Mists of Dawn (24 page)

Mark’s
mind
blanked
out.
He
kept
walking
somehow,
but
he
was
not
conscious
of
it.
His
body
went
on functioning,
his
legs
kept
moving,
but
his
body
seemed to
be
something
utterly
apart
from
him.
He
was
somewhere
else,
numb,
floating
through
colorless
emptiness.

The
hills
widened
into
a
valley
and
then
into
a mountain
pass.
The
hushed
light
of
false
dawn
was just
lighting
up
the
world
and
Mark
sensed,
rather than
saw,
snow-capped
mountains
all
around
him.
The half-men
that
he
refused
to
see
led
him
up
a
tortuous, rocky
trail
from
the
valley
and
then
suddenly
it
was dark
again.

Mark
realized
dimly
that
they
were
in
a
cave.
Ahead of
them,
orange
light
danced
and
flickered
on
the
damp walls.
Fires.
Sensing
warmth,
Mark’s
body
moved
forward
more
rapidly.
The
shadows
played
grotesque nightmare
games
on
the
cold
cave
walls.

Growls
and
mutterings
greeted
their
appearance
and Mark
found
himself
in
the
light.
A
faraway
corner
of his
mind
was
grateful
that
his
shocked
senses
could not
properly
respond,
that
he
could
not
see
clearly.
As it
was,
he
saw—too
much.

The
things
were
terrible
enough
in
the
shadows
of the
night.
Here,
around
the
fires,
they
were
monstrous. They
did
not
look
like
apes
at
all—that
wouldn’t
have been
so
bad.
Apes
were
amusing,
comical,
in
their happy
imitation
of
men.
There
was
nothing
comical about
these
things,
and
the
worst
part
of
it
was
that they
were
clearly
and
unmistakably
men.

Their
legs
were
bent
at
the
thighs
and
at
the
knees, giving
them
a
perpetual
stooping
posture,
almost
like a
gorilla.
They
had
broad,
massive
shoulders
and
barrel chests.
They
had
huge
bones,
heavily
muscled,
and their
lower
legs
and
forearms
were
short
and
powerful.
From
their
bull-like
necks,
their
great
heads
hung forward
horribly.
Deep-set,
beady
eyes
peered
out from
under
heavy
eyebrow
ridges
and
a
large,
projecting
mouth
faded
back
into
a
receding
chin.
They
were bearded,
and
dirty
hair
grew
down
over
their
low foreheads.
They
were
dressed
in
crude
skins,
and
their hair
showed
around
them
almost
like
an
animal
pelt.

The
cave
was
dirty.
Old
bones
and
decaying
flesh littered
the
floor,
and
the
smell
was
overpowering.
Insects
hovered
around
the
creatures,
like
fleas
around a
dog.
From
time
to
time,
the
half-men
made
spasmodic
attempts
to
brush
the
flies
away,
their
brute mouths
hanging
open,
revealing
sharp
white
teeth.

The
human
brain
and
nervous
system
is
equipped with
many
defense
mechanisms.
When
shock
becomes too
great,
when
fear
becomes
too
intense,
something happens
and
nothing
seems
to
matter
any
more.
Mark had
reached
that
state,
and
more.
In
the
midst
of
horror,
he
had
but
one
thought—get
to
the
fire.
His
body was
cold,
numb,
and
the
warmth
from
the
blaze
was like
a
breath
of
life.