by Steven Bird
“This is nuts, but I agree,” Nate conceded as he patted Jessie on the shoulder.
“I’ll cover you from here,” Jessie said as he raised his Marlin to the ready position. “Work your way around to the side, hugging up against those rocks. That way, you at least can’t be shot from the inside when you toss the flare inside. If the entrance is clear, I’ll move up to your position, and we’ll take it from there. If it’s not, I’ll cover you while you make your way back to safety.”
“I sure wish I was smart enough to come up with another plan, but… well… here goes,” Nate added as he turned and began working his way toward the cave.
Once alongside the face of the cliff, Nate hugged it tightly, inching toward the opening of the cave. Pausing occasionally during his advance to read Jessie’s face and hand signals to ensure the coast was still clear, Nate drew nearer and nearer to the opening.
Stopping just a few feet from the cave entrance, he saw Jessie giving him the thumbs up. Nodding, Nate drew the flare from his pack, removed the cap, and using the striker in the cap, ignited the flare and immediately tossed it into the mouth of the cave, then quickly pulled back.
Looking through the scope of his rifle, Jessie watched intently for any signs of movement within the cave that might be illuminated by the flickering light of the flare.
Signaling to Nate to cover his advance, Jessie left his position of cover, and quickly joined Nate along the cliff, adjacent to the cave opening.
“I couldn’t see anything,” Jessie whispered. Reaching into his pocket, Jessie retrieved simple plastic Bic lighter. Flicking the lighter several times to get it to light, he held it to the oil-soaked cloth.
Once the torch was burning adequately, he put the lighter back in his pocket and said, “I’ll toss this inside just short of the flare. Once you make your advance, you can pick it up and get a good look around while I move up behind you. We can then start our game of ‘flare leapfrog’. If we make contact, well, we’ll just go with the flow.”
And with a nod in the affirmative, Nate crept silently around the corner and into the mouth of the cave.
Covering Nate as he bounded forward, Jessie watched as Nate took a position of cover behind a pile of rocks that at one time had been part of the cave’s ceiling. With Nate now covering for him, he tossed the torch to Nate and advanced, joining up alongside him.
Slipping over to the flare, Nate picked it up and tossed it deeper into the cave. Bounding forward again while Jessie covered him, Nate took cover yet again and signaled for him to follow.
Picking up the torch as he moved forward, Jessie illuminated the floor of the cave to reveal several sets of the odd tracks they had followed to the cave, as well as the tell-tale signs of someone, or something, being dragged along behind, obscuring some of the tracks as they went.
Joining up with Nate again, Jessie said, “They’re definitely in here. Their freshest tracks, the ones that disturb the others, are all going in, not out.”
“How far do you think this cave goes?” Nate asked.
Picking up and tossing a rock into the darkness ahead, Jessie listened to the echoes caused by its impact, and said, “I’d venture to guess it goes a good distance back in there. There’s a reason they’re using it. They wouldn’t have run into a dead end knowing we were behind them. They’d have no options if this were all there was to it.”
“Well, let’s keep moving,” Nate urged as he left his cover and moved toward the flare. Just as he reached out to pick up the flare, he and Jessie heard the bone-chilling sound of the horn they had heard out in the woods, only this time it was coming from deep within the cave.
Quickly picking up the flare and tossing it farther into the cave, Nate scurried back to Jessie’s location. “Holy hell!” he exclaimed. “That came from within, and it wasn’t close. This cave must be huge. This may be an entire cave system and not just a simple cave.
“Do you reckon that horn is to warn us and scare us off, or to warn others of our presence—you know, like an alarm system.”
“Based on what we heard before, I’d imagine they use it to signal each other to advance or retreat,” Jessie posited. “Maybe like a bugler would do back in the day before field radios?”
“Either way, they’ve gotten word we’re here,” Nate replied.
“Hooray for us,” Jessie whispered sarcastically. “Well, tunnel rat, let’s keep moving.”
Moving forward toward the light of the flare, Nate got a glimpse of what was up ahead and signaled for Jessie to move up to his position.
“What’s up?” Jessie asked as his eyes struggled to focus in the darkness after having accidentally looked directly into the bright light of the flare.
“The cave slopes downhill ahead. It looks pretty rough and rocky, too. Damn, I wish I had night vision.”
“Amen to that,” Jessie concurred. “I’m not sure the flare is helping at all. If anything, it’s signaling our arrival as much as anything else. And that smoke,” he added, waving his hand in front of his face. “I’m no geologist or spelunker or any such thing, but I’m also a little paranoid about explosive gasses being down here and us tossing a torch right into it.”
“I had the same thought. But, we wouldn’t be able to see crap without it. Besides, I think most of those scenarios occur during mining operations when they’re releasing trapped gasses. Surely any such thing would have flowed out of here by now after having been vented long ago. But then again, I’m no expert either.”
“Maybe our paranoia is just getting the best of us,” Jessie conceded. “Let’s keep moving.”
Working their way toward the flare, Nate picked it up and tossed it again. This time, he was able to get it approximately twenty yards or so farther into the cave, and down onto the jagged, rocky downward slope.
Jessie and Nate continued this pattern of leapfrogging with the light until they reached the bottom of the descent, and to what was a broadening in the cave’s opening. They could now see that the floor of the cave was smooth, sloping from the edges of the cave down, with the lowest point being in the middle. The smoothness of the limestone chamber was interrupted only by the formations of stalactites and stalagmites extending from both the ceiling and the floor, creating a fantastic array of shapes and forms that rivaled the set of a Hollywood fantasy film.
“It’s getting damp in here,” Nate whispered once Jessie had joined up alongside him.
Holding the torch as far out to his left as he could, both to reduce his being a target, as well as attempting to allow his eyes to adjust to the darkness of the cave, Jessie watched as droplets of water traced the forms of a stalactite. When the water reached the sharp point at the end, it formed a droplet of water that blipped onto the stalagmite below.
“How many years do you think that took?” Jessie whispered, gesturing to the rock formations.
“Huh?” shrugged Nate, confused by Jessie’s statement.
“For these drops of water, carrying tiny particles of limestone, to form these shapes and structures?”
“Oh,” Nate responded with a chuckle. “A damn long time, I guess.” Thinking through the situation, he noted, “It looks like that flare is just about spent. What do you think? Light another?”
Looking around, Jessie said, “Well, it’s been working so far. Besides, I can’t imagine not being able to see what’s up ahead.”
“Alright, then,” Nate said as he slipped his pack off his shoulder and fished around inside for another flare. Once the new flare was lit, he tossed it farther into the cave, only to have it splash and extinguish upon landing.
“What the…?” Jessie mumbled, confused by the sound as he began working his way forward with the torch lighting the way.
After moving forward approximately fifty feet, the light of Jessie’s torch revealed a flooded chamber of the cave. “That’s a lot of water,” he said, unable to see beyond the water to the other side with his faint, flickering torchlight.
As Nate joined him, t
he two looked around, then down at the ground to reveal scuff marks and more of the strange looking prints they had seen all throughout their pursuit.
Studying the scuff marks on the limestone floor surrounding the edge of the water, Nate proclaimed, “This water must go a lot farther than we think. They’ve got a damn boat down here.”
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Jessie said with the origin of the scuff marks becoming evident to him as he processed Nate’s observation.
“What do you think? Flat bottomed Jon boat?” Nate asked.
“That’s what I’m thinking,” Jessie agreed.
“That means one of two things,” Nate decided. “We’re either a lot closer to them than we think, or like I said, this water goes a long way.”
“Didn’t you say there were underground lakes in the area?”
“Yeah,” Nate replied. “Down in Sweetwater, there’s a tourist attraction called The Lost Sea. It’s an underground lake in a cave down that way, turned into an underground boat tour. It’s pretty big.”
“This place is perfect,” Jessie marveled. “Not only is it well hidden, and would be easy to defend, but it’s got a damned moat. I’d imagine there are other access points, too.”
“Why do you say that?” Nate asked.
“Well, tactically speaking, it makes a great hideout, so long as you have an alternate point of egress. If a hostile threat camped out at the mouth of the cave and you had no other way to escape, they could easily starve you out. Surely, whoever is down here would have thought of that.”
“That’s possible,” Nate admitted. “Or maybe they’ve just been lucky so far and not been followed home?”
“Either way, I guess we’re about to get wet,” Jessie said as he removed his pack. “Damn. Do you think there are snakes in this water?”
“Ah, hell, why did you have to go and say a thing like that?” Nate grumbled. “Now that’s all I’m gonna think about.”
“We’ve gone from tunnel rats to river rats,” Jessie joked as he mentally prepared himself for what lay ahead.
“What about the torch?” Nate asked.
“I’ll extinguish it for now, and we can try to keep it dry and relight it on the other side. We’ll just have to feel our way through for now.” Looking around, he handed the torch to Nate and requested, “Here, hold this for a minute.”
Removing the cloth containing his jerky from his pack, Jessie handed Nate a piece and said, “Eat up. We don’t know when we’re gonna get a chance to refuel again.” He then placed the rest of the jerky in a side pocket on his pack and removed two small dry bags and a box of ammunition for his rifle.
Jessie placed the box of ammunition in one of the dry bags and wrapped it up tight. He then placed the pack off to the side behind several of the exotic cave formations, attempting to hide it the best he could.
“Are you ready to go dark?” he asked.
“No, but I don’t really have a choice, do I?” Nate sarcastically replied.
“No, sir, at least not one that I can see.” Reaching out and taking the torch, Jessie whispered, “Well, here goes,” as he smothered the small flames of the torch with the cloth and the two men quickly found themselves surrounded by a total and absolute darkness.
“Damn it!” Jessie exclaimed quietly.
“What?”
“Just burned my hand, that’s all,” he replied.
Fumbling around in the darkness, Jessie grumbled, “I sure wish I would have gotten my lighter out of the pack before turning out the lights.”
Hearing Nate chuckle, Jessie fumbled around in the darkness for his pack and dug around by feel until he found his lighter. After placing the lighter in the dry bag containing the ammunition, Jessie touched the torch to see if it had sufficiently cooled. “Just a few more minutes,” he said.
“A few more minutes for what?” Nate asked.
“It’s still a little hot. I’m going to wrap the torch with the other dry bag, then stuff it down the back of my shirt, keeping it up above my head and hopefully out of the water the best I can. With the handle sticking out, the drybag won't seal, but it should protect it from splashes and such. I’m gonna give it a minute to cool, though. I don’t want the dry bag to melt from the heat.”
After a few more minutes, Jessie touched the torch, and now being happy with its temperature, he wrapped the end of it tightly with the dry bag and slipped it into the collar of his shirt behind him. “Can you swim with your prosthetic?” he asked.
“While you were fidgeting around in the dark with the torch, I took a piece of paracord from my cargo pocket and made a tether for it, running up to my belt. I don’t want to take any chances with it in the water and being unable to see. I’m hoping we can wade through this. I’d really rather not be swimming. Just imagine swimming overtop of a sharp stalagmite, then sinking down on top of it.”
“Damn!” Jessie swore. “Let’s stop talking about snakes and possible impalements and get on with things before we talk ourselves out of it. Are you ready?”
With his rifle slung around his neck, preparing to step into the unknown, Nate grunted, “No, but let’s get on with it.”
Chapter Eight
“Are you still there?” Britney asked, attempting to break through the feeling of utter loneliness in which her world of darkness surrounded her.
“That’s a stupid thing to ask,” grumbled Greg.
Taken aback by his hostility, she relaxed, took a deep breath, then asked, “So… what kind of music do you listen to?” She almost immediately felt embarrassed by the silliness of her question.
Hearing only a shuffle against the floor along with the jingle of Greg’s chains as he moved, Britney sighed and wished for sleep. Fatigue was setting in from the accumulated stress of the past few very long days. The bus she and her parents traveled on the previous day had departed very early, around 4:00 AM, and the stress of it all had taken a lot out of her already malnourished and weakened state. Time was already becoming a foreign concept to her. She had no idea how long she had been unconscious earlier, or what time it may be now. It was all a blur. A horrible, painful blur.
“Can I ask you a simple question?” she queried.
“Go ahead,” he mumbled.
“How do you drink? If you’re here for several days, they obviously give you water, right?”
Exhaling, as if fatigued by her interest in talking, Greg explained, “Do you hear all that water dripping around you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, it’s all around you. The water that drips from above collects in little pockets on the floor. You just have to find them. You’ll get as much grime in your mouth as water, but it works.”
“Thanks,” she replied softly. She could hear Greg shift around as if turning away from her.
As she laid there in the total darkness with nothing but the sounds of dripping water to remind her she was even still alive, the sound of a horn, the same primitive sounding horn they had heard in the forest before their encounter, echoed through her surroundings, bouncing off the cave walls and creating a confusing and scary sound.
Hearing the chains of both Greg and the other captive begin to rustle, Britney could hear a voice quivering beyond Greg. “No… no… no, no, no, no!” the voice began shrieking with fear.
Britney could hear several heavy-sounding figures enter the room. Communicating with only a few grunts, the captors made their way through the darkness. Britney shook in fear when the voice on the far side of the room began to scream as sounds of a struggle were now evident. “No! No! Let me go! Let me goooo! Please! Please, let me go!” the voice cried, eventually being overcome by uncontrollable sobbing.
Hearing the chains that had once been secured firmly to the panic-stricken young man on the other side of the room drop to the floor, she realized that the sounds had begun to fade and she could tell they were walking away, carrying their victim along with them just as she had been carried into this chamber of the cave.
Noticing
sobbing in the darkness, still in the chamber alongside her, Britney’s voice trembled as she called out, “Greg… are you still there?”
“Shhhh…” Greg responded. “Try not to listen.”
“Listen to what?” she asked.
Before Greg could answer, blood-curdling screams of agony could be heard echoing all throughout the chambers of the cave. These weren’t merely sounds of a frightened individual; these were truly sounds of agonizing torment. The screams soon began to gurgle, and then, there was only silence.
Afraid to ask what had just occurred, not wanting to know the answer, Britney closed her eyes and prayed quietly, “Dear Lord. Dear Lord, please rescue us from this place. I’ve prayed to you so many times before, asking for help, asking for mercy on me and my parents, but it never came. Dear God, please hear me now. Please rescue us from this living hell. Don’t let our lives end like this.”
Sniffling, Greg said, “Praying doesn’t work. I’ve tried. Others have tried. I’m next. You’ll hear my screams next. There’s nothing your empty words can do to stop that.”
She tried to think of something comforting or positive to say, but she knew Greg had been through much more than herself down in this hellish dungeon. She knew her words would fall on deaf ears and he would likely just say something to dash her fading hopes. Greg’s spirit had been completely broken, and there was nothing Britney could say to ease his pain.
Putting herself into Greg’s shoes, Britney not only dreaded what would come next, but she also dreaded the thought of her own resignation of death. The only thing she’d had to keep her going through so many of the hard times she and her family had gone through was a hope that one day the hell that befell her nation would begin to heal, and they could begin to rebuild their lives.
But now… now her parents were gone, and her hope that had once shone brightly to everyone around her, was beginning to fade. That horrible, helpless feeling of resignation that had already consumed Greg was creeping into her soul. She could feel its darkness washing over her.
