Chapter 6 - THE MAN IN THE ICE
“Dad?”
Static answered.
Then the voice returned.
“Do not let them remove the Heart.”
Ethan forgot the battle around him.
“Where are you?”
“Lower chamber.”
His father was alive.
Seventeen years.
Seventeen years of funerals, unanswered questions, and anger.
Alive.
Ethan ran toward the opening.
Maya followed.
“Where are you going?”
“My father’s down there.”
“What?”
He didn’t slow down.
They descended through a jagged tunnel beneath the nest.
The deeper they went, the warmer the ice became.
Finally, the passage opened into an impossible chamber.
A blue crystal floated above a circular platform.
It was the size of a small car.
Light pulsed inside it like a heartbeat.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Around it stood hundreds of frozen creatures.
The same gray monsters attacking above.
Trapped inside walls of transparent ice.
And beside the crystal sat an old man.
Long white beard.
Thin face.
Torn expedition jacket.
Ethan stopped.
His father looked up.
“Hello, son.”
Ethan couldn’t move.
Richard Cole smiled weakly.
“You got taller.”
Ethan hit him.
Not hard.
Just once across the shoulder.
“You were alive.”
“I know.”
“You let us bury an empty coffin.”
“I know.”
“Mom died believing you were dead.”
Richard’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
Ethan grabbed him by the jacket.
“Then why?”
“Because if I left, this place would have opened seventeen years ago.”
Maya looked at the crystal.
“You’ve been maintaining the seal?”
Richard nodded.
“The Alpha helped.”
Ethan released him.
“What is the Heart?”
Richard stared at the crystal.
“A prison key.”
Voss’s team entered behind them.
Commander Shaw raised his rifle.
Richard’s face hardened.
“You brought Helix.”
“They followed us.”
Shaw approached the crystal.
“Step aside.”
Richard laughed.
“You people really never learn.”
Voss entered moments later.
She stared at Richard.
“Well.”
He stared back.
“Evelyn.”
“You look terrible.”
“You still look greedy.”
She smiled.
“I’ll take that as affection.”
Richard turned to Ethan.
“Listen carefully. Thousands of years ago, something came here.”
“From where?”
“We don’t know.”
“Space?”
“Maybe.”
Maya glanced at the frozen creatures.
“These things?”
“Workers.”
“Workers for what?”
Richard pointed beneath the crystal.
The floor was dark.
Something enormous moved far below.
“Their queen.”
Ethan’s mouth went dry.
Richard continued.
“The dragons fought them. Humans helped. The final Alpha bloodline remained to maintain the seal.”
“The eggs.”
“Yes.”
“Why eggs?”
“Because the field requires living biological energy.”
Ethan looked upward.
“And the seventh just hatched.”
Richard nodded.
“That means the cycle must be renewed.”
Voss stepped forward.
“Or we remove the Heart.”
Richard’s expression became deadly serious.
“If you remove that crystal, everything beneath us wakes up.”
Voss glanced at Shaw.
“Take it.”
Richard shouted.
“NO!”
May you like
Shaw reached toward the crystal.
The instant his glove touched it, every frozen creature in the walls opened its eyes.
