Desolation Boulevard
Page 66
Chapter 66
The Hibernation
At about the same time Sally was realising she might be in love with Matt, he was a hundred and fifty kilometres away, coasting into the car park that serviced the Delano Cave system. He stopped the engine and opened his door. Outside, the world was as silent as a graveyard. Dylan and Montana climbed out of the car and they stood with Matt staring at the huge chalet-style guesthouse that loomed over them like a ghost ship.
“That’s pretty random,” noted Montana drily.
“This place was huge in the 1920s,” said Matt. “Rich city types used to come up here from the city to be seen at ritzy ballroom dances, apparently. It’s all been a bit downhill since then, I guess.”
While the caves had been sacred to Aboriginal people for thousands of years, early European explorers had only discovered them around a hundred and fifty years ago. The caves’ remote location in a deep, hidden valley had kept visitors away for many decades, but once a road was forged through the wilderness around a hundred years ago, the place became a mecca for visitors, eager to experience the grandeur of the ancient system, and to be seen themselves, at a very fashionable holiday spot. Delano Caves House maintained its’ reputation for a couple of decades, but once airplane travel became more affordable, long trips into the country became less popular and visitor numbers dwindled until the caves became little more than a curious side trip for elderly holiday makers heading west.
“Well, what’s the plan boys?” asked Montana.
“Matt seems to know a bit more about the caves than I do, which is absolutely nothing, so I say we do whatever he suggests.”
“Oh, thanks a lot,” said Matt. “I thought this was your expedition”.
“Don’t stress okay? Just tell us anything you can about this place, then we’ll decide what to do.”
Matt looked at Dylan and then Montana, who were obviously waiting for him to provide some kind of inspiration. He ignored them and looked around, hoping to see something that would give him an inkling of where to begin this crazy quest. Then, closer to the guesthouse he saw something he thought might help.
“Follow me,” he said, walking away from his friends towards the once grand building.
When Matt stopped, Dylan and Montana saw immediately what had attracted his attention. A large hand-painted timber sign showed a map of all the caves within walking distance. And just in case tourists required more information, a little Perspex box with a flip-top lid, held a stack of brochures, which would probably provide details about the caves’ histories, sizes and accessibility. After more than two months, the brochures were looking worse for wear and it was clear that a number of bugs had lived and died in that box, but Matt flipped the lid and pulled out the wad of leaflets. They had congealed together into one solid mass, but Matt split them in two with a crack and found that the ones in the middle of the pile were preserved well enough to read. He gave one each to Dylan and Montana and they unfolded them with reverence, understanding that the knowledge found inside these flimsy relics of the past might just be enough to give them a vital edge in their confrontation with the feeder colony.
By combining the information found in the brochure with the picture of the map on the board, they were able to piece together a plan that they thought might be effective. There were six different cave entrances within half a kilometre, and the map showed that all of the caves were connected to each other deep within the hillside. By locating the bombs at strategic points, there was a reasonable chance they would be able to bring down enough rubble to block the feeders’ exit points, thereby ensuring their demise even if they weren’t killed in the initial blasts. This plan was appealing, too, because it meant that they wouldn’t need to venture all the way into the heart of the feeder colony. In effect, they would be burying the feeders alive.
“Let’s get the gear and get started,” urged Dylan, “Daylight is precious.”
Twenty minutes later they were at the entrance to the cave that was furthest from the guesthouse. They had wired up the ten bombs and left nine of them in the car, which was parked nearby. They would collect the other devices only as they were needed. They had decided that it made the most sense to set up single explosives in the five smaller caverns, and then wire up multiple devices in the last, and largest cave, where they assumed most of the feeders would be hibernating. They would need to set the timers at staggered intervals, to allow for the time it took to get from one cave to the next, but because the devices were all rigged independently, there was no way to make them detonate simultaneously. All they could do was make calculations based on the rough distances they would be travelling, and allow plenty of time to leave the area before the first blast erupted. So, as long as the bombs detonated before it got dark, while the feeders were still in the caves, the plan had every chance of working.
“Okay everyone,” said Dylan. “Are we ready?”
“As ready as anyone can be for something like this, I guess,” said Matt.
“By the way,” Montana quipped. “Is it just me or does anyone else think we look like Ghostbusters?”
They looked at each other and laughed. They all wore orange overalls, hard miners’ helmets, boots and a backpack containing water, extra flashlights, glow sticks and some snack bars. Around their waists, each had a belt with a holster containing a handgun and a long loop of rope. Matt carried a second backpack on his front, which contained enough explosives to kill them all instantly, if things went wrong.
“I ain’t afraid of no ghost,” he said. “Let’s kick some feeder ass!”
-
The entrance to the cave was slightly larger than a regular door and had obviously been carved out of the limestone years ago to allow easy access to the wonders inside. A large metal gate had been added at some point to keep non-paying intruders out, but recently the gate had been ripped off its’ hinges and lay on the ground, where it was being slowly overrun by weeds. Matt kicked the gate with his boot. “Do you think the feeders did that?”
“I’d say so,” answered Dylan, “why would anybody want to break into the caves after the event?”
“Exactly. Here we go then. Turn your lights on and follow me.”
There was a moment of trepidation when Matt stepped over the threshold and into the cool of the cave, but he knew that events had been set in motion that could not be undone. Returning to the farm without attempting to fulfill their objective would be a personal failure that none of them would be able to live with, so he pushed forward, with Montana and Dylan following closely behind.
Despite the bright sunlight outdoors, they had only walked about twenty paces before they were in almost complete darkness. The man-made passageway punched into the hillside for about thirty metres before it reached the cave system itself. When they reached the end of the tunnel, Matt turned around to see how the others were doing, and was surprised at how far away the entrance looked now. So great was the contrast between the outside and the gloomy, damp interior of the cave, it was as if the small rectangle of light behind them belonged to another world, a world that already seemed intangible and remote.
“This is the main chamber I think,” whispered Dylan, as the trio moved from the tunnel and into the larger area.
Despite being one of the minor caves, however, it was still an impressive sight. Water dripping through limestone over many years had built up hundreds of structures that resembled shiny termite colonies. The silence was almost complete, broken only by the sound of water trickling from the ceiling onto the stalagmites, continuing to build them up, one tiny particle at a time. As the three adventurers swung their beams around, however, it was becoming clear that there were no feeders in this chamber.
“Where are they?” asked Montana.
“I don’t know,” said Matt. “This looks like it would be perfect for them.”
“We need to go a little deeper,” suggested Dylan. “Come on”.
Matt and Montana fell in behind Dylan as he headed t
o the farthest point of the chamber. The walking was easy because paths had been carved out of the uneven ground to make it easy for tour groups to wander through with a guide. There was also a rusty chain-link handrail to hold for extra safety. When Dylan had almost reached the far side of the chamber he held up his hand and motioned for the others to stop.
“Can you smell that?” he asked.
“Oh god, that’s bad!” exclaimed Montana. “Where’s it coming from?”
Dylan pointed to a passage off to his right. “There’s a breeze blowing the stink from up there somewhere. Let’s take a look.”
“I think I’ll puke if that gets any worse,” said Matt, as the crept quietly up the narrow passage.
Despite their three headlamps illuminating the way forward, this passage was darker than the one they had entered through. It was more confined too, and in some places they needed to bend down low to keep moving forward. The smell was much stronger here too, and they knew instinctively they were getting closer to a nest of feeders. Then, in one of the narrowest parts of the tunnel, Dylan stopped, causing Matt and Montana to bump into him from behind.
“What is it?” asked Matt, as he tried to peer past Dylan unsuccessfully.
“Wait until you see this,” he said. “It’s fucking unbelievable.”