by Tom Hunter
Peter Marx lay splayed on the ground.
As the others had banded together to knock Peter out, Robbie had taken the opportunity to gather water and medical supplies for Pediah. He tossed them to Thomas with a grin. “Did you guys really think I’d sell you out?” He gasped in mock horror, “Come on! Tell me what you really think of me.”
Thomas smiled, “We’ve got every faith in you, son. Every faith in you.”
“Thanks. I mean it, thanks.” Robbie smiled, as Thomas and Alexia attended to Pediah’s wounds.
“I’ve never been so glad to see anyone in my life!” exclaimed Abby. “What happened down here?” she asked. “The foreman came and got us…Peter’s my fault. I brought him.” Abby made a face and rolled her eyes. “My woman’s intuition was spot on the first time. It was the second look that had me hooked. That kid is no kid. God, of all the things I could screw up!”
“Abby, you couldn’t possibly have known,” Alexia assured her. She turned toward Robbie and began, “Speaking of badasses…”
Robbie grinned, waiting for Alexia to add her praise to Abby’s and Thom’s. His face fell, when Alexia finished her sentence, “your mother-in-law is one hell of a badass!”
“Guess the joke’s on me, as they say!” He laughed loudly.
“Sounds like we all need to talk before we hit the hay tonight,” Thomas remarked. Everyone nodded in agreement, and looked down as Pediah moaned.
Thomas’ medical skills had worked their magic.
“Oh,” moaned Pediah. “What happened?”
“It’s a long story,” Alexia answered with a gentle smile.
“Is anything broken? Can you move?” Thomas asked.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Everything seems to be in working order. How do I look?” he asked, the three faces staring down at him.
Thomas smiled, “You’re a bit banged up, my friend. But, not otherwise terribly injured. You just got knocked out and picked one hell of a place to land!”
They helped Pediah to his feet, gathered their gear, and began to move back toward the surface, when Alexia looked down at the unconscious guard.
“What are we gonna do about him?” asked Alexia, with a jerk of her head to the guard.
Robbie smiled devilishly, “I’ve got an idea”.
“Go on,” encouraged Thomas.
“Let’s tie him up. It’s not like we don’t have rope.”
“That’ll work,” Pediah said. With renewed strength and energy, Pediah joined in with the others, as they bound the guard and disarmed him.
Robbie and Thomas supported the guard between them. Pediah between the two women. It’s almost comical, Thomas thought. Robbie and I get the bad guy and the Amish kid gets the girls.
As they walked, in two groups of three, Thomas and Pediah heard a familiar rumble; a slight quaking of the earth beneath their feet.
“Are you kidding me?” Thomas groaned. This could not be happening. Not again. He watched as Pediah paused mid-step, listening, waiting, and anticipating. The others had stopped walking and looked to Thomas. “Is this what you meant?” Abby asked. “Is this what had happened when you were here with Howard?”
“This and an asshole traitor, yes.”
Thomas and Pediah shook their heads in disbelief, as the ground beneath their feet rumbled and shook, a billowing wave of shifting sands beneath their feet. The looks on the faces of the newest members of his team, and the fear registered in Pediah’s eyes remembering the initial survey a month before, crashed over Thomas in waves. His own fears and frustrations about the dig both then and now overwhelmed him.
“I swear to God!” cursed Thomas. “I hate this canyon, this tunnel, and this damn site. I am so sick of the earth having identity issues, thinking it’s the ocean.” Thomas took a deep breath. “Stupid Noah with his greed! Stupid Ramon with his explosives and guns and goons! I mean, come on! What the fuck!” He screamed as loud as he could, not caring who was listening.
“Not again!” cried Pediah. Robbie quietly cursed about bad things happening to good people as they raced ahead. Then above their curses and grumblings, they heard a low guttural growl. They raised their flashlights to see what had made the sound. Giant eyes reflected their beams. Rocks fell, as terrifying heads and giant humped backs pushed their ways through new openings in the walls.
The team turned and fled once more. As they raced, they realized the floor had begun to crack. “What now?” someone shouted.
“I don’t know,” answered Thomas. “Pediah, can you run? I mean, really run!”
“No, not the way I can when I haven’t been splayed across a rock protrusion.”
“What do we do with the guard?” Asked Robbie. “I say, leave him! He’s holding us back and we need to get out of here!”
“No one is leaving anyone!” bellowed Thomas. “Yeah, Peter’s a shit, but he’s for the rangers to deal with. We still got floor under our feet, keep running as long as you can!” A few seconds later, he added, “Look! We’re almost there!” He pointed to the opening.
Then, a loud crack rent the air and the ground fell out from under them. Their bellies rose into their throats as they found themselves falling.
I wonder if this is what Alice felt like, falling down a rabbit hole, Alexia wondered, her mind strangely detached from her terror, as they careened and tumbled – sometimes head over heels, sometimes zigzag, in total darkness, down a steep sand bank.
Forty-Seven
“Whoo hoo!” shouted Robbie, as they slid down a natural slide, far below the earth.
“Are you crazy?” shouted Alexia.
“Well, it’s not like we can do anything about it. Might as well enjoy it!” Robbie retorted. He’d given up trying to make sense of anything on this expedition.
“I feel like we’ve been sliding for… how far below are we?” Abby asked.
Her question was cut short as she was plunged into icy water. Abby gulped for air, but sucked in only water. Bubbles passed in front of her eyes. She felt herself falling ever deeper. Her ears threatened to explode.
Just as black dots appeared in her peripheral vision, Abby began to rise toward the surface again. Every second was agonizing. After what seemed like an eternity, her head broke the surface. She coughed up lungs full of water, and fought to gulp down air with everything she had.
“Abby!” shouted Thomas. He gripped her arm and pulled her free, choking and sputtering. “What the hell was that!” she exclaimed.
Still holding on to Thomas and treading water, Abby looked around for a dry place to swim toward, and motioned for the others to do the same. “Hot spring?” asked Thomas. “Down here? I don’t think so.”
Thomas looked around, “Alexia! Pediah! Robbie! You guys okay?” Splashing water and sputtering voices eased his mind a little.
“Journey to the center of the Earth and we find a pool! Sweet!” Robbie couldn’t believe it. He could have just fallen off his surfboard, rather than down a rabbit hole of a cave. The feeling was the same.
“I’d say we’re a few hundred yards below where we were standing, er running,” said Thomas. “Did anyone else notice it got narrower toward the bottom? Like a funnel? Wait, do you hear that? Who can’t swim? Who’s splashing and gurgling? Oh shit!” Thomas gasped, as he realized Peter couldn’t swim because he was tied up.
Thomas dove under water to try to rescue him. Having taken a deep breath first, Thomas strove to swim toward where the sound had come from. He looked and felt around in the near darkness for all he was worth, until his lungs were about to burst and he had to surface. Peter was gone.
Alexia fished in her pocket for her small pocket radio and checked to see if it had been spared the worst of the damage. She silently thanked the gods of technology, who’d created a water-resistant radio, which was actually water-resistant and tough. She turned it over in her hands and examined it closely.
Abby, in her role of mother hen, took stock of their food supply. Some of the containers had stayed sealed and hadn’
t burst open from the fall. Otherwise, much of their gear was drenched. Abby grabbed for her radio. They would need a rescue team to come for them, if they were going to survive. She shook her head, trying not to imagine what would happen if someone got sick or they ran out of food too soon.
“May day, may day. This is Abby Hogan. I’m with Thomas Knight, Pediah Lapp, Robbie, and Alexia Fraga. The ground gave way underneath us just as we reached the entrance to Knight Cave One. We’re about a hundred yards below, near a pool.”
“Yes, Mrs. Hogan. We’ll organize a rescue straightaway. Sit tight!” the voice on the other end replied.
“Thank you. Oh! Bring tranquilizer guns in case you run into wild animals. Oh, who am I kidding. There are huge, deadly creatures in here. Bring whatever you’ve got. Hogan out.”
Abby looked at the team, which had grown strangely quiet. Their eyes had now adjusted to the near darkness. They were all staring in the same direction.
She followed their gaze, down the length of the pool, and noticed a large ornate door. It was as twice as wide as it was tall. Twelve feet by twenty-four, if she had to guess. But, it wasn’t the size that had given her pause, nor she assumed the rest of the team. It was the paintings, much like those in the room with the stone table. Except, instead of large animals being used as beasts of burden, this door depicted large humans towering over shorter humans.
There were large stone handles side by side. Abby wanted to laugh. It was like the giant’s version of her French doors at home: handles set side by side, which required two hands to open the doors. Around what looked to be the door frame was ancient writing in an unknown language.
Thomas, awestruck, had finally stood and walked to the doors, via a ledge that ran around the left side of the pool. He rubbed his hands lightly over the door frame, across the paintings, and gently grasped the handles. Centuries of dust covered the doors. “Whatever’s behind these doors,” Thomas said to himself, “has not been seen for quite some time.”
Thomas stepped back from the doors. “What do you guys make of this?”
“I think it’s cool,” remarked Robbie.
“I never heard about anything like this in the Bible,” breathed Pediah, reverently.
Alexia pumped her fist in the air. “It means my first dig’s turned up something awesome!”
“We may have stumbled upon something truly terrible,” Abby said. “Is it any wonder it’s buried so far below the earth – in Death Valley? We’ll need to get a bigger team down here before we can discover the truth, I suspect”.
Forty-Eight
Each team member spread out the contents of their packs, checking for items that were undamaged by the fall and the plunge into icy water. Glad to see much of their packs were intact, Pediah took small packages and a few matches he could use, to build the small fire Abby and Alexia had talked him into. Once it was lit, clothing was laid out to dry in the meager heat it provided. All food was gathered to be rationed.
As they went through the motions, they thought about what Abby had said. Her cautions did not fall on deaf ears, but the door called to them. Even in their soggy state, adventure and exploration beckoned. They stood before the huge portal’s threshold. Upon closer inspection, the team noticed details that hadn’t caught their eyes before.
The immense door had inset in it small vignettes; miniatures of the cave paintings they’d come across before. The image of giant humanoid figures and reptilian beasts painted for them a new story here. Along with the large humans being paid tribute by the smaller human figures, they discovered also these reptilian-like creatures had long talons or claws, curled much like the shovel on a backhoe. Could these creatures be ancient diggers?
“Look!” Exclaimed Pediah, pointing eagerly at a large humanoid figure near a large digging creature. “It looks like the earlier paintings we found. Near where Johnson was killed.” Like the earlier cave paintings first discovered by Pediah, the men seemed to be cultivating the pseudo reptilian beasts of burden. Their large claws were digging the earth, so the race of men could build their homes below the surface.
“Yes. And see here Pediah. I think there was more than one race of man. See the smaller figures paying tribute to the larger?” Thomas pointed to his area of the door, in emphasis, Pediah nodded vehemently.
“Yes, yes, I see. What do you think it means?” Pediah asked.
“I’m not sure, but what do you make of this? Thomas directed Pediah’s attention to an indentation on the wall.
“It looks like a door handle,” Pediah remarked. “Why would you need an extra door handle? There’s two here already.”
“Huh.” Thomas huffed in consternation, when Abby interrupted.
“Hey guys, it’s freezing down here!” Abby crossed her arms and rubbed biceps trying to get warm. “Listen, we’re cold, tired, and bruised. I see you guys got an area set up for fire, but are we sure it’s safe?”
Alexia turned to Pediah, “What do you think? You’re the cave expert, the spelunker. Would a fire be safe enough down here so we could dry off?”
Pediah considered her question, then explained, “While the size of the cave suggests we could start a small fire, the risk of a smoke out is too great. Where would the smoke go?” He asked, waving his arm at the walls. “Not to mention, something’s has happened to the structure of the rock in these caves and we have no idea how the rock down here would react to an unexpected temperature change.”
Alexia sighed, “I guess we’ll just have to wait, and hope we’re found before we catch our death of cold.”
Pediah sighed, eager to get back to studying the doors with Thomas. He tucked his thumb in his suspenders and rubbed them. “Don’t let the fire burn too long. Remember, the smoke has nowhere to go.”
“I’ll help you look for stray supplies, Pediah,” Abby said. “The rest of you, sit tight and save your strength. You, too, Alexia. I know I called for help earlier, but maybe you can keep in contact with the rescue team better and help guide them to us. Though, I imagine they’ll see the giant hole that swallowed us, and figure things out from there,” Abby quipped.
Thomas nodded in agreement, then wondered out loud, “Wouldn’t Donald, er Dr. Cunningham, be thrilled if we found something down here that no one expected? Think of it: life and civilization, with a whole culture of animal handling to create a home.”
“Mmm,” hedged Abby. “With any luck the rescue team is on its way already.” Abby looked up, and prayed what she said was true.
“Fine, fine. Yes, let’s dry off a bit first gang. Dry our clothes, get warm, and then – Thomas smiled – and then we can see what lies beyond those doors,” Thomas whispered conspiratorially to himself.
Alexia nudged him, “I can’t wait either,” she breathed, and smiled at him in solidarity. Thomas smiled back. My perfect partner in crime.
Forty-Nine
Huddled around the small fire, the group warmed their hands, wry twists of their mouths at their still damp clothes and gear. “Well, it’s all we got for now,” muttered Pediah, under his breath.
The crackle of Alexia’s radio coming to life turned everyone’s head. “Yes! Finally!” she exclaimed. Tuning it to the low-frequency bandwidth Abby had used with her radio, Alexia realized she’d dialed into the comms team’s frequency, and listened as they spoke to the rescue team, already on the ground.
“We’re trying to find them, but we’ve no idea where this hole is,” explained the rescue team. “We’re going to need a spelunking crew sent down to pick them up.”
“Comms One, come in. This is Alexia Fraga. Can you hear me?”
“Yes, we hear you.”
“Say again about the crew? Do you have an ETA?” Alexia asked.
“Negative. We’ll know more once they arrive. Sit tight for now.”
“Thanks. Fraga out,” she deadpanned into the receiver and lifted her thumb from the call button. She looked at the faces around, attentively searching for an expected rescue. Someone said, simply, “lo
oks like we’re stuck down here for the time being.”
Her radio crackled once again, a static-y voice requesting “Fra –“
“That’s me! Comms One?”
“Crew is on its way, but we need to know how far down you are.”
“Oh. I’m not sure,” She looked to Pediah and Thomas, who shook their heads and shrugged. “We’re not sure. Best guess is at least 200 feet. We slid down a natural slide, kind of like a funnel. Don’t fall in the hole!” She joked. “But, when you get there, you’re, for lack of a better term, you’ll be right on top of us. Also, wear life jackets.”
“Life jackets?”
“There’s a pool of freezing cold water at the bottom. We’ve all done our time in it. Fraga out.”
Robbie smiled, while Pediah bore a look of concern. “They’ll find us, right?”
“Yes,” answered Alexia, as she looked at Thomas, the same question on her mind.
Okay, so we’ve got limited supplies and it will take them some time to find us, thought Thomas. Just another race against time. Well, since time is of the essence, let’s do this now. And he moved once more toward the vast, ornate door to examine it further.
It was the indentations in the door which captured his attention. Thomas slid his hands into them. He realized suddenly it was a latch. Robbie, Alexia, Abby, and Pediah heard a soft click, and turned as one, in time to see Thomas lift the latch in the giant door. Tumblers rolled and clicked into place, a huge mechanism in a giant door. Thomas had the sudden feeling he was opening something like a bank vault. A loud pop was the final step to its unlocking. Thomas called to Pediah, “Help me. This is gonna take a few of us.”
The team joined him. As one, they pushed the door to the side. The door slid into the wall.
They stared into the void of centuries; maybe even millennia.
