“I’m not saying I don’t want to do it, I just don’t want to screw up,” Willie replied.
“Look man, you can’t let the guests see you nervous. If you don’t seem like you’re in charge you won’t inspire confidence in them. Now that can be disastrous. Peter did that on his first time through and two people left the group and we spent six hours looking for them.”
“Great. That’s just what I wanted to hear.”
“Hey man, you have to know. You gotta stand there in front of them and let confidence ooze from your pores. It’s kind of like staring down a dog. If you show fear you’re whipped. Stand tall, speak up and for God’s sake, act like you know what you’re doing even when you don’t. Hell, they don’t know if you make a mistake or not. What do they know?”
“Sounds simple enough but I’m still nervous,” Willie said.
“Get over it man. I’m telling you, they can smell fear. It won’t be pretty if they don’t feel like you’re in charge.”
“I got it. I got it. I don’t know if I can do that but I understand what you’re trying to say,” Willie snapped.
“Okay,” he said and shrugged.
“You want to kind of tag along?”
“That isn’t going to do anything to help your confidence. You need to do this on your own. We all had to do it at one time or another.”
“Yeah, I know. Thanks,” Willie said.
“Anytime. Now, go kick some booty,” he said and trotted off.
“Crap,” Willie said as he waved back.
Willie Barker had not started off to become a cave guide but after a series of boring jobs he found out that Lost World Cavern was hiring for part time employment. Originally he worked in the gift shop selling things such as amethysts, crystals, Indian artifact reproductions, and various minerals. The first few weeks were enjoyable and he would spend all his spare time exploring the cave.
He would often take the tour with the guests just absorbing the wonder of it all. After hours he would hook up with the tour guides and they would take him to all sorts of neat places the regular tourists were not allowed to enter. It was one of the few really cool things he had ever done in his life.
During his second year at Lost World Cavern, an opportunity for tour guide opened up and he decided that he would apply. Since he had a leg up on all the other candidates he was hired and moved over to become a tour guide.
He had spent the last two months in training. He had to learn the history as well as the right paths to take and to be able to answer questions from the guests. That was what he considered to be the hardest part. He never knew what someone was going to ask him. Kids were the worst. They always asked something that would stump the guides. More than once he had seen guides dance around questions. He spent endless hours on his computer, just reading up on everything he could find about caves and what caused them to be so mysterious.
Now the time had come. No more training. Today he was getting his first group to lead through the cave and he was doing it alone. Man. He just had to do a good job.
He slipped on his jacket and headed to the entrance of the cave. He did a quick head count and found only fourteen people were waiting for him. He glanced at his watch. They started in five minutes. He took a deep breath as he was walking up to the group.
“Ladies and gentlemen the cave will be fifty-six degrees inside. It’s about Eighty-four outside right now. We will be down there for almost an hour. If you are cold natured you may want to grab a jacket. You can always tie it around you if you get too warm but once inside…”
“How long do we have to say down there?” a little girl asked.
“About an hour.”
“How long is that? Is that a long time?”
“Better ask your mommy how long that is,” he said and smiled. Shit. Questions and they haven’t even started yet.
“How long before you leave? Do we have time to get a jacket? Someone should have told us earlier,” a guy in a short sleeve shirt said, frowning.
“You have about five or six minutes. I’ll wait if you want to go get one,” Willie replied politely.
“Damn it,” the man grumbled and trotted off toward the parking lot.
****
“All right Ladies and Gentlemen. We will be going inside the cave. Once we get inside I will close the doors so you can get accustomed to the dim light. While we are there I’ll give you a brief history of the cave. Now, if you will all follow me,” Willie said and opened the door. They all filed in like sheep and Willie closed the door.
“Mommy,” a little girl said, scared from the darkness that enveloped them.
“It’s all right honey. We will be able to see in just a second,” the woman assured her.
“This cave was discovered over a half century ago by some cave explorers that are called spelunkers. They had asked a farmer if he knew of any caves and he told them that he dumped dead cattle down a large hole. They decided to explore and rappelled down almost one hundred and twenty feet when they came to the floor of the cave. It became a registered national landmark in 1973. Original tours were done by handing visitors a flashlight and letting them explore the cave on their own.
Too many beautiful formations were overlooked and several people became disoriented so it was decided that to give visitors a better chance of seeing all of the magnificent features of this unique cavern, guided tours would be offered. New lighting has been installed so that following the path is much easier today than it used to be.
As we go down further into the cave I will point out some of the amazing formations. Now, if you will follow me we will start the tour by going down this rail lined path. We will come to a room that is almost seventy-five feet wide, a thousand feet long and twelve stories high” Willie told them.
So far so good he thought. This wasn’t going to be so bad he decided.
“Young man,” a woman called out.
“Yes?”
“You didn’t tell us your name.”
“Oh. Sorry about that. I’m Willie Baker. Thank you for reminding me,” he replied, thinking how stupid could he be, forgetting something as simple as introducing himself?
“Just to your right, just there,” he said, pointing to the spot, “Is Ice Cream Wall. And to your left is where some human remains were found that date back thousands of years. It is believed that this area was used as a burial ground for some ancient Native American tribe.”
“What happened to the remains?”
“They were moved to preserve them.”
“Moved where?”
Oh man. He would have to dance on this one since he never thought to ask.
“The Smithsonian Institute,” he said quickly.
“What do the Native Americans think about that?” another asked.
“Well, to my knowledge they never complained,” Willie replied and several people chuckled.
“Okay, if you will follow me. We are going a little deeper into the cavern. In this next room you will find one of the largest formations called the Castle. We will also see a rimstone dam formation along the way. It is truly amazing,” he said leading them to the next area.
“Excuse me Mr. Baker.”
“Willie, please.”
“Alright. Willie, did you say rimstone or rhinestone?”
“Rimstone.”
“What is a rimstone?”
“A rimstone is a calcareous deposit forming a dam at the edge or outlet of an overflowing pool of water. I guess to be more accurate I should say calcareous nannofossils. It is algae that has been carried here and collected and eventually turned semi-hard, sort of like chalk, and forms a dam,” he explained.
“I see.”
Sure you do, Willie thought.
“Where is the restroom?” a lady asked.
“Ah…sorry they are all back at the entrance. We don’t have any restrooms in the cave.”
“You don’t? I don’t see why not,” she said.
Willie ignored her and went on w
ith the tour. It wasn’t nearly as bad as he had imagined it was going to be. No one asked any questions that he couldn’t answer and only one person had complained about the cold. They were nearing the end of the tour when he did a head count. One person was missing. The woman who had asked about the restroom. Ah Christ, he thought. Did she stop to take a leak? He couldn’t say much about it but he couldn’t go much further either.
“Willie.”
“Yes?”
“The difference between a stalactite and a stalagmite is what?”
“Both are caused by the minerals in dripping water. Stalactites are formed on the ceilings of caves and stalagmites project vertically upwards from a cave floor and are formed by precipitation from drips, often found directly under a stalactite.”
“So this is a stalactite?” he said pointing to a huge hanging protrusion.
“It is indeed.”
“Do they ever fall?”
“I’m sure they do but I’ve never heard of such a thing happening here. I suppose one could during an earthquake or something like that,” Willie said.
He was just thinking about heading back down the path to find the woman when he saw her coming up the path.
“Please, if you will follow me we are going to go into one of the most spectacular rooms in the cave. I will turn off the lights so you can see how dark it really is inside a cave and then I will shine my light on some of the beautiful outcrops,” he told them.
“I don’t think my little girl is going to like that,” the lady said, picking up the young girl and stroking her hair.
“Just hold on to her. It will just be for a minute. I’ll turn my light back on if she gets too scared,” he assured her.
He turned to lead them to the next section when suddenly the cave began to shake. Small rocks started to rattle and fall. It became more violent in just seconds and the floor shook so hard that almost everyone went crashing down. The lights flickered twice and then went out. A huge crashing sound echoed through the cavern followed by several more thundering crashes. The people began to scream and Willie heard several people moaning as the rumbling roared through the cave. It was pitch black and the little girl was crying someplace off to his right.
“Is everyone all right?” Willie asked as soon as the noise diminished.
“Hell no,” someone shouted.
“Where are the lights?” several cried out.
“I think my leg is broken,” another said.
Willie fished in his coat pocket and turned on his flashlight. Everyone let out a yelp at the sudden flash of the bright beam cutting through the blackness.
“What the hell happened?”
“Yeah, don’t tell me this is part of the tour.”
“Listen, ladies and gentlemen. I don’t know what happened. You can all see my light. I want you all to make your way to me if you can.”
He could hear movement and caught a flicker of someone passing in front of the beam.
“Please cooperate. I need to get a count and see if anyone is hurt.”
“I damn sure am,” a voice came from further in the darkness.
“Stay where you are. Once we get organized I’ll come to you. Just stay put for now,” he said, trying to sound reassuring.
“I think my leg is broken,” came the reply.
“I’ll be right there. Just stay where you are.”
“Son of a bitch,” he heard the man say.
“I want each person to put one hand on me. I know it’s hard to see me but just follow the light to my hand. Just one hand. I need to try to get a count.”
He felt several hands land on various parts of his body. He did a quick count. There were only eight hands touching him. He should have had fourteen.
“Is that everyone?”
A chorus of ‘yes’ came the reply.
“I don’t feel the little girl’s hand. Is she with us?”
“Yes, the mother said. I’m holding her.”
“Okay. I just wanted to make sure. Now I’m going to take each of your hands and link it with another person. Please do not let go of that person. We are going to form a chain. Don’t drop the other person’s hand.”
“I can’t do that and hold my little girl,” the lady said in the darkness.
“Someone will help you,” he said, linking one person to the next.
“I need to find the gentleman who is hurt. All of you just stay right where you are. I’ll find you. Don’t go anywhere.”
He played the light beam around until he saw a man lying against a stalagmite. His right leg was obviously broken. A large chunk of the side wall of the cave had landed on his leg and broken it. Blood had pooled under the break. Willie knew it was a compound fracture and that he would need medical attention immediately or he would most likely go into shock. The man was lying against the rock with his eyes closed. His breathing was shallow and he felt clammy to Willie’s touch.
“How you doing?” Willie asked, bending down to feel his pulse.
“Son of a bitch. My leg hurts like hell. I think it’s broken,” he said in short sentences.
“Oh yeah, it’s broken. I’m going to have to get help. There is no way we can move you like you are,”
“I’m cold. My rear is sitting in water and I’m freezing my butt off,” he said.
His speech was becoming slurred.
“Hang on,” Willie said and slipped his jacket off and placed it over the man’s chest and arms.
“I need to put a tourniquet on your thigh,” Willie said, taking his belt off and wrapping it around his leg. He pulled it tight and the man let out a yelp of pain.
“Sorry. I need you to loosen this every five minutes or so. Can you do that?”
“I think so.”
“Okay, listen up. We are still missing four people. Does anyone know where they are?”
No reply came.
“They have to be here close by,” he said, more to himself than anyone.
He started searching around the area with his light but only saw where one of the large stalactites had come crashing down. He looked closer and saw a shoe on one side and a woman’s leg protruding out the other.
“Oh my God,” someone gasped.
Willie picked his way over to the fallen slab of stone and found three bodies crushed under the weight of the stalactite. He got down on his hands and knees and checked each one for a pulse but they were dead. He poked all around and found another foot sticking out from under it. He realized that one of them was a small boy on his father’s shoulders. He sat down in the cold water and tried to think what to do next. Why were the lights not coming back on? What the hell had happened? A thousand thoughts raced through his head.
“Are they dead?” someone asked.
“I’m pretty sure. At least I think so,” he said weakly.
“We have to get out of here,” the woman with the little girl screamed. “We are all going to die.”
“Hold it. We are fine. Everyone outside the cave knows something happened. They are organizing search and rescue teams right now. We have a procedure for emergencies. We are going to be just fine. If we start panicking everything will go to hell in a handbasket real quick. We have to remain calm.”
“Then get us out of here.”
“We need to just stay here. It is far too dark for all of us to try to make it to the entrance. We can’t just leave the gentleman with the broken leg behind.”
“Jameson. Ben Jameson,” a weak voice said in the dark.
“Sorry. We can’t leave Mr. Jameson here with a broken leg.”
“The hell we can’t. I say we get the hell out of here,” the man who had gone back after his jacket replied.
“Sir. If we try to get out without the path lit up, I assure you, someone could get seriously injured. We have about a quarter of a mile of slippery passage that becomes narrow and has a ledge on each side. It’s a challenge with good lighting but very dangerous with none,” Willie explained.
“I can make
it,” he shot back.
“Yes, maybe you can but I’m not risking the rest of the people. I can’t stop you from trying but I strongly suggest you just wait with the rest of us.”
“Give me the flashlight. I’m going on my own,” he said.
“Sir, I can’t do that. You can go but the flashlight stays with me,” Willie replied.
“Like hell,” the man said and lunged for Willie.
Willie was sure he would try something like that so he turned off the light and took a quick step to the right and ducked down. He felt the man’s body fly by and slap into the wall.
“You son of a bitch,” the man yelled.
Willie backed away from his voice.
The man was thrashing around and a lady yelled, “Hey you jerk.”
“Sorry.”
“Yes you are. You're acting like a little child,” she scolded.
“Hey, screw you lady,” he said and Willie could sense he was feeling around.
“Screw all of you jerks,” he finally said. “You stay but I’m going to find my way out of this damn cave.”
“Good. Go on,” someone said softly.
Willie waited with the others in the dark. They could hear the water dripping off the rocks above and splashing to the floor below.
Nature didn’t care about time or anything else. It just went on. The stalactites continued to stretch for the floor and the stalagmites continued to reach for the ceiling. The endless process continued.
****
After a few minutes passed, someone asked, “Willie, what’s going to happen to us?”
“They will come for us. Don’t worry.”
“Yeah, but what if it was even worse out there and even more are dead? How will they know we are even in here?”
“They just will. Not everyone could be hurt. I mean we got knocked around a little but it wasn’t that big a quake or whatever it was.”
“Felt pretty big to me,” she said.
“It just caught us by surprise. That made it seem worse than it really was,” Willie said trying to comfort her.
“I doubt that the poor people under that rock would agree with you,” she said softly.
There was nothing much he could say to that. He felt his way back down the path to where Mr. Jameson was.
THE END - Book I - Of THE EVENT SERIES Page 5