by Sean Ding
CHAPTER 17
Just as Howard and Wong were heading back to the tunnel that linked this army facility to the world of glistening crystal rocks, they heard a faint voice and saw a small human figure running towards them from the parking space of trucks and jeeps.
Howard lifted his hatchet against his chest but put it down when he realized it was Paul who was running towards them. Paul couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the military base but he did not stop. To keep his promise, he continued sprinting like a flying dart towards Howard.
“Howard, where the hell… have you guys been? And…what in God’s name is this?” Paul stopped in front of Howard and Wong, panting like a dog.
“It’s a World War Two Japanese military base, Paul. My bad, we should have gone back earlier. Is everyone okay?” Howard asked with remorse. He realized that he had made a grave mistake, a mistake of indulging in his curiosity of this place and his strong desire to seek a way out. Something must have happened and he knew that he would never forgive himself if his foolish actions had indirectly resulted in any mishaps. However, this place was indeed mesmerizing and like nectar attracting bees, the tormented spirits of the grotesque massacre in that storage room had somehow lured him and Wong deeper and deeper into the military facility, tempting them to yearn on what was ahead and forgoes what they had left behind.
“Is there a way out of here?” Paul asked.
“We believe the entrance is right over there,” Howard said, pointing to the heap of collapsed buildings behind the Barrack. “But the entire area was covered with debris.”
Paul looked at his watch which started beeping. “Howard, we have to go back now. Henry is dead.”
Howard, Wong and Paul emerged from the tunnel entrance in the shimmering crystal cave, edged past the mangled human skeleton and came to the spot where Henry’s body was lying.
“Damn it, what happened to him?” Howard asked, putting his first and second finger on Henry’s neck to feel his pulse.
“Petechial hemorrhaging in his eyes, swelling of vitreous humor, blue skin, he definitely died of asphyxiation.” Sarah pointed to Henry’s bluish body and continued, “I couldn’t revive him, Howard. We were having this conversation with him and all of a sudden he fell into a convulsive shock.” Sarah Tan said, her eyes rolled towards Howard’s.
“Yep, Sarah did all she could, abdominal thrusts, CPR and all that. But he was dead in less than five minutes. ” Paul chipped in.
“What choked him to death?” Howard felt something amiss as he checked on Henry’s throat.
“That’s the strange part. Sarah told us that there was nothing in his throat and his airway was clear.” Johnny said, his facial expression similar to that of a guilty thief caught red handed.
“Yes, I can only guess that something was in his throat, blocking his airway and causing him to choke for a while, but it was not there anymore. Kind of weird.” Sarah said.
“The whole place here is weird. Wait till you guys see the other side.” Howard said.
“Have you guys found the way out, I mean, on the other side?” John Chan asked anxiously.
Howard stood up and said, “Not yet. But I believe there must be an exit point.”
“Are we going to bury him here?” Johnny asked, pointing at Henry. Deep in his heart, he could not help feeling responsible for Henry’s death even after Sarah’s assurances. He thought that maybe if he had not grasped Henry’s neck in the first place, Henry would not have choked to death.
Howard scanned the perturbed faces of the group and said, “Henry is one of us. There is a big army facility on the other side. I would suggest that we move him to one of the rooms there.”
“A big army facility?” Nelson said in disbelief. Paul and Wong nodded their heads.
Wong looked briefly at Howard and said, “It’s a…it’s a gigantic place and we think it is… deserted. Howard and I did not have time to cover the entire place. But there are lots of rooms, not to mention a small clinic that might have something useful for Mr. Gupta.” Wong turned his vision to Gupta and he looked at the injured man with eyes of remorse and uncertainty. He had agreed earlier to Howard’s request about not mentioning the gory massacre they had stumbled upon in the military storage room until the time was ripe.
Both Wong and Howard believed that there was an exit point in the military facility which could lead them out and Howard had felt strongly that if the massacre were made known to the others at improper junctures, there would be endless objections and debates from some members of the group regarding the decision to move on. On top of that, one thing that Howard wished to eradicate was senseless fear and panic creeping into the minds of those people. He fully understood the notion that when fear took over and penetrated a man’s soul, the fearful man would do all sorts of crazy things in return.
“I agree with Howard.” Johnny said, “We ought to go right now and we shouldn’t leave Henry here. I will carry him over.” He volunteered.
Sarah put her hand on Johnny’s shoulder and said, “It’s not your fault, Johnny.”
“Thanks Sarah, But I really need to do this.” Johnny looked into Sarah’s eyes gravely and said to her with heartfelt appreciation.
Pete walked over to Howard and held his hand tightly. An expression of delight and relief was dawning on Pete’s face as he said quietly to Howard, “Uncle Howard, I know that you will be back. And I believe you will never break your promise. But not everyone here thinks the same.”
“I know, kid. I know.” Howard smiled. With that, he told himself that he would never let this child down again.
After picking up their belongings, the tourists could hardly wait to tail Howard and Wong into the dark and crooked tunnel. In fact, they were all glad that their time spent in that man-made tunnel was relatively short. If that particular tunnel was much longer than it was, the awkward bends and curves would make their passing through strenuously challenging, especially for the injured like Gupta and for Johnny who single-handedly carried on his back Henry’s cold and stiff body which was in the early state of rigor mortis.
CHAPTER 18
The creaky wooden door securing the military medical clinic swung open and hit the side wall with a soft thud before Howard Smith walked into the dark and flipped a wall switch with absolute familiarity. He was capable of doing that because he had remembered the exact position of the switch when he surveyed this place with Wong earlier. The short-lived darkness turned to eternal glare when the ceiling lamps flickered for two seconds and then buzzed loudly to kick start the influx of bright, glaring yellowish light. The last time those ceiling lamps were powered up was more than seventy years ago! Johnny and Kenso-san strode in only after the room was illuminated.
“Unbelievable, the lamps here are still functional.” Johnny said in awe as he stumbled towards a German-made operating table, carrying Henry on his back.
“Let’s leave Henry here, Johnny.” Howard muttered and he watched Johnny lay Henry’s rigid body down on the operating table. Apparently, Johnny had rejected all help from anyone in the group ever since he started lifting Henry on his back at the crystal cave.
Kenso-san took a stroll around the room. He stopped in front of a doctor’s writing desk and said, “This reminds me of an old clinic that I visited in my hometown when I was five. The layout is almost identical to those pre-war surgery clinics that my grandfather used to patronize in Kyoto.”
“Yep, this is definitely a medical clinic for the Japanese soldiers. I hope the medicine chest here could do us some good.” Howard said as he opened up the First Aid medical kit that came in the form of a rusty tin box tucked at one corner of the room. From within he removed a can of antiseptic salve, a frosted glass bottle containing iodine, two rolls of cotton wool that were sealed in a bag and a field bandage kit that looked like a used sanitary pad.
“These items are way past their expiry dates,” Howard said grimly, “but some of them might still be handy. We’ll take them to Dr. Sarah an
d see if she could use them.”
Howard placed all the stuff back into the medical chest and held it under his arm. “Let’s go, guys.”
Johnny paused for a moment and he turned to look at Henry’s dead body on the rusty operating table. “I will come back for you Henry. I promise.” he muttered to himself but both Howard and Kenso were able to hear every word that he said.
The three men came out of the barrack where they had left Henry’s body and they moved quickly to the mini parade ground near the two-story building where the rest of the group were told to stay put.
Gupta was sitting on the ground with Sarah by his side. The rest of the people were all gathered at that spot and no one was loitering far from the group as the gloomy camp site do felt deserted and eerie.
“Sarah, I got you some stuff.” Howard handed over the First Aid medical chest to Sarah.
“Thanks, Howard.” Sarah opened up the box and examined the items in it. After a minute or two, she smiled and said to Gupta, “Gupta, your leg is a bit swollen due to the infection on the wounds. I will need to remove the splint for the time being and apply some of this antiseptic salve on your leg. This is to tackle the wound infection and we need to clean the wound and apply the antiseptic salve every six hours. It’s better than nothing.” Gupta nodded obediently.
“Let me help, Dr. Sarah. I used to work as a part time nurse in Tokyo.” Mami-san said.
“That’s fantastic!” Sarah said, “If you don’t mind, let’s do it now. I need you to hold on to these while I remove the planks.” Sarah passed the scissors and bandages to Mami and started working on Gupta’s leg.
“Where’s Wong?” Howard asked, realizing that Wong was not in the group.
“There he is.” Paul said, pointing to a small silhouetted figure that was running towards them from the far side of the parade ground. That back-lighted silhouette of Wong’s scraggy figure grew bigger and bigger as he approached.
“Howard, I found an exit but…but, please come.” Wong stammered, gasping for air.
Paul, Howard, Kevin and Wong were standing and looking at what was supposed to be the main entrance of the defunct military barracks. The main entrance was located on the other side of the parade ground and was initially shielded from their view from afar by fallen rocks and creeping plants. According to Wong, he had stumbled upon the concealed entrance by chance when he went scouting around without telling the others.
The majestic-looking entrance was of great craftsmanship and it was basically carved out of the stony cave wall by hand. It comprised a semicircular arch with a keystone at the top. The entrance was fairly big. In fact it was big enough for even a military truck to enter but there was only one issue then. The entrance had totally caved in. There were also fragments of explosives scattered around the arched entrance indicating that whoever used to be in that camp site had purposely blown down the entrance or exit point using industrial grade explosives. And since that entire place was a top secret military facility built by the Imperial Japanese army, it was not surprising at all that military explosives were readily available for them to execute such damage.
“Why? Why would they blow down the exit?” Kevin asked.
“Maybe they do not want people to find out about this place.” Wong said. “That’s what the Japanese army did when they lost the war. Destroying all evidence of their war crimes.”
Howard looked at Wong and shrugged his shoulders in disappointment. He bent down, picked up a fragment of explosives from the ground and took a quick sniff on it. “It’s TNT, one of the most common components that make up industrial and military explosives. Seems like we’ve got to find another exit out of here, there’s no way we can burrow through the tons of caved-in rocks with our bare hands.”
“Howard, have you checked that area behind the barrack? Is there a second exit point among the debris?” Paul asked.
“Judging from the asphalt roads leading to the back of the barrack, I believe there should be another exit point over there.” Howard said.
“What if we can’t find that exit point?” Kevin asked.
“We have to, Kevin,” Howard said grimly, “but for the time being, I’m afraid we are trapped here.”
Howard took a few minutes to explain their latest findings to the group but he did not mention a word about the skeletons in the storage facility.
The tourists were deeply saddened after hearing the bad news from Howard but many of them especially Sarah and Mrs. Chan had tried their best to remain or appear to remain hopeful in front of the kids.
“No worries, Uncle Howard and all the uncles here will surely find a way out.” Mrs. Chan told her children.
“Let’s pretend that our hotel tonight is just over there!” Sarah pointed at the creepy barrack and joked, trying to make Pete laugh while she worked hard on Gupta’s wounded leg. Pete was a smart boy and from his half suppressed grin, anyone could tell that deep inside, he was scared.
“Guys, I think we have to hang around here for a while. But I need some help to scout this place; And to quickly find another way out.” Howard said moodily to the group. He appeared to be less enthusiastic as before partly due to some uncomfortable thoughts that were swirling in his mind, thoughts that he’d rather keep to himself than share with the others. These thoughts went through his mind over and over again like playing a broken record- The human skeletons in the storage room! There were just too many of them. What in God’s name happened here? Was it a mass extermination? Yes, then this is a cursed place where there is no way out! We are all going to die here! Howard closed his eyes for a moment. He was extremely tired as he had not rested at all since the blackout occurred in the west wing chamber. The other person who was equally exhausted was Wong, the Chinese tour guide who had been looking at Howard with his half-lidded eyes that protruded from a pair of dark-circled eye sockets.
“Need to check those annex blocks behind the barrack. And also the building with the roller shutters. Who’s coming with me?” Howard pointed to the two stories building behind them.
Paul clapped Howard on his back and volunteered, “Howard, let the three of us explore this place. You really need to use some rest brother.” He winked at his pals -Nelson and Johnny who acknowledged in the form of a weird smile appearing across their faces. Maybe in their minds, they were thinking, “Hey Paul, just let the American hero and the Chinese guide do the work. We are tired as well.”
“Thanks Paul.” Howard said. He turned and looked at Kenso-san with his blood shot eyes, “Take Kenso-san with you if he doesn’t mind. He’s the only man who can read Japanese.”
“No problem, Howard. I will go with them.” Kenso and Mami’s eyes met again and they smiled at each other.
“Great, there’s a weapon armory room plus many others that we did not explored in that barrack. As for that two-story building, we can’t get past the bolted roller shutters so maybe there is another way in. See if you guys can find anything that we can use, medical supplies, weapons, maybe some batteries but most importantly food and water. There was some kind of a vegetable garden not far from the western side of the barrack. Be careful.” Howard said to the four ‘volunteers’.
“Here, take this, just in case.” Wong placed his hatchet into Paul’s hand. Then he emptied the duffel bag beside him and handed some shovels and spades to Nelson, Johnny and Kenso.
Howard and Wong walked with the gang of four towards the large army barrack. Pete stayed with his sister and his parents at the parade ground but from afar, he could vaguely see Paul and Nelson’s facial expressions turning from normal to bewilderment after Howard whispered something into their ears. Paul even looked over his shoulder, and had a last glimpse of Pete and the group around the parade ground.
About ten feet away from the door that would lead them into the huge dilapidated barrack, the group of walking adults paused for a moment to exchange some conversations which were totally inaudible to Pete. The last thing Pete saw was Paul, Nelson, Kenso and Johnny
nodding their heads at Howard and Wong before the four of them disappeared into the barrack.
“Henry’s family will be devastated…” Gupta sobbed while Sarah and Mami attended to his wounded leg. “We were here for work and he didn’t really want to come for this trip in the first place…and I sort of persuaded him to come along since most of our projects in Shanghai were completed last week. We shouldn’t have come.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Gupta. Strictly speaking, I don’t even know if we can get out of here today. Anyway, if we find the way out, Johnny or one of us will help to carry Henry’s body out of this place.” Howard said grimly.
Mr. Chan overheard that and felt very uncomfortable with what he just picked up from Howard, the unspoken leader of the group who was half squatting beside Gupta and holding a Diet Coke in his hand. He decided to question Howard who was apparently hiding something from the rest of them.
“Howard, what did you really mean when you said you don’t know if we could get out today? This is such a massive establishment. All those soldiers who used to be here with their weapons, their supplies and their trucks, definitely there must be many ways to transport them and their supplies to this place right? So there would surely be at least one way out for us?”
“John, if there is an easy way out, why is it that nobody in the whole of China has ever uncovered this place? What happened in there seems to have stayed buried for more than seventy years, which means no one has ever gotten out of this place alive.” Howard said grimly, his eyes peering at the old bunker barracks that resembled dominoes of gigantic tombstones in an ancient cemetery.
“What do you mean by that? Where are all the soldiers?” Sarah asked as she finished wrapping the bandage around Gupta’s leg.
There was a moment of silence. Wong who was sitting cross-legged beside Howard threw a glimpse at him but did not utter a single word.
“Yes, I thought the Japanese soldiers abandoned this place?” John Chan asked.