An Alex Hawk Time Travel Adventure | Book 3 | Return from Kragdon-Ah, стр. 50
As the next few days passed, the appearance of the zisla-ta became more common. Initially, they were a curiosity, and everyone ran and examined them. Soon, that passed. As soon as one landed, someone would step on it and continue on with their work.
Both Alex and Sekun-ak found that the hunting was difficult. The animals were scarce and nervous before the hunters arrived—as though they too knew a plague was coming. Even the dire wolves on the plain seemed to have gone into hiding.
By the third day, everyone in Winten-ah was exhausted. Alex was frustrated that he hadn’t been able to think of any ideas to stop the pending invaders.
Sekun-ak, Alex, and Senta-eh sat around a fire that night, not talking, but contemplating what was coming.
Suddenly, Alex leapt to his feet. “I’ve got an idea!”
Senta-eh and Sekun-ak exchanged a smile and a look that said, Of course you do! It was the first smile either of them had since the first zisla-ta had parachuted from the sky.
Alex looked at Senta-eh. “I was just thinking of when we were stuck on that tiny island and the creatures kept coming out of the water to grab us.”
Senta-eh looked at him blankly. “I remember that, but...”
“I know it’s dark, but we need to take everyone out to the forest and cut down branches and small trees, then haul them back to the caves. As many as we can get.”
Sekun-ak did not hesitate. He walked to the edge of the cliff, lifted a horn, and sounded a note that reverberated throughout the complex. In moments, everyone was standing below him, looking up expectantly.
He passed on Alex’s suggestion and everyone headed for the forest. Sekun-ak used the horn again to bring the guards in from the trees. He wasn’t worried that anyone would try to attack them with the zisla-ta on the way.
The entire tribe worked through the night, bringing in extra firewood, plus greenery, small sticks, and long branches. When light showed in the east, they were exhausted, but felt they had done what they could to prepare.
As the pink light of morning spread across the sky, Senta-eh pointed due west. Far enough away that Alex judged it might still be over the ocean, there was a cloud. Thinking back to his fifth-grade science class, Alex would have called it a cumulonimbus—a cloud often associated with extreme weather of all sorts.
Cumulonimbus were typically white, though, and this cloud was an unearthly mixture of white and dark. It was millions and millions and millions of dark bodies and the white parachutes they rode.
A sense of primal awe and fear filled Alex as he looked at the cloud, which extended so high up into the sky that he lost sight of it.
“Into the caves!” Sekun-ak cried.
The zisla-ta had arrived.
Chapter Twenty-OneZisla-ta
Sekun-ak, Alex, and Senta-eh hung back, letting everyone run to the caves before them. They turned and looked at the approaching cloud.
“That whole cloud can’t be zisla-ta,” Alex said, then immediately had doubts. “Could it?”
“Drana-eh said they blacked out the sky,” Senta-eh reminded him.
Alex Hawk had been in Kragdon-ah for seven years, but still managed to carry the perspective he brought from the twenty-first century. He lived a life that was primitive in every way, but still retained the idea that, at least at one time, something different had existed. He was still—at least partially—a man of his original time.
Until that moment.
Seeing the incredible size of the cloud, he made calculations as to what it meant, then his logical side fled. The primal need to survive, to embrace either fight or flight, took control. He knew there was no way to fight this, so the flight instinct took over. Modern man evaporated and primal man took over.
The three of them turned and ran toward the crowd that hurried to the caves. The cloud was still miles away, but more and more zisla-ta landed as an advance party. Each time, they took a moment to gather themselves, they launched at the nearest movement, whether it was a tree branch, a swaying hank of grass, or a human being. They seemed to be starving and omnivorous.
As the humans ran, the spiders landed on them. Each individual spider was not a real issue. They could be flung to the ground and stomped on. It was only when they landed in oppressive numbers—so great that they could not be shaken off—that they became deadly. And whatever they landed on became a meal.
As the Winten-ah hit the cliffside, they scrambled up the ladders with alacrity, but still turned and held a hand back to help the person coming up behind them.
The infirm had already been tucked away in caves that had been blockaded as best they could with temporary walls. There would be no way to get additional food or water into them until the threat had passed, but they had given them enough supplies to last several days.
No one knew how long it would take for the zisla-ta to pass. Drana-eh had been too young to remember such details.
Every member of the Winten-ah had been assigned a cave and they all ran to their assigned quarters.
Alex had argued that he, Monda-ak, and Senta-eh should ride out the storm in their new cabin. It was an exceptionally sturdy construct, built to withstand whatever Kragdon-ah could throw at it.
Senta-eh had changed his mind. “If we shelter there, I believe we will die. We may die in the caves as well, but I believe your plan will give us a better chance to survive there.”
“And we would like to have your calm head with us, not separated.”
Alex had seen the wisdom in that, but as he climbed up the first ladder, he couldn’t help but pause and look at their little house. It was beautiful, a small dot of home in this strange world,