Dillon Hunt And The Desert Oasis Resort by Chad Stewart (books suggested by bill gates txt) 📕

“Or maybe not,” replied Dillon as he moved toward Derek who had stepped away from the wall. Dillon looked closely at Derek’s shoulder where he had slung the pack. Derek looked back at him curiously trying to discern where he was staring.

Dillon reached up and touched a loose thread on the bag that was apparently wavering in the breeze. But they were inside and there shouldn’t be any breeze except from an air conditioning unit and the air conditioning vent was on the other side of the room. Derek looked down and saw it as well. Dillon followed the direction of where he thought the breeze was coming from. He put his hand to the floor and moved it ever-so-slightly along. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Then, out of the corner of his eye he saw the needle on the watch-compass spinning in circles.

He felt around on the floor with more determination until he felt it. There was a light breeze coming up from between one of the seams in the tile flooring. “Feel this!” Dillon exclaimed.

Derek put his hand to the floor and felt the same light breeze coming up from somewhere below. They exchanged knowing looks. “There’s an open space down there,” Derek said excitedly.

“Ya, but where’s the latch?”

The tile had lots of grooves and smooth rock formations all over it. As Dillon moved his hand slowly along its surface he felt an unnatural depression in part of the stone that appeared to be carved out with a tool or something. It was a little bigger than the size of a finger. He pushed down a little on it and felt it depress like it was under tension. When he removed his finger the piece of tile sprung back up to be flush with the rest of the stone.

He looked up at Derek. “You might want to step back,” he said, a serious expression splayed across his face.

Derek complied without even a word. Dillon pushed down on the tile button. A loud click was heard and then a large square section of the tile gave way and swung down—being hinged on one side—to reveal a dark hole. Immediately they could feel a rush of air enter the room from the corridor below. “This must have been how they grabbed Tom Tom.”

Derek patted Dillon on the back. “Good job kid. Now let’s see where this thing goes,” he said, pulling the backpack off his shoulder and kneeling at the edge of the hole.

Dillon looked into the dark passageway, a chill going up his back.

“Alright kid. I’ll see you in a bit if all goes well,” Derek said as he held his hand out indicating that he needed the watch and arrowhead. Dillon was about to hand it over when they suddenly heard a low hissing sound coming from somewhere in the direction of the entrance to the room.

“What was that?” Dillon blurted.

They spun around and saw something moving through the merchandise, toppling boxes, and knocking over racks. Derek pulled his gun. Both he and Dillon shone their lights in the direction trying to discern what was coming at them. Whatever it was, it was getting closer. “We know you’re there! Come out!” Derek screamed.

The hissing was getting louder.

“Get behind me Dillon!” Derek yelled. Dillon didn’t have to be asked twice.

Out of the darkness a large snakelike creature emerged, towering about seven feet. It had a large head, yellow glowing eyes, and two thick arms riddled with scales and ending in three clawed fingers.

Dillon’s face went pale, but Derek steeled his look and tightened his stance. He fired two shots into the creatures torso. It appeared to sting the beast as it recoiled slightly. Then it whipped it’s head around and lunged.

Derek pushed Dillon out of the way as he dove to the other side. He crashed into the wall, while Dillon skidded across the floor, scraping his knees and elbows on the rough tile.

The creature had dived passed the two and was already turning for another strike. It was about to pounce at Dillon when suddenly the lights to the room came on. The creature recoiled at the brightness. Derek shot it again. It flinched and hissed at him but turned toward Dillon. It launched at him, pushing itself with its strong tail. Dillon knew he didn’t have time to get clear and thought that this was the last thing he would ever see. The snake-thing was about to grab him with its thick arms when Dillon felt himself flying through the air to the side as something tackled him. He hit the floor again forcefully, the wind being blasted from his lungs. He struggled, unsure of what flew into him when he noticed that his brother Jordan was on top of him.

“What?” he yelled in confusion.

“You just gonna let that thing get you, you dork?” Jordan yelled at him.

Dillon didn’t know what to think. It seemed surreal that Jordan was here but he didn’t have time to process it. He noticed Derek run up beside him and his brother, gun in one hand and his combat knife in the other. Bang! Another shot rang out.

The creature responded by swiping Derek across the chest with its claws. Derek grunted as three lines of blood appeared on his shirt. By this time Dillon and Jordan were back up on their feet. Derek shot again and wheeled around to the brothers. He dropped John’s pack at their feet. “Take it and go!” he yelled at them.

Dillon hesitated. “Take it!” he yelled again as he turned back and barely ducked another strike from the beast.

Dillon scooped it up quickly and moved to the side where the hole in the floor was. Jordan grabbed his arm. “Where are you going?”

“We don’t have time,” Dillon responded emphatically glancing over Jordan for a moment to see Derek engaged with the creature.

Jordan glanced back then turned toward Dillon. “I see what you mean.”

The snake noticed the two brothers as it backhanded Derek aside. The man flew into some boxes and toppled a couple of clothing racks. Dillon locked eyes with the thing for a moment. He knew it was going to strike. “Go!” he yelled to his brother.

Jordan leaped into the dark hole.

The snake launched at Dillon just as he jumped in behind his brother. The clawed hand ripped through the air just above the boy’s head as he descended into the darkness.

Dillon hit the ground hard and almost started to tumble down what seemed to be stairs, but managed to catch himself. He noticed that Jordan wasn’t there and heard some faint grunts coming from down the staircase. He looked up and saw the snake peering into the hole. It looked as though it was going to try and climb down. Its head started to slither through when suddenly it was hit by something. It hissed as though it was in pain and pushed away from the hole. Dillon flinched, which caused him to lose his footing and he started to tumble down the stairs into the darkness. He tried to stop his descent but couldn’t get a hold of anything to help and the stairs were way too steep.

As he tumbled into the darkness he could hear more shots ring out from the room above. Those eventually drowned out as he rolled and slid deeper into the gloom.