The Medusa
by
Walter Lazo
• • • • •
ISBN 978-1476275307
Copyright © 2012 Lazo Consumer Products, LLC.
Lazo Consumer Products, LLC.
P.O. BOX #690471
Charlotte, NC 28227
Thank you for your support.
THE MEDUSA
“Hey, that’s not in the map,” said Cynthia, pointing at an enormous rock mountain.
“What’s not on the map?” asked Francine, coming up behind her.
Cynthia, a petite blonde wearing khaki shorts and shirt, pointed again at the mountain.
“Oh,” said Francine, “that’s not supposed to be there.”
“I know. That’s what I just said. We should totally go and investigate.”
Francine, tall and dark haired, wearing a similar hiking outfit as Cynthia’s, looked at the strange mountain that was where the map clearly stated flat prairie land and noticed a door, slightly ajar. “There’s a door in the mountain,” she said.
“Come on, let’s go take a peek.”
“We should really wait for the others to catch up.”
“Yippers, they’re sure taking their sweet time,” said Cynthia, wiping sweat from her brow.
There were five of them in the group, all from the States—Cynthia Snow, Francine Douglas, Cori Austin, Shane Pillman, and Rick Bagwell. They were all friends and had been so for a long time. This was their Greek vacation. They were exploring Greece’s ancient ruins, but, loving adventure and somewhat disdaining structure, they had opted to forgo hiring a tour guide, relying instead on maps alone.
Cori, Shane and Rick, all out of breath, finally caught up with Cynthia and Francine.
“Hey,” said Cori, gasping a bit, “is that mountain supposed to be there?” Cori was wearing blue jeans and a red sport top and a baseball cap. She was cute in a subtle fashion, with bright brown eyes, short dark hair, a small nose, and a slightly crooked smile.
“It’s not in the map,” said Francine.
“So what,” asked Shane, a pale young man wearing khaki shorts and a white tee shirt, “the maps we got are fake?”
“They’re probably just old,” said Rick thoughtlessly. He was a thin, lanky, red headed youth who for reasons only he could fathom decided to wear red shorts and a yellow shirt, giving him a rather goofy look.
“Yeah, genius,” said Shane, dripping with sarcasm, “the mountain just grew there in the last couple of years, I’m sure.”
“Stop being such an ass,” admonished Cynthia. She liked Shane but really had a difficult time tolerating his almost pathological habit of pouncing on anyone who said something without thinking. She could well imagine how impossible it could be to live with someone like that. As if people always thought about everything they said before saying it.
“Well, he should stop saying stupid things,” mumbled Shane. He liked Cynthia, a lot, but wondered why she was so willing to tolerate people saying stupid things. That’s what’s wrong with the world, he thought, too much tolerance of things that should really not be tolerated.
“What’s wrong with the maps?” asked Cori. “Where we get ‘em, anyway?”
“I bought this one in Virginia,” said Cynthia, handing Cori a folded tourist map with historical places clearly marked in bold. “It’s a standard tourist map, published last year. It should be fairly accurate. This other one—she handed another one to Cori—I got off of Google.”
“I’ve got this old map of ancient Greece,” said Rick, trying to redeem his intelligence and erase the mark of his earlier comment.
“Let me see that, Rick,” said Francine, taking the map from Rick. She inspected it for a few seconds. “It’s official, that mountain should not be there,” she said.
“The door is really weird,” said Shane. “Maybe it’s some sort of tourist surprise. I mean, how many mountains have you seen with a door built into it?”
“I don’t think you could keep something this size a surprise,” said Cynthia. “Let’s explore.”
“Shouldn’t we, like, call someone?” asked Cori.
“Yeah,” said Rick, “it’s probably not a good idea to touch anything. We can get into trouble.”
“Shit on that,” said Shane, moving next to Cynthia, trying to impress her with his bravado. “If it’s not in any of our maps, then it’s not a ruin, and we can go in.”
“What makes you think the door will even open?” asked Francine. “For all we know it’s just a painting.”
“Only one way to find out,” said Cynthia, and then she bolted towards the door.
“Cynthia!” yelled Francine, slightly startled but not really surprised. Cynthia was easily the most impulsive person she knew.
Francine was feeling nervous. She felt that something wasn’t quite right here, that mountains that are not in maps, especially old maps, do not just appear out of thin air. She wanted to say something but noticed that the others were already following Cynthia. Because she did not wish to be left behind, and definitely did not want to be considered a spoil sport, Francine ran after the group.
The door was an enormous bronze behemoth, stretching upwards of twelve feet. It was built into the mountain, and it was partially open. Cynthia grabbed a thick ring handle and opened the door some more. She thought that the door was going to feel very heavy, but it moved easily.
“Hey, stop that!” Francine said as she caught up with them and saw what Cynthia was doing.
“Why?” asked Cynthia.
“You see, that’s why everyone thinks that Americans are all obnoxious assholes,” said Francine. “We never respect anything.”
“Oh, come off it,” said Shane. “Look, it’s not on any of the maps and there aren’t any signs saying ‘do not enter.’ For all we know, the Greek Government doesn’t even know this is here.”
“Yeah, right, the Government totally misplaced an entire mountain, Einstein,” said Rick Bagwell with way too much relish.
Shane turned on him instantly, pointing a threatening finger at Rick. “Shut up, if you don’t want to get your ass kicked,” he said.
“Nice,” said Cori. “When he says something dumb, you jump all over him, but when you say something equally dumb, he is not allowed to say anything. Real nice.”
“That’s just nature, babe,” said Shane with a little smile, “survival of the fittest.”
“Survival of the fittest is the biggest bullshit,” said Cynthia. “You’re just looking for an excuse to be an ass.”
Shane lowered his head, muttered, “Whatever,” and walked off a bit. He didn’t like it when Cynthia got upset with him.
Cynthia, for her part, was too interested in exploring this strange and magnificent find—something she lived for—to be overly concerned with Shane’s feelings. Besides, if Shane wasn’t such an ass sometimes, he wouldn’t get so much flak.
“Okay, guys,” she said, “you can wait for me if you want, but I have to, at least, step inside and take a look.” With that, Cynthia went through the door.
“Hey, wait up,” said Francine, following. The others followed, as well.
They were inside a mountain. The wildness of this struck them all. Few people in the world could claim to have been in a mountain, and they were. They were in a long corridor, a completely artificial construct with two rows of hanging vines above it. The vines had glowing grapes that gave off a very bright purple light. They could see clearly and noticed that the corridor led to a room about forty yards away.
“What the hell is this?” asked Shane, walking up behind Cynthia.
“It looks like a path towards that room,” answered Cynthia.
“So what are we supposed to do, just follow the path or something?” asked Rick.
r /> “Doesn’t anybody find it odd how this place is being lit?” asked Francine.
Cori tried to reach one of the vines and pluck a grape, but it was out of her reach.
“Everything about this place is odd,” said Rick. It was an odd place—the grapes did not look like bulbs but like real grapes that were just glowing and there was a nice flowery smell in the air that just made him feel at peace. That’s what surprised Rick the most; Rick wasn’t getting a sense of misgiving like he usually did when in questionable places. To his surprise, he felt good and curious.
“I want to see more of this place,” said Shane. The others didn’t notice, but his voice sounded far away.
“Yeah, I kind of do, too,” said Francine, feeling genuinely interested, though a voice in the back of her mind told her that she should not be; in fact, screamed at her to get out. She ignored that voice.
“If the corridor turns after that room, we should probably mark the walls with something so we won’t get lost,” said Shane.
“Are you crazy?” said Cori, horrified by the suggestion that they should deface a holy place. Now why did she think this was a