by Matt Hilton
‘You guys continue into town and locate the strangers. Keep an eye on them and if they make any move to leave, follow them and let me know immediately.’
He hit the gas and pulled away. The others in the convoy were left wondering what was going on, but without leadership they would decide to follow the others, or turn and go with him back behind their fences: either way suited him.
THIRTY
They didn’t continue far before Po found a wide spot in the road. He spun the car around so it faced back towards town, then brought the GMC to a halt. Beyond the northern boundary of Muller Falls the road didn’t progress many miles before it first went from being paved, to dirt, and then to nothing apart from a few overgrown hiking trails. As Jenny, the server at the café, had informed them there were few things out this way to attract tourists, everything worth seeing was out of bounds on the Moorcocks’ land. Some might say they were on the proverbial road to nowhere but it had served their purpose for now. Without saying a word, Po switched off the lights and engine and stepped outside. He lit a Marlboro and cupped its ember behind his cupped fingers. After a moment Tess and Pinky left the vehicle and they all stood at the front of the hood.
‘What are you thinking?’ Tess asked Po.
‘I’m thinking we might have overreacted, but it was still the right thing to do. We don’t want to bring trouble to the folks of Muller Falls, and besides, what good will it do any of us holding off a bunch of crazy militia men with shit for brains?’
‘Agreed. But I meant what are you thinking we should do next?’
‘You know what I want to do. I want to go back and rescue Elspeth and her boy.’
‘There’s no way we can get in the way you did last time. Even if a posse wasn’t sent after us, you can bet that they’ve got guards at all the weak spots they can think of. Sneaking in won’t be as easy now.’
Po smoked a moment, then said, ‘Can you bring up those maps for me again?’
‘Sure I can.’
Tess collected her laptop from the car and set it on the hood.
‘I’m most interested in the old map, the schematic version.’
Pinky peered over his shoulder as he watched Tess tapping keys. The map Po was interested in appeared on screen.
‘Those dotted lines,’ he said, indicating double rows of faint dashes, ‘I know now they’re subterranean service tunnels used by the National Guard when they were here. Look there …’ He traced a route across what used to be the parade square to a road and hence forward to a structure built into a hillside. ‘That’s where I ended up inside,’ he told them, and tapped the bunker, ‘but look at these.’
Radiating out from the bunker were several underground spokes, some of which led deeper into the hillside, whereas others ran perpendicular with the bunker’s interior, leading away to other buildings on the site and beyond. Po’s gaze ranged over the map, tracking tunnels, and tracing them back to their sources. He stepped back with a grunt, almost mashing Pinky’s toes under his heels. Pinky gave him space and Po used it to step out to take another few draws on his cigarette. Pinky took a closer look at the map and then checked with Tess for clarity.
But she had seen what Po had, and she mulled things over a moment. She pushed her hair back behind her ears, then set her fingers on the keyboard and began tapping. She brought up other maps, and Pinky understood where the night was leading. He swallowed uncomfortably.
Po flicked aside his cigarette and returned to stand beside Tess. He popped a mint in his mouth, and then leaned closer. He grunted again, but this time in approval. ‘Was just about to ask if you could find anything about any cave systems around here.’
‘We are going spelunking, us?’ asked Pinky, sounding less than enthusiastic at the prospect.
‘My name’s Tess Grey,’ Tess reassured him, ‘not Lara Croft. I’m only looking for a route onto the property, not one that will take us miles underground.’
‘Good.’
‘Do tight spots bother you, Pinky?’ asked Po with a tight smile.
‘Been in plenty in my time, but none like being stuck head first in a hole in the ground.’
‘There’s no need for you to come if you don’t want to. Neither of you need come. I can be in and out again like the last time.’
‘The last time you were almost captured and eaten alive by those dogs,’ Tess said. ‘You need somebody there to watch your back.’
‘Those caves, they’re going to be dark and narrow and full of bats?’ Pinky asked. ‘They sound delightful, them, but unfortunately not for a guy of my generous proportions.’
‘Like I said,’ Po repeated, ‘you don’t have to come, Pinky.’
Pinky dropped his head, stared at his feet then shook his head morosely. ‘What is it the Brits say: in for a penny in for a pound? We’re in this together, Nicolas. I’m coming, me.’
‘Me too,’ said Tess. She returned her attention to the map on the computer screen and pointed out a cave system to their west. ‘That looks like a possible way inside. Unfortunately it’s on the wrong side of the river from here, and I don’t recall any bridges marked on the aerial map.’
‘So we get wet,’ Po said, ever the pragmatist.
‘Wet and cold and covered in guano, what more could we ask for, us?’
Po grinned at his friend. ‘Well, you did move north dreaming of high adventure.’
‘True, but why do all our adventures have to be so damn uncomfortable … and wet?’
‘I warned you guys to bring gumboots,’ said Tess, wishing she’d followed her own advice. ‘Hey, look, the river’s wider beyond this bend here, so it should be slower and easier to cross. Once we’re across it looks like we’ve a short hike to the cave system, and if I’m right, this tunnel here emerges on the slope of the hills inside the boundary fence.’
‘And if you’re wrong it could lead all the way down to the bowels of hell,’ Pinky muttered under his breath.
Tess said, ‘Do you happen to have a flashlight in the car?’
‘Actually I do. Let me get it.’ Pinky went not to the trunk, but to the front passenger side, where he dug in the glove box. He came out with a small flashlight that he flicked on and off again, checking the strength of the beam on the palm of his hand. ‘That should do for an emergency, but wait up, I’ve a better flashlight in the trunk.’
Po moved close to Tess, whispered, ‘Can’t think of a reasonable excuse to get Pinky to stay behind, but maybe those caves aren’t the best environment for him.’
Tess shrugged the suggestion aside. Given a choice she would prefer not to go crawling around a cave system leading to who knew where, but when she had thrown in her lot with Po it was in its entirety. The same could be said for Pinky’s loyalty to his friend too. ‘We’ll keep him safe,’ was all she could offer.
‘You still armed?’
‘I am.’ The pistol was in her tote bag though, and the bag too cumbersome to go with her. She lifted out the pistol and gave it a check over before shoving it into her belt.
‘I have my knife, but I’ll source something else if needs be.’ As he briefly told her that there was an armory somewhere inside the bunker, Pinky returned, toting a lantern.
‘Look at what I found. Didn’t know it was there till I shifted the spare tire. It’s one of those wind-up lamps. There are all kinds of bits and pieces in there for if the car breaks down. Couldn’t think how we could put a reflective triangle to use though, so I left it alone, me.’ He jiggled the lantern at them. ‘Makes me feel more like a real caver now.’
‘You said you had another flashlight?’ Tess asked.
‘Right here.’ Pinky jutted out his hip. He had shoved a much larger torch than the first one in his trouser pocket.
‘We should fetch some of that water with us,’ Po said, meaning some of the bottled spring water they’d purchased for the trip.
Pinky groaned at the prospect of being underground long enough that they’d need to rehydrate. All such thoughts served to
compound the onset of claustrophobia.
‘It’s not for us,’ Po said, steering him away, Tess assumed, from visions of being entombed deep underground and dying of thirst, ‘it’s for Elspeth and Jacob if they need it. I imagine they’re not being treated with kindness by her damn in-laws.’
‘We should grab a couple of bottles each,’ Tess suggested, and went to the car to follow her own instruction. She shoved her laptop in her tote and then had Pinky lock them in the trunk: she took her cell phone with her. Phones had proven mostly unreliable out here in the wilderness, but she’d rather have it than not when it came to signaling the cavalry.
Po and Pinky jammed bottles of water in their pockets, then all three of them stood again at the front of the car. They each looked at their closest friends, and further words were unnecessary. They were woefully unprepared for a rescue attempt, let alone a caving expedition, but they were as ready as they could reasonably hope to be.
‘Let’s do this then,’ said Po, and they turned westward, cutting across the wooded side of a valley, following a tributary to the river.
THIRTY-ONE
Her son was on the cusp of adolescence, where he regarded himself as a young man rather than a child, and he saw it as his duty to protect his mom from danger. On the other hand, to Elspeth he was her baby boy, to be coddled and cherished above all other things. It caused slight confusion whenever a threat manifested, with one trying to get the other out of harm’s way to the other’s frustration. In the end Elspeth had to take Jacob by his shoulders, and with earnest determination she instructed him to do as she asked. He acquiesced, because after all he was only ten years old and not really a man at all.
She led them through the labyrinth of tunnels, one watchful eye over her shoulder and her ears pricked for any hint of pursuit. Twice now they had almost blundered into people in the tunnels, but had the fortune of finding hiding places until it was safe to move on.
She’d felt some instant satisfaction from knocking Ellie-May cold, but soon she regretted harming the old witch, because she had ignited the collective outrage of her community, and not least the blood lust of the Moorcocks themselves. They thought they were gods of their domain, so for somebody to strike the matriarch was akin to the worst blasphemy ever. People were now hunting her who once she might have expected pity from. There were families here, and several individuals, who she might once have turned to for help, and as terrified of the repercussions they might be, they would have helped. Not now. Not after she had hit Ellie-May, an indefensible crime in the eyes of their overlords. There were other women here that suffered similarly as she did at the hands of their husbands, and Jacob was not the only child to be abused either, and Elspeth had hoped that once she had gotten her boy free of Caleb’s clutches she could somehow help them too. If they spotted her now, she feared those selfsame women and children would join the chase to hunt her down. She could hope for help from nobody and could rely solely on stealth to escape again. And where stealth failed, then there was always the threat of the revolver she took out and held by her side.
The tunnels were uniform in design, but only to a point. They occasionally met larger chambers that she could only guess at their uses, and some of them met and intersected with a network of natural caves that honeycombed the hillside. Usually the tunnels ended where the caves began, and had been barred off. Some of the barricades had collapsed over the decades, while some had been vandalized. Elspeth was tempted to take to the cave system, hoping to find a way through the mountains to freedom perhaps beyond the Canadian border; she was also terrified of stumbling from a tunnel into a cave without realizing where she’d gotten wrong-footed, because in reality she knew she’d soon be lost and they would perish long before they found an exit. The manmade tunnels, long and narrow as they were, all led somewhere in the site, to the bunker or to an adjoining structure; as long as they followed these then they’d find a way back to the fresh air.
Jacob progressed silently, tripping along at Elspeth’s side. When the tunnels descended into darkness, he clutched at her clothing, fearful of being separated. His claustrophobia was held mostly in check while they kept moving, but on the occasions she’d made him duck for cover, she’d heard his breaths wheezing in his chest as he fought to control his growing panic. They had traversed an illuminated portion of tunnel but were again approaching an intersection where the tunnel at right angles with the first was a deep well of blackness. Elspeth preferred to take that route, where there was little possibility of stumbling into a search party whose lights would give forewarning, but she felt Jacob draw back, sucking in deeply. She looked around at him and found his eyes huge and reflecting the overhead lights.
‘Come on,’ Elspeth coaxed him, ‘we just have to go a little bit further.’
‘No, Mom, we mustn’t. I’ve been here before. That tunnel … I think it leads to Booger Hole.’
‘Booger Hole offers us a way out,’ Elspeth reminded him.
‘Not if he’s home.’
‘Jacob, there’s no such thing as the booger.’
‘There is, Mom. My pa … uh, Caleb warned me about going near Booger Hole. He said that children who wandered too close are snatched and taken by the booger deep under the mountain where he skins them alive and eats their raw flesh.’
Elspeth clucked her tongue. Tales of the booger amounted to local fairy tales, or maybe to cautionary tales designed to keep disobedient children in check. Many backwoods communities told similar stories concerning wild men that roamed the wilderness, each with their particular takes on the boogeyman myth; here it was said that their local booger was a seven-feet-tall wild man – their version of Bigfoot, Elspeth supposed – notoriously violent and a rapist of women: he was the perfect metaphor for the type of beast represented by her husband.
Rather than try to convince her son the booger didn’t exist, she chose to fight through his wall of trepidation with humor. She raised the revolver and wagged the barrel. ‘Let’s see the booger try stealing anyone after I put a couple of rounds in his hairy butt.’
‘It’s not funny, Mom. The booger is real. There was this time I heard him howling from deep inside his cave.’
‘He won’t touch you if you’re with me,’ Elspeth said, growing exasperated and again wagging the gun, ‘not while I have this. Now come on, Jacob, before somebody catches up.’
‘If they do catch up they probably won’t follow,’ said Jacob, his voice barely audible.
‘Then that’s a good thing.’ Elspeth took him by his hand and urged him into the connecting tunnel, and almost immediately the darkness folded around them. He dragged his heels at first, but soon he tucked in tight to his mother’s side and matched her steps.
THIRTY-TWO
Walking in wet footwear was horrible enough, coupled with jagged stones and sharp twigs digging into her ankles and calf muscles every few seconds it was almost intolerable, but Tess continued without complaint. She knew what she was letting herself in for when demanding she join Po on his second rescue attempt, so had resolved to keep any uneasiness to herself. Pinky was a little more vocal, but again, his curses and admonishments were aimed at self-motivation and avoiding turning back. The thought of entering the tight confines of the cave network filled their friend with dread, but Tess would bet her life on him entering it. This was Po’s undertaking, so he absolutely kept quiet about his discomfort. Of the three of them, his high-topped boots would’ve given most protection against the shallow but chilly water they’d waded through, but nevertheless, he’d gone into the trek already carrying some minor injuries. Tess noted he limped on his left foot and avoided fully setting down his heel whenever possible. He carried on though, following the mental map he’d etched in his brain, leading them unerringly towards the cave system.
They almost missed the entrance in the dark. This was no gaping maw in the hillside, the opening was barely four feet high and six or seven feet wide. It was mostly obscured by a pile of boulders tumbled there in the d
istant past. Po crouched at the entrance, one hand supporting his weight as he leaned forward to peer inside. Behind him, Tess checked the beam of the small flashlight given to her by Pinky. The disc of light it emitted was meager at best: a shiver of revulsion rode up her spine as she contemplated entering the cave. She looked back at Pinky. It was late in the evening, thick clouds obscured the heavens so there wasn’t the hint of star or moonlight, but Tess fancied that she could clearly see Pinky’s features in the gloom. His skin was damp and shiny with sweat; it was as if he was partially luminescent.
‘Po,’ she cautioned, to save Pinky’s embarrassment, ‘maybe we should rethink this idea.’
Po grunted, and hunkered down a bit more. He aimed the beam of the larger flashlight into the black hole. Pinky wound the handle on his lantern furiously, causing the glimmer to brighten. He stood beside Po so the lamp’s light joined that of the torch. They both glanced at each other doubtfully.
‘I think you might be right, Tess,’ Po conceded. ‘From what I can tell it’s a goddamn warren in there. There’s no way of telling which is the right way to go, or even if it would lead us through the hill and beyond the fence.’
‘I vote we try scaling the fence instead,’ said Pinky.
‘I second the motion,’ said Tess.
‘I genuinely hoped this would be an easier way inside. I should’ve known better.’ Po stood. The opening didn’t extend much higher than his sternum; it’d be torture for a man of his tall stature to try negotiating the cavern at a constant crouch, so God help Pinky’s chances of getting through. ‘I guess the fence it is.’
