Chapter 5: Second Timothy: in the Cave. the Junction

Day two of the 'new' cave, the water shut off. Yup ... water main break. The place dried out quickly now that the other passages seemed to be either blowing or sucking.

'Well, ' thought Wendy. 'Might as well see if there's a way for David to get in.'

The first passage counter clockwise from the 'front door' led to a high velocity crawlspace. David would never fit but it had to be open on the other end. It was ... and it wasn't.

After an easier belly crawl than the front door the tunnel opened on a larger small space ... with metal walls, ceiling and floor. It looked like a heating duct or airway for air conditioning. Directly in front of the exit / entrance was a large slow moving fan with a grill on the other side. Shining her light through the grillwork she heard a fierce growl.

'Nope ... probably not a way out.'

When the fierce growl was soon accompanied by four clawed paws that rattled and shook the grill, Wendy decided that that ABSOLUTELY WAS NOT a way out...

When the grillwork showed a huge eye that immediately recognized wendy as "LUNCH," she decided to see where the ductwork went. Going right she hit a dead end ... dead as in piled bones.

"Ah ... no." Her voice echoed ... she'd only whispered.

She turned around and headed back to the crawlspace. The eye saw her and whatever the creature was renewed it's efforts to pry the grillwork loose. A massive spark on the face of the grill tossed the 'thing' back to the ground. Wendy could hear it whimpering.

'Poor baby.'

The whimpering turned to howling...

"Shut up! I'll give you something to cry about." The voice sounded faintly familiar.

Heading left, after a decent duckwalk and crawl, the duct work opened on a dimly lit, large, roughly hewn, rock chamber with a puddle of dirty water on the floor. Wendy was near the ceiling, the puddle... 20 feet below. Wendy was looking down at the puddle.

The puddle was moving. Here and there were bone piles of creatures she'd only imagined in dreams ... the nightmare in the closet kind of dreams. The puddle flowed up to a pile ... enveloped it and sloshed back to the center of the room.

The bones were gone.

The puddle had ripples... 'crunch crunch. bubble hiss. BELCH!'

From a hole in the chamber ceiling, a 'rattle rattle crash thump!', a fresh pile of bones on the rock floor. These had scraps of fat and meat loosely attached. Rats swarmed the pile.

'Eww!'

She made her way back to the fan room. There was a heavy smell of urine. Above the crack in the wall was a ladder. It was wet.

'That's odd ... it wasn't there a minute ago.' Wendy thought, 'do I or don't I? I'm not liking this passage one little bit.'

She crawled out the passage to the cavern. With her orange paint she posted a big NO above the passage. The WAY OUT was a trifle tighter than it had been going in.

The sun was shining, birds singing, white butterflies over a sloping meadow of wildflowers. At the end of the meadow, a rapid river moved, splashing over and between sunlit boulders. David, wearing shorts, Berks and a Tee, was fly-fishing along the bank.

The Suburban was parked next to a 5 man pop up tent. Wendy was at a small fire cooking a hotdog for a beautiful 7 year old blond, they were singing. The song made no sense but they enjoyed it. Twin boys were playing with the family dog. Fresh air and pine scent was redolent.

The entrance to the cave was large enough for her to look out and down from the padlocked grated door. She watched as David reeled in a big trout, unhooked it and released it back into the rapid river.

A yellow rubber raft with two bikinied college girls pulled up to the bank. David helped the girls unload the raft and kissed them both ... a little fondling and the girls walked over to the tent. Wendy was surrounded, kissed, groped and hugged.

Things moved ... the girls were nude, Wendy was nude ... David sported an enormous erection.

Wendy shook the padlocked entrance. She screamed, "DAVID!" He looked up at the cavern door, smiled, waved and directed Wendy's head and mouth to his dripping erection. She took it to the root.

Wendy collapsed, crying at the cave entrance. Shuddering with cold, she slept.

"What are you doing. Wendy?" David asked. "It's time to go home. You can sleep there."

She looked at him in shock. The river was gone. The Suburban was parked at the road, no tent, no meadow, no naked women, no children, no trees, no butterflies. The sun was setting.