by Greig Beck
Alex checked his watch; it was only twelve hours until the chopper arrived to evacuate them. He knew the pilot wouldn’t be expecting to hear from them until they were at or near the surface, and when they weren’t there he would wait several hours and then call it in. That meant they probably had around fifteen hours to make it back to the surface — a walk in the park, if there were no more cave-ins, and if they didn’t stop from fatigue or hit a dead-end or were attacked.
The team marched in silence through the dark for several hours until their cave abruptly ended in a jumble of fallen rocks.
Monica put her hands on her hips and looked over the pile of broken stone, nodding to herself as though she’d been expecting it. “It’s a boulder choke. In simple terms it means the passage has been filled by rocks in some ancient collapse.”
“And she’s the expert? Great choice — four hours walking for nothing. Now I guess we walk all the way back and take door number two.” Monica ignored Silex and clambered over the fallen boulders until she found what she was looking for at the very base of the pile.
She went straight to Alex. “As I expected, it looks like there might be a way through, a small choke hole, but I’ll need to check its length and depth.”
“Do it,” Alex said.
“Give me twenty minutes.” Monica looked at Alex and caught his expression. “OK, give me ten.” She removed her backpack and placed it on the ground in front of a small opening between the boulders. From the pack she took a small stick of red chalk which she held between her teeth. She tied a rope around her waist, and prepared to dive head first into the hole when Matt grabbed her ankle.
“Just one thing.” He got down close to Monica and whispered in her ear. “Be careful, come back.” She smiled and with her chalk drew a little red heart on the back of his caving glove and then, pushing her backpack in front of her, slithered forward and disappeared.
Everyone seemed to hold their breath as they focused on the small opening in the wall of stone before them. The only sound was a slight whistling coming from Silex’s nostrils as they all willed Monica to return safely. Aimee used her arm to wipe a trickle of perspiration from her eyes and tried to swallow; it hurt. Her throat was dry and sticky — Margaret had been right, water was going to be a problem. Her eyes were like glass as she thought of the two cheerful medics. Bruno always wanting to lend a hand; looking like an overstuffed sausage in his cave suit — executed for trying to rescue his colleague. And poor Margaret — Aimee shuddered at the thought of her final moments at the hands of the brutal assassin. It’s over for them now; they’re probably better off, she thought. The rest of them were all trapped deep beneath the most isolated continent on earth and were being stalked by some carnivorous creature that lived down in the labyrinths and was snatching people away to devour them. It made her feel sick, and she shuddered again.
Aimee thought of Tom and almost cried out for him. Poor Tom — had he and his team been stalked and snared in the dark while they ran and screamed like blind rabbits in the caves? Had they become nothing more than morsels of food for the leviathan hiding somewhere beneath them? She felt the trickle of a tear run down her cheek and let it fall.
In just under twelve minutes Aimee saw a light begin to appear in the choke hole, indicating Monica was returning. Matt was there first to pull her out.
“OK, it goes all the way through, but it’s a tight squeeze. Alex and especially you, Tank, are going to have to hold your breath in some places. Everyone try not to touch anything on the way through. This fall probably occurred hundreds of thousands of years ago and is not likely to move. However, there is still a chance that the rocks that have already fallen are poised dangerously one on top of each other. An inch or two can make all the difference. Our slide through the choke hole could undermine the supports of the whole pile, and cause it to suddenly collapse into a new shape, which may be far too small for us to squeeze through. Or worse, it could collapse into a solid compressed mass — and we really don’t want to be under there if that happens.”
Monica checked everyone’s cave suit for unnecessary items or bulges. “OK, we need to stay close together so we can actually see each other’s feet. Take off your packs and push them ahead of you. Take it slow and don’t panic. If you get a little caught up just breathe slowly and unhook yourself. There will be people in front of you and behind you to help. One more thing: avoid my red markings. I’ll go first.”
Aimee slithered out of her backpack, and holding it in front of herself folded her arms around it. The size was comforting and also meant no one saw that her hands were shaking. She closed her eyes and silently mouthed to herself, if Monica can do it, I can; if Monica can do it, I can. She really wanted to be home now.
She jumped when Matt bumped her elbow as he stepped forward, intending to go into the hole next. Alex overruled him. “Sorry, Matt, Takeda goes next to give us all some cover on the other side. Tank, you go last. Can’t have you corking us all up now, can we?”
Tank laughed. “Don’t mind none; I reckon you’ll have wiped it all clean by the time it’s my turn.”
Aimee looked at Tank’s bulk and hoped his good humour was matched by luck. She hugged her pack and waited for her turn.
The first thing Aimee noticed as she wriggled through the tiny tunnel was how easy it would be to get claustrophobic and lose it in such a confined space. You were continually banging your head, elbows and back on the jumble of fallen boulders. Some of the rocks were the size of houses, some were just rubble all pieced together like a giant’s jigsaw puzzle. Monica had placed a red chalk “X” on some of the rocks, indicating a weak spot or pivot point and these were to be avoided at all costs. Every time Aimee came across one glaring out of the dark her heart gave a leap at the thought of being buried alive, or worse, ending up crushed like Margaret.
Monica had said it was only about fifty feet, but she already felt she had been crawling for twice that — distance was hard to judge in such tight quarters. Perspiration ran down her face, creating more little streaks in the dust around her eyes and the air was already thickening from her hard breathing. It would be so easy to lose it in here.
She was fifth to go through, behind Silex, and mercifully he had slithered through rather quickly. The thought of him getting stuck and her spending the last few hours of her life trapped in a choke staring at Dr. Silex’s skinny legs was almost too much to bear. When she finally emerged into Monica’s waiting hands she felt such an unbelievable mixture of elation and relief that she almost burst into tears.
In no time Mike and Alex popped out of the hole and everyone gathered around waiting for Tank. Alex kept his eyes on the hole and said, “He’s struggling. He’s as strong as an ox, but about as flexible as a piano.” Alex got down on his knees and shone his torch down into the hollow. Tank must have dropped behind as he was still quite a way in.
Alex’s comm unit pinged. “I’m hooked up on something.” Alex turned to Monica. “He’s caught.” Monica immediately drew two soft elasticised ropes from her backpack and shot back into the hole. She reappeared moments later, leaving the two ropes trailing into the small opening.
“Yep, he’s wedged in about fifteen feet back. I’ve tied the ropes around his wrists. We’re going to have to give him a gentle persuasive tug. He’s ready for it.”
Alex pinged Tank. “On the count of three, big fella, give a push. One, two… three.”
The entire party pulled on the ropes but there was hardly any give. Then from deep within the boulder choke there was a very slight screeching sound like a truck putting on its air brakes, followed by a hollow grinding. Although there was no visible movement from the outside, they knew this would not be the case where Tank was stuck.
Mike yelled his brother’s name and went to dive into the hole. Alex grabbed him in a bear hug that was impossible to break. They all waited. After just a few seconds there was silence again. There was no dust and no tumbling rocks. The boulder choke had simply shrugged and
settled back down again for another few eons.
No one even exhaled as they stared at the small choke opening; and then to their surprise a very large body shot out of the hole like a cork. Tank was coughing and laughing. He got to his feet and dusted himself off. He looked at the team, all standing there with their mouths open.
“What? It’s only a small mountain, it’s gonna take more than that to flatten me.”
Mike stepped forward and punched his “little” brother in the chest. “Okay, you’re the baddest — for now.”
Alex ordered a rest and food stop. The dark was disorientating and time was measured not by clocks but by fatigue. They ate dried fruit and some chocolate and Alex was pleased to see that his HAWCs were joining in some good-natured banter. He and his team had been trained to keep a respectable distance from civilians and regard them as invisible, or a means to an end — to be retrieved, delivered or expended. However, Tank’s escape had been the first piece of good fortune they’d had for a long time and he guessed they would all need luck and each other’s help to get back to the surface.
Alex sent Takeda ahead with Monica to scout out the area and he sat by himself and checked his equipment. He removed his glove and placed his bare hand down onto the stone and closed his eyes. There was no sliding, no vibrations; other than Takeda and Monica, nothing was moving. He had reached out with his extraordinary senses and couldn’t feel any cold presence nearby. For the moment they were secure. He looked into the dark where Monica had just disappeared and thought to himself, Come on girl, find me an exit.
Aimee came over and sat beside Alex while Silex watched like a snake from the dark, his wet lips moving as if mouthing secret obscenities at the pair.
“What’re our chances?” Aimee asked.
“We’ll be OK.” He couldn’t tell her of his fears. They had food and water for only another few days and battery life for even less. The HAWC night vision goggles would last a little longer, but that was it. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if the lights went out for good.
“Things always work out. You’ll see.”
Aimee looked up at him. “How can you be so confident and calm all the time?”
Alex gave a half smile and turned to her. She rested her chin on her hand and even in the dark her eyes were luminous in her dust-streaked face. What could he tell her? Though it was his job to keep a unit in the field motivated, the real reason was difficult to explain. Alex knew he should already be dead, but had survived and literally risen a different being. Risks and danger held no fears for him anymore as he felt destiny, kismet, karma, whatever you wanted to call it, was keeping him safe for some specific purpose. He didn’t believe for a second it was to die in these caves. He would see the sun again.
“Do you believe in fate, Aimee? I do, and I know we’ll make it. Besides, it’s been over twelve hours since we communicated with HQ and by now Major Hammerson will be bursting the eardrums of the entire armed forces to get more military bodies down here. Stay close to me and don’t worry.”
Monica appeared looking very pleased with herself. “Everyone this way, I’ve found something,” She led them quickly down the cave and to a gigantic hole in the rock floor.
Monica immediately set to pegging in around a large belay rock. Silex was immediately at her side and hissing into her ear. “What are you doing, we’re not going down there. Are you crazy? That’ll just take us deeper. We need to be going up, you know, where the sun shines. Not down.”
“Dr. Silex, you hear that?” Monica had held up her hand to quieten the scientist and the entire team stopped what they were doing and listened. Nothing could be heard except for their own breathing.
Alex was the first to speak. “Water, running water.”
“It’s a cave stream, quite a large one by the sound of it. I’m not making any promises because it could just disappear through another boulder choke that we can’t get through. However, it could also flow out at the coast.”
Alex stood at the edge looking down thoughtfully. Silex stared at him and smirked, probably thinking Alex was racked with indecision, while he was in fact using his senses to get an impression of what waited for them down in the dark depths. He didn’t want to let Monica rappel down first, and his men could just as easily have achieved it, but she was the specialist and better equipped to give them an idea of the descent’s safety and risk factors.
“OK, Ms. Jennings, but I want you to borrow Mike’s comm unit so we can stay in touch. Mike will be coming down right behind you. Hand the unit back to Mike and then do a near-perimeter survey and report in. Got it?”
Monica nodded and started to rig up her rappelling harness using low-stretch kernmantel rope with a friction brake to control her speed. She didn’t have the time or the rope to set more safety cords, or cow tails as they were called, but did use a sit-stand rig to ensure the rope wouldn’t rub against any jagged rocks.
She looked briefly at Matt. “Once again into the wide black yonder.” Matt gave her a thumbs up and looked as cheery as possible in the situation as Monica stepped back into the abyss.
The shaft was complex with many ledges, lumps and spikes. She descended slowly, watching both the wall and the rope and keeping a lookout below for the yet unseen floor. There was no echo, just the faint musical sound of the water as it tumbled over a hidden stream bed below. At about fifty feet down she hit the floor of a second large chamber. It was flat-based, worn very smooth like a giant tabletop. She still couldn’t see the stream, but it was louder now. It was also much warmer and the humidity had encouraged traces of moss to grow on the walls.
She unzipped her suit a few inches and spoke into her comm unit. “Captain Hunter, you’re good to go. Careful on the way down as there are some protrusions, but I’ll be at the base guiding Mike down.”
Alex held up his hand to Mike who was already rigged up and waiting for the word to drop. Before he descended Alex walked over, checked his rigging and spoke to him. “How’re the wounds?”
“I’m OK. They’re starting to bleed a little again, but when I get down to the bottom I’ll give ’em a little more coagulant gel.”
“Good enough. Can’t have you bleeding away any more energy, can we?” Alex nodded and slapped him on the shoulder. Mike stepped back into the shaft. He descended quickly, Monica’s light giving him more depth perspective than she had.
One after the other they descended, leaving only Alex at the top. He hadn’t bothered to rig up and instead unfastened the rope from the belay boulder and let it drop down into the hole. He heard Aimee’s panicked voice from below.
“What just happened? Did it break?” As the rope coiled on the ground at their feet Aimee shone her torch back up the shaft. Monica gently grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of the way.
“Aimee, he knows what he’s doing. He just saved me from having to climb back up there. We need that rope and can’t afford to leave anything behind we might need later.”
Alex climbed down the wall like a spider; there were enough protrusions to afford him plenty of hand and toe holds and his caving suit was specially toughened on the fingers and toes for just such a climb. He was confident that Monica could have ascended without trouble, but it would have cost them at least another ten minutes and at this point Alex was keen to save every second they had and use it for escape.
Monica shone her torch in a slow arc around them. Caves were amazing places. There were magnificent formations all around and above them; straw-like calcite stalactites and huge piles of what looked like frozen pink froth lumped around like melted candy. As a general rule, the larger the cave, the older it was. By that standard, these caves were truly prehistoric. It was like being in some giant child’s garden made from coloured stone. Rocks that looked like icicles, trees, statues, or the delicate designs of lacy flowers in shades of white or cream, or blues and reds from the dissolved minerals trickling from miles of stone overhead. At any other time Monica would have been lost in delight at
this caving wonderland — for now, survival was the priority.
The cave ended abruptly at the bank of a wide and slow-moving river. It looked shallow, but cave pools and streams could be deceptive due to the clarity of the water — a stream where you could easily pick out every tiny pebble on its bottom could actually be over six feet deep. The upside was that there were rarely hidden jagged objects under the surface — the smoothing effect of thousands of years of polishing by the moving liquid.
“What now, build a boat from rocks?” sneered Silex. It was an obnoxiously posed question, but they were presented with a problem — they had no raft and there was no river bank or beach to walk along. They couldn’t cross to the far side of the river as it ended in a sheer rock wall — in fact, the cave they were in ended at the river.
Monica was standing on the bank looking downstream. She turned to Silex, not caring that she was staring into his face and blinding him with the bright beam of her helmet light. “Well, we need to follow that river and we don’t have diving equipment or a raft with us, so you’re right, we do build a boat — but not from rocks, Dr. Silex, from people. There is a caving style for travelling down streams to ensure everyone stays together in the dark. It’s called the Disney method — everyone sits one behind the other holding on to the person in front by their feet. We rope everyone’s waists together and create a set of human train carriages. We’ll also need an anchor — someone who is tied to the group but set about twenty feet back to act as an emergency brake. Usually they’re the biggest member of the team.” Monica turned to wink at Tank.
Tank smiled and said, “Shucks, I didn’t even have to volunteer.”
“We also need a driver; that’ll be me.”
Alex quickly overruled the caver. “Good idea, Ms. Jennings, but I’ll sit out in front this time. The team is going to be too heavy for you to steer and I’m better able to sustain impacts. However, I’d like you to be right behind me, guiding me and telling me what to expect.”
