by Mark Gordon
Chapter 68
The Feeders Awake
Sally and Bonnie were in the kitchen clearing up the lunch dishes, while Gabby watched 'The Lion King' in the lounge-room. It was almost one o’clock, and they knew that if everything had gone well at the caves, they could start listening for sound of Matt’s truck coming up the drive soon. While they had no idea what ordeals their friends would be facing, or how long it would take to plant the devices, they knew that the trio would need to be back at the farm before dark, or risk facing the brutal and merciless feeders as they emerged from their nests to hunt.
“I can’t stop thinking about them,” said Sally.
“I know what you mean. I wish they never went.”
Bonnie dried a plate and passed it to Sally to put into the cupboard.
“Hey, Sally, you never talk about your parents. Why is that?”
She paused briefly before answering, “I didn’t know my father, and I wasn’t very close to mum, but I do think about her sometimes. It’s easier not to, though, because all I wonder about is where she was the day I woke up and found everyone missing.”
“What do you mean?” asked Bonnie, putting her dishcloth down on the kitchen bench.
“Well, mum wasn’t home when I got up that morning, and I just thought she was sleeping off a hangover or staying at a friend’s house, like she sometimes did, but I’m not sure any more.”
“What do you think now?” asked Bonnie.
“I think she was probably under the bed in her room the whole time becoming a feeder. I didn’t even open her bedroom door, you know. I was only thinking about myself. I should have checked in her bedroom. I was selfish.”
“No, you’re wrong. You didn’t know what was going on in the world, and if you had found her, that would have only made the whole experience worse. You may even have died trying to drag her from the building when the fire started.”
“Maybe. But I can’t get it out of my head that I didn’t even try to look for her. What about your parents? Do you miss them?”
Bonnie smiled and leaned against the bench, “Sally, I miss everyone and every thing. My parents, my brother, my best friend, heavy metal, fast food, the nightly news, Facebook, all kinds of silly things; I even miss going to work. I was so excited about maybe getting that job and moving to Sydney, but you know what?”
Sally shook her head.
“Despite losing all of those things, I still feel incredibly lucky because I have Gabby. I might be the only living parent in the world whose child survived the event. I’m grateful for that each and every day, but I know that you guys have lost everything, so I don’t like to talk about it, because it doesn’t seem fair.”
“I understand,” said Sally as she put the last plate away. “Hey, let’s cook something special for the returning heroes. Gabby can help.”
-
As Dylan plunged into the mass of sleeping creatures, the only thought that went through his mind was that he had failed his friends. When he landed on top of the feeders, they would wake in a frenzy and defend themselves with a ferocity that would leave none of the group alive. He winced and threw out his arms to break his fall.
Up on the ledge, Montana’s grip on Matt’s arm tightened, as Dylan fell. Matt reached for the weapon in his holster, but he knew that once Dylan collapsed on top of the feeders, they would all effectively be dealt a death sentence. So when Dylan hit the ground and none of the creatures awoke, Matt didn’t understand what was happening.
Dylan threw out his arms and instinctively flexed his muscles as he tried to find a way to avoid making contact with the feeder beneath him. His palms hit the slick rock floor either side of the creature’s body simultaneously, and his left hand slipped slightly on impact. But his other hand hit the ground square, and stuck, and he somehow managed to stop his momentum, just inches from the comatose feeder beneath him. He had felt a crack in his right wrist, and the foul stench of the beast almost made him vomit, but he managed to keep his body rigid, avoiding any contact. To Matt and Montana up on the viewing platform, Dylan looked as if he was frozen in time, in the act of making love to one of the feeders, but when they realised that he had just saved not only his own life, but also theirs, they hugged each other silently in jubilation.
-
Outside the entrance to the cave, they held their faces towards the sunshine, savouring its warmth. Dylan’s remarkable escape seemed like a dream now, but Matt was furious nonetheless. “That cannot happen again!” he said, glaring at Dylan. “From now, we go into the caves, place the devices somewhere safe, not too close to the feeders, and then get out! Got it?”
“Yeah, sorry man. I just thought it would give us more bang for our buck, that’s all.”
“Yeah well, it probably will, but I don’t want to die because of your selfish heroics, okay? So let’s just stick to the plan from now on!”
“Hey I said I was sorry, let’s not get all fired up, we still have a lot of work to do.”
“Okay then,” said Matt, who was already storming off to the car to get the next device ready.
Setting up the bombs in the next four caves was easy compared to the first attempt. After Dylan’s close encounter, they were satisfied to plant the bombs well away from the feeders and were out of the second to last cave with around three hours of daylight to spare, most of which would be needed to get home before the sun set. Each time they planted a bomb, they subtracted the time they had spent in the subsequent caves from the original three hours set on the first timer. This meant all of the bombs would explode at roughly the same time, giving the feeders little warning of what was to come.
They stood before the entrance to the sixth and final cave, and felt excited at the prospect of getting the job finished and returning to the safety of the farm. There was anxiety, too, because they knew from the maps that this was the largest of the caves, and probably housed more feeders than the others combined.
“Okay,” said Matt, taking a deep breath, “This is it - the last one. Let’s keep it simple, okay? We’ve already spent half of our three hours so far planting the bombs, so that means we need to set this timer to trigger in ninety minutes. That gives us about an hour to plant the device, so we’ll have a good thirty minutes to get away from this place before all hell breaks loose. We should be home in time for dinner. Any questions?”
Dylan and Montana shook their heads.
“Okay then, let’s finish the job.”
The last cave was the most spectacular and geologically significant of all the Delano system. It had more stalagmites and stalactites, larger caverns, longer tunnels, and even an underground river and waterfall. In the old days, before the world changed, if you came to the caves as a tourist and only toured one cavern, this would be it. Matt, Dylan and Montana peered anxiously forward as they walked through the first narrow tunnel into the cave’s damp, murky depths. Because this cave was larger, they dropped glow sticks every twenty metres or so, in case they needed to make a quick exit, and as Matt looked behind him at the green, phosphorescent tubes receding into the distance, he thought that they only seemed to accentuate the distance to the outside world.
“Where are they?” asked Montana, “We didn’t need to go this deep in the other caves”.
“This one is much bigger,” replied Matt. “Let’s give it a bit longer, but if we don’t find the nest soon, I say we leave our bomb wherever it will do the most damage, and then get out of here, while we still have time.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Dylan, as Montana nodded in agreement.
A few minutes later, half way along a narrow tunnel, Dylan stopped and cocked his head. “Listen.”
They paused, straining to identify the humming sound that was coming from up ahead, “What is that?” asked Montana.
“We’ll know soon,” said Dylan, “Let’s push on”.
They moved forward through the cramped, limestone shaft, until the sound became almost deafening.
“Nearly there�
�, said Dylan, changing direction, as the passage veered suddenly to the right.
They negotiated the narrow bend, with their heads ducked to avoid the ceiling, as the source of the sound become obvious. They stepped into a massive cavern, where a spectacular waterfall tumbled from a large fissure in the rock face almost one hundred metres above them.
“Wow!” said Montana, “That’s seriously impressive. But where are the feeders?”
“Not in here,” commented Dylan.
“Shit! What’s going on? This should be the perfect place for them, shouldn’t it?” asked Matt.
“I would have thought so. How much time have we wasted in here now?” asked Dylan.
Matt looked at his watch, “Almost half an hour already. If we go any deeper, we won’t be leaving ourselves much time to get out before our bombs go off.”
“That’s if everything goes according to plan,” observed Montana.
“Okay, listen,” said Matt, “We have to make a call on this, one way or the other. Let’s vote. Spend five more minutes going further into this cave, or get out now. What do we say?”
“I say five more minutes,” answered Dylan, “We’ll never be here again.”
Montana looked around the huge empty space before them, then back towards the tunnel that would lead them outside to daylight and safety.
“Shit! This is ridiculous!” she spat. “Alright, five more minutes, but not a second longer, I’m starting to get a very bad feeling about all of this.”
