Sam flicked the light on and walked further into the cave, or at least she thought.  She had no clue where she was.  Drops of water echoed all around her.  This was the cave behind the waterfall; this was where she’d find the answers she sought for so long.

The narrow cave soon opened up into a wide room.  She stepped inside looking for a way out, but it was a dead end.  She flashed her light across the walls.  Several cave drawings lined the rocks surface.  It depicted a black, cloudy figure, jumping in and out of men.  Sam panned her flashlight further along, seeing paintings of destruction, and then other cloudy figures.  There was a blue creature, a red, and a green, all surrounding the black figure.  Sam flashed her light to the last painting.  The black figure was large, taking up most of the wall, but it was trapped inside a cave, a cave behind a waterfall.

Sam gripped her axe tightly, the talisman was dangling loosely from the bottom.

“I see you’ve met the creature firsthand.”  A strange voice came from passageway behind Sam.

She flashed her light down the stone corridor.  Just at the edge of her light she could make out a being.  He was covered in feathers and bones.  The being held a wooden staff with a skull mounted at the top.  He kept just out of reach of Sam’s flashlight.  His pale skin seemed almost translucent.

“You, you’re one of the shamans.”  Sam recognized the being from a picture in Mr. Bartlett’s office.  “One that let out the creature, I’d bet.”

The figure nodded, “A bet you’d win.  Dead for a century, but kept here by regret of my actions.”  The ghastly white being pointed with his staff at the large painting of the black creature.  “We knew not what we released, but by the time it was free, we realized it was too late.”  The figure looked down in despair, “And the Agent of the Institute shall forever pay the price for our ignorance.”

“Mr. Bartlett.” Sam inched forward, “Is he alive?” She wanted to get closer to the being, but as she did, the being seamlessly moved further beyond her reach, always at the edge of her light.

The being nodded, his face transfixed with endless sadness.

Sam felt a burst of joy.  Mr. Bartlett was alive, which means she could help him, but the answers from the being had brought out more questions in her.  Why had Mr. Bartlett not sought her out after all this time?  Was he in control or was it the creature the whole time?  Could she even save the man trapped inside by the beast?

“Can he be saved?”  Was the question Sam finally landed on.  All other questions would just hinder her with worry.  She only cared about saving the man, and she needed to know if she could.

“Yes, and by you only.  You are special in an interesting way, child.  You may redeem our wrongs once and for all.”  A shimmer of hope sparkled in the Shaman’s long dead eyes.

Sam’s brow furrowed together, “What do you mean special?”  This spirit only brought her more questions, instead of the answers she wanted.

“I have no more time on the world.  If you seek answers to the creature, you must travel to the ancient Crypts of Italia.  Deep under the earth you will find the one that preys off of man for all eternity.  It will answer you, but be wary.  You may not like what you find.”  The being started to dissipate into thin air.

Sam rushed forward to stop him.  This wasn’t what she wanted.  She hoped to find closure, maybe a solution to her problem, but all she found was more rope at the end of the line.  Sam reached her hand out to grab the being before he disappeared completely.  She felt her hand soon soaked in the rushing water falling from high above her.

Sam now faced the waterfall outside the cave.  She turned to enter the cave again, but the gape in the rock face was now solid.  She patted down the wall.  It was cold and rigid.  Sam sighed and turned around. She leaned against the rock and slumped to the floor.  She had hoped for more, but she at least knew where to head next.  She would fly to Italy and find the Crypts the being had told her about.  Which crypts they were was well beyond her.

Sam pushed herself up with her axe and started walking around the large pool.  All she needed was more tales to chase around.

Tentin was sitting by the bank, reading a book about superheroes and zombies.  Jack was cooking food with Rafael.  Sam looked into the pool where she saw James and Petyr swimming in the cool water.

Tentin looked up at the woman, quickly setting down his book, “That was fast.  You find what you’re looking for?”

Sam shrugged and tilted her head to the side, “Somewhat.  Looks like we’re headed to Italy.”

Tentin’s eyebrow shot up, “Italy, huh.”  He shook his head slightly, “I got an ex-wife in Italy.  If she sees me with you… let’s just say we’d be better off fighting off an army of hell spawn.”

Sam chuckled a little.  She looked into the cool water, seeing her reflection in the ripples made her want to take a dip as well.  She could use a nice cool down from her thoughts.  It was a long journey with little results.

A thought started to creep into her mind above all else.  Something the mysterious man at the bar said.  ‘Just don’t get wet.’  Sam looked back into the pool.  Petyr and James were wrestling each other in the water, but something else all-together caught her eye.

Bubbles started popping on the surface of the water.  A large shadow moved swiftly under the swimming men.  The bubbles began surfacing at an extreme rate.

“Get out of the water!” Sam shouted over the crash of the water fall.  She quickly reached down to her axe.

Mr. Tentin glanced down at the water and his eyes opened wide.  He quickly pulled a pistol from his belt and aimed it at the pool.

The two men, in the water, looked at each other with confusion.  James raised an eyebrow, “What do you think…”  The man was instantly sucked under the water, his sentence cut short.

Petyr looked around frantically.  He swam from side to side.  “James!” he shouted in his thick Russian accent.

“Get out of the water!” Sam shouted again, only this time she was backed up by Tentin, Rafael, and Jack.  All men had their guns raised and ready to fire.

Petyr swam as hard as he could to the edge of the pool, his arms splashing water high into the air.  His breaths were heavy from carrying his thickly muscled body to the edge of the pool.

As soon as he cleared the shadow beneath him, the men opened fire into the water.  Water splattered as their bullets crashed through the surface and pierced deep below.  Tentin fired the whole clip of his pistol in a matter of seconds.  Rafael held his automatic rifle to his shoulder, his finger held tight on the trigger.  Bullet casings flew into the air, spat out of the gun in rapid succession before falling to the ground like second hand litter.  Jack pumped his shotgun time after time, spraying buckshot at the water.

Their guns soon became quiet, no longer spewing their fire of conversation.  All four of the people on the shore line stared into the water.  The water’s surface became calm.

Petyr joined his comrades, water dripping from his half-naked body and an automatic rifle clenched tightly in his hands.  Something had just dragged James down into the water.  There’s no way James could hold his breath this long.  Petyr’s mouth pulled tight, his neck flexed tightly, and his eyebrows pushed together.  He was angry and wanted vengeance.

Something stirred beneath the water and the object soon penetrated the surface.  The onlookers saw the body of James.  Petyr looked away.  Sam examined the floating man.  His eyes were gnawed out of his skull.  She could see into the man’s open mouth, his teeth were missing as well.

Tentin took a step closer.  He couldn’t see any bite marks along the corpse.  “Nothing bit him.  How could he be dragged down?”

Rafael let out a gasp and took a few steps backwards, “Ahuízotl is here.”  The Hispanic man quickly fumbled to reload his weapon.

Jack followed his lead and started slamming shotgun shells into his gun.

“What’s Ahuizialtol?”  Sam readied her axe, glancing back at her guard as she butchered the foreign word.  She started to get nervous.  Sweat was starting to bead down her face, all of their faces, and it wasn’t from the humidity.

“The One of the deep.”  The Hispanic man reloaded his gun, “You have to be careful of its…”

A large burst of water shot from the pool, catching the party unaware.  A large mass of thick hair brushed against Sam, slicing her forearm.  The creature’s hair was matted down with mud and grime, creating thick hairy spikes across its body.

Tentin was knocked backwards, falling down onto the rocky surface of the pool’s edge.

Rafael’s eyes widened as he looked into the beast’s eyes.  The beast of legend was staring right back at him.  The beast took one step towards him.  Its front paws were shaped in the way of human hands, the creature’s thumbs wrapping around the rocky surface of the pool.  It snarled at the man.  Razor sharp teeth shown through its dog like face.

Sam ripped off the bottom of her shirt, exposing her mid-drift.  She quickly wrapped her arm with the makeshift bandage to stop the bleeding.  She stood and raised her axe up over her head to swing.  The talisman hanging from the axe’s hilt swayed with her motions.  She didn’t care if it was a legendary creature, she would kill it regardless.

Sam went to chop down on the creature’s hind side.  It was as big as a car, so aiming wasn’t a priority.  The axe cut through the air with ease.  Sam gave a quick smirk.  The fight would be over too quickly, and that was never any fun.

She gasped as her axe stopped mid motion.  She glanced upwards, looking at the tail of the legendary beast.  At the end of its long slender appendage was a hand, just like a humans’.  The large hand grasped the head of her fire axe.  The strength of the tail was tremendous.

Sam fought to pull the axe free, but the beast’s tail had it gripped tightly, and with one flick, the axe flew from Sam’s hands.  It twirled through the air and lodged itself into a nearby tree.

Mr. Tentin fired a few shots at the beast’s side while it snarled at Rafael.  The bullets blasted off chunks of matted fur, but they failed to penetrate any deeper.  Mr. Tentin shouted out over the beast’s growls, “It’s bulletproof!”  He reloaded his gun with another clip.  If they couldn’t find a way to kill it, they would all be dead soon.

Jack blasted his shotgun again at the beast, the buck shot just ricocheted off of the thick fur.  He turned to the sound of a whoosh in the air.  The tail of the beast was swinging towards him with incredible speed.  Jack held up his gun to block the blow.  The tail burst through the gun and hit him hard in the chest, sending him tumbling to the ground.

The legendary beast leapt at the dazed Rafael.  He couldn’t believe the beast was real.  He had seen many others, but this was a story his grandmother told him to keep him from swimming alone.  Now it was no longer a story, and it was about to eat the man.  He shut his eyes.  His muscles weren’t fast enough to move him.  He froze on the spot, accepting his demise.  The shout of his Russian comrade quickly brought him out of his haze. 

The thick brute jumped in front of the monster.  He swung his gun upwards, bashing the beast in the chin, stopping its lunge at the Hispanic man.  “Cyka, you will pay for what you did to James!”  His watery body glistened in the sun as the half-naked man faced down the beast.

The creature swiftly brought one of its hands up, swiping the gun away from Petyr before he could react.  It then barked, spittle flying out at the man, and it lashed out with its razor sharp teeth.

Petyr screamed a battle cry and brought his bulky hands up in response.  He grabbed onto the jaws of the beast, the scalpel like teeth started tearing into his meaty hands.  Petyr’s hands soon became soaked in blood, his eyeballs bulged and his face turned bright red as he fought against the beast with all his strength.

Mr. Tentin shot more rounds into the same spot on the beast’s side.  He finally made headway as he blew enough of the fur away to expose some flesh.  Blood squirted from the small wound as a few shots hit home, but it wasn’t enough to stop the beast.  Its tail flipped about and punched Tentin in the chest, forcing him to the ground with a rough cough.

Sam glanced at her axe stuck in the tree.  It was too far away to save Petyr with.  She would need another way to kill the beast.  She saw Rafael still standing dumbfounded with the large rifle.  She then looked at the muscular Russian holding the beast back with his bare hands, its mouth still held agape.

Sam sprinted up to Rafael, blood still dripping from her makeshift bandage.  She grabbed the weapon from the man and shoved him back. “You’re useless to me if you can’t fight.”  She snapped at him and ran up to Petyr.

The creature’s eyes scanned her quickly, but there was nothing it could do now, it was to hell-bent on snagging Petyr as a snack.

Sam brought the rifle up into its mouth and she pulled the trigger.  Fire spewed from the barrel as the gun blasted lead into the creature’s body.  Blood started to pump from the creature’s mouth and it reeled back in pain, knocking Petyr to the ground.

The legendary beast fell backwards, toppling into the natural pool.  It landed in a blast of water, splashing all the survivors with the clear liquid.

Sam watched as the dog like beast started to sink back into the depths it emerged from.  She wiped the water from her face and turned to Mr. Tentin.  She held out her hand and helped him to his feet, “You okay?”

Jack brushed the dirt off his shirt and went to check on Rafael.

Tentin gave a quick nod, “Yeah, but Petyr needs medical attention.”  He rubbed his chest casually. They both turned to the Russian laying on the ground panting.  His hands were shredded and covered in blood.

“There’s first aid in my pack.”  She started to jog over to her backpack, “We’ll wrap him up until we can get him to a hospital.”  She started rummaging through her backpack when a high pitched, mechanical jingle filled the silent air of the battle sight.

Sam reached into the bottom pouch and pulled out her satellite phone.  She answered the phone and was instantly greeted by a well know voice.

“Sam! Finally I got ahold of you.  I need your help now.”

“Eddie, hold up.  I’m in Haiti right now, what’s so urgent.”  Sam pushed her hair behind her ear.  Eddie sounded frantic, something could be wrong with him.  He was one of her only friends, if he needed help, then Italy would have to wait.

“It’s Breaburn.  He’s been killing the Institute.”  There was a short pause, “I can’t say anymore over the phone.”