They did this in an attempt to  frighten us further, like we weren't already. When they were done changing, they started to circle us like a flock of grotesque vultures coming in for a landing. As they moved, their circle tightened while they darted back and forth to harass us. They did this to scare us as much as they could before they came in for the kill. I might be lying if I said all it did was annoy me but their fooling around did buy us some more time to rest and think.

     They soon became tired of their game, however, and decided to come in for the kill. Just before they could finish us off, thick tree roots and vines covered in long sharp thorns, burst through the ground between us and them. The roots and vines wove themselves together and came to a close over the top of the angel statute's winged form to create a tall, narrow, and strong domed barrier to protect us from them. I caught a glimpse of their surprised faces as they watched it come up before the barrier finished growing and sealed us in complete darkness.

      By this time, my exhaustion and adrenaline addled brain could only come up with two places of where it could possibly be. One was under the solid concrete slab used to cap off the brick pedestal and provide a stable foundation for the angel statue to stand on. If the beast's heart was there, then we were both royally screwed. Because, barring a good sized miracle, I would never be able to move it without help. The one other place it could be was within a possible secret chamber, hidden behind the wooden plaque on the front of the pedestal. I hoped and prayed to whatever higher power existed that the monsters had hidden it there and not under the slab as I made my way to it in the dark.

      As I stumbled and fumbled my way around to the front of the monument, I heard a dull thump and cry of pain when one of the transformed hybrids used their enhanced strength to test the barrier and got sliced by the thorns for its efforts. When my fingers found the edge of the carved wooden plaque, I heard another thump followed by the corresponding cry of pain as a different one tried its luck against the barrier. I briefly ran them over the plaque first to check for any possible hidden switches before setting myself up to pry it off the pedestal. I heard a third, very loud thump, just as I pulled on it.

      The sound of the impact startled me into jerking harder than I intended on the plaque and causing me to fall backwards against the barrier when it came free. Thankfully, Indy had all of the barrier's thorns pointing outwards at the monsters so I came away from my little mishap mostly unharmed. I had been expecting the thump but it was so loud I had half expected the barrier to break from the force of the impact. It creaked and groaned alarmingly for a moment but it held firm, allowing me a brief sigh of relief from my prone position.