Page 24 of Explorer’s Revenge

TWENTY-THREE

WILDER

A fter making sure Rick really is okay, we push through the foliage, walk across the rocky terrain, and descend the steps Maeve Carter is trekking back down—no doubt after hearing Rick yell.

They are steep as hell and uneven, so I go first, taking a couple at a time before turning around to check on my team. Holding out my hand, I help them down and then continue, moving slowly so we don’t fall. Bits crumble away as we walk and tumble into the crater below.

The jungle must have hidden this from aerial view. No wonder it was lost. If we hadn’t stumbled into it, we probably never would have found it.

By the time we are halfway down, the buildings start to appear. They are crude but beautifully built with open windows and doors, which allow us to peek inside.

The houses are empty, but they look as if people were just here one day and gone the next.

The steps get steeper the farther we go, but I finally reach the last one and step out onto dusty gray rock.

Maeve is peeling an apple with a sharp blade, leaning against one of the houses in the shade as she waits for us.

“About time,” she mumbles around a bite before wiping her knife off and putting it away. “I thought I was going to have to go back and leave a map for you,” she scoffs. “How did you find it?”

“I sort of . . . stumbled into it,” Rick replies, blushing.

Logan chuckles. “More like fell.”

“Ah, that explains the yelling. Did you tell a tree to eat your ass?” She laughs.

“Shit, actually,” Rick replies as he looks around. “How long have you been here?”

“About an hour. I was just about to start exploring.” She eyes me. “If you can agree that I found this first—well, since I have footage as proof and all—we can share. I’ll even let you film.”

“Let us? Like you could stop us,” I snarl.

She pushes off the structure and doesn’t stop until I have to crane my head down to meet her gaze, shielding my eyes from the sun to see her.

“Yes, let you. You were too slow, Wilder. Just accept it. Now, what was it I won again?” She taps her chin in thought as I grind my teeth.

“Don’t worry, big boy, I’ll collect later.

For now, I’m going to document my amazing discovery. I have to get all the good angles.”

She walks past me, making sure to knock into my shoulder as she does.

Rick hurries after her, and I gape. He meets my eyes. “What? I want to see it all too.” Logan strides after him, and then Way and Aiyaret follow as well.

“Traitors,” I hiss.

“Just give in, Wilder. It would be easier.” Way laughs and smacks my shoulder before they follow her down the dirt path, leaving me staring after them, grinding my teeth.

I can’t leave them with her, though, so I trail after them, angry that I let her get the jump on us. She found it, which means the discovery and the money is hers—something I loathe to admit.

It should have been us, but hopefully we can get some good footage so this trip isn’t a total waste. Besides, we are only second to her in a place where people haven’t been in a very long time.

That means something.

We break off into the circular pathways, wandering around the houses while we shoot. It’s eerily quiet, and we remain silent, as if sensing something happened here.

I see belongings within the houses that were left behind. It’s creepy, and I’ve been to some creepy places.

“Anyone else getting the heebie-jeebies?” Logan whispers.

“Me.” Rick takes Logan’s arm, and they look around.

Maeve stops as we branch off into what must be the main walkway, and we look at what is left. Items are discarded across the stone, baking in the sun, and wagons and bricks are dotted around as if forgotten.

“I didn’t expect it to look like this,” she murmurs, and we share a worried glance as she turns and heads down the next street. More wagons are abandoned, and one is even right side up with bricks inside. “It’s like they just left one day.”

“Or died,” I murmur, but how did an entire city just up and go missing?

“What were you expecting? Gold?” I ask her when she frowns and comes to a standstill.

“Honestly? Kind of.” She shoots me a smile that, for once, isn’t filled with hostility or anger. “I guess this is beautiful as well though, but you’re right. It has a . . . haunted feeling to it.”

I nod in understanding. I feel it too, not that I would tell her, but my gut tells me something transpired here.

“I don’t think we should be here at nightfall. We can set up camp up there.” I nod toward the tip of the crater.

“You want me to stay with you again?” she teases, nudging me.

“Just for now,” I reply.

That makes her frown as she watches me. “Must be bad for you to let me into your little nest again, but I agree.”

“Don’t think I’m being nice. It’s purely about survival,” I protest.

“Got it.” She winks as Logan calls her name, hurrying past me.

It’s obvious they all want to see the middle of the village, so we rush there instead of wasting time since we are losing daylight. The city was either built around it or it ripped through the center, but there is a gaping black hole in the middle.

Peering over the rough edge, I strain to see any color or earth inside, but the hole seems to go on forever. There is only inky blackness, which makes it impossible to see, so I lean back, but my boots slip in the loose rocks at the rim.

Rocks shift under my feet, crashing into the cavern, and I start to tumble forward, when Maeve catches my arm, pulling me back.

“Careful, idiot.” She chuckles before following the others, circling as they film.

I watch her for a moment, trying to calm my erratic heartbeat.

I tell myself it’s from the near miss and not the warmth of her touch.

Dragging my gaze away from her and my team, I scan the edge of the hole, wondering if it was a natural disaster or if it has always been here.

Something farther down catches my eye. Moving in the opposite direction of my team, I carefully pick my way across the uneven rock until I can crouch closer to it.

For a moment, I can’t seem to comprehend what I’m seeing, or maybe it’s my brain, but when it does, I go cold all over. That same feeling from the other night when I knew something was wrong courses through me.

In the dirt and rocks, there are claw marks leading from the edge of the hole, as if whatever creature made it had climbed in or out.

Putting my hand up against the grooves, I frown at the size. What wild animal did this, and was it before or after the people who lived here left?

“Yo, Wild, come get in the picture!” Rick calls, and I lift my head to see them gathered before the chasm, crouched together with a camera set up a few feet from them.

Even Maeve is involved, positioned between Way and Rick.

Rolling my eyes, I spare the claw marks one last look before I stand and dust off my hands.

I tell myself it could have been here for years, maybe as long as the village. It’s nothing to worry about.

Nothing at all.

I squeeze in on the end, and Logan wraps his arm around me, dragging me closer until we squish together.

“Okay, everyone, shout, ‘Maeve won!’” she yells, and the camera captures our exact reaction to that comment.

I can’t help but laugh at the angry look I must be aiming her way, and the camera snaps again.

“Alright, fuckers. Get out of the frame. I’m going to record some footage since I’m the one who found it.

” She winks at me, purposely trying to piss me off, and I wonder if Way is right.

Do we like fighting with each other? Turning away before she can read my thoughts on my face, I move over and take a seat on one of the rocks.

She fiddles with her camera and begins recording, then she starts to speak as she moves around, showing everyone what she found.

She’s a natural—I’ll give her that. Her excitement is palpable and real, and she breaks it down easily enough for people to understand. If I overlook her daredevil, no fucks attitude, she’s a good explorer. It doesn’t surprise me that Ajax recruited her, though I’ll never tell her or him that.

“Starting to hate her less, are we?” a mocking voice remarks as Logan sits on my right, grinning at me.

“The way he’s staring at her ass makes me wonder if it’s something else,” Rick teases as he perches on my left.

They cage me in, and I roll my eyes, purposely looking at Way and Aiy instead of her, but as she speaks, I keep stealing glances.

She’s dangerously close to the edge, and I worry she will fall.

That’s all.

“Hey, moron, don’t get too close to the edge. If you fall, we aren’t helping you!” I shout.

She turns and flips me off, but she’s smiling. “The only one who almost fell was you, dickhead!”

I know her camera is still rolling, and I can’t help but smile. Despite her retort, she steps farther away from the pit and gestures to it and then me as if to say, “Happy now?”

“She’s good, you know. I’ve seen her records, and she holds some killer titles and wins. She’s an all-rounder like you, Wilder, wanting to be the best at everything. It wouldn’t be the worst thing for us to work together while she’s here,” Rick says.

“Aiy,” I start.

“Doesn’t seem to mind,” Logan interrupts, pointing at Aiy, who is watching her with a ghost of a smile on his lips. I don’t know what they spoke about, but he seems more comfortable with her. However, I won’t risk the hard-won safety and comfort he has found with us for anything.

Carter can’t stay, no matter who wishes she could.

“So what now?” Rick asks when I don’t respond.

I shrug. “We document and send the footage back, then I guess call for pickup and head back to the beach. She won this one, but there will be others.”

“Are you conceding defeat?” Logan gasps and pretends to swoon. “The horror! The shock! It must be love.”

I shove him off the rock and focus on Carter. He’s right, I hate admitting defeat, but I’ll give credit where it’s due. She found it, so it’s hers. I’ll let her take all the accolades with Ajax and the world—she deserves it.

“Okay, I’m done,” she calls. “I’m thinking we should explore the cavern. It can’t be that deep. We can send a camera down first then repel down.”

I head over, and the others follow. “We don’t need to.”

“No, we don’t, but why wouldn’t we while we’re here? Come on, Wilder. I can see your curiosity too. Deny it all you want, but you’re a daredevil like I am. You want to go in the hole and see what’s down there,” she taunts.

Fuck her, but she’s right, and she knows it.

She peers down at the chasm and then turns to us, her eyebrows arched as she waits for us to disagree, but none of us do. She knows she has us.

Propping her hands on her hips, her back to the gaping hole, she grins at us.

“Who’s going first? Rock, paper, scissors?

” When we groan, she laughs. “What? Oldest first—” Her words are cut off as something appears from the darkness within the hole.

The shape moves too fast to see, and it snatches Maeve then drags her down with it.

Her scream echoes around us.

One second, she was there, and the next, she was gone.

All that is left are claw marks in the dirt where she stood.