One of the villagers, a male, starts yelling something in his native tongue. Rugged walks over to him and starts conversing.
"Well?" asks Hack.
"Well it looks like Explode's tactics worked. This boy has the stone," replies Rugged.
Explode grins, "See, I fucking told you."
Hack approaches the villager who appears to be in his late teens early twenties. "Ask him where the Tomb is located."
Rugged and the villager exchange words, "He said he will show you if you spare his people."
"Brave for his age. Admirable. Okay, tell him no problem, consider it done," answers Hack to the dismay of Explode who mumbles something and walks off into the bush. Hack continues, "But assure him that if this is a trick, that we will return and slaughter every last one of them while he is forced to watch."
Rugged relays the message, the villager replies. Rugged confirms to Hack, "Understood."
"Good," Hack orders everyone to release the villagers and head back to camp. Everyone does as told.
Chapter Four
Back at camp, all the members of the expedition are present, including their new captive. Gladiator is over in a clearing doing push-ups. Explode is sitting on a rock cleaning his gun. Rugged is catching a nap in the shade of a tree. Zarr, Razz and Tripwire are sitting by a fire laughing about something. Bebida is leaning back against a tree, enjoying its shade and a drink from his canteen.
Hack walks past everyone toward Xiona, who is staring out into an open field. He passes the tree the villager is tied to. Shadow is perched above on a branch of the same tree. She stares down at Hack. He doesn’t notice.
“Xiona Chang, right?” Hack attempts to make small talk as he sits down next to her.
“What is it that you want?”
“I just felt like talking, that’s all.”
“No you don’t. All of you are so readable. You want information.”
Hack feels uncomfortable and embarrassed that she saw right through him. He’s never been too good at talking to women.
“Ok, you got me. As you can tell, I’m an information junkie. That’s why I always have my laptop.”
“Your point?”
“Well my point is. I don’t understand why I was told to lead this part of the expedition.”
“I thought you weren’t told ‘to lead’.”
“I lied.” Hack answered, smiling like a child who just got caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
Xiona finally breaks her usual serious demeanor and serene look with a slight smile. “OK, I don’t have an answer to that question but what else would you like to know?”
Hack says, “OK. Well first, several members of this group don’t seem to exist anywhere but here. There’s nothing, nada, zilch on them. I’ve looked high and low and everywhere in between. And I have so many sources that I could tell you if Elvis is alive and if so, what he’s wearing right now. Wanna know?”
“Don’t care.”
“Good, neither do I.” Hack smiles
Xiona smiles a real full smile. “Who do you want to know about?”
“Shadow.”
“What about her?”
“Anything. There’s nothing.”
“Well, there’s not much known about her. Just rumors.”
“Rumors like?”
“Rumors such as that she is a genetically enhanced assassin working for the Katsuya Corporation.”
“The Japanese Mafia? Oops, I mean camera company.” Hack laughs, as almost anyone who’s into information like him knows that the camera company is a front for the mob. Well everyone but the police, it seems.
“Yes. Rumor is she was a drug-addicted whore. She was taken off life support and her family assumed she was dead. Well at least, that is one of the rumors. Anyway, the Japanese public is terrified of her existence, since it is said that no one who has seen her has lived to tell about it.”
“Wow, what a story. Well I’m not scared. Ok, what about sick boy over there. Mr. Bebida Blood, I know the name means something with blood, I’m thinking drinking right? Anyways, what’s his story?”
“He’s a sad story actually. He was a soldier who was accidentally left behind during an unauthorized mission during the Gulfcusta War. Not able to go back for him without admitting they were there in the first place, he was left for dead. Somehow the information got out to the media and back to his father, a high-ranking official who ordered a rescue mission, but it was nearly a month later.”
Hack interrupts her, “Hey I remember that, ‘Operation Bring Him Home’ The war was over but the Gulfcustans had lost communication with that camp about the same time he was dropped there. The Gulfcustans blamed it on the U.S.”
“Correct.”
“When the U.S. finally arrived at the camp, it was abandoned right? Something about the water supply ran out and some of the soldiers probably died in the desert and that others probably just went home but there was no sign of the soldier. Everyone guessed he died in the desert.”
“That is what the media was told. But rumor is that all 22 Gulfcusta officers stationed there were found dead, most of the bodies drained of their blood. And there was evidence that someone had lived there in a cell. When the rescue party arrived they discovered fresh tire tracks and an unidentified body. This is how they believed the soldier ‘disappeared’.”
Hack and Xiona both look over at Bebida, who has just finished drinking from his canteen. He’s wiping away a red color liquid from the corner of his lips.
“Wow, some weird fucks we have out here with us.” Hack exclaims.
“Agreed. So how did you know that I would be able to answer your questions?”
“That’s why they call me ‘The Natural Hack‘. I’ve got natural instincts. Plus you seemed very confident of yourself.”
“I am.” Xiona said. She looks forward into the direction she was when he first approached.
Trying to gain back her attention, Hack adds, “And very talented too, I might add. I never have seen anyone throw two stars at the same time at two separate targets with such accuracy.”
Without turning toward him and barely acknowledging him, Xiona says, “And you still haven’t. I only threw one.”
Confused and dumbfounded, “If you only threw one. Who threw the other?” Then Hack looks around for the only other member of the group who seemingly would even possess throwing stars. He finds Shadow in the tree not far away. He realizes that she has never taken her eyes off him from when he first approached Xiona.
“Whoa!” said Hack, who was startled to see her staring at him, “I see Explode has managed to make more than one person angry with that stunt.”
Shadow, still perched on the branch, looks away.
“Apparently.” Answered Xiona in a tone that makes it obvious that the charm of the moment is gone. She adds, “Now if you don’t mind, I would like to go back to sleep.”
Again confused, Hack asks, “Back to sleep? When I approached you, your eyes were open.”
Xiona confirms, “Yes, I know.”
Hack shakes his head as he gets up and heads back to join the group by the fire.
Chapter Five
The airborne helicopter, at full capacity, flies high above the jungle. Kain is at the helm.
Hack, who is sitting next to Xiona, leans over and asks her, “Can I please ask you one more question?”
Xiona doesn’t look at him but agrees to answer.
“Ok, thanks. Any info on the twins?” Asks Hack.
“What do you know?
“That they were one of Romania’s most famous circus attractions until they were kicked out, but for what I don’t know. And that’s all I know about them.”
“They were sold to the Romania’s circus as toddlers. Rumor is their unique ability scared the hell out of their parents, but made them world famous. They were kicked out of the circus after it was found out that they had been stealing items from the royalties wher
e they would sometimes perform.”
“Oh I see.”
Rugged interrupted their conversation. “So what are we gonna call the captive?”
Hack answers. “Whatever his name is. What else would we call him? But I don’t think any of you city folk could pronounce his name without breaking your tongues.”
Gladiator says, “We can call him Wednesday. Just like that little villager dude on that one old TV show.”
“I think his name was Tuesday, Wednesday was on that other show and that was a girl.” Adds Tripwire.
“Fine, whatever. Then let’s just call him Friday.”
“That will not work either. That was the name of some cop on some detective show.”
“Well why don’t you just ask Shadow or Kain?” Razz asked.
Zarr added, “I’m sure they’re full of ideas.”
Razz and Zarr both look at each other, then both smile and laugh. Shadow and Kain have not spoken one word, since they’ve first been introduced, respectively.
“Fuck Kain,” Explode yells.
Kain remains unaffected by the comment that echoed throughout the copter. Shadow sitting up front in the co-pilot seat doesn’t look back either.
“Can’t we ever talk without an argument?” Demands Hack as he surveys everyone with accusing eyes. “Shit, we’ll just call him “boy”. Now anyways, we are at the site and the copter is about to touch down.”
“I don’t see anything but jungle. I thought this tomb was supposed to be huge.” Said Gladiator.
“That’s because it’s not revealed yet. The tomb is trapped in time; at the exact instant the King’s wish was granted.” Explained Xiona.
“Uh, how’d you know that? Did I miss something?”
“No you didn’t miss anything. But the fact that she’s the mole.” Added Explode, but this time in a calm tone.
Finally frustrated with all the allegations, Xiona stands up in the copter as it makes its descent. “Don’t you idiots get it? There is no mole. This is one of the oldest tricks in the book. By building distrust, he guarantees the safe return of the item he wants, if it even exists.”
“Yeah, but you have to admit...”
Razz continued his brother’s words; “...you do seem to know a lot more about this mission...”
“...than the rest of us.” This time Tripwire finishes Razz’s comment.
All three of them look at each other and laugh.
“Exactly my point, mole!” Explode added.
Tired of explaining herself, Xiona sits back down and mutters, “Whatever, why do I even try?”
“Are we are done with that subject, again? As soon as we’ve landed, I will use my laptop to determine where we can stand or not stand. You guys unload the copter.”
Bebida asks, “Where we can and can’t stand?”
Hack explains, “Yes. You see like Xiona explained earlier. The tomb is sealed in time. Bushes and trees and all the various things you see around you were not here in the past. The laws of Relativity states that two objects cannot be in the same place at the same time. Everything in front of you will probably cease to exist while the tomb is present. At least that’s the theory. And I don’t believe anyone of you want to cease to exist right?”
“Whoa! Too much at one time.” States a confused Gladiator.
“Gladiator, just please go help unload the equipment and gear, while I measure.”
Hack walks forward, while everyone else is busy unloading their gear.
Chapter Six
The helicopter is completely unloaded and everyone, including Kain, is standing behind Hack. Everyone’s waiting to see what he’s going to do with the Stone of Awareness that they took from the villager, a.k.a. ‘boy’.
Hack is holding the stone. “I’m pretty sure that we are far enough back out of harm’s way. Are you ready and you know what to say when I give you the cue, right?”
Rugged replies, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let’s get this show on the road already.”
Hack steps forward a step, to the mark he had previously made on the ground. He holds the stone upward toward the bright blue sky. “Ra-ja-ka. Stone of Awareness reveal to us what has been hidden, reveal to us the tomb of King Foymama!”
As Hack holds the stone upward, the sky darkens and fills with clouds. Lightning flashes across the sky and thunder echoes as the wind picks up.
With the loudness of the wind and thunder, Hack must yell to Rugged. “Now! Say the words!”
Rugged steps forward, “Mauma sai mauma sai oh ahahah!” He keeps repeating the phrase.
The ground starts to shake. The villager is trembling so much that he grabs hold of Xiona tightly. She doesn’t seem bothered by his clutch. Everyone else seems to be keeping their cool.
Slowly, but at an increasing rate, the temple is being revealed, as if an invisible blanket was being withdrawn.
“Now I’ve seen almost everything.” Zarr states, as Razz stands speechless.
Almost everyone looking at the mostly revealed tomb seems speechless, except Rugged who manages, “Wow, talk about massive.”
Finally the tomb is completely visible, yet the sky above it is covered with darkness. The line Hack made in the dirt is almost lined up with the visible line where darkness and light meet. The violent elements are somewhat subdued.
“Trippy.” Gladiator mutters as he looks down at the line.
Suddenly, wearing her form fitting jet black ninja outfit and armed with tools of the trade, Shadow sprints off into the darkness toward the tomb.
“What the hell is she doing?” Explode exploded.
Xiona yells “Shadow!” But to no avail, Shadow was already passing through the temple entrance.
“What’s going on with her?” Razz asks.
“Yeah, why she’d do that?” Zarr questions.
All questioning eyes turn toward Hack. “Like I know. Everybody’s guess is as good as mine.”
Explode yells, “Well I’m not gonna stand around here all day while she grabs all the good shit!”
“First time for everything, but I agree with Explode. Let’s go.” Rugged agrees.
“OK. I have the maps of the tomb printed out. Here are copies for everyone. We can keep open communication with these walkie-talkies. I have one for each of you, but we shouldn’t be separated in the first place. This is just in case one of you decides to run off on a wild goose chase, a.k.a. Shadow. There are only two paths that you’ll discover as soon as we are inside. One leads to the treasure room and the other path, who knows. But again, I‘m pretty sure one or more of you will want to explore the unknown.”
“Enough talk, I wanna rock n roll now.” Bebida said.
Explode agrees, “Then let’s fucking go!” He flips on the infrared scope on his gun.
Explode’s infrared turns off as soon as he crossed the line between darkness and light. “What the fuck?” he yells.
Other members of the group experience the same as they crossed over. Hack explains that since the tomb is sealed in time, anything that was not conceivable during that time period probably won’t work.
Razz states, “Yeah makes sense but don’t you think it’s quite odd that the only person who didn’t bring any device of the sort...”
Zarr continues, “.... runs into the tomb like a bat out of hell as soon as the tomb was completely revealed?”
Razz and Zarr look at each other, “Hmmm.”
Tripwire adds, “They do have a point.”
Bebida agrees with them, “They sure do, and now what are we supposed to do with all this equipment, it’s useless.”
Hack, trying to make the best of out of a bad situation, “Well we can empty out all the bags or anything that carried something and use it to carry out artifacts. Plus rope and some other stuff are not useless.”
Rugged asks, “So we just gonna leave everything here?”
Explode erupts, “This is bullshit. I tell you what we should do with it.
We should shove it up Kain’s ass. I bet you Shadow is the fucking mole. The Host said he hired her. I bet you, they knew all along that this was gonna happen. That’s why she fuckin’ high- tailed it out of here so fast.”
Hack tries to rationalize with him, “Calm down big guy. Don’t you realize that you’ve blamed almost everyone of being in on some kind of conspiracy? Don’t you see that Xiona’s theory is probably right? The Host said that to plant distrust.”
Explode is beyond reasoning, “Fuck you! Fuck Xiona! Fuck Kain! Fuck Shadow! And fuck The Host.”
The last comment has finally received a rouse out of the normally quiet Kain, who points at Explode, who is about 20 yards away. “Your mouth defiles you, insignificant bug. Kain ordered not to kill any of you but Kain is known to disobey orders Kain not like. So watch your tongue speaking about the Host. Take heed, you have been warned and Kain only warns once.” Kain’s voice was so deep and threatening that the birds and other animals in the surrounding area can be either seen or heard fleeing.
“Oh shit,” mumbles Zarr
“Now you’ve done it.” Razz adds.
The look on Explode’s face reveals that he’s even shocked that Kain spoke, but he holds his stance, “What will you do about it?”
Kain removes one of his gloves. He reaches down and picks up a rock about the size of a soda can. Kain’s hand is so massive that only a small portion of the rock can be seen through his grip. He starts to squeeze the rock. The flames in his eyes glow brighter and the veins in his muscular arm start pulsating. Suddenly, steam starts to come from the visible part of the rock. A red glow emanates from his hand. The rock explodes. Kain didn’t budge.
“Uh.... I think he answered your question,” Bebida says, who had pulled down his shades during this display to assure that his eyes were not deceiving him.
Kain, with not even one bead of sweat, stands staring at Explode.
Explode visibly calmer, says to the group, “Grab some torches, I mean branches, so we can make torches.” He then grabs a couple of bags and heads off into the darkness.
Still in shock of what they just witnessed, slowly and pretty much one by one, each member grabs their usable gear and/or branches and head into the darkness leading to the tomb.
Rugged says to Hack as he walks by, “I’ve got the villager.”
Hack doesn’t acknowledge him.