by Gary Barnes
*
In the Blue Spring nesting chamber Larry and Tina were standing across from the underwater hole in the wall to the spring’s entrance contemplating their next move when they heard the squalling of the young alien. They turned their heads and saw it emerge from the connecting tunnel, aflame, and running right at them.
“Johnny!” Tina shrieked in horror.
The Search and Rescue deputy working on the detonation control box saw the flaming creature running toward them, grabbed the control box and the wiring harness and dove into the lagoon, continuing to reattach the wiring harness as he sank to the bottom.
Larry sized up the situation, realizing that they were inside a bomb that was just seconds away from exploding, but was unsure of what to do.
*****
Johnny turned to his friends as they stood at the tip of the narrow mini-peninsula, “Let’s take cover guys, that critter’s about to set off a chain reaction.”
He and the other boys broke into a run and raced toward the tunnel through which the young flaming alien had just departed.
*****
At that moment Bill showed up in the Blue Spring nesting chamber driving one of the scuba planes. He had the throttle opened to maximum speed. Hugging the bank of the lagoon, he approached Larry and slowed just long enough to issue his pleading command.
“Come on, let's go! Jump on!” yelled Bill as he shoved the scuba plane into dive mode, not waiting for a response.
Larry and a deputy pushed Clayton onto the scuba plane. Then they too jumped on, along with Tina. They all frantically grabbed for a hand-hold just as it dove below the surface. At that same moment the young alien, crying in pain, approached the first napalm covered egg clutch.
Gimp Foot glared at the group as they began their descent toward the spring's opening. Its eyes narrowed, instinctively sensing that somehow the group was the cause of the youngster's pain and recognizing Larry and Tina as intended prey that had escaped many previous attempts at capture.
The young flaming creature reached the nearest napalm packed egg cluster and a massive fire ball erupted into an explosive holocaust.
At the same moment, Gimp Foot dove into the water and raced to catch the scuba plane, just missed by the tongue of flames that flashed through the cavernous room. The fire ball raced down the tunnel from the Blue Spring nesting chamber toward the impact crater, setting off more napalm explosions as it went.
*
Johnny and his friends huddled with their backs to the huge boulder that blocked the tunnel's entrance as flames exploded through the tunnel opening and shot over their heads.
*
The holocaust raging through the Blue Spring nesting chamber ignited the napalm trail on the floor of the small tunnel connecting to the main nesting chamber. Like an extremely fast-burning fuse, flames flashed along the napalm trail toward the egg clusters and the explosives which saturated them.
The devouring flame ran along the napalm trail, slithered up to the first egg cluster and exploded, creating an immense chain reaction of successive explosions which immediately engulfed the entire room in a blazing inferno. Adult aliens roared in pain, egg clusters exploded in the massive conflagration.
*
A billowing ball of fire raced down the main tunnel, catapulting destruction before it as it raced toward the impact crater's opening, igniting the trail of napalm.
*
Sheriff Akers was standing next to the arming consol at the edge of the Blue Spring command center when a blinding light flashed from the underwater cave opening in the bluff on the opposite side of the spring.
“What the . . . How did that ignite?” snapped Sheriff Akers.
“Must be a spontaneous malfunction,” replied the console operator.
*
Thirty feet underwater, at the bottom of the lagoon inside the Blue Spring nesting chamber, the Search and Rescue deputy successfully jammed the last of the wires into the detonation control box just as the scuba plane passed overhead. He kicked off the lagoon floor and grabbed onto one of its side-rails just before it passed beyond his grasp. The scuba plane exited through the forty-foot tunnel in the cave wall into the depths of Blue Spring with Gimp Foot in pursuit.
None of the scuba plane’s passengers had had time to don their scuba tanks. Their lungs burned for lack of oxygen and they each hoped that they would be able to hang on long enough to reach the surface beyond the cave. Bill was driven by the realization that they had to get out of the water. He understood that when the bomb detonated that the crushing concussion wave would kill them all, instantly. Clearing the tunnel and entering the depths of Blue Spring’s basin he jammed the scuba plane into a nearly vertical ascent and sped for the surface, hoping that everyone would be able to hang on in spite of his drastic maneuvers. The craft though, was not built for speed, it was a cargo transport which lumbered through the water much slower than Bill wished.
*
At the command center the arming lights on the main console suddenly all blinked on. The console operator yelled, “Sheriff! We have detonation control!”
“We can't let any of the aliens escape. Is everyone that’s accounted for clear?” inquired the Sheriff.
“Affirmative, all clear.”
“Then detonate all explosives!” ordered the Sheriff.
“Yes, Sir!” replied the console operator as he turned the safety keys and depressed the detonation button. Immediately a deafening explosion could be heard from deep within the bluff.
*
At the impact crater the detonating explosives shot flames skyward, tossing ATVs and trailers as if they were toys.
*
In the main nesting chamber, the connecting tunnels and the Blue Spring chamber, the ANFO/fertilizer bombs exploded, sending nails and shrapnel hurtling through the air. Creatures of all sizes were impaled and ripped apart by the flying shrapnel. Fireballs bounced around and tongues of flames became weapons of incineration. The entire subterranean system had become a flaming holocaust, devouring everything within it.
Then the underwater drums of ANFO positioned along the mile-long tunnel exploded – hurtling water out of the river channel into the air. It appeared that the water and fireball co-mingled into one massive destructive force, filled with flying shrapnel and completing the destruction of all the aliens held captive by their lusty desires.
*
At Blue Spring the scuba plane broke the surface, nearly leaping out of the water. Its occupants gasped for air just as the explosion’s shock wave ripped through the previously still lagoon, sloshing waves several feet up onto the shore near the Sheriff’s command center. The scuba plane settled onto the water’s surface and continued to race for the shore.
Underwater, Gimp Foot had been about to overtake the scuba plane and crush it in its jaws just as the shock wave ripped through the lagoon. The explosion momentarily stunned the creature and prevented it from grabbing the scuba plane. Limply, Gimp Foot groggily floated to the surface, but within seconds came to its senses and once again began to pursue the fleeing scuba plane.
*
From his command post at the spring’s shore, the Sheriff watched as the entire skyline behind the bluff exploded into a towering ball of fire from the impact crater beyond the ridge while light emerged from the cave opening twenty feet below the spring’s surface. Massive chunks of rock and the trunk of a dead tree fell from the bluff into the spring while the shoreline shuddered from the massive explosions.
*
As the speeding scuba plane raced for shore, Search and Rescue personnel rushed to the water’s edge to be ready with assistance the moment it touched the bank.
Now, fully recovered from the blast’s concussion, Gimp Foot raced for shore. It kept a keen eye trained on Tina and Larry, regarding them as the primary targets. Aware of Gimp Foot’s pursuit, Bill kept the throttle wide open, ramming the scuba plane onto the shore. Gimp Foot was upon them immediately. It lunged for Larry and Tina, who jumped
from the scuba plane just in time to escape the creature’s powerful jaws as they snapped shut.
Two Search and Rescue deputies aimed their makeshift flame throwers at the alien and immediately engulfed it in flames as it stepped out of the water, towering nine feet in height. Gimp Foot cried in agony but continued its relentless pursuit. A third deputy ran forward, blasting Gimp Foot in the stomach with round after round from the automatic shotgun. Another deputy rushed forward with an open bucket of napalm, throwing it upon the creature. Again Gimp Foot was hit by the flame throwers and it screamed in pain. This time, engulfed in flames, it staggered, then fell to the ground with its tail still in the water. There, beside the spring, it smoldered and quivered in death.
All around the spring, smaller aliens that swam out of the cave seeking safety were immediately incinerated by other deputies with flame throwers as quickly as they emerged from the water. Others were electrocuted by the electrified strainer net that spanned the exit stream as they tried to swim downstream.
Underwater at the strainer net which spanned Blue Spring’s exit stream, the swift current whisked a tiny stunned hatchling toward the electrified straining net. It had not yet fully recovered from the stunning affects of the explosion and weakly attempted to swim, though it mainly floundered in the swift current. Just before it made contact with the net, however, the tree trunk that had fallen into the spring passed the hatchling, rammed the nylon net and bounced off, poking a small hole in the strainer net. The river’s current whisked the hatchling through the hole and on toward the Current River.
=/=
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Blue Spring
On the shore line of Blue Spring, Clayton had been transferred from the scuba plane to a stretcher which rested on the ground near Sheriff Akers’ command console. Opal rushed to his side and began attending to his wounds.
Forty feet away, Tina stood at the rim of Blue Spring. A tear rolled down her cheek as she softly whispered Johnny’s name. She tried to be stoic as she stared blankly at the calm, but murky spring before her. Larry kissed her tenderly on the forehead and pulled her close, wrapping his arms protectively about her.
From his stretcher Clayton looked up at Opal who was kneeling beside him, “I'm sorry Opal, your grandson . . . Johnny . . . he was in the cave,” his voice trailed off.
Opal inhaled quickly, raising a trembling hand to her mouth. She glanced at Tina, crying on Larry's shoulder.
A deputy approached Gimp Foot’s smouldering carcass and picked up an object wedged in its webbed foot. He raised Johnny's crushed and scorched helmet with the words “JOHNNY EXPLORER” clearly visible. Tears welled up in Opal's eyes. “No! Not my Johnny. Please dear Lord, not Johnny,” Opal begged, barely above a whisper.
She closed her eyes and sobbed. Clayton clasped her hand tight.
Tina was still sobbing on Larry’s shoulder as Sheriff Akers reluctantly approached. “Uh, Larry . . . We're sending in divers to make sure that none of the aliens survived. We'd appreciate any assistance you can lend us.”
Larry nodded his head in agreement. Tina was unresponsive, staring at the scorched helmet which had been placed on the ground near the Sheriff’s command console and then back at the spring. Larry held her close and brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear. He gazed into her face but quickly became alarmed as he watched her face change from grief to terror. Her bottom lip began to quiver.
Larry turned his head to look where Tina had been focused. Something was swimming underwater toward them in the now murky spring. Quickly two deputies rushed forward with flame throwers, prepared to incinerate whatever surfaced.
“Stand back!” shouted one of the deputies.
At that moment the heads of Johnny, Austin and Frankie broke the surface, gasping for air.
“JOHNNY!” Tina shouted in disbelief.
She and Larry rushed to the water's edge and excitedly helped the boys to climb out. Tina grabbed Johnny, lifting him into the air as she hugged him and twirled around with him in her arms.
Opal rushed to Johnny's side and hugged him with tears of joy. “We thought you were killed!”
“How did you escape?” asked Larry incredulously.
“There was this big boulder we hid behind. It protected us from the explosion . . .” Johnny started to explain.
“The blast made the tunnel big enough for Frankie to get through,” interrupted Austin. “And when the dust settled we swam out through the spring.”
“Yeah, we saw the light coming through the water so we dove in and swam toward the light,” concluded Johnny.
Everyone laughed joyfully.
Beaming, Opal returned to Clayton's stretcher, while wiping tears of joy with the back of her hand. “And now young man, let's tend to you.”
Clayton's shirt was bloody from the chest wound he received. Opal carefully unbuttoned his shirt and started to peel it back. Suddenly she stopped. Her eyes riveted on the gold chain around his neck and the infant ring dangling from it. She removed the chain from his neck to get a better look at the tiny ring. She raised it to eye level and turned the ring to read the inscription on the inner rim. “Hope Never Fails.” As she finished turning the ring she saw a symbol etched into it right after the inscription: “=/=.” Opal was at first surprised, then a look of desperate hope combined with anxiety filled her eyes.
“Where did you get this ring?” inquired Opal, barely able to contain herself.
“From my birth mother . . . when I was born,” Clayton explained.
Opal choked with emotion and could hardly speak. Tears welled in her eyes and began to stream down her cheeks. “Do you know the meaning of this triangular symbol?”
“I haven't a clue,” he replied.
Opal lowered the ring to Clayton’s level and propped up his head with her arm. She transferred the ring to his right hand, tucking it horizontally between his upraised thumb and forefinger. She positioned the ring so that he could see the “=/=” symbol. He studied it quizzically for a moment, then raised his eyes to search Opal’s face for answers.
Opal met his gaze with a smile then turned her head toward the spring while pointing with her outstretched arm and index finger at the bluff wall on the far side.
Clayton turned his head to follow her gesture. Then both their gazes focused on the bluff wall on the opposite side of the spring. The triangular grotto came into focus with the two parallel lines of white limestone near its apex. The grotto opening and veins formed the same “=/=” symbol. The ring in Clayton’s hand lined up perfectly with the symbols on the bluff wall. His eyes widened as the meaning sank into his mind.
Opal placed her hands behind her neck and reached inside the collar of her blouse. She unclasped the lock of a gold chain and removed it. Dangling from it was another gold ring, larger than the one Clayton held. She turned it in her fingers and placed it next to the one Clayton held. Both rings were engraved with the same “=/=” symbol. Opal tapped the ring in Clayton’s hand with her index finger.
“I gave this ring to my son the day they took him from me, fifty-two years ago,” said Opal.
“Then you must be my . . . Mother?” gasped Clayton.
Opal sobbed joyfully as she pulled his head to her breast and stroked his brown hair.
Clayton rested his head for a moment then he gently pushed her back and questioningly looked directly into her eyes.
“But you're Opal Chitwood. My mother was Valoura Sutton,” he said skeptically.
Opal wiped her tears with the back of her hand. “My name is Valoura Opal Sutton. When I left the farm to start a new life I switched to using my middle name, Opal. Years after you were born I met and married Arthur Chitwood. . . . When they took you from me that day I thought I would die.”
For a moment Clayton was stunned. He stared at the kindly woman before him and reflected upon the years of anguish he had felt, not knowing the identity of his mother. Then suddenly and inexplicably, the pain of the years of loneliness and questioni
ng were washed away. The void was immediately flooded with a profound love for this backwoods country woman he had gotten to know. All of Clayton’s pent-up emotions rushed to the surface as he clasped Opal’s face between his hands. He lovingly caressed her cheeks while gazing deeply into her eyes. He smiled broadly as his eyes too filled with tears of joy.
Then he softly spoke the words which, for the previous fifty-two years, Opal had longingly ached to hear.
“Mother . . . I'm home.”
=/=
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
Valoura
The next Sunday, the family was again gathered around the Chitwood dinner table. This meal was a particularly joyous occasion. Opal was seated at the head and Clayton, as usual, was seated on the side of the table next to her. Each person was holding the hand of the person on either side, except for Opal. She clasped both of Clayton’s hands between her own as she beamed with happiness. Their heads were bowed. Lillburn was saying grace.
“We thank Thee Dear Lord for our brother whom Thou hast brought back into our family . . .” began Lillburn.
Though filled with more happiness than she could ever remember having felt, tears freely fell from Opal’s eyes. She could not remember having ever felt so much happiness. Both she and Clayton reflected upon their lives and the events that had brought them back together. Opal’s thoughts drifted back to the events of fifty-two years earlier . . .
*
The rain had stopped at Valoura’s childhood cabin. The first glimpses of morning light were just beginning to break through the low clouds. Doc’s green DeSoto pulled away from the rickety old cabin and made its way down the muddy road.
*
Two young country girls, Valoura and Ellen Sutton, sat at the edge of Blue Spring, their feet dangling in the water.
“It's been two weeks now, and you still haven't smiled,” chided Ellen.
“This is the hardest thing I shall ever do,” replied Valoura sullenly. “I didn’t know you could ever love another person as much as I love my son. I miss him terribly. My heart is breaking, but in my head I know my son will be better off with his new family. They’ll give him all things I never could. I just hope they’ll love him as much as I do.”