Reader’s Choice selection from DMC’s flash fiction group, Friday Frights.
by Lisa McCourt Hollar:
The lights had burned out but Samuel didn’t mind. He’d seen the creatures that dwelled down here and he didn’t care to see them coming. Thomas was the last to die and he could be heard cursing loudly, banging the battery operated torch against his hand. It sparked to life for just a moment, a dim beam lighting a slash against the darkness, then fading out until they stood in utter blackness. Quietly Kimberly began to cry, her sobs echoing behind him.
“What do we do now?” Karen was always the practical one. She would want a course of action.
“We wait to die.”
“What the fuck kind of answer is that?” Thomas would have swung at Sam if he could see him.
“You saw those things,” Sam said, understanding Thomas’s anger. “Do you think I want to die, but Sandy is gone and so is Bob. They took them right in front of us and there wasn’t a damn thing we could do about it.”
“Do you think they are dead?” Kimberly’s voice echoed eerily off the cave walls.
“What do you think,” Karen answered.
The image of first Bob and then Sandy being carried off by those creatures entered all of their minds. The six friends had decided to spend spring break spelunking in an underwater cave that Samuel had run across a few years ago when he’d been vacationing with his family.
“My dad wouldn’t let me go in very far. Something about it being dangerous.”
“Why’d he say that,” Kimberly asked. She was the cautious one of the group, always choosing to take the safe path, even though the winding, overgrown with weeds path often led to something more fun than what could be found on the straight and narrow.
“Some kids went down there once and were never seen again.”
“And you want to go there, why?”
Samuel sighed, wishing he’d never mentioned the dangerous part. “Because we’re smarter than those kids. And older. I think they were only fifteen or so.”
“It sounds fun,” Karen said, “and we’ll plan it out, take safety gear with us…”
“I’m in,” Bob said. The rest of Samuel’s friends fell in line, echoing their agreement to the trip.
They almost didn’t find the cave. Samuel’s memory of his dive a few years earlier was faulty. They were just about to call it a day when Sandy motioned to them that she’d found something.
“This is awesome!” Thomas pulled his breathing tube out of his mouth as soon as they all emerged into the cave. Sitting on a rock, the friends shed their diving equipment, checked the rest of their equipment and excitedly began their exploration.
Despite marking their way, they became lost, but none of the friends lost their enthusiasm. Even Kimberly, who had been the only reluctant one of the bunch, plunged headlong down one tunnel after another.
“Damn.” Samuel stood at the edge of a water filled grotto.
“Do you think it’s very deep,” Thomas asked.
“Only one way to find out. I just wish we’d thought to bring our air tanks with us.”
“And carry them with us,” Karen snorted. “Remember that last cavern? We had to climb to get here.”
“We should be okay,” Bob said. “We’re all experienced divers. Our lungs can take it.”
Surprisingly it wasn’t that deep. They were able to wade across most of the expanse, only having to dive under for a short time.
“THIS IS FUCKING AMAZING!” Sandy swung her arms wide open and twirled, laughing with exhilaration.
Karen shined her light around the cavern. The beam flickered off of stalagmites and stalactites. “Hey, there’s something over there.” She pointed to the far end of the hollow, where something sparkled against the light.
“Maybe pirates buried their treasure here,” Samuel joked, shining his torch in the direction she indicated.
“Finders keepers!” Laughing, Karen ran towards the object, nearly slipping on the smooth rock floor.
“Will you be careful you ninny,” Kimberly teased her sister.
“Oh my God!”
“Karen, what is it?” Suddenly concerned, Kimberly ran for her, skidding to a stop when she saw what Karen was looking at. “Oh my God,” she echoed.
“What did you find?” Samuel looked over Kim’s shoulder. The two girls were staring down at a pile of bones. An arm stood straight up from the pile, a ring still on one of the skeletal fingers. The blue stone set in the middle is what caught the light.
“Do you think it’s the boys that went missing?” Karen’s voice shook.
“Maybe,” Samuel said.
“How many did you say went missing?” Thomas asked.
“Three.”
“I count five skulls. And that’s just what I see. There are a lot of bones here.”
“It’s like they were torn apart,” Sandy said.
“And then threw them in the corner,” Kimberly said, her voice beginning to rise. “We need to get out of here.”
Turning, she ran back towards the water, nearly knocking Bob over.
“Hold on,” Karen said, stopping her sister, “we need to think before we just take off.”
“Why?” Sandy asked. “If we’ve stumbled into some creature’s lair, I’d like to get out of here too.” Marching past Kim, Sandy headed for the grotto, ready to leave, only to discover her path blocked.
The creatures were rising out of the water, their long hair covering most of their face. They were pale…albino in appearance, their eyes milky white. Snarling, the monsters…Samuel refused to think of them as men, despite their humanoid appearance, advanced on the group. Their teeth were sharp, their canines threatening. Sandy screamed, turning to run back to her friends. One of the creatures grabbed her, yanking her to him by her hair and lifting the girl into his arms. Bob rushed forward to try and save her, only to be taken by another.
The creature that took Bob looked him in the eyes and grinned. The Samuel and the others just stood there too scared to move. The beast sniffed Bob, then opened his maw and took a bite out of his neck. Blood oozed out of the monster’s mouth, some splattering on the four remaining friends. Their paralysis broken, they screamed and ran deeper into the cavern. Samuel looked behind him as they ran and saw the creatures re-enter the water, carrying Bob and Sandy with them.
“Well, if we can’t see them,” Kimberly said, “then maybe they can’t see us.”
“Kimberly, I love you but you’re living in a fantasy world. Those things live down here. They can probably see us better now that there’s no light.” Karen reached for her sister’s hand; sorry she’d brought another round of tears. Kimberly screeched at the touch, turning to run and falling over something on the ground.
“Kim my, are you okay?” Karen dropped to the ground, feeling around for her sister. She thought she felt her foot, but then heard her sister behind her, a horrid, wet gurgling sound coming from her throat. If she didn’t have Kimmy’s foot, then whose was she touching.
“I just remembered,” Thomas said, “I have a lighter.” There was a flicking sound and the small flame leaped to life. Karen screamed when she saw Sandy’s body lying on the ground, her throat ripped open. Falling backwards, she saw Bob, his eyes white like the creatures that had taken him, his face pale and lifeless. He was staring at her while chewing on Kimberly’s neck, which also was ripped open. Then Thomas dropped the lighter and they were enveloped in darkness once again.
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