“What did you do that for? I can’t see shit now.”
“I don’t want to be stuck down here when both flashlights’ batteries go dead. If yours dies it’s time to turn around.”
“Oh, good thinking.”
Denny wished he had brought a sweatshirt; it was much cooler in the cave. Then he noticed something else. “Billy, do you smell that?”
Billy sniffed around in the air. “Yeah, smells just like when we opened that door out at the old building foundation only not as strong.”
“Maybe the smell is in our clothes and we only notice it because we’re in such a small place.” But as they continued the smell grew more noticeable. The tunnel turned and twisted, always sloping down. They came upon a spot where the tunnel opened up into a small room-sized cavern. Two tunnels exited the cavern, one on each side. The larger of the two seemed to stay level while the second, smaller shaft continued the downward slope of the original tunnel. “Maybe we should head out and come back another time with more stuff, extra flashlights and things.”
“Let’s keep going for a few more minutes. They must lead somewhere.” Billy took a few steps into one tunnel, then the other. “The smell seems much worse in the bigger tunnel; let’s follow the smaller one for a while.”
Denny followed Billy into the mouth of the smaller tunnel and into the darkness beyond. His heart was thumping loudly in his chest to the point he thought he heard it echo in the tunnel. He wanted to turn around and run back until he was out into the safety of daylight but his pride wouldn’t let him. What would Billy think? They came to several other forks in the tunnel, always choosing the one that continued to slope down, and always leaving a stick to point the way out. Eventually the ground began to level off and the tunnel widened. They came around the next bend… and into a dead end. The tunnel just stopped. It looked like a cave-in had spilled rocks and sealed off the tunnel. Denny felt panic seizing him. What if there was another cave-in and they were trapped? How far underground were they? And nobody knew exactly where they were. As Billy climbed on the pile of rocks, Denny began taking some deep breaths, trying to remain calm.
“Denny, come over here for a minute. Listen.” Denny climbed up on the loose rocks and cocked his head to one side. “Do you hear it?”
“I hear something but I can’t make it out.”
“Its water, it sounds like dripping or splashing or something.” He began rolling rocks from up on the pile toward the floor of the tunnel. “Come on and help me!”
“What if the water comes pouring into the tunnel?” Denny swallowed hard. Billy stopped moving rocks for a minute, head cocked to one side, and then started again.
“These aren’t piled tight enough to hold water back. Come on!” Reluctantly Denny began dragging rocks from the pile, always checking to make sure they had a clear path out of there. After a few minutes Billy pointed his light into the gap where they had moved most of the rocks from. “Holy shit, Denny! Quick, move these rocks over here!” He began frantically moving rocks from the wall. Denny helped without knowing why, the physical labor keeping his mind off his fear. Now Denny could hear the sound of splashing water. Billy shined the light again and then began pushing the rocks instead of pulling them. The rocks disappeared into the darkness. Denny could see the hole materialize in the dim light as Billy pushed more and more rocks out of the way.
Billy squirmed through the hole and Denny followed him. When Billy shined the light ahead, Denny gasped in astonishment. They were in a huge cavern. The light dimmed before it could reach the far walls but the most amazing thing was not the size but the fact that the floor of the cavern was mostly water; they had found an underground lake!
Denny switched his light on and they moved over to the edge of the water. One side of the water just ended at the wall of the cave while the side they had emerged on had a rocky shore that was partially covered with whitish rough sand. They slowly followed the water’s edge to the far side at least thirty yards away. At that side another huge tunnel led into the rock. About ten feet above the lake on that side water poured in from a gap in the rocks, accounting for the splashing noise that had led them to the discovery. Both boys began exploring the cave, shining their lights along the edge of the water and along the shore. “Denny, come look at this!” Billy’s voice echoed through the cave. Denny joined him at the edge of the lake and followed his beam of light. Floating along the side of the lake was a small red and white object. It took Denny a minute to recognize it as a fishing bobber.
“The water pouring in must be a run-off from the lake! We must be right down at ground level. I wonder if there’s another way out through that big tunnel.”
Billy nodded and went over to the entrance to the larger tunnel. Both boys moved their lights along the entrance when suddenly Billy’s winked out. He shook the flashlight but the beam would only blink dimly for a second and fade out. While he was doing that, Denny continued to shine his beam along the floor of the tunnel. His light caught something and he moved it back for a better look. When he did, his breath caught in his throat. He tried to say something to get Billy’s attention but not a sound would come out. His eyes were riveted to the object his light had found. Finally he gasped to get his breathing started again and shouted, “Billy!”
While he waited for Billy to make his way over he flashed his beam around and his panic grew. “What’s up?” Denny jumped at the sound of Billy’s voice.
“Look,” He shined his beam around the tunnel so Billy could see the bones that littered the floor. Not little fish bones; big animal bones. He moved his light further and it fell upon the half-submerged ribcage of what might have been a deer.
“Denny, what the hell kind of bones are they?” Denny could hear the fear in Billy’s voice that matched his own.
“Some kind of animal bones, big ones.”
“Like human animals?”
“I don’t know. Shit, look at this.” Denny shined his beam back toward the shore of the lake. He bent down and picked up a handful of the white powdery covering and let it run through his fingers.
“What is it, Denny?” Billy sounded on the edge of hysteria.
“I thought it was some kind of sand but it’s not. It’s ground-up bone.”
“That’s it. Let’s get the hell out of here!” They both moved quickly back to the small opening they had made in the rocks and slid through one at a time. Then they began their ascent from the cave. Denny led the way with his flashlight but had to stop when he heard Billy go down behind him. “Wait up, Denny, I hurt my leg.”
Denny went back and shined the light onto Billy’s leg. He’d tripped and opened up a big gash on his knee. It was bleeding freely and was caked with dirt and gravel. Denny cleaned it out as best he could. With nothing else to use, he took off one of his socks and tied it as tight as he could around the knee, covering the cut. It quickly soaked through but Billy said he was okay to go on. They had no trouble finding the sticks they had left behind but the going was slow. It hadn’t seemed like much of an incline going down but both boys were gasping for breath. They slowed down again, partially from fatigue and partially because they were calming down the further they got from the lake.
“Denny, you’re a smart kid, what was all that?”
“I don’t know, Billy. Maybe some animals drowned in the lake and their bones came through the run-off we saw draining in there.” He tried to sound more convinced than he really felt. He knew one thing, he was going to the library as soon as possible to read up on caves and see if it’s normal to find bones in them.