“I think they all would have. Nobody would believe these things back home, that’s for sure,” I agreed, looking down at the thing wiggling in Cates’s hand.

Cates began to yell, screaming that the thing was biting him. It caused all of us to jump back, searching for others to drop down when we heard him and Jacob barking out in laughter. Tammy, out of nowhere, pulled her fist back and knocked Cates right across his lower jaw. She hit him so hard that he stumbled back and hit the wall of skulls and bones, sliding to the ground.

“Do something like that again when we’re in a place like this, and you’ll wish you had never met me.”

“And what do you think putting me on the ground in front of all these men makes me wish for right now?” he replied, rubbing his face.

“You just remember who made that remark when you try laying that oversized body of yours on all this comfy the next time.” She slowly said the last, bending over grabbing the bottom of her breast, lifting them, then turned standing with her back to all of us.

“It was a stupid joke, Cates, and nowhere near funny, Jacob,” I scolded, doing my best not to smile.

“And my bull dick, didn’t have you all rolling on the floor,” Jacob stated, which made us all start laughing again.

It was something we always did before going into a situation that was as uncertain as this one was. We joked about whatever came to mind to take the pressure of pending death away from the front of our thoughts. We had all lost someone in our lives that we cared for and would have the fear of losing more every time we entered the domain of an individual that was known for the sick and twisted. They were the ones who had no cares for the lost, that you may find in the hidden traps waiting in the corpse infested dungeons beneath what their master’s called home. The further Jacob led us down the twisting tunnels, the smaller they became and held fewer bones. I could feel the moisture absorbing into my shoes as they sunk deep into the earth that filled the half stone/half mud floor. The air became increasingly cooler as the front of my legs gave way to the burn in the muscles, which was due to the fact that we were now going up at a low-grade incline.

The closer we got to the exit, the heavier the density of vines and moss that draped down over our heads, pulling at bits of our clothes and hair as we walked past. Many times I saw Tammy, as well as Tanda, yanking at a group of vines that snagged their hair like a living, breathing creature reaching out and pulling it on purpose.  Cates used his short blade, swinging as he walked, cutting little that he swung at and letting what bits he did cut, fall back on the top of Tammy. She pushed past him and put herself in between him and Jacob, but quickly moved back when she saw the opening of the exit.

I knew the smell was getting thicker. It was a scent that my senses would never be rid of, but actually seeing the stacked up bodies, decaying one on top of another was a different story altogether.  Each, in many different stages of decomposition, showed the length of time this area had been used for a human dumping ground. It was also all one needed to bend over and lose the contents that were boiling in a sea of eruptive acid.

I was cleaning my mouth with the back of my hand, desperately willing the next wave of nausea to pass by without turning the liquid left in my belly upside down again, when I noticed Jacob, the man of steel, heaving with his back turned to the room, having faced the gore of bodies dead on…no pun intended. He stood up, leaned on the wall, and then looked back, asking, “Who wants to go first?” It was that statement that churned the last stomach remains and I lost it right there, getting old blood on Gavin’s feet. He took in a deep breath of air, which was the wrong thing to do, and turned throwing up on the wall behind him.

“Is there no other way?” Tanda asked, holding the bottom of her shirt over the entire lower half of her face.

“If we want to go all the way back and let them see us coming through the front door,” Jacob replied, looking a little green around the gills. “I do not want to do this either, but it will make us more appealing to the ones we come across.”

“I plan on killing ‘em, not impressing them with how putrid I can get,” Sydney added, with us all nodding in agreement.

Cates growled out a guttural roar and charged into the unbelievably thick layers of blood, bone and flesh with the worse thing of all being the slime that was making its own lake of decaying body fluids that was several feet into where we now stood. There were sounds of sliding in the remains of others, the grinding of his huge legs breaking through soft tissue, and crunching bone ringing out, as Cates forced his massive form into and over the mound that was just as wide as it was thick.

“Climb my back, but do not use my head,” he spoke softly. “Sentries, about a hundred yards away, don’t think they’re breeders, but who could tell by the senses.” Then he glared back. “Will I be like this until I join the dead’s placement…move!”

Jacob was the first to place one foot on the big man’s lower leg, his other leg bent at the knee on his buttocks, and both hands gripping his shoulders as he very slowly looked up and over Cates’s head. In one swift leap and two horrific plunges of his feet sinking in, he was safe somewhere to the right of the opening. Tanda was next, followed by Derek, then Sydney, and Garvin. I stood looking at the strain Cates had in his slanted position, using his hand on the wall to keep his upper body from sinking deeper down. He was now inches from touching his chin to the midsection of what was once a female, and without a doubt, must have been a normal.

“Renee, out…now,” Cates hissed, I wasted no time but my mind was consumed with the two people to follow, because neither was tiny in stature.

Fala was bent down with one of Tammy’s feet in both of his hands and we heard her speaking in a low caring tone. “I want to do this in one movement. Don’t move too quickly, Fala, or I’ll go face first in this shit. That would mean you getting your fur-covered ass stomped by a she-breeder. Do we have an understanding?” He said nothing in reply, that we could hear, but then she told Cates to get ready she was going to use only his shoulders. We watched as Tammy moved faster than any of us had ever seen her move. She twisted up, placing her strength on the big man’s shoulders, and with the perfect count of three, Fala’s push made her look like she flew from the mouth of the opening barely touching her feet down once, before she was reaching out and taking Jacob by one hand and Derek by the other.

Cates, who was on the other side of the equation, was pulling himself out of the gory demise with the help of Fala, who was apparently coming out last.  I think we all took in a sharp, shallow breath when he exited the gore, because the lower half of his face was dripping. It seemed in Tammy’s moment of looking as light as a ghost, Cates was feeling the pressure of his face sinking in. You could tell he wanted to yell out that beast cry of his, but he held it in as he walked up to Tammy, who was backing up shaking her head rapidly, with both hands out. He didn’t pause as he approached her; he just reached in, grabbed her shirt and leaned over.

“No…please,” she protested, but she was already covered in as much of the mess from his face and hand as he could clean off.

“You told Fala what would happen if he made you fall face first.” Cates raised his head making himself eye level with her. “But you never made that deal with me, and well?”

Then Cates pulled her in tight and began kissing her all over her mouth, cheeks and even around her eyes, with her pushing him back with all her might, getting absolutely nowhere. She tried not to make any sound, but the more he smeared her face the more frustrated she became, and yelled out, “You stupid bastard, get off of me!” Both sentries came running in our direction, and all but Cates and Tammy, ran into the forest for cover.