by Isa Marks
Daryl was in the room where the spring emerged from the rocks.
“There,” he said as he pointed towards the top of the wall. “You see that hole, it’s symmetrical, it looks man made . . . I can’t believe I missed it before.”
He looked at Cathy, but could see on her face that she hadn’t made the connection yet.
“I have to tell you, there is no way around or over this mountain,” Daryl continued. “If this water keeps rising, we’re trapped. The only option I haven’t explored is this opening. It is big enough to crawl through, and it doesn’t seem too steep from here.”
“And you need me to check it out for you, right big boy?” Murphy’s voice was not able to conceal the sense of irritation he felt. “Yup, whenever things get dirty, or deadly, you know who to ask.”
“That’s not fair and you know it,” Cathy remarked.
“No, it’s true,” Daryl admitted, “I shouldn’t ask you this, but with my leg, you know. It would just take longer for me to check it out myself.”
“How sure are you about this Daryl?” Murphy said. The guy was a master tracker and a pretty decent watcher. Daryl had even taught him a few tricks when they had been out scavenging and kept him out of trouble more than once. He was observant, and someone he knew he could trust.
“That spring water, it has to come from somewhere, and it’s just a small stream so you should be able to crawl through it. See the top of that arch? Either the stream used to be much stronger to round that off or it’s man made. If it’s man made, someone must have carved it out, right? You should be able to tell from the inside, meaning . . .”
“If they could fit through it, so can we,” Murphy finished the sentence.
“And if someone made that, they must have had a reason. Perhaps there is something or someone on the other side?” Cathy continued.
Daryl looked at her and smiled, proud of her.
“I’m liking it a bit better already.” Murphy said. “Can we get some guys to build me something to climb on though, cause that thing is kind of high up there.”
◆◆◆
The cave was filled with people and bags all stashed on top of boxes to keep them off of the muddy cave floor. Water had started flowing in and it made the place smell salty. Like a childhood memory, when you’re too far from the sea to see the water, but can already smell the change in the air. Except now it was stronger and mixed with other smells, some more familiar than others. It smelled of freshly snapped wood and warm earthy tones, combined with a rancid fishy smell. It didn’t help the humidity either. Cathy tried to focus on her breathing, because this was not the time to zone out.
“Guys, come on up, you’ve got to see this,” they heard Murphy yell through the tunnel he had just crawled through. “Even the big guy will fit through,” he teased.
Cathy helped Daryl to the top of the construction of beds, cabinets and anything else they had found to build a scaffold. That darn leg didn’t make it easy, but at least he barely felt any pain. He wondered where Murphy had found those pills. Painkillers like that were not in the Spring Cabin’s inventory, heck, they didn’t even have anything that strong in the Hospital.
Inside the opening Daryl found exactly what he expected, there were chisel marks all over the ceiling, it was a tunnel, a man made one. He dragged his leg behind him, up through the small hole, letting his arm muscles do most of the work. It was quite a way into the mountain, but the angle was only a twenty degrees, making it doable even with the slippery water under his knees. He followed the path to the dim light at the end.
Murphy cranked his flashlight some more. It lit up only part of the giant cave before him. The ceiling sparkled when the light hit the minerals above his head. It looked like the starry sky on his sister’s bedroom ceiling, the kind that would glow in the dark. This cave was huge. Shining his light along the walls he counted several tunnels.
Daryl stepped up beside Murphy, took out a flashlight and shone it to the far wall, silently beholding the giant basin that arose from the dark in front of them. He smiled, all these years their people had come to the Spring Cabin’s stream, hoping for enough water to make it through the year. They relied on it, as it was their only water source, scared that it would run dry. And now it turned out to be just a little overflow stream of this giant basin. Their chances here were better than down in the Spring Cabin, he thought.
“Send everyone up, Cat,” his voice echoed down through the hole.
One by one they climbed the artificial scaffolding beneath the small water stream. The water had already risen to their ankles and the atmosphere started to get tenser by the minute. She stood on top of the pile, to help the people get up.
“One by one, people,” she yelled down, trying to keep her voice calm while feeling her knees tremble from the unstable foundation on which she stood. It became worse with each wave of water coming in.
“The third barrier must have broken already,” she yelled up while pulling a crying little girl up into the hole. Cathy pushed against her feet so she wouldn’t slip, but it didn’t help, the girl kept slipping.
“Okay, calm down,” Cathy said. “What’s your name?”
The little girl sobbed and looked at her doubtfully. “I can’t say that,” she whispered.
“Why not?” Cathy asked, crawling behind her.
“Because mommy says . . .” The little girl started crying again.
Below her Cathy heard people arguing.
“You can’t even leave them alone for a minute,” she sighed.
She turned around to peek through the opening. What she saw below her she could only compare with an anthill that had been poked with a stick. People were yelling and waving their arms, while others grabbed their bags and ran towards the shaky construction. From all angles they started to climb up the bed frames and clung to the spirals. They were opening drawers of the cupboards to use them as stairs, knocking out the bottoms as they climbed the tower-like construction with too much force and speed. The first ones had already reached the top and pushed their way past her through the hole.
“One by one people.” Her voice sounded more hurried than before as she yelled down. “This thing is not . . .” But it was already too late.
A loud noise filled the cave below, trapping men and women beneath the falling shelving units. The construction had toppled over, leaving around thirty people standing helplessly beneath her in the murky water. Some just stood there and watched, others screamed in pain. Cecilia was just in time to jump away from the collapsing tower. She ran towards the shelves, trying to get people out fromunderneath.
“Cecilia, try to rebuild it!” Cathy shouted. But she knew there wasn’t enough time, the water was at their waists now and it kept rising by the minute. Did she really have to leave them out there to die?
The little girl in front of her was lying on the side of the tunnel, she cried even louder than before. She had been pushed roughly against the wall when the others had forced themselves past them.
“Come on, we can do this,” she whispered to the girl. Cathy placed her hands against the soles of the little shoes and pushed her forward. They crawled out at the top, into the large cave, where they could still hear the shouting and clanging of the metal frames against the rock wall. They were trying to rebuild the crumbled construction, but with every growling wave that came in a sound of clattering metal followed. She couldn’t get that image out of her head, of the people she was leaving behind, they were trapped there.
Cathy looked around the group that was left, it had slimmed down significantly. It was just her, Murphy, Daryl and no more than nine others that had made it out.
“It will be night soon. We have to check if one of these tunnels leads up, so we’ll at least be able to get up high enough to stay dry in case the water keeps rising. Maybe we’ll be able to get some sleep if we’re lucky,” Cathy broke the silence. “Let’s split into groups to check them out and meet back here in half an hour. Team leaders are Daryl,
Murphy and what’s your name?” Cathy turned to the guard.
“What, me?” he said, surprised by her choice to put him in charge of a team. “Ehm . . . Adrien, my name is Adrien,” he said as he readjusted his posture and slipped back into his guard role.
“Okay, three or four people with Adrien, and we’ll meet here in thirty minutes,” Cathy repeated. When she looked aside she saw the questioning look on Murphy’s face.
“Have you forgotten the fight I just had with that guard guy in front of the Spring Cabin?” Murphy hissed at her. “That bastard has just selfishly pushed his way up the stream, leaving the rest of them behind. And you reward him by putting him in charge?”
“What? You think he’d hand in his flashlight without a fight?” she whispered back. “Besides, people trust the guards, it’ll calm them down.”
Murphy shook his head, but he knew she was right. That didn’t mean he had to like it, though.
Cathy took the little girl’s hand and joined Daryl to the first tunnel on the left.
CHAPTER 7
RATS
It had been forty minutes and still no sign of Murphy’s or guard Adrien’s teams. Cathy started to worry. How long were they to wait? She tried to shift her mind and started reading to the little girl. Her bag had barely touched the water, but the book felt damp and some of the pages stuck together. She read with one eye on the page, and kept the other on the tunnel her brother had taken.
The left tunnel they had explored lead upwards quite quickly, opening up into a couple good size caves for them to spend the night. There were other tunnels that lead further up and down in the mountain. Even one that led outside, providing a decent flow of fresh air.
Daryl was pacing impatiently. Sixty minutes had passed.
“Keep reading,” the little girl begged, pulling Cathy’s shirt. She had been silent for the past two minutes and just sat there, breathing shallow.
It must be the stress, Daryl thought, and perhaps the low amount of oxygen in the tunnel, causing Cathy to zone out like that. It had been the third time today. He sat in front of her, looking her in the eyes, but it was as if she was looking right through him, like he was a ghost. Shaking her didn’t help, whatever he did there was no response.
“Is she okay?” the little girl asked
“She just needs some fresh air,” he answered. And to be honest, I do too, he thought. He wiped the sweat of his forehead.
“Do you think you’re strong enough to carry Cathy’s bag?”
“I’m really really strong,” she answered.
“That’s good,” he smiled, “cause I have another job for you.” He gave her the flashlight.
Daryl strapped his own bag to his back and tried to lift Cathy gently over his shoulder. He had expected it to be painful, to put extra weight on his leg, but he felt nothing. Slowly but steadily he limped back to where they’d just come from, up in the left tunnel. The little girl led the way and lit the path in front of them.
“What about the others?” she asked.
“Don’t worry, I left a note for them on the edge of the basin. They’ll find us.”
◆◆◆
Jake hung back from the group examining their tunnel. Meaning they were examining the tunnel, Murphy and the others, and he was walking behind them. He was bored and annoyed, waiting until they finally could head back and go to sleep. He never liked hiking and exploring much, even though he was in great physical shape.
“Hey mister popular guy,” Murphy yelled, “try to keep up.”
“Yeah yeah,” Jake mumbled. If it had only been baseball, or anything else with a game element, something where he could come out the winner. But this useless walking around, it couldn’t interest him in the slightest. He searched his bag, looking for his last granola bar, but it was hard to find anything in this darkness.
“Wait for me guys,” he said but there was no response.
He just wanted one of those light toys of his own. He should put that into a project, maybe he could charm Cathy into giving him one. She was pretty, like most of the girls he had dated, she’d fall for his charms.
The dim light was getting brighter again, meaning he was either closing in on them, or they had turned around. Jake hoped it was the last. They had been going roughly fifteen minutes in this same direction after all and it would take them another fifteen to get back. He heard some shuffling up ahead.
“Oh I really don’t like rats,” he said to himself, just loud enough for the others to hear him.
It provoked laughter from the three he now saw approaching him in the distance. But the sound was still there, in the background.
Jake moved his lips, but he did his very best not to make a sound. “Just don’t let it be rats.”
◆◆◆
Adrien had led his team into the tunnel directly to the right of the water basin.
“Okay rookies, we’ll go on double time from here.”
He had enjoyed his guard duties, but he was more ambitious than that. This had been his biggest job so far. He’d make a damn fine leader one day, he was sure of that.
The four kids opposite him looked at him with a puzzled look in their eyes. They were no more than their mid twenties and most of them had lead a simple village life of studying and working at the Farm House; growing food and raising animals. None of them had been trained as a guard. None of them had any idea what double time even meant.
“Come on, pick up the pace,” Adrien said while quickly moving ahead of them. “We can cover more ground this way.”
“He’s not going to make us run, is he?” one of the girls said. Faye was tired from the long walk through the woods and the climb through the hole. “I should have gone with Cathy,” she sighed almost inaudibly.
“What was that, private?” the guard shouted. They’d better follow in line without questioning his authority.
After running for ten minutes they were out of breath. Their energy decreased much faster than outside due to the low oxygen levels in the tunnels. The guard slowed his pace. He didn’t seem too bothered by the conditions inside the mountain.
“Take a minute. I’ll check that out,” he said pointing towards the T-split in front of them. He disappeared around the corner, his light only left a low glow reflecting from the tunnel walls, leaving the rest of the team behind in almost darkness.
“Special Forces Officer Wolf,” they heard him say. “Restrain these prisoners and take them to isolation.” The team had heard those words, it was Adrien’s voice, the guard. They looked at each other even more puzzled than before. There was only one thing they could do and that was run, blindly into the dark hole behind them, into the tunnel leading back to the basin. But there was no way they could outrun the men in green uniforms that had come around the corner. They were still tired from running up there and the men seemed to have energy for ten. They were pushed to the floor, their hands tied together behind their backs.
“There are four more coming towards you in the tunnel at nine o’clock,” Adrien said to the men. “Watch out for the one in the undershirt, he’s a tricky one. I have something special in mind for him. There are also three more in the tunnel west of the basin. Just a girl, a kid and a crippled so you have some time to catch up with them. Get the others first.”
◆◆◆
Murphy wriggled in the arms of one of the men in the green camouflage outfits. They had appeared out of the blue when he moved along the sharp bend in the tunnel. The shuffling . . . it had been rats, like Jake said. Just giant man size ones in army fatigues. He fought them as hard as he could, but his skinny arms were crushed by the strong hands that grabbed him. He could not worm his way out of this, he had nowhere to go.
Jake heard the struggle in front of him, and up ahead he saw the silhouettes of the other three fighting for their freedom. He turned around as fast as he could, but he could hear a fourth guard coming for him. He ran, away from the light, until he couldn’t see a hand in front of his face any more. Sliding his
hands along the sides of the tunnel he tried to make his way back to the last junction. Instead of going ahead, to where they had come from, he hid in the unexplored part of the tunnel. The guard ran past him, straight to the basin. Jake crept deeper into the tunnel, until he could feel he was behind a curve of the wall. He sat there for what felt like hours.
The guard hadn’t come back and the sound of struggle had disappeared a long time ago. Jake sat in the dark, his arms around his knees, making himself as small as possible. He didn’t like the dark and especially not on his own.
“Look up, get up, but never give up.” he said out loud. It was something his coach used to say to him whenever he felt defeated. And even though it annoyed him back then, it did seem to work for him now. He shook his head and got back on his feet.
He touched the walls carefully, trying to find his way back to where he had come from. It was so much harder in the pitch dark. He felt the junction he had taken, and this time continued forward, in the same direction the guard had ran. The way back took him a lot longer than the fifteen minutes it had taken him to get up there. But after a while he was able to make out some shapes in the distance. As he came near the end of the tunnel he was able to see the shapes more clearly. It was the basin. He was back at the start.
There was a very weak light in the cave, just enough to make out some of the different elements. The light came from a crack in the top side of the wall, near the ceiling. There was no way he could climb there and even if he could, what was he going to do on his own?
There was no one in the cave. Neither of the two other teams, nor any of the men in camouflage suits. If he stayed here it would be only a matter of time before the guards would find him. He decided to check the first tunnel, to the far west, as far away as possible from where the guards had been. It was the tunnel Cathy had taken.
“Back into the darkness,” he said as he reluctantly set one foot in front of the other.