Surviving Zombies Was Easier Than Raising Beast Cubs

Chapter 86: Chapter 86: Papa! Mama! Help me! Miko falling!

The ground cracked with a sickening wet sound.

A thin line split beneath Miko’s feet and widened fast.

Kairo shouted, "Move!"

The floor collapsed.

Stone, dirt, and roots dropped into blackness.

Miko screamed, a high, piercing wail that tore through the tunnel like a knife.

His little body fell.

Kairo lunged and grabbed his brother’s arm, his tiny claws digging in desperately.

Nilo grabbed Kairo’s waist.

Tavi wrapped his arms around Kairo’s leg with all his weak strength.

Then the earth beneath Nilo broke too.

His small body slid forward.

Miko slipped from Kairo’s hand.

Nilo lunged and caught Miko’s arm, but Miko slipped from his grip too.

Nilo’s claws caught his tail.

Miko’s entire body dropped over the edge.

"My tail!"

Kairo threw himself down and grabbed Nilo’s wrist with both hands.

Tavi shifted his grip from Kairo’s leg to his waist and pulled backward with all the strength in his little body.

For one horrible second, all four tiny cubs held, forming a chain over the dark hole.

Below them, a deep channel of black water moved slowly beneath the broken floor.

Rot bubbled across its surface.

Pale bones floated inside it.

Something beneath the water knocked against the stone.

Miko kicked wildly, sobbing.

"Papa! Mama! Help me! Miko falling!"

His golden eyes were huge with terror. Tears streamed down his small round cheeks.

"Tail hurts! Nilo pulling too hard! Let go no! No let go!"

"If let go, you fall!" Nilo cried.

His claws tightened around Miko’s tail, but they were already slipping.

"I cannot hold! Miko, not move! Please not move!"

"Tail hurts!"

"Do not move!"

Kairo’s claws scraped across the stone as Nilo’s weight dragged him closer to the edge.

His face twisted with effort and fear, his baby teeth gritted.

"Hold on! Papa coming! Mama coming! Do not cry, Miko!"

Tavi pulled harder, but his weak arms shook violently.

"I cannot hold!"

"You hold!" Kairo cried.

"I am trying!"

Another piece of stone broke.

Kairo slid forward.

His stomach struck the ground.

Nilo cried out as his shoulder twisted.

Miko hung lower.

The black water surged upward beneath his feet.

A long, pale shape rolled beneath the surface.

Miko saw it.

His scream became smaller.

"Mama."

Nilo was crying too.

"Do not cry."

"I want Mama."

"I know."

"I scared."

"Me too."

Kairo’s serious face finally broke.

Tears poured down his cheeks as his arms trembled violently.

"I am oldest. I hold you. I hold all of you. Do not cry. Papa will come. Papa always comes."

Tavi sobbed behind him, his little body shaking.

"I too weak! I cannot hold! Mama will be sad! I sorry, Mama!"

He pressed his face against Kairo’s back.

"My mama said no danger. I did not listen. Mama will be sad."

"I want my mama. I want my mama. We not have come. I am sorry. I am sorry."

The tunnel groaned.

Dust fell from the ceiling.

A black root pushed through the wall and curled toward Kairo’s ankle.

He kicked it away.

The roots above them lowered slowly, pale and slick, reaching for the dangling cubs like hungry fingers.

The stone beneath Tavi cracked.

All four cubs slid forward.

Miko’s foot brushed the surface of the black water.

It hissed on contact.

He shrieked and kicked wildly.

"It burns! It burns Miko foot! Mama! Papa! Make it stop!"

The black water surged upward again.

A rotten hand broke the surface, its fingers clawing blindly for Miko’s dangling legs.

Miko screamed louder, high and broken.

"Bad hand! Bad hand! Mama save cub!"

Nilo’s voice became tiny and desperate.

"Do not let go, Miko! Please! I love you! Do not fall!"

Miko whimpered, his voice getting smaller.

"Miko good cub. Miko promise no lick nose again. Please, Mama, come. Miko scared."

The four tiny voices mixed together in a heartbreaking chorus of fear and love.

"Mama!"

"Papa!"

"Help!"

Above them, Swanly stepped out of the family cave.

"Kairo?"

No answer.

She looked toward the washing place.

"Nilo? Miko?"

Still nothing.

Her ears turned in every direction.

The tribe was noisy, but she knew the sound of her cubs.

She heard Tilla speaking near the medicine area.

She heard Raku arguing with a guard.

She heard Kael approaching from the hunting path.

She did not hear three tiny voices.

Swanly’s stomach dropped like a stone.

She knew that silence.

She knew it too well from her old world.

She rushed toward Tilla.

"Where are the cubs?"

Tilla turned.

"I thought they were with you."

Her smile disappeared.

Swanly looked at the mink cub usually clinging near Tilla’s leg.

"Tavi?"

Tilla looked down.

There was no cub.

Her face went white.

"He was eating with them."

Swanly’s heart slammed into her ribs.

"Kairo! Nilo! Miko!"

Her shout tore across Riverbone.

Everyone turned.

Tilla dropped the medicine leaves in her hands.

"Tavi!"

Kael reached Swanly in two strides.

"What happened?"

"I cannot find them."

His entire face changed.

"The cubs?"

"And Tavi."

The cubs.

Their cubs.

Kael was already shifting.

His massive black panther form landed beside Swanly where the male had stood, his golden eyes wild.

Swanly ran back toward the family cave.

"Babies!"

Tilla dropped everything and ran after her, crying Tavi’s name.

The system appeared inside Swanly’s vision.

{Searching.}

Find them!

Golden light swept through the family cave.

Then it flickered.

{Rot interference beneath the ground. Four living signals detected. Unstable location.}

Beneath us?

Kael entered the new sleeping hollow.

He lowered his head and breathed deeply.

Miko’s fruit-sticky scent.

Kairo’s fur.

Nilo’s fear.

Tavi’s mink smell.

Then he smelled blood and rot beneath the stone.

All of it was coming from beneath the stone.

A roar ripped from his throat and shook the entire cave.

He struck the floor with both front claws.

Stone split.

Swanly dropped beside him and began tearing loose earth away with her bare hands. Her nails broke against the stone, and her voice cracked.

"My babies! Where are my babies?!"

From somewhere below came a faint scream.

"Mama!"

Swanly stopped breathing.

"Miko!"

Soren’s head snapped toward the eastern wall.

His silver eyes narrowed.

"There is another opening outside."

He turned and moved.

Fast.

His long white tail swept behind him as he disappeared through the outer passage.

Raku arrived with his stone weapon.

"Move."

He slammed it into the rear wall.

Boom!

The entire sleeping hollow shook.

Tilla cried out.

"You will bury them!"

Thalara pressed both black hands into the ground.

Roots burst through the ceiling and walls.

They spread beneath the collapsing stone, twisting together into a thick living frame.

"I will hold it."

Her purple eye widened.

"Break the wall."

Raku struck again.

Boom!

The wall cracked open.

Below, Kairo’s fingers slipped.

"Nilo!"

"I cannot hold Miko!"

Miko sobbed.

"Tail breaking!"

The black water surged upward.

The rotten hand broke the surface beneath him again.

Before it could reach his leg, something white shot through the darkness.

Soren’s tail wrapped around Miko’s waist.

Another coil caught Nilo.

A third wrapped around Kairo and Tavi together.

The rotten hand snapped at empty air.

Soren’s tail yanked all four cubs away from the water.

Miko screamed as he flew upward.

Then he hit Soren’s chest.

He immediately wrapped his tiny arms around the snake’s neck and grabbed Soren’s hair with both hands, sobbing hysterically.

"Snake! Save Miko! Bad hand almost eat Miko foot! Miko so scared! Do not let go!"

Soren’s tail held all four cubs tightly.

His face was colder than stone, but his breathing had changed.

Too fast.

His silver eyes flicked toward the rotten hand still clawing below.

"Do not move."

Nilo clung to one pale scale.

"Kairo hurt."

Kairo’s palms were bleeding from the stone.

He was crying openly now, his little fists clutching Soren’s scales.

"Thank you, snake. Thank you. Do not tell Mama we were bad."

Nilo buried his face against Soren’s shoulder, his voice muffled.

"We wanted help Mama. We wanted find proof. Please not be mad at us."

Tavi buried his face against Soren’s tail and sobbed the loudest.

"I want my mama! I want my mama right now!"

The tunnel ceiling cracked again.

Thalara’s roots tightened.

Raku smashed through the last section of wall.

Light burst into the underground passage.

Kael came through the broken wall like a black shadow.

He shifted back into human form before his feet touched the ground.

His hands grabbed Kairo and Nilo.

Soren passed Miko to him last, then lowered Tavi into his reach.

When Kael took them, all four cubs immediately tried to climb him at once, crying and clinging like they would never let go.

"Mama! Papa! We sorry! We so sorry!"

Miko wrapped himself around Kael’s neck.

"Papa!"

Kael crushed all three of his sons against his chest while Tavi clung to his side.

His entire body shook.

Raku reached for Tavi and lifted him through the broken wall.

Tilla caught her cub and fell to her knees.

"Tavi!"

She kissed his forehead, cheeks, ears, and hair.

Her hands moved over every part of him.

"Where are you hurt? Did the water touch you? Open your mouth. Let Mama see."

Tavi clung to her.

"Sorry, Mama."

...

How did this Chapter make you feel? I’d love to know so I can make future Chapters even better. Did you feel sad, scared, happy, stressed, or something else?