he rose to his feet. “I don’t suppose that flashlight still works?” he asked his brother.

Surprisingly, Jordan still had it in his grasp but the light was out. He shook it a few times and water came