Chapter 17: Cave, Part 2

We each held a flashlight. As we strode slowly down the narrow corridor, it was pitch black. The only light came from our flashlights. That could have been because it was nighttime, though. Jada walked fearlessly on, leading the group, but Lisa appeared to be skittish. Cave exploration was clearly not her specialty.

We walked on then suddenly something was flying at us. Whatever they were, there was a lot of them, squeaking loudly and flying into our hair. We were all squealing and swatting as the light from the flashlights danced along the cave walls. We dropped them, sending them clanking loudly on the floor, as light flickered around the cave, then became fixed upon the cave wall.

Bats.

"I don't know about you, but I'm out of here!" Lisa yelled, giving up once the bats were gone and safely out of our hair. She turned and ran down the dark hallway from which we came.

"Lisa, wait!" I called after her, but she was already gone. Bats were common in this part of the country and they wouldn't hurt you unless you hurt them. But it didn't make them less scary.

Before I picked up my flashlight, I noticed some strange drawings on the pitted walls. It looked like very old, strange symbols. Cave dwellers must have lived in these caves long ago.

"Look here," I told the others, running my hand carefully along the symbols. I didn't want to touch them for fear of wiping them off.

"Wow!" Markesha said. "What do you think it is?"

"Some kind of ancient symbols," I said. "But this means there must be more rooms down the hall. If people stayed here long enough to draw on the walls, they must've lived here, too."

"Okay," Jada said impatiently, shining her flashlight down the hall. "Then let's go find those rooms."

As we walked further, we came to another large cave, a bit larger than the cave entrance. I shined my flashlight around the cave walls. There were more cave drawings and a cool breeze coming from another direction.

"This way," I said, following the breeze.

Jada quickly pushed her way to the front without a word. I just smiled. If she wanted the lead, she could have it, especially after the bat incident. As we walked, the corridor narrowed, and the ceiling became shorter. But we could still walk comfortably down the hall with ease. The floor suddenly sloped downward into a slow decline, and I knew we were going deeper under the surface of the earth. Then, the hallway expanded and there was a series of cave rooms. There was a small one on the left side; it had a low entrance, but a lot of room inside.

"This would make a good storage room," Jada said.

We all agreed.

Further down the hall was a larger room, but not as large as the cave entrance, and further down still was another cave where the stream resurfaced. It was private, so we could at least wash up in this cave room, or we could wash clothes or dishes in here, too. The water was drinkable, of course, so we could get our water here if we couldn't leave the cave for some reason. I pushed the thought aside. It was a good place to hide.

Further down the hall, the moisture was heavy and the air was cold. In the final room were stalactites and stalagmites attached to the ceiling and floors. Some had joined in the middle, forming natural columns in the room.

"We have to stay out of this room," I said to the other girls. "It takes thousands of years for these to grow just one inch."

Markesha nodded and Jada rolled her eyes.

Further down the hall were other caves, maybe a series of caves, but we could explore those later. The hallway branched off in two directions, and I could tell that it would be very easy to get lost in these caves.

"It's amazing," I said. "All this was here this whole time and we never knew it."

"Amazing," Jada said sarcastically, then rolled her eyes again.

Markesha ignored her. "We're probably at least 100 feet below the surface now," Markesha said, looking up.

Jada laughed at the expression on her face. "Come on, let's go. Maybe we can take the supplies to the supply cave."

"Yeah," I agreed, "and we need to eat something, too." It was getting very late, but the only thing we had eaten for two days was wild berries and ice cream, and it was wearing off fast.

"Maybe the hamburgers are thawed out enough to cook," Markesha added, excitedly.

"I don't care if they're still frozen," I said. "At this point, I'd probably eat 'em raw!"

We both laughed then followed Jada toward the cave entrance.

As we neared the cave entrance, the air grew warmer. It was funny that I hadn't noticed it getting colder as we moved through the serpentine cave hallway. As we neared the entrance, the firelight cast shadows on the walls and, as if hearing our comments, Lisa already had a skillet in the hot coals with something sizzling inside. As we walked closer, the luscious scent of hamburgers filled the air. At that moment, I knew I had never smelled anything so delicious in my life.

"Let's see what else we can find," Markesha said excitedly, looking through the bags.

"Let's cook up some hot dogs, too," I said. "The guys are going to be hungry once they get back, and this meat won't last forever."

So we rummaged through the bags, found the hot dogs, buns, mustard, and ketchup, thinking we had found a feast. As the luscious scent wafted toward my nostrils, my stomach churned and growled in response and, like Pavlov's dog, saliva rushed into my mouth at the anticipation of a halfway-decent meal.

Jada and I walked outside into the black night, not daring to turn on our flashlights, and found some small green branches lower down on some trees.