Chapter 3: Now What?

Darkness was everywhere and my head hurt. When I tried to move, I could feel ropes digging into my wrists and ankles. My instinct was to struggle and scream; but instead, I laid still and listened to get as much information as I could. The last thing that I remember was following the trail to the creek and finding the battered sleeping bag. Jake and I were looking for Sam and then we heard something weird. Now I’m tied down on a bed in a dark room.

What’s going on? Where are Sam and Jake?

As if on cue, Jake began yelling. “Ben! Sam!”

“Shhh.” I whispered, “I’m here. Just stay quiet.”

“Is that you, Ben? What’s going on, man?”

“Yeah, it’s me. I don’t know, but stay quiet. Try to work your arms and legs loose, if you can.”

“Where’s Sam?”

“I have no idea. I almost have one hand loose. Keep quiet.”

After a few minutes of tugging, my right arm was finally free. Quickly, I untied my left arm and sat up to look around as I worked on my ankles. We were in some type of room and it was pitch black except for the small light that bled under a door about thirty yards to my left.

I fumbled in the darkness to my right where I had heard Jake’s voice and worked to untie him. We both looked around but couldn’t see anything except the lighted area near the door. As we reached the edge of the light, I held up my hand and grabbed Jake to stop him from going any further.

“Do you hear that?” I whispered and Jake nodded. It sounded almost like a growl and my heartbeat rapidly increased. I reached over and felt along the wall toward the door for a handle and noted that the wall was rough and slightly damp — like it was made of dirt. My mind raced and then the musty odor around us finally made sense. We were in some kind of cave. Before I could respond to my thoughts, something lashed out and both Jake and I were yanked backwards further into the darkness.

My head struck the ground after I flew through the air and Jake started screaming my name; but there was no way to help him. The floor of the room was hard packed dirt and bits of rock, which furthered my realization that the room was inside a cave. I scrambled along the floor and moved toward the light again and found a rock about the size of my fist. At this point, I wasn’t even sure what we were fighting; and I had no idea which way to strike or if I would hit Jake, but I just flung the rock as hard as I could toward the sounds on the other side of the room. There was a large thud followed by a horrible sound that was a mixture of some type of growl and a scream. There was no way to know what had happened so I clawed along the floor toward the light again and prayed I could get outside and find some help.

Something grabbed my leg and I pulled away as hard as I could and flung myself into the darkness of one corner to hide.

“Ben!” Jake whispered but I was afraid to answer, so I moved cautiously toward where the voice had come from and ran right into Jake, who was trembling and speechless.

Without saying a word, I tugged Jake’s arm and pulled him toward the door, while expecting to be attacked again at any moment. Something in the room was moving around and screeching and I knew that we might not have long before it attacked again. The door was easy to find again and I quietly turned the handle and was surprised that it opened easily. I half dragged and half yanked Jake until we were both out of the room and then shut the door behind us. The outer room had more light and I found a chair to tuck under the doorknob, hoping that would be enough to at least slow down whatever was in that room.

Jake was whimpering but stayed close as we eased through the next door into a large open area. I looked back as the door behind us closed and realized the rooms were all separated by doors had been built into the rock. I didn’t have time to really contemplate it all as we stood trying to determine which way to go. Three openings led from where we stood and I chose the one with more light, hoping it wouldn’t lead us to our captors but to the outside. Fortunately, I chose wisely and within twenty yards we encountered the opening to the outside, although it was covered in thick hedges.

I peaked through the thick brush and saw only the forrest and no signs of people or anything else, so we both quickly squeezed through without a word. The sudden light half-blinded us but I knew we needed to keep moving and get away from this place to be safe. There was a trail leading away in both directions and I just decided to go right for no reason in particular. My body ached slightly as I jogged down the trail with Jake following closely behind, both of us hoping to outrun whatever was in that cave. We ran for a long time until we reached a small creek along the edge of the path.

“That might be a feeder creek to the large one we camped near.” I walked across the rocks to the other side, leaving the path.

“What are you doing? Shouldn’t we stay on the path?” Jake looked around nervously.

“I don’t think so. That’s definitely not the trail we were on and I don’t want to be anywhere near whatever that was back in the cave. We need to walk in the creek bed for awhile and lose our scent in the water. Maybe this small creek will dump into our creek and we can find the trail we were on and get out of here.”

“Okay, that sounds good.” Jake had no idea what to do and I knew it.

“Stay close.” I said as I headed downstream. Inside I was furious that I hadn’t looked at the maps more closely.

I kept a close eye on the surrounding woods and moved quickly over the stones and through the shallow water. Thankfully, we were both wearing waterproof shoes and had little worry of the water rushing over our feet. I wanted to put as much distance between us and that cave as possible. After moving down the creek for about a half hour, Jake tripped and fell. I grabbed his hand and for the first time really looked at him. Across Jake’s forehead was a scratch and he was bleeding down the side of his cheek.

“What was that thing in the cave?” Jake said and he began to tremble as he spoke as tears sprouted under his eyes.

“I don’t know but we’ve got to keep moving!” I was getting annoyed. Didn’t he know how much danger we were still in? If there was one thing I did know it was to get far away from whatever was going on around here. The strange old man and his comments rolled through my mind and I had to brush them aside. Surviving was the only thought process that I could afford to have.

“Where are we? And where’s Sam?”

I kept moving. If Jake wanted to figure it all out now, he could do it alone. I wanted to get out of here and nothing more.

“I have no idea; but it’s late in the day. The sun is going to set soon and we have to get somewhere safe so it won’t find us again. We’ve got to keep moving.”

“It. What was that thing, man?”

I refused to speak and kept moving.

“Do you think it got Sam?”

My frustration was overtaking my fear. “Look, I don’t know, okay? I just know that I don’t wanna be next.”

“Okay.” Jake managed to say.

“Here, let me clean that wound.” Using the creek water, I washed the scratch on Jake’s face and then took off upstream again, this time at a more manageable pace. “We need to drink. I’m not sure when we can get water again.”

Both boys drank from cupped hands. Nearby was a ridge and that seemed like the obvious place to go at this point.

“We can try to get up there before dark to see if we can see the trail or something to head toward.” I pointed up and Jake’s eyes followed. The mountain was steep and rocky but not impassable. My other thought was that we could hopefully see anything coming to look for us as well. Higher ground was always an advantage.

“Okay, I can do that.” Jake nodded over and over and began to mumble.

“Get ahold of yourself, Jake! We don’t have time for crazy. Whatever that thing was might come to hunt us, do you understand?”

Jake nodded and let out a sigh. “I can do this.”

We started the climb to the top of the mountain with darkness following close behind and I silently wondered how we could survive a night out here with no supplies and with that creature looking for us. Neither of us said a word as we moved quickly toward the top of the ridge before us. Within in an hour, we reached the summit and moved along the edge and found a small flat area with an overhang that could serve as some cover for the night.

“What do we do now?” Jake asked in a small voice.

“We survive.” I answered with conviction. In the distance, we could hear something growling and moving through the forest. I closed my eyes and prayed for protection.