Prey

He aimed them at the base of the nearest slope. Mick slung his rifle over his right shoulder and started clambering up.

Wilkins appeared at Julia's ear. "Does he know where he's going?"

Julia shook her head. "I don't know. No one is supposed to have explored these mountains before, but he seems comfortable enough."

And he was.

After climbing up twenty feet, Mick suddenly turned and waved the rest of them up. "There's a cave up here."

Julia glanced at Wilkins and thought she saw a frown come over her number two's face. She couldn't blame him. Mick suddenly seemed a lot more comfortable with things than made sense.

Still, they couldn't very well sit out the encroaching storm front outside. And if Mick had found them a cave, that would be a lot better for their survival. Julia made her way to the wall of the mountain.

Havel had already started up. Nung was positioned to follow him. Julia got in line.

She glanced around and up at the sheer magnitude of the mountain range. She'd never been in so much awe as she was just then. The craggy peaks jutted toward the dark sky, scratching the very heavens.

And it's all unexplored, she thought. Briefly, she experienced a sense of excitement. This might be a blessing in disguise, she thought. A chance to explore the mountains anyway.

But then she realized that the fact they were armed would presumably discourage any real exploration attempts beyond hunting the creature down.

And Julia wasn't so sure she wanted to do that.

Nung's feet disappeared in front of her and Julia slung her own rifle over her shoulder. She grabbed a slippery handhold and found purchase, making her way up in the same way the others had.

When she finally made the first ledge, she risked a look back down. Wilkins was on his way up, followed by Darren and then finally Kendall. Julia saw him looking back at the Snowcats.

Was he thinking about making a run back for the station in one of them? He'd never make it! And worse, if he took one of the Snowcats, half the team would be trapped here.

But Kendall apparently thought better of his idea, if he'd even had one, and started up the mountain as well.

Julia breathed a small sigh of relief and waited for Wilkins to climb up. Twenty feet suddenly seemed a lot higher, looking back down at the ground.

Wilkins drew abreast of her and exhaled a long icy breath. "Whew!"

She clapped him on the back. Climbing in heavy parkas and with a rifle was difficult.

Mick suddenly materialized. "C'mon. Another five minutes and this thing is going to be all over us." He turned and they followed him toward the opening.

In and of itself, it wasn't all that big. Maybe three feet wide by four feet. Just enough to squeeze through. But as she ducked into the darkness, compacting her already petite frame, Julia could see that the cave opened up dramatically on the other side of the opening.

Already, the air felt still, compared to the howling maelstrom outside. Mick walked further on and caught up with Nung and Havel who were crouched by a large boulder, rifles at the ready. The cave opened into a tunnel that appeared to go on for some distance.

Where did it end?

Wilkins and Kendall finally got into the cave and all of them huddled a moment to take a breath and relax. Masks came off, and hoods came down. Inside the cave, the air was still cold, but not nearly as bad as it was outside.

Mick checked the opening again and came back shaking his head. "It's bad out there."

Nung pointed. "Good thing that opening isn't any larger. Otherwise we'd still be catching hell from that wind."

Kendall leaned against the cave wall. "Well, now that we're here, what do you propose we do?" He aimed a gloved finger at Julia.

"What we'll do first," said Julia, "is establish a base camp. We need warmth. Food. Water. Until we get out of here and back to the station, we're going to have to rough it for a while."

"I'd suggest that no one go anywhere by themselves, either," said Mick. "We haven't determined how far this cave goes on for. And we also haven't determined if this is abandoned or not."

Everyone turned slowly to peer into the darkness of the tunnel. Julia found herself staring into the inky blackness wondering what might live down there. And what it might do to them if it knew they were down here.

Vulnerable.

Wilkins cleared his throat. "I hate to be the one to bring this up, but we need a place to go to the bathroom. I'll nominate myself to find a proper place. That wind made my bladder shrivel." He hefted his rifle and started off. Darren got up and went with him.

"There's no wood or vegetation to speak of inside here," said Nung. "Looks like we'll have to make do with a fire from the hexanol blocks."

Mick shook his head. "No fires yet. The last thing we need is to announce our presence to whatever might be in here with us. Our clothes will keep us warm enough. Once we clear some more distance into the cave, we can move back more away from the opening. The air should be warmer back there."