by Bill Myers
“Ooof!”
“Oaaf!”
“Your elbow’s in my ear!”
“Sorry!”
… until they were one giant mound of people. And before they could untangle themselves, the panel door swiiiished shut and the elevator dropped.
Chapter Eight
The Cave
Piper thought the screaming and falling would never end. But finally, the elevator stopped, and the panel door slid open to reveal a cold, dark cave. It might have been a relief, except she hated cold, dark caves even worse than out-of-control, falling elevators.
Dad was the first to step out. When he was sure it was safe, he motioned the others to follow.
One by one they filed out.
“Be sure to keep our buddy system,” he said. “There’re lots of tunnels branching off, and we don’t want anyone getting lost down here.”
Dad and Mom led the way, followed by Zach and Willard. Piper and Cody brought up the rear. As they made their way forward, Piper began to feel a strange uneasiness — almost as if someone or something was watching them.
And then she heard it. A scraping sound. Behind them.
Was it her imagination? It must have been.
They continued walking until — there it was again.
And again.
Almost like footsteps. And they were getting closer!
Mustering all of her courage, she stole a quick look over her shoulder. That’s when she saw what looked like a flash of red fire and two black shadows coming toward them!
She screamed. Dad shouted something, but Piper didn’t stick around to hear. Seized with panic, she began running. Not forward — there were too many people in the way. Instead, she darted into the first passageway she found and ran for her life.
She only looked over her shoulder once. But that was enough to miss seeing the giant hole in front of her. The giant hole that she tripped, stumbled, and fell into … screaming all the way.
Mom wasn’t sure how far she’d run when Dad pulled them into a small nook of one of the tunnels. Zach and Willard were nowhere to be seen. Neither were Piper or Cody. Everyone had taken off in different directions.
Well, almost everyone.
It seemed they were still being followed by the red fire and two dark figures, which soon became visible as the woman with fiery hair and her two goons.
“Nice work!” the redhead shrieked. “He sent us back to find them, and now they’re gone!”
“Sorry, can we leave now?” the biggest one asked.
“You’re nothing but an overgrown chicken!”
“Sorry, can we leave now?”
“I agree with Bruno,” the skinny one said. “This place really creeps me out.”
“So can we leave now?”
“Quiet!” the redhead bellowed.
As the yelling drew closer, Dad reached into his pocket.
“What are you doing?” Mom whispered.
“If we stay here, they’re bound to find us.”
“So …”
“So I’ll scare them off.”
“With what?”
He proudly pulled out a pocket breath sprayer. “This!”
Mom blinked, wondering if there was a chance he’d lost his mind.
He explained. “When I give you the signal, shine that flashlight on me.”
Now she was sure he’d lost his mind. “What?”
The shouting voices were almost there. Without further explanation, Dad wrapped his hand around the breath spray, stepped forward, and shouted, “Stop!” His voice echoed through the cave.
The woman and her goons stumbled to a stop.
Dad nodded to Mom who reluctantly turned on the flashlight. It cast a giant shadow of him against the wall. And, as he held the breath spray toward them with his index finger pointed out, it looked like a very big man holding a very big gun.
“Stay where you are!” he shouted in his deepest voice. “Don’t make me use this!”
It must have done the trick. The goons leapt back, spun around, and ran away as fast as they could.
Mom could only stare.
When the coast was clear, Dad turned to her and smiled. “So what did you think?”
Mom shook her head. “Amazing.”
“Thanks,” he said then gave his mouth a good spritz of spearmint breath spray.
Piper woke up to a pounding headache. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been unconscious, but the hard cave floor — complete with rocks jabbing into her back — told her she wasn’t exactly dead … at least not yet. Then there was the darkness. It made no difference if her eyes were open or closed — the blackness was complete, and she couldn’t see anything around her.
Then she heard the sounds. Whisperings. Quiet, like the wind blowing through leaves.
A chill rippled across her shoulders.
The whisperings grew louder — eerie and haunting as they echoed against the cave walls.
She reached into the darkness for her flashlight. It had to be there, somewhere.
By now the whisperings were so close she could almost hear words.
She scrapped a rock with her knee, and the whispering stopped — just a few feet away.
Where was that flashlight?! Where had it dropped?
She could hear breathing now. Quiet, and very close.
At last she felt the flashlight. She grabbed it, making sure it pointed the right direction. Her fingers searched for the on/off switch. There it was.
The breathing was practically on top of her.
She took a silent breath of her own. It was now or never. She let go a bloodcurdling scream while snapping on the blazing light.
Three pairs of boys’ eyes widened like saucers. The pair with the glasses rolled up into their head and fell out of sight … as Willard hit the ground with a dull THUD.
Chapter Nine
Darkness Tightens Its Grip
“Willard!” Cody dropped to his knees and knelt over his friend. “Willard, wake up!” He reached down and slapped his face.
Willard’s eyes popped open. “OW!” He immediately slapped Cody back.
Zach had left their side to check on Piper. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” she said in a shaky voice. “Thanks for finding me. Where are Mom and Dad?”
“They’re next on our list,” Zach said as he helped her to her feet.
But she had barely stood before she felt it. “Whoa … what’s that?”
The guys exchanged glances.
“What’s what?” Zach asked.
Piper frowned. “I don’t know, it’s like …” She wanted to say it was like a giant wave of selfishness had washed over her. That, suddenly, the only thing she cared about was what was best for her. But admitting that was far too embarrassing, especially in front of Cody.
So, instead of answering, she simply shrugged, “I’m not … sure.”
Cody nervously cleared his throat. “Actually, we’re all feeling things.”
Willard added, “And the further we proceed into this cave, the stronger those emotions become.”
Piper gave a shudder. The selfish part of her wanted to run away, to let the others find her parents, to let them save her little brother. She had her own life to live. Why should she care? But she fought against the feelings, refusing to give in.
“So, which way?” Cody asked.
“That’s an ignorant question,” Willard snapped. “We press on, of course.”
The rudeness surprised Piper. That wasn’t like Willard at all.
He continued. “We are already aware of what is behind us. We are unaware of what lies ahead.” Without waiting for the others to agree, he started forward.
“I’m — I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” Cody said. His voice sounded unsure, almost like he was afraid.
“Why not?” Willard demanded.
“Because,” Cody glanced from side to side. “Because we …”
Willard rolled his eyes. “Out with it, we don’t
have the entire day.”
Piper came to his rescue. “Because we should pray first.”
Now it was Zach’s turn to show contempt. “Oh, brother.”
Piper turned to him in surprise. Zach had never felt that way about prayer before.
“If you want to hang back and get all religious on us, go ahead,” Zach scorned. “But the rest of us are going.”
“Get all religious?” Piper frowned. “Zach, what’s wrong?”
“Will you please cease this mindless communication?” Willard ordered. “We will proceed, and we will proceed now!”
Piper turned from Zach to Willard, equally as surprised. Before she could answer, Willard shook his head in contempt and started off. Zach followed.
But Cody glanced nervously around, refusing to move.
“Let’s go, Cody,” Zach called over his shoulder.
“I, uh …” Cody coughed. “I think I’ll stay behind. You know, to protect Piper and all.”
But it was a lie. Piper could see it in his eyes. If anything, it was the other way around — he was hoping she would protect him. How strange. She’d always known Cody to be brave and courageous.
What was going on?
It was time to report to Shadow Man. Monica was grateful her cell phone didn’t work underground. She was even more grateful that she had to leave the caves to call in her report. It’s not that she didn’t like the caves … she was just terrified by them. Or at least where they led to.
Actually, not where they led to, but who they led to.
By the time they caught the elevator and went back upstairs, they were all pretty jittery. Of course Bruno was the worst. The big lug was shaking hard.
“Are w-w-we th-th-there yet?”
“Yes, Bruno,” Silas sighed. “You can open your eyes now.”
“Great. Can I go to the bathroom?”
“As soon as I call Shadow Man.” Monica punched in his number on her phone. “He’s still in the Hummer with the kid. And with any luck, he’s still in a good mood.”
Silas frowned. “I didn’t know he had good moods.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Monica snapped. “Of course he has good moods.”
“Really,” Silas asked, “like when?”
“Remember that day there was a big earthquake in California and a major hurricane in Florida and all those tornadoes in Kansas? And when that giant typhoon hit Asia?”
Silas nodded. “You’re right. I think he might actually have smiled that day. Well, at least a smirk.”
Finally the phone on the other end picked up and a voice demanded,“Ssspeak to me …”
“I’m, I’m sorry to disturb you, sir,” Monica stammered.
“Your very presssenccce disssturbsss me.”
“Yes, well, thank you … I mean, I’m sorry … I mean — ”
“Sssilenccce!”
Monica gave a nervous swallow. Come to think of it, so did Silas and Bruno.
“Have you found them?” the voice demanded.
“It’s just as you suspected,” Monica said. “They’ve returned to the compound in search of the boy. They found the elevator and are heading down into the abyss.”
“The abysss?” She could almost hear him smiling on the other end. “Excccellent. The massster will deal with them ssswiftly.”
Monica gave a sigh of relief. “Then you won’t be needing us to go down there, will you, sir?”
The three smiled anxiously at each other, giving a confident thumbs-up over a job well done, until Shadow Man answered:
“You mussst return and retrieve the bodiesss.”
“But — ”
“GO!” The command blasted through the phone with such force that the speaker crackled.
Their smiles wilted as Monica stared at her phone. “Well … I guess we have our orders.”
“We’re n-n-not going back d-d-down there,” Bruno said.
“Of course we are,” she scolded. “As soon as you go to the bathroom, we’re heading into the abyss.”
“Ah, actually …” Silas coughed slightly. “The bathroom part won’t be necessary.”
“Why not?” Monica demanded.
Instead of answering, he nodded at the growing puddle at Bruno’s feet.
Mom and Dad wandered through one tunnel after another, shouting. “Piper! Zach!”
But there was no answer. Just their returning echoes.
“We’ll never find them,” Mom said, doing her best to hide the trembling in her voice.
But Dad heard it. He put his arm around her and said, “We will, dear. I promise you, we will.”
“First we lose Elijah.” She sniffed. “Now Piper and Zach …”
“We’ll find them,” he said. “God has not taken us this far to abandon us now. We’ll find them.”
She looked down and then nodded.
Dad gave her another hug and, once again, they started calling, “Piper … Zach …”
Zach and Willard followed the cave deeper and deeper. Willard had demanded that he take the lead, and the further they went, the bossier he got.
Things were even worse for Zach. It was as if all his faith was being sucked away. And the deeper they went, the worse it got, until he no longer trusted God for anything.
Finally, unable to help himself, he blurted out: “We’re gonna die. I know it!”
Willard glanced over his shoulder and sneered. “What?”
“God’s left us here, and we’re all going to die!”
“Shut your trap, Dawkins!”
But Zach couldn’t stop. “ ‘Left us here?’ What am I saying? I’m not even sure he exists!”
“Who? What are you talking about?”
“God! I don’t know what’s happening, but — ”
“Look, I’m in control here!” Willard barked. “Not God.”
“But — ”
Willard spun around, raising his flashlight over Zach’s head. “You shut up, or it’s gonna be lights out for you, got it?”
Even though she was far away, Piper heard the sound of Willard’s shouting echo through the cave.
“Cody?” She turned to see him huddled against the side wall, wide-eyed and frightened. “Something’s going on here. Our thoughts, our feelings — they’re getting out of control.”
Cody nodded.
“And it’s getting worse.” She paused, listening to the shouting. “Especially for Zach and Willard.”
“What can we do?” Cody’s voice was shaking.
For the briefest second, Piper wanted to throw up her hands and tell him to forget it. What did she care? Let them fight their own battles. The same with little Elijah. Then, suddenly, out of the blue, she remembered what Dad had said in the car:
“We’re in a battle … a spiritual battle.”
And she vividly remembered one of the weapons they were to use in that battle.
“Cody.” She moved toward him. “There is something we can do.”
He looked to her, waiting for more.
“We can pray.”
“What?”
“We’re not fighting against anything we can see. We’re fighting something spiritual. And the only way we can win a spiritual battle is to fight it spiritually.”
His eyes were wide as he looked at her. “How … how do we do that?”
She kneeled down. “Take my hand. Let’s start praying hard. Real hard.”
Still holding the flashlight, Willard shouted into Zach’s face. “Now get in front of me so I can keep an eye on you!”
“What’s wrong with us?” Zach asked. “I don’t understand what’s happening.”
“Now!”
Of course Zach could easily have taken Willard with one hand tied behind his back. Make that two hands. Make that two hands and one foot. But he was worried about the guy. And since God could no longer be trusted to help, it was up to him to do whatever he could. Reluctantly, he took the lead, his faith fading with every step he took.