Escape the Caves

Ed landed shortly after freeing himself from the rope and then turning to make sure the others made it as well.
"Mind that last step, it can be rather tricky." He reminded calmly
 
Tricky was enough to make the klutz in Natalie take over as she practically slid off the last step with a yelp, dragging Mike along, nearly crushing Ed and Lyn, and almost making Terrin fall in.

"Sorry." she said weakly as Mike whooped in shock.

"For god's sake, Nat! You'll get us killed!" Terrin reprimanded as Natalie finally got down. She said nothing, looking rather sheepish and walked carefully between Ed and Lyn, readjusting her headband flashlight.
 
"You okay? You did not harm yourself?" Ed asked her softly with a smile.
He knew how easy it were to lose one's footing climbilng like that. Specaly if you were as inexperiend as some of them seemed to be.
"You did good. Just remember to climb slow. You never know if the next rock will hold you." It was a soft reminder his father often had told him.
 
Lyn looked back to see Natalie slip and take out half the team. She ran over, but was relieved to see that nobody was hurt. She looked around, and then looked up. Her mouth fell open, but she quickly closed it. She shone her flashlight on what she saw, but then took it off so that she didn't disturb them. Above them was thousands of fruit bats, chattering and squirming, like a living ceiling. She coughed then, and held her nose. "You were right, Ed. This guano stinks." She then ran underneath an enclave where she was safe from the bats. "Take cover!" She joked, and ran to the next safe spot. "Ugh. I'll never wear these boots again." She said, glancing at her guano-covered boots. "Should've brought an umbrella or something." She said. If the bats were trapped, they would try to find a way out, just like the group is. "If the bats seem unaffected by the collapse, perhaps there's another way out."
 
Condescending! Natalie felt that they were being condescending. She met Ed's eyes and nodded slowly, feeling like a kid who broke a vase as Mike clambered off beside her, assisting Terrin.

"I've got one!" Mike chortled in spite of the situation. He took out a small fold-able umbrella from his pack and waved it to Lyn. "God knows why I have one but hey, it came in handy."

Terrin looked up. "Judging at how they seem undisturbed, there really is an alternative route, but it may not be for us, wingless humans." He observed their new surroundings. "You're right, Lyn. I reckon there must be mineral water nearby. Best look for that or a river."

Natalie's feet made a loud crunching noise that made them all stop. "It's. A bone." She said, crouching down to check if it was human. "Oh, it isn't. It's a strange kind of um rock?"
 
Ed had wandered over to. The end of the platform and looked down its depth.
He droped a small rock down in to the darkness and listnend.
The rock bounsed of the walls slightly before landing with a distant plop.
"I think I found your river. But I dont think we have rope enough to get down to it."
 
"Oh god, we're still going down?" Natalie followed Ed, holding his arm to make sure she won't slip or fall in. Mike warned them anyway.

"Uh Ed, yeah, drag Nat back here, keep her leashed." He gestured to where he stood along with Lyn and Terrin. "And that river down there, if it's real low already, doesn't that make it twice, no, thrice risky even? Isn't there be another way?"
 
Ed looked over at him begore smiling ay Natalie softly leading her over to the othets.
He then inspected the cave wall finding only one opening, small and almost imposible to notice at firtst.
"This way then. Its a crawl but we should be able to squich through."
He looked the hole over
"Srrms stable enough. Should I go then?"
 
Lyn gulped. She didn't mind the darkness. She didn't mind the climbing. She didn't mind the danger, but the one thing that she couldn't do was tight spaces. Lyn was claustrophobic, and scenes of her crawling though until the tunnel got too tight to go forward ran through her mind. She froze then, but forced herself to snap out of it. It was either the tunnel, or possibly be trapped in the darkness forever. She nodded grimly. "Let's do it."
 
"I will go first. Wait here till I say its safe." Ed said before climbing in to the hole. Crawling on his stomach, the only light coming from his lamp. The crawl were not all that long but the last bit were tight.
He looked around the new cave and spoted a larger opening. He smiled as he turned back to the smaller hole. "Its good. Come on throigh now."
 
"Lyn," Natalie recognized the look of raw fear on Lyn. "Straight at Ed, just look straight at Ed."

"Mind you, I should go next." said Terrin, clambering in and after a moment of silence, he calls out: "Smooth, safe. Come in, ladies."

"Ladies!" Mike repeated in indignation.

"Assist Lyn, Mike." Terrin suggested, Mike took it as a command anyway, but still helped.
 
Lyn took a deep breath and started to crawl into the hole. Her headlamp brightly lit the tunnel, and she kept her eyes on Ed, who was standing in front of her. "Does the tunnel widen further in?"
 
"It is a slight squise, but dont worry. If my big but can come through then so can you. Once we get through its posible to.walk."
Ed smailed at Lyn distracting from the tight tunnle.
"This cave here is amasing. And after the smaller opening at the other end.it looks like.a rather wide tunnle."
 
"The tunnel itself is pretty smooth." Terrin said, peeking from beside Ed. "So smooth that it's almost suspicious. As if it was drilled or something."

"By your Bigfoot, maybe?" Mike snorted.

"Lyn, I'll be right next, okay?" Natalie said, ignoring the boys.
 
Ed roled his eyes slightly befor comenting:
"Oh please, if its something that drilled it then its not a overgrown ape. Its clearly aliens in that case." He smiled as he helped Lyn out of the small opening.
 
Lyn climbed out of the opening, relieved that she was out of it. "Why would anyone want to come down here and drill? It's not like there's hidden treasure anywhere." Then she paused. The collapse...it happened so suddenly, and for no reason. Almost as if someone...caused it. "What if someone didn't want us down here? What if someone caused the collapse on purpose.?" Mike shook his head. "Why would anyone want to do that?"
 
"Alien seacreys, dhu." Ed said as he walked around a bit.
"But seriously though. The smooth walls are probably just from a underground river that once ran through here or something. Nothing to get worked up over."
 
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"First of all, he can't drill things. And he doesn't go in caves," Terrin said about Bigfoot, shooting Mike a disapproving look from the other side of the tunnel. "And Lyn, if you ask me, this cave is made of sturdy rocks, it certainly is suspicious for it to crumble all of a sudden."

"So you're really saying someone's locking us down here, and we're simply going to keep going...in?" Natalie said, although she acted afraid, sounded too, she seemed a bit excited, thinking of what she mentioned as an interesting twist of events instead of realizing the impending danger of what it meant. Mike helped her climb and crawl in after Lyn.
 
Lyn nodded. "It's definitely suspicious." Her mind began to fill with all kinds of adventures and scenarios that could happen. "This place could've had a criminal's stolen loot inside, or possibly some kind of government secret, or even some kind of base for the latest wanted person! There's a million reasons why someone could do this!" But then she considered Ed's words. She sighed. "But Ed's right. Probably nothing to get worked up over." Lyn still believed that the cave-in was caused on purpose, but they could wonder about it when they found a way out. "And plus, how do you know that Bigfoot can't use mechanical drills?" She asked Terrin.
 
"He's not into caves." Terrin repeated, some irk seeped into his usually calm voice. Level headed he may be, he can be quite superstitious. "And I'm starting to think we're doing something wrong."

"Ooh." Natalie chirped, nearly falling out of the hole, never one with that much poise. Mike got in soon after her, worried. "We don't really have time to think of theories, we just have to get out before we run out of supplies."

"Or anyone gets badly injured." Natalie added, sounding a little disappointed.
 
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