I decided to do something different. I decided to share a chapter of my upcoming novel the Cartographer. Hope you enjoy!

The Day The World Went Away

June 27th, 2012 9:05 am Carlsbad, New Mexico

I stood at the entrance of the cave, staring into its gloomy depths. The stalactites reminded me of the homeless people I came across in Roswell—flashing me crooked smiles—except no rusted coffee cups or requests for spare change came from inside. The only requests coming from this location was my please to the cave to give up its secrets.

Sam, my best friend, worked on securing the rope around my waist. When he finished, I tied a similar loop around his waist, ensuring it was snug enough that it wouldn’t slide off, but loose enough that it wouldn’t crush his abdomen.

“Come on Nathan, hurry up,” he grumbled.

“Alright man, hold your horses,” I responded, completing my mental checklist. I examined the stability of the rope for the hundredth time which highlighted my anal retentiveness.

Most 16-year-old kids in my neck of the woods preferred doing things like playing Minecraft, sneaking into the Mall Cinema or hanging at the Carlsbad Mall. Not Sam and I. We preferred exploring the unknown, and this cave provided enough adventure to last us the school year. We were looked down upon at Carlsbad High School because we preferred outdoor adventuring over Creeper smashing.

Sadly this was our last chance to explore the cave before the summer break. I had qualified to enroll in advanced science classes provided by the high school which would suck me in for most of the summer. Sam had been upset about this since I broke the news and seemed to brood nonstop. He was such a downer, sometimes.

“I’m gonna head in now,” I called. “Make sure to hold on tight.”

He scowled and with a brisk nod clutched the rope. I smiled despite his crankiness and descended the stony outcropping.

During our previous trip to the cave, I discovered a collapse and assumed it would end our exploration attempt. Sam nagged me to investigate further and I had been surprised when I discovered air wafting in from several cracks in the wall. With renewed persistence I discovered what appeared to be a path leading further into the cave. I was more determined than ever to break through the barrier and see what lay beyond. Images spun through my head of fame, glory and treasure—gold, diamonds, or perhaps even buried cash. We made a vow to do our best to break through the obstacle.

“Let’s make this quick,” Sam moaned. “My mother needs me to run to the grocery store.”

I rolled my eyes at him before grabbing my flashlight and rock hammer. I slid the hammer in a belt loop and flipped on the flashlight.

“Alright, I’m going in.”

Recent heavy rains in the area eroded the entrance during the past week so I found the descent into the cave a little more difficult due to the smooth surface. Sam held the rope tight and I slid on my rear all the way to the site of the collapse. Once I reached the wall I jammed the flashlight into a nearby crevice, illuminating the entire obstacle. The light played over the wall and fell on a hole which—as soon as I saw it—I realized I would no longer need the rock hammer.

A ten foot high opening had been bored in the rock wall. The hole was approximately ten feet high and about four feet wide but its edges were strange, like they had been washed smooth by centuries of running water.

“What in the world?” I whispered.

I pulled the flashlight from the crevice and created more slack in the rope. Moving through the opening cautiously, I continued another ten feet before coming upon a faint light illuminating the path ahead. Unfortunately the path curved off in the distance which concealed the source of the light along with any potential danger contained there.

I flipped the flashlight off and continued along the path, listening to my footsteps and heavy breathing reflecting off of the cave walls. Before I reached the bend a faint tapping sound, similar to the rapping of a hammer against sheet metal, broke the silence. My unknown spelunking adversary was still here and working.

I crouched low and inched closer, luckily the banging drowned out the sounds of my footfalls. I turned the corner just as the rapping stopped, freezing me in place and blanketing the cave in silence. Water dripped off of the limestone, and rained tiny droplets on my cheek. I reached up and flicked them away just as the silence was broken by a low humming sound.

Around the corner the path widened into a large underground cavern accessorized by a small pool in the corner of the room, highlighted by the light source. It reminded me of the underground lakes I had read about in textbooks.

I shifted my attention toward the object in the center of the room. It resembled a buoy similar to those seen floating in the Gulf of Mexico. The difference, however, was the large television screen mounted on top of the one in the room. The flat screen, mounted at the top of the buoy was about four inches thick but five feet wide which would have made it the world’s largest iPad.

A person hunched over the front of the assembly, working feverishly on the screen. When he turned to fidget with a valve, his silhouette erased any worries I had of a rival spelunker stealing my glory. At first glance it appeared he was eating something, but soon I realized that the “food” was a set of tentacles extending from his chin.

My mouth dropped open in dawning horror while my mind tried to process the scene. If one were to take an octopus and place it on a human body then you might come close to what stood before me. Even that would be a stretch because the creature stood over eight feet tall with three tentacles attached to the chin forming some kind of bizarre beard. It continued to fidget with the TV screen, unaware of my presence. The hands working the machinery were human-like, but with three fingers on its hands. The skin of the creature, illuminated by the large spotlight in the center of the room, was a denim-blue color like a creature with poor blood circulation.

My brain refused to process the images my eyes were trying to force feed it. I backed carefully out of the cavern, but before I could turn to make a run for it a flat rock collapsed beneath my sneaker, sinking into the limestone floor. A high-pitched squealing alarm pierced my ear drums and  reverberated off the cavern walls, causing me to drop to the ground and cover my ears. I fell hard on my rear, swearing silently, afraid that I broke my coccyx(sometimes referred to as the butt bone) and had no choice but to stare helplessly at the creature as it swung towards me.

It hissed like a snake and its chin-beard waved menacingly as it approached me. Due to his size and my precarious position, I found myself staring at its feet. The legs were thick and elephantine all the way to the feet but instead of toes, the alien had a small tentacle, allowing the creature to grip the floor while it walked. The revolting, sucking sound of its feet smacking off of the limestone floor caused my heart to park in my throat which was actually a good thing because it blocked the bile that was attempting to escape my gut. It towered over me and looked down unpleasantly. I hoped the look was anger and not hunger.

The creature wore something like a scuba suit without the helmet, and it glistened as if he just emerged from the pool in the corner. It slipped a three-fingered appendage into the folds of its suit and retrieved something that looked a switchblade. I couldn’t see it clearly, though, because his huge frame blocked the light in the room. It pushed a button but instead of a blade, a twelve inch long light extended from it, making a popping sound like a cork from a wine bottle. I would have laughed at the absurdity of it all, but my face was a frozen mask of fear. The creature reached over and sliced through my lifeline with ease.

The beast reached down and picked me up by the tattered rope ring before I had a chance to react. Its dark, beady eyes bored into my soul as he held me up like a snagged fish. Withdrawing a syringe—one that looked bigger than any I had ever seen—he held it in front of my face. Instead of a vial it contained an empty hour glass, surrounded by a gold-colored metallic sheath. At the end of the hourglass sat a four inch needle point that shimmered like water reflected by moonlight. The beast hesitated briefly and the needle dangled ominously in front of my eyes. I wished more than anything that I could close them but my facial muscles were paralyzed with fear.

I was beginning to think he second-guessed his decision to stab me but then the needle plunged into my arm. Oddly, there was no pain, only a warm tingling sensation. Slipping through the skin uninhibited, the wet sensation spread across the site of the injection. A clucking sound escaped from the creature’s jaw and it moved in to look closer.

I started to lose consciousness and tried to call for help, but the only sound that escaped was a choked gasp. My tongue suddenly became ten times too big and my throat felt like I had gargled with sand. Darkness enveloped me and I slipped out of consciousness.

This is Nathan Chambers, signing off.