by Bobby Akart
“Not to mention the ash is falling and will not let up until Yellowstone is spent.”
Jake marked the coordinates of their location and Challis on his Garmin. After taking another look into the sky, he led Ashby back into the cavern.
“Ashby, we need to get real on Dusty’s condition, his prospects, and our own survival.”
Chapter 22
Sheep Mountain
Central Idaho
They piled some more wood on the fire, and after tending to Dusty by checking his blood pressure and his body temperature, they sat cross-legged on the granite floor of the cave. Jake had a concerned look on his face as he laid out their options.
“The good news is Dusty’s condition has stabilized,” said Jake with a sigh as he offered a drink from one of the four pint-sized bottles of water to Ashby. She took a quick sip and then placed the cap back on. They’d already drunk half the bottle, which did not satisfy their parched mouths. “If anything, that means he’s able to be moved before his condition takes a turn for the worse.”
Ashby stretched her back. She was also feeling sore from the physical activity of the last two days. “What about the fact that he’s knocked out? He’s not in some kind of deep sleep, right?”
“I don’t think so,” Jake replied. He was splitting branches with his knife as they spoke. “If it was just mental and physical exhaustion from the trauma, the setting of his broken forearm would’ve brought him out of it. When someone is in a coma, they can’t be awakened by any external stimulus, including pain.”
“Assuming Dusty is in a coma, can we move him?” asked Ashby.
“I don’t see why not. Obviously, we need to keep him as stable as possible because of his breaks. We can fashion a neck brace from the SAM Splint material.”
“Can you see any benefit in waiting for Dusty to heal and recover from the trauma his body’s been put through?”
“Based upon what we know, the longer the rest before a trip like this, the better,” replied Jake. “But here’s my question for you. This is gonna be a helluva hike down the mountain, through the valleys, and along rocky slopes anyway. We’re gonna carry Dusty, some of our gear, and deal with the elements—namely, the ash fallout. When will Yellowstone stop erupting, and how long will it be before the ash clears to make our challenge a little easier?”
Ashby took a deep breath and began to respond. She looked past Jake at the opening of the cavern and saw the ash continuing to flutter to the ground. It was not letting up. “Jake, there are so many unknowns, variables that I can only guess about. Let me give you my best theory.”
“It’s probably spot-on anyway.”
“I think so. The magma chamber under Yellowstone was enormous and much larger than most scientists expected until recent revelations. Assuming the eruption is equal to or greater than Huckleberry Ridge, we’ve got several more days of eruptions before it stops. We’re talking about thousands upon thousands of cubic kilometers of magma, poisonous gas, and ash spewing into the atmosphere.”
Jake shook his head. “From what you said earlier, that could be at least five days, maybe more. I don’t think we can wait that long.”
Ashby continued. “Well, there’s something else. As the ash cloud reaches the stratosphere and begins to circle the planet, it will eventually catch up to us from the west. Again, a lot of factors are at play, but most likely, we’ll see the first effects hit the west coast after ten to fourteen days.”
“I see what you’re saying. If we try to wait out the initial fallout, for say another five or six days, soon thereafter the initial debris will circle the Earth and catch up to us as well.”
“Unfortunately, that’s correct.”
Jake set aside his knife and nervously peeled the label off the water bottle. “Ashby, we don’t have enough water to last two days, much less a week. Plus, the snow is contaminated or melted. Sure, I could bring it to a boil to purify it, but I can’t be certain that all of the particles can be filtered out. It’s a real problem.”
Ashby nodded and reached for Jake’s hand to force him to stop fiddling with the bottle. “Time’s not on our side, nor is it on his.” She nodded toward Dusty.
Chapter 23
Sheep Mountain
Central Idaho
The next morning, Jake woke to find Ashby missing. Daylight had barely crept into the cavern’s entrance as his biological clock took over and brought him out of a deep sleep at five thirty. She was not typically an early riser except the one time he’d watched her by the edge of Sentinel Creek reading her parents’ journal. At first, Jake assumed she was reading again, but then he saw her messenger bag leaning against the chamber’s wall, with the journal on top of it. He immediately became concerned.
He slipped out from under the blanket and fumbled in the dim light for the flashlight. It was gone. Jake rushed to his gun duffel and found his shotgun, which had a tactical flashlight attached. He quickly removed the light and used it to navigate to the entrance of the cavern.
He flashed the light along the ash, which had more than doubled in depth overnight to at least ten inches and encroached deeper into the cavern.
He looked around the cavern. There were no footprints.
Where is she?
Jake quickly turned around and checked on Dusty, whose condition had not changed. First, he rummaged through his medical backpack and affixed a mask to Dusty’s face. His breathing had become labored the day before, and they’d removed the mask to assist him. Jake hastily brushed a thin layer of ash off his mylar blanket.
He flashed the light around their campsite in search of clues.
The canteen was missing.
He immediately turned the flashlight into the two chambers of the cavern that branched off from the main entrance. He carefully made his way to the rock wall that divided the chamber in two. He listened but heard nothing.
“Ashby?” he called out hesitantly. He considered turning to retrieve a gun but opted to wait for a response. He tried again, this time a little louder and with emphasis.
“Ashby!”
Ashby responded that time. “Hey, Jake! I’m down here!”
Jake stood back and studied the two chambers. Both were on the same level as the main entrance and then eventually sloped downward, albeit in different directions.
“Left or right?” he hollered back to her.
“Right! You gotta see this!”
Jake shook his head and moved along the sweaty, slippery rock floor. It was as if he were entering a lost world, one without humans or man-made noises. It was eerily peaceful.
He moved deeper into the cavern, constantly swinging his flashlight from side to side as well as up toward the ceiling of the chamber. He instantly regretted not bringing his gun, although the report of any gunfire would reverberate in his ears for days.
“Where are you?” he asked, and then he caught a glimpse of her flashlight deeper in the mountain in another chamber that turned off to the right. The deep silence was interrupted by the faint sound of air movement and a steady dripping noise.
As he approached the light, the chamber grew wider and taller. He looked upward and saw a seam in the granite that opened to the sky. He pointed his flashlight upward to get a better look and saw a slight dusting of ash had found its way inside the cavern. It was sticking to the walls of the opening as if adhered to glue. He pushed himself to the left, far away from the opening, as a heavy wind gust blew ash through the seam and into the cavern.
Jake kept walking down the slope when Ashby’s flashlight shone in his eyes, causing him to flinch. “Check it out, Jake. Water!”
She turned away from him and shone her light on an underground lake that measured thirty feet wide and ten feet long. Rainfall and moisture had found its way through the chamber and crevices in the mountain peak to settle in this pool.
“Ashby, this isn’t—” Jake began before she reached for his hand and tugged him down the slope.
“This might be a huge help,
don’t you think?”
As Jake got closer to the water, an odor struck his nostrils. It grew stronger as Ashby pulled Jake closer to the pool’s edge. His eyes started to water and then he realized the stench was ammonia. He put a death grip on her hand, which forced her to stop.
“Jake! That hurt.”
“Shhh. Don’t say a word.”
Alarmed, Ashby returned to Jake’s side and stood quietly next to him.
Jake knelt down and studied the floor of the cavern more closely.
Ashby interrupted his inspection and whispered, “Listen. Do you hear that?”
The faint sound of squeaking and scratching could be heard over the steady dripping of water into the pool. Jake slowly rose out of his crouch and moved his flashlight across the water and up the wall on the other side. At the top of the wall was a ledge that moved deep into the mountain. It stretched farther than Jake’s flashlight could illuminate.
He let go of Ashby’s hand and motioned for her to stay put. As he walked closer to the water’s edge, she bumped into the back of him, startling him slightly. Naturally, she’d ignored his wishes. They’d have to have a talk about that at some point.
They were now within the vast opening, which contained the pool of water, and he shined his light above their heads. That was when he saw them. Thousands of them.
Bats. Lots of bats, doing what bats do, hanging out.
The big brown bat, Epesticus fuscus, was a widespread species found throughout Idaho and the Northern Rockies. It was one of the larger bat species with a body measuring five inches and a wingspan thirteen inches wide.
Like all bats, the big brown bat was nocturnal, roosting in sheltered places like caves during the day. From the volume of squeaking and scratching sounds, Jake surmised they’d just arrive back in the cavern as dawn approached. It was possible they’d become confused by the darkened skies due to the ash. Regardless, many were still awake.
Jake glanced at Ashby’s face, and she was about to scream when he quickly clamped his hand over her mouth, smashing her particulate mask inward.
He held her tight and whispered in her ear, “No, Ashby. You gotta keep it together.”
Her eyes were wide open in horror. In the moment, he found it ironic that this woman could daringly stare down a volcano, but confronting a one-ounce bat immersed her body in fear.
She vigorously nodded her head, so Jake reluctantly removed his hand from her mouth. Ashby immediately adjusted her particulate mask.
“It’s time to go,” she whispered. She immediately turned and started up the slope before Jake did. Just as he turned, the ground shook.
Either another eruption or a large quake shook Sheep Mountain, causing both of them to fall to the rocky surface. Ashby let out a scream as she tried in vain to regain her footing. As she clawed and scraped to stand, her feet slipped out from under her until her momentum carried her down the slope toward Jake, where the two collided.
Her momentum dragged them closer to the edge of the pool of water, which was mixed with bat urine and guano. The smell of ammonia grew stronger. Jake looked for a foothold on the smooth, wet surface and finally found one, inches before the bat cave cesspool.
In their frantic attempt to stop the slide, they missed the cacophony that was going on above them. The bats were angry.
A roost of this size could contain tens of thousands of bats, all jostling for food and living space, which made for tense interactions among the colony. Within their darkened space, they needed constant communication to keep the peace. To the layman, the noises heard in the roost might seem random. There were, however, some vocalizations that were clear indicators of hostility and anger.
The pitch and tone of their voices became higher and louder. The scratching sounds intensified as they fought with one another. As they prepared to take flight, the chatter and rustling of their wings got louder.
Jake was no expert in bats, although he knew a little about their reactions. As the tremor continued, he had to prepare Ashby for an experience that was likely to frighten her to her core.
“Listen to me,” he whispered in her ear. “Trust me. If they rush out of here, they don’t give a damn about us, okay? They’re not gonna intentionally swoop down and get tangled up in our hair like in the movies. If they fly, they’ll drop a few feet from the ceiling and blast over the top of us. The lower we stay, the less likely it is they’ll hit us by accident, okay?”
Ashby tucked her body closer to Jake’s and covered her head. The rumbling began to subside, but the chattering bats did not. Jake kept his face buried against the wet slab of granite next to Ashby’s. He closed his eyes and focused all of his senses on the sounds the bats were making.
Thirty seconds after the earthquake stopped, the bats began to calm down. After another minute, they were settling in to sleep throughout the day.
Jake reached up and moved Ashby’s hair out of her face. “I think we’re good. Let’s not give them a reason to change their minds, okay?”
Ashby nodded and the two of them rose together. Jake was careful to support Ashby as she walked up the slope. One slip, and they’d fall into the pool of disease behind them. As they made their way back, he saw that more ash had blown inside near the crevice.
Neither spoke a word until they reached the chamber at the top of the cavern. Then Ashby stopped and turned to Jake. Tears were streaming down her face. “Jake, I don’t know if I can do this. This. This is crazy. The world is screwed, and we’re screwed.”
Jake embraced her and whispered in her ear, “I love you, Ashby. And I’ll be damned if any volcano or bunch of bats will stand in the way of our future together.”
Chapter 24
Sheep Mountain
Central Idaho
Jake and Ashby quickly put together a plan to leave the caverns at the top of Sheep Mountain and head to the small town of Challis, Idaho. They didn’t like the fact that they’d have to backtrack thirty miles toward Yellowstone. Jake even pointed out that the heavier ashfall might have destroyed the town or, at the least, forced an evacuation. Unfortunately, it was their only option and Dusty’s last hope. He was showing signs of a moderate fever, and this concerned them both. The decision was made. It was time to go.
They both needed a change of clothes after falling on the wet floor in what was most likely a mixture of bat urine and guano. Ashby had her duffel bags containing clothes she traveled with, while Jake only had a second set of camo hunting apparel he kept in his two backpacks.
Their new attire stood in sharp contrast to one another. Jake was covered in Realtree camo from head to toe, and Ashby was wearing a pair of khaki pants with a long-sleeve white tee shirt with the USGS logo embroidered on it. Beauty and the Beast.
After dressing, they both stood in the chamber, which was lit with grayish sunlight. It lent the appearance of a morning fog that hadn’t quite burned off from the sun. They faced a dilemma. There were so many useful items spread out on the rocky floor, but they could only carry so much weight and manage to tote the stretcher as well.
“Well, whadya think?” asked Ashby as she stood with her hands on her hips, looking at the ground. “I can make an argument that everything we see here is important.”
“Me too. Take extra clothes, for example. If you had asked me two hours ago if we needed backup pants and shirts, I would’ve said no. Good thing we had extra, right?”
“Yeah,” replied Ashby. “Plus, we’ve had to change Dusty’s clothes twice because he can’t control his bodily functions. He’s down to his last pair of pants.”
Jake glanced at Dusty and nodded. “Let’s do it this way. Number one, above everything else, is security. We’re in the wilderness, and as we’ve learned, wild animals don’t go into hibernation because ash is falling in June. Wolves, bobcats, and bears could greet us between here and Challis. We need to each carry weapons.”
“You’ve got plenty to choose from,” observed Ashby as she walked closer to the four handguns and four ri
fles lined up on the floor.
“Pistols first,” started Jake. “I have compact nine millimeters and ankle holsters for us both. Plus I have an extra paddle holster for your waistband, to carry a full-size sidearm, also in nine millimeter.”
He moved past Ashby to retrieve the ankle holster and the compact Beretta, which matched his. He knelt down and slowly raised her pant leg.
She waggled her ring finger at Jake. “Careful, Mr. Man. You’d better plan on putting a ring on it.”
“This is like going after the garter belt, I guess. Only in reverse.” Jake affixed the holster just above her ankle, checked to make sure the magazine was full, and then snapped the safety buckle in place. “Does that feel okay?”
Ashby shook her leg and nodded.
“Good,” continued Jake. “We have plenty of hunting rifles at my parents’ place, so I’ll have you carry the shotgun over your shoulder. There’s no better defense weapon, especially for someone who hasn’t trained. The wide spray pattern of the buckshot is more forgiving to the novice than the single round coming from a rifle.”
“Are you gonna carry the machine gun?”
“It’s an M16, and it’s fully automatic, but it’s hardly a machine gun.”
“Looks like one to me,” quipped Ashby.
“It’s pretty close, and we’re very lucky to have it,” added Jake before moving on to the next items. “Okay, we’ll both have backpacks. Yours will contain your messenger bag and journal, one set of extra clothes for you, since I don’t have any, and the medical supplies, which we need to take care of Dusty. Mine will contain extra ammo, food, water, and camping gear.”