by R. F. Pace
Sara called out “Jake where are you?” Jake jumped out from a dark spot growling, to a loud chorus of screams. Jake could hardly control his laughter, thinking for a minute he was going to wet himself. Between gasps for air, he finally said, “You should have seen the looks on your faces!” laughing even harder. Sara and Tammy were not amused by Jake’s little prank. “Remember, paybacks are sweeter,” George smiled while nodding.
Everyone’s eyes had now adjusted. The view wasn’t all that amazing. The area was only 20’ by 30’, with a small wall at the far end that looked like it was blocking a tunnel. As they walked a little further in, they noticed the wall led to a set of well-worn steps cut into the outer edge of the inside of the mountain, thus preventing a person from falling into what appeared to be a deep void. The light from the cave entrance allowed them to see that the steps continued to wrap around the inside of the mountain, disappearing into the darkness.
The low wall ran as far as they could see. It looked like it was there to prevent someone using the stairs from falling over the edge. Everyone took out their flashlights and started shining them all around. They looked like little kids holding their first flashlight with the beams going from here to there and back. Everyone made their way over to the low wall and shined their flashlights down the center of the mountain.
The inside of the mountain looked endless. The light didn’t penetrate too far into the darkness. “I wonder how far down that goes?” Tammy inquired. “I’ll bet all the way to the bottom,” George sarcastically replied. “My guess is a long ways down,” added Sara. Jake took a small rock and dropped it over the side. They didn’t hear it hit the bottom. “I would say that is an understatement Sara,” Jake said.
The group followed with their eyes the stairs down as far as the light beam would go. A good way down, they could make out what appeared to be a section with an opening that led into the mountain. The steps continued a long ways down. Jake said, “Let’s play it safe and tie a rope around me to check out the steps.” As Jake retied the rope, he told the others to hold on to it. He walked over to the old stone steps and tested the first few. They appeared to be sound and usable. Jake walked down about ten steps and returned to the top. Jake untied his rope and put it back in his backpack.
Jake said, “It appears good and sturdy… what do you say we check it out?” Tammy asked, “Do you think it’s safe to go in there? Jake replied, “No, but I sure would like to see what’s down there.” “I agree, let’s check it out” George replied. Sara said, “I’m game.” Tammy sighed, “Well, I’m not going to be the stick in the mud and say no.”
Jake was very cautiously leading the way. After slowly walking down the first 20 steps he began to descend a bit faster. All was going well until his foot slipped out from under him, causing him to fall backwards into Sara. Sara went bottom-down on the steps and landed hard. Jake’s fall was broken by Sara, but then began sliding down the steps. The next thing Jake knew, he was abruptly stopped. “That was a close one. Thanks for stopping me from falling guys,” Jake said.
Jake tried to stand, but for some reason couldn’t. It felt like he was being held down. He slipped off his backpack, which stayed in place. Jake shined his flashlight on it, and saw that a spear had gone through it, preventing it from moving. The spear was against the inside wall. “Crap!” Jake blurted out, “I could have been killed!” Jake worked the spear from his backpack and held it up so the others could see.
Tammy, at the rear of the group, had seen enough and was now bounding back up the stairs. Sara tried to grab her, but was about a split second too late. Sara followed Tammy, trying to get her to stop. George turned and went after the girls. Jake didn’t want to be left alone, so he followed George. The group was now in full retreat after Tammy. Tammy was shaking like a leaf on a tree during a wind storm. George was the first to reach her, putting his arms around her and said, “Everything is fine.” Tammy sobbed, “No it isn’t. He could have been killed!” Sara and Jake arrived and also tried to comfort her. Tammy was having none of it. She repeated over and over, “This is a bad idea! We should go home!” Jake shook his head, “It’s my fault for not paying attention to what I was doing. This is an ancient place and it’s probably loaded with booby traps.”
Sara and George glared at Jake. Jake said, “What?” Sara replied, “Great pep talk, dummy!” George started laughing at Sara’s remark, which caused Jake to follow suit. Sara was grinning from ear to ear. Tammy had stopped crying and was amused by them. She finally relaxed and sat down, and the others followed.
“I really don’t want to go home,” she said, “but that was too close a call. What are we going to do?” Jake remarked, “Surely we’re not playing, who gets to be the first shish kabob?” Tammy started laughing, which relaxed everyone else. Suddenly with the subject on shish kabobs, they decided to grab a quick bite to eat.
Jake said, “What does everyone want to do? Do we check out the inside of the mountain or camp out and enjoy nature?” Sara said, “I vote we explore the mountain and see what’s in there. I don’t think someone would booby trap a place unless it contained something of value.” George said, “I agree. We might find some antiques or something valuable.” Tammy said, “There are traps in there to keep people away. One of us could end up getting hurt or killed.” Jake said, “True… we just have to be more careful now that we know there are traps in there.”
After 30 minutes of debating whether to go or stay, they decided to go back down and explore the mountain. Jake was once again leading the way. When he arrived at the point where the spear had come out of the hole in the wall, he started searching the steps for a trigger. It didn’t take long to see there was a pressure release right in the middle of the step. He was thankful he had lost his footing before. When his foot had slid by it, his backpack had landed on it and triggering it.
Jake cautiously descended the steps, searching each one for traps. After descending 30 minutes worth of steps, he found another odd step. Jake said, “George, come over and look at this.” He pointed to the step and George said, “Yeah, it does look a bit different from the others.” The two of them started searching the wall. George located a spot that was slightly off-color and a few inches higher than the last hole. The debate then started as to what they should do about it. The guys wanted to trigger whatever might be there and the girls wanted to leave it. George won the girls over by saying, “If we trip it now, we don’t have to worry about it when we come back up. If we are running, trying to get away from something, we might not remember it.”
Jake took the very end of the spear he’d saved from the first scare and held it at arm’s length. Everyone took a couple of steps back. With the wooden end of the spear, Jake tapped the spot on the step and jumped back. Nothing happened. Jake tried it again with the same results. He looked back at the group and shrugged.
A bit braver now, he stepped closer and struck the step with a bit of force. Again nothing happened. Jake turned around and was about to say something when a spear came flying out and struck the inner wall. Jake about jumped out of his skin as the other three laughed at him. George said, “You should have seen your face!” “That’s not funny!” Jake growled. The way he said it, it caused everyone to laugh harder.
Jake retrieved the spear and handed it to George. He slowed their descent and was now looking even harder for anything out of the ordinary. Time was now starting to drag by. Sara said, “At this rate it’s going to take us forever to get to the bottom.” Just over another hour went by and Jake had stopped and was looking at several steps in front of him. George asked, “What’s wrong?” Jake pointed
to three steps in front of him and said, “They look different than the other steps.”
George shined his flashlight at the steps and inspected them, finally agreeing, “The other steps had just a slight spot that was off color, these steps are totally different than the others. I don’t see any spots on the walls where a spear would come from, either.” Sara asked, “Do you think it’s a trap?” Jake said, “Yes, but I bet it’s not the same as the others we have found.” “Just trip it then!” said Tammy.
Jake had everyone move back several steps and he touched the first step with the spear tip. Nothing happened. Jake added a bit more pressure and pressed on the step again… again nothing. After tapping all three steps with the spear, he told George to hand him the other spear. When he had both spears, he applied pressure to the first two steps at the same time. He had no more than started applying a little pressure when the bottom of the outside wall flipped up and knocked the spears from his hands. The spears banged against the wall then flew over his head toward the others. Sara and Tammy screeched and George had to move out of the path of the spears to keep from getting hit.
Jake realized with a shock that the trap could have flipped him over the inside wall into the unknown blackness. George said, “That was a close one.” “Yea, but we still need to get by this,” Jake replied. The wall looked like it had reset as if nothing had happened. Jake retrieved the spears and said, “Let’s see if it does it again.” As he hit the two steps the wall flipped up just like it had done the first time.
This time, Jake was able to hold on to the spears. He said, “Looks like we need to jump over these three steps.” Once again the wall reset. Without waiting for anyone to say something to him, he jumped over the three steps. Jake landed on the fifth step down and slid an additional two steps before he finally stopped sliding.
Sara yelled, “Jake! Jake! Are you okay?” Jake said, “I’m fine.” Sara replied, “Maybe now you are, but when I get my hands on you, I’m going to kill you!” Jake laughed and said, “OK, jump over one at a time and I’ll stop you from falling.” Sara went first and landed on the fourth step. Tammy jumped, and then George. Everyone was now over the booby-trapped stairs. As they started to walk off, Tammy said, “Don’t you think we should mark them somehow?” “Good idea! I knew we brought you along for a reason,” replied Jake. Jake cut a piece of rope off and laid it on the step before the trap.
***
By the time they had reached the first landing, they had triggered a total of three traps. The landing led into a room. The archway looked as if it once contained a door long ago. The group stood and peered inside. This room, like the area at the opening, looked to be about 20’ by 30’. Jake checked the floor and didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. They walked inside the room and started inspecting. There were two sconces attached to the remaining three walls, and of the six sconces, two of them still held a torch. George pulled a lighter from his backpack and lit one of them, then the other. Tammy said, “I wonder how old they are?” “Old, I bet,” Jake relied.
The room was littered with broken and decaying pieces of wood from furniture and possibly a door. Tammy wondered, “What is this room?” George answered, “It looks as if troops could stage here to protect the mountain.” Each person took a different wall and started looking for traps and hidden or secret passageways. After spending a few minutes looking, George started trying to move the sconces. That only proved that a couple were loose, but no secret passage appeared. Jake said, “Let’s use these torches and save the flashlights.”
They took the opportunity to rest for a while when Sara asked, “Do you think there are more traps on the stairs ahead of us?” “Or maybe even monsters?” Tammy added. George said, “Only two-headed lizards,” and started laughing. All Tammy could do was smile. Sara and Jake looked at each other wondering what the meaning behind that was. Sara said, “We don’t get it. What’s so funny?” “It’s a tale I heard Tammy made up to tell her parents about why she didn’t want to go camping,” George answered.
George finally said, “I think we need to get moving before it gets dark.” Sara started laughing and said, “Really. Do you really want to go there? We’re in a mountain that is pitch black, without the torches and flashlights we would be totally blind.” Jake shook his head and said, “Yea, I think George is right.” Sara was stunned and just looked at him. She finally said, “You both must want to be rocket scientists when you grow up.” George finally said, “I was referring to nightfall, not just darkness.” “I thought the two of you were losing your minds or something. I see what you mean now that you put it that way,” said Sara. George and Jake each grab a torch from the sconces.
Jake started back down the stairs just as cautiously as before. He didn’t find anything out of the ordinary, and no additional traps. The steps seemed to go down forever and the torches would only illuminate so far. They finally reached the next landing and cautiously looked in. Jake and George stuck the torches inside the archway noting this was yet another room like the one above, but without torches.
Taking time to once again rest, Sara asked, “How far are we going to go before we head back?” No one had an answer. Tammy said, “The further we go down, the further we have to travel back up.” No one commented, but everyone gave her a “duh” look. She just shrugged her shoulders and said, “I’m just stating the obvious I know, but we have a good bit of gear out there and we may want to retrieve some of it and camp in here.” Jake said, “That’s not a bad idea.” Sara and George agreed. The group agreed to retrieve everything they could. “We can leave our packs in here and lighten our load for the climb up,” suggested Tammy. “Good idea!” replied George. Everyone took their packs off and placed them on the floor. “George, take your rope with you, we’re going to need it to get the rest of the gear back up,” said Jake while pulling his rope from his backpack.
***
The climb back up the stairs was painfully long and very hard on the legs. Taking extra precautions at the booby traps they were all exhausted once they reached the top. They discussed who would climb back down to camp to retrieve the gear, they all agreed Jake and Sara would return to the campsite. George and Tammy would stay at the opening and pull the gear up with the ropes. Jake secured the ropes for him and Sara to rappel down the face of the mountain.
Between the two of them, they gathered up the gear they required quickly. Jake said, “I’m glad we didn’t completely set up camp before we started exploring.” Sara replied, “It would have taken a long time to break it all down.” Jake started hauling gear while Sara finished collecting gear. The most time consuming part was getting the gear to the base of the mountain. Jake and Sara worked together to secure the ropes to the gear to be hauled up to the landing. George and Tammy got the worst end of the deal by having to pull the gear up. The climb back up for Jake and Sara was a bit easier the second time, but not as easy as the trip down. Two hours later, they were all back in the cave. Taking a break they decided to eat a snack before moving once again.
Knowing where the traps were, helped them make good time returning to the place they had left their backpacks before heading up. Jake checked his watch; it was just after 7 p.m. Jake said, “Let’s keep going for a couple more hours before we stop. We can find another room to set up camp and have dinner.” Jake decided to poke fun at Sara and said to George, “I don’t want to be traveling in here after dark. Do you George?” George laughing said, “Oh no! The boogeyman may be out and about.” “Not funny,” snarled Sara.
They arranged the gear so it wasn’t as cumbersome. When they headed out, George took the poi
nt grabbing one of the torches; Tammy followed him, with Sara and Jake at the rear with the second torch. They’d been walking down steps for over two hours by the time Jake checked his watch again. Continuing at a slower pace with all the gear now they stopped to rest for a moment at another small opening then once again headed back down the stairs moving slowly as not to tire easily.
After passing another landing with a room, Jake said, “If it’s a safe spot, let’s stop on the next landing for the night.” Everyone was more than ready, so he received no complaints. When they arrived at the next landing, George held the torch in the opening and saw this was similar to the others. Upon entering they found this landing was quite different with several smaller rooms networked throughout. One by one they checked each room. All the rooms were in the same condition as the previous - debris scattered all about.
They selected a small room toward the back. “Help me put up a tent George, I don’t want anything creeping and crawling in the sleeping bags as we sleep.” As George gave him a hand setting up the tent Tammy asked “Are we only setting up one tent?” Jake answered, “I think we better stay together for safety.” Tammy nodded and went to help Sara. Once the tent was up, they made pallets with clothes, and then laid their sleeping bags on top.
Sara and Tammy gathered some food from their packs. Sara asked, “Do we want to start a small fire to heat the food or are we going to eat cold food tonight?” George said, “I think it best if we ate cold food tonight and make a fire in the morning for something hot to eat. I’m so tired now, I just want to go to sleep.” Everyone agreed and helped clean up after a quick bite to eat.
They took various boards and started to block the room’s entrance as best they could. Tammy decided to state the obvious, “That’s not going to stop anyone from coming through.” Jake shook his head and said, “It’s not meant to stop anyone. It’s meant to warn us if someone tries to come in.” They continued to work in silence until the door opening was blocked. Finally it was time to sleep.
