Page 41 of Tooth and Nail

The site had then become a filming location for movies and television shows, appearing in hundreds of westerns and science fiction shows popular in the 1950s. Most notable had been the exterior shots of the Batcave from the originalBatmanseries shot in the 1960s. Because the cave did have two entrances, a direct camera angle into it could never be achieved without seeing the rear exit in the background. Therefore, the entrance was always shot from a side angle rather than head on for just that reason.

They had to step over a multitude of small, dead albats on their way to the mouth of the cavern and sure enough, they’d barely reached the opening of the cave when a horrible stench hit Eoghan’s nose. He could smell it even through all the protective gear. Thank God Wordy had given them nose plugs. He glanced at Ari who’d lifted his arm to shield his nose, knowing he was experiencing a similar assault on his senses. He reached out and touched his shoulder with the end of one of the canisters of deterrent he held, making him twist to fully face him.

“You doing okay?” he asked.

“Stinks,” he replied with a little nod. The nose plug made his voice sound nasal.

“Are you okay to keep going?”

“Yeah.”

Eoghan nodded. “Okay, stay beside me and don’t go off on your own, no matter what happens. If we have to use the spray, you’ll only end up becoming disoriented yourself. It’s like showering in Jell-O.”

“I understand,” Ari reassured him.

Eoghan breathed a sigh of relief as he walked beside his partner with St. Clair, flanking Ari on the other side. He sensed Ari was capable by now. He’d seen him in action with both Derwin and John Townsend but he still felt better knowing their rookie was protected on both sides by experienced I.S.R. marshals.

The albat guano was thick on the soles of Eoghan’s boots inside the dim cave entrance. He sank at least an inch or more into it as he walked. He’d no doubt have to throw them away when he got out of there. In any case, he was going to be caked with the shit…literally. He made a mental note to tell the chief to have their sanitizing crew fence both entrances topermanently keep the public out when they were done here…not that anyone would want to explore this stinking mess.

Above them, he looked for evidence of a roosting albat or any remaining members of Ralphie’s colony as he walked. It was hard to see anything through the goggles, his watery eyes, and the mesh drape he wore. Certainly, though, he’d be able to spot a BMA roosting on the roof if they passed underneath one. At the far end, a pinprick of light was visible at the exit. He didn’t want to think about how awful it was going to be to have to run the length of this cave, through a literal river of bat shit all the way out the other side if something started chasing them. They’d gone no farther than three hundred feet before he realized his eyes were burning from the ammonia right through the goggles.

“I’m going to try making contact,” Eoghan said. Ari and Wick turned to him and nodded. He cleared his throat, giving the app the voice command to switch to the albat language. “Ralphie? It’s Deputy U.S. Marshal Eoghan Sapphire from the I.S.R. unit. Are you in here?”

A split second later, a high-pitched series of chirps pinged in his ear canal.

“We’re under attack, Sapphire! It’s come to kill us! Help us!”

Eoghan glanced around, noting the stunned look on Ari’s face a second before he heard St. Clair reply.

“I’m here too, Ralphie. It’s Wick. I promise we’ll protect you!”

Eoghan frowned. Giving the little albat his promise was a stupid thing to do. Especially when there was no way of knowing what or how many foes they were up against. “Ralphie, where are you?”

“Here!” A great cry rang out and suddenly a great surge of tiny, black bodies began to ripple along the cave ceiling. Theymoved in tandem, appearing like a huge, black wave overhead. The very first glimpse of it triggered a flight response somewhere deep down in Eoghan’s soul and the feeling startled him. He’d never broken under pressure before and he’d seen a whole lot of freakish things since joining the I.S.R. unit. Still, several hundred writhing, black bodies with black membrane wings and tiny claws was the thing of nightmares.

He shot Ari a glance as fear lanced through him like a knife. What Eoghan saw surprised him. The man was slowly breathing through his mouth, staring at him calmly, limbs loose and ready, posture almost relaxed, cans in both hands, held comfortably at his sides. He wasn’t in a panic, not ready to run screaming from the place, nor inclined to cry out in terror. Ari was nothing but practiced calm and it soothed Eoghan’s own racing pulse more than he could say. He nodded and dragged his eyes up to the roof.

“Help us!” a cacophony of tiny voices cried out in unison just before one detached itself from the roof and came fluttering downward.

Eoghan watched the albat’s black wings stretch to its maximum three-inch span as it flipped and fluttered, diving and then rising, circling, looking uncoordinated as it used echolocation to find them. It looked uncannily like an earthly bat. When a second one did the same thing and then a third, fourth, and then several more, he heard Wick let out a strangled grunt into the earwigs. Eoghan shot a look to the other side of Ari who was watching the dance of albats in the air near the roof when he caught sight of St. Clair’s eyes—eyes wide with terror.

“Oh, fuck me—” This can’t be happening. “Wick!” he called out as the man suddenly broke away from their side, beginning to sprint back toward the entrance from wherethey’d just come. Eoghan had barely taken a breath before the air all around them was filled with tiny, black bodies.

Worst of all, he felt a sudden rush from up above and then a dark shadow crossed over him, much larger than a small albat as it flew through the center of the others, parting them and spinning them off to strike the walls of the cave. Hundreds of tiny screams of panic filled his ears. They were followed by a cacophony of screams as if they were in a World Cup soccer stadium.

The BMA came into view as it flew disjointedly toward Wick who was now running at full tilt, its wingspan impressive as it made a sudden swoop toward their companion. Ari instantly moved, turning and charging after Wick in the blink of an eye. Eoghan promptly followed his rookie, tearing off after him, angry that he’d broken away, ignoring his order to stay at his side, and charging headlong into the fire.

Wick looked back over his shoulder, let out a high-pitched scream which momentarily halted Eoghan in place before he was forced to lift the drape enough to yank the earwigs out to keep the sound from shattering his eardrums.

When he finally got his bearings, what he saw next made his blood run cold. Seventy-five feet in front of him, the BMA had caught up with Wick, all four claws caught in the mesh in front of his face, trying desperately to bite through the drape as Wick blindly stood in place, screaming and spraying with one can, batting at the air in front of him with the other hand. Eoghan realized St. Clair had lost the second can along with the glove and backpack along the way. Ari was still a good fifty feet away from him, but it was hard for Eoghan to see anything clearly through the haze of saline gel in the air and the flurry of tiny, black bodies which seemed to all be descending from the ceiling at once.

Eoghan opened his mouth and screamed for Ari, only then realizing he’d lost his own cans, discarded somewhere in the river of muck under his feet along with the useless earwigs. Without a way to communicate or defend himself and having to fight his way through a sea of disoriented bodies, it was everything he could do not to panic himself.

Wick’s high-pitched screams echoed through the cave, coming eerily close to shattering Eoghan’s last nerve as he concentrated on swiping both hands out in front of him and taking one deliberate step at a time. It was impossible to run in the sticky guano which squished noisily beneath his boots, sounding like sodden bubble wrap.

I have to get to Ari.

The terrifying thought that he’d somehow be responsible for letting his partner die the second day on the job, twisted him up inside. But even more infuriating was the rage he felt toward Wick for having panicked and started the whole thing to begin with.

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