by Steven Bird
“Cooking oil,” answered Jessie. Rotating the torch’s handle with his left hand, he began pouring the oil on the cloth bandage with his right. After setting the oil bottle down, he began pushing the oil into the cloth with his finger. “The other trick to this is to make sure the cloth is saturated all the way through.”
When he felt the cloth was thoroughly saturated, Jessie removed a small roll of metal wire from his pack, and continued, “Safety wire can fix damn near anything. If you’ve got this and duct tape, you’re unstoppable.”
“See? McGyver,” Nate e.
“No, that would be a paperclip and a nickel,” Jessie joked in reply.
Rapidly bending the wire back and forth, Jessie broke off three pieces in lengths of approximately six inches. He then wrapped the sections of wire securely around the cloth, twisting them tightly with his multi-tool pliers.
“That ought to do it,” he boasted, holding out his creation. “See? I meant my inner Indiana Jones. He always had one of those Hollywood torches that burned all day long. I’m sure mine won’t live up to movie standards, but it’s better than being blind.”
“Are we gonna just go walking right in there?” Nate asked.
“I hadn’t planned on that,” explained Jessie. “I was planning on lighting it and tossing it inside. With the oil-soaked rags burning, it shouldn’t go out.
“Hopefully, if there is a guard near the entrance of the cave, that’ll elicit a response. If not, it’ll illuminate things enough for us to make our initial entry. We need to move in bounds, covering each other as we go. It goes without saying that we’re at a major disadvantage here and are taking on substantial risk.”
“That we are,” Nate agreed. “But my friends back there didn’t die trying to free those people only to have me walk away from our only survivor now. They laid down their lives to get her out of there, and I’ll lay down mine to get her out of here, if that’s what it takes.”
Looking Nate in the eye, Jessie paused, and asked, “What drives you? I still don’t know what group or organization you’re with, but you’re obviously willing to give everything up for a person you just met, and you risked it all back when you didn’t even know her. For all we know, stepping into this cave will be the equivalent of stepping out of a landing craft on D-Day, yet you’re willing to charge right into it?”
“It seems I could ask the same of you,” Nate retorted. “Hell, you weren’t even in our group and had no clue who we were, yet you jumped right in to help. At least I had a cause to die for.”
“You have a cause to die for, and I very likely don’t have anything to live for,” Jessie replied. “I lost everything. My wife and children were murdered. They lost their lives because I couldn’t protect them well enough on my own. The pain from that nearly ended me. Quite frankly, I wanted to die.
“Then, when I was at the very bottom, a father and his young daughter stumbled across my place high up in the Rocky Mountains. I saw a spark of hope in them. I saw a reason to keep going, for others, even if not for myself.
“Setting out across the country to find my sister may simply be another sad tragedy for me to find, more pain for my heart to bear, but at the very least, I have to try.
“Along the way, though, I’ve met a lot of folks, like you, who give me hope that we’ll claw our way out of this hole we’re in and be stronger for it in the long run. I’m hoping the next generation of leadership in this country, and around the world, will be those who were forged in the fire of all this hell we’re going through now.
“Several months back, I met up with a group in Arkansas. One gentleman, Isaac, became a very dear friend of mine. He explained to me the concept of clay forging, and how it was used to make swords back in the days of the Samurai. Have you heard of clay forging?”
“No. I can’t say that I have,” Nate shrugged, curious to where Jessie may be going with this.
Jessie explained, “If you look closely at a Katana, there is a line that runs through the center of the blade for the entire length of the sword. That line is caused by the process of clay tempering. When the blade is forged, the metal is soft. This is, of course, required so the swordsmith can shape the blade into its desired form. Tempering the blade hardens it, much like this world has hardened the soul of many a man. Achieving balance, however, is important to the soul, same as it is to the sword.
“Isaac explained to me that a blade that is too hard will break, but a blade that is too soft will bend. To achieve balance, the swordsmith applies clay to the freshly formed blade. He applies a thin layer of clay over the edge and a thicker layer of clay over the spine. This allows the blade to cool at different rates when tempering, giving it the hardness it needs to hold its edge, with the softness and flexibility it needs to survive a very hard hit.
“As with the blade, if a person is hardened too quickly, they tend to break. Yet if they remain soft, they bend far too easily. Both the soft man and the hard man will eventually succumb to the challenges they face. But if the right amount of clay was placed into your heart before you were tossed into the fires, you’ll find that you emerged with both the hardness you need to do what must be done and the softness you need to retain your humanity.
“This world is going to need more people like you, who have been forged by the fire of this hell we’ve found ourselves in, yet retain their hearts, in order to rebuild our nation and our world.”
“That’s pretty deep for Arkansas,” Nate chuckled. “I’m just kidding. I know exactly what you mean. That Isaac fellow seems like a wise man.”
“He was something else,” Jessie said, thinking about his friend for the first time in a while. “Like you, though, he was willing to put it all on the line when the time came.”
Seeing Nate fiddling with his prosthesis, Jessie asked, “Did you lose your leg before or after the collapse?”
“After,” Nate quickly replied. “I had to make my way from the west coast to try to find my parents, much like what you’re doing now. I ran into a little trouble along the way, but like you, I met just the right kind of people to keep me going.”
Placing his hand on Nate’s shoulder, Jessie said, “I rest my case. Now, let’s get on to what’s important in this very moment, and that’s Britney.”
“Right on,” Nate affirmed, with enthusiasm in his voice. “By the way, I’ve got an idea. I’ve got a few flares in my pack that my team would carry to assist during an exfil. They wouldn’t make good walking around lights, but they could help out. I can toss one in, and we’ll see from its light if the coast is clear. Once we move forward to that position, I’ll toss the flare deeper into the cave. When we advance to that position, I’ll toss it again.
“We can use the flares to light up the spaces ahead of us while using the torch for our personal light. The sparks and intense light from the flares may also obscure the view for anyone trying to observe us from deeper within the cave, because they would be much brighter than your torch.”
Shaking his head, Jessie grumbled, “I sure wish I’d known you had flares before I spent all this time making a torch.”
“You didn’t exactly share your plan with me before you started,” Nate countered.
“Touché,” Jessie conceded. “Well, I don’t see any other way to do this. I’m not in favor of just walking into the darkness with the light of the entrance at our backs, so I guess this is the only way. They’ll definitely know we’re in there, though.”
“There’s no avoiding that.”
“I reckon so,” Jessie confirmed as he looked at the entrance to the cave. “Well, like you said, this can’t be as bad as what those tunnel rats had to do in Vietnam. If they could suck it up and crawl into those little holes, and often times for a mission that to them, at least, was hard to see as worthy of giving up their own lives, then we can do this for her.”
“This is nuts, but I agree,” Nate conceded as he patted Jessie on the shoulder.
“I’ll cover you from here,” Jessie said
as he raised his Marlin to the ready position. “Work your way around to the side, hugging up against those rocks. That way, you at least can’t be shot from the inside when you toss the flare inside. If the entrance is clear, I’ll move up to your position, and we’ll take it from there. If it’s not, I’ll cover you while you make your way back to safety.”
“I sure wish I was smart enough to come up with another plan, but… well… here goes,” Nate added as he turned and began working his way toward the cave.
Once alongside the face of the cliff, Nate hugged it tightly, inching toward the opening of the cave. Pausing occasionally during his advance to read Jessie’s face and hand signals to ensure the coast was still clear, Nate drew nearer and nearer to the opening.
Stopping just a few feet from the cave entrance, he saw Jessie giving him the thumbs up. Nodding, Nate drew the flare from his pack, removed the cap, and using the striker in the cap, ignited the flare and immediately tossed it into the mouth of the cave, then quickly pulled back.
Looking through the scope of his rifle, Jessie watched intently for any signs of movement within the cave that might be illuminated by the flickering light of the flare.
Signaling to Nate to cover his advance, Jessie left his position of cover, and quickly joined Nate along the cliff, adjacent to the cave opening.
“I couldn’t see anything,” Jessie whispered. Reaching into his pocket, Jessie retrieved simple plastic Bic lighter. Flicking the lighter several times to get it to light, he held it to the oil-soaked cloth.
Once the torch was burning adequately, he put the lighter back in his pocket and said, “I’ll toss this inside just short of the flare. Once you make your advance, you can pick it up and get a good look around while I move up behind you. We can then start our game of ‘flare leapfrog’. If we make contact, well, we’ll just go with the flow.”
And with a nod in the affirmative, Nate crept silently around the corner and into the mouth of the cave.
Covering Nate as he bounded forward, Jessie watched as Nate took a position of cover behind a pile of rocks that at one time had been part of the cave’s ceiling. With Nate now covering for him, he tossed the torch to Nate and advanced, joining up alongside him.
Slipping over to the flare, Nate picked it up and tossed it deeper into the cave. Bounding forward again while Jessie covered him, Nate took cover yet again and signaled for him to follow.
Picking up the torch as he moved forward, Jessie illuminated the floor of the cave to reveal several sets of the odd tracks they had followed to the cave, as well as the tell-tale signs of someone, or something, being dragged along behind, obscuring some of the tracks as they went.
Joining up with Nate again, Jessie said, “They’re definitely in here. Their freshest tracks, the ones that disturb the others, are all going in, not out.”
“How far do you think this cave goes?” Nate asked.
Picking up and tossing a rock into the darkness ahead, Jessie listened to the echoes caused by its impact, and said, “I’d venture to guess it goes a good distance back in there. There’s a reason they’re using it. They wouldn’t have run into a dead end knowing we were behind them. They’d have no options if this were all there was to it.”
“Well, let’s keep moving,” Nate urged as he left his cover and moved toward the flare. Just as he reached out to pick up the flare, he and Jessie heard the bone-chilling sound of the horn they had heard out in the woods, only this time it was coming from deep within the cave.
Quickly picking up the flare and tossing it farther into the cave, Nate scurried back to Jessie’s location. “Holy hell!” he exclaimed. “That came from within, and it wasn’t close. This cave must be huge. This may be an entire cave system and not just a simple cave.
“Do you reckon that horn is to warn us and scare us off, or to warn others of our presence—you know, like an alarm system.”
“Based on what we heard before, I’d imagine they use it to signal each other to advance or retreat,” Jessie posited. “Maybe like a bugler would do back in the day before field radios?”
“Either way, they’ve gotten word we’re here,” Nate replied.
“Hooray for us,” Jessie whispered sarcastically. “Well, tunnel rat, let’s keep moving.”
Moving forward toward the light of the flare, Nate got a glimpse of what was up ahead and signaled for Jessie to move up to his position.
“What’s up?” Jessie asked as his eyes struggled to focus in the darkness after having accidentally looked directly into the bright light of the flare.
“The cave slopes downhill ahead. It looks pretty rough and rocky, too. Damn, I wish I had night vision.”
“Amen to that,” Jessie concurred. “I’m not sure the flare is helping at all. If anything, it’s signaling our arrival as much as anything else. And that smoke,” he added, waving his hand in front of his face. “I’m no geologist or spelunker or any such thing, but I’m also a little paranoid about explosive gasses being down here and us tossing a torch right into it.”
“I had the same thought. But, we wouldn’t be able to see crap without it. Besides, I think most of those scenarios occur during mining operations when they’re releasing trapped gasses. Surely any such thing would have flowed out of here by now after having been vented long ago. But then again, I’m no expert either.”
“Maybe our paranoia is just getting the best of us,” Jessie conceded. “Let’s keep moving.”
Working their way toward the flare, Nate picked it up and tossed it again. This time, he was able to get it approximately twenty yards or so farther into the cave, and down onto the jagged, rocky downward slope.
Jessie and Nate continued this pattern of leapfrogging with the light until they reached the bottom of the descent, and to what was a broadening in the cave’s opening. They could now see that the floor of the cave was smooth, sloping from the edges of the cave down, with the lowest point being in the middle. The smoothness of the limestone chamber was interrupted only by the formations of stalactites and stalagmites extending from both the ceiling and the floor, creating a fantastic array of shapes and forms that rivaled the set of a Hollywood fantasy film.
“It’s getting damp in here,” Nate whispered once Jessie had joined up alongside him.
Holding the torch as far out to his left as he could, both to reduce his being a target, as well as attempting to allow his eyes to adjust to the darkness of the cave, Jessie watched as droplets of water traced the forms of a stalactite. When the water reached the sharp point at the end, it formed a droplet of water that blipped onto the stalagmite below.
“How many years do you think that took?” Jessie whispered, gesturing to the rock formations.
“Huh?” shrugged Nate, confused by Jessie’s statement.
“For these drops of water, carrying tiny particles of limestone, to form these shapes and structures?”
“Oh,” Nate responded with a chuckle. “A damn long time, I guess.” Thinking through the situation, he noted, “It looks like that flare is just about spent. What do you think? Light another?”
Looking around, Jessie said, “Well, it’s been working so far. Besides, I can’t imagine not being able to see what’s up ahead.”
“Alright, then,” Nate said as he slipped his pack off his shoulder and fished around inside for another flare. Once the new flare was lit, he tossed it farther into the cave, only to have it splash and extinguish upon landing.
“What the…?” Jessie mumbled, confused by the sound as he began working his way forward with the torch lighting the way.
After moving forward approximately fifty feet, the light of Jessie’s torch revealed a flooded chamber of the cave. “That’s a lot of water,” he said, unable to see beyond the water to the other side with his faint, flickering torchlight.
As Nate joined him, the two looked around, then down at the ground to reveal scuff marks and more of the strange looking prints they had seen all throughout their pursuit.
Studying the scuff marks on the limestone floor surrounding the edge of the water, Nate proclaimed, “This water must go a lot farther than we think. They’ve got a damn boat down here.”
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Jessie said with the origin of the scuff marks becoming evident to him as he processed Nate’s observation.
“What do you think? Flat bottomed Jon boat?” Nate asked.
“That’s what I’m thinking,” Jessie agreed.
“That means one of two things,” Nate decided. “We’re either a lot closer to them than we think, or like I said, this water goes a long way.”
“Didn’t you say there were underground lakes in the area?”
“Yeah,” Nate replied. “Down in Sweetwater, there’s a tourist attraction called The Lost Sea. It’s an underground lake in a cave down that way, turned into an underground boat tour. It’s pretty big.”
“This place is perfect,” Jessie marveled. “Not only is it well hidden, and would be easy to defend, but it’s got a damned moat. I’d imagine there are other access points, too.”
“Why do you say that?” Nate asked.
“Well, tactically speaking, it makes a great hideout, so long as you have an alternate point of egress. If a hostile threat camped out at the mouth of the cave and you had no other way to escape, they could easily starve you out. Surely, whoever is down here would have thought of that.”
“That’s possible,” Nate admitted. “Or maybe they’ve just been lucky so far and not been followed home?”
“Either way, I guess we’re about to get wet,” Jessie said as he removed his pack. “Damn. Do you think there are snakes in this water?”
“Ah, hell, why did you have to go and say a thing like that?” Nate grumbled. “Now that’s all I’m gonna think about.”
“We’ve gone from tunnel rats to river rats,” Jessie joked as he mentally prepared himself for what lay ahead.
“What about the torch?” Nate asked.
“I’ll extinguish it for now, and we can try to keep it dry and relight it on the other side. We’ll just have to feel our way through for now.” Looking around, he handed the torch to Nate and requested, “Here, hold this for a minute.”