Page 57 of Pandora: Alien Games

“Can you locate the guys, Nephthys? I want to get to them out as soon as possible.”

“I can. Duck and jump to activate the wings.”

I followed Nephthys instructions and my light-weight metal wings opened. I envisioned the guys, especially Hassym, Edoo, and Ashok. My heart missed them.

The forest appeared eerie from above. There was movement. It was clear Nephthys lover’s imagination ran wild creating horrible creatures.

A scream made my blood curl. A sharp breath got stuck inside my chest. “What was that?”

“An Anubis died,” Nephthys answered. “So many of the young men who enter the tomb of my love every year die. I feel my lover’s pain. He’s not a killer. He’s simply scared and alone.”

I tried to focus and send a wave of warmth to Nephthys. I would probably understand everything Van does, or Ashok. Not Hassym, though. I wanted to smack Hassym and fuck him at the same time. We were horrible like that.

It was weird I wasn’t scared of the sounds, colors, and monsters that ruled this place. I understand now why Ashok never talked about it. I wanted to forget this place myself.

I bit my lips and allowed Nephthys to guide us. Another series of screams rose from beneath the ground. After a few minutes of walking, we stopped in front of a tall cliff that blocked our path, its surface covered in sharp, jagged rocks.

“Are they here?”

“It’s the home of one of my lover’s biggest fears. Pandora, how are you with… spiders?”

“I don’t know. We never had them on the space station. I only saw them in movies.”

A path appeared on the inside of my visor along with red dots, representing life forms. A small opening high up on the wall of the cliff wall marked the entrance to the location where my guys were held.

“Why are they here? How did they arrive so fast?”

Just as Nephthys was about to answer, another scream made my blood freeze. It was not a scared call for help. It was a full-blown battle cray. And that voice. I’d to recognize it everywhere. It was Hassym.

I started to climb to save my guys. The closer we got to the opening, the more scared I became of the sharp rocks. If I fell from this height, I doubted even my armor would save me.

“How are we going to hold on?”

“Look at your hands.”

A pair of claws resembling an exoskeleton grew out of the top of my soft skin and flesh. As we continued climbing, my new claws stuck to the wall, creating a hole and offering me a handhold. Still, finding balance on the small path without falling into the deep was not easy.

“You won’t fall to your death,” Nephthys whispered. “Did you forget you have wings?”

That gave me the confidence I was lacking.

Moving slow, I climbed toward the entrance to the cave. The opening was so narrow I could barely squeeze my breasts through. But I had to try. I was following Hassym’s battle cries. He fought something. As soon as I pushed my way into the cave, I saw what.

The cave had an opening to the sky. Hassym clasped his curved sword and battled an opponent way too large for him.

A giant spider.

The damn thing looked like it escaped from one of the horror movies from old Earth’s golden era.

Damn.

It was huge.

It was scary.

It had eight eyes and eight long, thick, hairy legs. One of the legs had a gash running down it and a few drops of green, toxic-looking blood dripped from the wound. Fangs longer than my forearms extended from its mouth.

“The other Anubis are cocooned,” warned Nephthys.

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