by K. F. Baugh
Tim shook his head. “Look, you’re probably in shock. First, let’s get you to a doctor, then I’ll go contact the authorities and bring them back here. You should not be on your feet.” He planted himself in front of her and crossed his arms.
Sage considered her options. Even as the image of punching him the face flickered through her mind, she knew she wasn’t yet healed enough to force her way past Tim. Besides, she was still curious about his presence. Was it really only by chance he was in the same remote area as her? Probably not. Observing him a bit longer might help her decide what really lay behind his Boy Scout facade.
“If there’s any chance of us saving those kids,” she said, hoping his sense of duty would override his apparent concern for her, “I think we should go back in there. Don’t you? A few more minutes isn’t going to affect me one way or the other.”
Tim took a deep breath. “I don’t think it’s wise for you to go back in there, but yes, I guess Shaun and Tabitha trump that. I’ll come with you if you insist on staying.”
Sage nodded and walked back to the mine’s opening.
“Hold on a minute, will you? Let me grab my flashlight … and a big stick,” Tim muttered from behind her. She heard him rustling through his bag.
“I don’t think a stick’s going to do a whole lot of good with what I encountered in there.” Sage shone her lantern into the opening of the shaft. “Let’s get this over with.”
Gus leaned against her, and she buried her hand in the furry warmth of his shoulder. The dog nosed his head under her hand. When Sage glanced down, she found Gus’s eyes trained on her. He whined softly and gave her a reassuring wag of his tail.
Sage smiled at him, then glanced over her shoulder. “Ready, Boy Scout?”
“I am. Let’s go.”
Chapter Six
Tim pulled away the last of the rotten planks, and Sage searched the oppressive darkness for any sign of movement, animal or otherwise.
“Follow me,” Sage said and led them through the entrance tunnel, down the shaft, and into the yawning cavern. “Over there.” She gestured with the light. “That’s where the coyotes were when I first came in.” She started forward.
“Now, just hold on.” Tim grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
Sage swore in pain as his fingers clamped around one of the gashes on her arm. “Let me go!” She tried to jerk away, but Tim held her wrist tight.
His gaze, illuminated by her lantern, darted around wildly. “We don’t even know what’s in here—coyotes or some other wild animal. Let’s not rush in and get ourselves killed.”
Sage jerked again and pulled free from his grasp. “You need to calm down, Tim. There’s nothing in here.” She glanced down at Gus to confirm and saw the faint movement of his tail wagging.
Along with the many unnatural abilities her dog had exhibited since the night of her family’s death, a perception of danger, even more sensitive than hers, was one of his most valuable assets. Gus almost always noticed things before she did.
Tim ignored her and hung back at the mouth of the cavern. Sage sighed. Even though Gus didn’t seem to feel anything, she closed her eyes and forced herself to listen. Awareness burrowed its way into her mind with a quicksilver sting. Images appeared, staggering in their clarity. Snapshots of life burned into her inner eye.
All the coyotes were gone. Besides them, the only living things in the cave were a few bugs and a snake sleeping behind a boulder.
“We’re safe, Tim. It’s empty,” Sage said, knowing her assurance sounded trite despite its validity.
“Well, I’m not taking that for granted until we do a sweep to make sure.”
“Fine. Do your sweep. But I promise you we’re alone,” Sage sighed. What had happened to the tough guy that had rescued her less than an hour ago? She watched as Tim crept cautiously to the left, down the tunnel the coyotes had driven her into. Gus whined, and Sage gestured for him to follow Tim down the tunnel. Maybe the dog could help calm Tim down. He seemed ready to jump at his own shadow.
“What a weirdo,” Sage muttered and turned to study the various openings around her. To her left, the mine entrance, where Gus and Tim had just disappeared, was in bad shape. Water dripped from the ceiling and trickled down dark, slimy walls to the small icy stream she had stumbled through while trying to escape the coyotes. Sage eyed the decrepit support beams and cross sections installed by miners nearly a century ago and wondered how much longer until the rotted wood gave way and the entire mine disappeared into rock and dust.
When she swung her beam to the right, it illuminated a large cave that hadn’t been engineered by human hands; however, the ancient smoke stains that darkened the ochre-gray walls and ceiling suggested human habitation in the past. Pictographs, now faint under the discoloration, decorated the cave’s walls.
Sage approached the spidery drawings and studied them. Rather than the hunting scenes that she usually saw in ancient rock art, these appeared to show a battle between two groups of humans. She recognized both horses and guns which meant the pictograph wasn’t as old as she’d first thought. Sage’s gaze traveled to the large, dark figure that overshadowed the warriors on the left side of the battlefield. Wolf-like from the chest up, the creature stood on its hind legs with its claws stretched over the whole scene. Sage took a step back, disquieted by the eeriness of the image.
She turned just as Tim and Gus came back through the tunnel. They waded through the small stream and joined her in the large cavern.
“We didn’t go too far, but I think you’re right. The coyotes are gone. Gus must have scared them all away.”
They stood in the deepening silence for several moments before Tim took a deep breath. “It’s time to show me what you discovered.”
Her feet felt lead weighted as Sage led them around the rock undulation that hid a part of the cave from view. Gus trailed behind them. The smell of decay grew as they continued. Sage jerked to a halt when she finally recognized objects in the horrifying chaos. Bones, flesh, hair, and clothes tangled themselves in a bloody heap. Gus whined and settled at her feet.
“Dear God, no,” Tim whispered. He sank to his knees and dropped his light.
Sage rescued it from the ground and used it with her lantern to light the remains and tracks around them. The kill was fresh, only a day or two old, she could tell, but the coyotes had been thorough in their work. It was impossible to definitively tell who or what lay in the sad desecration before them, but in her heart she knew.
“This can’t be them, can it? Coyotes did this?” Tim looked up at her with a tear streaked face.
“Yes,” Sage answered, quietly. “It’s Shaun and Tabitha.”
Tim turned back, and Sage saw him cross himself. The gesture punched her in the gut, and after setting his light next to him, she walked away.
Tim’s words, prayers she guessed, echoed around the chamber, hypnotic in their repetition. Their sound retreated into the background when Sage approached the edge of the cave. A breeze came from the direction of the open shaft, and she caught the hint of another scent, one that had been obscured by the stench of death.
Sage dropped down on all fours and brought her nose to the ground, hoping she would be able to follow the faint scent to its source. Along the edge of the rock walls, underneath the petroglyphs, the cavern narrowed into another small tunnel. Here the ceiling was only a few feet above the ground, and Sage had to army crawl through the last section.
When she came to the end of the small opening, she set the lantern down, its beam aimed against the mica flecked wall. The scent ended here, and she began to dig; the loose, sandy gravel easily gave way to her strong fingers. Before long, she detected a foreign object, something hard and cold. Sage picked it up, and the jagged edge sliced her finger. She swore and dropped it back in the sand.
Sage wiped the bloodied finger on her shirt and popped it into her mouth. The faint taste of chemicals burned across her tongue. With her uninjured hand, she cautiously picke
d up the object again. It appeared to be a broken tube of glass, almost like a vial. Written on the side, she could barely make out the faint letters L O Z A. Sage brought it to her nose and smelled before reeling back and nearly smacking her head against the low ceiling. It was definitely the scent she’d detected near the bodies.
“Sage, where’d you go?” Tim’s voice echoed down the tunnel until it found her.
“Here.” Sage called and, after a moment of hesitation, placed the glass fragment, jagged side out, in her shirt pocket. Removing this clue from this soon-to-be crime scene was probably against the law, but she felt compelled to take it. Sage then inched backward until the space finally opened up enough for her to turn and crawl out.
“We need to call the police. Do you have a cell phone?” Tim said when she reappeared.
“Nope. Besides, you don’t call the police if it’s outside city limits. You call the Sheriff,” Sage said. A fact that she wished she’d never had to learn.
“Well, either way. My battery’s dead. I guess we have to drive back into town. We’ll tell whoever we need to and let them deal with all of this.”
Sage considered his words. “Just how much confidence do you have in the law around here?”
“I haven’t ever considered that before.” Tim answered. “I think most of them are good people.”
“That’s not what I’m asking, although it’s nice to know you think they’re good people. But I’ve seen good people do irreversible harm despite their very best intentions.”
“I’m not following you.”
“Does anyone in Black Mills’s middle-of-nowhere Sheriff’s or Coroner’s Office have any forensic training? Resources to analyze the evidence?” She gestured to the grisly remains at the other end of the cave.
“Probably not,” Tim admitted. “But why would they need to? Isn’t this just a simple animal attack?” He glanced over his shoulder and rubbed his eyes for a moment before continuing. “Two kids wandered too far, ran into some possibly rabid coyotes, and were killed?”
Sage just stared at him, and Tim finally looked away. Letting out a sigh of disappointment, she returned to the remains.
Could he be right? It was weird behavior for coyotes, but … Sage pressed her aching temples. Would the Wind really have sent her out here for a coyote attack, one that had already come to a tragic end? And what about the vial she’d found? And the dark presence that had tried to send her tumbling to her death?
Suddenly, all she wanted was a breath of clean air. “Come on. We can talk outside,” Sage said and jogged out into the sunlight where she filled her lungs with deep gulps of pine-sweetened air. She glanced at the sky above her; it was late afternoon and evening was rapidly approaching. Decision time.
Whatever they decided needed to be done quickly. There wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell she was spending the night here. Not with whatever had shot her in the mine lurking somewhere in the forest. Although faint, she could still detect its presence. Was it waiting for dark to fall?
Tim tapped her on the shoulder.
Sage jumped. “What?”
“Maybe there’s more to this than an animal attack.” Tim said. After a pause, he straightened and looked into her eyes. Sage returned his fierce gaze. Here, once again, was the forceful guy who’d pulled her from the mine shaft.
“There was … something in there when I found you.” Tim crossed his arms. “I don’t know what it was, but I didn’t imagine it. I know I didn’t.”
“What did you see?” She asked.
“I’m not sure, but it wasn’t a coyote. For one thing it was taller. Just bigger.” His brow furrowed, and he shook his head.
“What do you mean? Was it a human?”
“No. I don’t know.” He ran a hand through his sweat and dust dulled hair. “It was dark and chaotic. I heard screams, yours, I think, and growling coyotes. Gus was barking as we ran, and I knew I needed to find you fast.” He looked down at the ground then back at her, confusion written across his face . “Whatever it was, I only caught a quick glance out of the corner of my eye when it ran past me. I don’t think it wanted to be seen.”
Sage studied the dense forest that surrounded them. Tim cleared his throat and stepped away.
“You must think I’m crazy.”
Sage glanced over her shoulder at him and shook her head. “No, I don’t.” She wished she could write off Tim’s impressions as the wild imaginings of a panicked mind. But the growing conviction that she knew this thing, that it wasn’t her imagination or Tim’s, made her want to run back to the Jeep and race for home.
After several moments of silence, Tim interrupted her thoughts. “What about you? Did you see anything when you were in there?”
Sage sighed. “You got a camera?”
“What?” Tim asked.
“A camera. I know your cell’s dead, but--
“I’ve got my SLR digital camera. In my pack.”
“Of course you do. Next to the night vision goggles?” Sage shook her head. “I think we need to get in there and take a few pictures before we report this to the anyone. Just in case.”
“I guess, but we’ve got to hurry. It’ll be dark soon, and I don’t have my overnight gear. Not that I’d stay here.” He shuddered and walked over to his backpack.
Sage watched him sort through his pack’s contents, her mind hijacked by the remains in the cave. Revulsion gnawed at her stomach. Her suggestion to photograph the evidence in the mine was a Hail Mary pass. No matter what Sage did, no matter what plan she came up with, two young lives had been snuffed out. Nothing she could do would change that. A deep sadness overwhelmed her, and Sage gasped as it constricted her lungs.
Get ahold of yourself! She forced herself to take several deep breaths. Whatever had happened in that cave, she needed to give it her full attention, without any emotions splitting her focus. Sage closed her eyes and forced herself to picture a closet in an endless, sterile hallway. After opening the door, Sage shoved everything she was feeling, the pain, the fear, the anger, onto the shelves of the dark room. The door of the mental storage closet clicked shut, and Sage saw herself flip the lock.
She opened her eyes and listened to the chattering of two chipmunks wrestling in the branches above her while Tim removed his camera from its case and cleaned the lens. A small whisper of relief threaded through her now desensitized mind. At least she didn’t have to go back into the mine alone.
Chapter Seven
Tim and Sage spent a hurried half-hour photographing anything they thought could be a clue: the remains and the perimeter around them, blood stains on the cave floor, the new nails on the boards used to cover the cave entrance, even the pictographs on the cave wall. Tim’s digital SLR camera had a great flash and amazing resolution. He assured Sage that they’d be able to examine everything in detail, even magnified, after he downloaded the pictures onto his computer.
“Magnified, great,” Sage echoed. Glancing down at the gnawed, bloody heap of bones, Sage forced the rising bile back down her throat. She took several more shots then returned the camera to Tim.
As Tim moved to take a few more pictures, Sage glanced over her shoulder to the tunnel the coyote creature had forced her down. The dark, gaping passage called to her. She had avoided it since they had re-entered the mineshaft, yet she felt inexorably drawn to it. Shining her light into its shadows, Sage gathered her courage and forced herself back down the tunnel. The icy water enveloped her legs again, but finding footing was much easier with the help of her lantern. The water disappeared from where it came, back under the mountain about a 100 feet down the constricting tunnel. On the bank of the small stream, Sage knelt to study the dusty ground. A distinct set of paw prints marked the dirt, much larger than normal coyote impressions.
“Tim,” she hollered. “Come take a picture of this.”
“Coming.” His flashlight bounced and water splashed as he descended into the bowels of the mountain.
“Gus, sit,” Sage order
ed, not wanting the dog to disturb what she’d discovered. “That paw print.” She pointed as Tim knelt next to her. “See how one pad is shorter and sticks out at a strange angle from the others? I think it must be broken or deformed. Can you get a picture of it?”
“Good idea.” Tim snapped several photos from different angles. “A park ranger might be able to identify it. Plus if there’s a pack of infected coyotes, they need to either put them down or treat them.”
“So we’re back to the coyote story?”
“Regardless of what else may or may not have been in this cave, we both agree there were coyotes, right?” Tim glanced up at her.
“Yes.”
“And they were incredibly aggressive toward you. That alone merits a report to Parks and Wildlife.”
“I guess.” Sage rose and followed the tracks another twenty yards. “Good thing you came when you did.” She gestured with her lantern when Tim and Gus approached. He shined his beam down into darkness, and they peered into the jagged opening that Sage had dangled from earlier.
“Looks pretty deep,” he said, his voice distorted by an echo. “I wonder how far it goes.”
Sage picked up a rock and dropped it down the chasm. “One one thousand, two one thousand …” She got to seven one thousand before they heard an audible plunk. “About eight hundred feet, I’d guess, give or take.” Her words faded away and deep silence surrounded them, interrupted only by the irregular plink of dripping water.
“So it forced you down here?” Tim asked.
“Yep.”
“It’s almost like it knew what it was doing.” His voice dropped to a whisper.
“Almost.” A shiver raced across her shoulders, and Sage wanted nothing more than to feel sunlight on her face again. “Let’s get out of here. I think we got everything.”
Not caring if Tim followed, she turned and jogged back up the mineshaft. The jog turned into a sprint, and she stumbled over the rotten planks of wood they’d left near the opening. Sage barely made it to the edge of the clearing before she fell to the ground and vomited. Over and over, she heaved, even when nothing remained in her trembling body. She heard Gus whine and felt him settle against her back.
